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Description
The effects of preventive interventions are found to be related to participants' responsiveness to the program, or the degree to which participants attend sessions, engage in the material, and use the program skills. The current study proposes a multi-dimensional method for measuring responsiveness to the Family Bereavement Program (FBP), a parenting-focused program to prevent mental health problems for children who experienced the death of a parent. It examines the relations between individual-level risk-factors and responsiveness to the program, as well as the relations between responsiveness and program outcomes. The sample consists of 90 caregivers and 135 children assigned to the intervention condition of an efficacy trial of the FBP. Caregivers' responsiveness to the 12-week program was measured using a number of indicators, including attendance, completion of weekly "homework" assignments, overall program skill use, perceived helpfulness of the program and program skills, and perceived group environment. Three underlying dimensions of responsiveness were identified: Skill Use, Program Liking, and Perceived Group Environment. Positive parenting and child externalizing problems at baseline were found to predict caregiver Skill Use. Skill Use and Perceived Group Environment predicted changes in caregiver grief and reports of child behavior problems at posttest and 11-month follow-up. Caregivers with better Skill Use had better positive parenting outcomes. Skill use mediated the relation between baseline positive parenting and improvements in positive parenting at 11-month follow-up.
ContributorsSchoenfelder, Erin (Author) / Sandler, Irwin N. (Thesis advisor) / Wolchik, Sharlene (Committee member) / Millsap, Roger (Committee member) / Barrera, Manuel (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2012
Description
Using a sample of children from divorced homes, the current study assesses the effects of family relationship variables on romantic outcomes in young adulthood, through the influence of several individual-level variables. In particular, children's coping efficacy and peer competence are examined as mediators of the effects of parenting and interparental conflict on children's later romantic involvement and relationship quality. Assessments occurred during childhood, when children were between the ages of nine and 12, in adolescence, when children were ages 15 to 18, and in young adulthood, when children were ages 24 to 27, spanning a period of 15 years. Childhood and adolescent variables were measured using child- and mother-report data and young adult measures were completed by the young adults and their romantic partners. One model was tested using all participants in the sample, regardless of whether they were romantically involved in young adulthood, and revealed that maternal warmth in childhood was linked with children's coping efficacy six years later, which was marginally related to an increased likelihood of being romantically involved and to decreased romantic attachment at the 15-year follow-up. A model with only the participants who were romantically involved in young adulthood also revealed a link between childhood maternal warmth and coping efficacy in adolescence, which was then marginally related to increased romantic satisfaction and to confidence in the romantic relationship in young adulthood. Marginal mediation was also found for several of the proposed paths, and there was little evidence to support path differences between males and females. Implications of the present findings for research with children from divorced families and the development of preventive interventions are discussed. In particular, parenting, interparental conflict, peer competence, and coping efficacy are examined as modifiable targets for change and existing preventive interventions employing these targets are described.
ContributorsSigal, Amanda (Author) / Sandler, Irwin N. (Thesis advisor) / Millsap, Roger (Committee member) / Crnic, Keith (Committee member) / Lemery, Kathryn (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2012
Children's coping efforts and coping efficacy: effects of parenting, surgency, and effortful control
Description
Stress responses play a central role in the development of psychopathology. Coping efforts, one subset of stress responses, have been shown to influence the relations between stress and adjustment. Although the relations between youths' coping and emotional and behavioral outcomes are well-documented, less is known about the factors that predict youths' coping. Given their importance for adaptation, understanding influences on youths' coping has important implications for developmental theories and preventive interventions. The current study examined the main and interactive effects of positive parenting and youths' temperament on youths' coping efforts and coping efficacy one year later in a sample of 192 youth aged 9-15 years when assessed initially. Data used were from the first and third waves of a four-wave, prospective, longitudinal study of families where one or both parents recently became unemployed. Positive parenting was measured with a combination of mother-report, child-report, and observational measures. Temperament was assessed with mother-report, child-report, and/or teacher-report measures. Children reported on their coping. It was hypothesized that positive parenting, effortful control, and surgency would be positively associated with active coping and coping efficacy, and negatively associated with avoidant coping. Further, it was hypothesized that the relations between positive parenting and youths' coping would be stronger for youths low in effortful control or surgency. Structural equation modeling with latent variables revealed no significant main effects of positive parenting, effortful control, or surgency on youths' coping efforts or coping efficacy. Path analyses revealed no significant positive parenting by temperament interactions in the prediction of youths' coping efforts or coping efficacy. Several significant correlations between measures of positive parenting or surgency and youths' coping emerged. The pattern of correlations provided some support for the hypothesized relations. For example, aspects of positive parenting (e.g., maternal acceptance) and youth surgency were associated with more adaptive coping both concurrently and longitudinally, whereas an aspect of negative parenting (i.e., maternal rejection) was associated with less adaptive coping both concurrently and over time. Potential explanations of the unexpected findings and future directions for understanding the role of parenting and youths' temperament in youths' coping efforts and coping efficacy are discussed.
ContributorsVélez, Clorinda Eileen (Author) / Wolchik, Sharlene (Thesis advisor) / Eisenberg, Nancy (Thesis advisor) / Ayers, Tim (Committee member) / Millsap, Roger (Committee member) / Sandler, Irwin (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2010