Momentary autonomic engagement during parent-adolescent conflict: Coping as a moderator of associations with emotions.

Regulatory efforts are hypothesized to affect associations between emotions and physiology (i.e., concordance) to facilitate adaptive functioning. Assessing the role of coping on physiological-emotional concordance during ecologically relevant scenarios can elucidate whether concordance can serve as a biomarker of risk or resilience. The present study assessed self-reported coping as a moderator of minute-to-minute associations between autonomic nervous system activity and emotions (i.e., physiological-emotional concordance) in caregivers (N = 97) and adolescents (N = 97; ages 10-15) during a dyadic conflict task. Models included physiological variables (sympathetic, skin conductance level [SCL]; and parasympathetic, respiratory sinus arrhythmia [RSA]) and their interaction (SCL × RSA) as predictors of emotions, with coping variables as moderators. Caregivers' use of primary control coping (e.g., problem solving and emotional expression) and secondary control coping (e.g., cognitive reappraisal and acceptance) use in response to family stress predicted more positive emotional experiences during the laboratory conflict task. Adolescents' use of secondary control coping moderated the SCL-emotion association, such that increases in momentary SCL were associated with more positive emotion ratings for youth reporting higher secondary control coping. For youth who report more adaptive trait-level coping skills, momentary changes in SCL may reflect active engagement and attentiveness to facilitate more positive emotional experiences. Findings advance our understanding of the interrelationships between physiological responses and psychological experiences during relevant, interactive scenarios. Autonomic responses are differentially related to affective states depending on the coping strategies that adolescents employ, suggesting that concordance may be associated with intervention targets (i.e., coping skills).

Selecting an Ecological Momentary Assessment Platform: Tutorial for Researchers.

BACKGROUND: Although ecological momentary assessment (EMA) has been applied in psychological research for decades, delivery methods have evolved with the proliferation of digital technology. Technological advances have engendered opportunities for enhanced accessibility, convenience, measurement precision, and integration with wearable sensors. Notwithstanding, researchers must navigate novel complexities in EMA research design and implementation. OBJECTIVE: In this paper, we aimed to provide guidance on platform selection for clinical scientists launching EMA studies. METHODS: Our team includes diverse specialties in child and adolescent behavioral and mental health with varying expertise on EMA platforms (eg, users and developers). We (2 research sites) evaluated EMA platforms with the goal of identifying the platform or platforms with the best fit for our research. We created a list of extant EMA platforms; conducted a web-based review; considered institutional security, privacy, and data management requirements; met with developers; and evaluated each of the candidate EMA platforms for 1 week. RESULTS: We selected 2 different EMA platforms, rather than a single platform, for use at our 2 research sites. Our results underscore the importance of platform selection driven by individualized and prioritized laboratory needs; there is no single, ideal platform for EMA researchers. In addition, our project generated 11 considerations for researchers in selecting an EMA platform: (1) location; (2) developer involvement; (3) sample characteristics; (4) onboarding; (5) survey design features; (6) sampling scheme and scheduling; (7) viewing results; (8) dashboards; (9) security, privacy, and data management; (10) pricing and cost structure; and (11) future directions. Furthermore, our project yielded a suggested timeline for the EMA platform selection process. CONCLUSIONS: This study will guide scientists initiating studies using EMA, an in vivo, real-time research tool with tremendous promise for facilitating advances in psychological assessment and intervention.

Parental Depression Symptoms, Skin Conductance Level Reactivity and Parenting: Associations with Youth Psychopathology.

Parental depression symptoms are a prevalent risk factor for internalizing and externalizing problems in youth, with parenting and parents' physiological stress reactivity representing potential contributing factors in the intergenerational transmission of psychopathology symptoms. In a sample of adolescents (N = 97) and their parents, the current study examined parental depression symptoms, an observational measure of parenting, and parents' physiological reactivity during a dyadic conflict discussion task in association with adolescents' internalizing and externalizing psychopathology. Parental depression symptoms and harsh/insensitive parenting showed positive associations with youth psychopathology symptoms. Further, parental depression symptoms were associated with greater externalizing symptoms in youth, specifically for parents with higher physiological reactivity during the conflict task. The present study highlights risks associated with parental depression and harsh/insensitive parenting, and provides evidence for parental physiological reactivity as a moderator of the association between parent and youth psychopathology. Clinical implications, limitations, and directions for future research are discussed.

Infants of mothers with early remitted clinical depression and mothers with no postpartum depression: Adaptive functioning in the second year of life.

Whether and how remitted clinical depression in postpartum motherhood contributes to poor infant adaptive functioning is inconclusive. The present longitudinal study examines adaptive functioning in infants of mothers diagnosed as clinically depressed at 5 months but remitted at 15 and 24 months. Fifty-five U. S. mothers with early, remitted clinical depression and 132 mothers without postpartum depression completed the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales about their infants at 15 and 24 months. Between groups, mothers were equivalent in age, ethnicity, marital status, and receptive vocabulary (a proxy for verbal intelligence), and infants were equivalent in age and distribution of gender. Controlling for maternal education and parity, mothers with early, remitted clinical depression and mothers with no postpartum depression rated their infants similarly on communication, daily living skills, and socialization. Mothers with early, remitted clinical depression rated their infants poorer in motor skills. Girls were rated more advanced than boys in communication at 24 months and daily living skills at 15 and 24 months. Rated infant adaptive behavior skills increased from 15 to 24 months. With exceptions, adaptive functioning in infants may be robust to early, remitted maternal depression, and adaptive functioning presents a domain to promote positive development in this otherwise vulnerable population.

Si la depresión clínica remitida en la maternidad del período de postparto contribuye y cómo contribuye al débil funcionamiento de adaptación del infante es algo inconcluso. El presente estudio longitudinal examina el funcionamiento de adaptación en infantes de madres clínicamente deprimidas a los 5 meses, pero remitidas a los 15 y 24 meses. Cincuenta y cinco madres con una temprana depresión clínica remitida y 132 madres sin depresión en el período de postparto en los Estados Unidos completaron las Escalas Vineland del Comportamiento de Adaptación acerca de sus infantes de 15 y 24 meses de edad. Entre los grupos, las madres presentaban equivalencia en cuanto a la edad, la etnicidad, el estado marital, así como el vocabulario receptivo (un reemplazo para la inteligencia verbal), y los infantes presentaban equivalencia en edad y género. Con los factores de educación y paridad controlados, las madres con temprana depresión clínica remitida y las madres sin depresión en el período de postparto evaluaron a sus infantes similarmente en cuanto a la comunicación, las habilidades del diario vivir y la socialización. Las madres con temprana depresión clínica remitida evaluaron a sus infantes más pobremente en cuanto a habilidades motoras. A las niñas se les evaluó como más avanzadas que los varones en la comunicación a los 24 meses y en las habilidades del diario vivir a los 15 y 24 meses. Las evaluadas habilidades del comportamiento de adaptación de los infantes aumentaron de los 15 a los 24 meses. Con excepciones, el funcionamiento de adaptación en los infantes pudiera ser robusto en relación con la temprana depresión materna remitida, y el funcionamiento de adaptación presenta un dominio para promover el positivo desarrollo en este grupo de población que, de lo contrario, es vulnerable.

Mean-level correspondence and moment-to-moment synchrony in adolescent and parent affect: Exploring associations with adolescent age and internalizing and externalizing symptoms.

Interactions with parents are integral in shaping the development of children's emotional processes. Important aspects of these interactions are overall (mean level) affective experience and affective synchrony (linkages between parent and child affect across time). Respectively, mean-level affect and affective synchrony reflect aspects of the content and structure of dyadic interactions. Most research on parent-child affect during dyadic interactions has focused on infancy and early childhood; adolescence, however, is a key period for both normative emotional development and the emergence of emotional disorders. We examined affect in early to mid-adolescents (N = 55, Mage = 12.27) and their parents using a video-mediated recall task of 10-min conflict-topic discussions. Using multilevel modeling, we found evidence of significant level-2 effects (mean affect) and level-1 effects (affective synchrony) for parents and their adolescents. Level-2 and level-1 associations were differentially moderated by adolescent age and adolescent internalizing and externalizing symptoms. More specifically, parent-adolescent synchrony was stronger when adolescents were older and had more internalizing problems. Further, more positive adolescent mean affect was associated with more positive parent affect (and vice versa), but only for dyads with low adolescent externalizing problems. Results underscore the importance of additional research examining parent-child affect in adolescence.

Clinically depressed and typically developing mother-infant dyads: Domain base rates and correspondences, relationship contingencies and attunement.

Maternal depression is associated with adverse outcomes in infants. Unfavorable parenting practices likely constitute one pathway of risk transmission from mother to infant, but definitional and methodological variation in the extant literature precludes a comprehensive or conclusive understanding of potential underlying mechanisms. This study aimed to illuminate the role of maternal clinical depression in mother-infant interaction by turning a microanalytic lens on four substantive relationship issues: base rates, correspondences, contingencies, and attunement. Several maternal parenting practices (aggregated into social, didactic, and language domains) and several infant behaviors (aggregated into social, exploration, and non-distress vocalization domains) were microcoded to 0.10 s from naturalistic hour long interactions of clinically depressed mothers (n = 60) and matched non-depressed controls (n = 60) with their 5-month-olds. Clinically depressed mothers spontaneously engaged their infants less didactically, were less contingent to their infants in social, didactic, and language domains, and were less attuned with their infants than were non-depressed mothers. Infants of clinically depressed mothers vocalized non-distress less than infants of non-depressed mothers. These differences unveil key disadvantages in the everyday lived experiences of infants of clinically depressed mothers. The findings advance understanding of maternal depression and its effects and have implications for identifying infants at risk on account of their mothers' clinical depression.

Cognitive and Attentional Function in Children with Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome: A Pilot Study.

While survival for children with hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS) has improved, compromised cardiac output and oxygen delivery persist, and children show cognitive deficits. Most research has assessed young children on broad cognitive indices; less is known about specific indices in older youth. In this pilot study, cognitive function and attention in youth ages 8 to 16 years with HLHS (n = 20) was assessed with the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children - Fifth Edition (WISC-V) and NIH Toolbox Cognition Battery (NTCB); parents completed the Child Behavior Checklist. Children scored significantly lower than normative means on the WISC-V Full Scale IQ, Verbal Comprehension, Visual Spatial, Working Memory, and Processing Speed indices, and the NTCB Fluid Cognition Composite; effect sizes ranged from medium to large. Attention problems had a large significant effect. Child age corresponded to lower visual spatial scores. Findings highlight the importance of assessing multiple cognitive indices for targeted intervention and investigating age and disease factors as potential correlates in larger samples.

Stress Exposure and Maternal Depression as Risk Factors for Symptoms of Anxiety and Depression in Adolescents.

Little research has explored the implications of stress inside and outside of the family as a risk factor for psychological symptoms in adolescents of depressed mothers. In a sample of 115 adolescents and their mothers with and without depression histories, adolescents' family and peer stress exposure was measured through the Responses to Stress Questionnaire, and adolescents' anxious/depressed symptoms were measured with the Youth Self Report and Child Behavior Checklist. Mothers reported their current depression symptoms on the Beck Depression Inventory-II. Results suggest that adolescents of mothers with depression histories and current depression symptoms experience more family and peer stress than adolescents of nondepressed mothers. In multiple linear regression analyses, current maternal depression symptoms moderated the relation between adolescent peer stress and adolescent anxious/depressed symptoms, such that peer stress was associated with anxious/depressed symptoms when maternal depression symptoms were average or high, but not when maternal depression symptoms were low.

Short-changing the future: The systemic gap between psychology internship stipends and living wages.

Introduction: Providing doctoral internship stipends below living wages may harm interns, the clinical services they provide, and the field of health service psychology as a whole. This study evaluated the extent to which doctoral psychology internship stipends from the 2021-2022 training year for APA-accredited, APPIC-member programs in the US are consistent with living wages in the geographic region where sites are located. Methods: We obtained data reflecting internship sites' geographic location and stipends for the 2021-2022 academic year. Using the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Living Wage Calculator, we computed a living wage for the county in which each internship site is located. Descriptive statistics, discrepancies, ratios, and correlations were calculated to reflect the associations between internship sites' stipends and their local living wages. Results: The average internship stipend was $31,783, which was lower than the average living wage by $2,091. Stipends ranged widely, from a low of $15,000 to a high of $94,595-reflecting a six-fold difference in wages. Although internship sites in higher cost of living areas paid higher stipends, over two-thirds (67.0%) of sites did not pay a stipend that equaled or exceeded a living wage. Ninety-eight sites (15.3%) had deficits of over $10,000 when comparing their stipends to local living wages, with $33,240 as the highest deficit. Discussion: Eliminating obstacles to educating health service psychologists by decreasing the financial burden of training will likely have subsequent critical benefits towards bridging the workforce gap between mental healthcare service needs and available providers, ultimately leading to improved population health.

The Home Environments of Infants of Mothers with Early, Remitted Clinical Depression and No Depression during the First Two Years Postpartum.

The current study examines stability, continuity, and group and gender differences in the home environments of infants of mothers with early, remitted clinical depression and no postpartum depression, overcoming methodological variations in the extant literature. Fifty-five mothers diagnosed with clinical depression (major or minor depression, dysthymia, or depressive disorder not otherwise specified) at 5 months and fully remitted by 15 and 24 months, and 132 mothers with no postpartum depression (Mage = 32.47; 69.7% European American) completed the Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment (HOME) Inventory Infant/Toddler version when their infants were 15 and 24 months old. No differences in stability estimates of the HOME scales were found between the groups. In terms of continuity, controlling for maternal education and infant birth order, HOME responsivity, involvement, and total score decreased, while HOME acceptance increased between 15 and 24 months in the full sample. There were no effects of group or gender. Results may point to the home environment as a key protective factor for infants of mothers with early, remitted clinical depression, or findings may suggest improved maternal parenting cognitions and practices following remission.

Physiology and emotions: Within individual associations during caregiver-adolescent conflict.

Concordance between physiological and emotional responses is central to models of emotion and has been shown to correspond to effective responses and well-being in adults. A deeper understanding of physiological-emotional concordance during ecologically relevant scenarios is essential to then determine if these associations predict mental health problems or can serve as a helpful biomarker of risk or resilience in adults and youth. The present study assessed the minute-to-minute associations between sympathetic (i.e., skin conductance level [SCL]) and parasympathetic (i.e., respiratory sinus arrhythmia [RSA]) nervous system activity and self-reported emotions, assessed via video-mediated recall procedures, during a parent-adolescent conflict discussion task. Associations between emotion ratings and physiological activity were assessed in adolescents (N = 97; ages 10-15) and their adult caregivers (N = 97). Utilizing a multilevel modeling approach, findings demonstrated a significant positive association between SCL and emotion ratings for youth, suggesting that increased engagement and alertness contributed to more positive emotion. RSA was unrelated to emotion ratings. The presence of significant variability in associations indicated the presence of potential moderators. This could include clinically relevant processes (e.g., emotion regulation, relationship quality, and mental health). Future research should continue to build on findings to determine if, when, and for whom, physiological-emotional concordance occurs, and whether the degree of concordance predicts risk for mental and physical health problems.

Adverse childhood experiences, parenting, and socioeconomic status: Associations with internalizing and externalizing symptoms in adolescence.

BACKGROUND: Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), low socioeconomic status (SES), and harsh parenting practices each represent well-established risk factors for mental health problems. However, research supporting these links has often focused on only one of these predictors and psychopathology, and interactions among these variables in association with symptoms are not well understood. OBJECTIVE: The current study utilized a cross-sectional, multi-informant, and multi-method design to investigate the associations of ACEs, SES, parenting, and concurrent internalizing and externalizing problems in adolescents. PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING: Data are from a volunteer sample of 97 adolescents and their caregivers recruited from 2018 to 2021 in a southern U.S. metropolitan area to sample a range of exposure to ACEs. METHODS: Multiple linear regression models were used to assess associations among adolescents' ACEs exposure, SES, observed parenting practices, and symptoms of internalizing and externalizing psychopathology. RESULTS: Lower SES was associated with higher levels of internalizing and externalizing symptoms, while higher ACEs exposure and observed parenting were related to externalizing but not internalizing symptoms. Associations of adolescents' exposure to physical abuse and perceived financial insecurity with externalizing symptoms were moderated by warm and supportive parenting behaviors. Conversely, harsh parenting was linked to increased levels of externalizing symptoms, particularly in the context of low income. CONCLUSIONS: Findings suggest that the presence of multiple risk factors may incur greater vulnerability to externalizing problems, while warm and supportive parenting practices may provide a buffer against externalizing problems for adolescents exposed to physical abuse. Links between ACEs, SES, parenting, and youth adjustment should continue to be explored, highlighting parenting as a potentially important and malleable intervention target.

Language development in children of clinically depressed mothers in remission: Early experience effects.

We compared language comprehension and production across the second year of life in children of clinically depressed mothers who later remitted with children of nondepressed mothers. Altogether, 157 mother-child dyads participated: 46 with mothers diagnosed at infant age 5 months as having major, minor, or other depressive disorders who fully remitted by 15 and 24 months and 111 with nondepressed mothers. The majority of mothers (mean [M] age = 32.8 years) were married, European American, and college educated. The groups did not differ on most sociodemographic indices, and analyses controlled for residual group differences in maternal education and child birth order. Children of early clinically depressed mothers understood fewer words at 15 months (by maternal report on the MacArthur Communicative Development Inventory [MCDI]) and 24 months (by experimenter-administered Reynell Developmental Language Scales [RDLS]) than children of nondepressed mothers. Children of nondepressed mothers increased in language comprehension from 15 to 24 months, whereas children of early clinically depressed mothers did not. Aggregating over 15 and 24 months, nondepressed mothers reported that their children expressed more words than clinically depressed mothers reported their children expressed; experimenter assessment revealed no difference between the two groups. Maternal clinical depression in the first 5 months is related to reduced language comprehension and production during the second year of life even in children whose mothers remit, indicating an early experience effect of maternal clinical depression in muting child language development. Future research should identify the mechanisms by which this early experience effect occurs to inform targeted early preventative interventions for at-risk children. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Comparison of three models of adverse childhood experiences: Associations with child and adolescent internalizing and externalizing symptoms.

Exposure to adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) is prevalent and confers risk for psychopathology later in life. Approaches to understanding the impact of ACEs on development include the independent risk approach, the Dimensional Model of Adversity and Psychopathology (DMAP) distinguishing between threat and deprivation events, and the cumulative risk approach. The present research provides an empirical confirmation of DMAP and a comparison of these three approaches in predicting internalizing and externalizing symptoms in youth. In Study 1, mental health professionals (N = 57) rated ACEs as threat or deprivation events. These ratings were used to create composites to represent the DMAP approach in Study 2. With cross-sectional and longitudinal data from children and adolescents in state custody (N = 23,850), hierarchical linear regression analyses examined independent risk, DMAP, and cumulative risk models in predicting internalizing symptoms, disinhibited externalizing symptoms, and antagonistic externalizing symptoms. All three approaches produced significant models and revealed associations between exposure to ACEs and symptoms. Individual risk accounted for significantly more variance in symptoms than cumulative risk and DMAP. Cumulative risk masked differential associations between ACEs and psychological symptoms found in the individual risk and DMAP approaches. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Parental Depressive Symptoms and Parenting: Associations with Children's Coping in Families of Depressed Parents.

OBJECTIVE: This multi-method study examined parental depressive symptoms and levels of harsh/intrusive and warm/responsive parenting as correlates of secondary control coping (acceptance, cognitive reappraisal, distraction) in children of parents with a history of depression. DESIGN: The sample included 165 parents with a history of major depressive disorder and their 9- to15-year-old children. Parents provided self-reports of their current depressive symptoms; videorecordings of parent-child interactions were coded to determine parenting behaviors; and children reported their use of secondary control coping strategies. RESULTS: Harsh/intrusive parenting related to less, and warm/responsive parenting related to greater, use of secondary control coping strategies in children. Parents' current depressive symptoms were only conditionally related to children's use of secondary control coping strategies, such that depressive symptoms moderated the relation between warm/responsive parenting behaviors and child secondary control coping. When parental depressive symptoms were low or average, warm/responsive parenting was positively related to children's secondary control coping. When parental depressive symptoms were high, warm/responsive parenting was not associated with children's secondary control coping. CONCLUSIONS: The association between positive parenting behaviors and children's coping is contingent on current levels of parents' depressive symptoms. Efforts to enhance children's coping skills should target both parental depressive symptoms and parenting skills.