Research has documented the age of first onset of depression is commonly in adolescence and young adulthood and that prepubertal onsets are occurring at an increasing rate. Thus, targeting interventions prior to this period of increased risk would maximize the opportunity to reduce the incidence of depression. To date, however, the limited research that has been done on protective factors has lacked some consensus and generalizability. This study focused on investigating potential individual and family protective factors and their roles in the development of depressive symptoms in early adolescent girls. More specifically, optimism was investigated as a possible mediator of the relationship between attributional style and depression. Furthermore, attributional style and family environment were hypothesized to moderate the effect of stress on depressive symptomatology. The participants of this study were 120 girls that were part of a school based cognitive behavioral group treatment study for girls with depression aged 9-14. Based on the ratings of symptoms by the girls and their caregivers, on a semi-structured diagnostic interview, two groups were identified: 1) girls that met the diagnostic criteria for a depressive disorder (n= 81), and 2) those that did not (control group; n= 39). Both samples also completed self-report measures of attributional style and family environment (i.e., cohesion, communication, and sociability), in addition to a projective measure which was coded for dispositional optimism. The results of this study suggested higher levels of optimism and more positive attributional styles independently predicted lower levels of depressive symptom severity; however, optimism did not impact the relationship between attributional style and depression. The results also demonstrated that girls who reported their families engage in more social/recreational activities had lower levels of depressive symptoms. Finally, increased life stress was not associated with increased levels of depression. The study's limitations, implications of the results, and recommendations for future research were discussed. / text

Magister Legum - LLM

This study investigated the validity of the family incongruence score, a statistic which quantifies the discrepancies between family members' perceptions of their family system using answers given on the Family Environment Scale. Based on findings concerning incongruence in other environments, it was hypothesized that high family incongruence scores would be associated with more problems in the family system.

No description available.

The substantial emotional impact of trauma on children, adolescents and their caregivers has been amply documented within the general disaster literature. However, research addressing the specific psychological impact of residential fire on child and family functioning is still considered to be in its infancy. The present study adapted the Transactional Stress and Coping (TSC) model for this purpose. This was an extension of the TSC model from the child chronic health to the trauma literature. The TSC model proposes that child and adolescent adjustment (i.e., in the present study, symptoms levels of PTSD, depression, anxiety) following a residential fire will be mediated by both child and adolescent adaptational processes (i.e., cognitive appraisal and coping methods), as well as family processes (i.e., family conflict and parent psychopathology). While the TSC was not supported, several preliminary results were found. Results indicated that family conflict (β = .289, p < .05) may have mediated the relationship between children’s overall adjustment at 4-months and parent-report of child internalizing symptoms at 11-months post-fire (β = .235, p > .05). Avoidant coping strategies (β = .294, p < .05) also may have mediated the relationship between child anxiety/depression at 4-months and PTSD symptoms at outcome (β = .246, p > .05). Furthermore, an interaction effect was found between parent report of child and adolescent internalizing symptoms and children and adolescents’ self-reports of religious avoidance. Finally, a moderation effect was also found between children and adolescents’ self-reports of their overall adjustment and self-reports of their active coping strategies. These results suggest a transactional relationship among family environmental variables and individual child adaptational processes which may predict adjustment outcomes. / Master of Science

A sizeable proportion of adults suffer from an anxiety disorder and many of those adults are parents. Parental anxiety, as well as dysfunctional family environment, contributes to both internalizing and externalizing problems in children. Specifically, family control, conflict, and cohesion have been shown to predict child internalizing and externalizing symptoms to varying degrees. However, few studies have examined the association between all three components in the same study: parental psychopathology, family environment, and child outcomes. The current study tested the relationships among these variables in a sample of 189 children (66% male, 93% Caucasian, mean age = 10.34 years). Family conflict predicted child externalizing symptoms for both mothers and fathers, and mediated the relationship between maternal anxiety and child externalizing symptoms. Family cohesion predicted child externalizing problems based on maternal report and mediated the relationship between maternal anxiety and child externalizing symptoms. Furthermore, family cohesion moderated the relationship between maternal anxiety and child internalizing symptoms. These findings provide preliminary support for the role of the family environment in the relationship between parental anxiety and child psychopathology, and these environmental variables may be important targets of intervention in families with elevated parental anxiety. / Master of Science

Several studies have found a number of internalizing (i.e., depressive and anxiety disorders) and externalizing (i.e., attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, conduct disorder, oppositional-defiant disorder) disorders to be prevalent among youth who have experienced child maltreatment. Several studies have also demonstrated that aspects of the maltreatment experiences and family environment may potentially predict the severity or magnitude of psychopathology among maltreated children. The purpose of this study was to determine potential abuse-related (i.e., frequency, severity, relation to perpetrator, age at onset, other forms of maltreatment) and family environment (i.e., cohesion, adaptability) predictors of psychological comorbidity in sexually abused children with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Participants included 75 (56 female) clinically-referred children and adolescents aged 5.89-17.12 years (mean=10.95, SD=3.114) and their parents. Measures included the Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia for School-Age Children, Epidemiological Version, the Family Adaptability and Cohesion Scales, third edition, and a questionnaire assessing demographic and abuse-related information. Based on diagnostic status, participants were assigned to the Simple PTSD group (no comorbid diagnoses), the Internalizing group (met criteria for a depressive or anxiety disorder but no externalizing disorders), or the Global group (met criteria for an externalizing disorder and may or may not have met criteria for an internalizing disorder). Multinomial logistic regression models were estimated and odds ratio cutoff values were utilized to determine clinically significant predictors of comorbidity group. Results indicated that males were more likely to be in one of the comorbid groups (either Internalizing or Global groups) than females, and those who were abused multiple times were more likely to be in one of the two comorbid groups than participants who experienced one incident of abuse. Similarly, participants who had lower levels of family cohesion and adaptability were more likely to be in one of the comorbid groups than those who had higher levels of family cohesion and adaptability. Younger participants and those who had experienced penetration were more likely to have an externalizing diagnosis (i.e., be in the Global group) than older participants and those who had experienced less physically invasive forms of sexual abuse. Results are discussed in light of previous research and theoretical models of heterogeneous presentations of childhood traumatic stress.

Much of the research on childhood sexual abuse (CSA) has utilized demographic factors (e.g., the gender, age, and race/ethnicity of the child victim) and specific characteristics of the abusive experience (e.g., the severity of abuse, the relationship between the perpetrator and the child victim, the child's age at the onset of abuse, etc.) as predictors of children's adjustment. Unfortunately, the ability of such factors to predict children's adjustment consistently across studies has been limited. Alternatively, while it has been recognized that survivors of CSA often hail from dysfunctional family environments and that the disclosure of CSA frequently results in emotional distress for caregivers, less research has focused on how these factors may serve to influence sexually abused children's adjustment. This study included 163 sexually abused youth and their non-offending caregivers who completed measures of psychological adjustment and the family environment. Demographic information and abuse-related characteristics were also collected. Children's age, gender, and race/ethnicity were not significantly predictive of emotional adjustment. Structural equation modeling was used to examine the direct and indirect effects of total abuse severity, caregiver distress, and children's perceptions of their family environments as predictors of emotional adjustment. Results indicated that both children's perceptions of their family environments and total abuse severity were significantly predictive of children's emotional adjustment, whereas caregiver distress did not have significant direct or indirect effect on adjustment. Finally, the implications of these findings for future research and the development of effective interventions for sexually abused children and their families was discussed

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the relationship between ease of discussion of sexual likes and dislikes with a sexual partner and religious, expressive, and affectional influences in the family of origin.

This purpose of this research study was to identify key differences that distinguish stepfamilies from intact families with regard to individual members' perceptions of family environment and family functioning. Additionally, an initial look at how membership in a stepfamily impacts the young children's perceptions of interpersonal family functioning is offered.