In addition to the typical stressors experienced by children entering middle school, children in foster care face additional challenges resulting from their maltreatment histories, from unpredictable changes in their living situations, and from losses/gains of parent figures. This vulnerability may be especially pronounced for girls in foster care, who (in addition to being at risk for developing conduct and substance use problems) are at risk for early pregnancy. Social failures in middle school can initiate a set of processes with cascading negative effects that encompass behavioral, social, school, and emotional domains. Despite such risks, girls are less likely to receive specialty mental health or school-based services than their male counterparts. The proposed work extends our prior research to test the efficacy of a preventative intervention for preadolescent girls living in foster/kinship care (N = 90). The intervention is aimed at preventing girls' delinquency, association with deviant peers, initiation of substance use, risky sexual behavior (including the contraction of STDs), school truancy/failure, and mental health problems. The experimental group will be randomly assigned to receive a tri-modal intervention: parent management training for the foster/kin parents prior to the girls' entry into the sixth grade; skill-building sessions for the girls prior to their entry into the sixth grade; and ongoing support and training for foster/kinship parents and girls throughout the sixth grade year. A multimethod, multiagent data collection approach will be used, with assessment occurring at baseline, 6-, 12-, and 18-months. Analyses will examine group differences in proximal and longer-term outcomes based on group assignment (intervention or control); the mediational effects of effective parenting and the girl's social competence on the relationship between group assignment and proximal outcomes; and general developmental modeling and theory-building questions specific to girls.
| Leve, Leslie D; Van Ryzin, Mark J; Harold, Gordon T (2017) Dr. Leve et al. reply. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry 56:90 |
| Rhoades, Kimberly A; Leve, Leslie D; Eddy, J Mark et al. (2016) Predicting the transition from juvenile delinquency to adult criminality: Gender-specific influences in two high-risk samples. Crim Behav Ment Health 26:336-351 |
| Leve, Leslie D; Khurana, Atika; Reich, Emily B (2015) Intergenerational transmission of maltreatment: A multilevel examination. Dev Psychopathol 27:1429-42 |
| Leve, Leslie D; Van Ryzin, Mark J; Chamberlain, Patricia (2015) Sexual Risk Behavior and STI Contraction Among Young Women With Prior Juvenile Justice Involvement. J HIV AIDS Soc Serv 14:171-187 |
| Weller, Joshua A; Leve, Leslie D; Kim, Hyoun K et al. (2015) Plasticity of risky decision making among maltreated adolescents: Evidence from a randomized controlled trial. Dev Psychopathol 27:535-51 |
| Rabinovitch, Sara M; Kerr, David C R; Leve, Leslie D et al. (2015) Suicidal Behavior Outcomes of Childhood Sexual Abuse: Longitudinal Study of Adjudicated Girls. Suicide Life Threat Behav 45:431-47 |
| Poulton, Richie; Van Ryzin, Mark J; Harold, Gordon T et al. (2014) Effects of multidimensional treatment foster care on psychotic symptoms in girls. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry 53:1279-87 |
| Kerr, David C R; DeGarmo, David S; Leve, Leslie D et al. (2014) Juvenile justice girls' depressive symptoms and suicidal ideation 9 years after Multidimensional Treatment Foster Care. J Consult Clin Psychol 82:684-93 |
| Marsiglio, Mary C; Chronister, Krista M; Gibson, Brandon et al. (2014) Examining the link between traumatic events and delinquency among juvenile delinquent girls: A longitudinal study. J Child Adolesc Trauma 7:217-225 |
| Mendle, Jane; Leve, Leslie D; Van Ryzin, Mark et al. (2014) Linking Childhood Maltreatment with Girls' Internalizing Symptoms: Early Puberty as a Tipping Point. J Res Adolesc 24:689-702 |
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