Cascading Influences of Caregiver Experiences of Discrimination and Adolescent Antisocial Behavior.

OBJECTIVE: Although a growing body of work has found that parents' experiences of racial and socioeconomic (SES) based discrimination are directly related to their children's behavior problems , more work is needed to understand possible pathways by which these factors are related and to identify potential targets for prevention and/or intervention. METHOD: Using a large (N = 572), longitudinal sample of low-income families from diverse racial backgrounds, the current study explored whether caregivers' experiences of racial and SES discrimination during their children's middle childhood (i.e. ages 7.5-9.5) predicted youth-reported antisocial behavior during adolescence and potential factors mediating these associations (e.g. caregiver depressive symptoms and positive parenting practices). RESULTS: We found that higher levels of caregiver experiences of discrimination at child ages 7.5-9.5 predicted higher levels of caregiver depressive symptoms at child age 10.5, which were related to lower levels of caregiver endorsement of positive parenting practices at child age 14.5, which in turn, predicted higher levels of youth-reported antisocial behavior at age 16. CONCLUSION: The findings highlight the adverse effects of racism and discrimination in American society. Second, the findings underscore the need to develop interventions which mitigate racism and discrimination among perpetrators and alleviate depressive symptoms among caregivers.

How pubertal timing and self-regulation predict adolescent sexual activity in resource-poor environments.

Studies found support for a link between pubertal timing and self-regulation in low-resource environments. This link could potentially explain a link between pubertal timing and early risk behavior. This study builds on this body of research by examining the mediated effect of pubertal timing on sexual activity through self-regulation in 728 adolescents and their families in a group with poor resources and a group with adequate resources. Income-to-Needs (ITN) was measured at age 7.5 to establish two groups (low-ITN and Medium/High-ITN). Pubertal timing was measured at age 10.5, self-regulation was assessed at age 14 and operationalized with effortful control, and sexual activity was assessed at age 16. Structural equation modeling was employed to test the hypothesized model in both groups. The link between pubertal timing and sexual activity mediated by effortful control was only significant in the low-ITN group. Specifically, more advanced pubertal maturity was associated with lower levels of adolescents' effortful control, which in turn was associated with more sexual activity at age 16. Findings were partially replicated with a drug use index replacing sexual activity. This study shows a different operating link from pubertal timing to effortful control and subsequent risk behavior in resource-poor environments. Implications are discussed.

Long-term Effects of the Family Check-Up on Suicidality in Childhood and Adolescence: Integrative Data Analysis of Three Randomized Trials.

This study employed integrative data analysis techniques to examine the long-term effects of the family check-up (FCU) on changes in youth suicide risk using three randomized prevention trials, including one trial initiated in early childhood and two initiated in early adolescence. Data were harmonized across studies using moderated nonlinear factor analysis, and intervention effects were tested using an autoregressive latent trajectory model examining changes in suicide risk across long-term follow-up. Across trials, significant long-term effects of the FCU on reductions in suicide risk were observed, although differences between intervention and control group trajectories declined over time. No moderation of intervention effects was observed by youth gender or race/ethnicity or across samples. While results offer further support for the benefits of the FCU for suicide risk reduction, they also suggest that such effects may wane over time, underscoring the need for continued development of the FCU to enhance longer-term durability of effects on suicide-related behaviors.

A Polygenic Risk Score Enhances Risk Prediction for Adolescents' Antisocial Behavior over the Combined Effect of 22 Extra-familial, Familial, and Individual Risk Factors in the Context of the Family Check-Up.

Possessing informative tools to predict who is most at risk for antisocial behavior in adolescence is important to help identify families most in need of early intervention. Polygenic risk scores (PRSs) have been shown to predict antisocial behavior, but it remains unclear whether PRSs provide additional benefit above more conventional tools to early risk detection for antisocial behavior. This study examined the utility of a PRS in predicting adolescents' antisocial behavior after accounting for a broad index of children's contextual and individual risk factors for antisocial behavior. Participants were drawn from a longitudinal family-based prevention study (N = 463; Ncontrol = 224; 48.8% girls; 45.1% White; 30.2% Black; 12.7% Hispanic/Latino, 10.4% biracial; 0.2% Native American). Participants were recruited from US-based Women, Infants, and Children Nutritional Supplement programs. A risk tolerance PRS was created from a genome-wide association study. We created a robust measure capturing additive effects of 22 conventional measures of a risk of antisocial behavior assessed at child age 2 (before intervention). A latent variable capturing antisocial behavior (ages 10.5-16) was created. After accounting for intervention status and the conventional risk index, the risk tolerance PRS predicted independent variance in antisocial behavior. A PRS-by-conventional risk interaction showed that the conventional risk measure only predicted antisocial behavior at high levels of the PRS. Thus, the risk tolerance PRS provides unique predictive information above conventional screening tools and, when combined with them, identified a higher-risk subgroup of children. Integrating PRSs could facilitate risk identification and, ultimately, prevention screening, particularly in settings unable to serve all individuals in need.

Trajectories of early childhood family instability and the development of externalizing behaviors from middle childhood to adolescence: A prospective study of at-risk families.

This study examined associations between trajectories of family instability across early childhood and trajectories of externalizing behaviors from middle childhood to adolescence. Growth mixture models were fit to annual caregiver reports of instability from child ages 2-5 (N = 731; 49% girls, 50% White). A curve of factors model was fit to externalizing behaviors from child ages 7.5-14. Chronic, elevated instability across early childhood predicted elevated externalizing behaviors from middle childhood to adolescence. Data collection spanned from 2002 to 2017. Increasing or declining levels of instability predicted elevated externalizing behaviors in middle to late childhood, but not in adolescence. Caregiver depressive symptoms mediated the association between instability and the externalizing behavior intercept. Intervening on chronic instability may reduce child externalizing problems.

Genotype-environment correlation by intervention effects underlying middle childhood peer rejection and associations with adolescent marijuana use.

Aggressive behavior in middle childhood can contribute to peer rejection, subsequently increasing risk for substance use in adolescence. However, the quality of peer relationships a child experiences can be associated with his or her genetic predisposition, a genotype-environment correlation (rGE). In addition, recent evidence indicates that psychosocial preventive interventions can buffer genetic predispositions for negative behavior. The current study examined associations between polygenic risk for aggression, aggressive behavior, and peer rejection from 8.5 to 10.5 years, and the subsequent influence of peer rejection on marijuana use in adolescence (n = 515; 256 control, 259 intervention). Associations were examined separately in control and intervention groups for children of families who participated in a randomized controlled trial of the family-based preventive intervention, the Family Check-Up . Using time-varying effect modeling (TVEM), polygenic risk for aggression was associated with peer rejection from approximately age 8.50 to 9.50 in the control group but no associations were present in the intervention group. Subsequent analyses showed peer rejection mediated the association between polygenic risk for aggression and adolescent marijuana use in the control group. The role of rGEs in middle childhood peer processes and implications for preventive intervention programs for adolescent substance use are discussed.

Developmental genetic effects on externalizing behavior and alcohol use: Examination across two longitudinal samples.

Externalizing behavior in early adolescence is associated with alcohol use in adolescence and early adulthood and these behaviors often emerge as part of a developmental sequence. This pattern can be the result of heterotypic continuity, in which different behaviors emerge over time based on an underlying shared etiology. In particular, there is largely a shared genetic etiology underlying externalizing and substance use behaviors. We examined whether polygenic risk for alcohol use disorder predicted (1) externalizing behavior in early adolescence and alcohol use in adolescence in the Early Steps Multisite sample and (2) externalizing behavior in adolescence and alcohol use in early adulthood in the Project Alliance 1 (PAL1) sample. We examined associations separately for African Americans and European Americans. When examining European Americans in the Early Steps sample, greater polygenic risk was associated with externalizing behavior in early adolescence. In European Americans in PAL1, we found greater polygenic risk was associated with alcohol use in early adulthood. Effects were largely absent in African Americans in both samples. Results imply that genetic predisposition for alcohol use disorder may increase risk for externalizing and alcohol use as these behaviors emerge developmentally.

The Apple of Dad's Eye: Paternal Affective Attitudes Predicting Early Childhood Behavior Problems.

OBJECTIVE: The Family Affective Attitude Rating Scale (FAARS) uses an audio-recorded speech sample to measure parents' affective attitudes toward their children. The present study investigated the psychometric properties of this scale for use with fathers, concurrent predictors of paternal affective attitudes (parental depressive symptoms, inter-parental relationship quality, observed paternal parenting), and associations between fathers' positive and negative affective attitudes toward their two-year-old children and children's behavior problems one year later. METHODS: Participants were a sample (N = 226) of families from the Early Steps Multisite Study, a longitudinal study of low-income parents and children. Participants were racially and ethnically diverse (65% white; 23% Black or biracial; 12% Latinx). RESULTS: Initial validation results support the reliability and validity of FAARS coding in fathers of preschoolers, a previously untested group. Both maternal and paternal depressive symptoms and interparental relationship quality were significantly associated with fathers' affective attitudes toward their children. Further, fathers' positive affective attitudes predicted lower mother-reported child behavior problems one year later, controlling for a host of demographic covariates, fathers' observed parenting, mothers' affective attitudes, and child baseline behavior problems. CONCLUSIONS: Results indicate that fathers' positive attitudes toward their young children are a unique and robust predictor of lower levels of early behavior problems.

Relations between Early Childhood Paternal Depression and Preschool- and School-age Psychosocial Functioning.

Objective: The present study used a longitudinal design to examine associations between paternal depressive symptoms in toddlerhood and children's psychosocial adjustment during the preschool and school-age periods. Maternal depressive symptoms and intervention status were tested as moderators of associations between paternal depressive symptoms and child maladjustment.Method: The sample (n = 264, 48% female, 62% White, 14% Black, 14% bi-racial, 11% another racial group, and 86% non-Hispanic/Latinx) represented a subsample of families from the Early Steps Multisite Study, a clinical randomized trial testing the effectiveness of the Family Check-Up among low-income families using Women, Infants, and Children Nutritional Supplement Services in three communities varied in urbanicity. Fathers and mothers reported their levels of depressive symptoms at child age 2, primary caregivers (mostly mothers) contributed measures of child adjustment at ages 5, 8.5, and 9.5, and teachers completed questionnaires about child adjustment at ages 8.5 and 9.5.Results: Direct relations were found between paternal depressive symptoms and primary caregivers' reports of children's preschool and school-age internalizing problems. Furthermore, higher levels of paternal depression were associated with higher levels of children's later adjustment problems at preschool-age when maternal depressive symptoms were mild or higher. The Family Check-Up attenuated relations between paternal depressive symptoms and children's internalizing problems at school-age.Conclusions: These findings have important implications for future research on preventing children's early-emerging problem behaviors at home, suggesting that addressing paternal depressive symptoms in early childhood may be an important intervention target, especially in the context of maternal depression.

An Observational Approach to Examining White Parents' Racial Socialization Practices With Adolescent Youth.

The racial socialization (RS) strategies used by White parents have received limited empirical attention. Thus, the current study examined the frequency and content of White parents' RS messages to their White children during an observed parent-child discussion task on discrimination when youth were 14 years old. Participants were 243 White caregivers and their adolescent children (47.7% female). Overall, parents provided few RS messages, but when they did, they often relayed egalitarian messages or messages minimizing racism. Other types of RS strategies that emerged included acknowledging racism targeting people of color, discriminatory attitudes, and false beliefs in reverse racism.

Indirect Associations between Middle-Childhood Externalizing Behaviors and Adolescent Substance Use through Late-Childhood Exposure to Violence.

Longitudinal research to understand individual risk factors in childhood associated with exposure to violence and substance use is needed to inform prevention efforts. The present study tested indirect associations between age 8.5 externalizing behaviors and age 16 substance use through age 9.5 violence victimization and witnessing. Participants were 650 racially diverse (48.6% European American, 28.1% African American, 13.3% multiracial, and 10.0% other), predominantly socioeconomically disadvantaged youth (49% female). Externalizing behaviors were associated with higher levels of violence victimization and witnessing. The indirect path from externalizing behaviors to substance use was significant through victimization but not witnessing violence. Interventions aimed at reducing early externalizing behaviors may reduce risk for violence victimization, which may, in turn, reduce risk for adolescent substance use.

Genetic Moderation of the Association Between Early Family Instability and Trajectories of Aggressive Behaviors from Middle Childhood to Adolescence.

The present study tested models of polygenic by environment interaction between early childhood family instability and polygenic risk for aggression predicting developmental trajectories of aggression from middle childhood to adolescence. With a longitudinal sample of 515 racially and ethnically diverse children from low-income families, primary caregivers reported on multiple components of family instability annually from child ages 2-5 years. A conservative polygenic risk score (p = 0.05) was generated based on a prior meta-genome wide association study. Trajectories of aggression were identified using a curve of factors model based on a composite of primary caregiver, alternate caregiver, and teacher reports at five ages from 7.5 to 14 years. The family instability by polygenic interaction predicted growth in children's aggression such that children with lower levels of family instability and lower polygenic risk exhibited a steeper decline in aggression from 7.5 to 14. Findings support the need to model gene-environment interplay to elucidate the role of genetics in the development of aggressive behaviors.

Predictors and Consequences of Pediatric Pain Symptom Trajectories: A 14-Year Longitudinal Study.

OBJECTIVE: The present study had three primary objectives. First, pain trajectory from early childhood to early adolescence were modeled. Second, we examined how early childhood individual-, parental-, and family-level factors predict pain trajectories. Third, we evaluated consequences of pain trajectories in terms of anxiety and depressive symptoms, and substance use at age 16 years. DESIGN: The current paper is a secondary data analysis of a multisite longitudinal study. A total of 731 children and their families were followed from ages 2 to 16 years. METHODS: A growth mixture model (GMM) was used to identify pain trajectories from ages 2 to 14 years. RESULTS: The GMM revealed three distinct pain trajectories: (1) Low Pain Symptom (n = 572); (2) Increasing Pain Symptom (n = 106); and (3) U-shaped Pain Symptom (n = 53). Children who experienced greater harsh parenting and sleep disturbances in early childhood were more likely to belong to the Increasing Pain Symptom group, and those with greater anxious-depressed symptoms at age 2 years were more likely to belong to the U-shaped Pain Symptom group than the Low Pain Symptom group. Additionally, those youth in the Increasing Pain Symptom group, compared to the Low and U-shaped Pain Symptom groups, showed elevated anxiety symptoms at age 16 years. CONCLUSIONS: Reducing harsh parenting and children's sleep disturbances could be important targets for preventing pediatric pain problems. Children with increasing pain symptoms may also benefit from learning adaptive pain management skills to lower the risk of developing anxiety problems in late adolescence.

Taking a Motivational Interviewing Approach to Prevention Science: Progress and Extensions.

This commentary reviews advances gleaned from the current set of papers to Motivational Interviewing (MI) in prevention science. We begin by acknowledging the pioneering work of Miller and Rollnick to develop the construct of MI, then Dishion's use of MI principles to adapt applications of MI for the field of prevention science. We then highlight some of the contributions provided by the current set of papers and other recent extensions of MI. These novel applications are directed to parents, teachers, and older youth in the service of facilitating behavior change to promote youth development.

The long-term indirect effect of the early Family Check-Up intervention on adolescent internalizing and externalizing symptoms via inhibitory control.

This study examined the long-term effects of a randomized controlled trial of the Family Check-Up (FCU) intervention initiated at age 2 on inhibitory control in middle childhood and adolescent internalizing and externalizing problems. We hypothesized that the FCU would promote higher inhibitory control in middle childhood relative to the control group, which in turn would be associated with lower internalizing and externalizing symptomology at age 14. Participants were 731 families, with half (n = 367) of the families assigned to the FCU intervention. Using an intent-to-treat design, results indicate that the FCU intervention was indirectly associated with both lower internalizing and externalizing symptoms at age 14 via its effect on increased inhibitory control in middle childhood (i.e., ages 8.5-10.5). Findings highlight the potential for interventions initiated in toddlerhood to have long-term impacts on self-regulation processes, which can further reduce the risk for behavioral and emotional difficulties in adolescence.

Child Birth Order as a Moderator of Intervention Effectiveness for the Early Childhood Version of the Family Check-Up.

Child birth order (CBO) in the family has received little attention in the field of prevention science. CBO is relevant to early interventionists from a public health perspective, as the most widely disseminated home-visiting program has traditionally targeted mothers and their first-born children. The current paper revisits a previous publication by Shaw et al. (2009) on the effectiveness of the Family Check-Up (FCU) to evaluate CBO (firstborn vs. middle vs. youngest) as a moderator of treatment effects of the FCU in relation to improvements in parenting, maternal depressive symptoms, and child outcomes from ages 2 to 4 in a sample of low-income, ethnically diverse families (N = 709) with multiple children. Results suggest that the FCU elicited improvements in observed parenting from ages 2 to 3 primarily for target children who were the youngest or middle children, but not for firstborns. Findings are discussed in the context of implications for prevention science research, dissemination, and public policy.

Supporting Strategic Investment in Social Programs: a Cost Analysis of the Family Check-Up.

High-quality evidence about the costs of effective interventions for children can provide a foundation for fiscally responsible policy capable of achieving impact. This study estimated the costs to society of the Family Check-up, an evidence-based brief home-visiting intervention for high-risk families implemented in the Early Steps multisite efficacy trial. Intervention arm families in three sites were offered 4 consecutive years of intervention, when target children were ages 2 through 5. Data for estimating total, average, and marginal costs and family burden (means and standard deviations, 2015 USD, discounted at 3% per year) came from a detailed database that prospectively documented resource use at the family level and a supplemental interview with trial leaders. Secondary analyses evaluated differences in costs among higher and lower risk families using repeated measures analysis of variance. Results indicated annual average costs of $1066 per family (SD = $400), with time spent by families valued at an additional $84 (SD = $99) on average. Costs declined significantly from ages 2 through 5. Once training and oversight patterns were established, additional families could be served at half the cost, $501 (SD = $404). On the margin, higher risk families cost more, $583 (SD = $444) compared to $463 (SD = $380) for lower risk families, but prior analyses showed they also benefited more. Sensitivity analyses indicated potential for wage-related cost savings in real-world implementation compared to the university-based trial. This study illustrates the dynamics of Family Check-up resource use over time and across families differing in risk.

An examination of the influence of procedurally just strategies on legal cynicism among urban youth experiencing police contact.

Adolescents experience more police-initiated contacts resulting from relatively minor infractions than any other group, and often these interactions do not result in notable legal consequences. However, such interactions may have long-term consequences for adolescent perceptions of the justice system. Using data from the age 15 wave of the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, our study examines associations between situational and process features of police contact and legal cynicism in adolescence, accounting for demographic characteristics, self-reported delinquency, neighborhood context, and stop outcome. Relative to youth who experienced only vicarious police contact, youth who had direct or both direct and vicarious police contact reported higher levels of legal cynicism. Youth perceptions of procedural justice were associated with lower legal cynicism. Situational features of police contact such as harsh language and frisking were related to higher legal cynicism. Directions for future research, including the need for longitudinal research on this topic, are discussed.

Family Turbulence and Child Internalizing and Externalizing Behaviors: Moderation of Effects by Race.

This study examined the impact of residential instability and family structure transitions on the development of internalizing and externalizing problems from age 2 through 10.5. Child's race was examined as a moderator. Caregiver reports of internalizing and externalizing behaviors were obtained on 665 children at ages 5 and 10.5. Early-childhood residential and family structure transitions predicted elevated internalizing and externalizing problems at ages 5 and 10.5, but only for Caucasian children. These findings suggest that residential and family structure instability during early childhood independently contribute to children's later emotional and behavioral development, but vary as a function of the child's race. Community organizations (e.g., Women, Infant, and Children) can connect turbulent families with resources to attenuate effects of residential and family structure instability.

Indirect effects of the early childhood Family Check-Up on adolescent suicide risk: The mediating role of inhibitory control.

This study investigates suicide risk in late childhood and early adolescence in relation to a family-centered intervention, the Family Check-Up, for problem behavior delivered in early childhood. At age 2, 731 low-income families receiving nutritional services from Women, Infants, and Children programs were randomized to the Family Check-Up intervention or to a control group. Trend-level main effects were observed on endorsement of suicide risk by parents or teachers from ages 7.5 to 14, with higher rates of suicide risk endorsement in youth in the control versus intervention condition. A significant indirect effect of intervention was also observed, with treatment-related improvements in inhibitory control across childhood predicting reductions in suicide-related risk both at age 10.5, assessed via diagnostic interviews with parents and youth, and at age 14, assessed via parent and teacher reports. Results add to the emerging body of work demonstrating long-term reductions in suicide risk related to family-focused preventive interventions, and highlight improvements in youth self-regulatory skills as an important mechanism of such reductions in risk.