Place-Based Developmental Research: Conceptual and Methodological Advances in Studying Youth Development in Context.

Scientists have, for some time, recognized that development unfolds in numerous settings, including families, schools, neighborhoods, and organized and unorganized activity settings. Since the turn of the 20th century, the body of mainstream neighborhood effects scholarship draws heavily from the early 20th century Chicago School of Sociology frameworks and have been situating development in neighborhood contexts and working to identify the structures and processes via which neighborhoods matter for a range of developmental outcomes, especially achievement, behavioral and emotional problems, and sexual activity. From this body of work, two new areas of developmental scholarship are emerging. Both areas are promising for advancing an understanding of child development in context. First, cultural-developmental neighborhood researchers are advancing neighborhood effects research that explicitly recognizes the ways that racial, ethnic, cultural, and immigrant social positions matter for neighborhood environments and for youths' developmental demands, affordances, experiences, and competencies. This body of work substantially expands the range of developmental outcomes examined in neighborhood effects scholarship to recognize normative physical, emotional, cognitive, behavioral, social, and cultural competencies that have largely been overlooked in neighborhood effects scholarship that espoused a more color-blind developmental approach. Second, activity space neighborhood researchers are recognizing that residential neighborhoods have important implications for broader activity spaces-or the set of locations and settings to which youth are regularly exposed, including, for example, schools, work, organized activities, and hang-outs. They are using newer technologies and geographic frameworks to assess exposure to residential neighborhood and extra-neighborhood environments. These perspectives recognize that time (i.e., from microtime to mesotime) and place are critically bound and that exposures can be operationalized at numerous levels of the ecological system (i.e., from microsystems to macrosystems). These frameworks address important limitations of prior development in context scholarship by addressing selection and exposure. Addressing selection involves recognizing that families have some degree of choice when selecting into settings and variables that predict families' choices (e.g., income) also predict development. Considering exposure involves recognizing that different participants or residents experience different amounts of shared and nonshared exposures, resulting in both under-and over-estimation of contextual effects. Activity space scholars incorporate exposure to the residential neighborhood environments, but also to other locations and settings to which youth are regularly exposed, like schools, after-school settings, work, and hang-outs. Unfortunately, the cultural-development and activity space streams, which have both emerged from early 20th century work on neighborhood effects on development, have been advancing largely independently. Thus, the overarching aim of this monograph is to integrate scholarship on residential neighborhoods, cultural development, and activity spaces to advance a framework that can support a better understanding of development in context for diverse groups. In Chapters I and II we present the historical context of the three streams of theoretical, conceptual, and methodological research. We also advance a comprehensive cultural-developmental activity space framework for studying development in context among children, youth, and families that are ethnically, racially, and culturally heterogeneous. This framework actively recognized diversity in ethnic, racial, immigrant, and socioeconomic social positions. In Chapters III-V we advance specific features of the framework, focusing on: (1) the different levels of nested and nonnested ecological systems that can be captured and operationalized with activity space methods, (2) the different dimensions of time and exposures or experiences that can be captured and operationalized by activity space methods, and (3) the importance of settings structures and social processes for identifying underlying mechanisms of contextual effects on development. Structures are setting features related to the composition and spatial arrangement of people and institutions (e.g., socioeconomic disadvantage, ethnic/racial compositions). Social processes represent the collective social dynamics that take place in settings, like social interactions, group activities, experiences with local institutions, mechanisms of social control, or shared beliefs. In Chapter VI, we highlight a range of methodological and empirical exemplars from the United States that are informed by our comprehensive cultural-developmental activity space framework. These exemplars feature both quantitative and qualitative methods, including method mixing. These exemplars feature both quantitative and qualitative methods, including method mixing. The exemplars also highlight the application of the framework across four different samples from populations that vary in terms of race, ethnicity, gender, age, socioeconomic status (SES), geographic region, and urbanicity. They capture activity space characteristics and features in a variety of ways, in addition to incorporating family shared and nonshared activity space exposures. Finally, in Chapter VII we summarize the contributions of the framework for advancing a more comprehensive science of development in context, one that better realizes major developmental theories emphasizing persons, processes, contexts, and time. Additionally, we offer a place-based, culturally informed developmental research agenda to meet the needs of an increasingly diverse population.

The role of autonomy granting and ethnic-racial socialization in Mexican-origin girls' ethnic-racial identity trajectories.

The current study examines the role of ethnic-racial socialization (ERS) and maternal autonomy granting in predicting ethnic-racial identity (ERI) exploration, resolution, and affirmation trajectories in a sample of Mexican-origin girls (N = 338) in early and middle adolescence at Wave 1. Latent growth curve analyses showed significant growth in ERI exploration, resolution, and affirmation over 3.5 years. ERS, autonomy granting, and their interaction were associated with ERI trajectories. Results also indicated significant differences between early and middle adolescents in the association between ERS, autonomy granting, and ERI exploration trajectories. Findings demonstrate the importance of concurrently examining contextual and developmental predictors of ERI formation. In addition, ERS may be particularly important for ERI development among early adolescents, whereas autonomy processes and development may play a more prominent role during middle adolescence. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

The mediating role of self-regulation on the link between child maltreatment and later substance use among Latinx youth.

BACKGROUND: Children who experience maltreatment are at heightened risk for substance use initiation and mental health disorders later in life. Few studies have assessed the relationship between child maltreatment and substance use among Latinx youth. OBJECTIVE: The current study assessed the potential mediating effect of three aspects of self-regulation (emotional, behavioral, and cognitive) on the association between child maltreatment and substance use and examined whether effects varied depending on maltreatment type and severity. PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING: This study involved a random sample of 504 Latinx youth (52 % girls, 48 % boys) between the ages of 10-12 at the start of the study. METHODS: Study hypotheses were tested through structural equation modeling and bootstrapped random errors using the R programming language. RESULTS: Our results indicated that higher levels of child maltreatment predicted higher levels of later substance use, as mediated by emotional and behavioral dysregulation (ß = 0.09, p < 0.01), but not cognitive regulation. When separating maltreatment by subtype, we found the mediating effect was present for abuse (ß = 0.09, p < 0.01), but not neglect. CONCLUSIONS: Findings contribute to our understanding of potential causal mechanisms for the association between child maltreatment and substance use for Latinx youth.

Daily Discrimination and Affect in Latinx Adolescent-Parent Dyads Residing in Northeast United States.

In this 14-day study, we tested whether Latinx adolescents' (Mage = 12.76 years, 52% female; 52% U.S. born; N = 21) and parents' (95% female; 24% U.S. born) daily discrimination experiences were associated with their own and other's daily affective states. Results indicated that on days when adolescents reported discrimination, they reported higher negative affect and marginally lower positive affect and, interestingly, parents reported higher positive affect. On average (i.e., across the 2-week period), adolescents' discrimination was associated with higher adolescent negative affect and lower parent positive affect. Together, findings suggest that Latinx adolescents' discrimination experiences are linked to their own affective states and their parents'. Results underscore how discrimination is linked to the affective states present in family contexts.

Latino adolescents' academic success: the role of discrimination, academic motivation, and gender.

Guided by the academic resilience perspective, the current longitudinal study examined whether academic motivation mediated the relation between Latino adolescents' (N=221) experiences with discrimination and their academic success. The potential moderating role of gender was also examined. Using multiple group analysis in structural equation modeling, findings indicated that perceived discrimination at Wave 2 significantly predicted academic motivation at Waves 2 and 3 for boys but not girls. Additionally, for boys, academic motivation significantly mediated the relation between perceived discrimination and academic success. Findings underscore the importance of considering the long-term implications of discrimination for Latino boys' academic success. Furthermore, findings encourage moving beyond the examination of gender differences in specific academic outcomes (e.g., academic success) and focusing on how the processes leading to academic success vary by gender.