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This essay is an introduction to the thematic issue of Transcultural Psychiatry in honor of the work of Michael Chandler and Christopher Lalonde, developmental psychologists who made essential contributions to the study of identity and wellness among Indigenous youth in Canada and internationally. We outline their major contributions and illustrate the ways their innovative theory and methods have inspired decades of research, including the recent work presented in this issue, which addresses four broad themes: (1) the importance of a developmental perspective in mental health research; (2) the role of individual and collective continuity of identity in suicide prevention and mental health promotion; (3) Indigenous perspectives on trauma and resilience; and (4) Indigenous knowledge and values as a basis for culturally adapted and culturally grounded mental health services and interventions.
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Co-founder Emerita of Authentic Connections, Founder of Authentic Connections Groups, and Professor Emerita at Columbia University's Teachers College, Suniya Luthar passed away on February 16, 2023. Suniya was born on December 9, 1958, in New Delhi, India, where she studied for BA (1978) and MA (1980) degrees and served as a lecturer on child development (1981-1984), all at Lady Irwin College. After decades of studying youth across the economic spectrum, Suniya concluded that ultimately children's ability to be resilient is most linked to their mother's well-being and that became the final focus of her empirical and community work. Suniya initiated several projects to support mothers. They include a relational group therapy for low-income mothers with histories of addiction and serious mental illness and the Authentic Connections Groups program, an evidence-based supportive community intervention that has been successfully used in hospitals, schools, and university settings. Suniya used to say that, even as a young child, she was sensitive to the psychological pain of others and decided at the age of 15 to help children in distress. She certainly accomplished that goal. As testaments to her vast scholarly contributions to the well-being of children and their families, Suniya received numerous awards and honors. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).
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Psicología , Humanos , Historia del Siglo XX , Historia del Siglo XXI , Psicología/historia , NiñoRESUMEN
Negative affect (depression/anxiety) and alcohol use among Indigenous youth in Canada remain a concern for many communities. Disparate rates of these struggles are understood to be a potential outcome of colonization and subsequent intergenerational trauma experienced by individuals, families, and communities. Using a longitudinal design, we examined change in alcohol use and negative affect, and reciprocal associations, among a group of Indigenous adolescents. Indigenous youth (N = 117; 50% male; Mage=12.46-16.28; grades 6-10) from a remote First Nation in northern Quebec completed annual self-reported assessments on negative affect (depression/anxiety) and alcohol use. A Latent Curve Model with Structured Residuals (LCM-SR) was used to distinguish between- and within-person associations of negative affect and alcohol use. Growth models did not support change in depression/anxiety, but reports of drinking increased linearly. At the between-person level, girls reported higher initial levels of depression/anxiety and drinking; depression/anxiety were not associated with drinking. At the within-person level, drinking prospectively predicted increases in depression/anxiety but depression/anxiety did not prospectively predict drinking. When Indigenous adolescents reported drinking more alcohol than usual at one wave of assessment, they reported higher levels of negative affect than expected (given their average levels of depression/anxiety) at the following assessment. Our findings suggest that when Indigenous youth present for treatment reporting alcohol use, they should also be screened for negative affect (depression/anxiety). Conversely, if an Indigenous adolescent presents for treatment reporting negative affect, they should also be screened for alcohol use.
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Ansiedad , Depresión , Consumo de Alcohol en Menores , Humanos , Adolescente , Masculino , Femenino , Depresión/psicología , Depresión/epidemiología , Depresión/etnología , Quebec/epidemiología , Estudios Longitudinales , Consumo de Alcohol en Menores/psicología , Consumo de Alcohol en Menores/estadística & datos numéricos , Niño , Ansiedad/psicología , Ansiedad/etnología , Consumo de Bebidas Alcohólicas/psicología , Consumo de Bebidas Alcohólicas/epidemiología , Consumo de Bebidas Alcohólicas/etnología , Indígena Canadiense/psicología , Pueblos Indígenas/psicologíaRESUMEN
Using the cognitive appraisal theory of coping and the self-determination theory of motivation, we examined the shared variance of motivational orientations, attachment relationships, and gender on adaptive and maladaptive coping among youth experiencing homelessness. Several scales including The Global Motivation Scale (assessing motivational orientations; i.e., autonomous and controlled motivation), the Brief Cope (adaptive and maladaptive coping strategies), and the Inventory of Parent and Peer Attachment (self-perceptions of relationships with mothers, fathers, and peers) were administered to 102 youth aged between 16 and 24 (Mage = 20, SD = 2.07) years recruited from an evening program for youth experiencing homelessness in Montreal, Canada. Autonomous motivation was positively associated with engagement in effective coping strategies, while controlled motivation was positively linked to maladaptive coping. Moderation analyses were used to examine whether gender and relationships with attachment figures moderated the relationship between motivation and coping. A significant main effect of peer attachment on adaptive coping emerged, in which greater peer attachment was related to more adaptive coping among the youth. No interaction effects resulted. Although no significant moderating effects were associated with essential relationships and gender, further research implementing a more nuanced approach to assessing the interaction between these constructs may be warranted. Overall, the findings highlight the importance of intervention programs for youth experiencing homelessness, that focus on enhancing autonomous motivation and utilizing peer support to optimize the use of adaptive coping strategies.
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Personas con Mala Vivienda , Motivación , Pruebas Psicológicas , Autoinforme , Femenino , Humanos , Adolescente , Adulto Joven , Adulto , Adaptación Psicológica , Relaciones InterpersonalesRESUMEN
Heavy drinking and smoking have been found to be among the leading causes of morbidity and mortality within Indigenous youth in North America. The focus of this study was to examine the relative roles of cultural identity, parent-child communication about the harms of substance use (SU), and perception about peers' opinions on heavy drinking and cigarette smoking among Indigenous youth. Strong Indigenous cultural identity, parent-child communication about SU, and affiliation with peers who do not use and/or who disapprove of substance use were all expected to reduce risk for heavy drinking and smoking. Substance use beliefs were hypothesized to mediate these effects. Youth (N = 117; Mage = 14.07; grades 6-11) from two Indigenous communities in Quebec completed self-reports. Consistent with the hypotheses, strong cultural identity predicted increased negative beliefs about substance use, which predicted reduced drinking and smoking. Similarly, affiliating with peers who did not use alcohol predicted decreased positive beliefs about alcohol use, which predicted reduced drinking. Affiliating with peers who did not smoke cigarettes predicted reduced cigarette smoking. Parental influences were not supported in this model. Intervention strategies may benefit from targeting cultural identity, peer groups, and substance use beliefs among Indigenous youth.
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Dysregulation is a combination of emotion, behavior, and attention problems associated with lifelong psychiatric comorbidity. There is evidence for the stability of dysregulation from childhood to adulthood, which would be more fully characterized by determining the likely stability from infancy to childhood. Early origins of dysregulation can further be validated and contextualized in association with environmental and biological factors, such as prenatal stress and polygenic risk scores (PRS) for overlapping child psychiatric problems. We aimed to determine trajectories of dysregulation from 3 months to 5 years (N = 582) in association with maternal prenatal depression moderated by multiple child PRS (N = 232 pairs with available PRS data) in a prenatal cohort. Mothers reported depression symptoms at 24-26 weeks' gestation and child dysregulation at 3, 6, 18, 36, 48, and 60 months. The PRS were for major depressive disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, cross disorder, and childhood psychiatric problems. Covariates were biological sex, maternal education, and postnatal depression. Analyses included latent classes and regression. Two dysregulation trajectories emerged: persistently low dysregulation (94%), and increasingly high dysregulation (6%). Stable dysregulation emerged at 18 months. High dysregulation was associated with maternal prenatal depression, moderated by PRS for child comorbid psychiatric problems. Males were at greater risk of high dysregulation.
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Depresión Posparto , Trastorno Depresivo Mayor , Femenino , Humanos , Masculino , Embarazo , Comorbilidad , Depresión/epidemiología , Depresión/genética , Depresión/psicología , Depresión Posparto/psicología , Trastorno Depresivo Mayor/epidemiología , Trastorno Depresivo Mayor/genética , Madres/psicología , Lactante , PreescolarRESUMEN
In contrast with findings of reduced facial and vocal emotional recognition (ER) accuracy, children on the autism spectrum (AS) demonstrate comparable ER skills to those of typically-developing (TD) children using music. To understand the specificity of purported ER differences, the goal of this study was to examine ER from music compared with faces and voices among children on the AS and TD children. Twenty-five children on the AS and 23 TD children (6-13 years) completed an ER task, using categorical (happy, sad, fear) and dimensional (valence, arousal) ratings, of emotions presented via music, faces, or voices. Compared to the TD group, the AS group showed a relative ER strength from music, and comparable performance from faces and voices. Although both groups demonstrated greater vocal ER accuracy, the children on the AS performed equally well with music and faces, whereas the TD children performed better with faces than with music. Both groups performed comparably with dimensional ratings, except for greater variability by the children on the AS in valence ratings for happy emotions. These findings highlight a need to re-examine ER of children on the AS, and to consider how facilitating strengths-based approaches can re-shape our thinking about and support for persons on the AS.
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Trastorno del Espectro Autista , Trastorno Autístico , Música , Humanos , Niño , Música/psicología , Trastorno del Espectro Autista/psicología , Emociones , Felicidad , Expresión FacialRESUMEN
Limited data exist on the mental health challenges facing First Nations adolescents and the factors that modify these difficulties. The current study compared levels of common mental health challenges among 112 off-reserve First Nations and 3334 non-First Nations adolescents (12-17 years old) and examined the impact of maternal psychological distress on these mental health challenges. First Nations adolescents self-reported higher symptoms of conduct, oppositional-defiant, attention-deficit hyperactivity, major depressive, social phobia, generalized anxiety, and separation anxiety disorders and all associations remained statistically significant after adjusting for covariates. Moderation analyses found that increasing levels of maternal distress were associated more strongly with symptoms of oppositional defiant, attention-deficit hyperactivity, major depressive, and generalized anxiety disorders in First Nations adolescents. Future work aimed at improving the mental health of First Nations youth that focus on supporting these adolescents, and their mothers in particular, could result in substantial benefits.
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Trastorno por Déficit de Atención con Hiperactividad , Trastorno Depresivo Mayor , Humanos , Adolescente , Niño , Salud Mental , Ontario/epidemiología , Trastorno Depresivo Mayor/epidemiología , Trastornos de Ansiedad/epidemiología , Ansiedad de Separación , Trastorno por Déficit de Atención con Hiperactividad/psicologíaRESUMEN
Negative emotionality (NE) was evaluated as a candidate mechanism linking prenatal maternal affective symptoms and offspring internalizing problems during the preschool/early school age period. The participants were 335 mother-infant dyads from the Maternal Adversity, Vulnerability and Neurodevelopment project. A Confirmatory Bifactor Analysis (CFA) based on self-report measures of prenatal depression and pregnancy-specific anxiety generated a general factor representing overlapping symptoms of prenatal maternal psychopathology and four distinct symptom factors representing pregnancy-specific anxiety, negative affect, anhedonia and somatization. NE was rated by the mother at 18 and 36 months. CFA based on measures of father, mother, child-rated measures and a semistructured interview generated a general internalizing factor representing overlapping symptoms of child internalizing psychopathology accounting for the unique contribution of each informant. Path analyses revealed significant relationships among the general maternal affective psychopathology, the pregnancy- specific anxiety, and the child internalizing factors. Child NE mediated only the relationship between pregnancy-specific anxiety and the child internalizing factors. We highlighted the conditions in which prenatal maternal affective symptoms predicts child internalizing problems emerging early in development, including consideration of different mechanistic pathways for different maternal prenatal symptom presentations and child temperament.
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Afecto , Depresión , Femenino , Lactante , Embarazo , Niño , Humanos , Preescolar , Depresión/psicología , Ansiedad/psicología , Madres/psicología , Conducta Infantil/psicologíaRESUMEN
Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, researchers around the world have made efforts to assess its impact on youth mental health; however, the breadth of this topic has impeded a clear assessment of pandemic outcomes. This study aimed to address this gap by reviewing changes in youth (age ≤ 25) mental health, psychological wellbeing, substance use, and the use or delivery of relevant services during the pandemic. PubMed and Embase were searched in May 2021 to conduct a rapid review of the literature. The results encompass 156 primary publications and are reported using a narrative synthesis. Studies of mental health (n = 122) and psychological wellbeing (n = 28) generally indicated poor outcomes in many settings. Publications regarding substance use (n = 41) noted overall declines or unchanged patterns. Studies of service delivery (n = 12) indicated a generally positive reception for helplines and telehealth, although some youth experienced difficulties accessing services. The findings indicate negative impacts of the pandemic on youth mental health, with mixed results for substance use. Services must support marginalized youth who lack access to telehealth. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s40894-022-00185-6.
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We present this article as a testament to Ed Zigler's commitment to science in the service of humanity and to policy based on conceptually compelling theory and methodologically rigorous science. In doing so, we highlight ways that Ed's universal and inclusive developmental world view, early training as a behaviorist, exacting scientific standards, concern for others, and appreciation of his own roots and upbringing all transformed the way that many different groups of people of all ages and backgrounds are studied, viewed, and intervened with by researchers, policy makers, and society at large. Ed's narrative of development rather than defect, universality rather than difference, and holistic rather than reductionist continues to compel us in the quest for a kinder, more inclusive, and enabling society. Conversely, Ed's behaviorist training as a graduate student also influenced him throughout his career and was essential to his career-long commitment to systemic action in the service of improving the lives of others. We cite the lessons that we, as his descendants, learned from Ed and apply them to our own areas of research with populations that Ed did not study, but had considerable interest in - persons with autism spectrum disorder and Indigenous youth.
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Trastorno del Espectro Autista , Adolescente , Niño , Humanos , Masculino , PsicopatologíaRESUMEN
Developmental approaches provide inclusive, universal, and methodologically rigorous frameworks for studying persons with intellectual disability (ID). This is an exceptionally heterogeneous group with regard to etiology, genotype, and phenotype that simply shares the traditional diagnostic criteria, typically a score of two standard deviations below the population mean of 100 on standardized IQ tests and deficits in adaptive behavior. We trace the foundational, conceptual, and methodological roots of developmental approaches and highlight ways that these and more recent iterations continue to be central to advances in the increasingly nuanced study of persons with ID. This work is premised on the consideration of specific etiological groupings and subgroupings across and between different domains of functioning within the context of familial and complex environments throughout the life span. We highlight the potential contributions of advances in behavioral methodologies, genomics, and neuroscience when considered within universal and hierarchic frameworks based on development.
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Discapacidad Intelectual , Personas con Discapacidades Mentales , Adaptación Psicológica , Humanos , Discapacidad Intelectual/genéticaRESUMEN
OBJECTIVE: Parental psychopathology is a significant risk factor for mental health challenges in offspring, but the nature and magnitude of this link in Indigenous Peoples is not well understood. This systematic review examined the emotional and behavioral functioning of the offspring of Indigenous parents with mental health challenges. METHOD: We searched MEDLINE, EMBASE, PsycINFO, CINAHL, and Web of Science from their inceptions until April 2020. Studies were included if they included assessments of emotional, behavioral, or other psychological outcomes in the offspring of Indigenous parents with a mental health challenge. RESULTS: The 14 studies eligible for review were focused on parental substance misuse (n = 8), maternal internalizing (i.e., depression, anxiety) issues (n = 5), and poor overall parental mental health (n = 4). In 11 studies, parental substance misuse, depression, and/or overall mental health challenges were associated with 2 to 4 times the odds of offspring externalizing and internalizing behaviors as compared to offspring of Indigenous parents without mental health challenges. CONCLUSION: The findings suggest higher risks of mental health challenges among offspring of Indigenous parents with psychiatric difficulties than among Indigenous children of parents without similar difficulties. Knowledge of these phenomena would be improved by the use of larger, more representative samples, culturally appropriate measures, and the engagement of Indigenous communities. Future studies should be focused on both risk and resilience mechanisms so that cycles of transmission can be interrupted and resources aimed at detection, prevention, and treatment optimally allocated.
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Hijo de Padres Discapacitados , Trastornos Mentales , Familia , Humanos , Pueblos Indígenas , Salud Mental , PadresRESUMEN
Presents an obituary for Edward Zeigler (1930-2019). Yale University's Sterling Professor Emeritus of Psychology Edward Zigler often encouraged his students and junior colleagues with the refrain, "You are doing God's work," but warned them that they would have to be ready to "Lose, lose, lose" in the process. This dual-pronged exhortation reflected Ed's value that no cause is greater than that of improving the lives of children and their families who are vulnerable because of life circumstances. For more than half a century, Ed was a tireless and devoted champion for children with intellectual disability, children born into poverty, children from minority backgrounds, adults with psychopathology, and many other marginalized groups. Ed's academic legacy is enshrined by his more than 800 scholarly articles, 43 books and monographs, the numerous social and educational programs that have positively impacted millions of children and families in the United States and around the world, and his generations of students who have contributed to the well-being of children and families in many different ways. This extensive and varied tapestry of accomplishments reflects Ed's world view that success in advocacy, public policy, and social programming is dependent on meticulous science, and that science is only meaningful when it enhances the lives of others. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).
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The manifestations of externalizing and internalizing behaviors among minority adolescents might best be understood by examining their relation to culturally specific factors, such as cultural identity, as well as to factors that seem to be relevant across cultures, such as age and gender. In this study, we examined the roles of age and gender in moderating the relation between self-reported cultural identity and externalizing and internalizing problems and the interaction between Indigenous and Mainstream cultural identity in relation to problematic behaviors. The participants included 61 students (32 female) with a mean age of 14.5 years (SD = 1.69) from a Naskapi reserve in Quebec, Canada. Age moderated the relation between identification with Indigenous culture and internalizing symptomatology. Indigenous and Mainstream cultural identity did not interact in predicting internalizing or externalizing problems. Consistent with the available evidence regarding the centrality of identity in adolescent development, the magnitude of the inverse relation between identification with Indigenous culture and number of clinical internalizing symptoms appears to increase in significance later in adolescence. The lack of an interaction between Indigenous and Mainstream cultural identity in relation to internalizing and externalizing problems suggests that it is the need to consider both cultures individually without the assumption that one negates the other.
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Cultura , Pueblos Indígenas/psicología , Control Interno-Externo , Salud Mental , Identificación Social , Adolescente , Femenino , Humanos , Masculino , Quebec , Análisis de Regresión , EstudiantesRESUMEN
Many Indigenous communities are concerned with substance use (SU) problems and eager to advance effective solutions for their prevention and treatment. Yet these communities also are concerned about the perpetuation of colonizing, disorder-focused, stigmatizing approaches to mental health, and social narratives related to SU problems. Foundational principles of community psychology-ecological perspectives, empowerment, sociocultural competence, community inclusion and partnership, and reflective practice-provide useful frameworks for informing ethical community-based research pertaining to SU problems conducted with and by Indigenous communities. These principles are explored and extended for Indigenous community contexts through themes generated from seven collaborative studies focused on understanding, preventing, and treating SU problems. These studies are generated from research teams working with Indigenous communities across the United States and Canada-inclusive of urban, rural, and reservation/reserve populations as well as adult and youth participants. Shared themes indicate that Indigenous SU research reflects community psychology principles, as an outgrowth of research agendas and processes that are increasingly guided by Indigenous communities. At the same time, this research challenges these principles in important ways pertaining to Indigenous-settler relations and Indigenous-specific considerations. We discuss these challenges and recommend greater synergy between community psychology and Indigenous research.
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Servicios Comunitarios de Salud Mental/métodos , Servicios de Salud del Indígena , Indígenas Norteamericanos/psicología , Trastornos Relacionados con Sustancias/psicología , Trastornos Relacionados con Sustancias/terapia , Adolescente , Adulto , Canadá , Femenino , Accesibilidad a los Servicios de Salud , Humanos , Masculino , Persona de Mediana Edad , Psicología , Trastornos Relacionados con Sustancias/etnología , Trastornos Relacionados con Sustancias/prevención & control , Estados Unidos , Adulto JovenRESUMEN
The findings are evidence that persons with ASD benefit more than typically developing (TD) persons from spatial framing cues in focusing their attention on a visual target. Participants were administered a forced-choice task to assess visual filtering. A target stimulus was presented on a screen and flanker stimuli were presented simultaneously with or after the target, with varying stimuli onset asynchronies (SOAs). Regardless of SOA, TD children showed the expected distracting effects with slower reaction times (RTs) when flankers were at closer distances from the target. However, children with ASD displayed shorter RTs in the conditions in which the stimuli were presented simultaneously or with a short SOA. These findings are interpreted as reflecting utilitarian attention among children with ASD.