A five year research project is proposed to conduct a longitudinal study which examines the effect of alliance patterns on family problem solving treatments for families with antisocial children age 6 to 12. Problem solving components of treatment for these families is especially important because it develops adaptive family negotiation patterns which are critical for the long term maintenance or treatment effects. The proposed research examines the extent to which dysfunctional family alliances (e.g. a parent- child alliance that is stronger than the mother-father alliance) disrupt normal conflict management practices to subvert effective family problem solving and treatment outcome. The proposed investigation would use two previously collected datasets which include videotaped problem solving sessions, self report and demographic data on a sample of families with children at-risk for delinquency (N = 80) assessed when the target child was in the 4th and 6th grades. The second prior sample includes only families with highly antisocial children who were referred for treatment. This sample of 40 includes pretreatment, termination of treatment and 6-month follow-up data. The proposed research would collect longitudinal data on 80 additional families to match the prior at- risk sample. The new data would include videotapes of laboratory problem solving sessions, and videotapes of naturalistic family interaction in the home to test the external validity of clinical problem solving. Funds are requested to assess the previously collected videotaped data for family alliances and conflicts management practices, to collect and assess a replication sample with home videotaping, to complete the necessary statistical analysis which would include MANOVA, regression, loglinear models and structural equation models. The analysis would be used to develop recommendations for the implementation of family problem solving training which would increase the likelihood of long term treatment success.
| Vuchinich, S; Angelelli, J; Gatherum, A (1996) Context and development in family problem solving with preadolescent children. Child Dev 67:1276-88 |
| Vuchinich, S; Wood, B; Vuchinich, R (1994) Coalitions and family problem solving with preadolescents in referred, at-risk, and comparison families. Fam Process 33:409-24 |
| Vuchinich, S; Vuchinich, R; Wood, B (1993) The interparental relationship and family problem solving with preadolescent males. Child Dev 64:1389-400 |
