Abigail H Gewirtz

Arizona State University | ASU

Parenting programs aim to improve parenting quality, which may, in turn, support various aspects of child development, including behavior and mental health. However, parenting interventions show considerable heterogeneity in response patterns across different families, demonstrating that they are not one-size-fits-all programs. This variability poi...

Background Adolescent youth occupy a critical and complex position in refugee families who resettle in a third country. Objectives We examined the potential impact of health- and family-related factors on the social and behavioral adjustment outcomes of refugee adolescent youth. Methods Situated within an explanatory sequential mixed methods stud...

Many conventional research methods employed in randomized controlled trials were not possible during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. In particular, behavioral observations are nearly universally gathered in-person. Observational methods are valued for the rich, informative data they produce in comparison to non-observational methods and are a...

Parental efficacy is an important aspect of parenting and a key outcome in many parenting programs. However, most studies focus on mothers, and less is known about the relationship between coparents' parental efficacy over time following intervention, and how parental distress can impact parental efficacy. The current study ( N = 271 heterosexual c...

To disentangle the effects of key dimensions of dispositional mindfulness on parenting, the present study tests the hypotheses that parental Nonreactivity moderates the association between Observing and effective parenting behaviors, and that parental inhibitory control mediates the relationship between Observing and parenting depending on levels o...

The military family stress (MFS) model conceptualizes that wartime deployments and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms are associated with couple, parenting, and child adjustment difficulties. The aim of this study was to replicate and extend the military family stress model by examining the associations among deployment length, PTSD sym...

Background Implementing evidence-based programs in community service settings introduces the challenge of ensuring sustained fidelity to the original program. We employ a fidelity measure based on direct observation of practitioners’ competence and adherence to the evidence-based parenting program (EBPP) GenerationPMTO following installation in nat...

An imposed separation from a parent could frequently lead to feelings of trauma and to major effects on the child’s mental health and adjustment. In such cases, the child’s adjustment is highly dependent on the remaining parent’s attitude and behaviors in the new circumstances. Deployment is an example of parental separation and, based on the milit...

The direct exposure to physical or psychological trauma from torture or war leads to well-documented individual health consequences. Less understood are the inclusive and intergenerational effects of war trauma on family systems and youth adjustment. The purpose was to examine mechanisms in war-affected families that explained the significant emoti...

Latinx families who have experienced immigration are often exposed to traumatic experiences before, during, and after migration. Exposure to trauma is associated with health challenges, however responsive and supportive parenting can strengthen adjustment of children who have experienced adversity. Systemic barriers in the U.S. make accessing paren...

Gene by Intervention (GxI) interaction studies examine how a person's genotype may moderate (i.e., increase or decrease benefit from) an intervention's impact, typically in the context of randomized controlled trials. This systematic review examines genetic moderation effects for psychosocial and behavioral interventions that are family‐based or sc...

Testing a vantage sensitivity model from differential susceptibility theory (DST), we examined a G × E × I hypothesis; that is, whether a military parenting intervention program (I) might buffer a G × E susceptibility for military deployed fathers exposed to deployment combat stress and trauma. We hypothesized that combat stress (E, referring to th...

Objective Relying upon the military family stress model, we evaluated the associations between combat exposure, PTSD symptoms, and parental locus of control (PLOC) among mothers and fathers with history of deployment, using a multigroup analysis. Background Few studies have investigated the correlates of deployment‐related stressors for deployed m...

Refugee children and families are at high risk of developing mental health conditions. The objective of this systematic review was to examine the current empirical literature on refugee mental health in Europe with a focus on children and families. A systematic search was conducted between January 2012 to June 2022 in PsychInfo, CINAHIL and PubMed....

Background The COVID-19 pandemic has increased the stress levels of parents, especially health care workers and other COVID-19 frontline workers. Nonetheless, little is known about stress management for this population. Objective This pilot study tested the impact of a mobile app apt.mind in reducing stress in health care provider parents by deliv...

GenerationPMTO is a theory- and evidence-based behavioral parenting program widely implemented in the past three decades. This systematic review and meta-analysis examined the effectiveness of twenty GenerationPMTO studies on parenting and child adjustment among 3893 families in six countries. Hedges’ g from studies with pretest–posttest-controlled...

Globally, an estimated 79.5 million individuals have been displaced, nearly 40% of whom are children. Parenting interventions may have the potential to improve outcomes for displaced families. To investigate this, we conducted a systematic review to identify the types of caregiver or parenting interventions that have been evaluated among displaced...

BACKGROUND The COVID-19 pandemic has increased the stress levels of parents, especially health care workers and other COVID-19 frontline workers. Nonetheless, little is known about stress management for this population. OBJECTIVE This pilot study tested the impact of a mobile app apt.mind in reducing stress in health care provider parents by deliv...

Background and Objectives Grandparents are key resources in grandchildren care globally. However, mixed findings indicated that multiple role engagement may enhance well-being and bring demands on grandparent caregivers in different contexts. This systematic review examines the association between the intensity of grandparent caregiving and their h...

This chapter provides an overview of research on the effects of wartime deployment on children and families, highlighting results from cross-sectional, longitudinal, and prevention/intervention studies. A growing body of literature has shown how parental absence due to deployment and the reintegration process might affect children’s adjustment via...

With improved longevity and changes in family structure, grandparents are key resources in providing care for grandchildren. However, mixed findings indicate that multiple role engagement may enhance well-being or bring demands on grandparents raising grandchildren. Little is known about how the intensity of grandparent caregiving is associated wit...

In March 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 a global pandemic. Given that keeping abreast of international perspectives and research results is of particular importance for such massive global emergencies, we employed a scoping review methodology to rapidly map the field of international psychological research addressing th...

Although psychological researchers have long studied the implications of major crises, the outbreak and spread of the COVID‐19 pandemic have confronted the global community of psychologists and psychological researchers with new challenges. This special issue contributes to the growing empirical literature on the immediate psychological implication...

Military servicemembers face substantial challenges due to war‐related trauma exposure, including posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Individuals with deficits in inhibitory control (IC) may have an increased risk of developing PTSD due to a reduced ability to regulate their cognitive responses to and disengage from trauma‐related stimuli. After...

Military service members who were exposed to combat-related traumatic events may exhibit emotion regulation problems, which can compromise emotion-related parenting practices (ERPPs). After Deployment, Adaptive Parenting Tools (ADAPT) is a preventive intervention developed for military families to improve parenting behaviors, including ERPPs. Paren...

The use of patient-reported measures in assessing mental health symptoms is common in both the research and clinical fields. With regard to assessing posttraumatic stress symptoms, there are specific versions of measures designed for child and adolescent populations in accordance with the fourth and fifth editions of the Diagnostic and Statistical...

The intergenerational effects of trauma resulting from torture and war are complex and multi-faceted and have important implications for the family system. The current study aimed to identify key relationships between refugee maternal caregiver exposure to torture, mental health, and physical health with maternal-reported youth adjustment. Ninety-s...

The chapter provides an overview of the challenges facing military families and, in particular, the impact of wartime deployment of a parent for the family. We review the literature on the impact of deployment and its sequelae (e.g., posttraumatic stress symptoms) on children, couples, parent–child relationships/parenting, and the family as a whole...

A key factor associated with children’s resilience in the face of adversity is access to an effective parent or caregiver. Decades of research have shown that parenting practices are malleable and that improvements in parenting predict improvements in children’s development. However, the application of parenting interventions to the population of c...

SYNOPSIS Objective : Vagal suppression is a parasympathetic physiological indicator of emotion regulation and social engagement behaviors, often measured via heart rate variability. Experiential avoidance reflects psychological inflexibility or poor emotion regulation. We tested the interaction effects of parental vagal suppression and experiential...

The purpose of this article is to systematically review the existing literature regarding intervention and prevention programs that ameliorate the negative effects of exposure to community violence (ECV) on children and adolescents. Using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review (PRISMA) Guidelines, we conducted a systematic review of th...

This chapter provides an overview of the concept of childhood trauma and its examination in the emergence of psychopathology. We start by briefly defining and describing childhood traumatic events, distinguishing between events and their sequelae (i.e., symptoms), and highlighting cultural variations in the understanding and meaning ascribed to tra...

Child and adolescent exposure to potential trauma experiences is pervasive. Given the prevalence, deleterious mental and physical effects, and economic cost of trauma exposure, child- and family-service systems are adopting trauma-informed approaches, including practices like trauma screening. Although a number of trauma-focused screening and asses...

The chapter provides an overview of the challenges facing military families and, in particular, the impact of wartime deployment of a parent for the family. We review the literature on the impact of deployment and its sequelae (e.g., posttraumatic stress symptoms) on children, couples, parent–child relationships/parenting, and the family as a whole...

The United States has been continuously at war for nearly 2 decades, during which time some 2.7 million Americans have answered the call to arms. Such prolonged conflict is unprecedented in US history. Also unprecedented is the number of service members of the National Guard and military Reserve forces who have left their families to deploy to the...

The original version of this article unfortunately contained a mistake.

To make prevention programs more effective and understand “what works for whom,” evidence regarding what individual characteristics predict intervention responsiveness is needed. Previous studies have evaluated a military parent training program known as After Deployment Adaptive Parenting Tools/ADAPT, yet less is understood about the program’s var...

Children of combat deployed parents are at risk of behavioral problems. Parental emotion socialization (PES) has been theorized to influence children's behaviors; many studies lend support to this theory. However, longitudinal studies examining PES with experimental designs are sparse. In this study, we estimated PES growth trajectories following a...

Military parents’ combat-related posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms have been linked to poor parenting and child maladjustment. Emotion regulation (ER) difficulties are thought to underlie PTSD symptoms, and research has begun to link parental ER to parenting behaviors. Little empirical evidence exists regarding whether fathers’ ER is as...

Deployment to war is associated with disruptions to emotion regulation and parenting. Using data from a randomized controlled trial, we examined whether fathers with poorer emotion regulation would differentially benefit from the After Deployment, Adaptive Parenting Tools program, a 14-session group-based parenting intervention. Prior analyses of t...

Objective: This study examined the bidirectional relation between effective parenting practices and externalizing problems in children in homeless families. Design: The sample comprised 223 children (M = 8.12 years) in 137 families living in temporary supportive housing, who participated in the Early Risers conduct problems prevention program la...

Previous research has found elevated levels of psychological distress (i.e., posttraumatic stress, depressive and anxiety symptoms) among veterans. Existing theory and evidence show how psychological distress is associated with marital disruptions. Only a few studies, however, have tested the link between psychological distress and couple communica...

Vagal flexibility is a parasympathetic physiological indicator of emotion regulation and social engagement behaviors, often measured via heart rate variability (HRV). Experiential avoidance reflects psychological inflexibility or emotion dysregulation. We tested the influences of parental vagal flexibility and experiential avoidance on observed emo...

Children of combat deployed parents are at risk of internalizing and externalizing behaviors. Parental emotion socialization (PES) has been theorized to influence children’s behaviors, and many studies, including a few randomized trials, lend support to this theory. However, longitudinal studies with experimental designs are sparse. In the current...

Anger‐related problems have been documented among post‐deployed service members who returned home, posing risks to their well‐being and increasing distress in their families. Trait mindfulness (acting with awareness, nonjudging, and nonreactivity) has been associated with lower self‐reported anger. Using actor–partner interdependence models, we tes...

Parental deployment to war poses risks to children's healthy adjustment. The After Deployment Adaptive Parenting Tools (ADAPT) program was developed for post-deployed military families to promote children's well-being through improving effective parenting. ADAPT combines behavior management with emotion socialization skills for parents, using brief...

This study examined the mediating role of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms in the association between deployment-related trauma exposure and parenting behaviors in reserve-component military service members and whether this association was contingent upon parent inhibitory control (IC). Participants were 181 postdeployed fathers and th...

Using the family stress model as our conceptual framework, we explored whether observed maternal parenting practices (positive and coercive) account for the associations between mothers’ posttraumatic stress symptoms and children’s externalizing behaviors. Mothers’ self-reported posttraumatic stress symptoms, observed maternal practices, and report...

The goal of this Special Issue is to introduce prevention scientists to an emerging form of healthcare, called precision medicine. This approach integrates investigation of the mechanisms of disease and health-compromising behaviors with prevention, treatment, and cure resolved at the level of the individual. Precision Medicine and its derivative p...

We tested a recovery capital model for military families employing the After Deployment, Adaptive Parenting Tools (ADAPT) randomized control trial, a longitudinal preventive intervention study of 336 post-deployed military parents. Recovery resources included measures of social capital (parenting support, observed partner support behaviors), person...

Prior research indicates that children of deployed parents are at risk for emotional problems, suggesting the utility of preventive efforts for military families. Effective parental socialization of children’s emotions is protective for children’s development, and parental experiential avoidance may impede parental emotion socialization, yet interv...

Although transitioning out of the military can be stressful for everyone in the family, the children’s experience has received minimal attention in both clinical lore and research. This study is an evaluation of Sesame Workshop’s multimedia program for families who are transitioning out of the military into civilian life; the program is aimed at im...

This study evaluated the implementation outcomes of GenerationPMTO, an evidence-based parenting intervention for child and adolescent behavior problems, in three European countries. The implementation approach was full transfer, in which purveyors train a first generation (G1) of practitioners; adopting sites assume oversight, training, certificati...

Mindfulness has drawn increased attention in prevention programs targeting parents. Commonly, mindfulness-based programs are provided to reduce parental stress and improve child outcomes. Less often, researchers incorporate a mindfulness-informed approach, integrating a low dose of mindfulness exercises into an existing evidence-based parent traini...

Although multiple evidence‐based family interventions exist, less than a handful have been developed or rigorously tested specifically for military families. Indeed, few interventions available to military families are theory based or empirically validated; most have good face validity but little data on efficacy or effectiveness. This article argu...

A pilot, doubly randomized preference trial was conducted to investigate the impact of providing parents preferences on parenting outcomes. Families with children having conduct problems were randomly assigned to a choice group in which they received their preferred treatment among the four intervention options or a no-choice group in which they we...

Researchers have shown that parents often disagree in their ratings of their children's behavior, and that these discrepancies are typically related to child and family characteristics (e.g., child's age, parent psychopathology). Few studies, however, have examined discrepancies in how mothers and fathers rate child behavior during a stressful fami...

Empowering consumers to be active decision-makers in their own care is a core tenet of personalized, or precision medicine. Nonetheless, there is a dearth of research on intervention preferences in families seeking interventions for a child with behavior problems. Specifically, the evidence is inconclusive as to whether providing parents with choic...

When the US military began combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan in 2002, little was known about how military children and families would be affected by combat-related service in an era of prolonged war. The ability of clinicians, policymakers, community service providers, commanders, and researchers to meet the needs of military children was l...

There is a dearth of research on parent and child reports regarding a parent’s parenting and its contribution to a child’s adjustment. Therefore, the current study examined: (a) the differences between mother and child reports of aspects of maternal parenting (i.e., care and control), among both boys and girls; (b) which parenting report (i.e., mot...

The stress of multiple deployments and exposure to combat places service members at risk for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which may detrimentally affect parenting. Evidence-based parenting programs have been successful in promoting adaptive parenting practices among families exposed to stress. However, the effects of preventive interventio...

The authors would like to indicate the corrections to Table 2 of the above referenced article, below. The note is missing, and the CACE indirect coefficients should be .18** and .16** instead of .16** and .15**. The corrected table is shown below.

Despite significant stressors facing military families over the past 15 years of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, no parenting programs adapted or developed for military families with school-aged children have been rigorously tested. We present outcome data from the first randomized controlled trial of a behavioral parent training program for families...

A free Video Cast to accompany this article can be found online at: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1002/(ISSN)1464-066X/homepage/52-4-reading-abi.htm

This paper introduces the Special Section on Advances in Psychological Prevention and Treatment Interventions to Promote Children's Mental Health. The three articles in the Special Section provide perspectives on the adaptation, evaluation, and implementation of evidence-based psychological interventions for children in countries in Northern and Ea...

This study assessed the mediating pathways of observed couple communication on the dyadic associations between experiential avoidance (EA) and relationship quality. A sample of 228 military couples following combat deployment participated in a conflict discussion and completed self-report measures to assess EA and relationship quality. Results of a...

The current study examines a military family stress model, evaluating associations between deployment-related stressors (i.e., deployment length/number, posttraumatic stress disorder [PTSD] symptoms) and parent, child, parenting, and dyadic adjustment among families in which a parent had previously deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan in the recent conf...

Efforts to support positive parenting among homeless families are critical for promoting the mental health and developmental needs of children exposed to homelessness. Psychosocial preventive interventions seeking to improve parenting practices and child outcomes can make an important contribution in this regard, yet further research is needed to i...

This is a validated instrument. University of Minnesota’s Traumatic Stress Screen for Children and Adolescents (TSSCA) Cite this instrument as follows: Donisch, K., Zhang, Y., Bray, C., & Gewirtz, A.H. (2017). University of Minnesota’s Traumatic Stress Screen for Children and Adolescents (TSSCA). Copyright: Ambit Network, University of Minnesot...

Military deployment of a parent is a risk factor for children’s internalizing and externalizing problems. This risk may be heightened in National Guard and Reserve (NG/R) families who tend to be isolated from other NG/R families and do not benefit from the centralized support system available to active duty families living on military bases. Isolat...

Research has neglected the potential role of perceived parental control as a moderator between stressful life events (SLEs) and child-internalizing symptoms. Using secondary data from the Early Risers "Skills for Success" Program (August, Realmuto, Hektner, & Bloomquist, 2001), this study examined the impact of perceived parental control on the ass...

The Cambridge Handbook of International Prevention Science offers a comprehensive global overview on prevention science with the most up-to-date research from around the world. Over 100 scholars from 27 different countries (including Australia, Bhutan, Botswana, India, Israel, Mexico, Singapore, South Korea, Spain and Thailand) contributed to this...

The present study investigated the mechanisms through which a parenting intervention for military families fosters positive peer adjustment in children. A sample of 336 families with a history of parental deployment enrolled in a randomized controlled trial of the After Deployment Adaptive Parenting Tools (ADAPT) preventive intervention. ADAPT is a...

Transactional cascades among child internalizing and externalizing symptoms, and fathers’ and mothers’ posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms were examined in a sample of families with a male parent who had been deployed to recent military conflicts in the Middle East. The role of parents’ positive engagement and coercive interaction with th...

Objectives: This study explored the behavioral and emotional adjustment of Israeli school-age children who are exposed to political violence. Based on Bronfenbrenner's (1986) ecological model and ecological model of psychosocial trauma (Harvey, 2007), we examined the direct contribution of exposure, gender, maternal characteristics (mother's postt...

Moving Toward Precision Healthcare in Children's Mental Health: New Perspectives, Methodologies, and Technologies in Therapeutics and Prevention - Volume 28 Issue 3 - Gerald August, Dante Cicchetti, Abigail Gewirtz

Although considerable research has examined the impact of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) on couples and partners, relatively little is known about how it can affect parenting, children, and the parent-child relationship. Although adverse effects of parental PTSD on child functioning have been documented, the processes by which these outcomes...

Background: Some evidence suggests parents are drawn to media-based interventions over face-to-face interventions, but little is known about the factors associated with parents' use of Internet-based or Internet-enhanced programs, especially among military families. Research is needed to understand characteristics of parents who may be most likely...

This chapter provides a backdrop to and overview of the book, “Parenting and Children’s Resilience in Military Families.” While literature on military families spans several decades, the recent conflicts have spurred a surge of empirical research regarding the impact of deployment on the families of those deployed. This is not surprising, given tha...

The past two decades have witnessed an upsurge in the number, length, and frequency of military deployments for service members with unprecedented reliance on National Guard and Reserve (NG/R) troops, calling into question how children are impacted by the deployment cycle. Research on civilian populations suggests that parenting practices likely pl...

This book aims to provide a twenty-first century perspective on parenting in military families. In this concluding chapter, we discuss the current state of military parenting science and propose a research agenda to advance knowledge about parenting in military families over the next decade. We focus on research content and methodology, addressing...

Few studies have examined whether parenting prevention programs might mitigate risk for suicidality in parents, yet parent suicidality is a strong risk factor for offspring suicidality. We report results from a randomized controlled trial of a parenting program for deployed National Guard and Reserve families with a school-aged child. Intent-to-tre...

This study systematically examined child-service providers' conceptualizations of trauma-informed practice (TIP) across service systems, including child welfare, juvenile justice, mental health, and education. Eleven focus groups and nine individual interviews were conducted, totaling 126 child-service providers. Conventional content analysis was u...

This reference examines the wide-ranging impact of military life on families, parenting, and child development. It examines the complex family needs of this diverse population, especially as familiar issues such as trauma, domestic violence, and child abuse manifest differently than in civilian life. Expert contributors review findings on deployed...

Incorporating participant preferences into intervention decision-making may optimize health outcomes by improving participant engagement. We describe the rationale for a preference-based approach to the personalization of community-based interventions. Compensating for the limitations of traditional randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and partially...

This research examined whether military service members' deployment-related trauma exposure, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms, and experiential avoidance are associated with their observed levels of positive social engagement, social withdrawal, reactivity-coercion, and distress avoidance during postdeployment family interaction. Self...