PubMed Health⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

Bahr Weiss

Publications and source records attributed to Bahr Weiss.

10 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2006

Culture and youth psychopathology: testing the syndromal sensitivity model in Thai and American adolescents.

Current widespread use of the same youth assessment measures and scales across different nations assumes that youth psychopathology syndromes do not differ meaningfully across nations. By contrast, the authors' syndromal sensitivity model posits 3 processes through which cultural differences can lead to cross-national differences in psychopathology syndromes. The authors tested this model in a comparison of Child Behavior Checklist syndromes for adolescents in Thailand and the United States. In support of the model, about half of the Thai-U.S. syndrome comparisons showed poor agreement (kappa = .40), and distinctive Thai syndromes emerged reflecting 3 prominent themes in Thai research literature: delayed maturation, indirect aggression and/or delinquency, and sex problems in boys. Such syndromal dissimilarity carries significant implications for assessment, diagnosis, epidemiology, and intervention across national boundaries.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2006

Parenting behavior dimensions and child psychopathology: specificity, task dependency, and interactive relations.

This study examined the specificity of relations between parent or caregiver behaviors and childhood internalizing and externalizing problems in a sample of 70 fourth-grade children (64% boys, M age = 9.7 years). Specificity was assessed via (a) unique effects, (b) differential effects, and (c) interactive effects. When measured as unique and differential effects, specificity was not found for warmth or psychological control but was found for caregiver's use of behavior control. Higher levels of behavior control were uniquely related to lower levels of externalizing problems and higher levels of internalizing problems; differential effects analyses indicated that higher levels of behavior control were related to decreases in the within-child difference in relative levels of level of internalizing versus externalizing problems. Interactive relations among the 3 parenting behavior dimensions also were identified. Although caregivers emphasized different parenting behavior dimensions across 2 separate caregiver-child interaction tasks, relations between parenting behavior dimensions and child psychopathology did not vary as a function of task. These findings indicate the importance of assessing and simultaneously analyzing multiple parenting behavior dimensions and multiple child psychopathology domains.

Adult↗
PubMed2005

Sustainability of teacher implementation of school-based mental health programs.

Evidence-based prevention and intervention programs are increasingly being implemented in schools and it therefore is becoming increasingly important to understand the complexities of program implementation under real-world conditions. Much research has focused on the contextual factors that influence program implementation but less work has attempted to provide an integrated understanding of mechanisms (e.g., teacher-training processes) that affect teachers' program implementation. In this paper, we review literature on factors related to teachers' implementation of school-based prevention and intervention programs, then from this review abstract what we believe are four basic ingredients that characterize potentially sustainable teacher-implemented classroom programs. Finally, we present a sequential model, based on these ingredients, of the naturalistic processes underlying sustainability of teachers' program implementation and describe how this sustainability can be enhanced through provision of teacher training and performance feedback from a classroom consultant.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2005

A teacher-consultation approach to social skills training for pre-kindergarten children: treatment model and short-term outcome effects.

This study evaluated the post-treatment outcome effects of a classroom-based social skills program for pre-kindergarten children, using a teacher-consultation model. The pre-K RECAP (Reaching Educators, Children, and Parents) program is a semi-structured, cognitive-behavioral skills training program that provides teachers with in-classroom consultation on program implementation and classroom-wide behavior management. Data on children's social skills and behavior problems were collected from parents and teachers at pre- and post-treatment, for 149 children aged 4-5 years (of whom 56% were girls). Significant treatment effects were found for teacher but not parent reports, with treatment group children improving significantly more than comparison group children in their teacher-rated social skills and internalizing and externalizing problems. These results provide some preliminary support for the efficacy of the program on children's social skills and behavior problems, and for a teacher-consultation model for training teachers to implement school-based mental health programs.

Child Behavior Disorders↗
PubMed2005

Iatrogenic effects of group treatment for antisocial youths.

It has been argued that group treatment of antisocial adolescents may increase rather than decrease conduct problems. One mechanism that has been suggested to underlie this effect is "deviancy training," wherein during group sessions deviant peers reinforce each other's antisocial actions and words. These 2 hypotheses have important implications and warrant close review at conceptual and empirical levels. In this article, the authors present such a review. Conceptually, deviancy training potential of treatment sessions appears less significant than the more extensive peer influences outside treatment. Empirical findings previously cited in support of iatrogenic effects appear on close examination to provide little support. Finally, 17 of 18 new meta-analytic tests produced results not supportive of iatrogenic or deviancy training effects.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2003

Developmental differences in the phenomenology of depression.

Most researchers and clinicians now agree that children and adolescents are able to develop depressive disorders, and there also appears to be consensus that developmental level has relatively little influence on the phenomenology of the depression. The present paper examines the validity of this latter assumption from methodological, theoretical, and empirical perspectives. We first review reasons why there might be developmental differences in the symptoms that define depression, and then discuss the implications and significance if such differences do or do not exist. Next, we highlight methodological and design issues relevant to the appropriate evaluation of this question. Then, we propose that this broad developmental question actually is comprised of two subquestions--one focusing on symptoms and the other focused at the syndrome level-that have not yet been clearly differentiated in the field. Finally, after conducting a meta-analysis of the current empirical literature and reviewing its limitations, recommendations are made regarding future research in this area.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2003

Efficacy of the RECAP intervention program for children with concurrent internalizing and externalizing problems.

The authors evaluated the efficacy of RECAP, a psychosocial intervention developed to treat concurrent internalizing and externalizing problems in children. Participants included 93 4th-grade children assigned to the treatment group or a no-treatment control group. The school-based program, which lasts the 9-month academic year, provides individual, group, classroom, teacher, and parent training in the RECAP skills-development curriculum, which was derived from empirically supported treatment programs for nonconcurrent internalizing and externalizing problems. Outcome assessments included parent-, teacher-, self-, and peer reports. A mixed hierarchical linear models analysis indicated that, overall, treatment children's rate of improvement in both internalizing and externalizing problems was significantly greater than that for control participants.

Child↗
PubMed2003

Syndromal structure of psychopathology in children of Thailand and the United States.

Are the syndromes of child psychopathology similar across cultures? Yes, in most comparisons of Western cultures. Here the authors compared Thailand and the United States, Eastern and Western cultures differing markedly in racial/ethnic composition, religious-philosophical traditions, and beliefs and practices regarding children. Exploratory factor analysis and a useful kappa approach were used to compare Child Behavior Checklist factor structure in Thai and American children aged 6 to 11. A few syndromes (e.g., somatic problems) showed strong cross-cultural agreement; most did not. Among the narrowband syndromes (e.g., aggression, anxiety), more than half the cross-cultural comparisons showed concordance kappas at or below .40. Such differences in syndromal structure have implications for child classification, assessment, psychopathology, and treatment research, both across and within cultures.

Child↗
PubMed2002

Development and initial validation of the peer-report measure of internalizing and externalizing behavior.

This study describes the development and initial validation of the Peer-report Measure of Internalizing and Externalizing Behavior (PMIEB), a peer-nomination inventory that assesses internalizing (anxiety, depression, somatic complaints) and externalizing (aggression, delinquency, hyperactivity/attentional problems) psychopathology in school-aged children. Peer nomination inventories such as the PMIEB can provide an important perspective on children's behavioral and emotional functioning, for purposes ranging from descriptive psychopathology to outcome assessments of school-based treatment programs. However, although there currently are peer-nomination inventories for several specific domains of behavioral and emotional problems, the PMIEB represents the first broadband peer-nomination assessment instrument that can efficiently provide peer-report information across a wide range of child emotional and behavioral problems. Results of this study provide support for the reliability and validity of both broadband PMIEB subscales, as well as 5 of the 6 narrowband PMIEB subscales.

Adolescent↗