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The stress of multiple deployments and exposure to combat places service members at risk for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which may detrimentally affect parenting. Evidence-based parenting programs have been successful in promoting adaptive parenting practices among families exposed to stress. However, the effects of preventive interventions on parenting may vary by military parent's PTSD. The current study includes families who participated in a randomized controlled trial of a parenting intervention for military families known as After Deployment, Adaptive Parenting Tools (ADAPT). Families were randomized to either a 14-week, group-based parenting program or a comparison group. Participants included families with 4- to 12-year-old children in which at least 1 parent deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan (N = 336; 945 individuals). Structural equation modeling was used to examine parent self-reported PTSD as a potential moderator of the relationship between intent-to-treat status and effective parenting practices 12 months postbaseline while accounting for baseline effective parenting, length and number of deployments, and family demographics. Father PTSD was a significant moderator, such that the intervention was less effective for fathers who met clinical levels of PTSD. No significant moderation effects were found among mothers. These findings may have important implications for the development of future evidence-based parenting programs. (PsycINFO Database Record [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using a randomized, intent-to-treat design, this pilot study examined the feasibility and short-term effects of Siblings Are Special (SIBS) with a sample of 54 low-income Latino families (91% Mexican-origin). Participants were older (M = 10.8 years; SD = .46) and younger siblings (M = 8.4 years; SD = 1.13), and their parents (94% biological mothers), who were randomly assigned within school to the intervention (n = 28) or no-attention control (n = 26) condition. The intervention condition included 12 weekly afterschool sessions (90 min each) for sibling pairs and 3 family nights for parents and siblings (2 hr each). SIBS was designed to enhance sibling relationships via 2 primary intervention targets: (a) children’s capacities that underlie positive sibling dynamics, including relationship skills, cognitions, and shared activities; and (b) parenting of siblings, specifically, enhancing positive guidance and involvement and discouraging authoritarian control. Pre- and posttest data were gathered from siblings and parents. Recruitment and implementation data revealed high rates of attendance and completion, and high ratings of parent satisfaction with the program. Further, analyses suggested the program had positive effects of small to modest magnitude on posttest measures of sibling and parent–child relationship quality, parenting of siblings, older siblings’ emotional efficacy, and parents’ depressive symptoms and parenting stress, controlling for pretest levels of all outcomes and family background characteristics. Discussion addresses the feasibility of sibling-focused programs with low-income Latino families and makes recommendations for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Family-centered prevention programs are understudied for their effects on adolescent depression, despite considerable evidence that supports their effectiveness for preventing escalation in youth problem behavior and substance use. This study was conducted with 2 overarching goals: (a) replicate previous work that has implicated the Family Check-Up (FCU), a multilevel, gated intervention model embedded in public middle schools, as an effective strategy for preventing growth in adolescent depressive symptoms and (b) test whether changes in family conflict may be an explanatory mechanism for the long-term, protective effects of the FCU with respect to adolescent depression. This trial was conducted with 593 ethnically diverse families who were randomized to intervention (offered the FCU) or middle school as usual. Complier average causal effect (CACE) analysis revealed that engagers in the FCU evidenced less growth in depressive symptoms and family conflict from 6th through 9th grade, and post hoc analyses indicated that the FCU is related to lower rates of major depressive disorder. The second set of analyses examined family conflict as a mechanism of change for families who participated in the FCU. Families who reported short-term intervention benefits had significantly less escalation in family conflict over the middle school years; in turn, growth in family conflict explained risk for adolescent depressive symptoms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Perceived criticism (PC) is a measure of how much criticism from 1 family member "gets through" to another. PC ratings have been found to predict the course of psychotic disorders, but questions remain regarding whether psychosocial treatment can effectively decrease PC, and whether reductions in PC predict symptom improvement. In a sample of individuals at high risk for psychosis, we examined a) whether Family Focused Therapy for Clinical High-Risk (FFT-CHR), an 18-session intervention that consists of psychoeducation and training in communication and problem solving, brought about greater reductions in perceived maternal criticism, compared to a 3-session family psychoeducational intervention; and b) whether reductions in PC from baseline to 6-month reassessment predicted decreases in subthreshold positive symptoms of psychosis at 12-month follow-up. This study was conducted within a randomized controlled trial across 8 sites. The perceived criticism scale was completed by 90 families prior to treatment and by 41 families at 6-month reassessment. Evaluators, blind to treatment condition, rated subthreshold symptoms of psychosis at baseline, 6- and 12-month assessments. Perceived maternal criticism decreased from pre- to posttreatment for both treatment groups, and this change in criticism predicted decreases in subthreshold positive symptoms at 12-month follow-up. This study offers evidence that participation in structured family treatment is associated with improvement in perceptions of the family environment. Further, a brief measure of perceived criticism may be useful in predicting the future course of attenuated symptoms of psychosis for CHR youth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined gender and ethnicity as moderators of Multidimensional Family Therapy (MDFT) effectiveness for adolescent drug abuse and illustrated the utility of integrative data analysis (IDA; Bauer & Hussong, 2009) for assessing moderation. By pooling participant data from 5 independent MDFT randomized clinical trials (RCTs), IDA increased power to test moderation. Participants were 646 adolescents receiving treatment for drug use, aged 11 to 17 years (M = 15.31, SD = 1.30), with 19% female (n = 126), 14% (n = 92) European American, 35% (n = 225) Hispanic, and 51% (n = 329) African American. Participants were randomized to MDFT or active comparison treatments, which varied by study. Drug use involvement (i.e., frequency and consequences) was measured at study entry, 6-, and 12-months by a 4-indicator latent variable. Growth curve change parameters from multiple calibration samples were regressed on treatment effects overall and by moderator subgroups. MDFT reduced drug use involvement (p < .05) for all participant groups. Pooled comparison groups reduced drug use involvement only for females and Hispanics (ps < .05). MDFT was more effective than comparisons for males, African Americans, and European Americans (ps <.05; Cohen's d = 1.17, 1.95, and 1.75, respectively). For females and Hispanics, there were no significant differences between MDFT and pooled comparison treatments, Cohen's d = 0.63 and 0.19, respectively. MDFT is an effective treatment for drug use among adolescents of both genders and varied ethnicity with males, African American, and European American non-Hispanic adolescents benefitting most from MDFT. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Federal regulations, ethical standards, and state laws governing ethics do not adequately address important issues in couple and family research. Including multiple family members, particularly dependent minors, in research requires the special application of fundamental ethical issues, such as confidentiality, privacy, and informed consent. The sensitive, com mingled nature of couple and family information necessitates clear policies about data ownership and disclosure. Researchers need to have respect for the family as a unit and to evaluate benefits versus harms for the family as well as for individuals. This article highlights areas of potential concern and ambiguity related to abuse reporting and Certificates of Confidentiality and also addresses ethical issues with observational data, intervention studies, longitudinal designs, and computer-assisted research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The nonindependent components of couple data require data-analytic strategies tailored to the interpersonal processes occurring between relationship partners. This article examines the benefits of a specifically dyadic analytic method, the actor-partner interdependence model. (APIM), for evaluating interpartner influence across time. Both conceptual and methodological features of the APIM are exemplified by applying this model to observations of negative and positive affect and global distress in spouses participating in a randomized trial of couple therapy. In addition to elucidating specific advantages of the APIM relative to alternative data-analytic strategies, the current results shed new light on previous findings from a comparative treatment outcome study evaluating behavioral and insight-oriented approaches to couple therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Qualitative approaches have much to offer family psychology. Among the uses for qualitative methods are theory building, model and hypothesis testing, descriptions of lived experiences, typologies, items for surveys and measurement tools, and case examples that answer questions that surveys cannot. Despite the usefulness of these products, issues related to generalizability, subjectivity, and language, among others, block some researchers from appreciating the contributions that qualitative methods can make. This article provides descriptions of procedures that lead to these useful products and discusses alternative ways of understanding aspects of qualitative approaches that some researchers view as problematic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As part of a multilevel systemic approach, the authors appearing in this journal suggest implications for social policy and legislation extrapolated from the individual, family, legal, and larger sociocultural systems discussed. The field of family psychology can play a significant leadership role in advocating policies and legislation relevant to the emerging family types and legal dilemmas based on empirical findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]