Matching Items (46)
Description
An ever expanding body of research has shown that children of divorce are at increased risk for a range of maladaptive outcomes including academic failure, behavior problems, poor psychological adjustment, reduced self-concept, and reduced social competence (Amato, 2001). Furthermore, the widespread prevalence of divorce makes preventing these poor outcomes a pressing public health concern. The Children of Divorce-Coping with Divorce (CoD-CoD) program is an internet-based selective prevention that was derived from recent research identifying modifiable protective factors in children of divorce including active and avoidant coping, divorce appraisals, and coping efficacy. CoD-CoD addresses these putative mediators through careful adaptation of intervention components previously demonstrated to be effective for children from disrupted families (Pedro-Carroll & Alpert-Gillis, 1997; Stolberg & Mahler, 1994; Sandler, et al., 2003). In the CoD-CoD efficacy trial, 147 children ages 11-16 whose family had received a divorce decree within 48 months of the intervention start date served as participants. Participants were assessed in two waves in order to test the small theory of the intervention as well as the interventions effects on internalizing and externalizing behaviors. Analyses indicated that the program effectively reduced the participants total mental health problems and emotional problems as reported on the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) (d = .37) and for total mental health problems this effect was stronger for children with greater baseline mental health problems (d = .46). The program also had mediated effects on both child and parent-reported total mental health problems whereby the program improved coping efficacy for children with low baseline coping efficacy which led to reduced parent-reported mental health problems. To the author's knowledge this is the first randomized controlled trail of internet-based mental health program for children or adolescents which utilizes an active control condition.
ContributorsBoring, Jesse (Author) / Sandler, Irwin (Thesis advisor) / Crnic, Keith (Committee member) / Tein, Jenn-Yun (Committee member) / Horan, John (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2011
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
The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of complex structure on dimensionality assessment in compensatory and noncompensatory multidimensional item response models (MIRT) of assessment data using dimensionality assessment procedures based on conditional covariances (i.e., DETECT) and a factor analytical approach (i.e., NOHARM). The DETECT-based methods typically outperformed the NOHARM-based methods in both two- (2D) and three-dimensional (3D) compensatory MIRT conditions. The DETECT-based methods yielded high proportion correct, especially when correlations were .60 or smaller, data exhibited 30% or less complexity, and larger sample size. As the complexity increased and the sample size decreased, the performance typically diminished. As the complexity increased, it also became more difficult to label the resulting sets of items from DETECT in terms of the dimensions. DETECT was consistent in classification of simple items, but less consistent in classification of complex items. Out of the three NOHARM-based methods, χ2G/D and ALR generally outperformed RMSR. χ2G/D was more accurate when N = 500 and complexity levels were 30% or lower. As the number of items increased, ALR performance improved at correlation of .60 and 30% or less complexity. When the data followed a noncompensatory MIRT model, the NOHARM-based methods, specifically χ2G/D and ALR, were the most accurate of all five methods. The marginal proportions for labeling sets of items as dimension-like were typically low, suggesting that the methods generally failed to label two (three) sets of items as dimension-like in 2D (3D) noncompensatory situations. The DETECT-based methods were more consistent in classifying simple items across complexity levels, sample sizes, and correlations. However, as complexity and correlation levels increased the classification rates for all methods decreased. In most conditions, the DETECT-based methods classified complex items equally or more consistent than the NOHARM-based methods. In particular, as complexity, the number of items, and the true dimensionality increased, the DETECT-based methods were notably more consistent than any NOHARM-based method. Despite DETECT's consistency, when data follow a noncompensatory MIRT model, the NOHARM-based method should be preferred over the DETECT-based methods to assess dimensionality due to poor performance of DETECT in identifying the true dimensionality.
ContributorsSvetina, Dubravka (Author) / Levy, Roy (Thesis advisor) / Gorin, Joanna S. (Committee member) / Millsap, Roger (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2011
Description
Parenting approaches that are firm yet warm (i.e., authoritative parenting) have been found to be robustly beneficial for mainstream White Americans youths, but do not demonstrate similarly consistent effects among Chinese Americans (CA) adolescents. Evidence suggests that CA adolescents interpret and experience parenting differently than their mainstream counterparts given differences in parenting values and child-rearing norms between traditional Chinese and mainstream American cultures. The current study tests the theory that prospective effects of parenting on psychological and academic functioning depends on adolescents' cultural frameworks for interpreting and understanding parenting. CA adolescents with values and expectations of parenting that are more consistent with mainstream American parenting norms were predicted to experience parenting similar to their White American counterparts (i.e., benefiting from a combination of parental strictness and warmth). In contrast, CA adolescents with parenting values and expectations more consistent with traditional Chinese parenting norms were predicted to experience parenting and its effects on academic and psychological outcomes differently than patterns documented in the mainstream literature. This study was conducted with a sample of Chinese American 9th graders (N = 500) from the Multicultural Family Adolescent Study. Latent Class Analysis (LCA), a person-centered approach to modeling CA adolescents' cultural frameworks for interpreting parenting, was employed using a combination of demographic variables (e.g., nativity, language use at home, mother's length of stay in the U.S.) and measures of parenting values and expectations (e.g., parental respect, ideal strictness & laxness). The study then examined whether prospective effects of parenting behaviors (strict control, warmth, and their interaction effect) on adolescent adjustment (internalizing and externalizing symptoms, substance use, and GPA) were moderated by latent class membership. The optimal LCA solution identified five distinct cultural frameworks for understanding parenting. Findings generally supported the idea that effects of parenting on CA adolescent adjustment depend on adolescents' cultural framework for parenting. The classic authoritative parenting effect (high strictness and warmth leads to positive outcomes) was found for the two most acculturated groups of adolescents. However, only one of these groups overtly endorsed mainstream American parenting values.
ContributorsLiu, Freda Fangfang (Author) / Gonzales, Nancy A. (Thesis advisor) / Tein, Jenn-Yun (Committee member) / Yoo, Hyung Chol (Committee member) / Barrera, Manuel (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2011
Description
In the present research, elements of the intra- (i.e., family dynamics) and extra-family (i.e., characteristics of parents' occupations) contexts were examined in a longitudinal design as associated, broadly, with individuals' mental health, relationship quality, and future orientations among Mexican American families with adolescent offspring in two separate studies. The first study reviewed the utility of applying dyadic data methods to the investigation of family processes, explored the strengths three different analytic approaches (i.e., the actor-partner interdependence model, a two-intercept model, and a difference model), and applied them to the study of marital relationships (N = 246 marital dyads). Results revealed that spouses' marital negativity was related to their own somatic symptoms, whereas, spouses' somatic symptoms were associated with both their own and their partners' marital negativity, with some variations by approach. This study suggested the three analytic approaches, though designed to answer slightly different questions, yielded a similar pattern of results with several important differences. The second study utilized a person-centered approach to identify family-level patterns of both mothers' and fathers' objective occupational characteristics (i.e., self-direction, hazardous conditions, physical activity), as well as the larger sociocultural context of these patterns (N = 160 dual-earner families). Results revealed three distinct occupational contexts: Differentiated High Physical Activity, Incongruent, and Congruent High Self-Direction. Results indicated that families in the Congruent High Self-Direction profile had the highest levels of youth career aspirations, whereas, educational aspirations were the highest among youth in both the Incongruent and Congruent High Self-Direction profiles. Youth-mother and -father conflict was highest in the Congruent High Self-Direction profile, and youth-father warmth was highest for families in the Differentiated High Physical Activity profile. This study suggested that Mexican American parents work in varied occupational contexts, and these contexts were differentially associated with family relationships and youth's orientations toward the future.
ContributorsWheeler, Lorey A (Author) / Updegraff, Kimberly A (Thesis advisor) / Umana-Taylor, Adriana (Committee member) / Christopher, Scott (Committee member) / Tein, Jenn-Yun (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
Description
Identity theorists have emphasized the importance of integration across identity domains for psychosocial well-being. There remains little research, however, on associations across identity domains, group differences across identity profiles, and the joint association of multiple identity domains with academic outcomes. This dissertation includes two studies that address these limitations in the identity literature. Study 1, examined the ego-social identity profiles that emerged from ethnic identity exploration and commitment, American identity exploration and commitment, and ego identity integration and confusion among an ethnically diverse sample of emerging adults using latent profile analysis (N = 8,717). Results suggested that an eight-profile solution was the best fit for the data. The profiles demonstrated differences in identity status and salience across identity domains. Significant ethnic, sex, nativity, and age differences were identified in ego-social identity membership. Study 2 focused on the ego-social identity profiles that emerged from the same identity domains among biethnic college students of Latino and European American heritage (N = 401) and how these profiles differed as a function of preferred ethnic label. The association of ego-social identity profile with academic achievement and the moderation by university ethnic composition were examined. Results indicated that a two-profile solution was the best fit to the data in which one profile included participants with general identity achievement across identity domains and one profile included individuals who were approaching the identity formation process in each domain. Ego-social identity profile membership did not differ based on preferred ethnic label. Individuals who had a more integrated identity across domains had higher college grades. University ethnic composition did not significantly moderate this association. Taken together, these two studies highlight the intricacies of identity formation that are overlooked when integration across identity domains is not considered.
ContributorsGonzales-Backen, Melinda Airr (Author) / Dumka, Larry (Thesis advisor) / Millsap, Roger (Committee member) / Roosa, Mark (Committee member) / Yoo, Hyung Chol (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2012
Description
This dissertation examines a planned missing data design in the context of mediational analysis. The study considered a scenario in which the high cost of an expensive mediator limited sample size, but in which less expensive mediators could be gathered on a larger sample size. Simulated multivariate normal data were generated from a latent variable mediation model with three observed indicator variables, M1, M2, and M3. Planned missingness was implemented on M1 under the missing completely at random mechanism. Five analysis methods were employed: latent variable mediation model with all three mediators as indicators of a latent construct (Method 1), auxiliary variable model with M1 as the mediator and M2 and M3 as auxiliary variables (Method 2), auxiliary variable model with M1 as the mediator and M2 as a single auxiliary variable (Method 3), maximum likelihood estimation including all available data but incorporating only mediator M1 (Method 4), and listwise deletion (Method 5).
The main outcome of interest was empirical power to detect the mediated effect. The main effects of mediation effect size, sample size, and missing data rate performed as expected with power increasing for increasing mediation effect sizes, increasing sample sizes, and decreasing missing data rates. Consistent with expectations, power was the greatest for analysis methods that included all three mediators, and power decreased with analysis methods that included less information. Across all design cells relative to the complete data condition, Method 1 with 20% missingness on M1 produced only 2.06% loss in power for the mediated effect; with 50% missingness, 6.02% loss; and 80% missingess, only 11.86% loss. Method 2 exhibited 20.72% power loss at 80% missingness, even though the total amount of data utilized was the same as Method 1. Methods 3 – 5 exhibited greater power loss. Compared to an average power loss of 11.55% across all levels of missingness for Method 1, average power losses for Methods 3, 4, and 5 were 23.87%, 29.35%, and 32.40%, respectively. In conclusion, planned missingness in a multiple mediator design may permit higher quality characterization of the mediator construct at feasible cost.
The main outcome of interest was empirical power to detect the mediated effect. The main effects of mediation effect size, sample size, and missing data rate performed as expected with power increasing for increasing mediation effect sizes, increasing sample sizes, and decreasing missing data rates. Consistent with expectations, power was the greatest for analysis methods that included all three mediators, and power decreased with analysis methods that included less information. Across all design cells relative to the complete data condition, Method 1 with 20% missingness on M1 produced only 2.06% loss in power for the mediated effect; with 50% missingness, 6.02% loss; and 80% missingess, only 11.86% loss. Method 2 exhibited 20.72% power loss at 80% missingness, even though the total amount of data utilized was the same as Method 1. Methods 3 – 5 exhibited greater power loss. Compared to an average power loss of 11.55% across all levels of missingness for Method 1, average power losses for Methods 3, 4, and 5 were 23.87%, 29.35%, and 32.40%, respectively. In conclusion, planned missingness in a multiple mediator design may permit higher quality characterization of the mediator construct at feasible cost.
ContributorsBaraldi, Amanda N (Author) / Enders, Craig K. (Thesis advisor) / Mackinnon, David P (Thesis advisor) / Aiken, Leona S. (Committee member) / Tein, Jenn-Yun (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2015
Description
Understanding how adherence affects outcomes is crucial when developing and assigning interventions. However, interventions are often evaluated by conducting randomized experiments and estimating intent-to-treat effects, which ignore actual treatment received. Dose-response effects can supplement intent-to-treat effects when participants are offered the full dose but many only receive a partial dose due to nonadherence. Using these data, we can estimate the magnitude of the treatment effect at different levels of adherence, which serve as a proxy for different levels of treatment. In this dissertation, I conducted Monte Carlo simulations to evaluate when linear dose-response effects can be accurately and precisely estimated in randomized experiments comparing a no-treatment control condition to a treatment condition with partial adherence. Specifically, I evaluated the performance of confounder adjustment and instrumental variable methods when their assumptions were met (Study 1) and when their assumptions were violated (Study 2). In Study 1, the confounder adjustment and instrumental variable methods provided unbiased estimates of the dose-response effect across sample sizes (200, 500, 2,000) and adherence distributions (uniform, right skewed, left skewed). The adherence distribution affected power for the instrumental variable method. In Study 2, the confounder adjustment method provided unbiased or minimally biased estimates of the dose-response effect under no or weak (but not moderate or strong) unobserved confounding. The instrumental variable method provided extremely biased estimates of the dose-response effect under violations of the exclusion restriction (no direct effect of treatment assignment on the outcome), though less severe violations of the exclusion restriction should be investigated.
ContributorsMazza, Gina L (Author) / Grimm, Kevin J. (Thesis advisor) / West, Stephen G. (Thesis advisor) / Mackinnon, David P (Committee member) / Tein, Jenn-Yun (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2018
Description
Ethnic enclaves, or neighborhoods with high ethnic densities, have been linked with positive health outcomes and lower crime rates. Using data from the Pathways to Desistance project, this study tested whether neighborhood Latino concentration prospectively predicted re-offense rates among a sample of Mexican American juvenile offenders (n = 247). Further, I tested whether the effect of neighborhood Latino concentration on re-offense was moderated by ethnic identity, Mexican orientation, and generation status. Covariates included demographics and risk factors for offending. Results showed that neighborhood Latino concentration, ethnic identity, Mexican orientation, and generation status were not predictive of re-offense rates. Gender, risk for offending, and time spent supervised during the follow-up period predicted re-offense rates one year later. The results highlight the importance of risk assessment for this high risk group.
ContributorsBui, Leena (Author) / Chassin, Laurie (Thesis advisor) / Knight, George (Committee member) / Tein, Jenn-Yun (Committee member) / White, Rebecca (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2018