Age-Based Tracks: A Method to Tailor Autism Diagnostic Evaluation in Large-Scale Autism Specialty Centers.

This paper describes a proposed model of diagnostic evaluation for autism spectrum disorder (ASD) at a large-scale ASD specialty center. Our center has implemented age-based diagnostic tracks within an interdisciplinary team evaluation approach to assessing ASD. Data were collected as part of a program evaluation and included responses from provider surveys as well as patient medical record reviews.

Food Insecurity and Adolescent Psychosocial Adjustment: Indirect Pathways through Caregiver Adjustment and Caregiver-Adolescent Relationship Quality.

Household food insecurity is associated with youth behavioral problems, yet few studies have examined potential mechanisms that underline this association, particularly among adolescents. The Family Stress Model (FSM) states that food insecurity potentially impacts adolescent psychosocial adjustment indirectly through its effects on parental psychological functioning and parenting. The current study examined data from the Children, Welfare, and Families study (N = 687, 53% female, M of child at baseline = 11.

Household Food Insecurity in Early Adolescence and Risk of Subsequent Behavior Problems: Does a Connection Persist Over Time?

Objective: Household food insecurity is common among U.S. families, and adolescents are almost twice as likely as school-aged children to be food insecure.

Cultural Diversity: A Wake-Up Call for Parent Training - Republished Article.

The United States is becoming increasingly culturally diverse. As a consequence, behavior therapists who utilize parent training as a therapeutic intervention for child behavior problems will likely encounter clients from various ethnic and cultural backgrounds. Unfortunately, the influence of cultural values on parenting behavior has been ignored in behavior therapy research.

Relations among early adolescents' parent-adolescent attachment, perceived social competence, and friendship quality.

To assess whether the relation between attachment and friendship quality may be explained by social competence, 113 students in Grades 7 and 8 from the Baltimore metropolitan area completed self-report questionnaires on the variables of interest. In hierarchical regression analyses, both maternal Affective Quality of Attachment and the interaction of School with paternal Affective Quality of Attachment predicted social competence. Also, the interaction of School with paternal Affective Quality of Attachment predicted negative friendship features, whereas social competence predicted positive friendship features.

Efficacy of a parent-based sexual-risk prevention program for African American preadolescents: a randomized controlled trial.

Objective: To evaluate the efficacy of a parent-based sexual-risk prevention program for African American preadolescents.

Design: Randomized controlled trial.

Setting: Community-based study conducted in Athens, Georgia; Atlanta, Georgia; and Little Rock, Arkansas from 2001 to 2004.

Sexual intentions of black preadolescents: associations with risk and adaptive behaviors.

Context: Adolescent sexual activity in the United states is prevalent and occurring increasingly early, particularly among minority groups. Other risk behaviors (e.g.

Child sexual abuse evaluations in an emergency room: an overview and suggestions for a multidisciplinary approach.

The physical and emotional distress associated with child sexual abuse may be compounded when the professional response in the emergency room (ER) to this critical incident is not well planned, comprehensive, and multidisciplinary. The purpose of this article is to provide an overview of the literature on emergency room (ER) evaluations of child sexual abuse and to provide recommendations for a multidisciplinary team approach to conducting these evaluations that includes physicians, nurses, mental health workers, and law enforcement officers.