Social Context, Parental Monitoring, and Multisystemic Therapy Outcomes Open Access

Abstract

Abstract
Social Context, Parental Monitoring, and Multisystemic Therapy Outcomes
Multisystemic Therapy (MST) is an integrative, empirically driven modality of treatment
used to decrease externalizing behaviors in adolescents. Although parent training has
been identified as a critical component of the therapy, it has scarcely been measured to
determine its role in the relationship between treatment and outcomes. There is even less
literature investigating the potential influences of socioeconomic status (SES) and
neighborhood context on both parenting and treatment outcomes. Thus, the proposed
study aims to explore these relationships in an effort to comprehend under which
socioeconomic conditions and in what populations MST might be most efficacious.
Using hierarchical linear modeling (HLM), we analyzed the role of parental monitoring,
SES, and neighborhood factors in predicting changes in externalizing behaviors over the
course of treatment. Parental monitoring was found to predict rate of change in
externalizing behaviors over time. Neighborhood factors interacted with parental
monitoring, such that monitoring predicted rates of change in externalizing behavior only
for families in better neighborhoods. In contrast, SES was unrelated to externalizing
behaviors in the MST context. Taken together, these results support the importance of
parental monitoring in this therapeutic model and demonstrate a need for further
understanding the potential role of the youth's larger social context in predicting
outcomes.
Keywords: Multisystemic Therapy, socioeconomic status, social context, neighborhood,
parenting

Table of Contents

Introduction...1

Method...8

Participants...8
Study Design and Procedures...9
Measures...10
Statistical Analyses...14

Results...15

Descriptive Analyses...15
Data Analyses...16

Discussion...20

Limitations...24
Future Research...26
Conclusion...26

List of Tables

Table 1-Descriptive Statistics for Predictor and Outcome Variables...37
Table 2-Intercorrelations for Study Variables...38
Table 3-Model 1: Externalizing Trajectories...39
Table 4-Model 2: Monitoring Trajectories...40
Table 5-Model 3: Externalizing Trajectories...41

About this Master's Thesis

Rights statement

• Permission granted by the author to include this thesis or dissertation in this repository. All rights reserved by the author. Please contact the author for information regarding the reproduction and use of this thesis or dissertation.

School	Laney Graduate School
Department	Psychology
Subfield / Discipline	Clinical Psychology
Degree	MA
Submission	Master's Thesis
Language	English
Research Field	Psychology, Clinical
Keyword	socioeconomic status neighborhood parenting Multisystemic Therapy social context
Committee Chair / Thesis Advisor	Brennan, Patricia, Emory University
Committee Members	Craighead, Linda, Emory University Rochat, Philippe, Emory University

Last modified

Primary PDF

Thumbnail	Title	Date Uploaded	Actions
	Social Context, Parental Monitoring, and Multisystemic Therapy Outcomes ()	2018-08-28 15:00:13 -0400	Press to Select an action Download

Supplemental Files

Thumbnail	Title	Date Uploaded	Actions