J. Douglas Coatsworth

The development of competence in favorable and unfavorable environments: Lessons from research on successful children.

The development of competence holds great interest for parents and society alike. This article considers implications from research on competence and resilience in children and adolescents for policy and interventions designed to foster better outcomes among children at risk. Foundations of competence in early development are discussed, focusing on the role of attachment relationships and self-regulation. Results from studies of competence in the domains of peer relations, conduct, school, work, and activities are highlighted. Lessons are drawn from studies of naturally occurring resilience among children at risk because of disadvantage or trauma and also from efforts to deliberately alter the course of competence through early childhood education and preventive interventions. Converging evidence suggests that the same powerful adaptive systems protect development in both favorable and unfavorable environments.

Efficacy of Brief Strategic Family Therapy in Modifying Hispanic Adolescent Behavior Problems and Substance Use

This study investigated the efficacy of brief strategic family therapy (BSFT) with Hispanic behavior problem and drug using youth, an underrepresented population in the family therapy research literature. One hundred twenty-six Hispanic families with a behavior problem adolescent were randomly assigned to 1 of 2 conditions: BSFT or group treatment control (GC). Results showed that, compared to GC cases, BSFT cases showed significantly greater pre- to post-intervention improvement in parent reports of adolescent conduct problems and delinquency, adolescent reports of marijuana use, and observer ratings and self reports of family functioning. These results extend prior findings on the efficacy of family interventions to a difficult to treat Hispanic adolescent sample.

A Model of Mindful Parenting: Implications for Parent–Child Relationships and Prevention Research

This paper introduces a model of “mindful parenting” as a framework whereby parents intentionally bring moment-to-moment awareness to the parent–child relationship. This is done by developing the qualities of listening with full attention when interacting with their children, cultivating emotional awareness and self-regulation in parenting, and bringing compassion and nonjudgmental acceptance to their parenting interactions. First, we briefly outline the theoretical and empirical literature on mindfulness and mindfulness-based interventions. Next, we present an operational definition of mindful parenting as an extension of mindfulness to the social context of parent–child relationships. We discuss the implications of mindful parenting for the quality of parent–child relationships, particularly across the transition to adolescence, and we review the literature on the application of mindfulness in parenting interventions. We close with a synopsis of our own efforts to integrate mindfulness-based intervention techniques and mindful parenting into a well-established, evidence-based family prevention program and our recommendations for future research on mindful parenting interventions.

Familias Unidas: A Family-Centered Ecodevelopmental Intervention to Reduce Risk for Problem Behavior among Hispanic Adolescents

This paper describes the theoretical and empirical foundations of Familias Unidas, a multilevel, family-centered intervention designed to prevent problem behavior in Hispanic adolescents. The main theoretical tenets for the intervention model; an ecological-developmental perspective, the centrality of ethnic and cultural themes, application of empowerment principles, and a family focus are reviewed. The literature on the risk and protective factors that provided the justification for the interventions targeted mediators and the core clinical applications that are intended to alter them are discussed. Familias Unidas engages Hispanic immigrant parents into an empowerment process in which they first build a strong parent-support network and then use the network to increase knowledge of culturally relevant parenting, strengthen parenting skills, and then apply these new skills in a series of activities designed to reduce risks frequently found in poor, urban environments. The available evidence supporting the efficacy of Familias Unidas is summarized, as are future goals and a current, second-generation application of the intervention.

Familias Unidas: The Efficacy of an Intervention to Promote Parental Investment in Hispanic Immigrant Families

This paper reports a test of the efficacy of Familias Unidas, a Hispanic-specific, ecologically focused, parent-centered preventive intervention, in promoting protection against and reducing risk for adolescent behavior problems. Specifically, the intervention was designed to foster parental investment, reduce adolescent behavior problems, and promote adolescent school bonding/academic achievement, all protective factors against drug abuse and delinquency. One-hundred sixty seven Hispanic families of 6th and 7th grade students from three South Florida public schools were stratified by grade within school and randomly assigned to intervention and no-intervention control conditions. Results indicated that Familias Unidas was efficacious in increasing parental investment and decreasing adolescent behavior problems, but that it did not significantly impact adolescent school bonding/academic achievement. Summer-vacation rates of adolescent behavior problems were six times higher in the control condition than in the intervention condition. Furthermore, change in parental investment during the intervention was predictive of subsequent levels of adolescent behavior problems. The findings suggest that Familias Unidas is efficacious in promoting protection and reducing risk for adolescent problem behaviors in poor immigrant Hispanic families.

Initial Engagement in Parent-Centered Preventive Interventions: A Family Systems Perspective.

This article examines factors predicting participant engagement in a parent-centered, substance abuse preventive intervention. One hundred forty-three families assigned to the experimental condition were identified as either “initially engaged” (having attended at least one of the first three sessions) or “not initially engaged.” The groups were compared on demographics, family need for the intervention, barriers to participation, and family systems level variables. Results from hierarchical logistic regression analyses indicate that caregiver need for the intervention and family systems variables significantly predicted initial engagement in the intervention, while demographic variables, stressful life circumstances, and family stress failed to significantly influence engagement. Family systems variables were the strongest predictors of engagement within the full model. Furthermore, ethnic and racial background significantly moderated the effects of family systems variables on engagement in the intervention. For instance, African American families with low levels of family organization were less likely to be engaged than those with high levels of organization. This effect was not as strong for Hispanic caregivers. Implications for recruitment and engagement strategies are discussed.

Psychosocial Correlates of Male Sexual Aggression in a Chronic Delinquent Sample

Theory and previous studies have suggested that sexual aggression in juveniles is associated with past sexual victimization, deficits in social competence, and high levels of neurotic symptoms. This study examined these and other variables as potential correlates of sexual aggression in a sample of 210 chronic delinquents that included 24 arrested sex offenders, 26 self-reported sexual offenders, 106 nonsexual violent offenders, and 54 low-violence controls. Arrested and self-reported sex offenders differed only with respect to sexual victimization, with arrested offenders being more likely to report victimization by a male perpetrator. The combined sex offender group differed from the low-violence control group on several variables; the former reported greater exposure to serious physical abuse and to domestic violence involving weapons, attitudes more accepting of sexual and physical aggression, and more use of aggressive control seeking in response to stress. Implications of these findings for rehabilitation and treatment programs are discussed.

Addressing the Challenges and Opportunities for Today's Youth: Toward an Integrative Model and its Implications for Research and Intervention

This article calls for, and proposes some tenets of, model building in adolescent psychosocial development. Specifically, it is suggested that there is a need for a model that draws from the risk-protection approach, from which many prevention science approaches are drawn, and the applied developmental science perspective, from which many positive youth development approaches are drawn. The model to be built, and the integration it proposes, is based in the overlap between protective factors and developmental assets (drawn from the applied developmental science and positive youth development perspectives), as well as on the complementarity of the intrapersonal mechanisms proposed within the two perspectives. The article also poses important questions for future research and presents an empirical agenda for addressing these questions in the service of building and testing a model of adolescent psychosocial development and of integrating the prevention and positive youth development approaches to intervention and policy.Editors’ Strategic Implications: The authors propose an innovative, integrative model that will be useful to preventionists in areas beyond the adolescent development example described in the article. This kind of developmental focus in prevention research is long overdue.

Brief structural/strategic family therapy with African and Hispanic high-risk youth

Brief Strategic/Structural Family Therapy was implemented as an indicated prevention intervention to reduce the likelihood that African American and Hispanic youth initiated drug use. The intervention was designed to impact two important risk factors for initiation, namely behavior problems and poor family functioning. One hundred twenty-two youth, 12–14 years of age and exhibiting behavior problems, were assigned within a basic one-group pretest/posttest/follow-up design. The first important finding was that the prevention intervention was effective in significantly modifying both high-risk factors, reducing behavior problems [F(2, 120) × 32.92; p < .000] and improving family functioning [F(1, 121) × 41.8; p < .000]. A second important finding was that both high-risk variables targeted were statistically significant predictors of initiation nine months later. A third important finding was that for a small subset of youth who entered the program already using, overall use was significantly decreased [t(22) × 2.11, p < .05].

Patterns of Retention in a Preventive Intervention with Ethnic Minority Families

This study examined socio-demographic, child, and family-level correlates of retention patterns among parent participants of Familias Unidas/SEPI (Coatsworth, Pantin, & Szapocznik, 2002), a randomized, controlled trial of a family-focused preventive intervention. The current studys aim was to identify variables that could be used to classify ethnic minority (African American and Hispanic) caregivers (N = 143) into their known patterns of retention across 30 sessions of the intervention. Person-centered analyses identified three broad attendance pattern groups: (a) non-attenders; (b) variable-attenders; (c) consistent-high-attenders. Subgroups of the variable-attender group included: (a) dropouts; (b) variable-low-attenders; (c) variable-high-attenders. Four socio-demographic indicators were significant discriminators of the broad retention patterns. Three family-level factors were significant discriminators of the variable-attender subgroups. Additional significant mean/rate differences among retention pattern groups on correlates are reported. Implications for how retention is examined in preventive interventions and for developing intervention strategies for improving retention rates are discussed. Editors Strategic Implications: The authors address factors related to clients’ engagement and retention from multiple ecological levels. Lessons from this low income, low education, minority sample may prove useful to program developers who want to build in supports and incentives prior to program implementation.