Publications by authors named "Melissa Dudley"

The current study analyzed adolescent, maternal, and family factors associated with mother-adolescent agreement on reports of verbal, relational, and physical forms of peer victimization. It also assessed the relationship between mother-adolescent agreement and adolescents' coping response to peer victimization. The sample consisted of 783 adolescents (337 male, 446 female) between the ages 13-15 and their mothers.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Despite the importance of child sexual abuse (CSA) prevention, there are few recent randomized controlled trials of school-based CSA prevention programs.

Objectives: (1) To evaluate the effects of the Second Step Child Protection Unit (CPU) on students' CSA prevention concept knowledge, ability to recognize, report, and refuse unsafe touches, and perceptions of teacher-student relations and (2) investigate the moderating role of age and gender on program effectiveness.

Participants And Setting: Eight elementary schools in a large suburban school district in the northeast United States were randomly assigned to the intervention or control condition, with analyses conducted on a total of 2172 students.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Teachers play a critical role in child sexual abuse (CSA) prevention and intervention efforts. We examined the impact of the Child Protection Unit (CPU) on improving teacher awareness, attitudes, and teacher-student relations for 161 teachers. Teacher baseline scores and treatment acceptability were examined as moderators.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF