Many children experience symptoms of mental health problems and a significant proportion reach clinical thresholds of psychological disorder. It has been argued that the rising incidence of these problems and widespread failure to scale effective treatments for those in need means that prevention and early intervention in the development of emotional and behavioural problems is a public health priority. Child development is shaped by many forces, including for example parenting and peer relationships, this PhD is very specifically interested in the consequences of stress for children’s emotions and behaviour. Although the effects of stress are largely deemed negative, striking individual differences are almost universally observed. In the context of equivalent stressors, some children experience poorer outcomes, some remain relatively unaffected and others appear to experience better outcomes. Understanding what causes these differences is important for advancing our knowledge of the stress process, and is also key to designing services to improve children’s emotions and behaviour. This PhD has four aims. Firstly, it examines the relationship between two routine, school- based stressors and children’s emotional and behavioural outcomes. Secondly, it investigates the role of the cognitive appraisal process in accounting for individual differences in those outcomes. Thirdly, it examines the conditions under which cognitive appraisal operates, both in terms of its role as an organiser of coping efforts and cortisol (a stress hormone) as well as the extent to which children display consistency in their appraisals across contexts. Fourthly, it outlines the implications of the study for policy and practice efforts to improve children’s emotions and behaviour. The empirical study was designed as a prospective longitudinal study, following 66 children over the course of one year in which they experienced two routine, school-based stressors (KS2 exams and transition). Participants were recruited via opportunity sampling methods, and a combination of psychological and physiological data were collected at four time points.

Tyrimo tikslas – nustatyti 9-10 klasių mokinių emocinių ir elgesio sunkumų sąsajas su jų mokytojų profesiniu pervargimu. Tyrime dalyvavo 100 keturių Kauno miesto ir rajono vidurinių mokyklų mokytojų (13 vyrų ir 87 moterys) ir 245 tų pačių mokyklų 9-10 klasių mokiniai (146 vaikinai ir 99 merginos). Tyrimo metu buvo naudoti metodai: Kopenhagos profesinio pervargimo klausimynas (CBI), Mokinių elgesio modelių skalė (PBP), Stresogeninių įvykių skalė, 11-18 metų jaunuolio savęs vertinimo klausimynas (ASEBA – YRS 11/18), Mokytojų elgesio vertinimo skalė ir socialiniai – demografiniai klausimai. Tyrimo rezultatai parodė, kad mokyklų, kurių mokytojai patiria didesnį profesinį pervargimą, 9-10 klasių vaikinai turi daugiau su emocine būsena susijusių somatinių nusiskundimų, o merginos – didesnį nerimastingumą/depresiškumą nei mokyklų, kurių mokytojai patiria mažesnį profesinį pervargimą, mokiniai. Taip pat nustatyta, kad didesnį profesinį pervargimą patiriantys mokytojai patiria daugiau stresogeninių įvykių, susijusių su santykiais su kolegomis ir su mokiniais, jų tėvais ir mokyklos administracija, nei mažesnį profesinį pervargimą patiriantys mokytojai. Tyrimo rezultatai atskleidė, kad didesnis mokytojų profesinis pervargimas yra susijęs su didesniais mokinių emociniais ir elgesio sunkumais mokytojų vertinimu: mokinių nepagarbumas yra susijęs su mokytojo darbine veikla susijusiu pervargimu; mokinių nedėmesingumas susijęs su mokytojų asmeniniu pervargimu; mokinių asocialumas atvirkščiai... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / The aim of the study is to identify the relations between 9th – 10th grade students’ emotional and behavioral problems and their teachers’ burnout. The subjects of the study are 100 teachers and 245 9th-10th grade students from four secondary schools located in the city of Kaunas and its district. The survey employs such methods as Copenhagen Burnout Inventory (CBI), Pupil Behavior Patterns Scale (PBP), Stressogenic Events Scale, Achenbach System of Empirically Based Assessment – Youth Self-Report (ASEBA – YRS 11/18), Teachers‘ Behavior Assessment Scale and demographic characteristics. The results of the study show that the schools where teachers have a higher burnout level, 9th -10th grade boys have more somatic complains related with their emotional state, and girls are more anxious/depressed than the ones in schools with less teacher burnout. Also, the survey reveals that the teachers with a higher burnout level experience more stressogenic situations while dealing with colleagues and students, parents and school administration than the teachers with less burnout. The results clearly demonstrate that higher teacher burnout is related with more emotional and behavioral problems in students when it’s evaluated on teachers: students’ disrespect is related with teachers’ client-related burnout; students’ inobservance is related with teachers’ personal burnout; and students’ unsociable behavior is inversely related with teachers’ personal burnout. Person who experience... [to full text]

abstract: The dissertation examines treatment services received by youth on probation in the Maricopa County, Arizona. The project focuses on three primary issues: 1) the factors associated with receiving treatment services while on probation, 2) the factors associated with receiving treatment services through different funding streams, and 3) whether treatment services and specific characteristics of treatment services, particularly the funding source, influence recidivism outcomes of youth. To answer these questions the research used data obtained from the Maricopa County Juvenile Probation Department from July 2012 thru August 2014. Multivariate regression, along with statistical techniques to control for selection bias, were used to identify the factors associated with receiving treatment services, the factors associated with the funding source of treatment services, and the effect of treatment services on recidivism. The findings from the current dissertation suggest that the receipt of treatment services is not equal across groups, and particularly that minorities are less likely to receive treatment services compared to their White counterparts. Additionally, the findings reveal that certain characteristics of youth and the type of treatment service received influence the funding source, but the source of funding does not influence the effectiveness of the treatment services. Finally, using propensity score matching, the current dissertation found that treatment services were effective in reducing recidivism while under probation supervision and 6 months after probation supervision has ended. Implications for policy and research are discussed in light of these findings. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Criminology and Criminal Justice 2015

Service underutilization is a major problem facing children with emotional and behavioral problems. In addition, parents are often the ones most responsible for seeking help for their children. However, many children do not receive adequate help because parents do not perceive a problem or do not recognize that a child is in need. The present study examined parental thresholds for problem perception and subsequent help-seeking decisions based on children's behaviors presented in a vignette. It was hypothesized that the type of child behavior, child and parent gender, and other parental characteristics would be associated with different thresholds for problem perception and seeking professional help. Participants were 160 mothers and 63 fathers recruited via email using the snowball method and a university participant pool. It was found that mothers sought higher levels of services than fathers and that externalizing and comorbid internalizing and externalizing behaviors were rated as more serious and in need of higher levels of services than internalizing behaviors. In addition, exposure to child psychopathology, parenting stress, and tolerance for behavioral problems were associated with different thresholds for problem perception and help-seeking decisions. Treatment acceptability was also found to partially mediate between parental problem perception and seeking mental health services. In addition, parental characteristics were also found to contribute to differential help seeking decisions. These results are discussed in relation to how parents view their child's emotional and behavioral problems and what factors contribute to their decision to seek formal and informal services. Implications for clinical practice, limitations, and future directions of this research are also discussed.

Many children in foster care have emotional or behavioral problems or are at risk for these problems. It is important to identify parents willing to foster children with these problems in order to ensure placement, care, stability and well-being of such children. This study presents a new 40-item self-report measure of the willingness of parents to foster children with emotional and behavioral problems, and two 20-item parallel forms of this measure. In addition, this study presents evidence of reliability and validity of scores derived from these measures with a national sample of 297 foster mothers. Coefficient alpha for these measures was 92 or greater, indicating excellent internal consistency reliability. Scores from these measures were unrelated to demographic characteristics, providing evidence of discriminant validity. In addition, scores from these measures were higher for foster mothers licensed to provide treatment foster care than for mothers only licensed to provide regular foster care, providing support for known groups validity. Finally, support for construct validity is provided by the fact that foster mothers with higher scores on these measures had fostered longer, were fostering more children at the time of this study, and had fewer children removed from their home at their request.

No description available.

Disertacijoje analizuojami pusantrų metų amžiaus kūdikių emocijų ir elgesio sunkumai bei juos prognozuojantys biomedicininiai, psichologiniai bei socialiniai veiksniai. Atliktas perspektyvusis kohortinis kūdikių, gimusių 2009 m. gegužės – rugsėjo mėnesiais LSMU ligoninėje Kauno klinikose, tyrimas. Duomenys surinkti vykdant tris tyrimo etapus: (1) ligoninėje surinkti biomedicininiai duomenys bei atlikta anketinė motinų apklausa, (2) atlikta anketinė motinų apklausa kūdikiams sulaukus trijų mėnesių amžiaus ir (3) anketinė motinų apklausa kūdikiams sulaukus pusantrų metų amžiaus. Pusantrų metų amžiaus kūdikių emocijų ir elgesio sunkumai buvo įvertinti naudojant Vaiko elgesio aprašo (CBCL/1½–5) (Achenbach, Rescorla, 2000) Lietuvoje adaptuotą ir standartizuotą versiją (Jusienė, Raižienė, 2006). Emocijų ir elgesio sunkumai buvo labiau išreikšti kūdikiams, kurie gimė atliekant cezario pjūvį bei kurių fiziologinė būklė po gimimo nebuvo optimali. Tyrimas atskleidė tokių psichologinių ir socialinių veiksnių svarbą prognozuojant emocijų ir elgesio sunkumus, kaip sudėtingas motinos emocinis nėštumo priėmimas, negatyviai motinos vertinami santykiai su vyru / partneriu nėštumo metu, dažnas motinos negatyvių emocijų patyrimas, dideliu nerimu dėl vaiko pasižymintis motinos pogimdyminis prieraišumas ir nelanksčios, į tėvus orientuotos motinos nuostatos kūdikio auginimo atžvilgiu. Disertacijoje taip pat analizuojamos ir aptariamos tirtų biomedicininių, psichologinių ir socialinių veiksnių... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / The Dissertation analyses infants’ emotional and behavioral problems at the age of 1.5 years and their predictive biomedical and psychosocial factors. The Dissertation is based on data from prospective birth-cohort study. Study participants were infants born in the Hospital of Lithuanian University of Health Sciences (LUHS) Kauno Klinikos from May to September in 2009. The analysis included the data from three stages of the study: (1) biomedical data during and after childbirth and a questionnaire survey given to mothers 2 to 3 days after childbirth in hospital, (2) questionnaire survey of mothers three months postpartum, and (3) questionnaire survey of mothers 1.5 years postpartum. Emotional and behavioral problems were more expressed in infants born via caesarean section and whose physiological functioning after birth was not optimal. Study also revealed the importance of such psychosocial predictors of emotional and behavioral problems as complicated emotional acceptance of pregnancy, poor couple’s relationship during pregnancy, frequent negative maternal emotions, maternal postpartum attachment characterized by high anxiety regar¬ding child, and inflexible and parent-oriented attitudes toward infant-rearing. The associations between biomedical and psychosocial factors are also analyzed and discussed.

[pt] A literatura vem mostrando a forte influência da família e suas interações sobre o desenvolvimento das crianças. Este estudo tem como foco compreender a importância da família para o desenvolvimento infantil, especificamente a influência do clima familiar e das características familiares na ocorrência de problemas emocionais e comportamentais nas crianças. Para compreender a relação do clima familiar com os problemas emocionais e comportamentais das crianças, utilizou-se como aparato teórico a Abordagem Bioecológica do Desenvolvimento Humano e pesquisas semelhantes com o tema. Com esse intuito, investigou-se, em uma amostra de crianças da cidade do Rio de Janeiro, a relação entre o clima familiar, as características sociodemográficas da família e os problemas emocionais e comportamentais na infância. Participaram 237 famílias, dentre os respondentes, 168 mães, 39 pais e 30 cuidadores das crianças, entre 7 e 13 anos, matriculadas em escolas do Ensino Fundamental do Rio de Janeiro. Os dados foram coletados por meio do Inventário de Clima Familiar (ICF), do Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL 6/18), e de um questionário sociodemográfico. O clima familiar apresentou associação com renda familiar, saúde mental e escolaridade dos pais. Correlações de Pearson e regressões lineares múltiplas indicaram associação negativa entre apoio e coesão familiar e problemas emocionais/comportamentais infantis. Além disso, conflito e hierarquia relacionaram-se positivamente com estes problemas. Os resultados apontam para importância dos processos proximais, em especial do clima familiar, como fatores protetivos para o desenvolvimento infantil. / [en] Literature has been showing the family s strong influence and its interactions over children s development. This study has focused on comprehending the importance of family to children s development, specifically the influence of family climate and family characteristics in occurrence of emotional and behavioral problems in children. To comprehend the relation between family climate and emotional and behavioral problems in children, the Bioecological Approach to Development was used as theoretical apparatus, so as similar researches about the theme. With this purpose, a sample of children from Rio de Janeiro was investigated surrounding the relation between family climate, the family’s sociodemographic characteristics and emotional and behavioral problems during childhood. Within the respondents of the 237 families who participated, 168 were mothers, 39 fathers and 30 caretakers for children, between 7 and 13 years old, registered in elementary schools in Rio de Janeiro. Data were collected through the Family-Climate Inventory, the Child Behavior Checklist and a socio-demographic questionnaire. The family climate had association with the family income, mental health and educational level of parents. Pearson s correlations and multiple linear regressions indicated a negative association between family support and cohesion and children s emotional/behavioral problems. Thus, conflict and family hierarchy were positively association with these problems. The results show the importance of the proximal processes, and especially the family climate, as an important source of protection for children s development.

Screening for emotional and behavioral problems in youth is a well-validated process for elementary-aged children as notable and respected research has provided evidence that children at risk for behavioral and emotional problems can be identified and provided with targeted interventions, which prevent additional problems (Lane, Wehby, & Barton-Arwood, 2005). However, there is a lack of research offering evidence for a behavioral and emotional screening process for high school students. Identifying at-risk youth is a vital component in providing early-intervention services that can remediate problems before they become severe and require resource intensive interventions. This research contributes to the development of a screening measure based on a validated multi-gated screening process for use in high schools. The new measure will be adapted from the Stage 1 of the Systematic Screening for Behavior Disorders (SSBD; Walker & Severson, 1992) used in elementary schools to identify students who are at risk for developing emotional and behavioral disorders. Descriptors of students at-risk for emotional and behavior disorders from Schilling (2009) and a review of items used from common behavior rating scales were used to create a teacher nomination form that will serve as a first gate in the multi-gated screening process. The appropriateness of the descriptors for the teacher nomination form was evaluated by teachers in high schools.

The current study is the first repeated-measures design exploring the impact of child-centered play therapy (CCPT), an evidence-based child psychotherapy intervention, on autistic children's social-emotional assets, and emotional and behavioral problems across four times during intervention based on teacher reports. Participants consisted of 19 autistic children recruited from two Title-1 elementary schools in the southwest United States who were aged between 5 years and 8.25 years (M = 6.22, SD = .91), presented with varied levels of cognitive functioning and speech and language abilities. Over 60% of participants were identified by their parents as children of color. Results indicated participants' increased time in CCPT predicted statistically significant improvement in social-emotional assets measured by Social-Emotional Assets and Resilience Scales-Teacher (SEARS-T) total score with a large effect size. Results also indicated participants' increased time in CCPT predicted a statistically significant reduction in emotional and behavioral problems of irritability, social withdrawal, and hyperactivity/ noncompliance, measured by Aberrant Behavior Checklist-Second Edition (ABC- 2), with large effect sizes. Findings of this study revealed substantive changes in social-emotional assets as early as 8 CCPT sessions, and reduction of emotional and behavioral concerns as early as 12 CCPT sessions. Clinical significance, implications for practice, and limitations of the study are discussed.