COVID-19 Life Events Spill-Over on Family Functioning and Adolescent Adjustment.

We examined US parent and youth perceptions of how life events, both positive and negative, associated with COVID-19 resulted in changes in family and youth functioning. Families (n = 105, 80% white, 48% male, and 87% mothers) completed surveys during the pandemic (May to July 2020) and 3 years prior (for youth ages M = 10.6, SD = 1.17 and M = 13.6, SD = 1.19). Declines in youth, though not parent, report of open family communication, parental support, and family satisfaction were found. Declines were associated with various domains of pandemic-related stress in parent report, though positive life events served as buffers. Pre-pandemic family functioning also predicted pandemic stress. Spillover effects in turn impacted youth functioning. The current findings shed light on how experiences of the pandemic are linked with family functioning and have implications for how to support families during this time.

Adversity Interpreted: A Scoping Review of Adversity Appraisal Measurement.

Although evidence suggests that individuals' appraisals (i.e., subjective interpretations) of adverse or traumatic life events may serve as a mechanism accounting for differences in adversity exposure and psychological adjustment, understanding this mechanism is contingent on our ability to reliably and consistently measure appraisals. However, measures have varied widely between studies, making conclusions about how best to measure appraisal a challenge for the field. To address this issue, the present study reviewed 88 articles from three research databases, assessing adults' appraisals of adversity. To be included in the scoping review, articles had to meet the following criteria: (1) published no earlier than 1999, (2) available in English, (3) published as a primary source manuscript, and (4) included a measure assessing for adults' (over the age of 18) subjective primary and/or secondary interpretations of adversity. Each article was thoroughly reviewed and coded based on the following information: study demographics, appraisal measurement tool(s), category of appraisal, appraisal dimensions (e.g., self-blame, impact, and threat), and the tool's reliability and validity. Further, information was coded according to the type of adversity appraised, the time in which the appraised event occurred, and which outcomes were assessed in relation to appraisal. Results highlight the importance of continued examination of adversity appraisals and reveal which appraisal tools, categories, and dimensions are most commonly assessed for. These results provide guidance to researchers in how to examine adversity appraisals and what gaps among the measurement of adversity appraisal which need to be addressed in the future research.

Adolescence Amid a Pandemic: Short- and Long-Term Implications.

Members of the Society for Research on Adolescents COVID-19 Response Team offer this commentary to accompany this special issue of the Journal of Research on Adolescence regarding the impact of the pandemic on adolescents' social, emotional, and academic functioning. In addition to outlining the critical need for scholarly collaboration to address the global impact of this crisis on adolescent development, we argue that a broad investigative lens is needed to guide research and recovery efforts targeting youth development. We then use this broad lens to consider dimensions of the pandemic impact relative to developmental implications within community and policy contexts, educational contexts, social contexts, and family contexts. Finally, we describe guideposts for setting a global, shared research agenda that can hasten research to recovery efforts surrounding the pandemic and youth development.

Enhanced evoked responses after early adversity and repeated platform exposure: the neurobiology of vulnerability?

BACKGROUND: There is a long-standing clinical awareness of the significance of adverse early experiences and subsequent stress in the evolution of psychiatric disorder. METHODS: We investigated the impact of a single episode of preweaning maternal separation on in vivo electrophysiologic responses in the hippocampus of the mature rat after repeated exposure to an open elevated platform. RESULTS: Only rats that had experienced both maternal separation followed by stressful platform exposure when mature had significantly increased granule cell response to perforant path stimulation, compared with control rats. Rats exposed to either maternal separation or the elevated platform in adulthood alone did not differ significantly from control rats. CONCLUSIONS: Adverse early experience seems to induce functional changes in the hippocampus that remain latent until activated by stress in adulthood. Such electrophysiologic changes might represent a neural substrate for vulnerability to stress-associated psychopathology.