Caregiver-adolescent co-reminiscing and adolescents' individual recollections of a devastating tornado: Associations with enduring posttraumatic stress symptoms.

Although disaster-related posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) typically decrease in intensity over time, some youth continue to report elevated levels of PTSS many years after the disaster. The current study examines two processes that may help to explain the link between disaster exposure and enduring PTSS: caregiver emotion socialization and youth recollection qualities. One hundred and twenty-two youth (ages 12 to 17) and their female caregivers who experienced an EF-4 tornado co-reminisced about the event, and adolescents provided independent recollections between 3 and 4 years after the tornado. Adolescent individual transcripts were coded for coherence and negative personal impact, qualities that have been found to contribute to meaning making. Parent-adolescent conversations were coded for caregiver egocentrism, a construct derived from the emotion socialization literature to reflect the extent to which the caregiver centered the conversation on her own emotions and experiences. Egocentrism predicted higher youth PTSS, and this association was mediated by the coherence of adolescents' narratives. The association between coherence and PTSS was stronger for youth who focused more on the negative personal impacts of the tornado event during their recollections. Results suggest that enduring tornado-related PTSS may be influenced in part by the interplay of caregiver emotion socialization practices and youth recollection qualities.

Pre-Post Tornado Effects on Aggressive Children's Psychological and Behavioral Adjustment Through One-Year Postdisaster.

Using a risk-resilience framework, this study examined how varying levels of exposure to a natural disaster (EF-4 tornado) and children's characteristics (sex; anxiety) influenced the behavioral and psychological adjustment of children who shared a common risk factor predisaster (elevated aggression) prior to exposure through 1-year postdisaster. Participants included 360 children in Grades 4-6 (65% male; 78% African American) and their parents from predominantly low-income households who were already participating in a longitudinal study of indicated prevention effects for externalizing outcomes when the tornado occurred in 2011. Fourth-grade children who were screened for overt aggressive behavior were recruited in 3 annual cohorts (120 per year, beginning in 2009). Parent-rated aggression and internalizing problems were assessed prior to the tornado (Wave 1), within a half-year after the tornado (Wave 2), and at a 1-year follow-up (Wave 3). Children and parents rated their exposure to aspects of tornado-related traumatic experiences at Wave 3. Children displayed less reduction on aggression and internalizing problems if the children had experienced distress after the tornado or fears for their life, in combination with their pre-tornado level of anxiety. Higher levels of children's and parents' exposure to the tornado interacted with children's lower baseline child anxiety to predict less reduction in aggression and internalizing problems 1 year after the tornado. Higher levels of disaster exposure negatively affected at-risk children's level of improvement in aggression and internalizing problems, when life threat (parent- and child-reported) and child-reported distress after the tornado were moderated by baseline anxiety.

Positive Psychology and Disaster Mental Health: Strategies for Working with Children and Adolescents.

Positive psychology concepts and principles can be incorporated into preparedness, crisis response, and recovery phases of disaster mental health efforts to address the needs of children, adolescents, and families. This article articulates general developmental considerations for applying positive psychology in disaster mental health contexts and discusses how 5 essential elements of immediate and midterm mass trauma intervention identified by Hobfoll et al. (2007) may be infused in applications of positive psychology for children and adolescents. Specific strategies for working with children, adolescents, and their families in home, community, and school contexts are drawn in part from disaster mental health resources developed jointly by the National Child Traumatic Stress Network and National Center for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, including the Psychological First Aid Field Operations Guide (Brymer et al., 2006), the Skills for Psychological Recovery Field Operations Guide (Berkowitz et al., 2010), and the Psychological First Aid for Schools Field Operations Manual (Brymer et al., 2012). Two case examples illustrate the use of positive psychology principles.

The Role of Reactive Aggression in the Link Between Hyperactive-Impulsive Behaviors and Peer Rejection in Adolescents.

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms and aggressive behaviors are both associated with peer rejection, but little is known the nature of this association with respect to the two symptom dimensions of hyperactivity-impulsivity and inattention and different types of aggression. The present study examines the relations between dimensions of ADHD symptomatology, proactive and reactive aggression, and peer rejection in adolescence. Teacher-reported data were obtained for 200 high school students (grades 9-12; 48% female; predominately Latino). In structural equation modeling path analyses, the indirect effects of reactive aggression accounted for the link between hyperactivity-impulsivity and peer rejection. Within the same model, neither inattention nor proactive aggression were associated with peer rejection. These findings suggest that reactive aggression may be a key mechanism through which hyperactive-impulsive behavior is associated with peer rejection. Future research and intervention efforts should address the role of reactive aggression among youth with ADHD symptomatology.

Co-reminiscing with a caregiver about a devastating tornado: Association with adolescent anxiety symptoms.

This study explores the association between caregivers' style of co-reminiscing with their adolescents about an EF4 tornado and youth anxiety symptoms several years following the disaster. Caregiver reward of their children's emotional expression, defined as attending to and validating emotionally salient content, is generally associated with adaptive youth psychosocial outcomes. However, caregiver reward of youth recollections that are centered around the youth's negative emotional expression could be an indicator that both caregivers and adolescents are engaged in co-rumination regarding negative emotional experiences. This process may contribute to relatively higher levels of anxiety over time. Adolescents (N = 169) drawn from an ongoing study for aggressive youth (ages 12 to 17; 82% African American) provided individual recollections about their experiences during a devastating tornado 4 to 5 years following the disaster. Caregivers and youth then co-reminisced about their tornado-related experiences. Individual youth recollections were coded for negative personal impact and use of negative emotion words; caregiver-adolescent conversations were coded for caregiver reward of negative emotional expression. Youth who noted more negative personal impacts and used more negative emotion words were higher in parent-rated youth anxiety, and these associations were moderated by caregiver reward of negative emotional expression. The associations between youth recollection qualities and anxiety emerged only when caregivers exhibited high levels of reward of negative emotional expression. These patterns were generally stronger for girls compared to boys. Findings suggest that excessively discussing and rehashing negative experiences, especially several years after the disaster, may be a risk factor for anxiety among disaster-exposed adolescents. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Recalling a Devastating Tornado: Qualities of Child Recollections and Associations with Mental Health Symptoms.

Trauma recollections often contain trauma-related cognitive and emotional processing. Research examining indicators of such processing in children's trauma recollections and their association with mental health symptoms is limited. Fifty 8 to 12-year-old children provided two open-ended recollections about (1) challenging/"bad" things and (2) positive/ "good" things that happened to them 1-year post experiencing an EF-5 tornado. Children completed exposure and mental health symptom measures (PTSD, anxiety, depression). Transcripts were coded for indicators of processing: coherence, positive and negative emotion terms, and resolutions. Age, gender, SES, family tornado-related discussion frequency, verbal ability, tornado-specific psychotherapy receipt, and exposure were controlled. Coherence and positive emotion were positively associated and resolutions were negatively associated with mental health symptoms when children discussed the "bad" things. Children's processing and mental health symptoms were unrelated when children discussed the "good" things. The measured indicators of children's processing may reflect children's meaning-making efforts and have implications for adjustment.