Moderators of the Link Between Social Preference and Persistent Peer Victimization for Elementary School Children.

OBJECTIVE: Current antibullying programs can reduce overall rates of victimization but appear to overlook processes that give rise to persistent peer victimization. Needed are studies that delineate the interplay between social contextual and individual difference variables that contribute to persistent peer victimization. We examined the extent to which two individual-difference variables - internalizing symptoms (IS) and anxiety sensitivity (AS) - moderated the link between children's average social preference score across the school year and their status as persistent victims. METHOD: Participants included 659 4th-grade students (Mage = 9.31 years, SD = 0.50, 51.8% girls; 42.3% Latinx, 28.9% non-Hispanic White, 10.2% Pacific Islander, 7.7% Bi/Multiracial, 1.9% Black, 1.7% Asian, 1.7% Native American, and 3.4% unreported) from 10 public elementary schools in the U.S. RESULTS: As expected, higher social preference scores predicted a decreased likelihood of being persistently victimized. Conversely, IS and AS were positively linked to persistent victim status. AS significantly moderated the link between social preference and persistent victim status such that for children with high AS, compared to those with AS scores at or below the mean, the negative association between social preference and persistent victim status was attenuated. CONCLUSIONS: Findings provide evidence that children who experience high levels of IS and AS are at risk for being persistently victimized by peers and that high AS could signal increased risk for persistent victimization even when children are generally liked by peers. We discuss the implications of these findings for efforts to develop focused interventions for chronically bullied children.

Telebehavioral health at a federally qualified health center pre- and peri-COVID-19.

Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) are a safety net for low-income individuals needing mental and/or physical health care. The COVID-19 pandemic required FQHCs (and other health organizations) to pivot rapidly to telehealth. In theory, telehealth services can expand access to needed care. The COVID-19 pandemic provides a natural opportunity to "test" this assumption. We compared sociodemographic differences in patients accessing behavioral health services pre- and peri-COVID-19 at an FQHC. We also investigated potential patient sociodemographic disparities in telebehavioral health service use during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. Data were collected from a single FQHC (13 sites, 4 integrated primary care medical clinics) in the southern United States. Participants included 5,190 patients (69.2% female, 59.7% persons of color) attending a total of 16,474 behavioral health sessions across 2 years (one pre- and one peri-COVID-19). Before the COVID-19 pandemic, 100% of behavioral health visits were conducted in person. During the pandemic, nearly half of behavioral health visits were conducted via telehealth. Telehealth visits were most frequently attended by adults, non-Latinx Whites, women, and people making ≤ 200% of the federal poverty level. A combination of in-person and telehealth service delivery models should be used by FQHCs to maximize access to care for different demographic groups. FQHCs should consider key factors (e.g., access, ableism, technology facility, and language) to increase patients' ability to take advantage of telehealth services where available. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Hope is a Mediator Between Enhancing Attributional Style and Depressive Symptoms in Early Adolescence.

This study added to understanding of the recovery model of depression in adolescents by testing whether hope mediates the link between enhancing attributional style (EAS) and depression using two independent samples. Study 1 used cross-sectional data from 378 students (51% female) in fifth through seventh grade students. Study 2 used data from 546 (50% female) seventh and eighth grade students at two time points: January and May within the same year. Cross-sectional analyses indicated that EAS indirectly predicted depression. Cross-sectional and prospective analyses indicated that stable attributions, in particular, were associated with lower levels of depression through higher levels of hope. Notably, contrary to expectations, global attributions consistently predicted higher levels of depression. Results suggest that hope mediates the association between attributional stability for positive events and reductions in depression over time. The importance of investigating attributional dimensions is emphasized as implications and future research directions are discussed.

The dynamics of smoking quit motivation in daily life: Associations with momentary self-regulation and nightly quit intentions.

Due to prior work suggesting dynamic fluctuations in quit motivation over time, the current study used ecological momentary assessment (EMA) to examine contextual predictors of momentary quit motivation, most notably perceived self-regulation. The sample (n = 84) intentionally excluded smokers actively trying to quit and those who plan to never quit, focusing on the group of smokers who are interested in but not yet committed to quitting. Participants completed one week of EMA, where they responded to random prompts 7x/day and logged each cigarette. At each prompt, they completed measures assessing cigarette craving, affect (positive and negative), quit motivation, and perceived momentary self-regulation (i.e., willpower self-efficacy, distress intolerance, craving uncontrollability). Participants also completed a nightly prompt where they reported their quit intentions. Results revealed that the newly developed 4-item index of quit motivation had strong psychometric properties, and demonstrated fluctuations over time and across situations. Quit motivation was higher when craving was ideographically lower than usual, and when willpower was higher than usual. People with higher distress intolerance reported higher quit motivation. In addition, stronger quit motivation and less variability in quit motivation was associated with higher quit intentions. The current study suggests that quit motivation does shift dynamically and speaks to the potential importance of targeting craving and willpower self-efficacy to enhance people's motivation to quit.

Lunchroom-Specific Peer Acceptance and Children's Internalizing Symptoms.

Prior research suggests the elementary school lunchroom is an important context for children's social development. Using a sample of 659 fourth-grade students in 10 public schools (50.7% female; 42.7% Hispanic/Latinx, 30.3% White, 10% Pacific Islander, 7.8% bi/multiracial, 2.2% American Indian, 2.2% Black, 1.9% Asian, and 2.9% other), we examined the association between lunchroom-specific peer acceptance and internalizing symptoms (i.e., depression and social anxiety symptoms). We hypothesized that lunchroom peer acceptance would predict self-rated depression and social anxiety symptoms when controlling for social preference scores. Using hierarchical linear modeling, results indicated self-rated lunchtime peer acceptance scores in December significantly predicted depression symptoms in May when controlling social preference scores and accounted for changes in depression scores across a school year. However, some significant gender differences emerged. Results suggest that elementary school lunchroom interventions should attend to children's perceptions of lunchroom likability and their experiences of depression symptoms.

Informal mentoring support as a potential moderator of the relation between adolescent dating violence victimization and substance use.

Research links adolescent dating violence (ADV) victimization to negative developmental outcomes, including involvement in substance use. Informal mentoring is associated with several positive outcomes, including reduced risk of substance use. Addressed in this study is whether support from an informal mentor can function to protect victims of ADV from involvement in substance use. Participants were 152 adolescents (grades 9-12). Findings revealed a significant association between ADV victimization and adolescents' involvement in substance use, as well as some evidence that support from an informal mentor moderates that link. When informal mentor support was low or at the mean, ADV victimization was significantly linked to adolescents' involvement in substance use; when informal mentor support was high, ADV victimization was unrelated to substance use involvement. Discussed are research and practice implications of the potential protective role of informal mentors for victims of ADV.