Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Family Studies and Human Services / Sandra Stith and Jared Durtschi / Controversy still exists in whether parents should or should not use corporal punishment to discipline their young children. The aim of this study was to investigate whether corporal punishment when the child was two years old predicted child externalizing behaviors a year later, and whether or not this association was moderated by parents’ observed positivity and harshness towards their child. A total of 218 couples and their first born child were selected for this study from the Family Transition Project (FTP) data set. Findings indicated that frequency of fathers’ corporal punishment when the child was two years old predicted child externalizing behaviors a year later, while controlling for initial levels of child externalizing behavior. Also, it was found that observed positive parenting and observed harsh parenting moderated the relationship between corporal punishment and child externalizing behaviors. These results highlight the importance of continuing to examine the efficacy of a commonly used form of discipline (i.e., corporal punishment). Furthermore, this study suggests that the parental climate in which corporal punishment is used may also be important to consider because parental positivity and harshness attenuate and amplify, respectively, the association of corporal punishment with child externalizing. Implications for family therapy are offered.

Current research suggests schools face many barriers in effectively monitoring student's response to behavioral interventions in the classroom. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the FastBridge - Direct Behavior Rating (FastBridge-DBR), a brief, novel progress monitoring measure, designed to assess student behavioral change in response to a classroom behavioral intervention. Twenty-four elementary teacher-student dyads implemented a daily progress report intervention to promote positive student behavior during pre-specified classroom activities. FastBridge-DBR data were then collected for three target behaviors (i.e., Academic Engagement, Disruptive Behavior, Withdrawal) and compared to Systematic Direct Observation (SDO) data. Five change metrics (i.e., absolute change, percent of change from baseline, improvement rate difference, Tau-U, effect size; Gresham, 2005) were used to examine sensitivity to change. The Usage Rating Profile - Assessment (URP-A) was used to evaluate teacher acceptability of FastBridge-DBR. FastBridge-DBR scores were highly correlated with SDO data, demonstrating evidence of concurrent validity. FastBridge-DBR change metrics were significantly correlated with SDO change metrics. Additionally, while teachers provided high acceptability ratings for FastBridge-DBR, there was a lack of association between teachers' ratings of acceptability and student behavioral change. Implications for practice, study limitations, and areas of future research are discussed.

The early onset of externalizing behaviour problems (EBP) is associated with negative outcomes later in life, such as poor mental health, substance use, crime, and unemployment. Some children also develop conduct disorder (CD), entailing a high disease and economic burden for both individuals and society. Most studies on the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of parenting interventions targeting EBP among children have evaluated selective or indicated preventive interventions, or treatment strategies. Evidence on the effectiveness of universally delivered parenting programmes is controversial, partly due to methodological difficulties. The overall aim of this thesis was to 1) address the methodological challenges of evaluating universal parenting programmes, and to 2) employ different health economic methods to evaluate parenting interventions for EBP and CD in children. Study I indicated that offering low intensity levels of Triple P universally, with limited intervention attendance, does not result in improved outcomes, and may not be a worthwhile use of public resources. Study II showed that using the distribution of an outcome variable makes it possible to estimate the impact of public health interventions at the population level. Study III supports offering bibliotherapy to initially target CP in children, whereas Comet could be offered to achieve greater effects based on decision-makers’ willingness to make larger investments. Cope could be offered when targeting symptom improvement, rather than clinical caseness. The economic decision model in Study IV demonstrated that Triple P for the treatment of CD appears to represent good value for money, when delivered in a Group format, but less likely, when delivered in an Individual format. To reduce the burden of mental health problems in childhood, cost-effective and evidence-based interventions should be provided on a continuum from prevention through early intervention to treatment. We believe our results can assist decision-makers in resource allocation to this field.

The purpose of the study is to examine young children's internalizing and externalizing behaviors in the context of post paternal incarceration by focusing on both risks (i.e., parental depressive symptoms), protective factors (i.e., coparenting alliance), and their impact considered together. The final sample included 426 previously incarcerated fathers and the biological mothers of their three-year-old children. Using hierarchical multiple regression, I examined three sets of analyses: 1) the association between parental depressive symptoms and children's behavior outcomes, 2) the association between coparenting alliance and children's behavior, 3) the association between parental depressive symptoms and children's behavior as moderated by coparenting alliance. Expectedly, higher paternal depressive symptoms were associated with higher externalizing behavioral problems in children. Unexpectedly, higher maternal depressive symptoms were associated with lower externalizing behavioral problems. Also, unexpectedly, the associations between maternal and paternal coparenting alliance and both child behavioral outcomes were not statistically significant. Further, when mothers reported lower coparenting alliance with their child's father, the negative association between fathers' depressive symptoms and children’s internalizing behavioral problems was not attenuated; in fact, children had higher internalizing behavioral problems. My findings suggests father's depressive symptoms are an important point of consideration given the deleterious effects parental depressive symptoms can have on children, and the risks for depressive symptoms among formerly incarcerated fathers. Further, my findings have implications for addressing and treating fathers' depressive symptoms when children are relatively young in order to lower internalizing behavior problems from persisting across and beyond childhood.

This study investigated the impact of parenting and children’s self-control on children’s externalizing behavior problems among 167 predominantly African-American mothers and their 2-year-old children. Two hypotheses were considered based on two distinct theoretical origins of self-control. First, consistent with a behavioral perspective, exposure to positive parenting was hypothesized to indirectly affect externalizing behaviors through children’s self-control; that is, children’s self-control was expected to mediate the association between positive parenting and externalizing behaviors. Second, consistent with a temperamental perspective, self-control was expected to moderate the impact of positive parenting on levels of children’s externalizing behaviors such that only children with a propensity towards low self-control benefited from positive parenting. Results were not consistent with the mediational hypothesis and provided limited support for the moderational hypothesis. That is, only for children with characteristically low self-control was exposure to more positive parenting associated with fewer externalizing behavior problems, as rated by teachers, one year later.

Thèse numérisée par la Division de la gestion de documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal.

The purpose of this study was to examine the adjustment of older children and adolescents adopted from Eastern Europe and the impact of their preadoption history and family’s functioning on their adjustment. This is a follow-up study of families first surveyed in 2005 with an addition of new families. One hundred and forty-five families reporting on 194 adopted children (9 to 19 years; 104 girls) participated in this study at Time 2. The project was conducted as an internet-based survey. Parents and adopted children reported on children’s emotional, behavioral and social problems (CBCL and YSR), as well as family environment (FACES-III and PEQ). Children also reported on their attachment to parents (IPPA) and their preoccupation with adoption (ADQ). Results revealed that children adopted as infants or toddlers (18 months and younger) evidenced lower problem behaviors and higher competence scores than children adopted at later ages. History of preadoption abuse and/or neglect also played a role. Children without such history scored better on all problem and competency scales than their peers with reported history of either abuse or neglect. Relationships with the adoptive parents and family environment also contributed to better adjustment in this sample of adopted children. Children from more cohesive families displayed lower levels of internalizing and externalizing problems. Additionally, less conflict between adolescents and their parents was associated with lower levels of these problems. Adolescents with higher attachment levels to their parents self-reported lower internalizing and externalizing problems. Adolescents’ interest in their adoptions is a healthy thing; however, excessive preoccupation was associated with higher levels of internalizing behaviors, such as anxiety and depression. Preoccupation with adoption was not related to externalizing behaviors, as reported by children. This study replicates findings of previous studies of intercountry adoption of children from Eastern Europe. Implications of these findings are discussed.

The prevalence of aggression and delinquency increase during adolescence and are associated with psychosocial adjustment difficulties. It is important to identify aspects of the parent-adolescent relationship that may protect adolescents from these externalizing behaviors. The current study examined longitudinal relations between parental monitoring behaviors, child disclosure, and externalizing behaviors. Participants included 326 African American adolescents and their primary maternal caregivers, recruited from urban neighborhoods characterized by high rates of violence and low socioeconomic status. Participants provided data annually (three waves across two-year timeframe) through face-to-face interviews. Results of longitudinal path models showed that child disclosure predicted parental knowledge, and parental knowledge was associated with fewer externalizing outcomes. Higher levels of parental control predicted less child disclosure. Finally, parental acceptance predicted fewer child-reported delinquent behaviors through increased levels of child disclosure. Implications suggest that parent-adolescent communication and parental acceptance are protective factors, associated with decreased externalizing outcomes in African American youth.

The etiological connection between internalizing and externalizing disorders is poorly understood. This manuscript aims to investigate the roles of genes and then environment in the development of Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) and Antisocial Personality Disorder (ASPD) and the nature of their comorbidity in young adults. Data from a sample of 2,291 young adult male and female twins from the Young Adult Follow Up Study (YAFU) of the Virginia Twin Study of Adolescent Behavioral Development (VTSABD) were used to estimate the proportion of variation in these traits that can be accounted for by additive genetic, shared environmental, and unique environmental factors. In addition to traditional methods of measurement of psychiatric disorders (symptom sum scores), a more novel approach to measurement through item response theory (IRT) was employed. Through both measurement methods, variation in depression was found to be influenced almost entirely by environmental factors, however IRT analysis revealed genetic influences related to specific symptoms that cannot be gleaned from a traditional univariate analysis. While the symptoms of MDD appear to work well together to define the latent construct, symptoms of ASPD are less cohesive. ASPD item loadings are more disparate and the item response models are somewhat unstable compared with the MDD item analyses. Consistent with the literature, results using traditional sum score data indicated that ASPD was influenced by additive genetic and unique environmental effects. IRT analysis, however, did indicate a role for the shared environment in ASPD variation.ASPD/MDD comorbidity analyses suggest that more than one mechanism may reasonably explain the relationship between the disorders. It appears to be more likely that common genetic factors account for some of the observed comorbidity in females than in males. Conversely, the shared environment is that the most likely link between the two disorders in males. The etiological nature of these disorders is complex and analysis may be further complicated in a population spanning a critical developmental period, such as young adulthood. The item response approach has the potential to provide new insight into how these disorders develop and differ between the sexes and different age groups.

Externalizing behavior is stable as early as 2 years of age and is a precursor to many childhood and adult negative outcomes. Although global self report data show a relationship between parenting and children's externalizing, few studies have examined the proximal effect of observed mother's parenting on children's expression of aggression. A sample of 55 primarily African American, toddler-mother dyads were observed in their homes. Data was collected on the 2-year-old children's emotional reactivity, externalizing behavior, social competence and mother's harsh and supportive parenting. A second wave of data was collected one year later with a smaller sample, n=37.Children who were boys and more emotionally reactive had higher Externalizing scores on the CBCL, both at age 2 and 3. Mothers who used contingent harsh parenting in response to child noncompliance had children who were higher on Externalizing behavior concurrently, but not across time. Mother's contingent supportive parenting in response to child compliance at age 2 predicted children's Social Competence at age 3. Results lend support to a transactional model of parent-child interaction very early in development that can be linked variously to children's aggressive, acting out and prosocial behaviors.