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To date, our knowledge of the effects of exposure to intimate partner violence (IPV) on children's functioning via parenting have relied on individual approaches, effectively placing parents outside of a relationship context, and greatly neglecting to incorporate fathers. The present study addresses these gaps by utilizing a dyadic model to assess how mothers' and fathers' psychological and physical IPV perpetration in early childhood (age 5 years) predicts both their own and each other's parenting in midchildhood (age 7 years) and, in turn, children's social and scholastic competence in late childhood (ages 11-12 years). Such models reflect the current consensus that bidirectional IPV is the most common pattern among couples. The present study involved 175 children (87 females) of 105 mothers and 102 fathers who were originally in the Oregon Youth Study (OYS, N = 206). Simple mediation results suggest maternal involvement in parenting is an important mediational mechanism for the relation between maternal IPV as a perpetrator and victim and childhood competencies. Similarly, father's involvement with parenting served as a mediational mechanism for social competence but only for his own IPV perpetration. Dyadic actor-partner models with maternal and paternal parenting yielded few significant mediational pathways, which is likely partially due to strong shared variance across partners in both IPV and parenting, leaving little unique variance. Overall, results indicated that father's IPV perpetration adds valuable information in explaining child adjustment. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Social-emotional learning (SEL) curricula, such as Second Step, are increasingly being adopted and implemented as universal supports in schools in order to prevent social-emotional and behavioral problems and promote wellbeing and success. Notwithstanding the empirical support for SEL as a universal prevention strategy, a closer look at the literature indicates that students display differential responses to SEL based on their behavioral functioning at baseline; those students with the highest need benefit the most from SEL. The primary purpose of this study was to evaluate whether a widely-adopted SEL program produces significant effects for different theoretically-constructed groups of students who are representative of the full spectrum of students in a school. Using data from a large-scale randomized controlled trial evaluating Second Step, analyses examined the extent to which group membership according to the dual continua model of mental health differentially changed based on whether the student was in the intervention or control condition. Overall, results evidenced significant effects favoring the intervention condition across groups in line with our general hypotheses, although both conditions experienced transitions in membership. As expected, those in the intervention condition experienced greater transition between groups, which was indicative of either treatment or prevention effects. Implications, limitations, and future directions of the findings for SEL programming in schools are discussed.

This study examined the impact of a commonly adopted elementary universal social-emotional learning program, Second Step, on student social-emotional and academic outcomes following 2 years of implementation. The cluster-randomized wait-list control trial included 61 schools, 321 teachers, and 8,941 early elementary students across 2 states, with assessments collected in the fall and spring across 2 years. We developed 8 theoretically derived growth patterns that potentially described the intervention and counterfactual conditions, and then selected the model with the greatest support from the data for each outcome with an information-theoretic approach. Differences between intervention and control groups were tested within the best-fitting model in order to reduce misspecification and maximize generalizability. Most measures fit a pattern in which students improved only during instructional time in school and not during the summer; the data rarely fit the commonly assumed linear growth model. Improvements related to Second Step were observed for emotional symptoms, hyperactivity, skills for learning, and emotion management, but these were modified by either pretest levels or student sex. Condition effects for peer problems were larger for students with initially low ratings and for boys. Boys also showed improvements in conduct problems. Study impacts generally did not depend upon student grade level. The results confirmed the importance of identifying developmentally sensitive trajectories and suggested important implications for Second Step implementation in early elementary grades. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Background Associations of exposure to intimate partner violence (IPV) and parent-to-child aggression (PCA) with child adjustment have not been examined adequately for community samples. Objective To examine main, cumulative, and interactive associations of IPV and PCA (separately for physical and psychological aggression) with four aspects of child adjustment (i.e., externalizing and internalizing behavior; social and scholastic competence). Associations were examined between (a) G1 parent behavior and the adjustment of G2 boys (N = 203) at ages 13–14 years and (b) G2 parent behavior and the adjustment of G3 children (N = 294) at ages 4–5 and 11–12 years. Participants and setting Families in a prospective, multigenerational dataset. Methods Measures included reports by caregivers, children, and teachers. Cross-sectional regression models (controlling for parent socioeconomic status and G3 child gender) examined: (a) main effects of IPV or PCA, (b) the simultaneous (i.e., cumulative) effects of both IPV and PCA, and (c) interactive effects of IPV and PCA (sample size permitting) on each of the child adjustment outcomes. Results When considered simultaneously, PCA (but not IPV) was associated with each aspect of child adjustment. The interaction between PCA and IPV indicated lower G2 adolescent scholastic competence and greater G3 preschool externalizing behavior for children exposed to lower levels of IPV and higher levels of PCA. Conclusion Psychological and physical PCA were associated with child adjustment problems even when accounting for IPV. Findings support the use of evidence-based programs to prevent PCA and PCA-associated child adjustment problems.

Research has consistently linked social-emotional skills to important educational and life outcomes. Many children begin their school careers, however, without the requisite social and emotional skills that facilitate learning, which has prompted schools nationwide to adopt specific curricula to teach students the social-emotional skills that enable them to maintain optimal engagement in the learning process. Second Step® is one of the most widely disseminated social-emotional learning (SEL) programs; however, its newly revised version has never been empirically evaluated. The purpose of this study was to conduct a randomized controlled trial investigating the impact of the 4th Edition Second Step® on social-behavioral outcomes over a 1-year period when combined with a brief training on proactive classroom management. Participants were kindergarten to 2nd grade students in 61 schools (321 teachers, 7300 students) across six school districts. Hierarchical models (time×condition) suggest that the program had few main effects from teacher-reported social and behavioral indices, with small effect sizes. The majority of significant findings were moderated effects, with 8 out of 11 outcome variables indicating the intervention-produced significant improvements in social-emotional competence and behavior for children who started the school year with skill deficits relative to their peers. All the significant findings were based on teacher-report data highlighting a need for replication using other informants and sources of data. Findings provide program validation and have implications for understanding the reach of SEL programs.

Research has consistently linked social-emotional learning to important educational and life outcomes. Early elementary represents an opportune developmental period to proactively support children to acquire social-emotional skills that enable academic success. Using data from a large scale randomized controlled trial, the purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of the 4th edition of Second Step on early elementary students' academic-related outcomes. Participants were Kindergarten to 2nd grade students in 61 schools (310 teachers; 7,419 students) across six school districts in Washington State and Arizona. Multilevel models (Time × Condition) indicated the program had no positive main effect impact on academic outcomes. However, moderator analyses revealed that quality of implementation, specifically a measure of student engagement and dosage, was found to be associated with significant, albeit small, reading and classroom behavior outcomes. Findings from this study provide support for Second Step when implemented in the context of high engagement and higher dosage to have small but potentially meaningful collateral impact on early academic-related outcomes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

Evidence on the intergenerational continuity of intimate partner violence (IPV) suggests small to moderate associations between childhood exposure and young adult IPV involvement, suggesting an indirect effects model. Yet, few prospective studies have formally tested meditational mechanisms. The current study tested a prospective (over 9 years) moderated-mediational model in which adolescent psychopathology symptoms (i.e., internalizing, externalizing, and combined) mediated the association between exposure to IPV in middle childhood and young adult IPV perpetration. In a more novel contribution, we controlled for proximal young adult partner and relationship characteristics. The sample consisted of n = 205 participants, who were, on average, assessed for exposure to parent IPV at age 12.30 years, adolescent psychopathology symptoms at age 15.77 years, and young adult IPV at 21.30 years of age. Data suggest a small, significant direct path from IPV exposure to young adult perpetration, mediated only through adolescent externalizing. Gender moderation analyses reveal differences in sensitivity to exposure across developmental periods; for males, effects of exposure were intensified during the transition to adolescence, whereas for females, effects were amplified during the transition to adulthood. In both cases, the mediational role of psychopathology symptoms was no longer significant once partner antisocial behavior was modeled. Findings have important implications for both theory and timing of risk conveyance.

Bullying prevention efforts have yielded mixed effects over the last 20 years. Program effectiveness is driven by a number of factors (e.g., program elements and implementation), but there remains a dearth of understanding regarding the role of school climate on the impact of bullying prevention programs. This gap is surprising, given research suggesting that bullying problems and climate are strongly related. The current study examines the moderating role of school climate on the impacts of a stand-alone bullying prevention curriculum. In addition, the current study examined 2 different dimensions of school climate across both student and staff perceptions. Data for this study were derived from a Steps to Respect (STR) randomized efficacy trial that was conducted in 33 elementary schools over a 1-year period. Schools were randomly assigned to intervention or wait-listed control condition. Outcome measures (pre-to-post) were obtained from (a) all school staff, (b) a randomly selected subset of 3rd-5th grade teachers in each school, and (c) all students in classrooms of selected teachers. Multilevel analyses revealed that psychosocial climate was strongly related to reductions in bullying-related attitudes and behaviors. Intervention status yielded only 1 significant main effect, although, STR schools with positive psychosocial climate at baseline had less victimization at posttest. Policies/administrative commitment to bullying were related to reduced perpetration among all schools. Findings suggest positive psychosocial climate (from both staff and student perspective) plays a foundational role in bullying prevention, and can optimize effects of stand-alone programs.

Parent management training (PMT) has beneficial effects on child and parent adjustment that last for 5 to 10 years. Short-term changes in parenting practices have been shown to mediate these effects, but the manner in which changes in specific components of parenting are sequenced and become reciprocally reinforcing (or mutually entrained) to engender and sustain the cascade of long-term beneficial effects resulting from PMT has received modest empirical attention. Long-term changes in parenting resulting from the Oregon model of PMT (PMTO) over a 2-year period were examined using data from the Oregon Divorce Study-II in which 238 recently separated mothers and their 6- to 10-year-old sons were randomly assigned to PMTO or a no treatment control (NTC) group. Multiple indicators of observed parenting practices were used to define constructs for positive parenting, monitoring and discipline at baseline, and at 6-, 12-, 18- and 30-months postbaseline. PMTO relative to NTC resulted in increased positive parenting and prevented deterioration in discipline and monitoring over the 30-month period. There were reliable sequential, transactional relationships among parenting practices; positive parenting supported better subsequent monitoring, and positive parenting and better monitoring supported subsequent effective discipline. Small improvements in parenting resulting from PMTO and small deteriorations in parenting in the NTC group may be sustained and amplified by mutually entrained relationships among parenting practices. These data about the change processes engendered by PMTO may provide information needed to enhance the power, effectiveness, and efficiency of behavioral parent training interventions.

With the increased number of schools adopting social-emotional learning (SEL) programming, there is increased emphasis on the role of implementation in obtaining desired outcomes. Despite this, the current knowledge of the active ingredients of SEL programming is lacking, and there is a need to move from a focus on "whether" implementation matters to "what" aspects of implementation matter. To address this gap, the current study utilizes a latent class approach with data from year 1 of a randomized controlled trial of Second Step® (61 schools, 321 teachers, over 7300 students). Latent classes of implementation were identified, then used to predict student outcomes. Teachers reported on multiple dimensions of implementation (adherence, dosage, competency), as well as student outcomes. Observational data were also used to assess classroom behavior (academic engagement and disruptive behavior). Results suggest that a three-class model fits the data best, labeled as high-quality, low-engagement, and low-adherence classes. Only the low-engagement class showed significant associations with poorer outcomes, when compared to the high-quality class (not the low-adherence class). Findings are discussed in terms of implications for program development and implementation science more broadly.

The current study examines the role of economic strain as a moderator of the microsocial processes influencing younger siblings’ delinquency (externalizing behavior and substance use) in a longitudinal design. The younger siblings (122 younger brothers and 122 younger sisters) were from 244 families with same-sex biological siblings. Structural equation modeling was utilized to examine a process model whereby mothers’ harsh/inconsistent parenting and older sibling delinquency influence younger siblings’ delinquent behavior via sibling aggression and delinquent peer affiliation. Findings suggest that indirect mechanisms vary as a function of economic strain, with sibling aggression having a stronger, more detrimental effect on adolescent delinquency in economically strained families. Data suggest that familial economic conditions contextualize the relative roles of parenting, sibling, and peer processes in the transmission of risk to adolescent delinquency.

Effects of intervention with the Oregon model of Parent Management Training (PMTO™) on marital relationship processes and marital satisfaction in recently married biological mother and stepfather couples were examined. Sixty-seven of the 110 participating families were randomly assigned to PMTO, and 43 families to a non-intervention condition. Intervention had reliable positive indirect effects on marital relationship processes 24 months after baseline which in turn were associated with higher marital satisfaction. These indirect effects were mediated by the impact of PMTO on parenting practices 6 months after baseline. Enhanced parenting practices resulting from PMTO prevented escalation of subsequent child behavior problems at school. Consistent with a family systems perspective and research on challenges to marital quality in stepfamilies, improved co-parenting practices were associated with enhanced marital relationship skills and marital satisfaction as well as with prevention of child behavior problems.

Concurrent and longitudinal relations between the amount of romantic experience and psychosocial adjustment were examined in a 1-year study of a community based sample of 200 tenth graders. Adolescents, parents, and friends completed measures of psychosocial adjustment. The amount of romantic experience was associated with higher reports of social acceptance, friendship competence, and romantic competence; at the same time, romantic experience also was associated with greater substance use, more delinquent behavior, and more frequent genital sexual behavior. The amount of romantic experience predicted increased substance use and genital sexual behavior over a 1-year period, whereas social acceptance predicted increased romantic experience. These relations with romantic experience were significant even when genital sexual behavior and social acceptance were taken into account, underscoring the unique contribution of romantic experiences.

We investigated the prospective associations between attitudes about sacrifice and marital outcomes in 38 married couples. Specifically, a measure of satisfaction with sacrifice was proposed to be a potent longitudinal predictor of marital adjustment and distress based on existing cross-sectional studies and also to mediate the association between commitment and marital adjustment. Results demonstrated that attitudes about sacrifice discriminated between couples who would become distressed versus nondistressed over time. Sacrifice attitudes also predicted the maintenance of relationship adjustment over time even better than earlier relationship adjustment. Finally, sacrifice attitudes mediated the link between commitment and relationship adjustment for husbands, but not wives. Implications for intervention are discussed.

This study examines how teacher and staff perceptions of the school environment correlate with student self-reports of bullying, aggression, victimization, and willingness to intervene in bullying incidents using multi-informant, multilevel modeling. Data were derived from 3,616 6th grade students across 36 middle schools in the Midwest, who completed survey measures of bullying, aggression, victimization, and willingness to intervene in bullying situations. Teachers and staff (n = 1,447) completed a school environment survey. Bivariate associations between school-level and student self-reports indicated that as teacher and staff perceive aggression as a problem in their school, students reported greater bully perpetration, fighting, peer victimization, and less willingness to intervene. Further, as staff and teacher report greater commitment to prevent bullying and viewed positive teacher and student relationships, there was less bullying, fighting, and peer victimization, and greater willingness to intervene. In a model where all school environment scales were entered together, a school commitment to prevent bullying was associated with less bullying, fighting, and peer victimization. Student-reports of bully perpetration and peer victimization were largely explained by staff and teacher commitment to bully prevention, whereas fighting and willingness to intervene were largely explained by student characteristics (e.g., gender). We conclude that efforts to address bullying and victimization should involve support from the school administration. School psychologists should play an active role in the school climate improvement process, by creating a school climate council consisting of students, parents, and teachers; administering school climate measures; identifying specific school improvement targets from these data, and engaging all stakeholders in the ongoing school improvement plan.

Community violence exposure results in heightened risk for engaging in and being a victim of interpersonal violence. Despite this robust literature, few studies have specifically examined how the relation between community violence exposure, peer aggression, and victimization is modified by individual, peer, and familial influences (considered jointly). In the current study, we used risk and resiliency theory to examine links between community violence exposure and peer aggression and victimization. Impulsivity and parental monitoring were examined as potential moderators of the link between community violence exposure and outcomes, both directly and indirectly via deviant behavior. Survey data on bullying involvement, fighting, deviancy, parental monitoring, and impulsivity were collected on 3 occasions over an 18-month period among a large cohort of adolescents (N = 1,232) in 5th-7th grades. Structural equation modeling suggests that for both male and female adolescents, impulsivity exacerbates the effects of community violence exposure by increasing involvement in deviant behavior. Parental monitoring buffered the effects of community violence exposure on perpetration and victimization (for males and female adolescents) via reduced involvement in deviant behavior. Findings suggest that impulsivity and parental monitoring are implicated in modifying the effects of community violence exposure on both victimization and perpetration through deviancy, although deviancy is not as potent of a predictor for victimization. Thus, prevention efforts would seem to be optimally targeted at multiple ecological levels, including parental involvement and peer networks.

As a group, children with significant hearing loss are at greater risk than other children for outcomes far below their potential, despite the institution of various educational approaches at increasingly earlier ages. Research suggests some benefits of early intervention for deaf children and their families. However, there remains a paucity of research into how family variables may affect child outcomes. The present study investigated the effect of paternal presence or absence on the social-emotional, language, and academic outcomes of 22 deaf and hard of hearing children ages 43-83 months. The children had graduated anywhere from 9 to 47 months earlier from an early intervention program for deaf and hard of hearing children 3 years of age or younger. Results indicated that children whose father is present have significantly better academic and language outcomes than those without a father present. Possible explanations for the findings are discussed, as well as implications of these findings for services offered by early intervention programs.

Steps to Respect: A Bullying Prevention Program (STR) relies on a social-ecological model of prevention to increase school staff awareness and responsiveness, foster socially responsible beliefs among students, and teach social-emotional skills to students to reduce bullying behavior. As part of a school-randomized controlled trial of STR, we examined predictors and outcomes associated with classroom curriculum implementation in intervention schools. Data on classroom implementation (adherence and engagement) were collected from a sample of teachers using a weekly on-line Teacher Implementation Checklist system. Pre-post data related to school bullying-related outcomes were collected from 1,424 students and archival school demographic data were obtained from the National Center for Education Statistics. Results of multilevel analyses indicated that higher levels of program engagement were influenced by school-level percentage of students receiving free/reduced lunch, as well as classroom-level climate indicators. Results also suggest that higher levels of program engagement were related to lower levels of school bullying problems, enhanced school climate and attitudes less supportive of bullying. Predictors and outcomes related to program fidelity (i.e., adherence) were largely nonsignificant. Results suggest that student engagement is a key element of program impact, though implementation is influenced by both school-level demographics and classroom contexts.

Despite the veritable influence of the peer context on the elaboration of adolescent aggression, few studies of relational aggression have directly identified and measured peer groups, limiting our ability to draw formal conclusions about the level and nature of peer influence. The current study used a developmental framework to examine peer group influence on individual levels of physical and relational aggression over a year with 6th and 7th grade students (n = 346, 51 % female). A multilevel network approach was used in which peer groups were identified via social network analysis, and peer group influence was evaluated with hierarchical linear modeling (HLM). HLM analyses indicated that peer group aggression (physical and relational) at time 1 was predictive of individual aggression levels at time 2 after controlling for other peer group characteristics as well as other individual risk and protective factors. Although both forms of aggression were embedded in peer networks, findings suggest that physical aggression is relatively less endemic to peer networks, and is more likely to occur in smaller, predominantly male networks. The current study highlights the importance of understanding the influence of peer group membership on adolescent aggression and points to important implications for prevention.

The degree to which parent antisocial characteristics moderated the effects of the Oregon model of Parent Management Training (PMTO™) on observed parenting practices over 2 years after baseline was assessed in a sample of recently married biological mother and stepfather couples with at-risk children. Sixty-seven of the 110 participating families were randomly assigned to PMTO, and 43 families to a non-intervention condition. Using an intent-to-treat analysis, PMTO was reliably related to growth in positive parenting and to decreases in coercive parenting. Parent antisocial characteristics moderated the effect of PMTO on coercive but not on positive parenting practices. PMTO resulted in greater reductions in coercive parenting as parent antisocial histories were more extensive, and this moderator effect was found for both mothers and stepfathers. The findings support the effectiveness of PMTO as a preventive intervention for child conduct problems, and indicate that the parenting behaviors of antisocial parents are malleable and serve as important mediators of their impact on child conduct problems.

Relations between parents' depressed mood, marital conflict, parent-child hostility, and children's adjustment were examined in a community sample of 136 ten-year-olds and their parents. Videotaped observational and self-report data were used to examine these relations in path analyses. A proposed model was tested in which mothers' and fathers' depressed mood and marital hostility were associated with children's adjustment problems through disruptions in parent-child relationships. Results showed that both mothers' and fathers' marital hostility were linked to parent-child hostility, which in turn was linked to children's internalizing problems. Fathers' depressed mood was linked to children's internalizing problems indirectly through father-child hostility. Fathers' depressed mood was directly linked to children's externalizing problems and indirectly linked through father-child hostility. For mothers, marital hostility was directly linked to children's externalizing problems, and marital hostility in fathers was indirectly linked to children's externalizing problems through father-child hostility.