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Response bias shows up in many fields of behavioural and healthcare research where self-reported data are used. We demonstrate how to use stochastic frontier estimation (SFE) to identify response bias and its covariates. In our application to a family intervention, we examine the effects of participant demographics on response bias before and after participation; gender and race/ethnicity are related to magnitude of bias and to changes in bias across time, and bias is lower at post-test than at pre-test. We discuss how SFE may be used to address the problem of ‘response shift bias’ – that is, a shift in metric from before to after an intervention which is caused by the intervention itself and may lead to underestimates of programme effects.

The purpose of the present study was to examine a common practice in some areas of program evaluation, the retrospective pretest, and to present recommendations regarding its use. The authors review literature to emphasize first, that bias is likely in both prospective and retrospective ratings, and second, that under some circumstances, retrospective pretests may introduce greater bias than traditional pretests. The authors examined data from 100 participants who attended a family program at 15 sites. Results supported the hypothesis that items on which parents were asked to endorse socially desirable parenting behaviors resulted in greater discrepancies between prospective and retrospective ratings. Effect sizes calculated from prospective ratings were comparable with published effect sizes from research trials of the same program. The authors conclude that replacing traditional with retrospective pretests does not eliminate bias. They recommend traditional pretests for examination of program effects and retrospective pretests for examination of subjective experiences of program-related change.

The objective of this study was to describe comprehensively the structure and process of the childhood mealtime environment. A socioeconomically-diverse sample of 142 families of kindergarteners (52% females) was observed at dinnertime using a focused-narrative observational system. Eighty-five percent of parents tried to get children to eat more, 83% of children ate more than they might otherwise have, with 38% eating moderately to substantially more. Boys were prompted to eat as often as girls and children were prompted to eat as many times in single-as in twoparent households. Children were very rarely restricted in their mealtime intake. High-SES parents used reasoning, praise, and food rewards significantly more often than low-SES families. Mothers used different strategies than fathers: fathers used pressure tactics with boys and mothers praised girls for eating. Future research should examine the meanings children ascribe to their parents' communications about food intake and how perceived parental messages influence the development of long-term dietary patterns. Interpreted alongside the evidence for children's energy self-regulation and the risk of disruption of these innate processes, it may be that parents are inadvertently socializing their children to eat past their internal hunger/satiety cues. These data reinforce current recommendations that parents should provide nutritious foods and children, not parents, should decide what and how much of these foods they eat.Correspondence Author: Joan K. Orrell-Valente, Ph.D. (preferred name as written here; hyphenated surname in bold), Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, Division of Adolescent Medicine, 3333 California St, Box 0503, LH 245, University of California, San Francisco, CA 94143, ValenteJ@peds.ucsf.edu, Publisher's Disclaimer: This is a PDF file of an unedited manuscript that has been accepted for publication. As a service to our customers we are providing this early version of the manuscript. The manuscript will undergo copyediting, typesetting, and review of the resulting proof before it is published in its final citable form. Please note that during the production process errors may be discovered which could affect the content, and all legal disclaimers that apply to the journal pertain. (Videon & Manning, 2003) and by consumption of foods high in fat and sugar (Coon, Goldberg, Rogers, & Tucker, 2001). In addition, several cross-sectional studies have suggested that the frequency of family meals is positively associated with consumption of healthier foods (e.g., Neumark-Sztainer, Hannan, Story, Croll, & Perry, 2003). Suggesting the need for further research, however, is a recent study that found no relation between frequency of family meals and 1-year incidence of becoming overweight (Tavares et al., 2005). NIH Public AccessParental strategies to control children's eating behaviors also may be related to children's energy intake and/or weight (Faith et al., 2004). Research has focused largely on two strategies: parental feeding restri...

The primary goals of the present study were 1) to explore the types and frequencies of adaptation reported by facilitators; 2) to document their reasons for making those adaptations; and 3) to propose an efficient approach to the study of prevention program fidelity based on interview data. We interviewed 42 program facilitators involved in a large-scale dissemination about their implementation of a community-based prevention program. Interview questions addressed facilitators' attitudes about program fidelity and the various types of changes, deletions, and additions they made. Although nearly all facilitators reported that fidelity to program curriculum was important, most also reported adapting the program. The most frequent reason facilitators gave for adaptation was deleting or changing material because they ran out of time. We employed a method used in business and health care settings (the Pareto principle, or the "law of the vital few") to identify the minority (30%) of types of adaptation that accounted for a majority (70%) of all adaptations reported. Similarly, we identified the minority of reasons (25%) for adaptation that accounted for a majority (75%) of reasons reported. This approach helps to focus the assessment of fidelity on those adaptations that occur with high frequency, since low-frequency events are unlikely to have a significant impact on large-scale outcomes. High-frequency adaptations can then be targeted to determine their effect on outcomes; to address in training; and to assess on an ongoing basis for continuous quality improvement.

Clinicians may need to screen for child daily controller-medication management and include even young children when educating families on the use of asthma medications and other key asthma-management tasks.

Accurate, early screening is a prerequisite for indicated interventions intended to prevent development of externalizing disorders and delinquent behaviors. Using the Fast Track longitudinal sample of 396 children drawn from high-risk environments, the authors varied assumptions about base rates and examined effects of multiple-time-point and multiple-rater screening procedures. The authors also considered the practical import of various levels of screening accuracy in terms of true and false positive rates and their potential costs and benefits. Additional research is needed to determine true costs and benefits of early screening. However, the results indicate that 1st grade single-and multiple-rater screening models effectively predicted externalizing behavior and delinquent outcomes in 4th and 5th grades and that early screening is justified.High levels of early aggressive and oppositional behaviors in children can persist and, eventually, develop into chronic patterns of delinquent and psychopathological behaviors (Coie, Terry, Lenox, & Lochman, 1995;Nagin & Tremblay, 1999). These early externalizing behaviors are associated with increased risk for multiple negative outcomes academically, socially, in physical and mental health, and in job performance (Kaplow, Curran, Dodge, & Conduct Problems Prevention Research Group, 2002). Children's externalizing behaviors can also lead to increasingly negative reactions from others. As peers and adults become more rejecting and hostile in reaction to the children's behavior, the children's externalizing problems (EP) can intensify (Conduct Problems Prevention Research Group, 1992;Loeber, 1990 Disorders, 1994). To the extent that a screening procedure can accurately identify future cases of a disorder, a targeted intervention is preferable for several reasons: It can be more focused, more efficient, and more intensive than a universal intervention (Lochman & Conduct Problems Prevention Research Group, 1995;Offord, 2000).Targeted interventions for conditions with low base rates in the population have the potential to be especially efficient and cost-effective, because they are delivered to fewer individuals. However, the lower the base rate of a condition, the greater the need for accuracy in screening. Potential savings of time, money, and other resources offered by an indicated intervention represent true savings only to the extent that the intervention is effective, delivered to those who truly need it, and not delivered to those who do not need it. Characteristics of an Effective ScreeningThe function of a screening procedure is to classify individuals into two groups: those who are at risk and likely to develop EP and those who are not. The test of screening accuracy is based on the association of this risk classification with classification on another binary outcome: those who have developed EP and those who have not. Statistics that test a screen's accuracy are derived from the matrix of these two binary outcomes and include sensitivity (the proportion...

Studies show that children who use relational aggression process social information in unique ways; however, findings have been inconsistent and limited by methodological weaknesses. This short-term longitudinal study examined developmental changes in 245 (49% female; ages 8-13) 3rd through 8th graders' normative beliefs about relational aggression and tested the hypothesis that individual and classroom-level norms predict relational aggression 1 year later. Results showed that the transition to middle school was marked by increased approval of relational aggression, and individual norms predicted future relational aggression. Importantly, a contextual model showed that students in peer groups highly supportive of relational aggression became increasingly aggressive. Findings extend social information processing theories of relational aggression to focus on the role of peer group cognitions.