Family-level moderators of daily associations between discrimination and distress among Mexican-origin youth.

The current study evaluated cultural values and family processes that may moderate associations between daily racial-ethnic discrimination and distress among Mexican-origin youth. Integrating micro-time (daily diary) and macro-time (longitudinal survey) research design features, we examined familism, family cohesion, and ethnic-racial socialization from youth-, mother-, and father- reports as potential buffers of daily associations between youth racial-ethnic discrimination and youth distress (negative affect and anger). The analytic sample, drawn from the Seguimos Avanzando study, included 317 Mexican-origin adolescents (Mage = 13.5 years) and their parents, recruited from the Midwestern United States. Results indicated that youth-reported familism and family cohesion significantly buffered daily associations between youth racial-ethnic discrimination and youth distress. In contrast, parent-reported familism and family cohesion and some aspects of ethnic-racial socialization exacerbated the discrimination to distress link. The implications of these results are discussed to inform efforts supporting the healthy development of Mexican-origin youth and their families.

Associations among Financial Well-Being, Daily Relationship Tension, and Daily Affect in Two Adult Cohorts Separated by the Great Recession.

Financial well-being may be an important context for daily emotional reactivity to relationship tension (e.g., arguments) whose salience varies across historical time or as a function of exposure to economic downturns. This study investigated how emotional reactivity, operationalized as daily fluctuations in negative and positive affect associated with the occurrence of daily relationship tension, varied by financial well-being among those who were and were not exposed to the Great Recession of 2008. Two matched, independent subsamples of partnered individuals from the National Study of Daily Experiences completed identical 8-day diary protocols, one before the Great Recession (n = 587) and one after (n = 351). Individuals reported higher negative affect and lower positive affect on days when relationship tension occurred. Further, results indicated that negative affect reactivity, but not positive affect reactivity, was moderated by both financial well-being and cohort status. For the pre-recession cohort, negative affect reactivity was stronger among those with lower financial well-being. However, among the post-recession cohort, financial well-being did not moderate negative affect reactivity to relationship tension. Findings highlight the utility of considering major societal events, such as economic downturns, to understand variability in emotional reactivity to day-to-day relationship tension in the context of financial well-being, as the salience of financial well-being in the ways relationship tension and negative affect are related on a daily basis appears to vary by historical context.

A daily diary study of sleep chronotype among Mexican-origin adolescents and parents: Implications for adolescent behavioral health.

The current study used daily assessments of sleep to examine stability and change in sleep chronotype in adolescents and their parents. The study assessed adolescent sleep chronotype according to age, gender, and parent chronotype, and evaluated its associations with emotional and behavioral problems in youth. Participants included of 417 Mexican American adolescents (Mage = 16.0 years, Range = 13.9-20.0) and 403 caregivers, who reported bed and wake times daily for 2 consecutive weeks at two time points spaced 1 year apart. In addition, adolescents completed established self-report questionnaires of emotional and behavioral problems. Chronotype was computed as the midsleep point from bed to wake time on free days, correcting for sleep debt accumulated across scheduled days. Multilevel modeling showed a curvilinear association between adolescent age and chronotype, with a peak eveningness observed between ages 16 to 17. Adolescent and parent chronotypes were contemporaneously correlated, but each was only moderately stable over the 1-year period. Later adolescent chronotype was contemporaneously associated with more substance use in all adolescents. Individual development and the family context shape sleep chronotype in adolescents and parents. Sleep chronotype is implicated in adolescent behavioral health.

Maternal Parenting Electronic Diary in the Context of a Home Visit Intervention for Adolescent Mothers in an Urban Deprived Area of São Paulo, Brazil: Randomized Controlled Trial.

BACKGROUND: Pregnancy during adolescence is prevalent in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), which is associated with various adverse outcomes that can be prevented with home visiting programs. However, testing these interventions in LMICs can be challenging due to limited resources. The use of electronic data collection via smartphones can be an alternative and ideal low-cost method to measure outcomes in an environment with adverse conditions. OBJECTIVE: Our study had two objectives: to test the efficacy of a nurse home visiting intervention on maternal parenting and well-being measured by an electronic daily diary (eDiary), and to investigate the compliance rate of the eDiary measurement method. METHODS: We conducted a randomized controlled trial to test the efficacy of Primeiros Laços, a nurse home visiting program, for adolescent mothers living in an urban deprived area of São Paulo, Brazil. A total of 169 pregnant adolescents were assessed for eligibility criteria, 80 of whom were included and randomized to the intervention (n=40) and control group (care as usual, n=40). Primeiros Laços is a home visiting intervention delivered by trained nurses tailored to first-time pregnant adolescents and their children, starting during the first 16 weeks of pregnancy until the child reaches 24 months of age. Participants were assessed by blind interviewers at 8-16 weeks of pregnancy (baseline), 30 weeks of pregnancy, and when the child was 3, 6, and 12 months of age. At 18 months, participants were assessed regarding maternal parenting and parental well-being using a 7-consecutive-day eDiary. The smartphone app was programmed to notify participants every day at 9:00 PM over a period of seven days. RESULTS: We were able to contact 57/80 (71%) participants (29 from the intervention group and 28 from the control group) when the child was 18 months of age. Forty-eight of the 57 participants (84%) completed at least one day of the eDiary protocol. The daily compliance rate ranged from 49% to 70%. Our analyses showed a significant effect of the intervention on parental well-being (B=0.32, 95% CI [0.06, 0.58], P=.02) and the maternal parenting behavior of the mother telling a story or singing to the child (odds ratio=2.33, 95% CI [1.20, 4.50], P=.01).Our analyses showed a significant effect of the intervention on parental well-being (B=0.32, P=.02) and the maternal parenting behavior of the mother telling a story or singing to the child (odds ratio=2.33, P=.01). CONCLUSIONS: The Primeiros Laços intervention improved maternal parenting and parental well-being, demonstrating its promise for low-income adolescent mothers. The compliance rate of the eDiary assessment showed that it was generally accepted by adolescent mothers with limited resources. Future studies can implement ambulatory assessment in LMICs via smartphones to measure mother and child behaviors. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02807818; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02807818.

Exploring Processes in Day-to-Day Parent-Adolescent Conflict and Angry Mood: Evidence for Circular Causality.

Parent-adolescent conflict has been studied both as a precursor of long-term macrolevel developmental risks and as an outcome of microlevel, moment-to-moment interaction patterns. However, the family-level processes underlying the maintenance or regulation of conflict in daily life are largely overlooked. A meso-level understanding of parent-adolescent conflict offers important practical insights that have direct implications for interventions. The present study explores day-to-day reciprocal processes and carryover in parents' and adolescents' experiences of anger and conflict. Daily diary data provided by parent-adolescent dyads (N = 151) from two-caregiver households (adolescents: 61.59% female, mean age = 14.60 years) over 21 days were examined using a multivariate Poisson multilevel model to evaluate the circular causality principle in parents' and adolescents' daily conflict and anger. Findings offer empirical support for the theory, suggesting that parents' and adolescents' anger and conflict exist together in a feedback loop wherein conflict is both a consequence of past anger and also an antecedent of future anger, both within and across persons. Increased understanding of the daily interaction patterns and maintenance of parent-adolescent conflict can guide more informed, targeted, and well-timed interventions intended to ameliorate the consequences of problematic parent-adolescent conflict sequences.

El conflicto entre padres y adolescentes se ha estudiado como precursor de riesgos del desarrollo a nivel macro y a largo plazo y como resultado de los patrones de interacción a cada momento y a nivel micro. Sin embargo, los procesos a nivel familiar que subyacen al mantenimiento o a la regulación del conflicto en la vida diaria se pasan por alto en gran medida. Una comprensión a nivel meso del conflicto entre padres y adolescentes ofrece importantes conocimientos prácticos que tienen consecuencias directas para las intervenciones. El presente estudio analiza los procesos recíprocos diarios y residuales en las experiencias de enfado y conflicto de los padres y los adolescentes. Se analizaron los datos de los registros diarios proporcionados por las díadas padre-adolescente (N= 151) de dos hogares de cuidadores (adolescentes: 61.59 % sexo femenino, edad promedio= 14.60 años) durante 21 días utilizando un modelo multivariado y multinivel de Poisson para evaluar el principio de causalidad circular en el conflicto y el enfado diarios de los padres y los adolescentes. Los resultados ofrecen respaldo empírico para la teoría, ya que sugieren que el enfado y el conflicto de los padres y los adolescentes existen juntos en un círculo vicioso en el cual el conflicto es tanto una consecuencia del enfado anterior como un antecedente del enfado futuro, tanto dentro como entre las personas. Una mayor comprensión de los patrones de interacción diaria y del mantenimiento del conflicto entre padres y adolescentes puede guiar intervenciones más informadas, orientadas y oportunas destinadas a mejorar las consecuencias de las secuencias problemáticas de conflicto entre padres y adolescentes.

Implications of Family Cohesion and Conflict for Adolescent Mood and Well-Being: Examining Within- and Between-Family Processes on a Daily Timescale.

Family-level conflict and cohesion are well-established predictors of adolescent mental health. However, traditional approaches focusing on between-family differences in cohesion and conflict may overlook daily intrafamily variability that might provide important new information. We used data from a 21-day daily diary protocol in a sample of 151 caregivers (95.3% female) and their adolescent child (61.5% female) in two-caregiver families to test whether daily changes in family functioning are associated with daily changes in adolescent well-being and whether adolescent well-being depends on average levels of family functioning. We examined family cohesion and conflict in relation to adolescent angry, depressed, and anxious mood, as well as happiness, life satisfaction, and meaning and purpose in life in multilevel models. Both cohesion and conflict exhibited meaningful daily variation. Adolescent-reported cohesion and conflict had unique within-family associations with all six adolescent outcomes. Models using parent reports of family functioning yielded fewer associations than models with adolescent reports; however, several findings remained. Cross-level interactions indicated that within-family variations in cohesion were only associated with adolescent depression in families with lower average levels of cohesion across days. In sum, this study provides compelling evidence that families exhibit meaningful variability from day to day and that daily variation has important implications for adolescent well-being.

El conflicto y la cohesión a nivel familiar son predictores bien establecidos de la salud mental adolescente. Sin embargo, los enfoques tradicionales que se centran en diferencias interfamiliares en la cohesión y el conflicto pueden pasar por alto la variabilidad intrafamiliar diaria que podría proporcionar información importante y nueva. Utilizamos datos de un protocolo de registro diario de 21 días en una muestra de 151 cuidadores (el 95.3 % de sexo femenino) y su hijo adolescente (el 61.5% de sexo femenino) en familias de dos cuidadores para evaluar si los cambios diarios en el funcionamiento familiar están asociados con los cambios diarios en el bienestar de los adolescentes, y si el bienestar de los adolescentes depende de los niveles promedio de funcionamiento familiar. Analizamos la cohesión y el conflicto familiar en relación con los estados de ánimo de enojo, depresión y ansiedad así como de felicidad, satisfacción con la vida, y significado y propósito en la vida en modelos multinivel. Tanto la cohesión como el conflicto demostraron una variación diaria significativa. La cohesión y el conflicto informados por los adolescentes tuvieron asociaciones únicas dentro de las familias con los seis resultados de los adolescentes. Los modelos que utilizaron informes de los padres del funcionamiento familiar indicaron menos asociaciones que los modelos con informes de los adolescentes, sin embargo, quedaron varios hallazgos. Las interacciones a nivel transversal indicaron que las variaciones en la cohesión intrafamiliar estuvieron solamente asociadas con la depresión de los adolescentes en las familias con niveles promedio más bajos de cohesión a lo largo de los días. En resumen, este estudio ofrece pruebas convincentes de que las familias demuestran una variabilidad significativa día a día y de que la variación diaria tiene importantes implicancias para el bienestar de los adolescentes.