The aim of this thesis is to expand our understanding of the etiology of alcohol misuse and related disorders in African Americans using genetically informative study designs. Specifically, we take advantage of the candidate-gene approach and polygenic score analysis to extend the literature specific to African American populations. Chapter 2 explores gene x environment (GxE) interactions through the candidate gene approach to explore the relationship between two genes chosen on their potential relevance to stress response and adolescent alcohol use and misuse, among African American youth living in highly impoverished neighborhoods, as moderated by stressful life events. Chapter 3 implements polygenic score analyses to examine the effect of an aggregate of markers. We explore whether polygenic risk for alcohol dependence – derived from GWAS estimates in one discovery sample – predict alcohol use and broader externalizing behaviors and interact with stressful life events to predict alcohol use/misuse among high-risk African American youth.

Clarifying processes associated with emerging externalizing behavior problems during early childhood was the focus of this study. Data were collected from 100 parent-child dyads when children were 2, 3, and 4 years. An incremental risk model was hypothesized to explain the emergence of externalizing behavior problems. Theoretically, children's temperamental propensity towards negative emotional reactivity increases risk for noncompliance, noncompliance that increases risk for externalizing behaviors by age 4. Parenting was identified as the mechanism by which children's progression along the incremental risk pathway is amplified or minimized; progression is only expected under conditions of harsh parenting. No statistical support emerged for the incremental risk model or the moderational effects of harsh parenting. Harsh parenting was a statistically significant predictor of children's noncompliance one year later. Implications of the current findings for future research are discussed.

Externalizing behaviors have been shown to exhibit within-individual changes, increasing the need to identifying factors that influence such behavior to be more or less likely to occur in any given moment. The current study aimed to contribute to the understanding of mechanisms that influence externalizing behavior using an intensive longitudinal design. Demographic variables and personality traits were measured at baseline. Momentary personality states, situational context, affect, decision-making processes, and externalizing behaviors were measured three times per day for seven days in a university sample (N = 170). Results: A new measure of momentary externalizing—Momentary-Externalizing Spectrum Inventory—was created as a practically feasible measure to administer multiple times per day and its psychometric properties were investigated. Trait disinhibition-versus-constraint predicted mean levels of externalizing behaviors. Results supported the incremental utility of personality states, such that they appear to offer additional predictive power for momentary externalizing behavior over and above personality traits. Candidate proximal mechanisms such as situational factors, momentary affect, and delay discounting were shown have the ability to predict momentary externalizing behavior in an ongoing temporally varying manner. Personality traits moderated some of these relationships between candidate proximal mechanisms and momentary externalizing behavior. Implications for the understanding of externalizing behaviors were discussed while hypotheses for future research were generated.

In this study we compared two theoretically different parenting programs for children with externalizing behavior problems, one behavioral, Comet, and one non-behavioral, Connect. Participants were 209 parents with children ages 8-12 who were randomized to the two programs. Parents experienced markedly less child externalizing behavior problems, both conduct problems and ADHD symptoms, as well as increased competence, improved family climate, and decreased emotional dyscontrol and levels of stress after both programs. The differences in effects between the programs were small and only measures of use of specific behavioral techniques had medium effects in favor of Comet. Thus, both Comet and Connect appear to be effective interventions but more research is needed, especially concerning long-term evaluations.

Child behavior problems are commonly reported difficulties within the education community and one of the largest referral reasons for parents seeking therapeutic services for their child. These behaviors can escalate to deviant and harmful behaviors that affect a child’s home life, academic success, and relations with family and peers. Current research has identified several parenting variables related to child behavior problems. This study considered the partial mediating role of parenting techniques on the relation between maternal characteristics and child behavior problems as reported by the parents and teachers of Head Start children. Participants in the study were 161 parents with children enrolled in Head Start at one of three programs in Texas or Mississippi. Results suggested that inconsistent discipline partially mediates the relation between maternal distress and parent reported child hyperactivity and aggression. Inconsistent discipline partially mediates the relation between maternal stress and parent-reported child hyperactivity and aggression. Parental involvement was found to be significantly related to childhood attention problems above and beyond maternal distress or stress and relevant demographic characteristics; however, it did not partially mediate those relations. Analyses involving teacher reported child behaviors did not show the same mediational effects. SEM analyses indicated that overall models of partial mediation demonstrated good fit. A major advantage to this study is the collection of data at three Head Start programs in two states that service small city / rural populations, an often underrepresented sample in empirical research. Implications of this project include: (a) a better understanding of the maternal variables most influential on child behavior that can be used to enhance curricula for parent training; (b) more precise screening of at-risk families by professionals that will continue to promote a focus on the whole family and allow for multiple pathways of healthy development for the child (e.g., through direct work with child and through the parents); and (c) continued consideration of the importance of ethnicity on these relations that will continue to foster a respectful and informed therapeutic relationship between professionals and families of young, atrisk children.

Temperament is widely recognized as an important factor in shaping the trajectory of social and emotional development across childhood. However, the particular mechanisms by which temperamental differences contribute to emergence of early prosocial or problem behaviors have been poorly elucidated. The current study sought to examine the association between various temperamental factors on the emergence of internalizing, externalizing and empathic behaviors in toddlers. Temperament profiles were derived for 38 children, aged 29 to 34 months, based on responses by mothers to questions on the Early Childhood Behavior Questionnaire. Internalizing and externalizing problem behaviors were assessed using the Child Behavior Checklist. Finally, empathic behaviors were measured behaviorally during a laboratory play session. Scores on three temperamental factor scales (negative affect, surgency, and effortful control) were examined in relation to behavioral problems (internalizing/externalizing) and prosocial (global empathy towards mother/experimenter) behaviors using linear correlations and regressions. Higher negative emotionality was linked with increased internalizing and externalizing behaviors, while increased surgency was associated with decreased internalizing behaviors. These results are consistent with prior studies of temperament, supporting the contention that early child temperament significantly contributes to the emergence of behavior problems. No significant interaction effects were found between temperament styles in predicting behavior problems. Additionally, no significant main or interaction effects were found in predicting adaptive behaviors, such as empathic responding. The significance of these results is discussed with respect to our understanding of the etiological pathways to adaptive and maladaptive socioemotional development. / text

Externalizing behaviors among adolescents continue to concern researchers and clinicians nationwide, especially among Latinos who are part of the largest and fastest growing minority population in the U. S. This dissertation begins by describing an eco-developmental model, which provides the theoretical framework used to conceptualize the systemic factors being studied and by reviewing the relevant literature regarding the influence of parental warmth, parental behavioral control, the adolescent-teacher relationship, and academic achievement on externalizing behavior among Latino adolescents. This study uses the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health survey (Add Health) data to analyze direct and indirect effects of parenting and school-related factors on externalizing behavior among Latino adolescents over four waves of time. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM), latent growth curve modeling, bootstrapping, and latent scoring were all employed to test the hypothesized models. Results indicated that higher levels of maternal warmth, the adolescent-teacher relationship and academic achievement were all negatively associated with initial levels of externalizing behavior and in some cases negatively predicted the rate of change of externalizing behavior. Paternal warmth, behavioral control and academic achievement were all found to be positively associated with academic achievement. In terms of indirect effects, paternal warmth negatively predicted initial levels and the slope of externalizing behavior through academic achievement. Behavioral control was also negatively predictive of initial levels and the slope of externalizing behavior through academic achievement. Finally, direct and indirect effects were found between the adolescent-teacher relationship and both initial levels and the slope of externalizing behavior through academic achievement. Implications for these findings are discussed according to an eco-developmental framework, and culturally appropriate recommendations for clinicians and educators are offered to facilitate the increase of parental warmth and behavioral control in Latino families and for improving the adolescent-teacher relationship in school systems. A culturally adapted parenting training model and a strong evidence-based, family therapy intervention is recommended to clinicians to address these issues in Latino families and critical race theory (CRT) and Latino critical race theory (LatCrit) are implemented to inform recommendations offered to educators to address the academic-specific factors influencing externalizing behaviors among Latino adolescents.

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.

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

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