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This study tested components of a proposed model of child anxiety and examined the mediational roles of (1) maternal control behavior, (2) maternal external locus of control, and (3) child external locus of control in the association between maternal and child anxiety. Thirty-eight clinically anxious mothers and 37 nonanxious mothers participated along with one of their children aged 6 to 14 (52.0% female; 78.7% Caucasian). Path analysis indicated that the overall model fit the data very well. Analyses also indicated that child external locus of control mediated the associations between (1) maternal and child anxiety and (2) maternal control behavior and child anxiety. Maternal anxiety was not related to maternal control behavior and maternal external locus of control was not associated with child anxiety. Findings are discussed in the context of theoretical models (e.g., Chorpita and Barlow 1998) regarding the transmission of maternal anxiety to their children and the specific roles of maternal behavior and child locus of control.

Dysregulation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis has been implicated in the association between adverse childhood experiences, such as parental death, and mental and physical health problems. Recent research indicates that children who experience the death of a parent exhibit HPA axis dysfunction; however, the mechanisms underlying this association have not been explored. It is theorized that physiological dysregulation may result from exposure to stressful life events subsequent to parental death. The current study examined the prospective relations between negative events following parental death and cortisol activity in parentally bereaved youth. A greater number of post-bereavement negative events predicted significantly lower levels of cortisol activity 6 years later; this association remained significant after controlling for current externalizing symptoms and recent negative events. Results suggest that higher exposure to stressful events following childhood parental loss may result in long-term attenuated cortisol activity.

Objectives: This article reports on results from a randomized experimental trial of the effects of the Family Bereavement Program (FBP) on multiple measures of grief experienced by parentally bereaved children and adolescents over a 6-year period., Method: Participants were 244 youths (ages 8-16, mean age = 11.4 years) from 156 families that had experienced the death of a parent. The sample consisted of 53% boys and 47% girls; ethnicity was 67% non-Hispanic White and 33% ethnic minority. Families were randomly assigned to the FBP (N = 135) or a literature control condition (N = 109). Two grief measures, the Texas Revised Inventory of Grief and the Intrusive Grief Thoughts Scale (IGTS) were administered at 4 times over 6 years: pretest, posttest, and 11-month and 6-year follow-ups. A 3rd measure, an adaptation of the Inventory of Traumatic Grief (ITG) was administered only at the 6-year follow-up., Results: Compared with the control group, the FBP group showed a greater reduction in their level of problematic grief (IGTS) at posttest and 6-year follow-up and in the percentage at clinical levels of problematic grief at the posttest. The FBP also reduced scores on a dimension of the ITG, Social Detachment/Insecurity, at 6-year follow-up for 3 subgroups: those who experienced lower levels of grief at program entry, older youths, and boys., Conclusion: These are the first findings from a randomized trial with long-term follow-up of the effects of a program to reduce problematic levels of grief of parentally bereaved youths., ((c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)

In this study, a person-environment fit model was used to understand the independent and combined roles of family and neighborhood characteristics on the adjustment of adults and children in a sample of 750 Mexican American families. Latent class analysis was used to identify six qualitatively distinct family types and three quantitatively distinct neighborhood types using socioeconomic and cultural indicators at each level. The results showed that members of single-parent Mexican American families may be particularly at-risk, members of the lowest-income immigrant families reported fewer adaptation problems if they lived in low-income neighborhoods dominated by immigrants, members of economically successful immigrant families may be more at-risk in integrated middle class neighborhoods than in low-income neighborhoods dominated by immigrants, and members of two-parent immigrant families appear to be rather resilient in most settings despite their low socioeconomic status.

Four putative mediators underlying gender differences in youths' recovery from bereavement-related internalizing problems were examined in a sample (N = 109; age range = 8-16 years at the initial assessment) of parentally bereaved youth: intrusive thoughts about grief, postdeath stressors, negative appraisals of postdeath stressors, and fear of abandonment. A three-wave parallel process longitudinal growth model design was employed. Changes in internalizing problems and mediators were measured as a function of months since the death. Girls showed stability in depression symptoms and a slight rise in anxiety symptoms; boys' trajectories of symptoms of anxiety and depression declined. Girls' higher initial levels of postdeath stressors, threat appraisals and fear of abandonment mediated their higher level of internalizing problems 14 months later. Girls' higher initial fear of abandonment also mediated additional growth in anxiety relative to boys.

Accumulating research demonstrates that both archival indicators and residents' self-reports of neighborhood conditions are useful predictors of a variety of physical health, mental health, substance use, criminal, and educational outcomes. Although studies have shown these two types of measures are often related, no research has systematically examined their relationship. With a sample of Mexican Americans, this study examined this relationship and demographic factors that might account for variations of residents' perceptions of their neighborhoods. Results showed that country of birth, social class, family structure, and gender moderated relations between archival variables and adults' perceptions of danger. Thus using information from both archival data and self-reports should improve the ability of neighborhood researchers to understand individual differences in responses to neighborhood conditions.

This study, using secondary data analysis, examined a mediation model of acculturation and ethnic pride as predictors of physical and mental health outcomes in a sample of 561 Mexican American women. Factors postulated as mediators were family support and religiosity. Systematic across-group comparison analyses were conducted to examine sources of differences in the mediation model between immigrant and non-immigrant women. The results partially supported the hypothesized mediation model, indicating that family support, but not religiosity, was a significant mediator in the relationship between ethnic pride and mental health problems. In addition, as differences between immigrant and non-immigrant women were observed only in the variables means, but not in the factor loadings or regression paths, the model tested may capture a common psychosocial process that affects these women and their health outcomes. Overall, this study offers important implications for future research and the design of intervention programs for Mexican American women.

This study examined age and gender differences in internalizing and externalizing behavioral problems in a large sample of Chinese children aged 6-15 (N=4472). The Chinese Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) and Teacher Report Form (TRF) were used to assess these problems. Results showed that boys were scored higher than girls on externalizing problems by both parents and teachers, while girls were rated higher than boys on somatic problems by teachers. Parent reported externalizing problems tended to decline with age but there was no age effect on internalizing problems except slight increases with age on somatic problems. Older children tended to have higher scores than younger children on anxious and somatic problems as reported by teachers, while aggressive problems showed quadratic association with age, declining until age 10 and thereafter increasing. Parents and teachers tended to report more consistently with boys on externalizing problems but less consistently with boys on anxious and somatic syndromes. Directions for future research were provided., (Copyright © 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

We investigated whether 3 self-system beliefs--fear of abandonment, coping efficacy, and self-esteem--mediated the relations between stressors and caregiver-child relationship quality and parentally bereaved youths' general grief and intrusive grief thoughts. Cross-sectional (n = 340 youth) and longitudinal (n = 100 youth) models were tested. In the cross-sectional model, fear of abandonment mediated the effects of stressors and relationship quality on both measures of grief and coping efficacy mediated the path from relationship quality to general grief. Fear of abandonment showed a marginal prospective mediational relation between stressors and intrusive grief thoughts. After excluding the mediators, relationship quality showed a direct prospective relation to intrusive grief thoughts.

This article considers the implications of suicide and violent deaths (including suicide, homicide, and accidents) for the development of interventions for parentally bereaved children. Analyses of data from the Family Bereavement Program find minimal differences in children's mental health problems, grief or risk and protective factors based on cause of parental death. In addition, cause of death did not substantially affect the relations between risk and protective factors and bereaved children's outcomes. It is concluded that cause of death from violence or suicide is not a very useful indicator of bereaved children's need for or likelihood of benefiting from an intervention.

Court-mandated male batterers (n = 192) attending an intervention program completed measures examining adult attachment orientations (anxious and avoidant), personality disorders (borderline and antisocial), type of violence (psychological and physical), and social desirability. Structural equation modeling was used to determine whether there were significant relationships between anxious attachment and physical and psychological violence that are mediated by either borderline or antisocial personality disorders. Social desirability was included in both models as a covariate. Results indicated that personality disorders fully mediated the relationship between avoidant attachment and physical as well as psychological violence. Personality disorders only partially mediated the relationship between anxious attachment and psychological violence. Implications for intervention are discussed.

This study presents an analysis of mediation of the effects of the Family Bereavement Program (FBP) to improve mental health outcomes of girls at 11 months following program participation. The FBP was designed based on a theory that program-induced change in multiple child and family level mediators would lead to reductions in children's mental health problems. Mediational models were tested using a three wave and a two wave longitudinal design. Using a three wave longitudinal design, FBP effects on three variables at T2 (increased positive parenting, decreased negative events, and decreased inhibition of emotional expression) were found to mediate the effects of the FBP on mental health problems at 11-month follow-up. Using a two-wave longitudinal design, support was found for FBP effects on three additional variables at 11-month follow-up (increased positive coping, decreased negative thoughts about stressors, and decreased unknown control beliefs) to mediate program effects to reduce mental health problems at 11-month follow-up. The discussion focuses on theoretical explanations for the mediational effects and on implications for identifying "core components" of the FBP that are responsible for its effects to reduce mental health problems of girls.

Investigated whether three self-system beliefs, fear of abandonment, coping efficacy, and self-esteem, mediated the relations of stressors and caregiver-child relationship quality with concurrent and prospective internalizing and externalizing problems in a sample of children who had experienced parental death in the previous 2.5 years. The cross-sectional sample consisted of 340 children ages 7-16 and their surviving parent/current caregiver; the longitudinal analyses employed a subset of this sample that consisted of 100 children and their parents/caregivers who were assessed at three time points. A multirater, multimethod measure of caregiver-child relationship quality and a multirater measure of children's mental health problems were used. The cross-sectional model supported a mediational relation for fear of abandonment, coping efficacy, and self-esteem. The three-wave longitudinal model showed that fear of abandonment at Time 2 mediated the relation between stressors at Time 1 and internalizing and externalizing problems at Time 3. Implications of these findings for understanding the development of mental health problems in parentally bereaved children and designing interventions for this at-risk group are discussed.

Purpose: Despite high rates of suicide in rural youths of China, little is known about the epidemiological characteristics of suicidal behaviors among this group of population. This study examined the prevalence and correlates of suicidality among Chinese adolescents., Methods: An epidemiological survey was conducted in a sample of 1,362 adolescents from 5 high schools in a prefecture of Shandong, China. We obtained data using a structured questionnaire asking about suicidal behaviors, life stress, locus of control, depression, aggression, and individual and family characteristics. Data were analyzed using logistic regression models., Results: Overall, 19% of the sample reported having suicidal ideation, and 7% reported having made a suicide attempt during the past 6 months. The prevalence rates of suicidal behaviors significantly increased over age. Female adolescents were more likely to report suicidal ideation than males, and older females (ages 16-18) were more likely to report suicide attempts than older males. Multivariate logistic regression models showed that female gender, older age, boarding in school, life stress, depression, and external locus of control were significantly associated with increased risk for suicidal ideation, while older age, life stress, external locus of control, poor academic performance, depression, and aggression were related to suicide attempts., Conclusions: Suicidal behaviors are common problems in rural adolescents of China. Female adolescents are particularly prone to report suicidal ideation and suicide attempts as they age. Multiple psychosocial factors are associated with suicidal behaviors, and psychopathology and life stress may play major roles in suicidal behaviors among rural adolescents of China.

This case control study examined the relationship between psychopathological profiles and self-reported suicide attempts among rural adolescents of China. Cases consisted of 142 adolescents who reported a suicide attempt in the past 6 months in a questionnaire survey (n=1365). An equal number of adolescents without reporting a suicide attempt, matched on age, gender, and school class, were selected from the same survey sample as controls. The Youth Self Report (YSR) was used to assess psychopathological profiles for suicide attempters and matched controls. Results indicated that 73% of suicide attempters had at least one behavioral/emotional syndrome, significantly higher than in controls (30%). Logistic regression analyses showed that anxiety/depression (OR = 3.68) and aggression (OR = 5.02) were each significantly associated with increased risk of suicide attempts after controlling for other behavioral problems. These findings demonstrated the independent contribution of anxiety/depression and aggression to suicide attempts in Chinese adolescents.

Background: Little is known about risk factors of suicidal behavior among Chinese adolescents. This study examined the associations between negative life events, psychopathology, and suicidal behavior in rural adolescents of China., Methods: A total of 1362 adolescent students in a rural prefecture of China completed a self-administered questionnaire concerning suicidal behavior, psychopathology, life events, and demographics. Data analyses were conducted using multivariate logistic regression modeling., Results: Females were more likely to report suicidal ideation than males (22.0% vs. 17.5%). While the rate of suicide attempt was slightly higher in younger males (12-15 years) than in females (4.7% vs. 3.1%), the rate was higher in older females (16-18 years) than in males (12.7% vs. 9.5%). Suicide attempters reported more negative life events during the past year than suicidal ideators and non-suicidal adolescents. Academic stress and family conflicts were the major stress domains of adolescents at risk for suicidal behavior. A significant dose-response relationship was observed between the number of life events and suicidal behavior. Negative life events were also associated with increased risk for internalizing and externalizing problems. Both internalizing and externalizing problems were significantly associated with elevated risk for suicidal behavior after negative life events were controlled., Limitations: This is a cross-sectional study. Longitudinal study is warranted to examine the roles of life stress in adolescent suicidal behavior., Conclusions: Adolescents who experienced more negative life events are at increased risk for suicidal behavior. Both internalizing and externalizing problems mediate the effect of life events on adolescent suicidal behavior.

This study investigated a positive parenting composite of multiple measures of warmth and consistent discipline as a mediator of the relations between surviving parents' psychological distress and parentally bereaved children's mental health problems using both cross-sectional and prospective longitudinal models. The study included 214 bereaved children ages 7 to 16 and their surviving parent or current caregiver. A multirater, multimethod measurement model of positive parenting was developed. Although the mediational model was supported by analysis of the cross-sectional data, it was not supported in the 3-wave longitudinal model. However, the longitudinal model did find a significant path from positive parenting at Wave 2 to child mental health problems 11 months later at Wave 3, controlling for stability in child mental health problems. Implications for understanding the development of mental health problems of parentally bereaved children are discussed.

This study presents a reanalysis of data from an effective preventive intervention for children from divorced families to test mediation of program effects. The study involved 157 children, age 9-12 years, who were randomly assigned to a parenting program or a literature control condition. Program effects to reduce posttest internalizing problems were mediated through improvement in mother-child relationship quality. Program effects to reduce externalizing problems at posttest and 6 months were mediated through improvement in posttest parental methods of discipline and mother-child relationship quality. The study also describes a new methodology to test mediation of Program x Baseline Status interactions. Analyses demonstrate mediation effects primarily for children who began the program with poorer scores on discipline, mother-child relationship quality, and externalizing problems.

This study was carried out to describe strategies used to cope with stress and to explore the association between coping strategies and behavioral/emotional problems in a community sample of adolescents from Mainland China. Participants completed a self-administered questionnaire incorporating the Chinese Trait Coping Style Questionnaire, the Chinese version of the Youth Self-Report of Child Behavior Checklist, and a number of demographic questions. Results indicated that Chinese adolescents often used multiple coping strategies when faced with stress. Principal factor analysis followed by oblique rotation revealed two dimensions of coping strategies in Chinese adolescents: active coping and avoidant coping. A series of logistic regression analyses showed that avoidant coping was significantly associated with increased risk for internalizing and externalizing problems, but active coping was associated with reduced risk, after adjustment for child's age and sex and father's occupation. These findings provide evidence of the association between coping and mental health problems in Chinese adolescents., (Copyright 2004 Elsevier Ireland Ltd.)

This article presents an experimental evaluation of the Family Bereavement Program (FBP), a 2-component group intervention for parentally bereaved children ages 8-16. The program involved separate groups for caregivers, adolescents, and children, which were designed to change potentially modifiable risk and protective factors for bereaved children. The evaluation involved random assignment of 156 families (244 children and adolescents) to the FBP or a self-study condition. Families participated in assessments at pretest, posttest, and 11-month follow-up. Results indicated that the FBP led to improved parenting, coping, and caregiver mental health and to reductions in stressful events at posttest. At follow-up, the FBP led to reduced internalizing and externalizing problems, but only for girls and those who had higher problem scores at baseline.

Despite the rapid growth of research on neighborhood influences on children, little of this research may be useful to prevention scientists. Most studies have ignored processes by which neighborhood conditions influence individual outcomes. To encourage neighborhood research that can better guide the development of preventive interventions, we propose a model that focuses attention on mediating and moderating processes, is appropriate for studies interested in individual differences in outcomes, acknowledges the transactions between residents and neighborhoods, and is sensitive to how neighborhood influences may differ for children at different developmental stages. Furthermore, we argue that greater attention to several methodological issues also can make neighborhood research more useful for the next generation of prevention programs to help low-income urban families and children cope successfully with the challenges posed by their neighborhoods.

This study examines whether fear of abandonment mediates the prospective relations between divorce stressors and mother-child relationship quality and adjustment problems of children of divorce. Participants were 216 children, ages 8-12, and their primary residential mothers. Children reported on divorce stressors and fear of abandonment; mothers and children reported on mother-child relationship quality and internalizing and externalizing problems. Structural equation models indicated that Time 1 fear of abandonment mediated the relation between Time 1 divorce stressors and Time 2 internalizing and externalizing problems. Time 1 fear of abandonment also mediated the relation between Time 1 mother-child relationship quality and Time 2 internalizing and externalizing problems. Implications of these results for understanding variability in children's postdivorce adjustment problems and interventions for divorced families are discussed.

This study, using secondary data analysis, examined prospectively a mediation model of the relationship between acculturation and problem behavior proneness among 330 Hispanic children and adolescents from an urban school district in the southwest region of the United States. Acculturation was predicted to have an indirect, but positive, relationship to problem behavior proneness through parental involvement and self-esteem. The results partially supported the model and indicated that parental involvement, but not self-esteem, played a significant mediational role in children's problem behavior proneness. The individual indicators of problem behavior proneness among Hispanic youth were significantly interrelated, which is consistent with problem behavior theory as conceptualized by R. Jessor (1984) and R. Jessor and S. L. Jessor (1977). Findings from this study provide implications for future research and intervention designs.

Poverty is a community stressor that disproportionally affects ethnic minority families. One aspect of programmatic research on poverty focuses on the psychological sense of economic hardship. In a study of 319 African American, European American, and Mexican American urban families, parents completed objective measures of economic status and scales of perceived economic hardship that were adapted from previous research. Measurement models identified a coherent construct of psychological sense of economic hardship that was essentially equivalent for mothers and fathers, English- and Spanish-speaking Mexican Americans, and the 3 ethnic groups. In support of the validity of this construct, relations between objective indicators of economic status and perceived economic hardship showed equivalence across these same groups.

This study evaluated the efficacy of 2 theory-based preventive interventions for divorced families: a program for mothers and a dual component mother-child program. The mother program targeted mother-child relationship quality, discipline, interparental conflict, and the father-child relationship. The child program targeted active coping, avoidant coping, appraisals of divorce stressors, and mother-child relationship quality. Families with a 9- to 12-year-old child (N = 240) were randomly assigned to the mother, dual-component, or self-study program. Postintervention comparisons showed significant positive program effects of the mother program versus self-study condition on relationship quality, discipline, attitude toward father-child contact, and adjustment problems. For several outcomes, more positive effects occurred in families with poorer initial functioning. Program effects on externalizing problems were maintained at 6-month follow-up. A few additive effects of the dual-component program occurred for the putative mediators; none occurred for adjustment problems.

Three models of the relations of coping efficacy, coping, and psychological problems of children of divorce were investigated. A structural equation model using cross-sectional data of 356 nine- to twelve-year-old children of divorce yielded results that supported coping efficacy as a mediator of the relations between both active coping and avoiding coping and psychological problems. In a prospective longitudinal model with a subsample of 162 of these children, support was found for Time 2 coping efficacy as a mediator of the relations between Time 1 active coping and Time 2 internalizing of problems. Individual growth curve models over four waves also found support for coping efficacy as a mediator of the relations between active coping and psychological problems. No support was found for alternative models of coping as a mediator of the relations between efficacy and symptoms or for coping efficacy as a moderator of the relations between coping and symptoms.

Cross-sociocultural group measurement equivalency is an important issue that generally has not been studied in the coping literature. Measurement equivalency of the COPE (Carver, Scheier, & Weintraub, 1989) was assessed across two sociocultural groups, a sample of 100 Anglo middle-class divorced mothers and a sample of 122 low-income Mexican American/Mexican immigrant mothers. A series of restrictive confirmatory factor analyses revealed that seven of the COPE's subscales may be measuring the same underlying construct across populations. However, scores derived from the subscales may not represent the same magnitude of the construct in these two groups. This study makes an important first step in furthering the understanding of coping strategies in low-income Mexican American/Mexican immigrant mothers. This study also illustrates the importance of testing for measurement equivalency before conducting comparative research in disparate populations.

This was a prospective longitudinal study of the relationships among life stress, psychological distress, coping, and parenting behaviors in a sample of divorced custodial mothers. First, the differential effects of major events and daily stressors on psychological distress and parenting were explored. Second, the mediational links among stress, distress, and 3 dimensions of parenting behaviors were studied. Third, 3 coping strategies were studied as moderators of the relationship between distress and parenting. The results showed that both major and small events had significant effects on parental distress, with the effects of daily negative events being greater than those of major events. Parental distress mediated the relationships between stressful life events and parental acceptance of their children's behaviors. Parental coping strategies moderated the relationship between mothers' psychological distress and mothers' discipline practice.

This study examines whether two aspects of mothering--acceptance and consistency of discipline--buffer the effect of divorce stressors on adjustment problems in 678 children, ages 8 to 15, whose families had divorced within the past 2 years. Children reported on divorce stressors; both mothers and children reported on mothering and internalizing and externalizing problems. Multiple regressions indicate that for maternal report of mothering, acceptance interacted with divorce stressors in predicting both dimensions of adjustment problems, with the pattern of findings supporting a stress-buffering effect. For child report of mothering, acceptance, consistency of discipline, and divorce stressors interacted in predicting adjustment problems. The relation between divorce stressors and internalizing and externalizing problems is stronger for children who report low acceptance and low consistency of discipline than for children who report either low acceptance and high consistency of discipline or high acceptance and low consistency of discipline. Children reporting high acceptance and high consistency of discipline have the lowest levels of adjustment problems. Implications of these results for understanding variability in children's postdivorce adjustment and interventions for divorced families are discussed.

This paper examined the stress moderator and mediator effects of four dimensions of perceived control in children of divorce. The dimensions of locus of control included internal control for positive events, internal control for negative events, unknown control for positive events, and unknown control for negative events. The sample consisted of 222 children between the ages of 8 and 12 whose parents had divorced in the previous 2 years. Moderational analyses showed that unknown control for positive events interacted with negative events to predict total symptoms. Plots of the simple slopes indicated a stress buffering effect whereby the slope of negative events on symptoms was higher for high than for low levels of unknown control for positive events. Mediational analysis showed that the relations between negative events and symptoms were mediated by both unknown control for positive events and unknown control for negative events. In contrast, evidence was not found for either a stress mediational or a moderational model for perceived internal control for positive or negative events. These results suggest that unknown control beliefs may be a particularly important dimension of control for children of divorce.

Structural equation modeling was used to test a theoretical model in which family cohesion and family reframing coping were hypothesized as mediators between family drinking problems, multiple risk factors, negative life events, and child mental health (conduct disorder, depression, anxiety) in two-parent families. Family cohesion mediated the relationships of family drinking problems and negative life events to child conduct disorder and depression. Negative life events mediated the relationships of family drinking problems and family multiple risk to child conduct disorder. Family reframing coping did not function as a mediator nor was it related to child mental health when other factors were considered simultaneously. Results indicate that increasing family cohesion and reducing sources of stress within the family (negative life events) represent promising areas of interventions for children with problem-drinking parents.

Evaluated an experimental preventive intervention developed for children who perceived their parents as problem drinkers. The 8-session program was designed to improve children's coping, self-esteem, and social competence, and modify alcohol expectancies which were specified as mediators of the effects of parental alcohol abuse on child mental health. Participants were 271 self-selected 4th-, 5th-, and 6th-grade students in 13 schools. The children were randomly assigned to treatment or delayed treatment conditions and the program was given to three successive cohorts of students. A meta-analysis across three different cohorts indicated significant program effects to improve knowledge of the program content and the use of support- and emotion-focused coping behaviors for the full sample. A slightly stronger range of effects was found for a high-risk subsample.

The authors conducted a cross-sectional and prospective longitudinal study of stress, coping, and psychological symptoms in children of divorce. The sample consisted of 258 children (mean age = 10.1; SD = 1.2), of whom 196 were successfully followed 5.5 months later. A 4-dimensional model of coping was found using confirmatory factor analysis, with the factors being active coping, avoidance, distraction, and support. In the cross-sectional model avoidance coping partially mediated the relations between negative events and symptoms while active coping moderated the relations between negative events and conduct problems. In the longitudinal model significant negative paths were found from active coping and distraction Time 1 to internalizing symptoms Time 2, while Time 1 support coping had a positive path coefficient to Time 2 depression. Positive paths were found between negative events at Time 1 and anxiety at Time 2, and between all symptoms at Time 1 and negative events at Time 2.

Examined efficacy of an empirically based intervention using 70 divorced mothers who participated in a 12-session program or a wait-list condition. The program targeted five putative mediators: quality of the mother-child relationship, discipline, negative divorce events, contact with fathers, and support from nonparental adults. Posttest comparisons showed higher quality mother-child relationships and discipline, fewer negative divorce events, and better mental health outcomes for program participants than controls. More positive program effects occurred for mothers' than children's reports of variables and for families with poorest initial levels of functioning. Analyses indicated that improvement in the mother-child relationship partially mediated the effects of the program on mental health.

Recently there has been concern over the need for developmental research within ethnic minority populations and interest in family processes within, and variability across, ethnic groups. Unfortunately, most of the research using standard scales of family processes has sampled middle-class Anglo-Americans, and the potential absence of cross-ethnic measurement equivalence threatens the validity of the research using these scales with ethnic minority populations. This study reports confirmatory factor analyses and construct validity coefficients for several parenting and family interaction scales among Anglo-American and Hispanic 8-14-year-old children and mothers. The findings indicate that the Children's Report of Parental Behavior Inventory (except the hostile control subscale), the Parent-Adolescent Communication Scale (open communication subscale only), and the Family Adaptability and Cohesion Evaluation Scales II appear to have sufficient cross-ethnic equivalence for English-speaking Hispanic samples. Further, the Family Routines Inventory and the problem communication subscale could benefit from additional scale development.