This paper examines the impact of a 12-episode television series, "Families", on disruptive child behavior and family adjustment. This media intervention comprises the first of a five-level early intervention parenting and family support strategy, known as Triple P (Positive Parenting Program). Fifty-six parents of children aged between 2 and 8 years were randomly assigned to either watching the television series or to a waitlist control group. Compared to the control group, parents in the television viewing (TV) condition reported significantly lower levels of disruptive child behavior and higher levels of perceived parenting competence, immediately following intervention. Prior to intervention approximately 42.9% of the children in the TV condition were in the clinically elevated range for disruptive child behavioral problems. This had reduced to 14.3 % following intervention. In addition, a high level of consumer acceptability was reported by parents in the TV condition. All post-intervention effects were maintained at 6-month follow-up. Implications for public health approaches to family mental health are discussed.

In this study, we tested whether school connectedness mediated or moderated the effect of parental attachment on adolescent depressive symptoms. A sample of 153 secondary school students ranging from 8th to 12th grade were assessed using measures of parental attachment, school connectedness, and depressive symptoms. Independently, parental attachment and school connectedness accounted for 28% and 49% of the variance in depressive symptoms respectively, whereas collectively they accounted for 53% of the variance. School connectedness only partially mediated the relationship between parental attachment and depressive symptoms, and there was no significant moderation effect.

This paper examines the impact of a 12-episode television series, "Families", on disruptive child behavior and family adjustment. This media intervention comprises the first of a five-level early intervention parenting and family support strategy, known as Triple P (Positive Parenting Program). Fifty-six parents of children aged between 2 and 8 years were randomly assigned to either watching the television series or to a waitlist control group. Compared to the control group, parents in the television viewing (TV) condition reported significantly lower levels of disruptive child behavior and higher levels of perceived parenting competence, immediately following intervention. Prior to intervention approximately 42.9% of the children in the TV condition were in the clinically elevated range for disruptive child behavioral problems. This had reduced to 14.3 % following intervention. In addition, a high level of consumer acceptability was reported by parents in the TV condition. All post-intervention effects were maintained at 6-month follow-up. Implications for public health approaches to family mental health are discussed.

Jung's Word Association Test was performed under fMRI conditions by 12 normal subjects. Pooled complexed responses were contrasted against pooled neutral ones. The fMRI activation pattern of this generic 'complexed response' was very strong (corrected Z scores ranging from 4.90 to 5.69). The activation pattern in each hemisphere includes mirror neurone areas that track 'otherness' (perspectival empathy), anterior insula (both self-awareness and emotional empathy), and cingulated gyrus (self-awareness and conflict-monitoring). These are the sites described by Siegel and colleagues as the 'resonance circuitry' in the brain which is central to mindfulness (awareness of self) and empathy (sense of the other), negotiations between self awareness and the 'internal other'. But there is also an interhemispheric dialogue. Within 3 seconds, the left hemisphere over-rides the right (at least in our normal subjects). Mindfulness and empathy are central to good psychotherapy, and complexes can be windows of opportunity if left-brain hegemony is resisted. This study sets foundations for further research: (i) QEEG studies (with their finer temporal resolution) of complexed responses in normal subjects (ii) QEEG and fMRI studies of complexed responses in other conditions, like schizophrenia, PTSD, disorders of self organization.