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Children of combat deployed parents are at risk of behavioral problems. Parental emotion socialization (PES) has been theorized to influence children's behaviors; many studies lend support to this theory. However, longitudinal studies examining PES with experimental designs are sparse. In this study, we estimated PES growth trajectories following a parenting intervention and evaluated whether intervention induced improvements in PES predict child outcomes in postdeployed military families. National Guard/Reserve families with at least one deployed parent and a child aged 4-13 years were randomized into an intervention or control group. Data from all 255 2-parent married families, who were primarily Caucasian and middle-class, were analyzed. PES was indicated by self-reported nonsupportive and supportive reactions to children's negative emotions (baseline, 1-year, and 2-year follow-up). Child behaviors were assessed through averaged mother- and father- reports (baseline and 2-year follow-up). Results of latent growth models showed that mothers and fathers assigned to the intervention condition reported greater improvements in nonsupportive PES (steeper negative slopes) over 2 years relative to controls. Both mothers' and fathers' intervention-induced improvements in nonsupportive PES were associated with decreased child internalizing behaviors. Mothers' intervention-induced improvements in nonsupportive PES were associated with decreased child externalizing behaviors. No significant findings were detected for intervention effects on supportive PES growth trajectories. Our findings supported the indirect effects of the intervention on child behaviors through nonsupportive PES over two years. PES is an important, malleable skill that can be targeted in parenting interventions for postdeployed military families. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

A wide variety of effect size indices have been proposed for quantifying the magnitude of treatment effects in single-case designs. Commonly used measures include parametric indices such as the standardized mean difference as well as nonoverlap measures such as the percentage of nonoverlapping data, improvement rate difference, and nonoverlap of all pairs. Currently, little is known about the properties of these indices when applied to behavioral data collected by systematic direct observation, even though systematic direct observation is the most common method for outcome measurement in single-case research. This study uses Monte Carlo simulation to investigate the properties of several widely used single-case effect size measures when applied to systematic direct observation data. Results indicate that the magnitude of the nonoverlap measures and of the standardized mean difference can be strongly influenced by procedural details of the study's design, which is a significant limitation to using these indices as effect sizes for meta-analysis of single-case designs. A less widely used parametric index, the log response ratio, has the advantage of being insensitive to sample size and observation session length, although its magnitude is influenced by the use of partial interval recording. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).