Alcohol Use Disorder Polygenic Risk Scores and Trajectories of Early Adolescent Externalizing Behaviors: Examining the Role of Parenting and Family Conflict in the Racially/Ethnically Diverse ABCD Sample.

This study examined the independent and interactive effects of alcohol use disorder genome-wide polygenic scores (AUD-PGS) and parenting and family conflict on early adolescent externalizing behaviors. Data were drawn from White (N = 6181, 46.9% female), Black/African American (N = 1784, 50.1% female), and Hispanic/Latinx (N = 2410, 48.0% female) youth from the adolescent brain cognitive development Study (ABCD). Parents reported on youth externalizing behaviors at baseline (T1, age 9/10), 1-year (T2, age 10/11) and 2-year (T3, age 11/12) assessments. Youth reported on parenting and family environment at T1 and provided saliva or blood samples for genotyping. Results from latent growth models indicated that in general externalizing behaviors decreased from T1 to T3. Across all groups, higher family conflict was associated with more externalizing behaviors at T1, and we did not find significant associations between parental monitoring and early adolescent externalizing behaviors. Parental acceptance was associated with lower externalizing behaviors among White and Hispanic youth, but not among Black youth. Results indicated no significant main effect of AUD-PGS nor interaction effect between AUD-PGS and family variables on early adolescent externalizing behaviors. Post hoc exploratory analysis uncovered an interaction between AUD-PGS and parental acceptance such that AUD-PGS was positively associated with externalizing rule-breaking behaviors among Hispanic youth, but only when parental acceptance was very low. Findings highlight the important role of family conflict and parental acceptance in externalizing behaviors among early adolescents, and emphasize the need to examine other developmental pathways underlying genetic risk for AUD across diverse populations.

Direct and Indirect Longitudinal Associations of Mother and Father Engagement in Middle Childhood on Adolescent Externalizing and Internalizing Behaviors.

Parent engagement is an important aspect of parenting during childhood. However, little is known about the unique longitudinal associations of mother and father engagement with adolescents' externalizing and internalizing problem behaviors. This study uses Future of Families and Child Wellbeing Study data to examine the potential direct and indirect associations of parent engagement at age 9 on adolescent externalizing and internalizing behaviors at age 15. The analytic sample size is 1349, and at age 9, the mean age of children was 9.40 years (SD = 0.37). Forty-eight percent of children were female and 68% of them were from the married families. The results show that while controlling for mother engagement, higher father engagement at age 9 was directly associated with fewer adolescent internalizing behaviors, only among adolescent boys and in married families. In addition, among adolescent boys, father engagement had an indirect association with externalizing behaviors through father-child closeness. Mother engagement, however, is only found to have an indirect association with adolescents' externalizing and internalizing behaviors through maternal hostility (while controlling for father engagement). The results for mother engagement held for boys and in married families only. The findings indicate that both mother and father engagement during childhood is important and helpful to prevent adolescent problem behaviors directly or indirectly via parent-child relationship.

Patterns of Maternal Distress from Pregnancy Through Childhood Predict Psychopathology During Early Adolescence.

Capitalizing on a longitudinal cohort followed from gestation through adolescence (201 mother-child dyads), we investigate the contributions of severity and stability of both maternal depressive and perceived stress symptoms to adolescent psychopathology. Maternal depressive and perceived stress trajectories from pregnancy through adolescence were identified with latent class growth analyses, and associations with adolescent internalizing and externalizing symptoms were examined. For both depression and stress, the most common trajectory group comprised mothers displaying stable and low symptom levels over time, and adolescents of these mothers had the fewest internalizing and externalizing symptoms. Maternal membership to one or more aberrant trajectory groups predicted higher levels of internalizing and externalizing symptoms, determined by both maternal and adolescent self-report. This study indicates that profiles of multiple indicators of maternal psychopathology assessed across childhood, beginning prenatally, can provide critical additional insight into child psychopathology risk.

The role of parental genotype in the intergenerational transmission of externalizing behavior: Evidence for genetic nurturance.

The purpose of this study was to examine possible pathways by which genetic risk associated with externalizing is transmitted in families. We used molecular data to disentangle the genetic and environmental pathways contributing to adolescent externalizing behavior in a sample of 1,111 adolescents (50% female; 719 European and 392 African ancestry) and their parents from the Collaborative Study on the Genetics of Alcoholism. We found evidence for genetic nurture such that parental externalizing polygenic scores were associated with adolescent externalizing behavior, over and above the effect of adolescents' own externalizing polygenic scores. Mediation analysis indicated that parental externalizing psychopathology partly explained the effect of parental genotype on children's externalizing behavior. We also found evidence for evocative gene-environment correlation, whereby adolescent externalizing polygenic scores were associated with lower parent-child communication, less parent-child closeness, and lower parental knowledge, controlling for parental genotype. These effects were observed among participants of European ancestry but not African ancestry, likely due to the limited predictive power of polygenic scores across ancestral background. These results demonstrate that in addition to genetic transmission, genes influence offspring behavior through the influence of parental genotypes on their children's environmental experiences, and the role of children's genotypes in shaping parent-child relationships.

Structure and trends of externalizing and internalizing psychiatric symptoms and gender differences among adolescents in the US from 1991 to 2018.

PURPOSE: We aimed to estimate the structure of internalizing and externalizing symptoms and potential time dynamics in their association. This is understudied among adolescents, despite increasing internalizing and decreasing externalizing symptoms in recent years. METHODS: We analyzed data from US Monitoring the Future cross-sectional surveys (1991-2018) representative of school-attending adolescents (N = 304,542). Exploratory factor analysis using maximum likelihood estimation method and promax rotation resulted in a two-factor solution (factor correlation r = 0.24) that differentiated eight internalizing and seven conduct-related externalizing symptoms. Time-varying effect modification linear regression models estimated the association between standardized internalizing and externalizing symptoms factor scores over time overall and by gender. RESULTS: In 2012, trends in average factor scores diverged for internalizing and externalizing factors. The average standardized internalizing factor score increased from - 0.03 in 2012 to 0.06 in 2013 and the average externalizing factor score decreased from - 0.06 in 2011 to - 0.13 in 2012. We found that for every one-unit increase in standardized internalizing factor score, standardized externalizing factor score increased by 0.224 units in 2010 (95% CI: 0.215, 0.233); the magnitude of this increase was 22.3% lower in 2018 (i.e., 0.174 units; 95% CI: 0.160, 0.188). Decoupling of internalizing and externalizing symptoms began earlier among boys (~ 1995) than among girls (~ 2010). CONCLUSION: The decoupling of internalizing and externalizing symptoms among adolescents suggests that changes in the prevalence of shared risk factors for adolescent psychiatric symptoms affect these dimensions in opposing directions, raising the importance of considering symptoms and their risk factors together in prevention and intervention efforts.

Mapping Pathways by Which Genetic Risk Influences Adolescent Externalizing Behavior: The Interplay Between Externalizing Polygenic Risk Scores, Parental Knowledge, and Peer Substance Use.

Genetic predispositions and environmental influences both play an important role in adolescent externalizing behavior; however, they are not always independent. To elucidate gene-environment interplay, we examined the interrelationships between externalizing polygenic risk scores, parental knowledge, and peer substance use in impacting adolescent externalizing behavior across two time-points in a high-risk longitudinal sample of 1,200 adolescents (764 European and 436 African ancestry; Mage = 12.99) from the Collaborative Study on the Genetics of Alcoholism. Results from multivariate path analysis indicated that externalizing polygenic scores were directly associated with adolescent externalizing behavior but also indirectly via peer substance use, in the European ancestry sample. No significant polygenic association nor indirect effects of genetic risk were observed in the African ancestry group, likely due to more limited power. Our findings underscore the importance of gene-environment interplay and suggest peer substance use may be a mechanism through which genetic risk influences adolescent externalizing behavior.

Slow Life History Strategies and Increases in Externalizing and Internalizing Problems During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic is but one of many instances of environmental adversities that have recurred in human history. Biobehavioral resource allocation strategies, known as fast (reproduction-focused) versus slow (development-focused) life history (LH) tradeoff strategies, evolved to deal with environmental challenges such as infectious diseases. Based on 141 young people and their mothers observed prior to (ages 9 and 13) and during (age 20) COVID-19, we investigated longitudinal relations involving slow LH strategies. The results support the adaptive role of slow LH strategies in reducing COVID-related increases in externalizing problems. In addition, the effect of early adversity on COVID-related increases in externalizing was mediated, and the effect on COVID-related increases in internalizing was moderated, by slow LH strategies.

Unfolding Relations among Mindful Parenting, Recurrent Conflict, and Adolescents' Externalizing and Internalizing Problems.

The current study examined unfolding relations among mothers' mindful parenting, parent-adolescent recurrent conflict, and adolescents' externalizing and internalizing problems. In a community sample of 117 families (31% black, Asian, American Indian, or Latino), parents and adolescents (52% female; average age = 12.13 years) were followed over 15 months. Parents answered questions about mindful parenting and recurrent conflict, and adolescents reported on their own externalizing and internalizing problems. Path analyses indicated that higher levels of mindful parenting were significantly related to lower levels of recurrent conflict 2-3 months later, controlling for previous levels of recurrent conflict. Moreover, lower levels of recurrent conflict were significantly related to lower levels of externalizing problems and internalizing problems 1 year later, controlling for previous levels of those problems. Subgroup analyses indicated that relations were comparable across subgroups defined by adolescent gender, race, parent marital status, and family financial strain. The effects of mindful parenting were robust even after accounting for other indicators of positive and supportive parenting, namely inductive reasoning and warmth in the parent-adolescent relationship. These findings highlight the potential of mindful parenting to improve family interactions and adolescent adjustment.

Parental knowledge is an environmental influence on adolescent externalizing.

BACKGROUND: There is evidence both that parental monitoring is an environmental influence serving to diminish adolescent externalizing problems and that this association may be driven by adolescents' characteristics via genetic and/or environmental mechanisms, such that adolescents with fewer problems tell their parents more, and therefore appear to be better monitored. Without information on how parents' and children's genes and environments influence correlated parent and child behaviors, it is impossible to clarify the mechanisms underlying this association. METHOD: The present study used the Extended Children of Twins model to distinguish types of gene-environment correlation and direct environmental effects underlying associations between parental knowledge and adolescent (age 11-22 years) externalizing behavior with a Swedish sample of 909 twin parents and their adolescent offspring and a US-based sample of 405 White adolescent siblings and their parents. RESULTS: Results suggest that more parental knowledge is associated with less adolescent externalizing via a direct environmental influence independent of any genetic influences. There was no evidence of a child-driven explanation of the association between parental knowledge and adolescent externalizing problems. CONCLUSIONS: In this sample of adolescents, parental knowledge exerted an environmental influence on adolescent externalizing after accounting for genetic influences of parents and adolescents. Because the association between parenting and child development originates in the parent, treatment for adolescent externalizing must not only include parents but should also focus on altering their parental style. Thus, findings suggest that teaching parents better knowledge-related monitoring strategies is likely to help reduce externalizing problems in adolescents.

Direct and Indirect Associations between Family Residential Mobility, Parent Functioning, and Adolescent Behavioral Health.

Residential mobility and caregiver social support are two key factors influencing adolescents' and their caregivers' health status. However, few studies have examined whether these factors vary across developmental periods. The present study therefore adopted a life course perspective to investigate the longitudinal effects of residential mobility and caregiver social support on a range of individual health outcomes (i.e., caregiver depression, adolescent internalizing problems, and adolescent externalizing problems) among families exposed to disadvantaged social and economic conditions. Data were obtained from the Longitudinal Studies in Child Abuse and Neglect, and 425 children and their caregivers who completed the age 12, 14, 16, and 18 interviews were included in this study. Structural equation modeling was conducted to test the measurement and structural models. The results showed that greater residential mobility was significantly associated with higher levels of caregiver depression, which in turn led to more adolescent internalizing and externalizing problems. Alternatively, higher levels of caregiver social support mitigated the levels of caregiver depression, which in turn resulted in fewer adolescent internalizing and externalizing problems. Highly mobile children and their caregivers were found to be vulnerable to several negative health outcomes and in high need of mental and behavioral health support and services. These findings inform important policy and practice implications on social support for mobile caregivers to address their children's behavioral problems.

Self-Esteem Mediates Longitudinal Associations from Adolescent Perceptions of Parenting to Adjustment.

The present study examines direct and indirect associations between perceptions of parenting and adolescent adjustment. We focus on self-esteem as an intervening variable. Participants included 446 girls and 471 boys ages 14 to 17 (M = 15.64) at the outset. A community sample of high school students was tracked for 3 consecutive years, completing annual surveys describing perceptions of parenting (i.e., psychological control and support), self-esteem, and adjustment (i.e., internalizing symptoms and externalizing symptoms). Longitudinal bidirectional associations emerged between adolescent perceptions of parenting (psychological control and support) and adolescent adjustment (externalizing and internalizing symptoms). Full longitudinal mediation analyses confirmed the hypothesized indirect links from perceived parenting to adolescent internalizing symptoms through adolescent self-esteem. High psychological control and low connectedness were associated with subsequent decreases in self-esteem, which, in turn, were associated with later increases in internalizing symptoms. Psychological control and connectedness also directly (but not indirectly) predicted changes in adolescent externalizing symptoms. Perceived psychological control and a lack of relatedness undercut self-confidence and undermine feelings of positive self-regard, which can eventually widen into more serious manifestations of psychological distress.

Protective effects of the alcohol dehydrogenase-ADH1B*3 allele on attention and behavior problems in adolescents exposed to alcohol during pregnancy.

Alcohol dehydrogenase is a critical enzyme in the metabolism of alcohol. Expression of three alleles at the ADH1B locus results in enzymes that differ in turnover rate and affinity for alcohol. The ADH1B*3 allele, which appears to be unique to individuals of African descent, is associated with more rapid alcohol metabolism than the more prevalent ADH1B*1 allele. It has been previously demonstrated that the presence of at least one maternal ADH1B*3 allele confers a protective effect against alcohol teratogenicity in infants and children. This study was conducted to determine whether the presence of the ADH1B*3 allele in the mother or child continues to be protective in alcohol-exposed individuals during adolescence. 186 adolescents and 167 mothers participating in a 14-year follow-up of the Detroit Longitudinal Cohort were genotyped for ADH1B alleles. Behavioral reports were obtained from classroom teachers. Frequencies of the ADH1B*3 allele were 17.6% in the mothers and 21.0% in the adolescents, which are consistent with the 15-20% expected for African Americans. Prenatal alcohol exposure was associated with increased attention problems and externalizing behaviors in adolescents born to mothers with two ADH1B*1 alleles but not in those whose mothers had at least one ADH1B*3 allele. A similar pattern was seen in relation to the presence or absence of an ADH1B*3 allele in the adolescent, which may have reflected the presence/absence of the maternal variant. This study is the first to demonstrate that the protective effects of the maternal ADH1B*3 allele continue to be evident during adolescence. These persistent individual differences in vulnerability of offspring to the behavioral effects of fetal alcohol exposure are likely attributable to more rapid metabolism of alcohol that the ADH1B*3 variant confers on the mother, leading to a reduction of the peak blood alcohol concentration to which the fetus is exposed during each drinking episode.