Review of recent research on hepatitis C therapy for 54th annual meeting of the American association for the study of liver diseases

This meta-analysis of 161 published and unpublished manuscripts was conducted to determine whether the association between parenting and delinquency exists and what the magnitude of this linkage is. The strongest links were found for parental monitoring, psychological control, and negative aspects of support such as rejection and hostility, accounting for up to 11% of the variance in delinquency. Several effect sizes were moderated by parent and child gender, child age, informant on parenting, and delinquency type, indicating that some parenting behaviors are more important for particular contexts or subsamples. Although both dimensions of warmth and support seem to be important, surprisingly very few studies focused on parenting styles. Furthermore, fewer than 20% of the studies focused on parenting behavior of fathers, despite the fact that the effect of poor support by fathers was larger than poor maternal support, particularly for sons. Implications for theory and parenting are discussed.

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The Relationship Between Parenting and Delinquency: A Meta-analysis

Background: Women with breast cancer are the largest group of female survivors of cancer. There is limited information about the long-term quality of life (QOL) in diseasefree breast cancer survivors. Methods: Letters of invitation were mailed to 1336 breast cancer survivors who had participated in an earlier survey and now were between 5 and 10 years after their initial diagnosis. The 914 respondents interested in participating were then sent a survey booklet that assessed a broad range of QOL and survivorship concerns. All P values were two-sided. Results: A total of 817 women completed the follow-up survey (61% response rate), and the 763 disease-free survivors in that group, who had been diagnosed an average of 6.3 years earlier, are the focus of this article. Physical well-being and emotional well-being were excellent; the minimal changes between the baseline and follow-up assessments reflected expected age-related changes. Energy level and social functioning were unchanged. Hot flashes, night sweats, vaginal discharge, and breast sensitivity were less frequent. Symptoms of vaginal dryness and urinary incontinence were increased. Sexual activity with a partner declined statistically significantly between the two assessments (from 65% to 55%, P = .001). Survivors with no past systemic adjuvant therapy had a better QOL than those who had received systemic adjuvant therapy (chemotherapy, tamoxifen, or both together) (physical functioning, P = .003; physical role function, P = .02; bodily pain, P = .01; social functioning, P = .02; and general health, P = .03). In a multivariate analysis, past chemotherapy was a statistically significant predictor of a poorer current QOL (P = .003). Conclusions: Long-term, disease-free breast cancer survivors reported high levels of functioning and QOL many years after primary treatment. However, past systemic adjuvant treatment was associated with poorer functioning on several dimensions of QOL. This information may be useful to patients and physicians who are engaging in discussion of the risks and benefits of systemic adjuvant therapy. [J Natl Cancer Inst 2002;94:39–49]

Quality of Life in Long-Term, Disease-Free Survivors of Breast Cancer: a Follow-up Study

Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th ed

The existing research on the Dyadic Adjustment Scale (DAS) indicated that there were problems with some of the subscales and individual items. This study was designed to improve the instrument by following the standards of construct hierarchy. Through previous research and the analyses in this study, the subscales were found to contain some items that were homogeneous and others that were more heterogeneous. This problem was corrected by selecting out items that were homogeneous; 7jirst-order scales were created which were combined to create the 3 second-order concepts of consensus, satisfaction, and cohesion. With a sample of distressed and nondistressed couples, a series of confirmatory factor analyses was conducted. The factor analyses provided evidence for the construct validity of the new structure of the Revised DAS (RDAS) with the distressed, nondistressed, and total samples of this study, as well as with the sample from Spanier and ThompsonS (I 982) study. Additional analyses correlating the RDAS with another popular

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A revision of the dyadic adjustment scale for use with distressed and nondistressed couples: construct hierarchy and multidimensional scales

Associations among three dimensions of parenting (support, behavioral control, psychological control) and measures of adolescent depression, delinquency, and academic achievement were assessed in a sample of African American youth. All data were adolescent self-reports by way of school-administered questionnaires in random samples of classrooms in southeastern U.S. metropolitan areas. Path analysis revealed several associations between parenting dimensions and youth outcomes, including negative relationships between paternal support and depression and between parental behavioral control and delinquency. Group comparisons (by youth grade level, gender, and family socioeconomic status [SES]) were also conducted, and no age or SES differences were noted.

Parental Support, Behavioral Control, and Psychological Control Among African American Youth The Relationships to Academic Grades, Delinquency, and Depression

This study demonstrates the usefulness of the KMSS and RDAS in distinguishing between the maritally distressed and nondistressed. For conceptual and statistical clarity, many marital interaction and marital therapy research measures, use a single cutoff score. It was determined that the cutoff score is 17 for the Kansas Marital Satisfaction Scale (KMSS) and 48 for the Revised Dyadic Adjustment Scale (RDAS) for husbands, wives, and couples. An equivalency table of mathematical formulas is also presented, allowing the conversion of individual and couple scores from one measure of marital quality to another. It is now possible to convert a score from any one of a number of instruments (KMSS, RDAS, Dyadic Adjustment Scale, Marital Adjustment Test, Revised Marital Adjustment Test) to an equivalent score as measured by another instrument.

Establishing Criterion Scores for the Kansas Marital Satisfaction Scale and the Revised Dyadic Adjustment Scale

Assessing Marital Quality with Distressed and Nondistressed Couples: A Comparison and Equivalency Table for Three Frequently Used Measures

Using longitudinal data from the 1987 to 1988 (Wave I) and 1992 to 1993 (Wave II) National Survey of Family and Households, the authors compared long-term cohabiting, married, and remarried couples in four areas of relationship quality at Wave II (happiness, communication, fairness, and disagreements). Comparisons were made after controlling for presence of a child, relationship duration, educational level, gender, ethnic status, and relationship quality at Wave I. We found that long-term cohabiting couples reported lower relationship happiness and fairness than other types of couples. Couples who cohabited prior to marriage were similar to couples who did not cohabit prior to marriage, whether the couples were in first marriages or remarriages. Differences were small among the types of couples in level of communication or disagreements.

D. Russell Crane

Papers

A revision of the dyadic adjustment scale for use with distressed and nondistressed couples: construct hierarchy and multidimensional scales

Parental Support, Behavioral Control, and Psychological Control Among African American Youth The Relationships to Academic Grades, Delinquency, and Depression

Establishing Criterion Scores for the Kansas Marital Satisfaction Scale and the Revised Dyadic Adjustment Scale

Assessing Marital Quality with Distressed and Nondistressed Couples: A Comparison and Equivalency Table for Three Frequently Used Measures

Cohabitation, Marriage, and Remarriage A Comparison of Relationship Quality Over Time