No description available.

No description available.

abstract: As the retention rate of college freshmen increases, Tinto's (1993) model of academic persistence conceptualizes several dimensions of students' voluntary dropout. This study examined both personal and parental factors that may impact the academic persistence decisions of freshmen college students: 1) parental educational attainment; 2) parental valuing of education; 3) high school grade point average (GPA); 4) residential status (on- versus off-campus); 5) educational self-efficacy; 6) self-esteem; 7) personal valuing of education; 8) perceived academic preparation; and 9) academic expectations. The study sample consisted of 378 freshmen college students at a large southwestern university who were recruited from 23 sections of a 100-level class intended to promote academic success. The participants in this cross-sectional study were restricted to freshman level students and 18 and 19 years old in accordance with Erikson's (1968) Identity stage of psychosocial development. A hierarchical regression analysis revealed that academic persistence decisions were predicted by residential status and self-beliefs, which consisted of: educational self-efficacy, self-esteem, personal valuing of education, perceived academic preparation, and academic expectations. Parental valuing of education was a significant predictor of academic persistence decisions until self-beliefs were added to construct the full model. Although self-beliefs were collectively the most powerful predictors of persistence decisions, accounting for 22.8% of the variance, examination of the beta weights revealed that self-esteem, educational self-efficacy, and personal valuing of education were the most powerful predictors, while academic expectations approached significance. Residential status was also a significant predictor and accounted for a small but significant variance (1.6%) in academic persistence decisions. A significant multivariate difference was found between students living on campus and those living off campus. Follow-up ANOVAs revealed differences in mother's education and in parental valuing of education. These findings suggest that researchers, counselors, and college policy-makers consider on-campus living variables as well as students' self-beliefs when considering academic persistence decisions in college freshmen. / Dissertation/Thesis / M.C. Counseling 2013

No description available.

No description available.

Bakgrund: Historiskt sett har alkoholanvändning varit ett normativt beteende för ungdomar, en trend som från år 2000 har vänt då både andelen ungdomar som dricker samt mängden alkohol har minskat kraftigt. Därför brister kunskapen om huruvida den nya generationen av ungdomar börjar dricka alkohol av samma eller helt andra anledningar än tidigare. Därav finns det ett behov av att studera vilka bestämningsfaktorer som predicerar, det vill säga vilka faktorer som kan förutsäga alkoholdebut hos den nya generationen av ungdomar. Syfte: Denna studie syftar till att identifiera bestämningsfaktorer i form av föräldraskap och psykiska besvär som predicerar ungdomars alkoholdebut i Västmanlands län samt undersöka om dessa bestämningsfaktorers prediktionsförmåga skiljer sig åt mellan pojkar och flickor. Metod: För att undersöka vilka bestämningsfaktorer för föräldrafaktorer och psykiska besvär som predicerar ungdomars alkoholdebut användes en kvantitativ metod med sekundärdata från den longitudinella kohortstudien The Survey of Adolescent Life in Västmanland (SALVe Cohort). Två mätningar inkluderas i studien varav den första basmätningen utfördes 2012 och den andra uppföljningsmätningen utfördes 2015. Multivariata logistiska regressioner har legat till grund för studiens analyser. Resultat: Föräldrafaktorer i form av psykisk och fysisk utsatthet var prediktiva för ungdomars alkoholdebut. Dock försvann de prediktiva effekterna vid justering för confounders. Psykiska besvär i form av ADHD (Attention Difict Hyperactivity Disorder), psykosomatiska besvär och antisocialt beteende predicerade ungdomars alkoholdebut. Dock försvann de prediktiva effekterna vid för ADHD och psykosomatiska besvär vid justering för confounders. Antisocialt beteende var den enda bestämningsfaktorn som predicerade alkoholdebut efter att confounders justerats för. Slutsatser: Föräldrafaktorer tycks inte predicera med alkoholdebuten. För psykiska besvär är antisocialt beteende den enda bestämningsfaktorn som visar en prediktiv effekt för ungdomars alkoholdebut. Den könsskillnad som uppkom var att psykosociala besvär predicerade flickors alkoholdebut men inte pojkars alkoholdebut. / Background: Historically, alcohol use has been a normative behavior for adolescents, a trend that has turned from the 21st century when both the proportion of adolescents who drink and the amount of alcohol have decreased sharply. Therefore, the science shows a lack of knowledge about the new generation of adolescents where those who still consume alcohol, drink for the same or quite different reasons than before. There is a need to study which determinants are predicting, that is which factors can foretell the first initiation of alcohol for the new generation of adolescents. Aim: This study aims to identify determinants in the form of parenting and mental disorders that predict adolescent’s first initiation of alcohol in Västmanland County and investigate whether the prediction ability of these determinants differs between boys and girls. Method: To investigate which determinants of parental factors and mental disorders predicts adolescent’s alcohol initiation, a quantitative method with secondary data from a longitudinal cohort study was used The Survey of Adolescent Life in Västmanland (SALVe Cohort) was used. Two measurements are included in the study, which the first basic measurement was performed in 2012 and the second follow-up measurement was performed in 2015. Multivariate logistic regressions have been the basis for the study's analyzes. Results: Parental factors as mental and physical exposure were predictive for adolescent’s alcohol use. However, the predictive effects disappeared when adjusting for confounders. Mental disorders as ADHD (Attention Difict Hyperactivity Disorder), psychosomatic disorders and conduct problem predicted adolescent's alcohol use. However, the predictive effects disappeared for ADHD and psychosomatic disorders when adjusting for confounders. Conduct problem was the only determinant that predicted alcohol after confounders were adjusted. Conclusions: Parental factors do not seem to predict alcohol initiation. For mental disorders, antisocial behavior is the only determinant that shows a predictive effect with the adolescent's alcohol initiation. The gender differences that emerge were that psychosocial problems predicted girl’s alcohol initiation but not for boys.

Background/Aims: Understanding predictors, moderators and mediators of child externalising behaviour problems could lead to improvements in engagement and outcomes for children and their families. Parental cognitions, including self-efficacy and attributions, have been proposed as mediators in the relationship between parenting and child behaviour problems. Although mediation is increasingly recognised as an effective way of examining relationships between variables, only a small proportion of studies that identify potential mediators actually conduct a mediation analysis. This thesis consists of two studies: a systematic review (Journal Article 1) and an empirical study (Journal Article 2). The systematic review investigated the ways in which mediation analysis has been used to examine the role of parental cognitions in studies of child behavioural problems, and to assess the methodological quality of these studies. The empirical study investigated the role of parental cognitions and characteristics in relation to pre-school child externalising behaviour problems. Methods: In Journal Article 1, a systematic search of three electronic databases, a quality assessment of included studies, and a subsequent narrative synthesis were conducted. In Journal Article 2, 125 parents of children aged 3-6 years old attending a community-based parent management training programme, across three local authorities, completed a battery of self-report questionnaires before and after the intervention. Correlational and mediation analyses were conducted to investigate relationships between child behaviour and parental attachment style, metacognition, dysfunctional attributions and parental stress. We also tested the possibility that parents' reported levels of stress and child behaviour problems, and their demographic variables, played a role in whether they completed the intervention. Results: In Journal Article 1, after screening, 14 studies were reviewed using an adapted quality criteria tool. The most commonly studied parental cognition was parental self-efficacy, with a small number of studies investigating parental attributions. A variety of approaches to mediation analysis had been used and caution should be exercised when interpreting the results of many of the reviewed studies. Despite a growing recognition of the limitations of some traditional methods (e.g. causal steps approach), research into mediators of child externalising behaviour could be improved by a wider adoption of more appropriate tools, in line appropriate theoretical frameworks. In Journal Article 2, as hypothesised, the results indicated significant relationships between parents' attachment insecurity and baseline levels of parental stress, parental attributions and child behaviour problems. Support was found for the hypothesis that parental attributions mediated the relationship between attachment insecurity and child externalising behaviour problems. We did not find significant that any demographic variables other than parent age predicted whether parents completed the programme. Conclusions: Taken together, the two studies provide evidence of a complex relationship between parental factors, particularly parental cognitions, and externalising child behaviour problems. The systematic review found some evidence that parental cognitions mediate how aspects of parenting (e.g. behaviour and affect) and child externalising behaviour problems are associated, and the empirical study also showed that parental attributions are important in relation to child behaviour problems. Of particular interest was the finding that they mediate the relationship between child behaviour problems and attachment insecurity. However, to advance the field both theoretically and clinically, future studies should endeavour to ensure adequate sample size and power, using optimal study designs, in conjunction with strong theoretical grounding. Exploring cognitive mediators beyond self-efficacy, such as parental attributions, will allow us to further develop our understanding of the relationship between child behaviour and parenting.