Impulsivity as a mechanism linking child abuse and neglect with substance use in adolescence and adulthood.

Emerging developmental perspectives suggest that adverse rearing environments promote neurocognitive adaptations that heighten impulsivity and increase vulnerability to risky behavior. Although studies document links between harsh rearing environments and impulsive behavior on substance use, the developmental hypothesis that impulsivity acts as mechanism linking adverse rearing environments to downstream substance use remains to be investigated. The present study investigated the role of impulsivity in linking child abuse and neglect with adult substance use using data from (a) a longitudinal sample of youth (Study 1, N = 9,421) and (b) a cross-sectional sample of adults (Study 2, N = 1,011). In Study 1, the links between child abuse and neglect and young adult smoking and marijuana use were mediated by increases in adolescent impulsivity. In Study 2, indirect links between child abuse and neglect and substance use were evidenced via delayed reward discounting and impulsivity traits. Among impulsivity subcomponents, robust indirect effects connecting childhood experiences to cigarette use emerged for negative urgency. Negative urgency, positive urgency, and sensation seeking mediated the effect of child abuse and neglect on cannabis and alcohol use. Results suggest that child abuse and neglect increases risk for substance use in part, due to effects on impulsivity. Individuals with adverse childhood experiences may benefit from substance use preventive intervention programs that target impulsive behaviors.

Developmental Growth Trajectories of Self-Esteem in Adolescence: Associations with Child Neglect and Drug Use and Abuse in Young Adulthood.

Neglectful rearing is linked with young adults' substance use and abuse, though the developmental mechanisms that underlie this association are unclear. The present study examines links between self-esteem growth during adolescence, childhood supervisory versus physical neglect severity, and substance use and abuse in young adulthood. A sample of youth was obtained from the Add Health study (N = 8738; 55.4 %-Female; 20 %-African American, 14.7 %-Hispanic). Growth mixture modeling analyses supported declining, ascending, and stable high self-esteem trajectories. The declining and ascending trajectories reported greater neglect and alcohol abuse (but not use) as well as cannabis use and abuse. The findings suggest that compromised development of self-esteem underlies associations between neglect and substance use and abuse. Preventive interventions may benefit from targeting self-esteem among neglected youth.

Stress and resource pathways connecting early socioeconomic adversity to young adults' physical health risk.

Although research has established the impact of early stress, including stressful life contexts, and early resources, such as educational attainment, on various adolescent health outcomes, previous research has not adequately investigated "integrative models" incorporating both stress and resource mediational pathways to explain how early socioeconomic adversity impacts physical health outcomes, particularly in early life stages. Data on early childhood/adolescent stress and socioeconomic resources as well as biomarkers indicating physical health status in young adulthood were collected from 11,798 respondents (54 % female) over a 13-year period from youth participating in the National Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health). Physical health risk in young adulthood was measured using a composite index of nine regulatory biomarkers of cardiovascular and metabolic systems. Heterogeneity in stress and socioeconomic resource pathways was assessed using latent class analysis to identify clusters, or classes, of stress and socioeconomic resource trajectories. The influence of early socioeconomic adversity on young adults' physical health risk, as measured by biomarkers, was estimated, and the role of stress and socioeconomic resource trajectory classes as linking mechanisms was assessed. There was evidence for the influence of early socioeconomic adversity on young adults' physical health risk directly and indirectly through stress and socioeconomic resource trajectory classes over the early life course. These findings suggest that health models should be broadened to incorporate both stress and resource experiences simultaneously. Furthermore, these findings have prevention and intervention implications, including the importance of early socioeconomic adversity and key intervention points for "turning" the trajectories of at-risk youth.

Linking family economic pressure and supportive parenting to adolescent health behaviors: two developmental pathways leading to health promoting and health risk behaviors.

Adolescent health behaviors, especially health risk behaviors, have previously been linked to distal (i.e., family economic pressure) and proximal (i.e., parental support) contributors. However, few studies have examined both types of contributors along with considering health promoting and health risk behaviors separately. The present study investigated the influences of family economic hardship, supportive parenting as conceptualized by self-determination theory, and individual psychosocial and behavioral characteristics (i.e., mastery and delinquency, respectively) on adolescents' health promoting and health risk behaviors. We used structural equation modeling to analyze longitudinal data from a sample of Caucasian adolescent children and their mothers and fathers (N = 407, 54 % female) to examine direct and indirect effects, as well as gender symmetry and asymmetry. Findings suggest that family economic pressure contributed to adolescent mastery and delinquency through supportive parenting. Further, supportive parenting indirectly affected adolescent health risk behaviors only through delinquency, whereas supportive parenting indirectly influenced health promoting behaviors only through mastery, suggesting different developmental pathways for adolescent health risk and health promoting behaviors. Testing for gender symmetry of the full model showed that maternal and paternal parenting contributed to females' health risk behaviors directly, while maternal and paternal parenting contributed to males' health risk behaviors through delinquency. Gender symmetry was largely unsupported. The study highlights key direct and indirect pathways to adolescent health risk and health promoting behaviors within a family stress model and self-determination theory framework, and also highlights important gender differences in these developmental pathways.

Bicultural stress, identity formation, and alcohol expectancies and misuse in Hispanic adolescents: a developmental approach.

Hispanic immigrant youth engage in increased health risk behaviors, such as alcohol misuse, due in part to being confronted with acculturative stress in addition to facing major normative developmental challenges, such as identity consolidation (Berry et al. in Appl Psychol 55:303-332, 2006). Using a developmental psychopathology framework, in the present study we examined the effect of bicultural stress on alcohol misuse among immigrated Hispanic adolescents, indirectly through trajectories of identity formation and alcohol expectancies. Our sample consisted of 302 recently immigrated Hispanic adolescents (53 % male; Mage = 14.5 at baseline) who were interviewed every 6 months for 3 years. Bivariate growth curve modeling was used to examine the influence of initial early bicultural stress on later alcohol misuse via change in identity development (i.e., coherence and confusion) and subsequent growth in cognitive alcohol expectancies. Findings revealed that initial levels and growth of identity coherence were not significantly associated with either bicultural stress or tension reduction (TR) alcohol expectancies. Multiple mediation analyses indicated that the effect of bicultural stress at time 1 on the frequency of being drunk at time 6 was mediated via high initial levels of identity confusion, followed by growth in risky TR expectancies (T4-T6). A developmental approach to the genesis of alcohol use problems in immigrant youth is discussed.

Antecedents of transition patterns of depressive symptom trajectories from adolescence to young adulthood.

This study examined (a) transition patterns from adolescent-specific depressive symptom trajectory classes to young adult-specific trajectory classes (N = 537; 15-26 years) and (b) identified risk factors associated with these transition patterns. The latent classes and transition analyses identified three transitional patterns of depressive symptom trajectories, including a deteriorating pattern (8.2%), a recovering pattern (22.5%), and a consistently low pattern (69.3%). Additionally, the results showed that contextual risk factors (i.e., negative economic events, negative romantic relationships, and low college enrolment rates) in the transition period to young adulthood were more positively associated with deteriorated or recovered transition patterns of depressive symptom trajectories than with the consistently low transition patterns even after taking into account the effects of adolescent risk factors. The identification of dynamic transition patterns in depressive symptom trajectories from adolescence to young adulthood and risk factors provide useful tools for preventive and intervention efforts. Statement of contribution What is already known on this subject? Heterogeneous trajectories of depressive symptoms across adolescence and young adulthood have been reported. Psychosocial characteristics differentiate trajectories of depressive symptoms from adolescence to young adulthood. What does this study add? Dynamic transition patterns of depressive symptom trajectories are found between adolescence and young adulthood. Life experiences in the transition period are uniquely associated with the transition patterns of depressive symptom trajectories even after adjusting the effects of adolescent characteristics.

Child maltreatment and risk behaviors: The roles of callous/unemotional traits and conscientiousness.

Child maltreatment poses significant risk to the development of callous/unemotional traits as well as risk behaviors such as engaging in violence, having sex with strangers, and binge drinking. In the current study, the indirect pathway from child maltreatment to risk behaviors was examined via callous/unemotional traits; whereas the conscientious personality trait was tested as a moderator of this indirect pathway. Young adults and parents (N=361; Mage=19.14, SD=1.44) completed questionnaires on child maltreatment histories, callousness/unemotional traits, personality characteristics, and risk behaviors. Structural equation modeling was used to examine the hypothesized direct, indirect and conditional indirect effects. Findings showed indirect links between the child maltreatment latent factor and physical fighting, having sex with strangers, and binge drinking via callous/unemotional traits. Furthermore, the conscientiousness personality type significantly buffered the connection between callous/unemotional traits and physical fighting, supporting a conditional indirect effects. Callous/unemotional traits are important factors in the underlying mechanism between child maltreatment and risk behaviors among young adults, and conscientiousness serves as a protective factor against violence. Preventive intervention programs and clinicians may benefit from focusing in addressing callous/unemotional traits among youth who report childhood maltreatment experiences as well as targeting conscientiousness as a protective factor.

Childhood Physical and Sexual Abuse and Social Network Patterns on Social Media: Associations With Alcohol Use and Problems Among Young Adult Women.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of the present study was to examine the links between severities of child abuse (physical vs. sexual), and alcohol use versus problems via social media (Facebook) peer connection structures. METHOD: A total of 318 undergraduate female students at a public university in the United States reported severity of child abuse experiences and current alcohol use and problems. Social network data were obtained directly from the individuals' Facebook network. RESULTS: Severity of childhood physical abuse was positively linked to alcohol use and problems via eigenvector centrality, whereas severity of childhood sexual abuse was negatively linked to alcohol use and problems via clustering coefficient. CONCLUSIONS: Childhood physical and sexual abuse were linked positively and negatively, respectively, to online social network patterns associated with alcohol use and problems. The study suggests the potential utility of these online network patterns as risk indices and ultimately using social media as a platform for targeted preventive interventions.

Early socioeconomic adversity and young adult physical illness: the role of body mass index and depressive symptoms.

PURPOSE: The present study investigated the psychophysiological inter- and intra-individual processes that mediate the linkage between childhood and/or adolescent socioeconomic adversities and adult health outcomes. Specifically, the proposed model examined the roles of youth depressive symptoms and body mass index (BMI) trajectories as mediators that explain the link between early adversity and young adults' general health and physical illnesses after controlling for gender, race or ethnicity, and earlier general health reports. METHODS: Using a nationally representative sample of 12,424 from National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health), this study used growth curve modeling to consider both the severity (initial level) and the change over time (deterioration or elevation) as psychophysiological mediators, thereby acknowledging multiple facets of depressive symptoms and BMI trajectories as psychophysiological mediators of early adversity to adult health. RESULTS: Results provide evidence for (1) the influence of early childhood and early adolescent cumulative socioeconomic adversity on both the initial levels and changes over time of depressive symptoms and BMI and (2) the independent influences depressive symptoms and BMI trajectories on the general health and the physical illnesses of young adults. CONCLUSIONS: These findings contribute valuable knowledge to existing research by elucidating how early adversity exerts an enduring long-term influence on physical health problems in young adulthood; furthermore, this information suggests that effective intervention and prevention programs should incorporate multiple facets (severity and change over time) of multiple mechanisms (psychological and physiological).

Heterogeneity in multidimensional health trajectories of late old years and socioeconomic stratification: a latent trajectory class analysis.

OBJECTIVES: This study examines (a) the heterogeneity in individual multidimensional health trajectories and (b) the socioeconomic stratification of individual multidimensional health trajectories during the late older years. METHOD: This study used prospective data from 1,945 adults, 75 to 85 years old, collected over an 8-year period from the Health and Retirement Study. To examine inconsistent findings in the research literature, a latent trajectory class analysis was performed. RESULTS: Multidimensional overall health trajectories showed three heterogeneous latent classes (maintaining, persistently high, and deteriorating), and profiles of ascribed and achieved socioeconomic characteristics of multidimensional health trajectory classes showed a significant social and racial/ethnic stratification in late older years. DISCUSSION: Past adverse socioeconomic circumstances, including childhood and adulthood adversity, are potential sources of unobserved heterogeneity of multidimensional health trajectories even in late older years. The identification of members of latent trajectory health classes and the associated antecedents linked to health class membership are consistent with a life-course conceptual framework. Thus, multidimensional health capturing the full range of health problems needs to be investigated for proper examination of socioeconomic correlates of health. This facilitates the understanding of the associations between life-course experiences and health in late old age that ultimately have implications for prevention and intervention.