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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
Sexual risk taking is prevalent in adolescence, particularly among Latino teens, and can have serious consequences in the form of contraction of STIs, HIV, and increased risk of unintended pregnancy. Family contexts characterized by conflict and lack of support are antecedents of adolescent sexual risk taking, but evidence elucidating the mechanisms underlying this association is lacking. The current study sought to test two potential pathways to sexual risk taking within the framework of social developmental theory, among a sample of 189 Mexican origin adolescents and their caregivers interviewed in the 7th, 8th, and 12th grades. Structural equation modeling was utilized to examine pathways from 7th grade family risk to age of sexual initiation, number of lifetime sexual partners, and condom nonuse reported in the 12th grade. Deviant peer affiliations and academic engagement at 8th grade were tested as mediators of this relationship for boys and girls. Results confirm the importance of the family context, with family risk exerting direct effects on the number of lifetime sexual partners for both genders, and on age of sexual initiation for females only. Deviant peer affiliations serve as a mediator of family risk for males, but not females. When included in a model alongside deviant peers, academic engagement does not play the hypothesized mediating role between family risk and any of the sexual risk outcomes. Future research ought to consider additional mediators that better account for the relation between family risk and sexual risk taking among females.
ContributorsJensen, Michaeline R (Author) / Gonzales, Nancy A. (Thesis advisor) / Lopez, Vera (Committee member) / Millsap, Roger (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2012