Compared behavior problems, child developmental skills, home environment, and parent emotional distress for 50 families of children aged 11-70 months with differing etiologies of feeding disorders (FD). Results showed that psychosocial functioning differed across FD classifications. Children with nonorganic characteristics to FD had more behavior problems compared to those with only organic FD. Children with primarily or only organic FD displayed lower developmental skills and their parents had higher emotional distress than children with primarily nonorganic FD. High parent distress was associated with older children who had poor feeding skills, less positive disciplinary practices, and higher social status. The findings imply that clinical services to families often are warranted and that service needs vary depending on the nature of FD. Mixed organic and nonorganic FD occurred in the majority of children, which supports the need for more detailed classification than an organic-nonorganic dichotomy used in prior research.
We evaluated the effects of behavioral parent training program on parent and child feeding-related behaviors in the home. We trained mothers to initiate regular offerings of previously rejected (target) foods and to provide contingent attention (i.e., specific prompts, positive reinforcement) to increase their child's acceptance of nonpreferred foods. For 1 subject, we also directed training at increasing self-eating. Results of a nonconcurrent multiple baseline design across 3 mother-child dyads demonstrated that, with training, all mothers increased offerings of target foods and use of specific prompts, and 2 mothers increased levels of positive attention. In turn, children increased their acceptance of target foods and self-eating, thus demonstrating the functional effects of parent training on in-home meal times. Temporary increases in food refusals occurred when treatment was initiated but declined as treatment continued. We discuss the results in terms of the potential benefits and limitations of a home-based treatment model.
Five studies were conducted to construct and psychometrically evaluate a marital satisfaction questionnaire for older persons. The questionnaire content was generated and refined in Study 1. Temporal stability was evaluated in Study 2, and criterion-related validity was examined in Study 3. Norms, factor structure, and construct validity of the questionnaire were established in Study 4. The degree to which scores on the questionnaire predicted observer ratings of marital interactions during an analog problem-solving situation was examined in Study 5. The final questionnaire consists of 24 items with 1 major and 2 minor factors. Factor scores and a total Marital Satisfaction Scale score were found to be homogeneous, temporally stable, and significantly correlated with multiple measures of marital adjustment, life satisfaction, perceived spouse behaviors, and observer ratings of marital communication.
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