The role of family relationships on adolescents' development and adjustment during the COVID-19 pandemic: A systematic review.

In typical times, adolescents' relationships with family members influence changing cognitive, social, and physical aspects of their development. The COVID-19 pandemic, however, impacted the full family system in ways that were unprecedented. Scholars of adolescence worldwide were driven to understand how adolescents' relationships with family members changed due to these dramatic societal shifts and the influence these relationships had on adolescents' well-being. This systematic review examined two research questions with 189 articles published from 2020-2022: (1) How has the COVID-19 pandemic impacted families with adolescents, including broader family functioning, family relationship qualities, and parenting? and (2) How has the pandemic or pandemic-related stressors interacted with family functioning, family relationships, and parenting of adolescents to impact adolescent well-being and adjustment? Additionally, examination of the relevant studies were divided into sub-themes of pandemic influence: (a) family environment and routines, (b) family difficulties, (c) parenting and parent-adolescent relationships, and (d) sibling relationships.

Prison-Based Interventions for Early Adults with Mental Health Needs: A Systematic Review.

Rates of mental health needs of incarcerated young adults (15-35 year olds) are concerning, however, mental health interventions targeting this population are under studied. This article systematically reviews published, peer-reviewed research in nine databases pertaining to mental health interventions for incarcerated young adults. Only original studies conducted in the United States and determined to be valid though NIH assessment tools were included in this analysis. The review includes 19 original studies testing 14 intervention programs exploring mental health outcomes such as depression, PTSD, self-harm, and bipolar symptoms. Overall, findings were mixed about the impact of reviewed programs. The variety of interventions, outcomes, study settings, and implementation procedures complicates the ability to determine the impact of mental health programming in carceral settings. This review also reveals the lack of depth and replication of research in this area. Findings suggest additional efforts are needed to establish efficacy and best practices when treating mental health needs among this population.

The Etiologic, Theory-Based, Ontogenetic Hierarchical Framework of Alcohol Use Disorder: A Translational Systematic Review of Reviews.

Modern nosologies (e.g., ICD-11, DSM-5) for alcohol use disorder (AUD) and dependence prioritize reliability and clinical presentation over etiology, resulting in a diagnosis that is not always strongly grounded in basic theory and research. Within these nosologies, DSM-5 AUD is treated as a discrete, largely categorical, but graded, phenomenon, which results in additional challenges (e.g., significant phenotypic heterogeneity). Efforts to increase the compatibility between AUD diagnosis and modern conceptualizations of alcohol dependence, which describe it as dimensional and partially overlapping with other psychopathology (e.g., other substance use disorders) will inspire a stronger scientific framework and strengthen AUD's validity. We conducted a systematic review of 144 reviews to integrate addiction constructs and theories into a comprehensive framework with the aim of identifying fundamental mechanisms implicated in AUD. The product of this effort was the Etiologic, Theory-Based, Ontogenetic Hierarchical Framework (ETOH Framework) of AUD mechanisms, which outlines superdomains of cognitive control, reward, as well as negative valence and emotionality, each of which subsume narrower, hierarchically-organized components. We also outline opponent processes and self-awareness as key moderators of AUD mechanisms. In contrast with other frameworks, we recommend an increased conceptual role for negative valence and compulsion in AUD. The ETOH framework serves as a critical step towards conceptualizations of AUD as dimensional and heterogeneous. It has the potential to improve AUD assessment and aid in the development of evidence-based diagnostic measures that focus on key mechanisms in AUD, consequently facilitating treatment matching.