Preliminary evaluation of a multimodal early intervention program for behaviorally inhibited preschoolers.

OBJECTIVE: Approximately 15%-20% of young children can be classified as having a behaviorally inhibited (BI) temperament. Stable BI predicts the development of later anxiety disorders (particularly social anxiety), but not all inhibited children develop anxiety. Parenting characterized by inappropriate warmth/sensitivity and/or intrusive control predicts the stability of BI and moderates risk for anxiety among high-BI children. For these reasons, we developed and examined the preliminary efficacy of the Turtle Program: a multimodal early intervention for inhibited preschool-age children. METHOD: Forty inhibited children between the ages of 42-60 months and their parent(s) were randomized to either the Turtle Program (n = 18) or a waitlist control (WLC; n = 22) condition. Participants randomized to the Turtle Program condition received 8 weeks of concurrent parent and child group treatment. Participants were assessed at baseline and posttreatment with multisource assessments, including parent and teacher report measures of child anxiety, diagnostic interviews, and observations of parenting behavior. RESULTS: The Turtle Program resulted in significant beneficial effects relative to the WLC condition on maternal-reported anxiety symptoms of medium to large magnitude; large effects on parent-reported BI; medium to large effects on teacher-rated school anxiety symptoms; and medium effects on observed maternal positive affect/sensitivity. CONCLUSIONS: This study provides encouraging preliminary support for the Turtle Program for young behaviorally inhibited children. Effects of the Turtle Program generalized to the school setting. Future studies should examine whether this early intervention program improves long-term developmental outcomes for this at-risk group.

Friendship quality and psychosocial outcomes among children with traumatic brain injury.

This study examined differences in friendship quality between children with traumatic brain injury (TBI) and orthopedic injury (OI) and behavioral outcomes for children from both groups. Participants were 41 children with TBI and 43 children with OI (M age=10.4). Data were collected using peer- and teacher-reported measures of participants' social adjustment and parent-reported measures of children's post-injury behaviors. Participants and their mutually nominated best friends also completed a measure of the quality of their friendships. Children with TBI reported significantly more support and satisfaction in their friendships than children with OI. Children with TBI and their mutual best friend were more similar in their reports of friendship quality compared to children with OI and their mutual best friends. Additionally, for children with TBI who were rejected by peers, friendship support buffered against maladaptive psychosocial outcomes, and predicted skills related to social competence. Friendship satisfaction was related to higher teacher ratings of social skills for the TBI group only. Positive and supportive friendships play an important role for children with TBI, especially for those not accepted by peers. Such friendships may protect children with TBI who are rejected against maladaptive psychosocial outcomes, and promote skills related to social competence.

Criterion validity of interpreting scores from multi-informant statistical interactions as measures of informant discrepancies in psychological assessments of children and adolescents.

Parents and adolescents often provide discrepant reports of adolescent and family behavior. Recent work indicates that scores from indirect measures of discrepancies between parent and adolescent reports, namely, statistical interactions between reports, longitudinally predict adolescent psychopathology. However, no previous work supports the criterion validity of interpreting scores from these interactions as indirect measures of informant discrepancies. In a community sample of 50 parents and adolescents ages 14-17 years (M = 15.4 years, 20 males and 30 females), we examined indirect measures of parent-adolescent reporting discrepancies, using parent and adolescent reports of parents' awareness of adolescents' whereabouts and activities (i.e., parental monitoring). We examined these reporting discrepancies in relation to a structured interview that directly assesses "discrepant beliefs" or perceived discrepancies between parent and adolescent views of daily life topics (e.g., doing chores and homework). Greater parent- and adolescent-reported parental monitoring related to lower perceived discrepant beliefs. Importantly, the interaction between parental monitoring reports provided additional information. Specifically, when adolescents provided relatively high parental monitoring reports, we observed greater parents' parental monitoring reports relating to lower perceived discrepant beliefs, but no such relation when adolescents provided relatively low parental monitoring reports. Overall, findings suggest that indirect assessments of parent-adolescent discrepancies in reports of parental monitoring relate to direct assessments of how parents and adolescents perceive everyday life topics differently. These findings have important implications for understanding the longitudinal links between informant discrepancies and adolescent psychopathology, as well as developing multimethod assessments of informant discrepancies in psychological assessments.

Individualism and socioeconomic diversity at school as related to perceptions of the frequency of peer aggression in fifteen countries.

The purpose of this study was to examine two aspects of context for peer aggression: national individualism and distributions of socioeconomic status in the school. School administrators for each school reported on their perceptions of the frequency of bullying and violence in their school. The sample comprised 990 school principals/headmasters from nationally representative samples of schools in 15 countries surveyed as part of the larger IEA Civic Education Study (Torney-Purta, Lehmann, Oswald, & Schulz, 2001). A national context of individualism was associated with violence but not bullying. Schools with high socioeconomic diversity had more bullying than homogeneously low or high socioeconomic status schools. In addition, diverse schools had more violence than affluent schools. Results suggest that bullying and violence should be investigated as separate constructs. Furthermore, contexts, such as national culture and school socioeconomic diversity, are important in understanding the prevalence of bullying and violence in schools internationally.

Prosocial Behavior Moderates the Effects of Aggression on Young Adolescents' Friendships.

The current study explored how prosocial behavior may moderate how aggression is related to the features of adolescents' friendships. Young adolescents (N = 910) completed friendship nominations in the fall and spring of their first year of middle school. Behavioral nominations of aggression and prosocial behavior were also collected in the fall. A subsample (N = 374) of adolescents and their reciprocated friends reported on friendship quality. Prosocial behavior moderated how aggression was related to the likelihood of having a mutual best friendship in the fall. Dyadic data analyses also revealed that when prosocial behavior was low, aggression was negatively related to friendship quality. Examination of temporal patterns in best friendships indicated that when prosocial behavior was low, aggression was marginally predictive of having different best friends in the fall and spring relative to having a stable best friendship across the school year.