Families First Edmonton

1. Families First Edmonton Recreational Activities and Behavioural Assessmentof FFE Focus Children (preliminary analyses, for discussion only) Presentation to the Community Learning Network 29 September 2011

2. Presentation Outline • Preview • Recreational Activities • Social and Emotional Development Behavioural problems (parent) Emotional issues (child) Adaptability (parent) Adjustment (child) IV. Do parent and child mental health scores correlate?

3. Recreational Activities 3

4. Recreational Activities

5. Frequency of Activities (per month) Age (years)

6. Total Engagement in Activities(frequency/month) Frequency

7. Total Engagement in Activities(frequency/month)

8. Gender 8

9. Frequency of Drawing or Painting Girls Boys Frequency

10. Frequency of Playing Team Sports Girls Boys Frequency Age (years)

11. Lone parents vs. Co-parents

12. Frequency of Drawing or Painting Lone parents Co-parents Frequency Age (years)

13. Frequency of Going to the Movie Theatre Lone parents Co-parents 13

14. Statistically significant but not meaningful? Family Activities (Lone parents) Family Activities (Co-parents) Movie theatre (Lone parents) Movie theatre (Co-parents) 14

15. Frequency of playing team sports Frequency Lone parents Co-parents Age (years)

16. Population groups

17. Population group definitions Foreign-born childrenChild and parent(s) were born outside of Canada First generation childrenChild is Canadian-born but parents were born outside of Canada Second(plus)-generation childrenChild and parent(s) are born in Canada Aboriginal childrenPrimary caregiver identifies as Aboriginal and child is born in Canada 17

18. Frequency of Playing Individual Sports Frequency 2nd(+) generation children 1st generation children Foreign-born children Aboriginal children Age (years)

19. Frequency of Drawing or Painting Frequency 2nd(+) generation children 1st generation children Foreign-born children Aboriginal children Age (years) 19

20. Conclusions • Data are available for a wide range of recreational and leisure activities. • Frequency of participation often varies with age, but relations with gender, parental status, and population group are not very common and tend to be small.

21. Social and Emotional Development 21

22. Behavioral Assessment Scale for Children (BASC) • Multidimensional assessment, ages 2.5 to 18 years • Rating scale (inventory) • Parents • Children (> 8 years) • Teachers (not included in FFE) • Used clinically and in research

23. Use of the BASC in Families First Edmonton • Current focus • Behavioural problems (rated by parent) • Emotional issues (rated bychild) • Adaptability (rated byparent) • Adjustment (rated bychild) • Interpreting BASC scores (T scores) • 50  mean for population (not sample) • 60  at risk (red flag) • 70  clinically significant (alarm bells)

24. “Normal” distribution 16%

25. Hypothetical FFE distribution 34% = 16% + 18% 25

26. Behavioural Symptoms Index (BSI) Parent assessment of child’s “problem behaviours” Elevated scores signal the presence of problem behaviours Six scales:Hyperactivity Attention problemsAggression AtypicalityDepression Withdrawal

27. Behavioural Symptoms Index (BSI) Percent of FFE sample: >60: 26.7%>70: 9.6% 27

28. Parents’ BSI reports (T score) Lone parent Co-parent T score Age (years)

29. Parent’s BSI reports (T score) Aboriginal children 2nd(+) generation children 1st generation children T score Foreign-born children Age (years)

30. Parent’s BSI reports (T score) Aboriginal children 2nd(+) generation children 1st generation children T score Foreign-born children Age (years)

31. Parent’s BSI reports (T score) Aboriginal children 2nd(+) generation children 1st generation children T score Foreign-born children Age (years)

32. Parent’s BSI reports (T score) Aboriginal children 2nd(+) generation children 1st generation children T score Foreign-born children Age (years)

33. Parent’s BSI reports (T score) Aboriginal children 2nd(+) generation children 1st generation children T score Foreign-born children Age (years)

34. Parent’s BSI reports (T score) Aboriginal children 2nd(+) generation children 1st generation children T score Foreign-born children Age (years)

35. Conclusions: BSI Keep in mind that all of these conclusions are based on parental reports. • Children from lone-parent families appear to have a higher reported incidence of behavioural problems than children from co-parent families. • Foreign-born and first-generation children tend to have fewer reported behavioural problems than second(plus)-generation children and Aboriginal children. • FFE children produce a mysterious “bump” at 8 and 9 years of age.

36. Emotional Symptoms Index (ESI) Child self-report of emotional disturbance (> 8 years) Elevated scores signal the presence of emotional disturbance Six scales:Social stress Sense of adequacyAnxiety Self-esteemDepression Self-reliance

37. Emotional Symptoms Index (ESI) Percent of FFE sample: >60: 11.7%>70: 3.4% 37

38. How do parent and child assessmentscompare? T Score Parent’s report about child’s behaviour (BSI) Child’s self-report of own emotional state (ESI) Age (years)

39. Conclusions: ESI Keep in mind that all of these conclusions are based on children’s self-reports. • Children’s ratings on the ESI are less extreme than their parents’ ratings with the BSI. • Children with two parents do not differ from children with one parent (unlike the BSI) • Differences among population groups are minimal (unlike the BSI), with one exception: Scores for Aboriginal children are higher than scores for foreign-born children. 39

40. Adaptability Parental assessment of child’s ability to adjust to:• changes in routine and teacher assignment• shift from one task to another• share toys or possessions with other children High scores indicate positive levels of adaptability.High scores are correlated to early school achievement (in other samples).

41. Adjustment (PA) Child self-report (> 8 years) High scores indicate positive levels of adjustment, and low scores indicate problematic levels of adjustment. Four scales:Relations with parents Interpersonal relationsSelf-esteem Self-reliance 41

42. Conclusions: Adaptability and Adjustment Keep in mind that conclusions about adaptability are based on parental reports, and conclusions about adjustment are based on children’s self-reports • With respect to adaptability, Aboriginal and second(plus)-generation children tend to be similar to each other and to do more poorly than the other two groups. • With respect to adjustment, the pattern is similar but only the difference between Aboriginal and foreign-born children is reliable. • Lone parents report lower adaptability scores compared to co-parents 42

43. Parent’s assessment of child’s adaptability(T score) Aboriginal children 2nd(+) generation children T score 1st generation children Foreign-born children Age (years) 43

44. Conclusions: Adaptability and Adjustment Keep in mind that conclusions about adaptability are based on parental reports, and conclusions about adjustment are based on children’s self-reports • With respect to adaptability, Aboriginal and second(plus)-generation children tend to be similar to each other and to do more poorly than the other two groups. • With respect to adjustment, the pattern is similar but only the difference between Aboriginal and foreign-born children is reliable. • Lone parents report lower adaptability scores compared to co-parents 44

45. General Observations On the BASC measures, FFE children generally are not in terrible shape! 2. For psychological measures (BASC), when differences among population groups are found, (foreign-born ≅ first-generation) ≠ (Aboriginal ≅ second-generation) Why? 3. On the BASC measures, children’s ratings tend to be less extreme than parents’ ratings. Will both be equally affected by the interventions? 45

46. What’s Next? Explore other measures of child development (e.g., academic achievement, health) Explore relations among different types of measures (e.g., parental mental health and child-related measures; housing measures and BASC scores) Generate new questions Select measures that seem most important for longitudinal comparisons to test for effects of the interventions Others????