Latent trajectories of alcohol use from early adolescence to young adulthood: Interaction effects between 5-HTTLPR and parenting quality and gender differences.

Using a large and nationally representative sample, we examined how adolescents' 5-HTTLPR genotype and perceived parenting quality independently and interactively associated with trajectories of alcohol use from early adolescence to young adulthood and whether/how gender may moderate these associations. The sample for this study included 13,749 adolescents (53.3% female; 56.3% non-Hispanic White, 21.5% Black, 16.0% Hispanic, and 6.1% Asian) followed prospectively from adolescence to young adulthood. Using growth mixture modeling, we identified four distinct trajectories of alcohol use (i.e., persistent heavy alcohol use, developmentally limited alcohol use, late-onset heavy alcohol use, and non/light alcohol use). Results indicated that the short allele of 5-HTTLPR was associated with higher risk of membership in the persistent and the late-onset heavy alcohol use trajectories. Parenting quality was associated with lower likelihoods of following the persistent heavy and the developmentally limited alcohol use trajectories but was not associated with risk of membership for the late-onset heavy drinking trajectory. 5-HTTLPR interacted with parenting quality to predict membership in the persistent heavy alcohol use trajectory for males but not for females. Findings highlighted the importance of considering the heterogeneity in trajectories of alcohol use across development and gender in the study of Gene Environment interactions in alcohol use.

Latent Profiles of Discrimination and Socialization Predicting Ethnic Identity and Well-Being Among Asian American Adolescents.

Ethnic identity is rooted in sociocultural processes, but little is known about how social interactions predict its longitudinal changes. Using data from 154 Asian American adolescents, latent profile analysis derived four typologies based on unfair treatment (i.e., discrimination, model minority stereotyping) and ethnic socialization (i.e., cultural socialization, preparation for bias, promotion of mistrust): Low Cultural Salience, High Cultural Salience with Marginalization, Culturally Prepared with Low Mistrust, and High Mistrust/Discrimination. Few gender or generational differences in profile membership were found. Positive outcomes were linked to adolescents attuned to both positive and negative experiences, Culturally Prepared with Low Mistrust, who reported increases in ethnic belonging and decreases in negative emotions. The implications for identity formation and adjustment are discussed.

Foreigner objectification, English proficiency, and adjustment among youth and mothers from Latinx American backgrounds.

OBJECTIVES: Understanding the experience of foreigner objectification is relevant given the possibility of ethnocentrism, xenophobia, and mistrust of immigrants in the United States. The present study examines main and interactive effects of objectification and English proficiency on developmental outcomes among immigrant mothers and children. METHOD: Our study includes 173 youth from Latinx backgrounds (52% female, Mage = 12.86 years, SD = .68; 87% United States-born) and their mothers (Mage = 38.26 SD = 5.65; all foreign-born) from emerging immigrant contexts. RESULTS: Bivariate and regression analyses suggest that lower English proficiency was associated with more objectification for youth; whereas higher English proficiency was associated with more objectification for mothers. For youth only, English proficiency was positively correlated with American identity. For both parents and youth, foreigner objectification was linked with negative psychological outcomes (e.g., mothers' depressive symptoms, youths' low self-esteem). CONCLUSIONS: Being subjected to assumptions that challenge individuals' social status can be psychologically harmful. Nuanced developmental variation, and implications regarding the dual role of objectification and English proficiency are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Ethnic-racial socialization in Latino families: The influence of mothers' socialization practices on adolescent private regard, familism, and perceived ethnic-racial discrimination.

OBJECTIVES: Cultural value endorsement and ethnic-racial identity promote Latino/a adolescent positive adaptation and mitigate the negative impacts of perceived ethnic-racial discrimination. This study explored the intergenerational process of how adolescents develop these cultural characteristics in concert with their experiences of discrimination, focusing on the role of youth-reported maternal ethnic-racial socialization processes. METHOD: Participants included 175 Latino/a adolescent-mother dyads recruited from the 7th and 8th grades in an understudied emerging immigrant destination. We tested the effects of maternal cultural characteristics (i.e., familism, private regard, and perceived discrimination) on the same adolescent outcomes through youth-reported maternal ethnic-racial socialization practices (i.e., cultural socialization, preparation for bias, promotion of mistrust, and familism socialization, a novel construct introduced in this study). RESULTS: Three significant indirect pathways were identified. Higher maternal private regard was associated with both higher youth familism and higher youth private regard through greater youth-reported familism socialization, and higher maternal private regard was associated with more perceived youth discrimination through greater youth-reported preparation for bias. CONCLUSION: Our results highlight maternal private regard as particularly important for understanding how youth perceptions of socialization processes encourage the development of adolescent cultural characteristics and the benefit of using specific assessment tools, such as a familism socialization measure, to identify how ethnic-racial socialization processes serve as intergenerational links. Directions for future research and implications for intervention are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Marital Processes Linking Gender Role Attitudes and Marital Satisfaction Among Mexican-Origin Couples: Application of an Actor-Partner Interdependence Mediation Model.

Informed by dyadic approaches and culturally informed, ecological perspectives of marriage, we applied an actor-partner interdependence mediation model (APIMeM) in a sample of 120 Mexican-origin couples to examine (a) the associations linking Mexican immigrant husbands' and wives' gender role attitudes to marital satisfaction directly and indirectly through marital processes (i.e., warmth and negativity) and (b) whether the associations between spouses' gender role attitudes and marital processes were moderated by wives' employment. Although previous research has identified spouses' gender role attitudes as potential predictors of spouses' marital satisfaction, no study has examined these links in a dyadic model that elucidates how gender role attitudes may operate through processes to shape marital satisfaction and conditions under which associations may differ. We found that when spouses reported less sex-typed attitudes, their partners reported feeling more connected to them and more satisfied with the marriage, regardless of whether wives were employed. Our results suggest that marital satisfaction was highest for those Mexican-origin couples in which marital partners were less sex-typed in their attitudes about marital roles to the extent that partners' attitudinal role flexibility promoted spouses' feelings of warmth and connection to their partner.

Sobre la base de enfoques diádicos y perspectivas de matrimonio ecológicas y culturalmente fundamentadas, aplicamos un modelo de mediación e interdependencia actor-pareja en una muestra de 120 parejas de origen mexicano para examinar (a) las asociaciones que conectan las actitudes hacia los roles de género de los esposos y las esposas inmigrantes mexicanos con la satisfacción conyugal directamente e indirectamente mediante procesos conyugales (p. ej.: calidez y negatividad) y (b) si las asociaciones entre las actitudes hacia los roles de género de los cónyuges y los procesos conyugales estuvieron moderados por el empleo de las esposas. Aunque en investigaciones anteriores se han reconocido las actitudes hacia los roles de género de los cónyuges como posibles predictores de su satisfacción conyugal, ningún estudio ha analizado estas conexiones en un modelo diádico que aclare cómo las actitudes hacia los roles de género pueden funcionar mediante procesos para determinar la satisfacción conyugal y las condiciones en las cuales las asociaciones pueden diferir. Descubrimos que cuando los cónyuges informaron menos actitudes consideradas adecuadas para cada género, sus parejas informaron sentirse más conectadas con ellos y más satisfechas con el matrimonio, independientemente de si las esposas estaban empleadas o no. Nuestros resultados sugieren que la satisfacción conyugal fue mayor para las parejas de origen mexicano en las cuales los cónyuges tuvieron actitudes menos típicas de cada género con respecto a los roles conyugales hasta el punto de que la flexibilidad actitudinal hacia los roles de los integrantes de la pareja fomentó sentimientos de calidez y conexión con su pareja.

Protective and Promotive Effects of Latino Early Adolescents' Cultural Assets Against Multiple Types of Discrimination.

Given adversity associated with discrimination, it is important to identify culturally relevant factors that may protect against its harmful effects. Using latent variable interactions, this study examined the moderating effects of cultural assets on the association between multiple types of discrimination and adolescents' adjustment. Participants included 174 seventh- and eighth-grade Latino adolescents (51% girls); majority were of Mexican origin. Peer discrimination was associated with higher internalizing symptoms, whereas cultural assets predicted higher academic motivation above and beyond racial-ethnic discrimination, demonstrating a promotive effect. Adolescents' Latino cultural assets also protected against higher levels of externalizing symptoms in the context of high peer discrimination and foreigner objectification. The discussion focuses on the conceptual and applied implications of these findings.

The Role of Individual and Contextual Factors in Differentiating Substance Use Profiles among Adolescents.

BACKGROUND: Adolescent substance use is a significant public health concern due to its prevalence and associated negative consequences. Although many adolescents use substances, there is substantial heterogeneity in their use patterns. Identifying risk and protective factors that differentiate adolescents with different substance use profiles is important for preventing negative consequences for those at risk. OBJECTIVE: This study identified distinct latent profiles of substance use by considering adolescents' involvement in multiple common and illicit substances as well as related problems and examined the extent to which individual and contextual factors in the family, peer, school, and neighborhood environments were related to adolescents' membership of substance use profiles. METHOD: Data came from 9,155 high school students (51% female; 74% European American) who completed electronic surveys in the 2009 Dane County Youth Assessment (DCYA). Latent class analysis (LCA) was conducted to identify profiles of adolescent substance involvement and related problems. Multinomial logistic regression was conducted to examine associations between individual and contextual factors and latent class membership. RESULTS: LCA identified four distinct profiles of adolescent substance use characterized by both licit and illicit substance use and related problems: Abstainers (56.3%), Alcohol-only users (25.6%), Alcohol-cigarette-marijuana users (13.8%), and Problem polysubstance users (4.3%). Controlling for demographics, individual and contextual factors were associated with adolescents' likelihoods of membership in substance use profiles; notably, the associations varied to some extent across substance use profiles. CONCLUSIONS: Substance use is heterogeneous among adolescents. Effects of risk and protective factors on substance use vary depending on adolescents' substance use patterns.

Maternal physiological dysregulation while parenting poses risk for infant attachment disorganization and behavior problems.

The extent to which indices of maternal physiological arousal (skin conductance augmentation) and regulation (vagal withdrawal) while parenting predict infant attachment disorganization and behavior problems directly or indirectly via maternal sensitivity was examined in a sample of 259 mothers and their infants. Two covariates, maternal self-reported emotional risk and Adult Attachment Interview attachment coherence were assessed prenatally. Mothers' physiological arousal and regulation were measured during parenting tasks when infants were 6 months old. Maternal sensitivity was observed during distress-eliciting tasks when infants were 6 and 14 months old, and an average sensitivity score was calculated. Attachment disorganization was observed during the Strange Situation when infants were 14 months old, and mothers reported on infants' behavior problems when infants were 27 months old. Over and above covariates, mothers' arousal and regulation while parenting interacted to predict infant attachment disorganization and behavior problems such that maternal arousal was associated with higher attachment disorganization and behavior problems when maternal regulation was low but not when maternal regulation was high. This effect was direct and not explained by maternal sensitivity. The results suggest that maternal physiological dysregulation while parenting places infants at risk for psychopathology.

Familism and Latino adolescent depressive symptoms: The role of maternal warmth and support and school support.

OBJECTIVES: This study examined the relationship between familism and depressive symptoms across relational contexts in adolescence, and whether maternal warmth and support, and school support moderated the relationship between familism and depressive symptoms. METHOD: A total of 180 Latino adolescents (53% female) in 7th through 10th grades (average age = 14 years) participated in this cross-sectional study. The adolescents lived in an emerging Latino community in a rural area in the U.S. South. Most of the adolescents were Mexican-origin (78%) and born in the United States (60%), while the vast majority of their parents were foreign born (95%). RESULTS: Overall, familism was associated with fewer adolescent depressive symptoms. School support moderated the relationship between familism and adolescent depressive symptoms such that familism's protective effect was only evident when adolescents reported low levels of school support. In the context of average to high school support, adolescents reported low depressive symptoms regardless of familism. However, maternal warmth and support failed to moderate the relationship. CONCLUSIONS: Familism may be most protective for adolescents not feeling supported at school, suggesting that these values may offset the risk of a risky school environment. (PsycINFO Database Record

School Substance Use Norms and Racial Composition Moderate Parental and Peer Influences on Adolescent Substance Use.

Parental and peer influences on adolescent substance use have been well demonstrated. However, limited research has examined how parental and peer influences vary across school contexts. This study used a multilevel approach to examine the effects of school substance use norms and school racial composition in predicting adolescent substance use (a composite measure of alcohol, tobacco, and marijuana use) and in moderating parental and peer influences on adolescent substance use. A total of 14,346 adolescents from 34 schools in a mid-western county completed surveys electronically at school. Analyses were conducted using hierarchical linear modeling. Results indicated that school-level disapproval against substance use and percentage of minority students at school were negatively associated with adolescent substance use. School-level disapproval moderated the association between peer substance use and adolescent substance use, with the association being stronger when school-level disapproval was lower. School racial composition moderated the influence of parental disapproval and peer substance use on adolescent substance use. Specifically, both the association between parental disapproval and adolescent substance use and the association between peer substance use and adolescent substance use were weaker for adolescents who attended schools with higher percentages of minority students. Findings highlighted the importance of considering the role of school contexts, in conjunction with parental and peer influences, in understanding adolescent substance use.

Antecedents of maternal sensitivity during distressing tasks: integrating attachment, social information processing, and psychobiological perspectives.

Predictors of maternal sensitivity to infant distress were examined among 259 primiparous mothers. The Adult Attachment Interview, self-reports of personality and emotional functioning, and measures of physiological, emotional, and cognitive responses to videotapes of crying infants were administered prenatally. Maternal sensitivity was observed during three distress-eliciting tasks when infants were 6 months old. Coherence of mind was directly associated with higher maternal sensitivity to distress. Mothers' heightened emotional risk was indirectly associated with lower sensitivity via mothers' self-focused and negative processing of infant cry cues. Likewise, high physiological arousal accompanied by poor physiological regulation in response to infant crying was indirectly associated with lower maternal sensitivity to distress through mothers' self-focused and negative processing of infant cry cues.

Links Between Remembered Childhood Emotion Socialization and Adult Adjustment: Similarities and Differences Between European American and African American Women.

The purpose of this paper was to examine whether recollections of mothers' emotion socialization practices during childhood are linked to adult emotional well-being as indexed by depression, trait anger, and cardiac vagal tone, and whether these effects vary for African American and European American women. Participants included 251 women (128 European American; 123 African American) who ranged in age from 18 to 44 years (M = 25 years). Multigroup confirmatory factor analyses indicated strong measurement and factor invariance across African American and European American participants. Remembered non-supportive emotion socialization was linked with elevated depressive symptoms for European American women, but not African American women and with elevated trait anger for both groups. Remembered supportive emotion socialization was linked with higher resting vagal tone for both groups. The results provide some support for the view that non-supportive emotion socialization may be more detrimental for European Americans than African Americans.

Adult attachment states of mind: measurement invariance across ethnicity and associations with maternal sensitivity.

This study examined the developmental significance of mothers' adult attachment representations assessed prenatally with the Adult Attachment Interview in relation to observed maternal sensitivity at 6 months postpartum in an ethnically diverse sample (N = 131 African American; N = 128 European American). Multiple group confirmatory factor analyses provided evidence for partial measurement invariance of a two-factor dismissing and preoccupied latent structure of adult attachment across the two ethnic groups of women. African American women showed modest elevations on the preoccupied factor relative to European American women. Although the dismissing factor showed an empirically equivalent negative association with maternal sensitivity in both ethnic groups, this effect was reduced to marginal significance when controlling for maternal socioeconomic status.

Infant negative affect and maternal interactive behavior during the still-face procedure: the moderating role of adult attachment states of mind.

The current study examined associations between attachment state of mind measured prenatally (N = 259) and maternal behavior in the reunion episode of the still-face procedure when infants were six months of age both as a main effect and in conjunction with infant negative affect. Using a dimensional approach to adult attachment measurement, dismissing and preoccupied states of mind were negatively associated with maternal sensitivity, and each correlated with distinct parenting behaviors. Positive associations were found between dismissing states of mind and maternal monitoring and preoccupied states of mind and maternal withdraw. Maternal preoccupation moderated associations between infant negative affect and maternal intrusive, withdrawn, and monitoring behaviors, supporting the notion that maternal attachment influences parenting behavior via a modulatory process in which infant distress cues are selectively filtered and responded to. Analyses using a traditional AAI scale and classification approach also provided evidence for distinct parenting behavior correlates of insecure adult attachment representations. The importance of measuring global and stylistic differences in maternal behavior in contexts which allow for the activation of the entire range of infant affective states is discussed.

Prospective links between ethnic socialization, ethnic and American identity, and well-being among Asian-American adolescents.

Ethnic socialization and ethnic identity have been related to positive outcomes, but little research has examined these associations longitudinally. This three-wave study prospectively linked socialization messages at Time 1, ethnic identity and American identity at Time 2, and self-esteem and depressive symptoms at Time 3 in 147 (58% female; 25% first-generation) Asian-American adolescents. The results indicated positive links between cultural socialization messages and ethnic and American identity, though the latter association was significant only for females. Ethnic identity was positively related to self-esteem, and mediated the positive effect of cultural socialization on self-esteem. The promotion of mistrust was positively linked to self-esteem and negatively related to ethnic identity, though this latter association was significant for foreign-born youth only. Our findings highlight the importance of elucidating prospective links in identity development, and examining gender and generational differences within them.

Parental, peer, school, and neighborhood influences on adolescent substance use: direct and indirect effects and ethnic variations.

The current study examined how contextual influences are related to adolescent substance use using an ethnically diverse sample of adolescents. A total of 5,992 adolescents (5,185 European American, 330 African American, 160 Hispanic American, 179 Asian American, and 138 Southeast Asian American) from Dane county, Wisconsin, completed surveys at school. Structural equation modeling was conducted to examine direct versus indirect effects of parental, peer, school, and neighborhood influences and differences in associations across ethnicity. Results indicated that contextual influences on adolescent substance use were both direct and indirect; the strength of associations between contextual influences and adolescent substance use varied across ethnic groups.

Socioeconomic stress and academic adjustment among Asian American adolescents: the protective role of family obligation.

Socioeconomic stress has long been found to place youth at risk, with low family income conferring disadvantages in adolescents' school achievement and success. This study investigates the role of socioeconomic stress on academic adjustment, and pinpoints family obligation as a possible buffer of negative associations. We examined direct and interactive effects at two time points in the same sample of Asian American adolescents-early high school (N = 180 9th-10th graders; 60 % female) and 2 years later in late high school (N = 156 11th-12th graders; 87% of original sample). Results suggest that socioeconomic stress is indeed associated with poor academic adjustment, measured broadly through self-reported GPA, importance of academic success, and educational aspirations and expectations. Family obligation was positively related to adjustment, and also was found to buffer the negative effects of socioeconomic stress, but only during adolescents' later high school years. Adolescents reporting more family obligation experienced less of the negative effects of financial stress on academic outcomes than those reporting lower obligation. Cultural and developmental implications are discussed in light of these direct and moderating effects.

Teachers' racialized anger: Implications for discipline disparities.

The contribution of racial bias to teachers' racialized discipline practices is increasingly clear, but the processes by which these biases are activated are less well understood. This study examined teachers' emotional responses to students' misbehaviors by student race as well as whether teachers' emotional responses serve to mediate the association between student race and teachers' discipline practices. Results from a sample of 228 teachers in the United States indicated that teachers were 71% more likely to report feeling anger as compared to concern when they read about a potentially challenging behavior of a Black student as compared to a White student. Additionally, teachers' anger mediated the association between student race and discipline, suggesting teacher anger as a potential point of intervention for change.

Gendered academic adjustment among Asian American adolescents in an emerging immigrant community.

Research on the academic adjustment of immigrant adolescents has been predominately conducted in large cities among established migration areas. To broaden the field's restricted focus, data from 172 (58% female) Asian American adolescents who reside within a non-traditional or emerging immigrant community in the Southeastern US were used to examine gender differences in academic adjustment as well as school, family, and cultural variables as potential mediators of gender differences found. Results suggest that girls report significantly higher educational goals, intrinsic academic motivation, and utility value of school compared to boys. These gender differences are statistically mediated by ethnic exploration and family processes, most prominently, family respect. School connectedness and perceived discrimination are also associated with academic adjustment at the bivariate level, suggesting that academic success may be best promoted if multiple domains of influence can be targeted.

Familism in action in an emerging immigrant community: An examination of indirect effects in early adolescence.

Familism values promote the positive adaptation of Latinx youth, but few studies have examined potential indirect effects associated with these positive effects. In emerging immigrant communities, where fewer resources are available to youth and families to maintain cultural values and ties, familism may be especially important. In this study of 175 primarily second-generation Latinx youth in such a community, we tested whether familism values were indirectly associated with adolescent outcomes through positive parent-child relationships, private racial/ethnic regard, meaning in life, and support seeking coping. Familism values were associated with greater academic motivation. Additionally, there were significant indirect effects in terms of positive parent-child relationships explaining the links between familism and fewer parent-reported externalizing symptoms, and for meaning in life explaining the links between familism and fewer depressive symptoms and greater academic motivation. Familism was also associated with greater support seeking coping, but this was associated with greater depressive symptoms. Our study suggests that in an emerging immigrant community familism values are primarily associated with positive adaptation through distinct mechanisms. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).