OBJECTIVE We examined the relative efficacy of an online versus face-to-face (FTF) parenting intervention for reducing the severity of child conduct problems and related parent and child outcomes in 2 randomized controlled trials. METHOD... more
OBJECTIVE We examined the relative efficacy of an online versus face-to-face (FTF) parenting intervention for reducing the severity of child conduct problems and related parent and child outcomes in 2 randomized controlled trials. METHOD In Study 1, rural families (n = 133) with a child 3-9 years of age with a full or subclinical primary diagnosis of oppositional defiant or conduct disorder traveled to Sydney, Australia for a comprehensive assessment and randomization to receive either AccessEI, a 6-10 week online therapist-assisted parenting program, or FTF treatment, whereby they received the same program presented FTF during a 1-week treatment. To control for unavoidable treatment dosage differences in the first study, Study 2 was conducted in which urban families (n = 73) with a child aged 3 to 14 years meeting similar criteria as Study 1 were randomized to receive AccessEI versus FTF treatment. RESULTS In both studies, improvements in severity of child diagnoses and maternal measures of child behavior showed very large effect sizes for both treatments at posttreatment and 3-month follow-up and did not differ across treatment conditions. There were moderate effect sizes for improvements in parent mental health and no differences across treatment conditions. CONCLUSIONS It is concluded that the effects of the therapist-assisted online parenting interventions for the treatment of child conduct problems were similar to a FTF intervention, providing evidence for the effectiveness of an accessible treatment for rural and remote families. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).
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Contemporary theories of early development and emerging child psychopathology all posit a major, if not central role for physiological responsiveness. To understand infants’ potential risk for emergent psychopathology, consideration is... more
Contemporary theories of early development and emerging child psychopathology all posit a major, if not central role for physiological responsiveness. To understand infants’ potential risk for emergent psychopathology, consideration is needed to both autonomic reactivity and environmental contexts (e.g., parent–child interactions). The current study maps infants’ arousal during the face-to-face still-face paradigm using skin conductance (n = 255 ethnically-diverse mother–infant dyads; 52.5% girls, mean infant age = 7.4 months; SD = 0.9 months). A novel statistical approach was designed to model the potential build-up of nonlinear counter electromotive force over the course of the task. Results showed a significant increase in infants’ skin conductance between the Baseline Free-play and the Still-Face phase, and a significant decrease in skin conductance during the Reunion Play when compared to the Still-Face phase. Skin conductance during the Reunion Play phase remained significantly higher than during the Baseline Play phase; indicating that infants had not fully recovered from the mild social stressor. These results further our understanding of infant arousal during dyadic interactions, and the role of caregivers in the development of emotion regulation during infancy.
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Clinical Psychology, Anxiety Disorders, Adolescent, Medicine, Comorbidity, and 15 moreAnxiety, Humans, Child, Female, Male, Abnormal Child Psychology, Analysis of Variance, Behavior Problems, Health surveys, ANXIETY, Anxiety Disorder, Covariation, Attention deficit disorder with hyperactivity, Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and Child behavior disorders
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Humanities and Art
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Parenting interventions based on social learning theory have received extensive empirical support in the treatment of child conduct problems; yet, they fail to produce lasting gains in as many as a third of cases. Perspectives on these... more
Parenting interventions based on social learning theory have received extensive empirical support in the treatment of child conduct problems; yet, they fail to produce lasting gains in as many as a third of cases. Perspectives on these poor outcomes have been informed by numerous lines of research, and practitioner recommendations for improving such outcomes have often emphasized processes related to clinical engagement. In this Practitioner Review, we examine recent theory and evidence pertaining to these processes, including emerging research into the therapeutic relationship across face-to-face and eHealth treatment modalities, and the clinical engagement of both mothers and fathers. The concept of resistance to change is examined in light of these developments, and it is argued that the process of overcoming such resistance can be characterized as one of reflective practice. A novel process model based on this perspective is presented, comprising practical clinical strategies that are designed to be initiated from the earliest contacts with a family and build on one another across treatment.
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Parenting, Child Development, Child Behavior, Humans, Child, and 15 moreChild Behavior Problems, Drug Addiction, Drug Abusers, Follow Up, Families, Methadone, Antisocial Behavior, Narcotics, Conduct Problems, Family Intervention, Methadone Maintenance, Behavioural Problems, Child preschool, Parent Child Relationship, and Medical and Health Sciences
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Psychology, Clinical Psychology, Developmental Psychology, Perception, Adolescent, and 15 moreMedicine, Gender Identity, Marriage, Humans, Child, Personality Development, Female, Male, Abnormal Child Psychology, Child Rearing, Personality Tests, Cooperative Behavior, Developmental and Educational Psychology, Conflict Psychology, and Child behavior disorders
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Background: While side effects of stimulant medication used to treat children for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder have been clinically described as mild but variable, there is little or no research or understanding of biological... more
Background: While side effects of stimulant medication used to treat children for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder have been clinically described as mild but variable, there is little or no research or understanding of biological mechanisms involved. Method: The present short review extends the ‘tonic-phasic’ dopamine hypothesis in terms of prefrontal and subcortical dopamine receptor (D1/D2) imbalance. Results: The minor allele of the dopamine D1 receptor predicts the ‘zombie-like’ motor side effect clinically described in some children treated with stimulant medications. Conclusion: Stimulant side effects may be best understood as reflecting imbalance in parallel cortico-thalamic-striatal circuits, and motor side effects as a result of prefrontal D1/D2 imbalance allowing greater motor inhibitory effects at subcortical D2 receptors. This is a variation of the ‘tonic-phasic’ hypothesis, which takes D1 allelic variation into account.
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Psychology, Working Memory, Adolescent, Medicine, Prefrontal Cortex, and 14 moreDopamine, Humans, Child, Pharmacogenetics, Female, Male, dopamine receptor D4, Dopamine Receptors, Child preschool, Attention deficit disorder with hyperactivity, Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, Stimulant, Central nervous system stimulants, and Pharmacology and pharmaceutical sciences
Behaviour therapy is now beginning to assess the social validity, along with efficacy, of its treatments. Literature dealing with the social validity of parent-training programs is reviewed. The aim of this investigation was to obtain... more
Behaviour therapy is now beginning to assess the social validity, along with efficacy, of its treatments. Literature dealing with the social validity of parent-training programs is reviewed. The aim of this investigation was to obtain acceptability ratings of the “time out” procedure from the perspective of behaviour problem and non-problem children. The study looked at acceptability ratings of five maternal behaviours/disciplinary techniques (permissiveness, physical punishment, directed discussion, quiet time, time out) across four different situations (non-compliance with an initiating instruction, aggression toward others, non-compliance with a terminating instruction, non-compliance with known rule) by samples of clinical (problem behaviour) children and control children. Both groups were alike in rating permissiveness as less acceptable than any of the other behaviours across most situations and rating it as unacceptable in absolute terms. Time out was rated equally acceptable with physical punishment, directed discussion and quiet time. The results support previous findings that young children prefer interventionist to permissive parents, including the use of exclusionary time out. In a second study, ratings were taken from two clinical groups, treatment and waitlist, both at pre- and post-treatment. Despite large individual differences in the treatment group, no change in acceptability ratings was found at post-treatment. Thus, experiencing time out did not change the children's evaluation of this procedure. Possible reasons for these findings and their practical implications are discussed.
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Genetics, Psychology, Adolescent, Medicine, Psychiatric Genetics, and 15 moreHumans, Child, Aggression, Vasopressin, Female, Male, Genetic Association Studies, VASOPRESSIN RECEPTOR, Clinical Sciences, Single Nucleotide Polymorphism, Reproducibility of Results, Allele, Neurosciences, Child preschool, and Genetic predisposition to disease
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This study explored family factors associated with Expressed Emotion (EE) in families with a member diagnosed with schizophrenia. Drawing on an attributional model of expressed emotion it was predicted that high EE relatives would have... more
This study explored family factors associated with Expressed Emotion (EE) in families with a member diagnosed with schizophrenia. Drawing on an attributional model of expressed emotion it was predicted that high EE relatives would have less knowledge of the illness and would attribute negative symptoms to the personality, rather than the illness, of the sufferer. Thirty-one caregivers of schizophrenic patients were interviewed. Results indicated that EE status was related to knowledge, coping and causal attributions of negative symptoms. Low EEs, as compared with High EEs, tended to have more knowledge of the illness and to cope better with the patient, and were less likely to attribute the cause of negative symptoms to the sufferer's personality. Support was therefore obtained for the utility of an attributional model in attempting to understand the determinants of levels of EE.
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Psychology, Personality, Personality Assessment, Family, Adolescent, and 15 moreMedicine, Emotions, Activities of Daily Living, Humans, Female, Male, Attribution, General medicine, Caregivers, Aged, Middle Aged, Adult, EXPRESSED EMOTION, Psychology and Cognitive Sciences, and Medical and Health Sciences
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Psychology, Clinical Psychology, Linguistics, Factor analysis, Child, and 11 moreGoodness of Fit, Confirmatory factor analysis, Validity, STEM (short form), Questionnaires, Convergent Validity, Public health systems and services research, Five Factor Model, Family and child studies, Factor structure, and Factor model
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Psychology, Clinical Psychology, Psychiatry, Mediation, Treatment Outcome, and 14 moreFace recognition (Psychology), Adolescent, Medicine, Emotions, Empathy, Humans, Child, Child Psychopathology, Behavior Therapy, Conduct Disorder, Moderation, Guidance and Counseling Intervention Programs, Psychology and Cognitive Sciences, and Medical and Health Sciences
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Improving knowledge about childhood mental health issues, reducing stigma, and encouraging appropriate treatment-seeking are important goals for public health. This study examined the effect of treatment and malleability information on... more
Improving knowledge about childhood mental health issues, reducing stigma, and encouraging appropriate treatment-seeking are important goals for public health. This study examined the effect of treatment and malleability information on stigmatisation towards children with Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD) and their parents, and on endorsements of causal beliefs. In an experimental study, university students (N = 234) were randomly allocated to receive/not receive treatment information (information on the existence and effectiveness of treatment for ODD) and to receive/not receive malleability information (information emphasising brain malleability and the potential to change). Participants then rated four measures of stigma towards a fictitious child with ODD and mother (blame, incompetence, dangerousness, and social distance), and rated their endorsements of causal explanations for ODD. Neither treatment nor malleability information had significant effects on stigmatisation towards either the child or mother. However, this information did impact upon causal beliefs about ODD as stemming from biological or mixed biological/environmental causes. Implications for the future development of public health initiatives and stigma research on childhood mental health are discussed.
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Clinical Psychology, Cognitive Science, Anxiety Disorders, Mental Health, Australia, and 15 moreChild Clinical Psychology, Adolescent, Medicine, Linear models, Anxiety, Prospective studies, Humans, Child, Correlation, Female, Male, Child and Adolescent Psychology, Depressive Disorder, ANXIETY, and Predictive value of tests
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Psychology, Clinical Psychology, Psychiatry, Epidemiology, Attachment Theory, and 12 moreMedicine, PTSD, Biological Psychiatry, Attachment, Vietnam Veterans, Families, Mental Health and Psychiatry Nursing, Intergenerational Transmission, Offspring, Psychology and Cognitive Sciences, Medical and Health Sciences, and Family emotional climate
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Comments on the review of school-based prevention programs presented by Greenberg Domitrovich, and Bumbarger (2001). The recent history and current status of prevention research are discussed. It is argued that prevention science is... more
Comments on the review of school-based prevention programs presented by Greenberg Domitrovich, and Bumbarger (2001). The recent history and current status of prevention research are discussed. It is argued that prevention science is currently on the political agenda but could easily fade out as it did after the 1970s. To keep it on the agenda, scientists and practitioners need to
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The co-occurrence of conduct problems (CPs) and high callous-unemotional (CU) traits specifies risk for adult psychopathy and is under a high genetic influence. A previous genome-wide pooled DNA study of 7-year olds identified a set of... more
The co-occurrence of conduct problems (CPs) and high callous-unemotional (CU) traits specifies risk for adult psychopathy and is under a high genetic influence. A previous genome-wide pooled DNA study of 7-year olds identified a set of candidate single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) that might differentiate high CP+CU children from healthy children. We attempted to replicate an identified subset of these SNP-psychopathy associations. In a case-control design, 210 clinically referred children were partitioned into Comparison, High CP+Low CU, and High CP+CU groups and genotyped. One SNP, rs13064369, differentiated the groups but was associated with high CP, regardless of the level of CU traits, that is, the rare and heterozygote variants CC and CT were significantly more frequent in both CP groups compared with Comparisons but did not differ from each other. We replicated the finding that a polymorphism associated with the ROBO2 gene, which is involved in neurodevelopment, confers risk for the common emotionally reactive, impulsive aspects of conduct disorder, independent of concurrent risk for psychopathy.
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Genetics, Demography, Biology, Psychopathy, Adolescent, and 15 moreMedicine, Psychiatric Genetics, Antisocial Personality Disorder, Humans, Child, Female, Male, Genetic Association Studies, Conduct Disorder, Clinical Sciences, Adult, Neurosciences, Child preschool, Gene frequency, and Genetic predisposition to disease
Children with callous-unemotional (CU) traits manifest a range of deficits in their emotional functioning, and parents play a key role in socializing... more
Children with callous-unemotional (CU) traits manifest a range of deficits in their emotional functioning, and parents play a key role in socializing children's understanding, experience, expression, and regulation of emotions. However, research examining emotion-related parenting in families of children with CU traits is scarce. In two independent studies we examined emotion socialization styles in parents of children high on CU traits. In Study 1, we assessed parents' self-reported beliefs and feelings regarding their own and their child's emotions, in a sample of 111 clinic-referred and community children aged 7-12 years. In Study 2, we directly observed parents' responding to child emotion during an emotional reminiscing task, in a clinic sample of 59 conduct-problem children aged 3-9 years. Taken together, the results were consistent in suggesting that the mothers of children with higher levels of CU traits are more likely to have affective attitudes that are less accepting of emotion (Study 1), and emotion socialization practices that are more dismissing of child emotion (Study 2). Fathers' emotion socialization beliefs and practices were unrelated to levels of CU traits. Our findings provide initial evidence for a relationship between CU traits and parents' emotion socialization style, and have significant implications for the design of novel family-based interventions targeting CU traits and co-occurring conduct problems.
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Psychology, Clinical Psychology, Education, Autism, Adolescent, and 15 moreMedicine, Social behavior, Oxytocin, Humans, Child, Placebo, Male, Social Skills, Placebos, Randomized Controlled Trial, Social Behavior, Intranasal Administration, Parent‐child Relations, Autistic disorder, and Psychology and Cognitive Sciences
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Psychology, Developmental Psychology, Anxiety Disorders, Personality Assessment, Socialization, and 15 moreMedicine, Anxiety, Marriage, Humans, Child, Aggression, Personality Development, Female, Male, Abnormal Child Psychology, Behavior Problems, ANXIETY, Child preschool, Conflict Psychology, and Child behavior disorders
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Psychology and Empathy
Page 89. Chapter 5 Oppositional and Conduct Problems David J. Hawes and Mark R. Dadds The contemporary media suggests a popular fascination with the nature and origins of antisocial behaviour. Investigative journalism ...
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Discusses the role of the family in the development, treatment and prevention of adolescent depression. Studies have demonstrated that between 21–32% of adolescents report mild to severe symptoms of depression. The research points out the... more
Discusses the role of the family in the development, treatment and prevention of adolescent depression. Studies have demonstrated that between 21–32% of adolescents report mild to severe symptoms of depression. The research points out the need for increased attention to adolescent depression because of its high prevalence, the risk factor for the development of other disorders and suicide, recurrence and tendency to endure into adulthood. Many studies have shown a strong relationship between depressive symptomatology and family factors. Therefore, family interventions should play an important role in the prevention and treatment of adolescent depression. However, there exists a paradox in that the research published to date fails to show that family-intervention programs add to the efficacy of treatments provided to the adolescents. Possible explanations for this paradox are discussed.