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Couples form the foundation of military families. However, on average, couples become significantly less satisfied with their relationships and marriages across the deployment cycle. Reduced satisfaction places partners at risk for psychological distress and family problems. The present study examines the effects of a family based reintegration program aimed at enhancing reflective functioning in recently deployed service members and their home-front partners on relationship satisfaction. Results reveal that most dyads report being satisfied in their relationship at baseline. However, greater couple distress was related to more psychological distress in both partners. For spouses, intervention had a positive, significant effect on relationship satisfaction. Variations in relative risk for couple distress among service members and their spouses highlight the need to assess both partners to clarify risk factors and modifiable targets of intervention. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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]

Introduction: Given the interdependent nature of relationships within the family system, the purpose of this study was to examine the potential role of child-parent psychotherapy (CPP) to extend its positive influence beyond the mother-child relationship within families challenged by maternal depression. Accordingly, we analyzed longitudinal associations between depressive symptoms and marital satisfaction over 3 years in order to evaluate if the benefits of CPP to mother-child attachment security might generalize within the family and indirectly benefit marital relationships.Method: We tested our hypotheses in a randomized control trial of CPP (N = 159 families) to examine the intervention's efficacy in families with mothers with histories of depression since the target child's birth (Mage = 20.4 months, SD = 2.5; 56% boys).Results: Using hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) with an actor-partner interdependence modeling (APIM) framework, the results supported our hypothesis as well as revealed significant associations between depressive symptoms and marital functioning. Specifically, shifts in mothers' depressive symptoms within specific waves of follow-up were associated with corresponding shifts in both their husbands' and their own relationship satisfaction in those same waves. After controlling for those effects, only mothers with a history of depression who received CPP demonstrated slight improvements in relationship satisfaction over the 3 years of the study, suggesting secondary benefits of CPP within the family system.Discussion: Results are discussed in terms of the importance of examining therapeutic processes within the larger family system. Concerning future research, we also suggest examining potential mechanisms through which CPP might influence marital satisfaction. (PsycINFO Database Record [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A group-randomized design tested a mother-daughter intervention in which researchers aimed to increase protective factors in a community sample of Black urban adolescent girls. Girls and their mothers at 2 community agencies were pretested and, by agency, were randomized to either an intervention arm or a control arm. Intervention arm girls and their mothers received a program for improving mother- daughter rapport. Posttest data collected 3 weeks after program delivery revealed that intervention arm mothers and daughters improved more than did control arm mothers and daughters on measures of communication and closeness. At 3-month follow-up, intervention arm mothers, relative to control arm mothers, continued to report better communication with and closeness to their daughters. Girls and mothers in the intervention arm rated the computer program favorably on parameters of enjoyment, comfort, relevance, usefulness of information, improvements to their relationship with one another, and whether they would recommend the computer program to friends. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the study was to elucidate the factors contributing to the severity and persistence of delusional conviction. One hundred participants with current delusions, recruited for a treatment trial of psychological therapy (PRP trial), were assessed at baseline on measures of reasoning, emotions, and dimensions of delusional experience. Reasoning biases (belief inflexibility, jumping to conclusions, and extreme responding) were found to be present in one half of the sample. The hypothesis was confirmed that reasoning biases would be related to delusional conviction. There was evidence that belief inflexibility mediated the relationship between jumping to conclusions and delusional conviction. Emotional states were not associated with the reasoning processes investigated. Anxiety, but not depression, made an independent contribution to delusional conviction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Family psychoeducational programs are efficacious adjuncts to pharmacotherapy for patients with schizophrenic and bipolar disorders, but little is known about what these programs change about families. The authors assessed changes in face-to-face interactional behavior over 1 year among families of bipolar patients who received a 9-month family-focused psychoeducational therapy (FFT; n = 22) or crisis management with naturalistic follow-up (CMNF; n = 22), both administered with maintenance pharmacotherapy. Members of families who received FFT showed more positive nonverbal interactional behavior during a 1-year posttreatment problem-solving assessment than families who received CMNF, although no corresponding decreases were seen in negative interactional behaviors. The positive effect of family treatment on patients' symptom trajectories over 1 year was partially mediated by increases in patients' positive nonverbal interactional behaviors during this same interval. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]