No abstract

The goal of this research was to investigate the origins of social networks by examining the formation of children’s peer relationships in 11 preschool classes throughout the school year. We investigated whether several fundamental processes of relationship formation were evident at this age, including reciprocity, popularity, and triadic closure effects. We expected these mechanisms to change in importance over time as the network crystallizes, allowing more complex structures to evolve from simpler ones in a process we refer to as structural cascading. We analyzed intensive longitudinal observational data of children’s interactions using the SIENA actor-based model. We found evidence that reciprocity, popularity, and triadic closure all shaped the formation of preschool children’s networks. The influence of reciprocity remained consistent, whereas popularity and triadic closure became increasingly important over the course of the school year. Interactions between age and endogenous network effects were nonsignificant, suggesting that these network formation processes were not moderated by age in this sample of young children. We discuss the implications of our longitudinal network approach and findings for the study of early network developmental processes.

The quality of parent-child relationships likely influences many decisions and behaviors made by early adolescents, including their alcohol and marijuana use. We examined how parent-youth relationship quality, parental monitoring, and parent substance use were associated with initiation of alcohol use, binge drinking, and marijuana use by 400 adolescents by the spring of 8th grade (ages 13-14), and changes in initiation through 9th grade (assessed 3 times; fall, winter, and spring). We measured both parent and adolescent report of parent-youth relationship quality and parental monitoring, expecting that both perspectives would uniquely contribute. Discrete Time Survival models showed that youth report of both a poorer parent-youth relationship and lower parental monitoring were associated with alcohol use, binge drinking, and marijuana use onset. Parent binge drinking also predicted youth alcohol onset and parent report of poor quality relationship predicted marijuana onset. Youth report of a poor relationship with parents was a stronger predictor for girls than boys on their alcohol use onset, and youth report of parental monitoring was more protective for girls than boys for both alcohol and marijuana use onset. Implications for preventing use of these substances during early and mid-adolescence are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record

The Adolescent Transitions Program is a family-centered intervention strategy designed to reduce problem behavior and prevent drug use within a public school environment. A parent consultant within a Family Resource Center (FRC) provided universal, selected, and indicated interventions that enhanced and supported positive parenting practices known to serve as protective factors. Implementation of the 3-year FRC model involved 584 students and their families in 4 middle schools. Analyses focused on the dynamics and effects of parent consultant activities and services. Differences in school "adoption" of the FRC services were found to be a function of both passage of time and school environment. Despite significant variation in implementation across schools, FRC services significantly reduced the growth in problem behavior over the course of the middle-school years. The implications of these findings for dissemination of empirically supported, school-based, family-centered interventions are discussed.