Violence Exposure and Psychopathology in Latino Youth: The Moderating Role of Active and Avoidant Coping.

Despite high rates of exposure to community violence among Latino youth in urban communities, there is considerable variability in individual outcomes. This study examined (a) associations between coping and indices of Latino culture, (b) main effects of active/avoidant coping on psychopathology, and (c) whether coping moderates the impact of violence exposure on mental health in Latino youth. Participants included 168 Latino youth (56% female; ages 11-14) that took part in a short-term longitudinal study. Results indicate that youth acculturation was positively associated with active coping, but enculturation level and immigrant status were not associated with coping. Structural equation models suggested that active coping was negatively associated with internalizing problems (p = .046) while avoidant coping was positively associated with internalizing problems (p = .013) and posttraumatic stress symptoms (p = .024). Moderation analyses revealed that violence exposure was more strongly associated with internalizing problems as reliance on avoidance coping increased. However, at high levels of violence exposure, a greater reliance on active coping was related to increased posttraumatic stress problems. Findings suggest that consideration of the specific stressor, level of stress exposure, and mental health problem-type may be crucial in determining the effectiveness of a coping strategy. Implications for future research and intervention are discussed.

Self-Regulation and Economic Stress in Children of Hispanic Immigrants and Their Peers: Better Regulation at a Cost?

RESEARCH FINDINGS: Although there is a well-established relationship between economic stress and children's self-regulation, few studies have examined this relationship in children of Hispanic immigrants (COHIs), a rapidly growing population. In a sample of preschool children (N = 165), we examined whether economic stress predicted teacher evaluations of children's self-regulation, whether economic stress predicted children's physiological reactivity (via cortisol levels), and whether economic stress had a similar effect on self-regulation and children's cortisol for COHI versus nonimmigrant children. Greater economic stress was associated with poorer child self-regulation and heightened physiological reactivity across a challenging classroom task for the sample as a whole. However, when we examined children by group, greater economic stress was associated with poorer teacher-reported self-regulation for nonimmigrant children only. In contrast, greater economic stress was related to greater cortisol reactivity across a challenge task for COHIs but not for nonimmigrants. PRACTICE OR POLICY: Results demonstrate the importance of considering physiological indices of self-regulation (heightened stress physiology), in addition to traditional external indices (teacher report), when assessing self-regulation or risk more generally among preschool samples that are diverse in terms of ethnicity, economic risk, and parents' nativity.

Awakening on antipsychotic medication: A call to action.

OBJECTIVE: Explore a lived experience perspective on using antipsychotic medicine and call to action for psychiatric rehabilitation practitioners to get involved in preparing people diagnosed with serious mental illness (SMI) to have a voice and choice in antipsychotic medication treatment. METHODS: A first-person account of awakening on an antipsychotic medication for the first time is used to understand the lived experience and challenges of using it. Lessons learned are amplified through de-identified queries of the CommonGround database capturing concerns about antipsychotic medication of people diagnosed with SMI in public sector mental health clinics in the United States. RESULTS: Lived experience of "me-on-medicine" included embodied and perceptual changes to self when taking antipsychotic medications. Discordance between the team's goal and personal goals for medication treatment interfered with recovery. Analysis of more than 100,000 concerns about antipsychotic medications expressed by 57,370 CommonGround users showed the most frequent concerns are that medication is perceived as unhelpful (21%), side effects (13%), impact on health (12%), and concerns about feeling unmotivated to use medication (8%). Among CommonGround users below age 30, low motivation to take antipsychotics was the third most prevalent concern. Among CommonGround users over age 30, concerns about the impact on health were the third most dominant. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: Psychiatric rehabilitation practitioners can support people diagnosed with SMI getting prepared to participate in decision making about antipsychotic medications with psychiatric care providers by identifying concerns and building skills and strategies to negotiate the new "me-on-medicine." (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Implementation of a School Mental Health Learning Collaborative Model to Support Cross-Sector Collaboration.

Facilitating success for students with behavioral health challenges requires effective collaboration among professionals from traditionally disparate systems (e.g., education, health, and mental health). The current investigation describes a case-study implementation of a school-based learning collaborative model and explores its effectiveness in promoting knowledge, skill, efficacy, and systems-related improvements in cross-sector collaboration. The learning collaborative (LC) was offered to school teams over the course of a year and consisted of a combination of didactic and experiential learning opportunities, guest speakers, district-specific improvement goals, peer learning and support, and individualized consultation support. Evaluation efforts included evidence demonstrating the efficacy of the LC, improvement in person-centered knowledge skills and competencies, and generation of concrete changes in school systems. Respondents consistently shared that the quality of the LC was high that the topics were highly useful for their day-to-day practice, and that they would recommend the LC to their colleagues and peers. In turn, this process fostered improvement in educators' knowledge, skills, and confidence, and generated systemic improvement in districts to support children with behavioral health needs and their families. Specific components of this model that best account for changes are discussed, along with implications for application and next steps.

Breastfeeding Sisters That Are Receiving Support: Community-Based Peer Support Program Created for and by Women of Color.

Substantial racial disparities accounted for 66% of non-Hispanic Black mothers initiating breastfeeding in 2015 compared with 83% of non-Hispanic white mothers and 87% of Hispanic mothers in Tennessee. Created in 2015, Breastfeeding Sisters That Are Receiving Support (BSTARS) uses key partnerships at monthly meetings that promote supportive environments with topics around breastfeeding education, support, and women's health issues. The BSTARS group helps rebuild the culture surrounding the health equity of Black women and women of color and their families by offering informational and emotional support, facilitate positive changes, and heal historical trauma. BSTARS addresses barriers to breastfeeding support for Black women and women of color, including lack of support from the mother's partner, family, or health care provider, generational myths, unawareness of public health programs to support breastfeeding, educational gaps, and embarrassment. This program incorporates critical partnerships, including health care providers, birth workers, and other supporters, into the organization to offer comprehensive support for the mother's continuity of care. The environment and educational support for breastfeeding and women's health issues are addressed under the lens of health equity and eliminating barriers experienced by the mother's color, or socioeconomic status. A mother's socioeconomic status often unjustly hinders her from receiving the lactation and social support needed for healthier outcomes. In 2019, the breastfeeding initiation rate in Tennessee increased to 71.3% among non-Hispanic Blacks. BSTARS has reached >500 families since its inception. BSTARS focuses their specific intervention on all facets of the family dyad, through teaching the importance of breastfeeding and breast milk now and sustainable for the future.