Patterns of Avoidance Behavior in Response to Fear of Victimization in the Mexican Context: A Latent Class Analysis.

Fear of victimization (FOV) is a powerful determinant of behavior and prompts behavioral responses such as avoidance, associated with a decline in health-promoting activities and quality of life. Avoidance behaviors, which include constraining activities to perceived safe areas and avoiding areas regarded as unsafe, are of particular interest due to their high prevalence as a coping response to FOV and their link to adverse physical and mental health. Most research on FOV-related avoidance treats it as a single construct and have yet to elucidate the potential heterogeneity within this set of behaviors. We argue that such approach could mask potential heterogeneity among people who respond to FOV through avoidance and how they adapt to manage perceived risk. Our analysis extends the foundational knowledge regarding FOV-related avoidance using a person-centered approach. We attempted to capture distinct profiles across avoidance behaviors and how they are shaped by physical and social vulnerabilities. Data from the 2021 Mexico's National Survey of Victimization and Perception of Security Survey (n = 83,696) was analyzed using Latent Class Analysis focusing on 15 avoidance behaviors (e.g., stopped using public transportation). We conducted multinomial logistic regression to test whether age, gender, education, and neighborhood deprivation significantly predicted class membership. Findings revealed three classes: avoidant (most behavioral adjustments across the board), cautious (only adapted some behaviors), and protective (least behavioral adjustments, but more concerned about minors in their households). The results supported the hypothesized associations between age, gender, education, and neighborhood deprivation with group membership, but the significance differed by group. This research underscores the role of environmental context in shaping individual perceptions of safety and avoidance behavior. Finally, contrary to the approach of treating avoidance behavior as a single category, these findings present a more complex picture as distinct and meaningful patterns emerged across the three groups.

Predicting Homelessness among Emerging Adults Aging Out of Foster Care.

This study examines risk and protective factors associated with experiencing homelessness in the year after "aging out" of foster care. Using a state-level integrated administrative database, we identified 1,202 emerging adults in Washington State who exited foster care between July 2010 and June 2012. Initial bivariate analyses were conducted to assess the association between candidate predictive factors and an indicator of homelessness in a 12-month follow-up period. After deploying a stepwise regression process, the final logistic regression model included 15 predictive factors. Youth who were parents, who had recently experienced housing instability, or who were African American had approximately twice the odds of experiencing homelessness in the year after exiting foster care. In addition, youth who had experienced disrupted adoptions, had multiple foster care placements (especially in congregate care settings), or had been involved with the juvenile justice system were more likely to become homeless. In contrast, youth were less likely to experience homelessness if they had ever been placed with a relative while in foster care or had a high cumulative grade point average relative to their peers.

Maternal emotion coaching, adolescent anger regulation, and siblings' externalizing symptoms.

BACKGROUND: Increases in externalizing behaviors during the transition to adolescence may put children at risk for developing mental disorders and related problems. Although children's ability to regulate their emotions appears to be a key factor influencing risk for maladjustment, emotion processes during adolescence remain understudied. In this longitudinal study, we examined a multi-level mediational model in which emotion coaching by parents was posited to influence the ability of adolescents to regulate their emotions, which in turn influences their expression of problem behaviors. METHODS: We recruited a representative community sample of 244 families with biological sibling pairs comprising a child in late elementary school and a child in middle school. Maternal meta-emotion interviews were coded for mother emotion coaching and adolescent difficulty with anger. Mothers also completed questionnaires on adolescent irritability. Ratings of adolescent problem behaviors were obtained from mother and teacher questionnaires completed at two time points. Using structural equation modeling, constructs were partitioned into components across older and younger siblings to examine shared and nonshared variance and contextual effects. RESULTS: Cross-sectional data indicated that mothers' emotion coaching of anger was related to better anger regulation in adolescent siblings, which was, in turn related to less externalizing behavior. Although support for mediational effects was limited in the longitudinal data, both older and younger siblings' difficulties in regulating anger predicted adolescent externalizing behavior three years later. Additional longitudinal predictors of externalizing behavior were observed for younger siblings. In particular, emotion coaching of anger by mothers was associated with decreased externalizing behavior, while conversely, older siblings' externalizing behavior was associated with increased externalizing behavior in the younger siblings over time. CONCLUSIONS: The findings highlight the importance of considering family emotion processes in understanding adolescent problem behavior. Both maternal emotion coaching of adolescent anger and adolescent difficulty in regulating anger influenced adolescent externalizing behavior. Emotion coaching interventions seem worthy of consideration for enhancing the impact of prevention and intervention programs targeting youth externalizing behaviors.