Child abuse potential in parents with histories of substance use disorder

OBJECTIVE: To examine the relationship between parental history of substances use disorders (SUDs) and abuse potential. METHOD: Milner's (1986) Child Abuse Potential Inventory (CAPI) was administered to fathers and mothers (with and without histories of SUDs) of 10- to 12-year-old boys. RESULTS: Fathers and mothers with lifetime histories of SUDs had higher Abuse Scale scores and were more likely to score in the Elevated range (as determined by clinically significant cutoff scores) than parents without such histories. No differences were found between parents with current diagnoses of SUD and those with past (but not current) histories of SUD. Fathers and mothers with a partner who had a history of SUD were more likely to score in the Elevated range, regardless of their own SUD histories. Separate regression models revealed that, for both fathers and mothers, emotional dysregulation (positive and negative affectivity) predicted Abuse Scale scores. Additional contributors to Abuse Scale scores were SUD status in fathers, and lack of involvement with the child in mothers. CONCLUSIONS: History of SUDs in both fathers and mothers increases abuse potential. Contributors to abuse potential differed in fathers and mothers, underscoring the importance of examining parents separately in child maltreatment research.     

A SYSTEMATIC FRAMEWORK FOR ADDRESSING TREATMENT INTEGRITY IN SCHOOL SETTINGS

School psychologists are tasked with ensuring treatment integrity because the level of intervention implementation affects decisions about student progress. Treatment integrity includes multiple dimensions that may impact the effectiveness of an intervention including adherence, dosage, quality, and engagement. Unfortunately, treatment integrity is not routinely monitored in consultation. A systematic framework is needed to better prepare practitioners to assess, analyze, and intervene when there are treatment integrity failures. A framework for monitoring and improving multiple dimensions of treatment integrity in natural settings is proposed to provide guidance to practitioners through two phases. The first phase focuses on improving initial treatment integrity and the second phase outlines a problem‐solving process for improving treatment integrity.     

Reducing Risk for Substance Use by Economically Disadvantaged Young Men: Positive Family Environments and Pathways to Educational Attainment

Using prospective, longitudinal data spanning 10 years (age = 10–20) from a study of 295 economically disadvantaged males, the current investigation evaluated a developmental model that links early family environment and later educational aspirations, extracurricular activities, and educational attainment to substance use in early adulthood. The results indicate that a positive family environment during adolescence (low family conflict, high family warmth, and effective child management) predicted educational involvements during adolescence that promoted educational attainment during early adulthood. Finally, higher levels of educational attainment were associated with less substance use in early adulthood, even after controlling for adolescent substance use. These findings suggest that positive parenting promotes educational achievements that increase resilience to substance use for economically disadvantaged males.     

A Campus-Wide Investigation of Clicker Implementation: The Status of Peer Discussion in STEM Classes

At the University of Maine, middle and high school teachers observed more than 250 university science, technology, engineering, and mathematics classes and collected information on the nature of instruction, including how clickers were being used. Comparisons of classes taught with (n = 80) and without (n = 184) clickers show that, while instructional behaviors differ, the use of clickers alone does not significantly impact the time instructors spend lecturing. One possible explanation stems from the observation of three distinct modes of clicker use: peer discussion, in which students had the opportunity to talk with one another during clicker questions; individual thinking, in which no peer discussion was observed; and alternative collaboration, in which students had time for discussion, but it was not paired with clicker questions. Investigation of these modes revealed differences in the range of behaviors, the amount of time instructors lecture, and how challenging the clicker questions were to answer. Because instructors can vary their instructional style from one clicker question to the next, we also explored differences in how individual instructors incorporated peer discussion during clicker questions. These findings provide new insights into the range of clicker implementation at a campus-wide level and how such findings can be used to inform targeted professional development for faculty.     

Louisiana's statewide interdisciplinary approach to diagnostic, protective and treatment services to abused and neglected children and their families

The provision of the most comprehensive funded statewide delivery of diagnostic, protective and treatment services to abused and neglected children and their families in the country has been made possible by the State of Louisiana and its concerned citizenry. The importance of obtaining a legislative mandate establishing and funding the statewide child protection concept by the Louisiana legislature was illustrated.We described how the medical and protective services components cooperate and coordinate at the state and local levels to provide the abused and neglected child and his family with the best possible services available. Throughout our presentation the use of the interdisciplinary team concept was emphasized as the best system known to enhance the reporting, investigation and diagnosis of child abuse and/or neglect cases as well as providing protective and treatment services to the child and his family.The Child Protection Center is the community agency serving as the “core” for the interdisciplinary approach to be successful. The role of each discipline employed by the center was reviewed and how interagency coordination is accomplished through their efforts.The interdisciplinary dispositional conference prior to a child's discharge from the hospital was considered as an excellent method to insure that several disciplines share in the definitive protective and treatment plans for the abused child.Several treatment modalities and their success rates for the child and his family were discussed. The accomplishments of the center were listed.Finally, a review of how the citizenry from the Baton Rouge Community responded overwhelmly by their involvement and commitments in an all out effort to combat a serious social symptom and disease — child abuse and neglect.     

Historical Perspective and Current Status of the Physical Education Graduation Requirement at American 4-Year Colleges and Universities

This study gives an overview of the history of required physical education in America's 4-year colleges and universities and provides an update on the requirement status. After randomly identifying 354 institutions, we searched their respective websites to determine whether physical education was a requirement to earn a baccalaureate degree. The major finding was that the physical education requirement declined from an all-time high of 97% in the 1920s and 1930s to an all-time low of 39.55% in 2010. Given society's ongoing health challenges and the important role of physical activity in maintaining health, this seems counterintuitive. It is also inconsistent with the National Physical Activity Plan (2010).     

Communications For Developing Nations

Charlotte Dietrich, Der Rundfunk in Afrika An fang der Siebziger Jahre: Strukturen and Daten (Broadcasting in Africa in the Early Seventies: Structures and Data) (Department of Mass Communication, University of Salzburg, Sigmund Haffner Gasse 18, A-5020 Salzburg, Austria---$5.00, paper, plus cost of shipping)

Communication Policy and Planning for Development: A Selected Annotated Bibliography by Syed A. Rahim (285 pp., October 1976, price not given, paper)

An Overview of Communication Research in Asia: Status, Problems and Needs by Gloria D. Feliciano (20 pp., June 1973, on request, paper)

Mass Media Use and the “Revolution of Rising Frustrations:” A Reconsideration of the Theory by Robert C. Hornik (27 pp., July 1974, on request, paper)

Communication and Development in China (Communication Monograph No. 1), by Godwin Chu, et al. (116 pp., September 1976, price not given, paper)

Communication in the Pacific, edited by Daniel Lerner and Jim Richstad (96 pp., June 1976, price not given paper)

The Use of Radio in Adult Literacy Education, by Richard C. Burke (116 pp., £1.50 or about $2.40, paper)

Programmed Instruction for Literacy Workers, by Sivasailam Thiagarajan (136 pp., £1.95 or about $3.12, paper)

Mass Communication in Malaysia, compiled by Lim Huck Tee and V.V. Sarachandran (91 pp., 1975, 12 Singapore dollars outside Asia)

Mass Communication in India, compiled at the Indian Institute of Mass Communication (216 pp., 1976, 18 Singapore dollars outside Asia)