Parental Involvement and Children's Extra-Familial Contexts

Parental Involvement, Extra-Familial Contexts and Prevention of Drug Use Risk

Parental involvement has been shown to be a robust predictor of child conduct problems (CP) and drug use risk in childhood and adolescence, but relatively little attention has been paid to the role of parental involvement in relation to child problem behavior during the transition to school-age, when children are spending more time in school, after-care settings, and in the neighborhood. Concomitantly, as children transition from preschool to school-age, there is evidence to suggest that the quality and organization of schools, after-school care, and neighborhoods play an increasingly important role in the emergence of children's CP and drug use risk. Specifically, we will address: 1) the extent to which the quality of school environments, after-school care, and neighborhoods are associated with the emergence of CP during the early school-age period; 2) how parental involvement in the toddler and preschool period may be associated with parental involvement and monitoring in extra-familial contexts in the early school-age years; 3) how parental involvement in schools, after-care, and the neighborhood, may moderate relationships between extra-familial factors and children's CP; and 4) whether a parenting intervention can increase parental involvement in school, after-care, and neighborhood contexts and decrease risk of children's subsequent CP. These issues will be tested with an existing sample of 731 ethnically-diverse children from urban, suburban, and rural sites. As all families in the study were recruited based on the presence of sociodemographic, family, and child risk factors, the cohort of children are at high risk for displaying a persistent trajectory of clinically-meaningful CP and drug use risk. Thus, the study has the potential to fill a much-needed void on associations between extra-familial contexts and risk for early-starting CP and later problem behavior during the early school-age years. Equally critical, the study can provide data on the potential moderating influence of involved parenting, its malleability for families facing multiple adversities, and whether family-based interventions can make a difference for children facing multiple adversities.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Prevention of Drug Abuse Risk

• Study Type: Observational
• Enrollment (Actual): 731

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • Pennsylvania
    • Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States, 15260
      • University of Pittsburgh

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 2 years to 3 years (Child)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

• Sampling Method: Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

731 toddlers and their families followed from age 2 to 9 recruited on the basis of low socioeconomic status, and the presence of family (e.g., parental depression, drug use) and child (disruptive behavior) risk.

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Previously enrolled sample of 731 children recruited on the basis of prior screening for socioeconomic, family, and child risk factors at age 2

Exclusion Criteria:

• All children and families needed to have a child 2-3 years of age with multiple socioeconomic, family, and child risk factors.

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Observational Models: Family-Based
• Time Perspectives: Prospective

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Achenbach Teacher Report Form	Teachers reports on over 100 items covering children's externalizing and internalizing problem behavior	collected annually when children are ages 7 to 9 years old

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Parental Monitoring Inventory	Both children and parents report on the amount and quality of monitoring parents provide regarding their children's after-school activities	Collected annually when children are ages 7 to 9

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: University of Pittsburgh
• Collaborators: National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Daniel S. Shaw, Ph.D., University of Pittsburgh

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start: May 1, 2007
• Primary Completion (Actual): April 1, 2012
• Study Completion (Actual): April 1, 2012

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: October 1, 2007
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: October 1, 2007
• First Posted (Estimate): October 2, 2007

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Estimate): December 11, 2013
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: December 10, 2013
• Last Verified: December 1, 2013

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: drug use, antisocial behavior, early intervention, prevention
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Mental Disorders; Chemically-Induced Disorders; Substance-Related Disorders
• Other Study ID Numbers: involvementincontext; R01DA023245 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract); DA023245