Developing and testing a comprehensive tool to assess family meetings: Empirical distinctions between high- and low-quality meetings.

Background: The heterogeneity with regard to findings on family meetings (or conferences) suggests a need to better understand factors that influence family meetings. While earlier studies have explored frequency or timing of family meetings, little is known about how factors (such as what is said during meetings, how it is said, and by whom) influence family meeting quality.

Objectives: (1) To develop an evaluation tool to assess family meetings (Phase 1); (2) to identify factors that influence meeting quality by evaluating 34 family meetings (Phase 2).

What Social Bonds have the Greatest Influence on Patterns of Substance Use among Child-Welfare-Involved Youth?

Child-welfare-involved youth may lack protective social bonds that could reduce their risk of substance use. We investigated whether caregiver, school, or peer bonds predict distinct patterns of substance use among child-welfare-involved youth. The sample included 720 participants in the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being II.