Autonomy-supportive parenting as a moderator of associations between ethnic and racial identity processes and psychological adjustment during college.

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to test the roles of ethnic and racial identity (ERI) processes and autonomy-supportive parenting on college students' psychological adjustment. METHOD: American college students of color (N = 505) completed questionnaires assessing ERI exploration and commitment, autonomy-supportive parenting, and psychological adjustment (self-esteem, depressive symptoms). Key variables were operationalized as latent constructs, and main and interaction effects were tested using the latent moderated structural equation modeling approach. RESULTS: Higher levels of ERI commitment (but not exploration) and parental autonomy support each uniquely predicted higher levels of self-esteem and lower levels of depressive symptoms. Parental autonomy support moderated associations between ERI processes and psychological adjustment, and the nature of moderation did not differ across Black and Latino/a/x students. CONCLUSIONS: Supporting the psychological adjustment of college students of color necessitates acknowledging the importance of both parental and institutional efforts to encourage students' autonomy strivings and ERI processes. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Telehealth delivery of modified attachment and biobehavioral catch-up: feasibility, acceptability, and lessons learned.

The COVID-19 pandemic necessitated dramatic shifts in the delivery and evaluation of attachment-based home-visiting services. The pandemic disrupted a pilot randomized clinical trial of modified Attachment and Biobehavioral Catch-Up (mABC), an attachment-based intervention adapted for pregnant and peripartum mothers with opioid use disorders. We transitioned from in-person to telehealth delivery of mABC and modified Developmental Education for Families, an active comparison intervention targeting healthy development. Of 40 mothers then enrolled in study interventions, 30 participated in telehealth, completing an average of 4.7 remote sessions each (SD = 3.0; range = 1-11). Following the transition to telehealth, 52.5% of randomized cases and 65.6% of mothers maintaining custody completed study interventions, comparable to pre-pandemic rates. Overall, telehealth delivery was feasible and acceptable, and mABC parents coaches' ability to observe and comment on attachment-relevant parenting behaviors was preserved. Two mABC case studies are presented and lessons learned for future telehealth implementation of attachment-based interventions are discussed. .

Youth Parasympathetic Functioning Moderates Relations between Cumulative Family Risk and Internalizing Behaviors.

Problematic family functioning places young adolescents at risk for internalizing behaviors. However, not all adolescents who experience family risk develop internalizing behaviors during early adolescence. Informed by a cumulative risk perspective, the current study examined whether associations between cumulative family risk, as well as particular family risk domains, and youth internalizing behaviors are moderated by youth parasympathetic reactivity. Participants include 68 young adolescents in 6th grade. Youth were 56% female, 41% African American, and 54% European American. For young adolescents who experienced higher change in respiratory sinus arrhythmia during a challenge/stressor task, greater cumulative family risk, exposure to more family risk domains, and several particular risk factors (maternal psychological well-being, marital/family system risk), were associated with higher levels of internalizing behaviors. The findings from this study demonstrate that the extent to which both particular family risk factors and cumulative family risk place youth at increased risk for internalizing behaviors depends on youth's parasympathetic functioning.

Sympathetic and Parasympathetic Nervous System Functioning and Experiences of Peer Exclusion: Links to Internalizing Problems in Early Adolescence.

This study examines the moderating effect of both branches of the autonomic nervous system (sympathetic and parasympathetic) on associations between peer exclusion and internalizing behaviors. Young adolescents (N = 68) self-reported their perceptions of peer exclusion and internalizing problems and participated in stress-inducing public speaking tasks. Skin conductance and respiratory sinus arrhythmia were assessed at baseline (skin conductance baseline, SCLB; respiratory sinus arrhythmia baseline, RSAB) and during the challenge task to provide measures of physiological reactivity (skin conductance reactivity, SCLR; respiratory sinus arrhythmia reactivity, delta RSA). Youth with high delta RSA (low vagal suppression) had higher levels of internalizing problems when they perceived more peer exclusion in their social environments. The combination of low SCLR and high delta RSA (reciprocal parasympathetic) predicted higher levels of internalizing problems, whereas the combination of high SCLR and high delta RSA (coactivation) predicted lower levels of internalizing problems. The association between peer exclusion and youth internalizing problems was not moderated by ANS reactivity profiles which reflected combinations of SCLR and delta RSA.