%0 Journal Article %J Prev Sci %D 2014 %T Prevalence and community variation in harmful levels of family conflict witnessed by children: implications for prevention. %A Habib, Cherine %A Toumbourou, John W %A McRitchie, Martin %A Williams, Joanne %A Kremer, Peter %A McKenzie, Dean %A Catalano, Richard F %K Adolescent %K Australia %K Child %K Depression %K Family Conflict %K Female %K Health Promotion %K Humans %K Longitudinal Studies %K Male %K Prevalence %K Risk Factors %K Surveys and Questionnaires %X

Children's reports of high family conflict consistently predict poor outcomes. The study identified criteria for high family conflict based on prospective prediction of increased risk for childhood depression. These criteria were subsequently used to establish the prevalence of high family conflict in Australian communities and to identify community correlates suitable for targeting prevention programs. Study 1 utilised a longitudinal design. Grade 6 and 8 students completed a family conflict scale (from the widely used Communities That Care survey) in 2003 and depression symptomotology were evaluated at a 1-year follow-up (International Youth Development Study, N = 1,798). Receiver-operating characteristic analysis yielded a cut-off point on a family conflict score with depression symptomatology as a criterion variable. A cut-off score of 2.5 or more (on a scale of 1 to 4) correctly identified 69 % with depression symptomology, with a specificity of 77.2 % and sensitivity at 44.3 %. Study 2 used data from an Australian national survey of Grade 6 and 8 children (Healthy Neighbourhoods Study, N = 8,256). Prevalence estimates were calculated, and multivariate logistic regression with multi-level modelling was used to establish factors associated with community variation in family conflict levels. Thirty-three percent of Australian children in 2006 were exposed to levels of family conflict that are likely to increase their future risk for depression. Significant community correlates for elevated family conflict included Indigenous Australian identification, socioeconomic disadvantage, urban and state location, maternal absence and paternal unemployment. The analysis provides indicators for targeting family-level mental health promotion programs.

%B Prev Sci %V 15 %P 757-66 %8 2014 Oct %G eng %N 5 %R 10.1007/s11121-013-0416-4 %0 Journal Article %J Prev Sci %D 2014 %T Prevention system mediation of Communities That Care effects on youth outcomes %A Brown, Eric C %A Hawkins, J D %A Rhew, Isaac C %A Shapiro, Valerie B %A Abbott, Robert D %A Oesterle, Sabrina %A Arthur, Michael W %A Briney, John S %A Catalano, Richard F %K Adolescent %K Adolescent Behavior %K Child %K Female %K Humans %K Juvenile Delinquency %K Longitudinal Studies %K Male %K Negotiating %K Residence Characteristics %K Social Welfare %K Social Work %K Substance-Related Disorders %K United States %X

This study examined whether the significant intervention effects of the Communities That Care (CTC) prevention system on youth problem behaviors observed in a panel of eighth-grade students (Hawkins et al. Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine 163:789-798 2009) were mediated by community-level prevention system constructs posited in the CTC theory of change. Potential prevention system constructs included the community's degree of (a) adoption of a science-based approach to prevention, (b) collaboration on prevention activities, (c) support for prevention, and (d) norms against adolescent drug use as reported by key community leaders in 24 communities. Higher levels of community adoption of a science-based approach to prevention and support for prevention in 2004 predicted significantly lower levels of youth problem behaviors in 2007, and higher levels of community norms against adolescent drug use predicted lower levels of youth drug use in 2007. Effects of the CTC intervention on youth problem behaviors by the end of eighth grade were mediated fully by community adoption of a science-based approach to prevention. No other significant mediated effects were found. Results support CTC's theory of change that encourages communities to adopt a science-based approach to prevention as a primary mechanism for improving youth outcomes.

%B Prev Sci %V 15 %P 623-32 %8 2014 Oct %G eng %N 5 %R 10.1007/s11121-013-0413-7 %0 Journal Article %J Violence Vict %D 2013 %T Parent and peer predictors of violent behavior of Black and White teens. %A Haggerty, Kevin P %A Skinner, Martie L %A McGlynn-Wright, Anne %A Catalano, Richard F %A Crutchfield, Robert D %K Adolescent %K African Continental Ancestry Group %K European Continental Ancestry Group %K Factor Analysis, Statistical %K Female %K Humans %K Logistic Models %K Male %K Models, Psychological %K Parenting %K Peer Group %K Poverty %K Prospective Studies %K Risk Factors %K Violence %K Washington %X

This study examines the role that parenting and deviant peers play on frequency of self-reported violent behavior in the 10th grade while testing race differences in mean levels and impact of these risk and protective factors. The level and impact of family and peer factors on violent behavior across race are modeled prospectively from 8th to 10th grade in a sample of 331 (Black [n = 163], White [n = 168]) families from Seattle, Washington, using data from self-administered computer-assisted questionnaires. Mean-level differences indicated greater levels of violent behavior and risk for Black teens in some cases and higher protection in others. Multiple-group structural equation modeling indicated no race differences in predictors of teen violence. Income was also predictive of violent behavior, but analyses including both income and race indicated their relationships to violence overlapped so neither was uniquely predictive. Subsequent logistic regressions revealed that both race and income differences in violent behavior were mediated by association with friends who get in serious trouble at school. We conclude that higher rates of self-reported violent behavior by Blacks compared to Whites are attributable to lower family income and higher rates of associating with deviant peers at school.

%B Violence Vict %V 28 %P 145-60 %8 2013 %G eng %N 1 %0 Journal Article %J Addiction %D 2013 %T Predicting steep escalations in alcohol use over the teenage years: Age-related variations in key social influences. %A Chan, G C K %A Kelly, Adrian B %A Toumbourou, John W %A Hemphill, Sheryl A %A Young, R M %A Haynes, Michele A %A Catalano, Richard F %K Adolescent %K Adolescent Behavior %K Age Factors %K Alcohol Drinking %K Attitude %K Child %K Female %K Humans %K Longitudinal Studies %K Male %K Nuclear Family %K Peer Group %K Risk Factors %K Schools %K Self Report %K Social Environment %K Students %K Victoria %X

AIMS: This study examined how family, peer and school factors are related to different trajectories of adolescent alcohol use at key developmental periods.

DESIGN: Latent class growth analysis was used to identify trajectories based on five waves of data (from grade 6, age 12 to grade 11, age 17), with predictors at grades 5, 7 and 9 included as covariates.

SETTING: Adolescents completed surveys during school hours.

PARTICIPANTS: A total of 808 students in Victoria, Australia.

MEASUREMENTS: Alcohol use trajectories were based on self-reports of 30-day frequency of alcohol use. Predictors included sibling alcohol use, attachment to parents, parental supervision, parental attitudes favourable to adolescent alcohol use, peer alcohol use and school commitment.

FINDINGS: A total of 8.2% showed steep escalation in alcohol use. Relative to non-users, steep escalators were predicted by age-specific effects for low school commitment at grade 7 (P = 0.031) and parental attitudes at grade 5 (P = 0.003), and age-generalized effects for sibling alcohol use (Ps = 0.001, 0.012, 0.033 at grades 5, 7 and 9, respectively) and peer alcohol use (Ps = 0.041, < 0.001, < 0.001 at grades 5, 7 and 9, respectively). Poor parental supervision was associated with steep escalators at grade 9 (P < 0.001) but not the other grades. Attachment to parents was unrelated to alcohol trajectories.

CONCLUSIONS: Parental disapproval of alcohol use before transition to high school, low school commitment at transition to high school, and sibling and peer alcohol use during adolescence are associated with a higher risk of steep escalations in alcohol use.

%B Addiction %V 108 %P 1924-32 %8 2013 Nov %G eng %N 11 %R 10.1111/add.12295 %0 Journal Article %J J Community Psychol %D 2012 %T Pathways From School Suspension to Adolescent Nonviolent Antisocial Behavior in Students in Victoria, Australia and Washington State, United States. %A Hemphill, Sheryl A %A Herrenkohl, Todd I %A Plenty, Stephanie M %A Toumbourou, John W %A Catalano, Richard F %A McMorris, Barbara J %X

School suspension is associated with school drop-out, crime, delinquency, and alcohol and other drug use for the suspended student. Important research questions are how academic and related factors are relevant to the school suspension process and the generality of the process in different sites. State representative samples of Grade 7 students (N = 1,945) in Washington State, United States and Victoria, Australia were followed from 2002 to 2004. In both states, Grade 7 school suspension was associated with higher rates of nonviolent antisocial behavior and suspension 24 months later, before Grade 8 factors were entered into the model. Relevant factors were Grade 8 low school grades and association with antisocial peers, as well as Grade 8 antisocial behavior in Washington State only. The implications of these findings for the ways in which suspension is used in schools are outlined.

%B J Community Psychol %V 40 %P 301-318 %8 2012 Apr 1 %G eng %N 3 %0 Journal Article %J Am J Orthopsychiatry %D 2012 %T Predictors and responses to the growth in physical violence during adolescence: a comparison of students in Washington State and Victoria, Australia. %A Herrenkohl, Todd I %A Hemphill, Sheryl A %A Mason, W A %A Toumbourou, John W %A Catalano, Richard F %K Adolescent %K Adolescent Behavior %K Australia %K Child %K Cross-Sectional Studies %K Female %K Humans %K Male %K Models, Psychological %K Risk Factors %K Students %K Victoria %K Violence %K Washington %X

This study investigates patterns in violence over 3 time points in early- to mid-adolescence in 2 statewide representative samples of youth, one in Washington State, USA, and the other in Victoria, Australia. Comparable data collection methods in both states were used to cross-nationally compare patterns of violence, risk factors, and responses to violence (school suspensions and arrests) in 2 policy contexts. Risk factors include early use of alcohol, binge drinking, involvement with antisocial peers, family conflict, poor family management, sensation seeking, and bully victimization. These are modeled as correlates of initial violence and predictors of change in violence over a 3-year period, from ages 12-15, for participating youth. Results suggest that patterns and predictors of violence are mostly similar in the 2 states. Initial levels of violence (age 13) and change over time in violence were associated in both states with more youth school suspensions and more police arrests in Grade 9. Some cross-national differences were also shown. For example, correlations of violence with gender and violence with binge drinking were stronger in Victoria, whereas correlations of violence with early use of alcohol and with antisocial peer involvement were stronger in Washington State. Antisocial peer involvement and family conflict were significant predictors of a gradual increase in violence from Grades 7-9 for youth in Victoria only. Implications are discussed with attention to prevention and intervention efforts.

%B Am J Orthopsychiatry %V 82 %P 41-9 %8 2012 Jan %G eng %N 1 %R 10.1111/j.1939-0025.2011.01139.x %0 Journal Article %J J Affect Disord %D 2011 %T Predicting future depression in adolescents using the Short Mood and Feelings Questionnaire: a two-nation study. %A McKenzie, Dean P %A Toumbourou, John W %A Forbes, Andrew B %A Mackinnon, Andrew J %A McMorris, Barbara J %A Catalano, Richard F %A Patton, George C %K Adolescent %K Affect %K Australia %K Child %K Depression %K Depressive Disorder %K Emotions %K Humans %K Predictive Value of Tests %K Psychology, Adolescent %K Self Concept %K Surveys and Questionnaires %K United States %X

BACKGROUND: Adolescence is a key life period for the development of depression. Predicting the development of depression in adolescence through detecting specific early symptoms may aid in the development of timely screening and intervention programmes.

METHODS: We administered the Short Mood and Feelings Questionnaire (SMFQ) to 5769 American and Australian students aged 10 to 15 years, at two time points, separated by 12 months. We attempted to predict high levels of depression symptoms at 12 months from symptoms at baseline, using statistical approaches based upon the quality, as well as the quantity, of depression symptoms present. These approaches included classification and regression trees (CART) and logistic regression.

RESULTS: A classification tree employing four SMFQ items, such as feelings of self-hatred and of being unloved, performed almost as well as all 13 SMFQ items at predicting subsequent depression symptomatology.

LIMITATIONS: Depression was measured using a self-report instrument, rather than a criterion standard diagnostic interview.

CONCLUSION: Further validation on other populations of adolescents is required: however the results suggest that several symptoms of depression, especially feelings of self-hatred, and being unloved, are associated with increased levels of self-reported depression at 12 months post baseline. Although screening for depression can be problematic, symptoms such as the ones above should be considered for inclusion in screening tests for adolescents.

%B J Affect Disord %V 134 %P 151-9 %8 2011 Nov %G eng %N 1-3 %R 10.1016/j.jad.2011.05.022 %0 Journal Article %J Drug Alcohol Depend %D 2010 %T Person-environment interaction in the prediction of alcohol abuse and alcohol dependence in adulthood. %A Hill, Karl G %A Hawkins, J D %A Bailey, Jennifer A %A Catalano, Richard F %A Abbott, Robert D %A Shapiro, Valerie B %K Adolescent %K Adolescent Behavior %K Adult %K Alcoholism %K Anxiety %K Family %K Female %K Humans %K Inhibition (Psychology) %K Linear Models %K Longitudinal Studies %K Male %K Predictive Value of Tests %K Social Environment %K Young Adult %X

BACKGROUND: Behavioral disinhibition (externalizing/impulsivity) and behavioral inhibition (internalizing/anxiety) may contribute to the development of alcohol abuse and dependence. But tests of person-by-environment interactions in predicting alcohol use disorders are needed. This study examined the extent to which interactions between behavioral disinhibition, behavioral inhibition and family management during adolescence predict alcohol abuse and alcohol dependence at age 27.

METHODS: This study used longitudinal data from a community sample of 808 men and women interviewed from ages 10 to 27 in the Seattle Social Development Project. Zero-order correlations followed by a series of nested regressions examined the relationships between individual characteristics (behavioral disinhibition and behavioral inhibition/anxiety) and environment (good vs. poor family management practices during adolescence) in predicting alcohol abuse and dependence criterion counts at age 27.

RESULTS: Behavioral disinhibition and poor family management predicted increased likelihood of both alcohol abuse and alcohol dependence at age 27. Behavioral inhibition/anxiety was unrelated to both outcomes. Youths high in behavioral disinhibition were at increased risk for later alcohol abuse and dependence only in consistently poorly managed family environments. In consistently well-managed families, high levels of behavioral disinhibition did not increase risk for later alcohol abuse or dependence.

CONCLUSIONS: Behavioral disinhibition increases risk for alcohol abuse and dependence in early adulthood only for individuals who experience poor family management during adolescence. Interventions seeking to reduce environmental risks by strengthening consistent positive family management practices may prevent later alcohol abuse and dependence among individuals at risk due to behavioral disinhibition.

%B Drug Alcohol Depend %V 110 %P 62-9 %8 2010 Jul 1 %G eng %N 1-2 %R 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2010.02.005 %0 Journal Article %J J Adolesc Health %D 2010 %T Positive youth development as a strategy to promote adolescent sexual and reproductive health. %A Gavin, Lorrie E %A Catalano, Richard F %A Markham, Christine M %K Adolescent %K Adolescent Development %K Female %K Health Promotion %K Humans %K Male %K Reproductive Behavior %K Sexual Behavior %K Young Adult %B J Adolesc Health %V 46 %P S1-6 %8 2010 Mar %G eng %N 3 Suppl %R 10.1016/j.jadohealth.2009.12.017 %0 Journal Article %J Pediatrics %D 2010 %T Pubertal stage and the prevalence of violence and social/relational aggression. %A Hemphill, Sheryl A %A Kotevski, Aneta %A Herrenkohl, Todd I %A Toumbourou, John W %A Carlin, John B %A Catalano, Richard F %A Patton, George C %K Adolescent %K Aggression %K Antisocial Personality Disorder %K Child %K Depressive Disorder %K Female %K Humans %K Interpersonal Relations %K Male %K Prevalence %K Puberty %K Risk Factors %K Spouse Abuse %K Victoria %K Violence %K Washington %K Young Adult %X

OBJECTIVE: We examined associations between pubertal stage and violent adolescent behavior and social/relational aggression.

METHODS: The International Youth Development Study comprises statewide representative student samples in grades 5, 7, and 9 (N = 5769) in Washington State and Victoria, Australia, drawn as a 2-stage cluster sample in each state. We used a school-administered, self-report student survey to measure previous-year violent behavior (ie, attacking or beating up another person) and social/relational aggression (excluding peers from the group, threatening to spread lies or rumors), as well as risk and protective factors and pubertal development. Cross-sectional data were analyzed.

RESULTS: Compared with early puberty, the odds of violent behavior were approximately threefold higher in midpuberty (odds ratio [OR]: 2.87 [95% confidence interval (CI): 1.81-4.55]) and late puberty (OR: 3.79 [95% CI: 2.25-6.39]) after adjustment for demographic factors. For social/relational aggression, there were weaker overall associations after adjustment, but these associations included an interaction between pubertal stage and age, and stronger associations with pubertal stage at younger age were shown (P = .003; midpuberty OR: 1.78 [95% CI: 1.20-2.63]; late puberty OR: 3.00 [95% CI: 1.95-4.63]). Associations between pubertal stage and violent behavior and social/relational aggression remained after the inclusion of social contextual mediators in the analyses.

CONCLUSIONS: Pubertal stage was associated with higher rates of violent behavior and social/relational aggression, with the latter association seen only at younger ages. Puberty is an important phase at which to implement prevention programs to reduce adolescent violent and antisocial behaviors.

%B Pediatrics %V 126 %P e298-305 %8 2010 Aug %G eng %N 2 %R 10.1542/peds.2009-0574