Despite the negative image of many adolescents and the perception that they are more influenced by peers than by adults, research consistently finds that most adolescents value positive relationships with parents, teachers, and other adults. Research also shows that adolescents who have positive relationships with caring adults are more likely to…

Objective: This study compared perceptions of personal distress, interpersonal and marital problems, and aspects of family climate of maltreating fathers and mothers. Methods: Subjects were 2841 offenders (1918 of whom were fathers or father-figures) who were identified and treated by the USAF Family Advocacy Program between 1988 and 1996.…

This longitudinal study investigated the relative contributions of infant temperament, maternal sensitivity, and psychosocial risk to individual differences in preschool children's cognitive development. It also examined specific moderating effects between predictors as well as the specific mediating role of maternal sensitivity in the relation…

The home-based intervention program Video-feedback Intervention to promote Positive Parenting and Sensitive Discipline (VIPP-SD) was tested in a randomized controlled trial with 237 families screened for their 1- to 3-year-old children's relatively high scores on externalizing behavior. VIPP-SD, based on attachment theory and coercion theory,…

Teenagers are perplexing, intriguing, and spirited creatures. In an attempt to discover the secrets to their thoughts and actions, parents have tried talking, cajoling, and begging them for answers. The result has usually been just more confusion. Light is being shed on these mysterious young adults. What was once thought to be hormones run amuck…

This study presents descriptive qualitative data about Latino parenting practices in an urban context. Focus groups were conducted with Dominican and Puerto Rican mother-adolescent pairs in the Bronx borough of New York City. When parenting style typologies are integrated with the Latino cultural components "familismo,"…

The stated objectives of this document are: to increase awareness of and clarify the risks facing children of substance abusers (COSAs) through a review of recent empirical research literature; and to examine the prevention and intervention issues involved in providing services to these youth in the schools. The literature review deals mainly with…

College freshmen transitioning from parental guidance to autonomous living are particularly at risk for engaging in heavy alcohol use. With reduced parental control, increased independence and peer influence, and a new physical and social environment, they are particularly vulnerable to risky drinking and associated consequences. The purpose of…

Although substance abuse affects the family, the children of substance abusers suffer the most. When parents are unable to care for their children because of their untreated addiction, the children are at risk for social and health problems that include alcohol and drug use, delinquency, depression, and poor school performance. One approach to…

Teenagers are presented with increasing degrees of freedom and exposure to risk in the current fast-paced electronic age. Teenagers challenge parents to help them find ways to overcome the risks around them. This book speaks to the parent child relationship and provides parents with insights on how to protect their children from the dangers around…

Describes a theoretically and empirically based groupwork approach designed to meet the unique needs of high-risk, inner- city parents and thereby provide effective mental health services. Provides a summary of the clinical issues and needs identified by group members, and recommendations for the development of innovative approaches to serve urban…

Examined predictability of observed parent-child interaction from preschool to middle childhood among 283 mother-child dyads who were welfare recipients enrolled in a job training program. Found that interaction in middle childhood could be predicted from observed interaction 4 years earlier. Families with greater risk factors tended to show more…

Three hypotheses concerning parental noncompliance were evaluated with 56 court-referred child maltreatment cases. Results are discussed in terms of maternal noncompliance as a marker for high-risk child care, limited understanding of the phenomenal meaning of noncompliance, and the dearth of empirically derived intervention methods. (DB)

This study examined differences between the preverbal communicative behaviors of 20 premature and 20 full-term infants at 4 and 7 months of age. Significant differences between groups were found in such communicative skills as gestures, eye contact, tactile-kinesthetic behaviors, and vocalizations. Mothers also differed in their communication…

Presents self-efficacy theory and discusses findings of self-efficacy research in general and specifically related to parenting. Describes mechanism through which self-efficacy beliefs are likely to develop and influence parenting. Examines the possibility of interventions to alter competency perceptions among at-risk parents or those having…