Kathleen Kiely Gouley

Prevention for preschoolers at high risk for conduct problems: immediate outcomes on parenting practices and child social competence.

This study investigated the immediate impact of an 8-month center- and home-based prevention program for preschoolers at high risk for conduct problems. We report immediate program effects on observed and self-rated parenting practices and observed child behavior with peers. Ninety-nine preschool-age siblings of adjudicated youths and their families were randomly assigned to an enhanced version of the Incredible Years Series (Webster-Stratton, 1989; n = 50) or to a no-intervention control condition (n = 49). In an intent-to-treat design, the intervention yielded significant effects on negative parenting, parental stimulation for learning, and child social competence with peers. Improvements in negative parenting, stimulation for learning, and child social competence support the potential of the intervention to prevent later conduct problems in high-risk children.

Showing and telling about emotions: Interrelations between facets of emotional competence and associations with classroom adjustment in Head Start preschoolers

In this study of low income preschoolers (N =  60), we examined relations between three facets of emotional competence: emotion knowledge, level of negative emotion expression, and emotion regulation; and their associations with indicators of classroom adjustment. Emotion knowledge was positively related to positive emotion regulation but was not related to negative emotion expression or negative dysregulation. Negative emotion expression related to emotion regulation variables in expected directions. Negative emotion expression was associated with aggression and social skills after covarying verbal ability, age, and emotion knowledge. Negative dysregulation was related in expected directions to aggression, anxiety, and social skills after covarying verbal ability, age, emotion knowledge, and negative emotion expression. Positive emotion regulation was related negatively to anxiety and positively to social skills after covarying all other variables in the model. Results are discussed with regard to using the emotional competence domain to understand how emotion processing relates to early childhood adjustment.

Preventive Intervention for Preschoolers at High Risk for Antisocial Behavior: Long-Term Effects on Child Physical Aggression and Parenting Practices

This article presents long-term effects of a preventive intervention for young children at high risk for antisocial behavior. Ninety-two children (M age = 4 years) were randomly assigned to an 8-month family intervention or no-intervention control condition and assessed 4 times over a 24-month period. Intent-to-treat analyses revealed significant intervention effects on observed child physical aggression, and significant intervention effects found at the end of the program were maintained at follow-up for responsive parenting, harsh parenting and stimulation for learning. Parent ratings of child aggression did not show significant effects of intervention.

Effortful control, social competence, and adjustment problems in children at risk for psychopathology.

This study explored the factor structure and developmental trajectory of effortful control (EC), its relations with child adjustment, and the moderating role of age and gender in 75 4- to 6-year-old children at risk for psychopathology. Confirmatory factor analyses revealed two subcomponents of effortful control: Suppress/Initiate (the ability to inhibit a dominant response while initiating a new response) and Motor Control (inhibiting fine and gross motor activity). EC performance improved with age, and both subcomponents were associated with greater social competence at all ages. Associations with internalizing problems were moderated by child age such that greater EC was linked to fewer problems at age 4 but did not relate to problems at ages 5 or 6.

Understanding relations among early family environment, cortisol response, and child aggression via a prevention experiment.

This study examined relations among family environment, cortisol response, and behavior in the context of a randomized controlled trial with 92 children (M = 48 months) at risk for antisocial behavior. Previously, researchers reported an intervention effect on cortisol response in anticipation of a social challenge. The current study examined whether changes in cortisol response were related to later child aggression. Among lower warmth families, the intervention effect on aggression was largely mediated by the intervention effect on cortisol response. Although the intervention also resulted in significant benefits on child engaging behavior, cortisol response did not mediate this effect. These findings demonstrate meaningful associations between cortisol response and aggression among children at familial risk for antisocial behavior.

An experimental test of parenting practices as a mediator of early childhood physical aggression

BACKGROUND Parenting practices predict early childhood physical aggression. Preventive interventions that alter parenting practices and aggression during early childhood provide the opportunity to test causal models of early childhood psychopathology. Although there have been several informative preventive intervention studies that test mediation models in older children, no such studies have been conducted with younger children at high risk for psychopathology. METHOD Within the context of a randomized controlled trial, we examined whether changes in parenting practices mediate the effects of a family intervention on observed physical aggression among African American and Latino younger siblings of adjudicated youths. RESULTS Improved parenting practices partially mediated the intervention effect on physical aggression. Improvements in harsh parenting, responsive parenting, and stimulating parenting explained a significant amount of the intervention effect on child physical aggression observed in the context of parent-child interactions. Parenting practices accounted for 38% of the intervention effect on physical aggression. CONCLUSIONS There was support for the hypothesized model of the prevention of physical aggression during early childhood. Intervention benefits on parenting practices partially accounted for intervention effects on physical aggression in young high-risk children.

Older siblings benefit from a family-based preventive intervention for preschoolers at risk for conduct problems

This study evaluated sibling effects of a family-based intervention aimed at preventing conduct problems in preschool-age siblings of adjudicated youths. Ninety-two families of preschoolers who had older siblings adjudicated for delinquent acts were randomly assigned to intervention and control conditions. Of these, 47 families had nontargeted school-age (5-11 years) or adolescent siblings (12-17 years) living at home. These families were considered in this report. The authors hypothesized group differences on antisocial behavior and positive peer relations for older siblings of targeted preschoolers. The authors examined outcomes of parent- and teacher-reported behavior immediately postintervention and 8 months postintervention. Findings revealed significant intervention effects 8 months following intervention for adolescent siblings on parent-reported antisocial behavior and positive peer relations. Teacher reports confirmed group differences for antisocial behavior immediately postintervention. Findings document benefits for adolescent siblings.

Preschool-Aged Siblings of Adjudicated Youths: Multiple Risk Factors for Conduct Problems

Younger siblings of adolescents with histories of antisocial behavior are at high risk for developing conduct problems. Information about risk exposure in youths at familial risk for conduct problems is critical to the design of informed preventive interventions. The prevalence of well-validated risk factors for conduct problems was examined in a sample of 92 preschool-aged siblings of adjudicated youths. As expected, preschoolers at familial risk for conduct problems were exposed to a range of sociocultural, biological, and parenting risks. Risk exposure was associated with concurrent conduct problems and social competence in the preschool period. Only a minority of preschoolers was reported by parents to have clinically significant conduct problems, and this subgroup had more risks than children with conduct problems in the normal range. Findings are discussed in the context of preventive interventions for high-risk children and families.

Children, Stress, and Context: Integrating Basic, Clinical, and Experimental Prevention Research

Findings from the Watamura, Donzella, Alwin, and Gunnar (this issue) study support the growing recognition of the importance of context on physiology and affective and behavioral regulation early in human development. This discussion focuses on the role of context and development on hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis regulation in young children. Discussed in this article are the Watamura et al. findings with regard to relevant animal studies, extension of these observations to samples of children at elevated risk for psychopathology, and experimental prevention studies with young children. It is contended that environmental factors operating at key points in development may shape affective and behavioral regulation as well as HPA axis function in children, much as environmental factors have been shown to shape HPA axis regulation in animals.

Implementation of the PATHS Curriculum in an Urban Elementary School.

We examined the effectiveness of the PATHS curriculum in a magnet elementary school serving a distressed urban area. Aspects of social-emotional competence were examined for second graders who had, and had not, received the PATHS intervention. The intervention groups differed, with the control group having lower social-emotional competence than the intervention group. The measures that contributed most to this effect were objective ratings of observed social competence, and self-reports of child depression and social rejection. School personnel reported modest enthusiasm and approval of the PATHS curriculum. The importance of school acceptance, and contexts that may enhance such acceptance, are discussed.