Kathleen E. Albus

Exploring Violence Exposure, Stress, Protective Factors and Behavioral Problems Among Inner-City Youth

This study examined relationships between violence exposure, other stressors, family support, and self-concept on self-reported behavioral problems among 320 urban adolescents (aged 11–18) referred for mental health treatment. Overall, participants reported high levels of violence exposure, with a median of six past encounters with violence as a witness, victim, or through the experiences of associates. All forms of violence exposure (witnessing, being a victim, knowing of victims) were correlated with internalizing and externalizing behavioral problems for males and females. Total violence exposure predicted behavioral problems among participants, even after controlling for the effects of other risk, demographic and protective factors. Family support and self-concept moderated the influence of life stress and cumulative risk on problem behavior outcomes, but these protective variables did not significantly moderate violence exposure.

Interventions for foster parents: implications for developmental theory.

All children who enter foster care have experienced disruptions in their relationships with caregivers, and many have experienced maltreatment. Studying the effects of these adverse early experiences can inform developmental theory. In particular, insight can be provided regarding sensitive periods in the development of attachment and self-regulatory capabilities. The quality of surrogate caregivers varies as a function of both the intervention services provided and foster parent characteristics. Studying the effects of foster parent quality can suggest which aspects of child functioning are more or less canalized at various developmental periods. This paper considers salient developmental issues of infancy, preschool years, middle childhood, and adolescence and examines ways in which these issues may present special difficulties for foster children. Across development, foster care is associated with difficulties regulating behaviors, emotions, and physiology. Thus, conditions associated with foster care placement (e.g., disruptions in care, maltreatment) appear to affect very basic and fundamental regulatory processes. Interventions have been designed that target developmentally specific manifestations of regulatory difficulties. Although the literature regarding evidence-based interventions for foster parents is quite limited, preliminary findings provide some evidence that nurturing, responsive care can serve to partially remediate early deficits. These findings suggest that stable and nonfrightening care is essential for normal development. Nonetheless, even in the case of quite adverse early experience that results in problematic child outcomes, there is some evidence that the development of many systems remains relatively plastic.

Assessing the Status of Research on Violence-Related Problems Among Youth

Presents results of a systematic review of abstracts on studies related to violence and youth in an effort to identify areas that have received little attention in the psychological literature and to present recommendations for future research. A total of 1,168 empirical articles on violence-related problems in youth were identified by a PsycINFO (American Psychological Association, 1980-1999) search. These articles were then classified in a multidimensional grid, allowing for comparisons among different types of articles. A review of abstracts from these articles indicated that most of the research activity has been descriptive (e.g., reviewing correlates or predictors of violence involvement) or assessment related (e.g., evaluating specific measures). Fewer articles examined the treatment or prevention of violence-related problems among youth. Further, the majority of studies pertained to direct exposure to violence (as a victim or perpetrator), with very few studies looking at the effects of witnessing violence, knowing individuals exposed to violence, or being exposed to violence through the media. Comparing treatment and prevention articles, we found that the least empirical attention was paid to the prevention of violence-related problems in youth, and not a single study was identified through this search that sought to examine the prevention of youth witnessing violence. Implications for future research agendas are discussed.

Associations Between Youth Risk Behavior and Exposure to Violence: Implications for the Provision of Mental Health Services in Urban Schools.

This article assesses the relation between health risk behaviors and varying levels of exposure to violence in an effort to inform assessment and intervention efforts of a school-based mental health program serving inner-city youth. Health risk behaviors such as involvement in violence, risky sexual behavior, and substance use are clearly associated, both with each other and with violence exposure. However, differential relationships were observed depending on the nature of violence exposure. Knowledge of violence was associated with substance use and sexual behavior variables. Witnessing violence was associated with violence involvement, substance use, and exercise variables. Finally, violent victimization was associated with violence involvement and sexual behavior variables. A more complete understanding of the associations among health risk factors and violence exposure variables has the potential to improve implementation of school mental health services for urban youth.

Exposure to Violence and Neighborhood Affiliation Among Inner-City Youth

Examined the prediction of exposure to violence by neighborhood affiliation in a sample of 167 inner-city adolescents (107 girls, 60 boys) age 14 to 19 years. Measures of exposure to violence, emotional and behavioral problems, and demographic information as well as a new neighborhood affiliation measure developed specifically for adolescents were administered. Adolescents reported fairly high rates of exposure to violence, supporting other recent research. Boys reported experiencing and witnessing significantly more violence than girls. In multiple regression analyses, higher neighborhood affiliation predicted greater exposure to violence at a trend level (p = .06), even when age, sex, length of residence in ones neighborhood, and concurrent emotional and behavioral problems were controlled. These findings suggest that greater affiliation or attachment to ones neighborhood may be an important risk factor for inner-city youth that should be investigated in larger samples.

Expanded School Mental Health Exploring Program Details and Developing the Research Base

Expanded school mental health (ESMH) programs, the focus of this special issue, provide comprehensive mental health care to youth in general and special education through partnerships between schools and community mental health agencies and programs. As these programs progressively develop in the United States, there is a critical need to build the research and evidence base for them. This article presents background to the national movement toward ESMH and provides an overview of articles contained in this special issue, which provide in-depth details and early research findings on diverse aspects of mental health programs in schools. Advantages of greater involvement of behavioral professionals in ESMH are discussed.

A proposed adaptation of DC: 0-3R for primary care, developmental research, and prevention of mental disorders

The development of the Diagnostic Classification of Mental Health and Developmental Disorders of Infancy and Early Childhood (DC: 0-3; Zero to Three: National Center for Clinical Infant Programs, 1994) has been an important step in the field of infant mental health. In this paper, we propose some additions to the existing classification system. These additions include the development of criteria for infant, toddler, and family strengths, and the development of criteria for symptomatology that represents risk for disorder, but not fully manifest disorder. These additions will give DC: 0-3R greater potential for use in the primary health care of children, thereby increasing the systems utility in diagnosing and preventing infant mental health problems.