Effects of a brief parenting intervention on Latinx mothers and their children.

Parent-Child Interactions (PCI) is a home visit parenting intervention designed to promote positive parenting and deter punitive approaches to child behavior management. With attention to the importance of providing efficacious interventions for families from diverse backgrounds, this study used a subsample from a larger randomized controlled trial (RCT) to examine the efficacy of PCI intervention among Latinx participants. PCI was offered to 170 at-risk Latinx mother-child dyads, of whom the majority were primarily Spanish speaking. Dyads were randomly assigned to an intervention or a wait-list control condition. Path analysis modeling was used to examine parenting outcomes as a mediator of program efficacy between group assignment and children's long-term functioning. Results suggest that Latinx parent and child functioning benefited from PCI intervention 6 months following intervention. Specifically, model results indicated significant indirect effects of the PCI intervention on (1) cooperative child behavior and (2) children's externalizing behaviors 6-months posttreatment via parenting at post test, with mother-child dyads assigned to the treatment condition, relative to the control, demonstrating better functioning 6-months posttreatment. Overall, findings contribute to increased understanding of parenting intervention implementation among Latinx families. Recommendations for future study are discussed.

Interacciones entre padres e hijos (Parent-Child Interactions, PCI) es una intervención en la crianza con visitas a los hogares diseñada para promover la crianza positiva y desalentar los métodos correctivos de manejo del comportamiento infantil. Con atención a la importancia de ofrecer intervenciones eficaces para las familias de distintos orígenes, en este estudio se utilize una submuestra de un ensayo controlado aleatorizado más grande para analizar la eficacia de una intervención de PCI entre participantes latinas. Se ofreció la PCI a 170 díadas de madres e hijas latinas en riesgo, de las cuales la mayoría eran principalmente hispanohablantes. Las díadas se asignaron aleatoriamente a un grupo de intervención o de control en lista de espera. Se utilizó el modelo de análisis de ruta para analizar los resultados de la crianza como mediadora de la eficacia del programa entre la distribución a los grupos y el funcionamiento a largo plazo de las niñas. Los resultados sugieren que el funcionamiento de las madres latinas y las niñas se benefició de la intervención de PCI seis meses después de la intervención. Específicamente, los resultados del modelo indicaron efectos indirectos significativos de la intervención de PCI en (1) el comportamiento cooperativo de las niñas y (2) las conductas de exteriorización de las niñas seis meses después del tratamiento mediante la crianza en la evaluación posterior, donde las díadas madre e hija asignadas al grupo de tratamiento, respecto del de control, demostraron un major funcionamiento seis meses después del tratamiento. En general, los resultados contribuyen a una mayor comprensión de la implementación de intervenciones en la crianza entre las familias latinas. Se comentan las recomendaciones para futuros estudios.

Using a novel genetic algorithm to assess peer influence on willingness to use pre-exposure prophylaxis in networks of Black men who have sex with men.

The DeGroot model for opinion diffusion over social networks dates back to the 1970s and models the mechanism by which information or disinformation spreads through a network, changing the opinions of the agents. Extensive research exists about the behavior of the DeGroot model and its variations over theoretical social networks; however, research on how to estimate parameters of this model using data collected from an observed network diffusion process is much more limited. Existing algorithms require large data sets that are often infeasible to obtain in public health or social science applications. In order to expand the use of opinion diffusion models to these and other applications, we developed a novel genetic algorithm capable of recovering the parameters of a DeGroot opinion diffusion process using small data sets, including those with missing data and more model parameters than observed time steps. We demonstrate the efficacy of the algorithm on simulated data and data from a social network intervention leveraging peer influence to increase willingness to take pre-exposure prophylaxis in an effort to decrease transmission of human immunodeficiency virus among Black men who have sex with men.

Maternal parentification history impacts evaluative cognitions about self, parenting, and child.

Parentification occurs when children are unfairly charged with fulfilling parental instrumental and emotional needs. Parentification is associated with risk to evaluative self cognitions from childhood to emerging adulthood, but this association has not yet been studied among parents. The transition to parenthood is typically characterized by declines in self-esteem, suggesting it is a critical period for understanding the risk parentification history poses to evaluative self-cognitions and evaluative cognitions about children. The present study addresses these gaps using longitudinal data (N = 374 first-time mothers) to examine the influence of maternal parentification history domains (emotional and instrumental caregiving, role unfairness) on trajectories of maternal evaluative cognitions about the self (self-esteem, parenting self-efficacy) and about the child (difficult child temperament, dissatisfaction with child contributions to relationships) in early parenthood. A spillover model was also examined such that evaluative cognitions about the self were examined as potential mediators between parentification history and evaluative cognitions about children. Results support associations between the role unfairness domain of parentification and each domain of maternal evaluative cognitions and a significant indirect effect of unfairness on risk to maternal evaluative cognitions about child contributions via parenting self-efficacy. Implications for mother-child relationships and processes of intergenerational transmission of parentification are discussed.

La parentalización ocurre cuando a los niños se les hace asumir injustamente las necesidades instrumentales y emocionales de los padres. Se asocia la parentalización con el riesgo de auto cognición evaluativa de la niñez al naciente estado de adultez, pero esta asociación no ha sido aún estudiada entre los padres. La transición a la condición de ser padres se caracteriza típicamente por las bajas en la auto estima, lo cual sugiere que se trata de un período crítico para comprender el riesgo que el historial de la parentalización presenta para la auto cognición evaluativa y las cogniciones evaluativas sobre los niños. El presente estudio trata de estos vacíos usando datos longitudinales (N = 374 madres primerizas) para examinar la influencia de los campos del historial de la parentalización materna (el cuidado emocional e instrumental, el papel de lo que es injusto) sobre las trayectorias de las cogniciones evaluativas maternas acerca de ellas mismas (auto estima, auto efectividad en la crianza) y acerca del niño (el difícil temperamento del niño, la insatisfacción con las contribuciones del niño a las relaciones) en la temprana etapa de la maternidad. Se examinó un modelo de efectos secundarios de tal manera que se examinaron las cogniciones evaluativas acerca del yo como posibles factores de mediación entre el historial de parentalización y las cogniciones evaluativas acerca de los niños. Los resultados apoyan las asociaciones entre el papel del ámbito de lo injusto de la parentalización y cada ámbito de cogniciones evaluativas maternas y un efecto indirecto significativo de lo injusto sobre el riesgo de cogniciones evaluativas maternas sobre las contribuciones del niño por medio de la auto efectividad de la crianza. Se discuten las implicaciones de las relaciones madre-niño y los procesos de transmisión intergeneracional de la parentalización.

La parentification prend place lorsque on exige injustement des enfants qu'ils remplissent les besoins instrumentaux et émotionnels parentaux. La parentification est liée au risque d'auto-cognitions évaluatives de l'enfance au début de l'âge adulte, mais cette association n'a pas encore été étudiée chez les parents. La transition à la parenté est typiquement caractérisée par des déclins dans la confiance, suggérant que c'est une période critique pour comprendre l'histoire de risque que la parentification pose aux auto-cognitions évaluative et aux cognitions évaluatives sur les enfants. Cette étude porte sur ces écarts en utilisant des données longitudinales (N = 374 mères dont c'était la première grossesse) afin d'examiner l'influence des domaines de l'histoire de la parentification maternelle (soins émotionnels et instrumentaux, injustice du rôle) sur des trajectoires de cognition évaluative maternelle sur le moi (confiance en soi, auto-efficacité de parentage) et sur l'enfant (tempérament difficile de l'enfant, insatisfaction avec les contributions de l'enfant à la relation) au début de la parenté. Un modèle de débordement a aussi été examiné de telle manière que les cognitions évaluatives sur le self ont été examinées en tant que médiatrices potentielles entre l'histoire de parentification et les cognitions évaluatives sur les enfants. Les résultats soutiennent les liens entre le domaine de parentification de l'injustice du rôle et chaque domaine de cognitions évaluatives maternelles et un effet indirect important de l'injustice sur le risque aux cognitions évaluatives maternelles sur les contributions de l'enfant au travers de l'auto-efficacité de parentage. Les implications pour les relations mère-enfant et les processus de transmission intergénérationnelle de la parentification sont discutés.

Intergenerational Risk of Parentification and Infantilization to Externalizing Moderated by Child Temperament.

OBJECTIVE: The present study examined the intergenerational risk of instrumental filial responsibility in the first generation on children's externalizing behaviors in the next generation and examined difficult child temperament as a potential moderator of this association. BACKGROUND: Filial responsibility refers to children's instrumental or emotional caregiving roles (Kuperminc, Jurkovic, & Casey, 2009). Moderate levels of instrumental responsibility, such as age-appropriate responsibilities, may be normative whereas too much (parentification) or too little (infantilization) responsibility are associated with risk to development (Jurkovic, 1997), parenting, and offspring development (Nuttall, Valentino & Borkowski, 2012). Prior work has not isolated the unique effects of instrumental caregiving or identified the children most susceptible to intergenerational risk. METHOD: A multi-site, longitudinal design assessed a diverse sample of first-time mothers and their children. Data from the present study (N=374) were drawn from the third trimester of pregnancy, 12-month and 36-month assessments. RESULTS: Results support the curvilinear association between maternal history of instrumental caregiving and offspring externalizing symptoms controlling for emotional caregiving. Difficult child temperament moderated the association. CONCLUSION: Maternal instrumental caregiving history increases risk to children's externalizing symptoms, particularly at high (parentification) and low (infantilization) levels of instrumental caregiving and when child temperament is easy rather than difficult.

Efficacy of a reminiscing and emotion training intervention on maltreating families with preschool-aged children.

The current investigation reports the results of a randomized controlled trial of a brief, relational intervention for maltreated preschool-aged children and their mothers, called Reminiscing and Emotion Training (RET). RET facilitates elaborative and emotionally supportive parent-child communication, which is an essential component of the parent-child relationship and is especially relevant for the preschool age period. Participants were 248 children between the ages of 3- to 6-years-old and their mothers. Following a baseline assessment, 165 maltreating families were randomized into RET or a Community Standard (CS) condition in which families received case management and written parenting information; 83 families participated in the nonmaltreating comparison condition. Results indicated that the key mechanisms targeted by the RET interventions were enhanced, such that mothers who participated in RET were significantly better in elaboration and sensitive guidance during reminiscing at the posttest than were maltreating mothers who did not receive the intervention, with medium to large effect sizes; additionally, mothers in the RET group were more elaborative than mothers from the nonmaltreatment group. Children in the RET condition also contributed significantly more memories and had better emotional knowledge than did children in the CS condition, controlling for baseline values and language, and approximated the functioning of nonmaltreated children. These findings add to a growing literature underscoring the benefits of brief, focused, relational interventions for maltreated children and their caregivers. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Long-Term Impact of a Cell Phone-Enhanced Parenting Intervention.

Home visiting programs support positive parenting in populations at-risk of child maltreatment, but their impact is often limited by poor retention and engagement. The current study assessed whether a cellular phone-supported version (PCI-C) of the Parent-Child Interactions (PCI) intervention improved long-term parenting practices, maternal depression, and children's aggression. Low-income mothers ( n = 371) of preschool-aged children were assigned to one of the three groups: PCI-C, PCI, and a wait-list control (WLC) group. Parenting improved in both intervention groups between baseline and 12-month follow-up compared to the WLC. Children in the PCI-C group were rated to be more cooperative and less aggressive than children in the WLC. The results offer evidence of the long-term effectiveness of PCI and the additional benefits of cellular phone supports for promoting intervention retention and improving children's behavior.

Maternal history of parentification and warm responsiveness: The mediating role of knowledge of infant development.

Maternal history of parentification in the family of origin poses subsequent risk to parenting quality during the transition to parenthood. The present study builds on prior work by evaluating whether the association between maternal parentification history and warm responsiveness is mediated by maternal knowledge of infant development in first time mothers. Using data from a prospective longitudinal study on the transition to motherhood, maternal knowledge of infant development and observational codings of warm responsiveness were examined across the first 18 months of parenthood for 374 mothers who also provided retrospective reports of their childhood parentification experiences. Results indicated that maternal retrospective reports of higher engagement in parentified roles in family of origin were associated with poorer knowledge of infant development across the first 18 months of parenthood and, in turn, less warm responsiveness with 18-month-old children. However, maternal parentification history did not significantly influence changes in maternal warm responsiveness across the transition to parenthood. These findings suggest that preventive interventions targeting maternal knowledge of infant development as early as the prenatal period may be useful for preventing poor warm responsiveness.

"My Baby & Me": effects of an early, comprehensive parenting intervention on at-risk mothers and their children.

This study examined the efficacy of a multimodule parenting intervention, "My Baby & Me," that began prenatally and continued until children reached 2.5 years of age. The intervention targeted specific parenting skills designed to alter trajectories of maternal and child development. Of 361 high-risk mothers (193 adolescents, 168 adults) enrolled across 4 states, half were randomly assigned to the high-intensity (HI) home visitation coaching program (55 sessions), and half to a low-intensity (LI) condition that included monthly phone calls from a coach, printed informational materials, and community resource referrals. Videotaped observations of mother-child play were coded at 5 time points for multiple maternal and child behaviors and skills. Compared to mothers in the LI group, mothers in the HI group showed higher levels of contingent responsiveness, higher quality verbal stimulation, and more verbal scaffolding by 30 months, with higher levels of warmth and greater decreases in physical intrusiveness and negativity when their children were 24 months. By 30 months, children in the HI group showed more rapid increases and higher levels of engagement with the environment, expressive language skills, and social engagement, as well as more complex toy play and fewer problem behaviors than those in the LI group. Gains in maternal responsive behaviors mediated the effects of the intervention on child outcomes. Results were comparable for adolescent and adult mothers. A strong theoretical framework, consistent focus on maternal responsiveness, high dosage, and trusting relationships with coaches are thought to explain the positive outcomes.

Randomized trial of a cellular phone-enhanced home visitation parenting intervention.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Although home visiting programs have been documented to improve parenting in high-risk families, their effectiveness is diminished when parents disengage from programs. Cellular phones offer an approach to promoting parent engagement and enhancing parenting outcomes. Our objective was to examine whether mothers in a parenting intervention, Planned Activities Training (PAT), or cellular phone-enhanced version (CPAT) of the intervention would demonstrate greater use of parenting strategies after treatment and at 6 months post-treatment compared with a wait-list control (WLC). METHODS: A sample of 371 low-income mothers and their 3.5- to 5.5-year-old children were randomly assigned to condition and assessed at pre-test, post-intervention, and 6 months post-intervention. Treatment efficacy was evaluated through observations of mother-child interactions as well as maternal interviews about depression, parenting stress, and child behaviors. RESULTS: Mothers receiving PAT and CPAT demonstrated more frequent use of parenting strategies and engaged in more responsive parenting than mothers in the WLC. Mothers receiving CPAT used more PAT parenting strategies than mothers in the other 2 groups and experienced greater reductions in depression and stress. Children of mothers receiving PAT and CPAT demonstrated higher rates of positive engagement, and children of CPAT mothers demonstrated higher levels of adaptive behaviors than children in the WLC. Importantly, changes in parenting, depression, and stress predicted positive child behaviors. CONCLUSIONS: PAT and CPAT conditions improved parenting strategies and child engagement and reduced children's challenging behaviors. The addition of cellular phones to a home visiting program enhanced maternal responsivity and reduced depression and stress.

Effective intervention programming: improving maternal adjustment through parent education.

This study assessed the secondary effects of a parent training intervention program on maternal adjustment, with a focus on understanding ways in which program efficacy differed for participants as a function of whether or not their children had behavior problems. Mothers (N = 99) of toddlers (2-3 years of age) were randomly assigned to receive one of three levels of intervention: (1) informational booklet (2) booklet + face-to-face parent training sessions, or (3) booklet + web-based parent training sessions. Findings indicated that all levels of intervention were associated with increases in maternal well-being for participants with typically developing children. Mothers of toddlers with behavior problems, however, did not benefit from receiving only the booklet but significantly benefitted from receiving either the face-to-face or web-based interventions. Findings are discussed in terms of efficient and efficacious program dissemination and the resulting implications for public policy.

Maternal history of parentification, maternal warm responsiveness, and children's externalizing behavior.

Destructive parentification occurs when children are expected to provide instrumental or emotional caregiving within the family system that overtaxes their developmental capacity. According to parentification theory, destructive parentification in family of origin poses a risk to child development in subsequent generations; however, there is a paucity of empirical research examining the impact of a maternal history of destructive parentification on parenting quality and child outcomes in subsequent generations. The present study examined the potential risk of maternal history of parentification on child adjustment by hypothesizing that a maternal history of parentification in family of origin would have a negative impact on quality of maternal warm responsiveness at 18 months of age which would, in turn, be associated with increased children's externalizing symptoms at 36 months. Results indicated that there was a significant indirect effect of maternal history of destructive parentification in family of origin on child externalizing behavior in the next generation through maternal warm responsiveness, supporting the hypothesized model. This finding suggests that facilitating the development of maternal contingent responsiveness among mothers with a history of destructive parentification may promote more adaptive child development in the next generation.

Intergenerational continuity of child abuse among adolescent mothers: authoritarian parenting, community violence, and race.

Among the negative sequelae of child maltreatment is increased risk for continuity of maltreatment into subsequent generations. Despite acknowledgment in the literature that the pathways toward breaking the cycle of maltreatment are likely the result of dynamic interactions of risk and protective factors across multiple ecological levels, few studies have followed high-risk samples of maltreated and nonmaltreated parents over time to evaluate such processes. In the current investigation, exposure to community violence and authoritarian parenting attitudes were evaluated as predictors of the intergenerational continuity of abuse, and the moderating effect of African American race was examined. The sample included 70 mothers and their 18-year-old children, who have been followed longitudinally since the third trimester of the adolescent mothers' pregnancy. Results revealed that among mothers with a child abuse history, higher exposure to community violence and lower authoritarian parenting attitudes were associated with increased risk for intergenerational continuity of abuse. The relation of authoritarian parenting attitudes to intergenerational continuity was moderated by race; the protective effects of authoritarian parenting were limited to the African American families only. The salience of multiple ecological levels in interrupting the intergenerational continuity of child abuse is discussed, and implications for preventive programs are highlighted.

Maternal depressive symptomatology and child behavior: transactional relationship with simultaneous bidirectional coupling.

The present study investigated reciprocal relationships between adolescent mothers and their children's well-being through an analysis of the coupling relationship of mothers' depressive symptomatology and children's internalizing and externalizing behaviors. Unlike studies using discrete time analyses, the present study used dynamical systems to model time continuously, which allowed for the study of dynamic, transactional effects between members of each dyad. Findings provided evidence of coupling between maternal depressive symptoms and children's behaviors. The most robust finding was that as maternal depressive symptoms became more or less severe, children's behavior problems increased or decreased in a reciprocal manner. Results from this study extended upon theoretical contributions of such authors as Richters (1997) and Granic and Hollenstein (2003), providing empirical validation from a longitudinal study for understanding the ongoing, dynamic relationships between at-risk mothers and their children.

Predicting bison migration out of Yellowstone National Park using bayesian models.

Long distance migrations by ungulate species often surpass the boundaries of preservation areas where conflicts with various publics lead to management actions that can threaten populations. We chose the partially migratory bison (Bison bison) population in Yellowstone National Park as an example of integrating science into management policies to better conserve migratory ungulates. Approximately 60% of these bison have been exposed to bovine brucellosis and thousands of migrants exiting the park boundary have been culled during the past two decades to reduce the risk of disease transmission to cattle. Data were assimilated using models representing competing hypotheses of bison migration during 1990-2009 in a hierarchal bayesian framework. Migration differed at the scale of herds, but a single unifying logistic model was useful for predicting migrations by both herds. Migration beyond the northern park boundary was affected by herd size, accumulated snow water equivalent, and aboveground dried biomass. Migration beyond the western park boundary was less influenced by these predictors and process model performance suggested an important control on recent migrations was excluded. Simulations of migrations over the next decade suggest that allowing increased numbers of bison beyond park boundaries during severe climate conditions may be the only means of avoiding episodic, large-scale reductions to the Yellowstone bison population in the foreseeable future. This research is an example of how long distance migration dynamics can be incorporated into improved management policies.

Self-Regulation Mediates the Relationship between Learner Typology and Achievement in At - Risk Children.

A person-centered approach was used to explore the mediating role of self-regulation between learner typology at age 8 and academic achievement at age 14while controlling for domain-specific achievement in a longitudinal sample of 113 children born to adolescent mothers. Children were classified into one of 5 learner typologies at age 8based on interactive patterns of intellectual, achievement, and adaptive abilities. Typology classification explained significant variance in both reading and mathematics achievement at age 14. A bootstrapping approach confirmed that self-regulation mediated the relationship between typology and reading and mathematical achievement for children from all typologies except those classified as Cognitively and Adaptively Challenged. Implications of person-centered approaches for understanding processes involved with achievement are discussed.

Avian paternal care had dinosaur origin.

The repeated discovery of adult dinosaurs in close association with egg clutches leads to speculation over the type and extent of care exhibited by these extinct animals for their eggs and young. To assess parental care in Cretaceous troodontid and oviraptorid dinosaurs, we examined clutch volume and the bone histology of brooding adults. In comparison to four archosaur care regressions, the relatively large clutch volumes of Troodon, Oviraptor, and Citipati scale most closely with a bird-paternal care model. Clutch-associated adults lack the maternal and reproductively associated histologic features common to extant archosaurs. Large clutch volumes and a suite of reproductive features shared only with birds favor paternal care, possibly within a polygamous mating system. Paternal care in both troodontids and oviraptorids indicates that this care system evolved before the emergence of birds and represents birds' ancestral condition. In extant birds and over most adult sizes, paternal and biparental care correspond to the largest and smallest relative clutch volumes, respectively.

Maltreatment risk, self-regulation, and maladjustment in at-risk children.

OBJECTIVE: The present project examined the relationships among early maternal maltreatment risk, children's self-regulation, and later development. It was expected that early maltreatment risk would impact children's emerging self-regulation which in turn, would foster pre-academic delays and behavioral problems. METHOD: The project used structural equation modeling to examine the relationship between early maltreatment risk in 169 primiparous adolescent mothers and the subsequent development of their children in pre-academic and behavioral domains at 5 years of age. Maltreatment risk was assessed by two evaluation tools: (1) a multi-measure index of parenting attitudes, abuse potential, and knowledge and expectations about child development, and (2) an abbreviated version of the multi-measure index consisting of only 12 items. In addition, cognitive and emotional regulation at age 3, as assessed by maternal reports of regulatory behaviors and a newly created observational measure, was evaluated as a potential mediator of development at 5. RESULTS: Findings revealed that maternal maltreatment risk was associated with lower levels of children's regulation, which in turn significantly predicted pre-academic skills and behavior problems. Incorporating direct paths from maltreatment risk to each of the children's outcomes did not significantly improve model fit indices. CONCLUSIONS: Results suggest that self-regulation was a key process variable in the relationship between maltreatment risk and children's development. The findings support targeting self-regulatory abilities to halt the progression of developmental difficulties often found in maltreated children. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: The present study identified self-regulation as a mechanism for transmitting the effects of maltreatment risk to multiple domains of children's functioning; these findings have important implications for intervention programs. Intervention programs that focus on fostering self-regulation in home and preschool settings should enhance developmental outcomes. Previous research has shown the utility of targeting self-regulation in reducing the frequency and intensity of students' anger (Beck, R., & Fernandez, E. (1998). Cognitive-behavioral self-regulation of the frequency, duration, and intensity of anger. Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment, 20, 217-229.). Within the context of maltreatment intervention, these programs have considerable utility. By tailoring programs to strengthen dysfunctional regulation processes common to maltreated children, cognitive and behavioral functioning should be enhanced.

Cell phones and the measurement of child neglect: the validity of the parent-child activities interview.

Two multisite studies were conducted to assess the feasibility of using cell phone interviews (the Parent-Child Activities Interview) to learn more about the quality of daily parenting among high-risk mothers, including child neglect. In Study 1, 45 primiparous teenage mothers with 3- to 9-month-old infants were recruited and randomly assigned to two groups: one received frequent cell phone interviews and the other group less frequent interviews over their home telephone. Relationships among paper-and-pencil surveys of parenting (gathered in person) and a Parenting Essentials score (coded from the phone interviews) were significantly correlated. In Study 2, adolescent and adult mothers and their first-born children ( n = 544) completed 2 observations of parenting in their home as well as a series of 3 PCA calls at ages 4 and 8 months. Parenting Essentials coded from the interviews were significantly related to observed measures of parenting at both time points. The Parent-Child Activities Interview shows promise as a reliable and valid measure of parenting, capturing frequent and detailed information about daily parenting practices. Cell phones may prove useful in intervening with mothers at risk of suboptimal parenting and child neglect.

Parent training: implementation strategies for adventures in parenting.

Adventures in Parenting, an informational booklet published by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, offers five principles that parents can use to develop a mental model of parenting: Responding, Preventing, Monitoring, Mentoring, and Modeling (RPM3). The current study was designed to assess the differential impact of three intervention conditions utilizing Adventures in Parenting on knowledge of RPM3 principles. Significant intervention effects were found for measures of knowledge of RPM3 principles; the more intensive interventions (i.e., face-to-face groups and web-based sessions) were associated with increased knowledge of RPM3 principles over 3 months. Results are discussed in terms of their contribution to new approaches of parent education, particularly the use of web-based training. Editors' Strategic Implications: Parent educators should review the promising findings regarding the RPM3 model. Preventionists, more broadly, may be interested in the effect of the program's delivery mechanism, with a comparison of participants who were randomly assigned to web-based, group-based, and booklet only conditions.

Violence Breeds Violence: Childhood Exposure and Adolescent Conduct Problems.

The relationships between childhood exposure to violence and adolescent conduct problems were investigated in a sample of 88 primiparous adolescent mothers and their children. Regression analyses revealed that witnessing violence and victimization prior to age 10 predicted delinquency and violent behaviors, even after controlling for prenatal maternal and early childhood externalizing problems. Social competency and depression during middle childhood moderated the relationship between victimization and violent behaviors for girls, but not boys: Lower levels of social competency and depression served as risk factors for delinquency among teenage girls who experienced victimization during childhood. These findings have important implications for youth violence prevention programs.