Reciprocal links between marijuana use and school adjustment in Black and White rural adolescents.

Although research has established that school adjustment is associated with marijuana use (MU) in adolescence, few studies have tested these associations bidirectionally. Using random intercepts cross-lagged panel modeling, this study examined reciprocal associations between MU and school adjustment across 8th to 10th grade, including the transition to high school. Participants included 5470 rural adolescents (59% White, 41% Black) aged 12-17 years in 2002-2005. School adjustment factors predicted subsequent MU (i.e., higher self-reported grades were protective for Black and White youth; valuing education was protective for Black youth; school behavior problems predicted increased MU across the transition to high school for White youth). MU had several adverse effects on school adjustment, particularly during the transition to high school.

How Does the Neighborhood "Come through the Door?" Concentrated Disadvantage, Residential Instability, and the Home Environment for Preschoolers.

Living in a disadvantaged neighborhood is associated with heightened risk for poor school readiness and health outcomes in early childhood, and the home environment is thought to be a primary mechanism by which neighborhood context impacts preschoolers. This study examined the effects of neighborhood concentrated disadvantage and neighborhood residential instability on the home physical environment and home learning environment for preschoolers in economically disadvantaged families (N = 187). Using structural equation modeling, mothers' perceived neighborhood disorder and depressive symptoms were examined as mechanisms by which neighborhood context "comes through the door." Mothers' neighborhood social embeddedness was also explored as a protective factor. Results showed that concentrated disadvantage was negatively associated with the quality of the home physical environment, and residential instability was negatively associated with the quality of the home learning environment. Concentrated disadvantage had an indirect effect on the home learning environment through mothers' perceived neighborhood disorder and depressive symptoms. The effects of concentrated disadvantage on the home environment were buffered by mothers' neighborhood social embeddedness. Study findings advance understanding of socioeconomic- and place-based disparities in developmental outcomes and identify potential targets for interventions aimed at lessening effects of neighborhood disadvantage on families with young children.

Hope and Abstinence Self-Efficacy: Positive Predictors of Negative Affect in Substance Abuse Recovery.

Goal-oriented thinking, including hope and self-efficacy, might play a constructive and integral role in the substance abuse recovery process, although such an effect may differ by race. The current study investigated hope and self-efficacy, specifically abstinence self-efficacy, as predictors of negative affect (i.e. depression and anxiety) in a longitudinal sample of men and women in substance abuse recovery who lived in sober living homes. We found hope agency and self-efficacy were related but not identical constructs; hope agency and self-efficacy predicted depressive and anxiety symptoms for individuals in recovery, yet these relationships were moderated by race. Theoretical and clinical implications for promoting positive affect among individuals in substance abuse recovery are discussed.

Life stage and taxonomy the most important factors determining vertebrate stoichiometry: A meta-analysis.

Whole-body elemental composition is a key trait for determining how organisms influence their ecosystems. Using mass-balance, ecological stoichiometry predicts that animals with higher concentrations of element X will selectively retain more X and will recycle less X in their waste than animals with lower X concentrations. These animals will also store high quantities of X during their lives and after their deaths (prior to full decomposition). Vertebrates may uniquely impact nutrient cycling because they store high quantities of phosphorus (P) in their bones. However, vertebrates have diverse body forms and invest variably in bone. Current analyses of vertebrate elemental content predominately evaluate fishes, typically neglecting other vertebrates and leaving much of the diversity unexplored. We performed a systematic review and identified 179 measurements of whole-body percent phosphorus (%P), percent nitrogen (%N), and N to P ratio (N:P) from 129 unique species of non-fish vertebrates (amphibians: 39 species; reptiles: 19 species; birds: 27 species; mammals: 46 species). We found that %P (mean: 1.94%; SD [standard deviation] = 0.77) and N:P (mean: 12.52) varied with taxonomy and life stage, while %N (mean: 10.51%; SD = 3.25) varied primarily with taxonomy. Habitat, diet, and size had small and inconsistent effects in different groups. Our study highlights two research gaps. Life stage, which is frequently neglected in stoichiometric studies, is an important factor determining vertebrate %P. Furthermore, amphibians dominate our dataset, while other vertebrate taxa are poorly represented in the current literature. Further research into these neglected vertebrate taxa is essential.

Maintaining and attaining educational expectations: A two-cohort longitudinal study of Hispanic youth.

Hispanic adolescents have high expectations for their own educational attainment, but educational attainment outcomes for Hispanic young adults are relatively low on average. Limited scholarship links Hispanic adolescents' educational expectations with attainment in adulthood. Using a longitudinal within-group approach, the authors examined changes in Hispanic adolescents' educational expectations from 10th to 12th grade as well as the discrepancy between educational expectations and later attainment in 2 cohorts (N = 1,372 and N = 1,521). Based on national surveys approximately 12 years apart (NELS:88 and ELS:02), expectations of a college degree became more common for Hispanic adolescents. Most Hispanic young adults attained less education than they expected, and this expectations-attainment gap grew over time, consistent with U.S. national trends. Parent education was positively associated with attaining expectations, and family income became more important for attaining expectations over time. Consistent with the immigrant paradox and immigrant optimism hypothesis, second-generation youth came closer to attaining their expectations than third- or higher-generation youth of equal positioning. Educational expectations and attainment patterns also varied by cohort: for instance, immigrants in the more recent cohort had an absolute disadvantage in terms of attaining their expectations compared with their other-generation counterparts. Finally, parental involvement in education (e.g., parents' educational aspirations) was associated with educational expectations and attainment outcomes. This study advances knowledge of factors that contribute to maintaining and attaining educational expectations for Hispanic youth and how these factors have changed over time. Study results inform efforts to support Hispanic adolescents' and young adults' educational potential. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Parenting within residential neighborhoods: A pluralistic approach with African American and Latino families at the center.

The intersection of SES and race-ethnicity impact youth development at the family and neighborhood levels. The confluence of neighborhood structural and social characteristics intersects to impact parenting multiple ways. Within lower-income neighborhoods, there is variability in economic and racial-ethnic demographics and social characteristics and a multitude of different lived experiences. We use a person-centered approach to understand how a plurality of neighborhood social characteristics shape parents' ethnic-racial socialization and monitoring strategies, normative parenting practices for diverse families. With 144 African American and Latino families in a new destination context-areas lacking an enduring historical and economic presence of same-ethnic populations-we examined whether we could replicate neighborhood profiles found in other neighborhood contexts using four neighborhood social process indicators (i.e., connectedness, cohesion and trust, informal social control, and problems), identified family- and neighborhood-level predictors of profiles, and explored differences in ethnic-racial socialization and parental monitoring knowledge by profile. We replicated three neighborhood profiles-integral (high on all positive social dynamics and low problems), anomic (low on all positive social dynamics and high problems), and high problems/positive relationships. Caregivers in these profiles differed in family SES and neighborhood disadvantage such that those in anomic neighborhoods had the lowest income-to-needs ratio whereas those in integral neighborhoods experienced the highest neighborhood disadvantage and lowest proportion of Hispanic residents. Egalitarianism, an ethnic-racial socialization message, and parental monitoring levels differed by neighborhood. Findings suggest African American and Latino families' unique experiences in a new destination context, signaling a complex interplay between race-ethnicity, SES, and place.

METHODOLOGICAL PLURALISM AND MIXED METHODOLOGY TO STRENGTHEN COMMUNITY PSYCHOLOGY RESEARCH: AN EXAMPLE FROM OXFORD HOUSE.

This article evaluates how a plurality of research methods has served a research program that has functioned in a much-needed area of research: the role of housing and recovery residences in addiction recovery. The review focuses on one mutually supportive recovery residence model, called Oxford House, which represents more than 1,700 democratic, self-governing residences. To date, there has been no comprehensive evaluation of the research methods used with Oxford House or any other recovery residence. In this article, research methods, including study designs and data analyses, are summarized for 114 peer-reviewed empirical studies that included data on Oxford Houses or Oxford House residents. This review of a pluralistic research program can inform community researchers about the value of recovery residences, the many ways in which recovery residences may be assessed, and the benefits of using multiple methods. Implications for future recovery residence research are discussed.