G. Kevin Randall

Substance use outcomes 5½ years past baseline for partnership-based, family-school preventive interventions

This article reports adolescent substance use outcomes of universal family and school preventive interventions 5(1/2) years past baseline. Participants were 1677 7th grade students from schools (N=36) randomly assigned to the school-based Life Skills Training plus the Strengthening Families Program: For Parents and Youth 10-14 (LST+SFP 10-14), LST-alone, or a control condition. Self-reports were collected at baseline, 6 months later following the interventions, then yearly through the 12th grade. Measures included initiation-alcohol, cigarette, marijuana, and drunkenness, along with a Substance Initiation Index (SII)-and measures of more serious use-frequency of alcohol, cigarette, and marijuana use, drunkenness frequency, monthly poly-substance use, and advanced poly-substance use. Analyses ruled out differential attrition. For all substance initiation outcomes, one or both intervention groups showed significant, positive point-in-time differences at 12th grade and/or significant growth trajectory outcomes when compared with the control group. Although no main effects for the more serious substance use outcomes were observed, a higher-risk subsample demonstrated significant, positive 12th grade point-in-time and/or growth trajectory outcomes for one or both intervention groups on all measures. The observed pattern of results likely reflects a combination of predispositions of the higher-risk subsample, the timing of the interventions, and baseline differences between experimental conditions favoring the control group.

Randomized study of combined universal family and school preventive interventions: patterns of long-term effects on initiation, regular use, and weekly drunkenness.

This study reports findings on a combined family and school-based competency-training intervention from an in-school assessment 2.5 years past baseline, as a follow-up to an earlier study of substance initiation. Increased rates of observed alcohol use and an additional wave of data allowed evaluation of regular alcohol use and weekly drunkenness, with both point-in-time and growth curve analyses. Thirty-six rural schools were randomly assigned to (a) a combined family and school intervention condition, (b) a school-only condition, or (c) a control condition. The earlier significant outcome on a substance initiation index was replicated, and positive point-in-time results for weekly drunkenness were observed, but there were no statistically significant outcomes for regular alcohol use. Discussion focuses on factors relevant to the mix of significant longitudinal results within a consistent general pattern of positive intervention-control differences.

Increasing School Success Through Partnership-Based Family Competency Training: Experimental Study of Long-Term Outcomes.

An expanding body of research suggests an important role for parent or family competency training in childrens social-emotional learning and related school success. This article summarizes a test of a longitudinal model examining partnership-based family competency training effects on academic success in a general population. Specifically, it examines indirect effects of the Iowa Strengthening Families Program (ISFP) on school engagement in 8th grade and academic success in the 12th grade, through direct ISFP effects on intervention-targeted outcomes-parenting competencies and student substance-related risk-in 6th grade. Twenty-two rural schools were randomly assigned to either ISFP or a minimal-contact control group; data were collected from 445 families. Following examination of the equivalence of the measurement model across group and time, a structural equation modeling approach was used to test the hypothesized model and corresponding hypothesized structural paths. Significant effects of the ISFP were found on proximal intervention outcomes, intermediate school engagement, and the academic success of high school seniors.

Understanding centenarians' psychosocial dynamics and their contributions to health and quality of life.

While it is understood that longevity and health are influenced by complex interactions among biological, psychological, and sociological factors, there is a general lack of understanding on how psychosocial factors impact longevity, health, and quality of life among the oldest old. One of the reasons for this paradox is that the amount of funded research on aging in the US is significantly larger in the biomedical compared to psychosocial domains. The goals of this paper are to highlight recent data to demonstrate the impact of four pertinent psychosocial domains on health and quality of life of the oldest old and supplement recommendations of the 2001 NIA Panel on Longevity for future research. The four domains highlighted in this paper are (1) demographics, life events, and personal history, (2) personality, (3) cognition, and (4) socioeconomic resources and support systems.

Effects of Parenting and Deviant Peers on Early to Mid-Adolescent Conduct Problems.

We investigated the influence of effective parenting behaviors (father and mother reports) and deviant peer association (adolescent reports) on subsequent young adolescent conduct problems (teacher reports) during grades 7–9, using structural equation modeling. Data were from a sample of 226 rural adolescents (n = 112 boys; n = 107 girls; n = 7 gender unknown), their parents, and teachers. Both effective parenting and association with deviant peers influenced later conduct problems; however, the pattern of influence varied across time and between fathers and mothers, with complex patterns of interactions between effective parenting and peer deviance. From seventh to eighth grade, effective parenting by both mothers and fathers buffered the effect of higher levels of peer deviance on conduct problems across adolescent gender. From eighth to ninth grade (i.e., transition into high school), fathers’ effective parenting buffered the effects of deviant peer association on their daughters’ conduct problems, whereas both fathers’ and mothers’ influence was stronger for sons when deviant peer associations were lower. Analyses also evaluated bi-directional longitudinal effects among adolescents, parents, and peers. Although varying by parent and adolescent gender or adolescent age, results generally supported the protective effects of parenting on their children’s conduct problems during early to mid adolescence.

Social Resources and Longevity: Findings from the Georgia Centenarian Study

Background: As the proportion of adults aged 85 and older increases, investigations of resources essential for adapting to the challenges of aging are required. Objective: To comprehensively investigate the social resources of cognitively intact centenarians participating in the Georgia Centenarian Study and the association between these resources and residence status. Methods: Two widely used measures of social resources were investigated among participants living in private homes, personal care facilities, and nursing homes. Logistic regression was used to determine significant predictors of nursing home residence. Results: Differences in levels of social resources were found between centenarians and octogenarians, and among centenarians in different living situations. Analyses revealed differential findings between self- and proxy reports. Controlling for education, activities of daily living, and financial ability to meet needs, only one of the two social resources measures significantly reduced the odds of nursing home residence. Conclusion: The findings of this study add to the existing literature on one of the basic adaptive resources (social resources) for centenarians. Whether a more specific assessment of network contact is employed, or a more global assessment is used, differences in these constructs exist between centenarians and octogenarians, among centenarians in differing living conditions, and across types of informants. Researchers examining the different resources that may contribute to extraordinary longevity and positive adaptation may find it essential to differentiate between the oldest old and centenarians, and to account for differences based upon measure, reporter type, and centenarian residence status.

Consideration of Forgiveness to Enhance the Health Status of Older Male Prisoners Confronting Spiritual, Social, or Emotional Vulnerability

Participants in this study included 261 men, aged 45 and older, residing within state-managed correctional facilities in Oklahoma. Path analysis was used to examine an integrated mediation model. Spiritual ambivalence, loneliness, and depressive affect had direct negative associations with forgiveness, controlling for age, race, education, and type of crime. Forgiveness also maintained a direct positive association with perceived health status, whereas depressive affect maintained a direct negative association with perceived health status. In addition, a significant indirect effect of depressive affect on perceived health through forgiveness emerged. Overall, the model explained 38% of the variance in forgiveness and 23% in perceived health. Greater spiritual ambivalence, loneliness, and depressive affect diminish forgiveness among older male prisoners, yet higher levels of forgiveness, are associated with greater perceived health.

Successful Aging: A Psychosocial Resources Model for Very Old Adults

Objectives. Using data from the first two phases of the Georgia Centenarian Study, we proposed a latent factor structure for the Duke OARS domains: Economic Resources, Mental Health, Activities of Daily Living, Physical Health, and Social Resources. Methods. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were conducted on two waves of the Georgia Centenarian Study to test a latent variable measurement model of the five resources; nested model testing was employed to assess the final measurement model for equivalency of factor structure over time. Results. The specified measurement model fit the data well at Time 1. However, at Time 2, Social Resources only had one indicator load significantly and substantively. Supplemental analyses demonstrated that a model without Social Resources adequately fit the data. Factorial invariance over time was confirmed for the remaining four latent variables. Discussion. This studys findings allow researchers and clinicians to reduce the number of OARS questions asked of participants. This has practical implications because increased difficulties with hearing, vision, and fatigue in older adults may require extended time or multiple interviewer sessions to complete the battery of OARS questions.

Social Resources and Change in Functional Health: Comparing Three Age Groups.

This study examined the mediating and moderating role of social resources on the association between age and change in functional health for three age groups of older adults. Data were provided by those in their 60s, 80s, and 100s who participated in the first two phases of the Georgia Centenarian study. Analyses confirmed the studys hypothesis that social resources moderated the relationship between age group and change in functional health; in particular, centenarians who experienced the greatest decline in IADLs scored the highest on social resources at time 1. No evidence was found for mediation by social resources or a directional influence by either level of social resources or functional health on change in the other resource. Evidence from this study challenges researchers and service providers to consider the heterogeneity in resources among older adults.

Exploring Life Satisfaction in Exceptional Old Age: The Mediating Role of Positive and Negative Affect

This study involved 137 centenarians from Phase 3 of the Georgia Centenarian Study. Path analysis using Mplus Version 6.11 was used to explore how positive and negative affect mediate the association between perceived and functional health status, cognition, fatigue, and distal life event stress on life satisfaction. The final path model fit the data: MLR χ2 (4, N = 137) = 5.84, p = .21, CFI = .97; RMSEA = .06; SRMR = .03. Perceived health (γ = −.23, p < .01) and cognition (γ = −.16, p < .05) had a negative direct association with negative affect, whereas functional health (γ = .20, p < .05) and fatigue (γ = .24, p < .001) maintained positive direct associations. Relative to positive affect, perceived health (γ = .21, p < .01) had a direct positive association with positive affect, but fatigue (γ = −.38, p < .001) had a negative direct association. In addition, negative affect (β = −.19, p < .05) and fatigue (β −.19, p < .05) maintained direct negative associations with life satisfaction. Indirect associations between perceived health (.064, [CI = .006, .121]), functional health (−.055, [CI = −.109, −001]), and fatigue (−.068, [CI = −.124, −.011]) and life satisfaction emerged in the presence of negative affect but not positive affect. It appears that life satisfaction among long-lived persons depends on the extent to which negative emotions are experienced. This has implications in addressing the impact of negative affect on the well-being of long-lived persons.