Controln = 27

Treatmentn = 37

Parent’s Age

M 41.18 38.88

SD 7.63 8.19

Parent’s Marital Status

Married 4 5

Single 23 32

Parent’s Education

<12th grade 3 5

HS grad/GED 9 14

Some college 12 16

College grad 3 2

Income per Year $18,227 $22,001.29

Child’s Race

Euro American 6 5

Afro American 21 32

Child’s Age

M 12.04 11.92

SD 1.29 1.27

Child Gender

Female 11 14

Male 16 23

Research Goals Using a family-centered intervention previously used in preventing problem

behavior from early childhood through adolescence (Connell et al., 2008; Shaw et al., 2006), the current study tests an adaption of the Family Check-Up (FCU) in promoting sleep, physical activity and emotion regulation skills with a one-year follow-up to test for intervention effects. Using a randomized controlled design, it was hypothesized that families assigned to the intervention would show enhanced sleep quality, physical activity and emotion regulation skills relative to controls at the one-year follow-up, as well as improvements in problem behavior and peer relationships.

Participants and Procedures

Rationale Early adolescence is a time of great challenges, including physical changes, more

challenging social environments, and increasing school demands. Three areas that are critical for successfully meeting these challenges are sleep, physical activity, and emotion regulation.

Results• Analyses were computed using two groups (Control and Intervention) and three groups

(Control, Engaged-Intervention*, and Nonengaged-Intervention).• Repeated Measure ANOVAS revealed that:

• In the domain of emotion regulation: (1) Adolescents in the Engaged-Intervention Group reported improvements in Impulsivity behavior relative to control youth (d = .5), (2) Regardless of the level of engagement in the intervention, adolescents in the intervention group reported improvements in Disinhibited/Impersistent behavior (d = .43) compared to control youth.

• As per parent report in the domain of sleep, a trend was found for adolescents in the intervention group to have reduced sleep onset delay relative to controls (d = .5). • In the domain of physical activity: (1) No differences were evident on various indices of

physical activity between youth in the intervention and control conditions. *The Engaged-Intervention group required that the family complete at least one Feedback session with a Family Coach.

Table 1-- Demographic characteristics of participants

Study Candidates ScreenedN = 256

Study Candidates QualifiedN = 191

Study Candidates Participated

N = 165

Participants in Wave 1 Assessment Assigned to

Control ConditionN = 82

Participants in Wave 1 Assessment Assigned to

Treatment ConditionN = 83

Participants in Wave 2 Assessment

Assigned to Control Condition (In Progress)

N = 27

Participants in Wave 2 Assessment

Assigned to Treatment Condition (In Progress)

N = 37

• Sample of 64 parents participated with their child (aged 10-13)

• At-risk: Low income, 83%

Non-White, screened from pediatric clinics on the basis of SES and child risk in Sleep, Emotion Regulation or Physical Activity

• Two data collection points approximately 1 year apart

For more information, please contact Flannery E. O’Rourke, Dept. of Psychology, University of Pittsburgh (feo3@pitt.edu). The Health Promotion Project has been supported by grants to Ronald Dahl and Daniel Shaw from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.

Intervention• The Family Check-Up (FCU) is an ecological, family-centered intervention (EcoFIT; Dishion

& Stormshak, 2007).• The FCU differs from other family-focused interventions by: (1) incorporating motivational

interviewing to stimulate parents to modify caregiving practices (Miller & Rollnick, 2002), (2) being heavily driven by a thorough assessment of the child’s family and community ecology, and (3) adopting a health maintenance approach that involves annual contact with the families to provide support for them through multiple developmental transitions.

• Structured feedback is provided to the family based on results from the assessment, highlighting both family strengths and potential areas of improvement. Depending on the family’s needs and motivation to change, children and parents are offered an opportunity to engage in additional intervention in varying formats (e.g., therapy sessions, phone check-ups, community referrals).

MeasuresEmotion Regulation:

Adult-Child Relationship Scale (ACRS):• This 15-item form is designed to measure the parent –child relationship quality (ACRS,

Pianta & Steinberg, 1991). Children’s Affective Dysregulation Scale (CADS):• This 30-item form is designed to assess frequency of emotionally dysregulated behaviors

in aggression, irritability, anger, mood lability and impulsivity (Kolko, et al. 2001).Children’s Affective Lability Scale (CALS):• This 20-item scale is designed to measure behavior reflective of emotional dysregulation.

Reliability has been demonstrated among controls and psychiatric samples (Gerson et al., 1996).

Child Depression Inventory (CDI): • This 10-item short form of the CDI is designed to measure depression symptoms (Kovacs

et al., 1992).Multidimensional Anxiety Scale (MASC):• This 10-item short form of the MASC is designed to measure anxiety (March et al., 1997).

Sleep:Sleep Habits Questionnaire (SHQ;SSR): • This 33 item measure provides an overview of the child's sleep habits, sleepiness and

fatigue.

Physical Activity:

Modifiable Activity Questionnaire for Adolescents (MAQA):• The MAQA is a measure of adolescents’ activity level over the past year. (Aaron, et al.

1995)SenseWear® Body Monitoring System (SW): • The SW acts as a metabolic wearable monitor, allowing convenient collection of

metabolic data for determination of physical activity and sleep over multiple days in natural environments.

Testing an Adaptation of the Family Check Up to Promote Sleep, Physical Activity, and Emotion Regulation Skills

Flannery E. O'Rourke, Loren Schleiden, Daniel S. Shaw, Ronald E. Dahl, Brittany L. Miller, Louis C. Cianni, Tina Goldstein, Dana Rofey and Anne Gill

Results

Scale Factor

Time 1Raw Scores

Control

Time 2Raw Scores

Control

Time 1 Raw Scores

Tx - Engaged

Time 2Raw Scores

Tx - Engaged

Time 1Raw ScoresTx – Non-engaged

Time 2Raw ScoresTx – Non-engaged

x sd x sd x sd x sd x sd x sd

Emotion Regulation

ACRSConflict 16.46 7.56 17.89 7.99 17.08 7.30 19.60 9.22 14.17 5.44 13.67 5.10

Openness 12.04 3.41 11.52 3.15 12.00 2.45 11.96 2.07 11.83 3.51 12.00 3.10

CADS – Child Report

Irritability 2.20 2.06 1.67 1.44 3.96 1.70 3.12 1.39 2.42 1.83 2.17 1.70

Explosiveness 3.04 2.73 2.41 1.85 4.84 3.21 3.64 2.78 3.33 2.43 2.75 2.30

Impulsivity** (d=.5) 6.08 3.19 5.74 2.46 9.24 2.54 7.48 3.20 6.42 3.03 6.67 3.98

CALS – Child Report

Angry, Depressed 10.11 9.01 9.26 7.37 12.88 9.76 11.16 7.70 14.17 9.68 11.25 10.88Disinhibited,

Impersistent* (d=.43) 7.52 4.96 7.07 4.47 9.28 4.95 7.84 5.11 12.08 6.11 7.17 4.53

CALS – Parent Report

Angry, Depressed 6.67 7.65 6.56 7.54 8.72 6.94 10.80 9.70 7.25 6.59 7.17 7.20

Disinhibited 5.89 5.24 5.30 4.01 6.60 5.08 7.24 5.88 6.50 4.21 5.67 5.09

CDI Total 1.07 1.57 1.56 2.28 2.16 2.51 2 3.67 1.08 1.08 1.08 1.34

MASC Total Sum Score 10.41 5.26 8.81 4.29 11.04 5.37 11.28 7.03 11.75 5.29 11.18 5.06

Sleep

SHQ

Sleep Onset Delay** (d=.84) 1.63 0.63 1.89 0.64 1.76 0.83 1.76 0.78 1.92 0.67 1.67 0.49

Sleep Duration 4.56 1.48 4.37 1.52 4.68 1.77 4.68 1.73 4.75 1.91 4.67 1.37

Sleep Anxiety* (d=.64) 7.04 1.23 6.62 0.69 6.29 1.36 6.56 1.01 6.93 1.15 6.33 0.83

Night Wakings 3.89 1.22 3.81 1.00 4.36 1.22 3.72 1.14 4.08 1.16 4.08 1.24

SSR Sleep Anxiety 4.74 1.38 4.67 1.57 4.64 1.25 4.40 1.00 4.83 1.99 4.50 1.24

Physical Activity

SenseWearSedentary Time (Min)

Mean824.17 288.08 845.00 258.63 854.92 236.46 774.09 207.72 805.24 260.25 857.77 265.19

Moderate Pa Time (Min) Mean 115.22 67.35 98.06 61.61 111.37 57.19 91.51 34.79 93.09 57.64 79.67 56.76

Vigorous Pa Time (Min) Mean 14.33 8.67 13.45 10.44 15.30 17.45 12.75 9.60 9.66 9.75 7.41 9.05

Very Vigorous Pa Time (Min) Mean 1.57 2.06 1.45 1.88 0.97 1.86 1.16 1.44 1.75 2.13 0.45 0.45

Measured Sleep (Min) Mean

260.26 105.87 269.52 83.82 266.14 74.83 226.41 67.64 254.47 74.87 265.59 92.16

*p ≤ .05 **p<.1