Effects of intervention with the Oregon model of Parent Management Training (PMTO ™ ) on marital relationship processes and marital satisfaction in recently married biological mother and stepfather couples were examined. Sixty-seven of the 110 participating families were randomly assigned to PMTO, and 43 families to a non-intervention condition. Intervention had reliable positive indirect effects on marital relationship processes 24 months after baseline which in turn were associated with higher marital satisfaction. These indirect effects were mediated by the impact of PMTO on parenting practices 6 months after baseline. Enhanced parenting practices resulting from PMTO prevented escalation of subsequent child behavior problems at school. Consistent with a family systems perspective and research on challenges to marital quality in stepfamilies, improved co-parenting practices were associated with enhanced marital relationship skills and marital satisfaction as well as with prevention of child behavior problems. Keywords parent training; marital adjustment; stepfamiliesCorrespondence concerning this report should be addressed to James Snyder, Box 34, Dept. of Psychology, Wichita State University, Wichita, KS 67260-0034; james.snyder@wichita.edu. Publisher's Disclaimer: The following manuscript is the final accepted manuscript. It has not been subjected to the final copyediting, fact-checking, and proofreading required for formal publication. It is not the definitive, publisher-authenticated version. The American Psychological Association and its Council of Editors disclaim any responsibility or liabilities for errors or omissions of this manuscript version, any version derived from this manuscript by NIH, or other third parties. The published version is available at www.apa.org/pubs/journals/fam NIH Public Access NIH-PA Author ManuscriptNIH-PA Author Manuscript NIH-PA Author ManuscriptThe stepfamily is a common family constellation in America (Clarke-Stewart & Brentano, 2006). Prior to 13 years of age, 50% of children in the United States reside in a family comprised of a biological parent and an intimate partner (Stewart, 2007). Remarriage challenges multiple family systems, including the newly established marital relationship (Hetherington, Bridges, & Insabella, 1998), parenting, and child adjustment (Vuchinich, Hetherington, Vuchinich, & Clingempeel, 1991). Each challenge may reverberate throughout the stepfamily system (Margolin, Christenson, & John, 1996). This paper examines the family systems impact of Oregon Model of Parent Management Training (PMTO; Patterson, 2005) on marital relationships in recently constituted stepfamilies by assessing the degree to which changes in parenting practices and child behavior problems produce changes in the marital relationship, and examines the degree to which change in the marital relationship resulting from PMTO produce changes in parenting and child behavior problems.Establishing and maintaining a satisfying marriage require that couples actively manage a ra...

The development of child anxiety and depressive symptoms from mean ages 5.3 to 9.3 years was examined in a community sample of 133 girls and 134 boys, using parent and teacher ratings. Reliable individual differences in anxiety and depressive symptoms at mean age 5.3 and in their change to mean age 9.3 were observed, with significant correlations between depressive and anxiety symptoms at mean age 5.3 years and between their changes with age. Positive cross-lagged correlations from anxiety to depressive symptoms and negative cross-lagged correlations from depressive to anxiety symptoms were apparent in teachers' ratings at 6- to 12-month intervals. Developmental changes in teacher-rated child anxiety symptoms were robust predictors of child self-reported depressive symptoms at mean age 9.3 years. These results suggest assessment and interventions for emotional problems may be usefully implemented during childhood in school and peer social environments.

Two longitudinal studies were used to examine the occurrence and consequences of peer deviancy training during childhood and the relative role of early covert antisocial behavior in risk for antisocial behavior in early adolescence. Peer deviancy training was apparent in a sample of at-risk first grade children, and it showed persistence and increased prevalence across the school year. Peer deviancy training, peer rejection, and unskilled parenting made additive contributions to the development of antisocial behavior during kindergarten and first grade and to antisocial behavior in fourth grade. Skilled parenting partially mitigated the association of peer deviancy training with antisocial behavior for boys. The appearance and growth of covert antisocial behavior was a predictor of fourth grade antisocial for boys and girls, more so than aggressive and overt antisocial behavior. Peer deviancy training and early covert antisocial behavior were key pathways to girls' antisocial behavior in fourth grade, and they complemented the roles of peer rejection and overt antisocial behavior for boys. The relationships of parenting and peer processes to trajectories of antisocial behavior were similar for boys and girls; but boys showed higher levels of antisocial behavior, were more involved in peer deviancy training, and were more likely to experience peer rejection.

EffEctivE ParEnting PracticEs: social intEraction lEarning thEory and thE rolE of Emotion coaching and mindfulnEss JamEs snydEr, sabina low, lisha bullard, lynn schrEPfErman, marissa wachlarowicz, christy marvin, and andrEa rEEd over 40 years ago, diana baumrind reported her seminal research on effective parenting practices (baumrind & black, 1967). at about the same time, initial efforts were made to develop interventions to promote parents' skillful child-rearing (hanf, 1968;Patterson & brodsky, 1966;wahler, winkle, Peterson, & morrison, 1965). both approaches shared a social learning perspective and emphasized a combination of firm discipline and positive parenting to promote children's compliance, behavior regulation, and social competence. since that time, several parent training interventions have been derived from a social interaction learning (sil) perspective, including Parent management training-oregon (Pmto; forgatch & rains, 1997), incredible years (webster-stratton, 2001), triple P (sanders, 1999), and family check-up (dishion & Kavanagh, 2003). the fundamental premise in sil is that children are socialized during their day-to-day interactions with other significant social figures, including parents. as such, parent training interventions focus on balancing parents' supportive interaction with their