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Well implemented, universal parental support is often effective in families with younger children, but research on their effects on families with adolescent children is scarce. In this study, a trial of the universal parent training intervention Parent Web in early adolescence is added to the social emotional learning intervention Promoting Alternative Thinking Strategies (PATHS (R)), completed in early childhood. The Parent Web is a universal online parenting intervention based on social learning theory. The intervention aims to promote positive parenting and family interaction through five weekly modules completed over 6-8 weeks. The main hypothesis is that participants in the intervention group will exhibit significant pre- to post- intervention-related benefits relative participants in the comparison group. The aims of this study are: 1) provide Parent Web as a booster aimed at improving parenting support and practices at the transition into adolescence to a cohort of parents whose children have previously participated in preschool PATHS, and 2) examine the effects of the universal edition of Parent Web. The study has a quasi-experimental design with pre- and post-testing. The incremental effects of this internet-delivered parent training intervention are tested in parents of early adolescents (11-13 years) who participated in PATHS when 4-5 years old compared to a matched sample of adolescents with no prior experience of PATHS. The primary outcomes are parent reported child behavior and family relationships. Secondary outcomes include self-reported parent health and stress. The proposed study is one of the few trials to test the effects of universal parental support in families of early adolescents and will therefore contribute to the understanding of how mental health in children and young people can be promoted across developmental periods through a continuum of universal measures.

Introduction: Social emotional competence is fundamental to the positive development of children and youth. Accurately understanding and assessing children’s social emotional competencies, using psychometrically sound instruments, are essential to global efforts to support children’s social emotional learning, academic achievements, and health. This study examined the psychometric properties of a teacher-reported measure of young children’s social emotional competence, the Social Competence Scale – Teacher edition (SCS-T), in two samples of children growing up with varied economic resources/conditions, cultural norms, and educational experiences, namely Pakistan (N = 396) and Sweden (N = 309). Methods: Participants were aged 4–6 years old. The study design was cross-sectional. Results and Discussion: Using structural equation modelling, bi-factor confirmatory factor analysis models implying shared variance, among all items and domain-specific shared variance, among the prosocial items, emotion regulation items, and academic skills items resulted in good fitting models in each respective sample. Invariance testing across samples revealed a subset of items from each factor structure with partial scalar invariance, whereby five items had equal thresholds and could be comparable across the two samples. Thus, results provided partial support for hypotheses 1, 2, and 3, in that the posited three factor model (H1) was not clearly supported and a bi-factor model evidenced the best fit, among tested models, for both samples. Further, partial scalar invariance (H3) was found for five items out of 25 items, concerning social competence and academic skills. In regards, to the posited research question, the results of Z-tests showed significant (p < 0.001) latent mean differences between the samples. Compared to the Swedish sample, the Pakistani sample was 1.80 units lower on social competence (z = −6.41, p < 0.001) and 1.86 units lower on academic skills (z = −7.87, p &lt, Funders of the Swedish Study included: combined funding from the Swedish Council for Working Life and Social Research, the Swedish Research Council, Formas, and VINNOVA (dnr: 259-2012-71), the Clas Groschinsky Memorial Fund, and Stockholm University’s Centrum för Kompetensutveckling inom Vård och Omsorg (CKVO).

Early interventions that foster the participation, engagement, and development of children attending preschools, including those in economically disadvantaged (low-income) neighborhoods, are of high priority. One such intervention is a universal socioemotional learning (SEL) program called Promoting Alternative Thinking Strategies (PATHS®) which aims to promote social emotional competence and positive adjustment in children, in general, and may have unique benefits for children attending preschool in low incomes areas. In the SEL field, areas in need of exploration include the possible role that neighborhood income level (i.e., all residents' income in a postal code that a preschool is located in) could have for children's social emotional competence and positive adjustment and how neighborhood income level may relate to benefits of an intervention such as PATHS. The study aims were to investigate 1) the baseline group differences in social emotional competence and adjustment depending on the neighborhood income level and 2) to determine if neighborhood income level moderated the effects of PATHS on children's social emotional competence and adjustment from pre to posttest. Participants were 275 children aged four to five years old, from the preschools randomized into an immediate intervention (n = 145 children) or a wait-list control group (n = 130 children). Overall, 42.9% (n = 118) of the children attended preschools in economically disadvantaged neighborhoods and 57.1% (n = 157) of the children attended preschools in economically advantaged neighborhoods. Children's social emotional competence and adjustment were assessed through child tasks, child observations and teacher reports. The moderation of intervention effects by the preschools' neighborhood income was tested in a series of just-identified structural equation models (SEM) that explored interaction effects (income*PATHS interactions). At baseline, relative to children attending preschool in economically

The preschool edition of Promoting Alternative THinking Strategies (PATHS(R)) is a school-based, teacher implemented universal intervention developed in the United States designed to promote social emotional competence (SEC) in children as a foundation for improved mental health. PATHS is delivered as a curriculum and it is based on theories and research regarding SEC, brain development, and optimal school environments. A majority of children in Sweden attend preschool, which is government-subsidized and follows a national curriculum focusing on both academic and social emotional learning. However, there is not so much focus on formal instruction nor manual-based lessons. The purpose of this study was to assess the short-term (pre- to post-test) effects of PATHS in the Swedish preschool setting. Using a two-wave cluster randomized trial with multi-method and informant assessment (N = 285 4 and 5-year-old Swedish children; n = 145 wait-list control; n = 140 intervention; K = 26 preschools; k = 13 intervention; k = 13 control) we assessed changes in child emotional knowledge, emotional awareness, social problem solving, prosocial play, inhibitory control, and working memory using structural equation modeling (SEM). We included schools with at least one classroom of 4-5-year-old children from three municipalities. We excluded open preschools, parent cooperative preschools, and family day homes. After random assignment, schools were informed of condition assignment. Research team members were not blind to assignment. We hypothesized that relative to children in control schools, children in intervention schools would evidence improvements in social emotional competence as well as other outcomes. Children in PATHS, relative to children in the control, evidenced improvements in working memory and prosocial play, but also showed an increase in hyperactive behaviors. Girls in PATHS, relative to girls in the control, showed improvement in emotional knowledge and reduced anxie

Transition to adulthood in countries that have seen recent historical structural changes in society as well as changes in what it means to be an adult represents important contexts for investigations of ways in which positive development and transition to adulthood are experienced. Situated in such context, this cross-sectional study aimed to (1) describe profiles of positive psychological strengths, as measured by the Five Cs of positive youth development (PYD) and (2) document how identified profiles might differ in relation to other aspects of positive and problematic development. Participants were 272 Romanian emerging adults attending university (76% female; aged 19-29 years old, M-age = 21 years old). Latent class analysis was performed to identify patterns of psychological strengths using the Five Cs theory of positive youth development. Pairwise Wald chi square difference tests were then conducted to determine if the identified Five Cs profiles were associated with significant differences in other key outcomes. Findings indicated that, a two-class model emerged as the best fitting model, and in this model, Class 1 was similar to Class 2 on strengths of competence, confidence, and connection. However, the two classes were distinguishable by caring and character, with Class 2, the numerically more common profile (89%), being elevated on character and caring relative to Class 1 (which was a less frequently occurring profile, 11%). This finding highlights the importance of examining the diversity of positive development, even within the same theoretical framework. Further results indicated that the two identified classes showed similarities in problematic behaviors as well as in purpose in life and psychological complaints. Other group difference tests by profile/class indicated that Class 2 was higher in general and social well-being relative to Class 1, with a trend in the same direction for hope. However, an unexpected finding was that Class 2 was also elevat

The aim of this study was to evaluate the convergent and discriminant validity of adolescent and parent ratings of family interaction. Adolescent and parent ratings of democratic parenting, parental warmth, and adolescent free disclosure were measured using a multitrait–multimethod confirmatory factor analytic approach. Participants included 3,959 Swedish youth in seventh grade (average age 13 years), with follow-up measurements in eighth and ninth grades. At each grade, findings provided support for trait discriminant validity and discriminant validity of methods. However, findings failed to provide support for convergent validity. Overall, the present findings suggest that measurement of family interactions should include the perspectives of both parents and adolescents because their perceptions of family interactions may represent different family interaction constructs.

Previous studies indicate that school climate is important for student health and academic achievement. This study concerns the validity and reliability of the student edition a Swedish instrument for measuring pedagogical and social school climate (PESOC). Data were collected from 5,745 students at 97 Swedish secondary schools. Multilevel confirmatory factor analyses were conducted, and multilevel composite reliability estimates, as well as correlations with school-level achievement indicators, were calculated. The results supported an 8-factor structure at the student level and 1 general factor at the school level. Factor loadings and composite reliability estimates were acceptable at both levels. The school-level factor was moderately and positively correlated with school-level academic achievement. The student PESOC is a promising instrument for studying school climate.

Many Swedish parents report that they tend to employ moderate control as well as frequent use of democratic parenting practices (Trost, 2012). This approach to parenting combined with policy and institutional supports for child and family welfare make the Swedish parenting context in some ways unique and in need of further investigation (e.g., Trost, El-Khouri, & Sundell, 2015). From a measurement perspective, when parents and children in the same family report on the same construct, one is faced with several questions such as are the child and parent reports reflective of the same construct? If yes, then child and parent reports can be modelled or conceptualized as indicators of the same construct. Another possibility is that adolescents’ and parents’ perceptions of a given construct are fundamentally different from one another. A number of options exist in terms of how to conceptualize measurement when parents and children report on the same construct (Bank, Dishion, Skinner, & Patterson, 1990). The results presented in this poster are from a longitudinal study of school climate and mental health (study name and citation blinded for peer review). The sample consists of a cohort of Swedish 7th graders (N=3,932, aged 13-14 years old, 51.8% =female, from 101 schools in eight Swedish regions). At grade 7, using structural equation modelling (SEM), different measurement models of family-related factors were tested, namely democratic parenting (Wray-Lake & Flanagan, 2012), parental warmth (Trost, et al, 2007; Tilton-Weaver et al., 2010), and child-parent communication (Kerr & Statin, 2000). Adolescents in the cohort and one of their parents reported on these constructs at grades 7, 8, and 9. The results presented here are for grade 7. Analyses were conducted with Mplus 7.4 (using Mplus’s robust maximum likelihood estimator, TYPE = COMPLEX in Mplus, to account for the nested nature of responses by school building, and FIML estimation for missing data). Th

This is a three year, quasi-experimental trial of an intervention diffusion framework. There were 11 intervention and 10 control junior high schools located in either a large Swedish city or the Swedish countryside. Multilevel structural equation modeling was used to evaluate a two-level model (1337 students nested in 85 classrooms), outcomes: internalizing and externalizing problems, substance use, socio-emotional competence, and perception of a positive school environment. Results showed that framework-related benefits were predominately shown either for one gender or one gender living in a particular setting. Changes were also primarily of a buffering character, in which a subgroup of comparison participants showed a poorer pattern of change relative to intervention participants. Study results provide evidence for discourse about what is an optimal level of choice for intervention stakeholders to have when implementing interventions and provides an empirical test of a diffusion framework in routine practice, outside of the United States.

Convergence among treatment, prevention, and developmental intervention approaches has led to the recognition of the need for evaluation models and research designs that employ a full range of evaluation information to provide an empirical basis for enhancing the efficiency, efficacy, and effectiveness of prevention and positive development interventions. This study reports an investigation of a positive youth development program using an Outcome Mediation Cascade (OMC) evaluation model, an integrated model for evaluating the empirical intersection between intervention and developmental processes. The Changing Lives Program (CLP) is a community supported positive youth development intervention implemented in a practice setting as a selective/indicated program for multi-ethnic, multi-problem at risk youth in urban alternative high schools. This study used a Relational Data Analysis integration of quantitative and qualitative data analysis strategies, including the use of both fixed and free response measures and a structural equation modeling approach, to construct and evaluate the hypothesized OMC model. Findings indicated that the hypothesized model fit the data (χ2 (7) = 6.991, p = .43; RMSEA = .00; CFI = 1.00; WRMR = .459). Findings also provided preliminary evidence consistent with the hypothesis that in addition to having effects on targeted positive outcomes, PYD interventions are likely to have progressive cascading effects on untargeted problem outcomes that operate through effects on positive outcomes. Furthermore, the general pattern of findings suggested the need to use methods capable of capturing both quantitative and qualitative change in order to increase the likelihood of identifying more complete theory informed empirically supported models of developmental intervention change processes.

This study evaluated the Changing Lives Program intervention in promoting emotion-focused identity exploration (i.e. feelings of personal expressiveness; PE), cognitively-focused identity exploration (i.e. informational identity processing style; INFO), and identity resolution (IDR). Using structural equation modeling techniques, this study found that participation in the CLP was associated with statistically significant positive change in PE (path = .482, p < .043), marginally significant change in INFO (path = .132, p < .083), and significantly moderated change in IDR (IDR X ETHNICITY path = .344, p < .053). Increase in PE scores were also found to be significantly associated with increases in INFO scores (path =.748, p < .001) and marginally significantly associated with increases in IDR scores (path = .379, p < .068). Findings suggest that the CLP intervention may promote increases in cognitively-focused identity exploration and protect against declines in emotion-focused identity exploration.

Social emotional competence is fundamental to the positive development of children and youth. Accurately understanding and assessing children’s social emotional competencies, using psychometrically sound instruments, are essential to global efforts to support children’s social emotional learning, academic achievements, and health. This study examined the psychometric properties of a teacher-reported measure of young children’s social emotional competence, the Social Competence Scale – Teacher edition (SCS-T), in two samples of children growing up with varied economic resources/ conditions, cultural norms, and educational experiences. The samples were from the pretest of a social emotional learning intervention in Pakistan (N = 396) and Sweden (N = 309). Participants were aged four to six years old. The study design was cross-sectional. Using structural equation modelling (SEM), bi-factor confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) models implying shared variance, among all items and domain-specific shared variance, among the prosocial items, emotion regulation items, and academic skills items resulted in good fitting models in each respective sample. Invariance testing across samples revealed a subset of items from each factor structure with partial scalar invariance, whereby five items had equal thresholds and could be comparable across the two samples. The results of Z-tests showed significant ( p <.001) latent mean differences between the samples. Compared to the Swedish sample, the Pakistani sample was 1.80 units lower on social competence ( z = -6.41, p < .001) and 1.86 units lower on academic skills ( z = -7.87, p < .001). Theimplications of these findings in light of efforts to promote positive child development in diverse parts of the world are considered.

Social and emotional competence is fundamental to the positive development of children and youth. Accurately understanding and assessing children’s social and emotional competencies, using psychometrically sound instruments, is essential for global efforts to support children’s social emotional learning and health. This study tested and compared the psychometric properties of a teacher-reported measure of young children’s social and emotional competence (Social Competence Scale, SCS) in two samples of children growing up with varied economic resources/ conditions, cultural norms, and educational experiences. The samples were from the pretest of a social emotional learning intervention in Pakistan (N=396) and Sweden (N=309); participants were aged four to six years old. The study design was cross-sectional. Using structural equation modelling (SEM), bifactor confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) models implying shared variance, among all items and domain-specific shared variance, among the prosocial items, emotion regulation items, and academic skills items resulted in good fitting models in each respective sample. Invariance testing across samples revealed a subset of items from each factor structure with partial scalar invariance, whereby five items had equal thresholds and could be comparable across the two samples. The results of Z-tests showed significant (P=0.000) latent mean differences between the Pakistani and Swedish samples on prosocial, emotional regulation and academic factors. The implications of these findings in light of efforts to promote positive child development in diverse parts of the world are considered.