Journal of Emotional and Behavioral Disorders

Rates of change in strength- and deficit-based behaviors in relation to community adjustment were examined for 292 participants in the 7-year longitudinal National Adolescent and Child Treatment Study (NACTS; Greenbaum et al., 1996) as they transitioned from adolescence to the adult world. Scores from 6 domains including education, employment, residence, social support network, self-reported and caretaker-reported satisfaction were combined to form the Index of Community Adjustment (ICA). Participants with higher social-adaptive behavior upon entry into NACTS and whose social-adaptive behavior improved over time attained higher ICA scores.These results underscore the need to provide comprehensive and integrated services that promote development of social-adaptive skills associated with successful transition to adulthood for individuals with emotional challenges.

This study used a prominent model of family stress and coping to examine whether caregiver and family variables predicted child mental health service utilization patterns, holding constant the child clinical and demographic variables.We were especially interested in the impact of caregiver strain on children's use of mental health services. We found caregiver strain to be associated with the combination of services used, sequencing of services, gaps in care, and cost of services. Other family variables that predicted children's service use included material resources, life events, and family functioning. Child clinical variables improved the explanatory power of the models considerably. When all other variables were included in the model, child's age was the only demographic variable that predicted service use patterns.

In this article, we describe the outcomes associated with a 3-year research demonstration project. It is the second of a two-part article concerned with this research conducted in the Bronx, New York, to examine the efficacy of three models of intensive in-home services—Home-Based Crisis Intervention (HBCI), Enhanced Home-Based Crisis Intervention (HBCI⁺),and Crisis Case Management—as alternatives to hospitalization for children experiencing a psychiatric crisis. In Part I (Evans, Boothroyd, & Armstrong, 1997), we described the features of the three program models, the research design, data collection measures, and the presenting characteristics of the children and families. In Part 2, we describe the success of maintaining children at home (82%) and the increases in family adaptability, children's self-concept, and parental self-efficacy both at discharge and at 6 months postdischarge. Enrollees in two of the models (HBCI and HBCI+) experienced a significant increase in family cohesion,although this was not maintained at 6 months postdischarge. While enrollees in the enhanced program showed significant increase in social support at discharge, all enrollees experienced this at 6 months postdischarge.

In this study we examined the relation among family life events, appraisal, and family protective factors in predicting behavioral outcome in 260 school-age children. Hierarchical analyses were conducted using appraisal-based calculations of family events and ratings on three potential family protective factors: family relations, personal growth, and systems maintenance.The results indicated several main effects for personal growth experiences, the negatively appraised, and the positively appraised family stress scores on adaptive behavior. In addition, two significant interactions were found among negatively endorsed family events and personal growth experiences, positive family relationships, and internalizing behavior. The forms of these interactions indicate that personal growth and family relationships appear to increase internalizing behavior as negatively endorsed family stress events increase.The contextual role of potential family protective factors and the influence of differential appraisal are discussed.

In this investigation we examined the social relationships formed by children who were identified as rejected. A total of 105 students attending a middle school (fourth through eighth grade) within a large community-style residential treatment facility participated in this study. Data were collected on the students' social networks and sociometric status. Results indicated that a majority of rejected children affiliated within a peer cluster and were well integrated within the broader social network. Students who affiliated in peer clusters with a rejected student tended to be similar in sociometric status. Implications of these findings are discussed in relation to the peer rejection and the social affiliation research literatures.

Behavioral classroom interventions are an empirically supported treatment for attention-deficit/ hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). This case study reports how modifications to an existing behavior management plan improved the behavioral intervention of a third-grade boy diagnosed with ADHD. A multiple baseline design across settings was used to demonstrate the effectiveness of the modified intervention. Behavioral observations indicated improvement in on-task behavior and reductions in disruptive behavior.The treatment was judged to be socially valid as the teachers overwhelmingly accepted it and modified the participant's behavior to normative classroom behavior limits.This case study illustrates the importance of evaluating and modifying existing behavioral treatments for ADHD in the classroom to increase treatment effectiveness.