Community-level Effects of Individual and Peer Risk and Protective Factors on Adolescent Substance Use.

The association between community-aggregated levels of peer and individual risk and protective factors and prevalence of adolescent substance use was examined in repeated cross-sectional data among youth in 41 communities ranging in population from 1,578 to 106,221. The association between community levels of these peer and individual risk and protective factors in 2000 and substance use 2 years later was examined by using within-cohort analyses (e.g.

School-based interventions for anxious children.

Objective: To compare the effectiveness of three school-based interventions for anxious children: group cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) for children, group CBT for children plus parent training group, and no-treatment control.

Method: Students (7-11 years old) in three elementary schools (N = 453) were screened using the Multidimensional Anxiety Scale for Children and teacher nomination. Subsequently, 101 identified children and their parents completed the Anxiety Disorders Interview Schedule for DSM-IV, Child Version.

Maternal phobic anxiety and child anxiety.

The present study examined the relation between maternal anxiety symptoms and child anxiety symptoms and evaluated whether a reporting bias is associated with maternal anxiety. Fifty-seven mother-child pairs participated. All children had features or diagnoses of separation anxiety disorder (SAD), generalized anxiety disorder, and/or social phobia.

Testing the goodness-of-fit of a multifaceted preventive intervention for children at risk for conduct disorder.

Objective: To determine the importance of parents' global adaptive functioning as a predictor of participation rate and subsequent child social competence outcome in 3 program components of an evidence-based, multifaceted, preventive intervention for at-risk children.

Method: Families of program children (n = 124, mean age 6.6 years at recruitment) were offered 3 program components that continued for 3 years: a 6-week summer program, a biweekly family program that included concurrent parent and child education and skills training groups, and a flexibly tailored home visitation family support program.

Parceling component effects of a multifaceted prevention program for disruptive elementary school children.

This study examined predictors and outcomes of attendance in two standard components of a multifaceted preventive intervention aimed at children with early-onset disruptive behavior after 3 years of intervention. Mean rate of attendance in the Family Program, but not the Summer School Program, differed by level of child disruptiveness (grouping variable). Although predictors of attendance (SES, single-parent status, child IQ) did not differ across high- and low-disruptive groups, predictors of outcome were moderated by level of child disruptiveness for academic achievement and aggression outcomes, but not for social competence.

Predictors of treatment response in anxious-depressed adolescents with school refusal.

Objective: To identify predictors of treatment response to 8 weeks of cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) among anxious-depressed adolescents with school refusal, half of whom received imipramine plus CBT and half of whom received placebo plus CBT.

Method: A hierarchical multiple regression analysis was used to evaluate the following variables as potential predictors of treatment response as measured by school attendance at the end of treatment: baseline severity (school attendance at baseline), drug group (imipramine versus placebo), presence of separation anxiety disorder (SAD), and presence of avoidant disorder (AD).

Results: Baseline attendance, CBT plus imipramine, SAD, and AD were significant predictors of treatment response and accounted for 51% of the variance in outcome.

The early risers longitudinal prevention trial: examination of 3-year outcomes in aggressive children with intent-to-treat and as-intended analyses.

The effects of participation following a 3-year preventive intervention trial targeting elementary school children with early-onset aggressive behavior were evaluated. Intent-to-treat analyses revealed that program participants, compared with controls, showed greater gains in social skills, academic achievement, and parent discipline, with mean scores in the normative range on the latter two constructs. As-intended participation in the Family Program, which included separate parent and child education and skills-training groups, was associated with improved parent discipline practices and gains in children's social skills, with level of child aggression moderating gains in academic achievement.

Reduced blood levels of reelin as a vulnerability factor in pathophysiology of autistic disorder.

1. Autism is a severe neurodevelopmental disorder with potential genetic and environmental etiologies. Recent genetic linkage reports and biochemical analysis of postmortem autistic cerebellum point to Reelin, an important secretory extracellular protein, as being involved in the pathology of autism.