Mental health literacy of Latina women in the United States for their school-aged children

Despite known mental health (MH) disparities faced by Latino children relative to children from other minority groups of similar socioeconomic status (SES), little is known about how Latina mothers make MH decisions for their children. The present study examined links between Latina mothers' mental health literacy (MHL), including the recognition of and response to child psychiatric symptoms, and maternal acculturation factors as well as interpersonal violence (IPV) related symptomatology. Participants were 80 Latina mothers from Denver, Colorado and Modesto, California with at least one child between the ages of 8-12 years. Mothers were presented vignettes depicting child internalizing and externalizing disorders as well as interviewed about their help seeking behaviors. Maternal acculturation was not related to identification of disorders, but was related to more symptoms recognized for child internalizing and externalizing symptoms. Acculturation predicted use of formal source of care for child internalizing and externalizing disorder. Women demonstrated a preference for informal source of care, with the exception of IPV-related child symptoms, where women demonstrated a preference for formal source of care. IPV-related symptoms did not moderate the relationship between acculturation and MHL. The relationship between maternal acculturation, IPV related symptomatology and their combined effect on MHL for child psychiatric disorders are discussed.

Mental Health Effects of Equine Therapy with Children

This study examined the effects of eight weekly lessons of therapeutic horseback riding (THR) on five children between the ages of 6 and 12 years who displayed behavioral issues, mood disturbance, relationship issues, or other mental health disorders. All of the children's parents/caregivers completed the Child Behavior Checklist for Ages 6-18 at the onset of the lessons and at the conclusion of the lessons. The children did not show any significant improvement on the Internalizing, Externalizing, Total Problems scales or the syndrome scales. However, comparisons between the pre-test and post-test scores on the Behavior scale and the Externalizing scale showed positive trends which warrant further study. The lack of significance in the data suggests that a greater participant population or a mixed method study using a combination of quantitative and qualitative strategies may yield more conclusive results.

Post-Conflict Maternal Communication, Children's Understandings, and Child Functioning in Violent and Non-Violent Families

The last two decades have been marked by a growing public awareness of family violence. Research by social scientists has suggested that family violence is widespread (Gelles and Straus, 1988). It is estimated that every year 1.8 to 4 million women are physically abused by their partners (Novello, 1992). In fact, more women are abused by their husbands or boyfriends than are injured in car accidents, muggings, or rapes (Jaffe, Wolfe, and Wilson, 1990). A recent prevalence study by Fantuzzo, Boruch, Beriama, Atkins, and Marcus (1997) found that children were disproportionately present in households where there was a substantial incident of adult female assault. Experts estimate that 3.3 to 10 million children are exposed to marital violence each year (Carlson, 1984; Straus, 1991). Until recently, most researchers did not consider the impact of parental conflict on the children who witness this violence. The early literature in this field primarily focused on the incidence of violence against women and the inadequate response of community agencies (Jaffe et al, 1990). The needs of children were rarely considered. However, researchers have become increasingly aware that children exposed to marital violence are victims of a range of psychological maltreatment (e.g., terrorizing, isolation;Hart, Brassared & Karlson, 1996) and are at serious risk for the development of psychological problems (Fantuzzo, DePaola, Lambert, Martino, Anderson, and Sutton, 1991). Jouriles, Murphy and O'Leary (1989) found that children of battered women were four times more likely to exhibit psychopathology as were children living in non-violent homes. Further, researchers have found associations between childhood exposure to parental violence and the expression of violence in adulthood (Carlson, 1990). Existing research suggests that children who have witnessed marital violence manifest numerous emotional, social, and behavioral problems (Sternberg et al., 1993; Fantuzzo et al., 1991; Jaffe et al, 1990). Studies have found that children of battered women exhibit more internalizing and externalizing behavior problems than non-witnesschildren (Hughes and Fantuzzo, 1994; McCloskey, Figueredo, and Koss, 1995). In addition, children exposed to marital violence have been found to exhibit difficulties with social problem-solving, and have lower levels of social competence than nonwitnesses (Rosenberg, 1987; Moore, Pepler, Weinberg, Hammond, Waddell, & Weiser, 1990). Other reported difficulties include low self esteem (Hughes, 1988), poor school performance (Moore et al., 1990) and problems with aggression (Holden & Ritchie, 1991; Jaffe, Wolfe, Wilson, & Zak, 1986). Further, within the last decade, researchers have found that some children are traumatized by the witnessing experience, showing elevated levels of posttraumatic stress symptoms (Devoe & Graham-Bermann, 1997; Rossman, Bingham, & Emde, 1996; Kilpatrick, Litt, & Williams, 1997). These findings corroborate clinical reports that describe many exposed children as experiencing trauma reactions. It appears that the negative effects of witnessing marital violence are numerous and varied, ranging from mild emotional and behavioral problems to clinically significant levels of posttraumatic stress symptoms. These incidence figures and research findings indicate that children's exposure to violence is a significant problem in our nation today and has serious implications for the future.

Patterns and Predictors of Stability and Change in Representations of Romantic Relationships in Adolescence and Young Adulthood

Research on the stability of attachment representations across the lifespan has led to two alternative perspectives: the prototype and revisionist perspectives (Fraley, 2002). The prototype perspective posits that there is a stable factor underlying fluctuations in representations and the revisionist perspective argues that there is no inherently stable factor. The current study employed a latent trait-state model to investigate these alternative models of stability and change in representations of romantic relationships in adolescence and young adulthood. The study also sought to identify individual characteristics and relationship experiences that are associated with changes in representations. In a sample of 200 participants, representations were assessed by interview and self-report over seven measurement occasions between ages 15 and 23. Results were consistent with the prototype perspective emphasizing that a stable, latent factor exerts a consistent influence over the lifespan. In addition to a stable component, representations incorporated a component that varies over time. Findings showed that this fluctuating component of representations was associated with internalizing and externalizing symptomatology as well as experiences of support and negative interaction in relationships.

Examining the Complex Relationships of Early Intervention on Language and Psychosocial Development in Families Facing Multiple Risks with a Focus on Children of Hispanic Immigrants

Abundant research has shown that poverty has negative influences on young child academic and psychosocial development, and unfortunately, disparities in school readiness between low and high income children can be seen as early the first year of life. The largest federal early care and education intervention for these vulnerable children is Early Head Start (EHS). To diminish these disparate child outcomes, EHS seeks to provide community based flexible programming for infants and toddlers and their families. Given how relatively recent these programs have been offered, little is known about the nuances of how EHS impacts infant and toddler language and psychosocial development. Using a framework of Community Based Participatory Research (CBPR) this paper had 5 goals: 1) to characterize the associations between domain specific and cumulative risk and child outcomes 2) to validate and explore these risk-outcome associations separately for Children of Hispanic immigrants (COHIs), 3) to explore relationships among family characteristics, multiple environmental factors, and dosage patterns in different EHS program types, 4) to examine the relationship between EHS dosage and child outcomes, and 5) to examine how EHS compliance impacts child internalizing and externalizing behaviors and emerging language abilities. Results of the current study showed that risks were differentially related to child outcomes. Poor maternal mental health was related to child internalizing and externalizing behaviors, but not related to emerging child language skills. Although child language skills were not related to maternal mental health, they were related to economic hardship. Additionally, parent level Spanish use and heritage orientation were associated with positive child outcomes. Results also showed that these relationships differed when COHIs and children with native-born parents were examined separately. Further, unique patterns emerged for EHS program use, for example families who participated in home-based care were less likely to comply with EHS attendance requirements. These findings provide tangible suggestions for EHS stakeholders: namely, the need to develop effective programming that targets engagement for diverse families enrolled in EHS programs.

The Caregiver–Child Relationship, Youth Mental Health, and Placement Stability in a Child Welfare Sample

Objective: Healthy relationships between adolescents and their caregivers have been robustly associated with better youth outcomes in a variety of domains. Youth in contact with the child welfare system are at higher risk for worse outcomes including mental health problems and home placement instability. A growing body of literature points to youth mental health problems as both a predictor and a consequence of home placement instability in this population; the present study aimed to expand our understanding of these phenomena by examining the interplay among the caregiver-child relationship, youth mental health symptoms, and placement change over time. Method: The sample consisted of 1,179 youths aged 11-16, from the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being, a nationally representative sample of children in contact with the child welfare system. We used bivariate correlations and autoregressive cross-lagged path analysis to examine how youths’ reports of their externalizing and internalizing symptoms, their relationship with their caregivers, and placement changes reciprocally influenced one another over three time points. Results: In the overall models, early internalizing symptoms significantly negatively predicted the quality of the caregiver-child relationship at the next time point, and early externalizing symptoms predicted subsequent placement change. In addition, later externalizing symptoms negatively predicted subsequent reports of relationship quality, and later placement changes predicted subsequent externalizing problems; these relationships were significant only at the trend level (p < .10). The quality of the relationship was significantly negatively correlated with externalizing and internalizing problems at all time points, and all variables demonstrated autoregressive stability over time. Conclusions: Our findings support the importance of comprehensive interventions for youth in contact with the child welfare system, which target not only youth symptoms in isolation, but also the caregiver-child relationship, as a way to improve social-emotional outcomes in this high-risk population.

Psychometric Investigation of the Check-In, Check-Out Fidelity of Implementation Measure

Suspension and expulsion are utilized frequently and disproportionality in schools in the United States. Many schools utilize Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS), a tiered framework to prevent problem behavior and reduce the use of discipline practices (Sugai et al., 2000). Check-In, Check-Out (CICO) is a targeted group behavioral intervention that is utilized within this framework in schools to prevent severe problem behavior in students that are beginning to exhibit externalizing and/or internalizing behavioral needs; thus, preventing the use of exclusionary discipline practices (Crone et al., 2010; Hawken & Horner, 2003). As the use of CICO in schools continues to grow, so too does the need for an instrument measuring its fidelity of implementation. The purpose of this study was to investigate the reliability and validity of the Check-In, Check-Out Fidelity of Implementation Measure (Crone et al., 2010), an instrument created to measure the fidelity of implementation of CICO intervention. This study assessed the psychometric properties of the instrument utilizing an archival data set collected by the statewide PBIS initiative in a western state in the U.S. The results demonstrated promising content validity, construct validity, internal consistency, and interrater reliability. A unidimensional structure was determined to be the best structure for the instrument based on parsimony and the strong results obtained from the item loadings, internal consistency, and interrater reliability. Implications for use and future research are discussed.