E. Mark Cummings, Ph.D., M.A., B.A. - US grants

How marital conflict is handled is crucial to the well-being of children, marriages, and families. On the one hand, marital conflict is linked with children's adjustment problems. On the other, it is inevitable and many forms of conflict expression are normal and likely benign. What are the constructive and destructive marital conflict styles from the children's perspectives? Which mediating and moderating processes and contextual factors are critical? Answering these questions has far-reaching mental health and societal implications. The proposed study investigates the processes and factors that mediate and moderate the positive and negative effects of marital conflict on children between elementary-school age and adolescence (N=249) within a cohort sequential design. Multi-method/dimension assessment of marital conflict, children's stress and coping, and child and family functioning are utilized in the study of developmental pathways. Child outcomes are assessed at three time points to increase the interpetability of causal modeling. Among the questions to be addressed are: (a) identifying mother's and father's marital conflict styles that are most constructive, and destructive, from the children's perspective, (b) identifying the processes and mechanisms that mediate effects, including effects associated with children's stress and coping with marital conflict and changed parenting practices, (c) changes in developmental pathways associated with marital conflict across an understudied period of development, and (d) specifying the moderating effects of parents' and children's gender, and parental adjustment. The research will provide much better defined and applicable take-home messages for family researchers and therapists, and ultimately, our society's parents, than has been possible with earlier cross-sectional studies based upon limited measurement strategies and conceptual models.

[unreadable] DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The effects on children of political violence, and links with community and domestic conflict, are matters of international concern. The mechanisms by which political (i.e., ethnic) conflict and community violence (criminal, sectarian) relate to the family, and, in turn, children's well-being and development are little understood. Children are at risk regardless of formal accords, which may or may not last, as long as sectarianism and segregation between ethnic groups remain. This proposal is to continue investigation of a social ecological model for the effects of political violence on children. The longitudinal sample consists of 700 working class families in Catholic and Protestant areas of Belfast, Northern Ireland. In Phase 1 both mothers and children were interviewed in their home on all aspects of this model (i.e., political, community, family, child regulation and adjustment). Preliminary analyses support the social ecological perspective. A second wave of [unreadable] data will be collected in 2007-2008. Given the unique sample, and the promise of initial model testing, this application requests support to continue to follow this sample for three more waves, spaced one year apart, towards better elucidating the mechanisms, pathways, and conditions underlying associations between political tension and child maladjustment over time. This is a unique opportunity for studying dynamic change processes in these multiple and interrelated contexts over time, with implications for understanding change processes affecting children. Phase 2 is needed to more adequately test and examine the explanatory and predictive value of this perspective, and provides a unique opportunity to study continuity and change in contexts of political violence affecting children and adolescents. This research thus will contribute to understanding of ecological, psychological, and familial processes underlying effects of ethnic conflict in Northern Ireland on children and adolescents, with implications for other regions of the world with histories of ethnic conflict and political violence. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: This study will contribute to understanding of ecological, psychological, and familial processes underlying effects of ethnic conflict in Northern Ireland on children, providing a template for study of the impact of children's exposure to sectarian violence worldwide. More generally, understanding of relations between community violence, family [unreadable] functioning, adolescents' regulatory processes, and adolescent adjustment will be uniquely advanced. [unreadable] [unreadable] [unreadable] [unreadable] [unreadable] [unreadable]

Project Summary/Abstract Although families with children with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) experience heightened family conflict, stress and risk for adjustment problems, few evidence-based programs exist to support them. Programs are rarely adapted to these families? specific needs, and the available interventions are not empiri- cally-based or rigorously evaluated. Existing programs fail to address the family system, often ignoring the well-being of parents and typically developing (TD) siblings. A critical need exists for an evidence-based pro- gram to ameliorate the impact of family stress and conflict on the overall well-being of parents and TD siblings, as well as individuals with IDD. Our objective in this proposal is to test the efficacy for parents, TD siblings, and children with IDD of an adaptation of the psycho-educational and communication training approach used in a previously validated prevention/intervention program for community families, and to examine the mechanisms associated with change processes that occur as a result of the 4-week program. Our long-term goal is to in- crease the availability and affordability of empirically-supported family-systems approaches to reduce family stress and conflict in families of individuals with IDD. Our central hypothesis is that participation in the program will support the identified needs of families with a child with IDD, improve the well-being and adjustment of par- ents, increase emotional security and adjustment for TD siblings, and be associated with improvements in adaptive functioning for individuals with IDD. This central hypothesis is supported by promising qualitative evi- dence and preliminary analyses from an ongoing pilot study using the adapted curriculum included in the pre- sent proposal. Our rationale is that providing a family-systems approach to improving the family environment will support the well-being of each family member, including the child with IDD. The specific aims are: (1) de- termining the efficacy of the program for parents, (2a) determining the efficacy of the program for typically de- veloping siblings, (2b) testing process models, guided by the Emotional Security Theory (EST; Davies & Cum- mings, 1994), to explain how and why and for whom and when changes occur as a result of the program, and (3) examining the impact of the program on individuals with IDD. Families (n=150) that include a child with IDD and a TD sibling between 11 and 17 years of age, will be randomly assigned to one of two groups: (1) parent and typically developing sibling intervention, or (2) resource only control. Multi-method assessments of all fami- ly members will be obtained at pre- and post-intervention visits, and 6-month and 1-year follow-ups. The ap- proach is innovative because it addresses multiple family members? needs, tests theory about explanatory models for program impact, and utilizes a brief, psycho-educational format and a RCT design to evaluate its efficacy. This research is significant because it will create an inexpensive model program for family-system- level interventions for families of children with IDD, benefiting parents, siblings and the child with IDD, including evaluations of program effectiveness in standing community centers.

Project Summary/Abstract Cost-effective, brief programs to support family communication and improve mental health in youth are a pressing need; yet few evidence-based programs exist. Our group has developed and rigorously tested an empirically-supported family-systems approach to improving communication and conflict in families, thereby improving mental health in youth. Beneficial effects for youth mental health and other indices of adjustment associated with the Happy Families Curriculum have been supported in several efficacy trials with families from a variety risk contexts. However, the value of efficacy research is limited unless it is subsequently tested in the context of an effectiveness trial. Given the potential large-scale benefits of broad implementation of the Happy Families Curriculum, a critical need exists for an effectiveness trial to evaluate the program when it is implemented in community settings by facilitators who would provide the program in ?real world? settings. Our objective in this proposal is to test the effectiveness for a large sample, in different contexts of risk, of the brief (i.e. 4 session) psycho-educational and communication training approach used in our efficacy trials, and to examine the mechanisms associated with change processes that occur as a result of the program, including emotional security as a mediator of program effects and moderators of effects associated with participants? socioeconomic and contextual risks as well as organizational factors that may impact program effectiveness. Our central hypothesis is that participation in the program will improve patterns of communication and conflict in families, thereby improving youth mental health. This hypothesis is supported by extensive efficacy research on the Happy Families Curriculum and conclusions based on a recently conducted feasibility study of the proposed effectiveness trial. Our rationale is that providing a family-systems approach to improving the family environment will support youth mental health over time. The specific aims are: (1) evaluating program effectiveness for improving communication, reducing destructive conflict in families and enhancing mental health in youth, (2) testing process models, guided by the Emotional Security Theory (EST; Davies & Cummings, 1994), to explain how, why, for whom and when, changes occur as a result of the program, and (3) evaluating organizational factors associated with program effectiveness, including the impact of organization structure and facilitator type, and organizations? subjective evaluation of the program. This approach is innovative because it utilizes an RCT design to test the effectiveness of a proven family-systems approach that represents a brief, inexpensive and readily scalable approach to foster change in families? communication patterns and improve mental health. The program is based on a well-established theoretical model for ?mechanisms of effect? and backed by evidence for program efficacy. This research is significant because it will result in an inexpensive model program for family-system-level interventions that is sustainable in the organizations it is tested in, and readily adjusted to other contexts.

Project Summary Preventative interventions involving video-feedback programs to promote parenting (VIPP; Juffer et al., 2008) have been shown to be successful in improving maternal sensitivity and infant-mother attachment security (Bakermans-Kranenberg et al., 2008). However, interventions might be substantially more effective if broader elements of family systems were also addressed, including father-child and inter-parental relationships, particularly given the growing body of evidence that highlights the importance of father involvement and positive engagement in children's socio-emotional development. Infancy is a particularly sensitive and vulnerable period not only for the child but also for the parents who often experience heightened daily stress, parenting demands, work-family role strain, and inter-parental discord associated with changes in the family (Feeney et al., 2001).The proposed longitudinal study addresses major gaps by testing the effectiveness of family-wide preventative interventions designed to promote healthy development and functioning in infants, mothers, and fathers, including low-income families. This three-phase study involves a rigorous randomized clinical trial (RCT) approach and will involve a demographically diverse sample of 400 families. Phase I involves a lab and home pre-test (infants 6 months of age) and 8-week intervention period; Phase II (12 months) includes an initial post-test, and Phase III (16-18 months) involves a second post-test. Families will be randomly assigned to one of four conditions: sensitivity intervention (SI), couples intervention (CI), both (SI + CI) or control. Specific aims of the study include: (1) An evaluation of the effectiveness of the SI, CI, and SI+CI interventions at improving parental sensitivity, parental efficacy, parenting stress, inter-parental conflict, infant affective development, attachment security, behavior problems, and socio-emotional competence; (2) A test of the mechanisms through which change in behavior occurs. For example, relations between SI participation in Phase I and child attachment in Phase III may be mediated by enhanced parent sensitivity in Phase II. Relations between CI participation and child outcomes may be mediated by inter-parental functioning and more effective communication skills; (3) An examination of factors that moderate the effectiveness of the interventions, determining which families benefit the most. Potential moderators include demographic characteristics, family (dis)organization, parents' own caregiving history, parents' depressive and anxious systems, and infant negative temperament; (4) Mother-father comparisons on direct effects, mediating mechanisms and moderating processes. This study builds upon past research towards increasing children's emotional security in multiple family relationships by testing new directions in preventative interventions in infancy, addressing the mother-child, father-child, and mother-father relationships. The goal is to foster children's socio-emotional development and security through cost-effective family-wide interventions in infancy that promote sensitive parent-infant interactions and improved inter-parental communication.