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A prevention trial was conducted to evaluate a temperament-based intervention (INSIGHTS into Children's Temperament) as compared to a Read Aloud attention control condition in reducing behavior problems among inner city children. The participants were 148 inner-city first and second grade children, their parents, and their 46 teachers who were from six schools in a Northeastern city. Parents were interviewed on the Parent Daily Report at baseline and every two weeks until the completion of the intervention phase to assess the extent of child problem behaviors in the home. The parents also were interviewed at baseline with the Disruptive Module of the Diagnostic Interview for Children and completed the Brief Symptom Index to assess parental depression.A repeated measures multivariate analysis of covariance with parental depression as a covariate was conducted to examine the children's behavior over the course of the intervention. In order to test the impact of INSIGHTS for the overall sample and to determine whether the intervention was differentially effective for children diagnosed with a disruptive disorder versus those who did not receive a diagnosis, two and three-way interactions were examined and found to be significant. The INSIGHTS intervention was more effective than Read Aloud in reducing children's problem behaviors at home across both the diagnosed and non-diagnosed groups, but demonstrated a significantly greater efficacy among children who were at diagnostic levels compared to those who were within normal levels. Editors' Strategic Implications: The authors describe the promising practice of instructing parents and teachers on how to adapt their behavior management strategies to fit each child's temperament. Replication with a longitudinal follow-up will be necessary to determine whether program effects persist.

The present study examines the role of anger and victimization in women's use of aggression in heterosexual intimate relationships. The sample was composed of 108 women, primarily African American, urban, and poor, who had used violence against a partner in the previous 6 months. Path modeling was used to examine the interrelationships among anger, women's aggressive behavior, victimization, childhood abuse experiences, and symptoms of posttraumatic stress and depression. Results revealed that almost all of the women experienced violence from their partners. Greater frequency of victimization from partners and experiences of childhood abuse increased the likelihood that women would use aggression against their partners. Victimization from partners and childhood abuse also increased the likelihood that women would experience symptoms of posttraumatic stress and depression. Women with more symptoms of posttraumatic stress were also more likely to express anger outwardly towards others. Expressing anger outwardly toward others, in turn, predicted an increased likelihood of using aggression against partners.

This study examined patterns of substance use throughout adolescence. A cluster analytic approach was used to identify subgroups of adolescents on the basis of their levels of substance use from early through late adolescence (Grades 6 through 11). Six distinct clusters of substance users emerged-2 groups representing relatively stable patterns of substance use from early through late adolescence (ie., nonusers and alcohol experimenters), and 4 groups of users showing escalating patterns of substance use (i.e., low escalators, early starters, late starters, and high escalators). The study provides a comprehensive view of adolescent substance use by examining the progression of use from early to late adolescence, demonstrates the usefulness of studying patterns of use across multiple substances, and underscores the importance of building classification schemes based on repeated measurements of substance use to reflect changes over time. Implications of the findings for future research and for identifying high-risk subgroups of adolescents for purposes of intervention based on timing and pattern of escalation are discussed.