INTRODUCTION: The leading cause of injury and death among children in the United States is motor vehicle crashes. Even though laws have been amended and public awareness campaigns and education has increased, many children are still improperly restrained or not restrained at all. When correctly used, child restraints significantly reduce risk of injury or death in a motor vehicle crash. AIM: The purpose of the questions is to exhibit the baseline knowledge of participants before receiving car seat education from certified technicians. METHODS: Over an eight week period, Safe Kids Cobb County Car Seat Technicians distributed a 16-item survey, with 10 knowledge-based questions and 6 demographic questions to Inspection Station participants. Descriptive statistics were run and t-tests were calculated to determine if participant age, ethnicity, and gender were associated with overall knowledge scores. A simple linear regression test was run to determine the association between participant education level and total car seat safety knowledge. RESULTS: One-hundred and sixty nine surveys were completed. Participant knowledge of car seat safety ranged from 0% to 90% on all ten items. No significant correlation between participant knowledge and age was found. The relationship between total knowledge and education level was found to be slightly significant. However, ethnicity and gender were found to be significantly associated with total knowledge scores. DISCUSSION: The results from this study describe baseline knowledge among a sample of participants at Safe Inspection Station activities held in Cobb County, Georgia. These results can help inform tailoring of future programming so that the impact of enhanced health education / prevention messages for intended populations can be maximized.

Magister Scientiae Dentium - MSc(Dent) / Introduction: Dental fluorosis is a developmental disturbance of enamel that results from ingestion of high amounts of fluoride during tooth mineralization. Drinking water remains the main source of fluoride. Other sources of fluoride include infant formula, vegetables; canned fish as well as early, improper utilization of fluoridated toothpastes in children. Knowledge of risk factors in the causation of dental fluorosis may improve strategies to prevent dental fluorosis. Objective: To determine the prevalence of dental fluorosis among children aged 12-15 years old in Athi River sub-county, Machakos County, Kenya and assesses the level of knowledge on risk factors for dental fluorosis among their parents. Methodology: This was a descriptive study with an analytic component. A total of 281 children aged 12-15 years attending public primary schools within Athi River sub-county, Machakos County were included. A self-administered questionnaire was send to parents for socio-demographic characteristics and oral health practices. Children whose parents consented were examined and dental fluorosis scored according to the Thylstrup and Fejerskov index. Fourty randomly selected children were requested to bring water samples from their homes. Retail stores located in the area were visited for purchase of six different brands of bottled water. These samples were sent to a certified laboratory for fluoride analysis and reported in milligrams of fluoride per litre. Data analysis: Data was entered into SPSS version 20 and analysed for means, ANOVA of means and chi-square test of significance for categorical variables. All tests for significance were set at 95% confidence level (α≤0.05). Results: A total of 314 self-administered questionnaires were send to parents together with consent forms for their children‟s participation in the study. Two hundred and eighty six responded positively, giving a response rate of 91%. The overall prevalence of dental fluorosis among children aged 12-15 years was 93.4% with only 6.6% (n=19) recording a TFI score of 0. About one quarter 70(24.4%) of children had severe fluorosis with TFI scores of ≥5. The mean TFI score for all children was 3.09 (SD=2.0), with males recording a mean TF score of 3.01 (SD=2.11) and females a mean TF score of 3.16 (SD=1.88). Out of 44 water samples analysed, 29 (65.9%) had a fluoride content of less than 0.6mg/l, 5 (11.4%) had fluoride content of 0.7 - 1.5mg/l while 10 (22.7%) of samples had a fluoride content ≥1.5mg/l. The highest fluoride content recorded was 9.3mg/l, with another sample reflecting 8.9mgF/l. Three of the bottled water samples had a fluoride content of less than 0.6mg/l, while the other half of the bottled water reported 0.7 - 0.8mg/l fluoride. A majority (87.8%) of parents indicated that they had noticed children with brown staining of their permanent teeth in their community. About 80% of parents thought dental fluorosis was caused by salty water, while only 12.9% correctly identified water with high fluoride content as being responsible for the discolored teeth. Conclusion: Although about one in five water sources sampled had fluoride content of ≥1.5mg/l, the prevalence of dental fluorosis in this community was very high. Parental knowledge on the risk factors for dental fluorosis was low. Further research is necessary to identify the water distribution networks to provide sound evidence for engaging with the county authorities on provision of safe drinking water to the community.

Using a longitudinal sample of Chinese immigrant families, the current study examined parent-child acculturation discrepancy as an ongoing risk factor for delinquency, through the mediating pathway of parental knowledge of the child’s daily experiences relating to child’s contact with deviant peers. Based on the absolute difference in acculturation levels (tested separately for Chinese and American orientations) between adolescents and parents, one parent in each family was assigned to the “more discrepant” group of parent-child dyads, and the other parent was assigned to the “less discrepant” group of parent-child dyads. To explore possible within-family variations, the mediating pathways were tested separately among the more and less discrepant groups. Within each group, the mediating pathway was further compared between father- and mother-adolescent dyads from different families. Structural equation modeling showed that the proposed mediating pathways were significant only in the more discrepant parent-adolescent dyads. For more discrepant dyads, especially those discrepant in American orientation, a high level of parent-child acculturation discrepancy is related to less parental knowledge, which is related to adolescents having more contact with deviant peers, which in turn leads to more adolescent delinquency. This mediating pathway is significant concurrently, within early and middle adolescence, and longitudinally, from early to middle adolescence. Among the more discrepant dyads, the relationship between parent-child acculturation discrepancy and parental knowledge was stronger for father-adolescent dyads than it was for mother-adolescent dyads. / text

This thesis compromise four studies, three regarding psychometrics and norms of parent rating scales, and one study regarding effectiveness of two different interventions. A normative sample consisting of 1443 parents with children aged 10 to 13 years old, was used in the Study I, II and III. In Study IV, 231 self-referred parents with children aged 10-13 years old with externalizing behavior problem (EBP) were randomized to either Family Check-Up (FCU) or iComet. The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) used in Study I proved to be a reliable and valid instrument with high internal consistency, clear factor structure and high correlation with other similar instruments. In addition, the results support the online use of SDQ as well as using norms obtained through traditional administration even when the SDQ has been administrated online. The Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ) investigated in Study II was shown to have adequate reliability and construct validity. The specific use of expressive suppression or cognitive reappraisal as a parental emotion regulation strategy was correlated as expected to the couple’s satisfaction, family warmth, and the employment of adequate discipline strategies. Swedish norms for self-rated ERQs are also presented. Study III investigated the Parental Knowledge and Monitoring Scale (PKMS), which was shown to be a useful instrument for assessing parental knowledge and its sources. Family climate appears to moderate important relationships between parental knowledge and conduct problems with implications for such things as family interventions. Finally, a person-oriented analysis was used in Study IV to subtype the children according to combinations of prosocial behavior and EBP, such as different levels of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms and/or oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) behaviors. Despite being a heterogeneous group of children with EBP, they were meaningfully grouped into significantly different profiles. Both FCU and iComet resulted in post-treatment measurement within non-clinical range for three of the five profiles. The two profiles that included high levels of ADHD behaviors at baseline assessment continued to have residual symptoms post intervention.

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La connaissance parentale des activités de temps libre de l’adolescent est amplement reconnue comme un prédicteur important de l’ajustement psychosocial du jeune. Néanmoins, la question de ses sources demeure au coeur des débats. Selon certains auteurs, elle résulte des efforts parentaux de contrôle et de supervision ; pour d’autres, elle est le seul fruit de la bonne volonté de l’adolescent en matière de partage d’informations. Cette thèse se donne pour objectif d’identifier lessources de la connaissance parentale et les déterminants de l’ajustement psychosocial de l’adolescent, ainsi que d’examiner les influences bidirectionnelles qui s’exercent au sein du système dynamique mèreadolescent. Vingt-et-un participants (âgés en moyenne de 16.6 ans au début du suivi longitudinal) ont répondu, chaque semaine pendant 30semaines, à un court questionnaire en ligne qui évaluait leur perception du changement concernant la connaissance maternelle, le monitoring maternel (sollicitation d’informations, contrôle, liberté), leur gestion de l’information (libre divulgation et secret), la qualité de la relation mère-adolescent et leur ajustement psychosocial (internalisé et externalisé). Les données issues de ce protocole de mesures intensives ont été analysées à la fois à un niveau nomothétique(modélisations linéaires mixtes à l’échelle du groupe de sujets) et à un niveau idiographique (modélisationsautorégressives vectorielles à l’échelle de chaque système), dans les deux cas en se focalisant sur l’étude des effets dynamiques (influence de l’état du système au temps t-1 sur l’état du système au temps t ).Nos résultats montrent que la connaissance parentale dépend à la fois de la libre divulgation par le jeune et de la sollicitation maternelle. La qualité de la relation joue également un rôle essentiel, notamment en tant que variable modératrice des sources de la connaissance parentale. Sur le plan de l’ajustement psychosocial de l’adolescent, nos résultats indiquent que les pratiques parentales de monitoring ne peuvent pas être considérées comme étant favorables ou délétères en soi. Au contraire, les pratiques parentales et la gestion de l’information par l’adolescent ont des effetsdifférenciés selon le contexte dans lequel elles prennent place. Enfin, dans une approche idiographique, nous mettons en évidence que les influences réciproques au sein du système dynamique mère-adolescent s’opèrent sous la forme de processus de feedback positif / Parental knowledge of adolescent leisure activities is widely recognized as a strong predictor of adolescent psychosocial adjustment. However, the issue of its sources remains at the heart of debates. According to some authors, parental knowledge is the result of parental monitoring efforts; for others, it is the only fruit of the adolescent willingness in information management. This thesis aims to identify the sources of parental knowledge of adolescent leisure activities and the determinants of adolescent psychosocial adjustment, and to examine the bidirectional influences betweenmother and adolescent conceived as a dynamic system. During 30 weeks on a weekly basis, 21 participants (mean age 16.6 years at the beginning of our longitudinal follow-up study) were invited to fill a short online questionnaire that assessed their perception of change regarding maternal knowledge, maternal monitoring practices (i.e., solicitation, control andfreedom), adolescent management of information (i.e., self-disclosure and secrecy), quality of the mother-adolescent relationship and adolescent psychosocial adjustment (i.e., internalized and externalized). Data from this intensive measurement design were analyzed both at a nomothetic (i.e., linear mixed models across the group of subjects) and anidiographic level (i.e., vector autoregressive models across each motheradolescent system), in both cases by focusing on the study of dynamic effects (influence of the state of the system at time t- 1 on the state of the system at time t ).Our results show that parental knowledge depends on both the self-disclosure of adolescent and maternal solicitation. The quality of the relationship also plays a key role, including as a moderator variable of the sources of parental knowledge. In terms of psychosocial adjustment of adolescents, our results indicate that parental monitoring practices can not be considered as favorable or deleterious in itself. Instead, parenting practices and information management by adolescenthave different effects depending on the context in which they take place. Finally, in an idiographic approach, we show that the reciprocal influences within the motheradolescent dynamic system are positive feedback processes

The present study aimed to compare adolescents (14-15 years old) having self-reported neurodevelopmental disorders classified as flourishing with those adolescents classified as non- flourishing concerning rated mental health problems and adolescent perceptions of adolescent disclosure and parental control. The present study used a cross-sectional design based on a secondary analysis of data collected in the LoRDIA research program. Adolescents having self-reported NDDs in wave 3 were included (n=198). Adolescents rated their mental health using the Mental Health Continuum – Short Form, after which researchers classified them as flourishing, moderate, or languishing. Behavior and emotional symptoms were rated using the conduct problems subscale and emotional symptoms subscale of the self-reported version of the Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire. Adolescents rated adolescent disclosure and parental control using the adolescent disclosure scale and parental control scale. Independent Samples t-Tests, Mann-Whitney U test, and multiple regressions were performed to analyze data. Findings illustrated that adolescents having self-reported NDDs classified as flourishing report less conduct problems, lower adolescent disclosure, and same levels of parental control compared to those adolescents classified as non-flourishing. Emotional problems seem to be positively related to adolescent disclosure within family interaction patterns, while conduct problems appear to be negatively related to parental control. However, parenting style may be crucial in having few or many conduct- and emotional problems. Thus, adolescent disclosure plays a prominent role in relation to adolescents’ mental health, mental health problems, and parent-adolescent interactions, while parental control plays a prominent role in relation to adolescents’ mental health problems and parent-adolescent interactions.

Each year, approximately 1 million children are found to have been abused, with an average of 4.5 children dying each day at the hands of parents, caretakers, relatives, and friends. Child abuse recognition and parental self-efficacy is understood to decrease the prevalence of child abuse. The literature documents the importance of educating mandatory reporters and suggests inconclusive findings about sex differences in child abuse recognition parental self-efficacy. The current research examines the impact of child abuse education on parental child abuse detection self-efficacy, child abuse recognition knowledge, and sex differences in parental child abuse detection self-efficacy. Bandura's self-efficacy theory states that higher levels of self-efficacy will lead to an individual's higher levels of reaction to the situation. The purpose of this experimental quantitative study was to test (a) if reading a child abuse education pamphlet would significantly increase parents ability to recognize child abuse; (b) if reading a child abuse education pamphlet would impact parental self-efficacy and (c) if gender would be significantly reflected in posttest scores on ability to recognize child abuse. A convenience sample of 66 participants was drawn from parents from a middle class neighborhood in Florida. A mixed ANOVA was used to test the study's hypotheses. According to the results, child abuse education improved both parents' knowledge of, and ability to detect, child abuse. This study promotes positive social change by bringing awareness to this community about this problem. Social conditions will be improved with child abuse training by increasing the individual's self-efficacy and knowledge which will help to prevent child abuse.

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