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Objective: For implementation of an evidence-based program to be effective, efficient, and equitable across diverse populations, we propose that researchers adopt a systems approach that is often absent in efficacy studies. To this end, we describe how a computer-based monitoring system can support me delivery of the New Beginnings Program (NBP), a parent-focused evidence-based prevention program for divorcing parents. Method: We present NBP from a novel systems approach that incorporates social system informatics and engineering, both necessary when utilizing feedback loops, ubiquitous in implementation research and practice. Examples of two methodological challenges are presented: how to monitor implementation, and how to provide feedback by evaluating system-level changes due to implementation. Results: We introduce and relate systems concepts to these two methodologic issues that are at the center of implementation metliods. We explore how these system-level feedback loops address effectiveness, efficiency, and equity principles. These key principles are provided for designing an automated, low-burden, low-intrusive measurement system to aid fidelity monitoring and feedback that can be used in practice. Discussion: As the COVTD-19 pandemic now demands fewer face-to-face delivery systems, their replacement with more virtual systems for parent training interventions requires constructing new implementation measurement systems based on social system informatics approaches. These approaches include the automatic monitoring of quality and fidelity in parent training interventions. Finally, we present parallels of producing generalizable and local knowledge bridging systems science and engineering method. This comparison improves our understanding of system-level changes, facilitates a program's implementation, and produces knowledge for the field. Public Significance Statement The successful implementation of EBIs has the potential to change critical public health disparities and inequities. We show how social system informatics facilitates the monitoring and feedback on EBFs implementation. Such computational methods enhance implementation's monitoring in an efficient, scalable, and non-obtrusive manner, particularly within the virtual, on-line context generated by COVTD-19 pandemic. Keywords: social systems informatics, implementation science, systems science, computational linguistics, fidelity, To improve population's health requires a directed, systematic, and expedited approach to ensure that evidence-based programs (EBPs) are delivered with a high fidelity at scale. Scientists have built most of [...]

Objectives: This article reports on results from a randomized experimental trial of the effects of the Family Bereavement Program (FBP) on multiple measures of grief experienced by parentally bereaved children and adolescents over a 6-year period. Method: Participants were 244 youths (ages 8-16, mean age = 11.4 years) from 156 families that had experienced the death of a parent. The sample consisted of 53% boys and 47% girls; ethnicity was 67% non-Hispanic White and 33% ethnic minority. Families were randomly assigned to the FBP (N = 135) or a literature control condition (N = 109). Two grief measures, the Texas Revised Inventory of Grief and the Intrusive Grief Thoughts Scale (IGTS) were administered at 4 times over 6 years: pretest, posttest, and 11-month and 6-year follow-ups. A 3rd measure, an adaptation of the Inventory of Traumatic Grief (ITG) was administered only at the 6-year follow-up. Results: Compared with the control group, the FBP group showed a greater reduction in their level of problematic grief (IGTS) at posttest and 6-year follow-up and in the percentage at clinical levels of problematic grief at the posttest. The FBP also reduced scores on a dimension of the ITG, Social Detachment/Insecurity, at 6-year follow-up for 3 subgroups: those who experienced lower levels of grief at program entry, older youths, and boys. Conclusion: These are the first findings from a randomized trial with long-term follow-up of the effects of a program to reduce problematic levels of grief of parentally bereaved youths. Keywords: randomized trial, parentally bereaved youth, grief, parental bereavement, preventive interventions DOI: 10.1037/a0018393

This study examined the relations between perceptions of 133 early adolescents in stepfamilies concerning how much they mattered to their stepfathers and nonresidential biological fathers and adolescents' mental health problems. [...]

To authenticate to the full-text of this article, please visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-6494.2009.00602.x Byline: Sharlene A. Wolchik (1), Clorinda E. Schenck (1), Irwin N. Sandler (1) Abstract: ABSTRACT This article focuses on the contributions that the program of research on the New Beginnings Program (NBP) has made to understanding pathways to resilience in youth who experience parental divorce. First, the research demonstrating that divorce increases risk for mental health, physical health, and social adaptation problems is reviewed. Next, theory and research linking social environmental-level and youth-level modifiable risk factors and resilience resources to youth's postdivorce adjustment are presented. The conceptual framework underlying the NBP and the risk factors and resilience resources targeted in this program are described next. The short-term and long-term results of two experimental, randomized efficacy trials of the NBP and moderators and mediators of its effects are then presented. Analyses that examine whether youth self-systems beliefs account for the links between program-induced changes in family-level resilience resources and positive long-term program on adaptation outcomes are presented and how experimental trials can be used to further theories of resilience for youth facing adversities is discussed. The final section describes directions for future research on the NBP. Author Affiliation: (1)Arizona State University Article note: Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Sharlene A. Wolchik, Prevention Research Center, Arizona State University, P.O. Box 876005, Tempe, AZ 85287-6005. E-mail: sharlene.wolchik@asu.edu.

Using the Posttraumatic Growth Inventory, we examined posttraumatic growth in a sample of 50 adolescents and young adults who had experienced parental death in childhood or adolescence. Longitudinal relations were examined between baseline measures of contextual and intraindividual factors and scores on the posttraumatic growth subscales (i.e., New Possibilities, Relating to Others, Personal Strengths, Spiritual Changes, and Appreciation of Life) six years later. Controlling for time since death, threat appraisals, active coping, avoidant coping, seeking support from parents or guardians, seeking support from other adults, internalizing problems, and externalizing problems were significant predictors of posttraumatic growth. The implications of these findings for research and clinical practice are discussed.

We investigated whether 3 self-system beliefs--fear of abandonment, coping efficacy, and self-esteem--mediated the relations between stressors and caregiver-child relationship quality and parentally bereaved youths' general grief and intrusive grief thoughts. Cross-sectional (n = 340 youth) and longitudinal (n = 100 youth) models were tested. In the cross-sectional model, fear of abandonment mediated the effects of stressors and relationship quality on both measures of grief and coping efficacy mediated the path from relationship quality to general grief Fear of abandonment showed a marginal prospective mediational relation between stressors and intrusive grief thoughts. After excluding the mediators, relationship quality showed a direct prospective relation to intrusive grief thoughts.

This study examines whether program effects on mother--child relationship quality and effective discipline mediated the 6-year longitudinal effects of the New Beginnings Program (NBP) to improve mental health and competence outcomes in 218 adolescents from divorced families in a randomized experimental trial. The NBP is a theory-based and parenting-focused preventive intervention to help children adjust to divorce, and it has previously shown significant main and/or Program X Baseline Risk interaction effects to reduce adolescents' mental health and social adaptation problems and to promote competence. Mediation analyses were conducted using single-and two-group (high and low baseline risk) structural equation modeling. A multiple-methods and multiple-informants approach was used to assess the putative mediators and adolescents' outcomes. Results indicated that program-induced improvement in maternal effective discipline at posttest mediated the intervention effect on adolescents' GPA at the 6-year follow-up. Moreover, program-induced improvement in mother--child relationship quality mediated the intervention effect on adolescents mental health problems for those with high baseline risk for maladjustment. The discussion focuses on the implications of the mediation findings for advancing the developmental theories that informed the design of the NBP and the implications for implementation of the NBP in community settings. Keywords: parenting, mediators, prevention, divorce

To purchase or authenticate to the full-text of this article, please visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8624.2008.01139.x Byline: Qing Zhou (1), Yun Wang (2), Xianli Deng (2), Nancy Eisenberg (3), Sharlene A. Wolchik (3), Jenn-Yun Tein (3) Abstract: The relations of parenting and temperament (effortful control and anger/frustration) to children's externalizing problems were examined in a 3.8-year longitudinal study of 425 native Chinese children (6-9 years) from Beijing. Children's experience of negative life events and coping efficacy were examined as mediators in the parenting- and temperament-externalizing relations. Parents reported on their own parenting. Parents and teachers rated temperament. Children reported on negative life events and coping efficacy. Parents, teachers, children, or peers rated children's externalizing problems. Authoritative and authoritarian parenting and anger/frustration uniquely predicted externalizing problems. The relation between authoritarian parenting and externalizing was mediated by children's coping efficacy and negative school events. The results suggest there is some cross-cultural universality in the developmental pathways for externalizing problems. Author Affiliation: (1)University of California, Berkeley (2)Beijing Normal University (3)Arizona State University Article note: Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Qing Zhou, Department of Psychology, University of California, 3210 Tolman Hall #1650, Berkeley, CA 94720-1650. Electronic mail may be sent to qingzhou@berkeley.edu.

Parental death is I of the most traumatic events that can occur in childhood, and several reviews of the literature have found that the death of a parent places children at risk for a number of negative outcomes. This article describes the knowledge base regarding both empirically supported, malleable factors that have been shown to contribute to or protect children from mental health problems following the death of a parent and evidence-based practices to change these factors. In addition, nonmealleable factors clinicians should consider when providing services for children who have experienced the death of a parent are reviewed. Keywords: parentally bereaved children, risk and protective factors, evidence-based practices

Using a contextual resilience framework, the authors examine the processes whereby bereaved persons change over time. Rather than the concept recovery, the authors propose that the concept adaptation best captures the process of change following bereavement and that the desired outcome of such adaptation is denoted by the term resilience. Adaptation occurs over time and is shaped by environmental and individual level risk and protective factors. By use of a 'contextual resilience' framework, the authors emphasize the central role that person-environment transactions play versus the heavy emphasis on intrapersonal processes in some other approaches to resilience.

Appraisals about the implications of stressful events that are evaluated as involving a threat to self (negative self-evaluation, negative evaluation from others, rejection by others) have been shown to place youth at risk for the development of mental health problems. This longitudinal study tested a protective-stabilizing interactive model, in which high maternal acceptance was predicted to mitigate the prospective relation between threat to self appraisals and change in adolescents' mental health problems six months later. Participants were 89 adolescents from divorced families ages 10-12 and residential mothers. Adolescents reported on threat to self appraisals from the most stressful event experienced in the past month. Mothers and youth reported on maternal acceptance and mental health problems. Multiple regression analyses provided support for the protective effects of maternal acceptance on adolescents' mental health problems. Intervention implications are discussed. Keywords Adolescent mental health problems * Divorced Families * Threat to self appraisals * Maternal acceptance * Resilience

This study examined the contribution of variables in the domains of event, child, and family contextual characteristics to predict children's threat to self-appraisals (negative self-evaluation; negative evaluation by others; rejection from others) for negative events. One hundred and forty-three children ages 8-12 and their mothers who experienced divorce participated in two assessments separated by 5.5 months. Children made appraisal ratings for two events. The domain of child characteristics, assessed at Time 1, uniquely predicted Time 2 threat to self-appraisals. Time 2 event characteristics were significantly associated with Time 2 threat to sell-appraisals. The family contextual characteristics domain was not a unique predictor. Implications of these findings are discussed. doi: 10.1300/J087v48n01_01 [Article copies available for a fee from The Haworth Document Delivery Service: 1-800-HAWORTH. E-mail address: Website: [c] 2007 by The Haworth Press, Inc. All rights reserved.] KEYWORDS. Children's mental health problems, divorced families, threat to self-appraisals

Byline: Jenn-Yun Tein (1), Irwin N. Sandler (1), Tim S. Ayers (1), Sharlene A. Wolchik (1) Keywords: Mediation; Preventive intervention; Bereavement Abstract: This study presents an analysis of mediation of the effects of the Family Bereavement Program (FBP) to improve mental health outcomes of girls at 11 months following program participation. The FBP was designed based on a theory that program-induced change in multiple child and family level mediators would lead to reductions in children's mental health problems. Mediational models were tested using a three wave and a two wave longitudinal design. Using a three wave longitudinal design, FBP effects on three variables at T2 (increased positive parenting, decreased negative events, and decreased inhibition of emotional expression) were found to mediate the effects of the FBP on mental health problems at 11-month follow-up. Using a two-wave longitudinal design, support was found for FBP effects on three additional variables at 11-month follow-up (increased positive coping, decreased negative thoughts about stressors, and decreased unknown control beliefs) to mediate program effects to reduce mental health problems at 11-month follow-up. The discussion focuses on theoretical explanations for the mediational effects and on implications for identifying 'core components' of the FBP that are responsible for its effects to reduce mental health problems of girls. Author Affiliation: (1) Prevention Research Center and Department of Psychology, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, USA Article History: Registration Date: 30/03/2006 Online Date: 08/06/2006

Investigated whether three self-system beliefs, fear of abandonment, coping efficacy, and self-esteem, mediated the relations of stressors and caregiver-child relationship quality with concurrent and prospective internalizing and externalizing problems in a sample of children who had experienced parental death in the previous 2.5 years. The cross-sectional sample consisted of 340 children ages 7-16 and their surviving parent/current caregiver; the longitudinal analyses employed a subset of this sample that consisted of 100 children and their parents/caregivers who were assessed at three time points. A multirater, multimethod measure of caregiver-child relationship quality and a multirater measure of children's mental health problems were used. The cross-sectional model supported a mediational relation for fear of abandonment, coping efficacy, and self-esteem. The three-wave longitudinal model showed that fear of abandonment at Time 2 mediated the relation between stressors at Time 1 and internalizing and externalizing problems at Time 3. Implications of these findings for understanding the development of mental health problems in parentally bereaved children and designing interventions for this at-risk group are discussed. KEY WORDS: mental health problems of parentally bereaved children; negative life events; self-system beliefs; fear of abandonment; self-esteem; coping efficacy.

Positive parenting was examined as a protective resource against the adverse effects of negative life events on parentally bereaved children's mental health problems. The sample consisted of 313 recently bereaved children ages 8 to 16 and their current caregiver. Both the compensatory (direct effect independent of negative life events) and the stress-buffer (interactive effect with negative life events) protective resource models were examined and child gender was explored as a moderator of both models. Results revealed evidence for the compensatory protective resource model for both child and caregiver reports of mental health problems. No evidence of the stress-buffer model or child gender as a moderator was found. Implications for the understanding of children's responses to the death of a parent and the development and implementation of preventive interventions are discussed.

A Prevention Service Development Model (PSDM) is presented as an approach to develop prevention programs that are both effective and that are readily adopted for implementation in community settings. The model is an integration of concepts and methods from two fields, prevention research and marketing research as applied to new service development. Questions that are posed at each stage of the PSDM are described. Studies from the development of two preventive interventions are presented to illustrate research at several of the stages of the model. KEY WORDS: effective prevention services.

This study presents a reanalysis of data from an effective preventive intervention for children from divorced families (S. A. Wolchik et al., 2000) to test mediation of program effects. The study involved 157 children, age 9-12 years, who were randomly assigned to a parenting program or a literature control condition. Program effects to reduce posttest internalizing problems were mediated through improvement in mother--child relationship quality. Program effects to reduce externalizing problems at posttest and 6 months were mediated through improvement in posttest parental methods of discipline and mother-child relationship quality. The study also describes a new methodology to test mediation of Program x Baseline Status interactions. Analyses demonstrate mediation effects primarily for children who began the program with poorer scores on discipline, mother-child relationship quality, and externalizing problems.

Program by risk interactions were assessed to evaluate whether the long-term effects of two preventive interventions for children from divorced families were moderated by baseline levels of risk. Six-year prospective relations between childhood (ages 9-12) and adolescence (ages 15-19) were examined in 68 children who comprised the control group of a randomized trial. Analyses indicated that two childhood variables predicted multiple adolescent outcomes: environmental stressors and externalizing problems. A risk index composed of these 2 variables was highly predictive of internalizing and externalizing problems, competence, substance use, and mental disorder 6 years later. Analyses of the full sample (N = 218) indicated that program effects were greater for children with higher risk scores and that the programs attenuated the relation between risk and adolescent internalizing and externalizing problems, competence, and mental disorder. KEY WORDS: prevention; parental divorce; program moderators; adolescent adjustment.

This paper has two primary objectives. The first is to assess the current status of efforts to prevent mental health problems in children of divorce by highlighting the importance of using theory in the design and evaluation of prevention programs and by reviewing the empirical research on the efficacy of programs to improve outcomes for children of divorce. The second objective is to propose two future directions for advancing theory--based preventive interventions for children of divorce: (a) improving our understanding of the theoretical mechanisms underlying prevention program effects, and (b) bridging the gap between the current evidence of program efficacy and the development of a public health strategy to reduce the negative outcomes experienced by children of divorce.

Parentally bereaved children's locus of control and self-esteem were examined as stress-moderators or stress-mediators of their internalizing and externalizing mental health problems. Seventy-six children ages 8 to 16 and their surviving parent were assessed 4 to 34 months after the death. Stress, locus of control, and self-esteem were measured by child report questionnaires. Internalizing and externalizing mental health problems were measured by child report on both questionnaires and a structured interview and by parent report questionnaires. The results revealed that self-esteem was a significant mediator of the relations between stress and both child and parent reports of internalizing problems but not externalizing problems. No significant mediation affects were found for locus of control. Neither locus of control nor self -esteem was a significant moderator of the relations between stress and children's internalizing and externalizing problems. Implications for understanding parentally bereaved children's mental health problems and for developing preventive interventions are discussed.

This article presents an experimental evaluation of the Family Bereavement Program (FBP), a 2-component group intervention for parentally bereaved children ages 8-16. The program involved separate groups for caregivers, adolescents, and children, which were designed to change potentially modifiable risk and protective factors for bereaved children. The evaluation involved random assignment of 156 families (244 children and adolescents) to the FBP or a self-study condition. Families participated in assessments at pretest, posttest, and 11-month follow-up. Results indicated that the FBP led to improved parenting, coping, and caregiver mental health and to reductions in stressful events at posttest. At follow-up, the FBP led to reduced internalizing and externalizing problems, but only for girls and those who had higher problem scores at baseline.

Comprehensive programs for divorced mothers and their children can prevent many of the adverse effects of divorce, including mental health problems, teenage pregnancy, substance abuse, and dropping out of school. This was the conclusion of a study of 218 families. The programs consisted of 11 two-hour sessions with a trained counselor and were based on social learning and cognitive-behavioral therapy.

This study examines whether fear of abandonment mediates the prospective relations between divorce stressors and mother-child relationship quality and adjustment problems of children of divorce. Participants were 216 children, ages 8-12, and their primary residential mothers. Children reported on divorce stressors and fear of abandonment; mothers and children reported on mother-child relationship quality and internalizing and externalizing problems. Structural equation models indicated that Time 1 fear of abandonment mediated the relation between Time 1 divorce stressors and Time 2 internalizing and externalizing problems. Time 1 fear of abandonment also mediated the relation between Time 1 mother-child relationship quality and Time 2 internalizing and externalizing problems. Implications of these results for understanding variability in children's postdivorce adjustment problems and interventions for divorced families are discussed. KEY WORDS: children's postdivorce adjustment problems; fear of abandonment; mediators of postdivorce adjustment.

This article discusses the development and validity of the Stepfamily Events Profile, a tool used to identify child maladjustment risk. Topics include self esteem, family structure, and parent-child relationships.

This study examined predictors of intervention-induced resilience in children of divorce whose mothers participated in a preventive parenting program. Contextual, maternal, and child factors were examined as predictors of improved child adjustment using two strategies: (a) within-group analyses conducted with program participants and (b) between-group analyses, in which relations in the parenting intervention were compared with those in a control condition. Between-group analyses showed that children were less likely to maintain program gains in externalizing when maternal demoralization was high or when children's self-regulatory skills were low. Implications for program modification and methodology for studying predictors of program benefit are discussed.

A study was conducted to analyze demographic and psychosocial predictors of mothers' legal custody preference during a divorce. Variations in demographic and psychological concerns among mothers who preferred joint legal custody were also examined. Results indicated that a mother's views on the parenting style of her ex-husband forecasted legal custody preference. Findings also showed that mother's guilt was not associated with the legal custody preferences.

In a three-stage study, noncustodial parents' psychopathic deviance and alcohol use accounted for significant variance in custodial parents' reports of child support and visitation. In noncustodial parents' reports, compliance with child support, but not frequency of visitation, was related to measures of deviance. Implications for policy, research, and psychoeducational interventions are discussed.

Visitation problems after divorce are extremely common for both residential and nonresidential parents. Both the parents find little relation between the visitation problems and the amount of visitation. The perception of the residential parents is related to emotional stress about the divorce in its early stages and concern over the parenting ability of the ex-spouses. Their perception of the problem also relates to the children being spoiled and the visiting parent being a bad influence during visitation. Nonresident parents relate problems to the little cooperation of the residential parents regarding visitation.

The purpose of this study was to determine if the quality of children's relationships with their primary residential parents interacts with interparental conflict to predict children's postdivorce psychological adjustment problems. It was predicted that a high quality relationship would moderate the relation between inter-parental conflict and children's psychological adjustment problems such that this relation would be significantly attenuated for children with high quality relationships, defined in terms of high levels of acceptance and high quality communication. No support was found for this hypothesis. Implications of these findings for the development of preventive intervention programs and directions for future research are discussed.

A study of the impact of commonly studied divorce variables on the level of adjustment by children in the post-divorce period using an ecological perspective reveals considerable variance of overall composite scores including the microsystem and exosystem level in children's self-reported adjustment and self-esteem. The study highlights the need to add new variables in studies reporting children's adjustment. The ecological model uses a three system model that includes ontogenic system, microsystem and exosystem to study children's post-divorce adjustment.

Examined efficacy of an empirically based intervention using 70 divorced mothers who participated in a 12-session program or a wait-list condition. The program targeted five putative mediators: quality of the mother-child relationship, discipline, negative divorce events, contact with fathers, and support from nonparental adults. Posttest comparisons showed higher quality mother-child relationships and discipline, fewer negative divorce events, and better mental health outcomes for program participants than controls. More positive program effects occurred for mothers' than children's reports of variables and for families with poorest initial levels of functioning. Analyses indicated that improvement in the mother-child relationship partially mediated the effects of the program on mental health.

The fear of abandonment is positively related to child or parent reports of adjustment problems, and maternal blame beliefs were mildly related to child-adjustment reported by parents. These findings were made after a study that investigated the effects of negative divorce occurrences. Four kinds of divorce theories about the problems of coping with divorce faced by 35 inner city deprived children were used.

Negative cognitive errors concerning hypothetical negative divorce events were correlated with anxiety, self-esteem and behavior problems among children of divorced parents, and positive illusions were correlated with lower aggression. The study involved 38 children aged eight to 12 whose parents had divorced within the past two years. Negative cognitive errors measured included catastrophizing, overgeneralizing and personalizing; positive illusions were high self-regard, personal control and optimism.

Beliefs about whether locus of control mediates the relationship between negative divorce-related events and children's adjustment were explored in a group of 78 children and their primary residential parents. In the children's self-reports of adjustment, locus of control was found to be a partial mediator in the relationship. Analyses of the parents' reports of the children's adjustment did not support a mediational model.

Examined the relations between support from intimate friends or 'chums' and stress, age, and gender in predicting psychological adjustment using a sample of 117 8- to 15-year old children who had experienced parental divorce. Both parents and children provided information on children's adjustment. In predicting children's reports of their adjustment, the direct effect of chum support was found to be moderated by children's age. In predicting parental reports of children's adjustment, no significant main effects or interaction effects occurred. The findings are discussed with attention to the divergent perspectives of different reporters

Our comments on the discussion of mediational screening for prevention research highlight two issues: (a) There are advantages to giving a high priority to theory in a strategic suquence of prevention research studies. (b) Screening to identify a subgroup that is experiencing problems on processes the program is designed to change may be useful in accomplishing specific goals within an overall strategy of prevention research studies.

Prevention programs in mental health theoretically can benefit from selecting participants who have a greater likelihood of developing psychological problems because of their exposure to the putative mediators targeted for change in an intervention. Screening on mediators may increase statistical power to detect program effects, enhance the cost-effectiveness of intervention trials, and decrease the possibility of iatrogenic effects. The circumstances that optimize the strategy of screening on the basis of mediating variables are discussed, and data are presented to illustrate the development of a mediational selection strategy to identify families who might best benefit from a preventive intervention for children of divorce. In addition, we present evidence that adjustment problems for children experiencing a divorce, as with most mental health problems, are not the result of one specific factor, but are jointly determined by several mediating processes that occur subsequent to the divorce. The mediational selection strategy developed illustrates the utility of measuring a set of mediational processes central to conferring risk for mental health problems to children of divorce.

Studied the relations between postdivorce events and maladjustment of children of divorce using a two-dimensional model of events. One dimension concerned the stability of events and included whether they were increases, decreases, or the continuation of stable conditions. The second dimension was quality, and included whether they had a positive or negative valence. Two samples of children of divorce (ns = 142 and 64) ages 8-15 were studied. Children's overall maladjustment as reported by children and parents were the criterion variables. Scores were derived from a life events schedule for children of divorce to assess the occurrence and stability of positive and negative divorce-related events. The relations between events scores and maladjustment were different when children's self-reports and parent reports were used as criterion. In predicting children's self-reported maladjustment (a) stable positive events but not changes in positive events were related to lower maladjustment (b) increased negative events were related to higher maladjustment, and (c) change for the worse was related to higher maladjustment. In predicting parent reports of children's maladjustment, only the relations of the change for the worse score were replicated. Implications of the results for the design of preventive interventions and for the study of children in stressful situations are discussed.

Most previous research documenting the frequent abandonment by fathers of contact with their children has been based on survey responses of custodial mothers. The present survey of 220 divorcing couples revealed that the noncustodial parents reported significantly more visits with their children, as well as significantly more denial of visitation by their ex-spouses, than did the custodial parents.

This study evaluated the efficacy of 2 theory-based preventive interventions for divorced families: a program for mothers and a dual component mother-child program. The mother program targeted mother-child relationship quality, discipline, interparental conflict, and the father-child relationship. The child program targeted active coping, avoidant coping, appraisals of divorce stressors, and mother-child relationship quality. Families with a 9- to 12-year-old child (N = 240) were randomly assigned to the mother, dual-component, or self-study program. Postintervention comparisons showed significant positive program effects of the mother program versus self-study condition on relationship quality, discipline, attitude toward father-child contact, and adjustment problems. For several outcomes, more positive effects occurred in families with poorer initial functioning. Program effects on externalizing problems were maintained at 6-month follow-up. A few additive effects of the dual-component program occurred for the putative mediators; none occurred for adjustment problems.