Intervention adaptation is a promising approach for extending the reach of evidence-based interventions to underserved families. One highly relevant population in need of services are homeless families. In particular, homeless families with children constitute more than one third of the total homeless population in the United States and face several unique challenges to parenting. The purpose of this study was to adapt and pilot test a parenting intervention for homeless families in transitional housing. An established adaptation model was used to guide this process. The systematic adaptation efforts included: (a) examining the theory of change in the original intervention, (b) identifying population differences relevant to homeless families in transitional housing, (c) adapting the content of the intervention, and (d) adapting the evaluation strategy. Next, a pilot test of the adapted intervention was conducted to examine implementation feasibility and acceptability. Feasibility data indicate an intervention spanning several weeks may be difficult to implement in the context of transitional housing. Yet, acceptability of the adapted intervention among participants was consistently high. The findings of this pilot work suggest several implications for informing continued parenting intervention research and practice with homeless families in transitional housing.

Previous research has indicated differences in the presentation and measurement of depressive symptoms across ethnic groups. In the current study, we examined the factor structure of the Children’s Depression Inventory in an ethnically diverse sample of adolescents in foster care ( n = 346; Mage = 13.13 years, SD = 2.18 years) and examined the configural invariance of the measure across ethnic groups. Findings indicated a two-factor structure in the total sample. Furthermore, configural invariance was not supported, in that unique factor structures emerged for African American, White, and Hispanic subsamples. Findings hold implications for research and practice involving the assessment of depressive symptoms among youth in out-of-home care and among ethnic minority adolescents.

Due to the racial and gender disparities within K-12 education for Black males, this study examines parental expectations as a moderator in the association between student’s educational expectancy and their math scores. This study utilized a national representative sample from the High School Longitudinal Study: 2009 to test hypotheses with 1,282 9th grade Black males. Results indicated significant interaction effects for parental expectations and students’ educational expectancy on their math scores. The authors discuss practical and clinical implications of the results.