Technology and psychological treatments have increasingly been used together to increase the reach of psychotherapy and potentially reduce treatment costs. This research focused on how technology has been used to deliver or facilitate treatments focused on behavioral parent training. Behavioral parent training is a research-supported method of improving parenting skills and child behavior. We first reviewed any existing research on the topic, and found that treatments that used technology to teach parenting skills were generally successful at improving parent and child behavior. The review also identified many research questions that have yet to be answered about the cost of such interventions, how they work with diverse groups of people, and what makes someone likely to stay with the treatment. The next study in this research project tested a shortened version of a technology-based treatment adapted from a group-based manual that was created for Spanish-speaking families. The program was called Padres Preparados Online (Prepared Parents Online), and it taught three parenting skills on a system that was available online or using an app. Parent coaching, typically carried out in in-person groups or on the phone, was also conducted online. Parents uploaded videos of themselves to an online system and the therapist would record and post video, audio, and text coaching comments to support parents in strengthening the skills they were learning. Results showed that parents and children improved in a variety of ways, ranging from decreased problematic child behavior to decreased parenting stress. This study demonstrated that technology can be used to deliver a parenting program to Latinx families, and helped the study team identify limitations and questions for future research. This research was financially supported by the Utah State University Psychology Department and Emma Eccles Jones College of Education and Human Services.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Introduction: Externalizing disorders such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), conduct disorder (CD), and oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) have a high prevalence rate in both children of alcoholics and in those with prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE). These disorders are also predictors of alcohol dependence (alcdep), heritable, and share an underlying genetic liability with alcdep. Furthermore, a mother who drinks while pregnant is likely to be alcohol dependent (AD), and vice-versa. This study incorporated these factors into one model, including as well as a measure of broad genetic risk for ADHD and alcdep to test for the contributions of these effects simultaneously. An independent sample was used to confirm the results for PAE and broad genetic risk. The hypothesis is that PAE will increase the risk to ADHD but not to CD or ODD. Methods: Each of these factors was evaluated independently to test if that effect on its own, significantly contributed to each disorder. Another model included several demographic covariates, to determine which of these environmental effects also contributed to the disorder. The final model for each disorder included environmental effects along with the primary effects of interest. Results: PAE resulted in increased risk for the inattentive (INATT) sub-type of ADHD and conduct disorder (CD) in the discovery sample and for the hyperactive-impulsive (HYPIMP), INATT and CD in the replication sample. PAE and the PAE*maternal alcohol dependence interaction increased the risk for ADHD and INATT. A broad genetic risk for ADHD was associated with all disorders except HYPIMP in the replication sample. Conclusion: This study further supports the trending evidence of a unique etiology of ADHD in those with PAE, and more specifically, that INATT and HYPIMP are affected according to two different mechanisms of action, independent of a genetic contribution due to either ADHD or alcohol dependence, both of which also were associated with a risk for INATT. The contribution of PAE to INATT and CD were the only consistent results across all definitions of alcohol exposure and in both datasets, indicating that PAE is a veritable risk for INATT and CD.

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Fundamental adaptive systems such as achievement motivation have been identified as key mechanisms for affecting youth outcomes. These systems can be encouraged and supported in specific contexts, such as the school setting. This study explored whether school achievement motivation during mid-adolescence could protect against developing externalizing behaviors related to lax, psychologically controlling, or rejecting parenting experienced prior, in pre-adolescence. Motivation was defined and assessed according to adolescent behaviors displayed in the classroom. Data from the Center for Education and Drug Abuse Research (CEDAR) were obtained to carry out the study analyses. The total sample was 775 youth (M = 10.95 ± 0.88 years old; 69% male; 76% Caucasian, 21% African American, 3% multiracial at T1), though sample sizes on key variables where as low as 337 because of missing data. Analyses controlled for father lifetime psychiatric and substance use disorder diagnosis, family socio-economic status, adolescent school learning at T2, adolescent age and sex. Results showed that psychological and emotional forms of problematic parenting in pre-adolescence were associated with future externalizing problems in mid-adolescence, however behavioral forms of problematic parenting did not show any effect. When school motivation was high, adolescents showed the lowest levels of externalizing behaviors related to both psychologically controlling and rejecting parenting, followed by their moderate and low motivation peers. In most cases, only adolescents low in school motivation were significantly impacted by problematic parenting whereas adolescents moderate or high in motivation were not affected. Unexpected nuances in findings are also discussed. / Psychology

Early identification of emotional and behavioral disorders is critical in ensuring that students receive the interventions and supports necessary for school success. While externalizing and internalizing behaviors often occur comorbidly, more research is needed to understand how different subtypes of these behaviors may manifest, especially in the early elementary school years. Further, as schools increase their emphasis on universal, evidence-based interventions as tools for preventing the development of later social-emotional and behavior challenges, it is important to understand how different groups of students respond to such interventions. In the present study, I explored the behavioral and emotional profiles of 470 second-grade students using latent profile analysis. I also examined how students transitioned between profiles over the course of one school year (i.e., fall to spring) within the context of a social-emotional intervention (Social Skills Improvement System-Classwide Intervention Program, SSIS-CIP; Elliott & Gresham, 2007). Additionally, I used multinomial logistic regression analyses to examine if child race, gender, teacher-student relationship, and treatment condition (intervention vs. control) predicted profile membership and transition over the course of a school year. I used five behavioral composites from the Social Skills Improvement System Rating Scales-Teacher Form (SSIS-RST; Gresham & Elliott, 2008) to create the student profiles. Three profiles of students emerged in the present study. The first profile (normative) was characterized by the lowest levels of all five externalizing and internalizing behaviors. The second profile (at-risk) demonstrated elevated levels of impulsive behaviors, conduct problems, and emotion dysregulation, with less elevated levels of bullying. The third profile (comorbid) demonstrated elevated levels of all five externalizing and internalizing behaviors. From fall to spring, students in the normative profile exhibited a 93% probability of remaining in the normative profile. Students in the at-risk profile demonstrated a similarly high likelihood of remaining in the at-risk profile over time (72%), while students in the comorbid profile experienced a 57% chance of remaining in the comorbid profile over time. Teachers’ observed emotional support, child race, child gender, and participation in the SSIS-CIP intervention were all predictors of profile movement, however, the associations varied across the different profiles. Results of the present study suggest the SSIS-CIP may function as a preventative tool for students identified within the normative group as well as an effective intervention for those students with the most severe behavioral presentations. Consistent with previous research, teachers rated males and students of color higher on measures of externalizing behaviors. Notably, while female students were less likely to be identified in the comorbid profile in the fall, they were more likely to remain in that profile over time compared to male students who were identified in the comorbid profile in the fall. Surprisingly, teacher emotional support was negatively associated with movement from the at-risk group to the normative group. Future research should continue to explore the ways in which externalizing and internalizing behaviors manifest in young children as well as the intersection between gender and race as it relates to teachers’ ratings of students’ behaviors. / School Psychology

The present study examined the interactions between early child behavior, early parenting, and early family stress (parent psychopathology, socioeconomic status, and stressful life events) in predicting later Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD) symptoms. Participants were 223 three-year-old children and their parents who participated in a four-year longitudinal study. It was predicted that there would be a stronger relationship between children’s early behavior characteristics and later ODD in the presence of less parental overreactivity/negative affect, more paternal warmth, and less family stress and a stronger relationship between early family stress and later ODD in the presence of less parental overreactivity/negative affect and more paternal warmth. Although early child behavior, early parenting, and early family stress were predictive of later ODD, they did not significantly interact in the predicted direction. In fact, contrary to prediction, only one interaction proved to be significant and it was in the unexpected direction: the relationship between early child behavior and later ODD was stronger among parents who displayed more warmth with their three-year-old children.

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