"I Missed School to Take Care of Someone Else": Middle and High School Students' Caregiving Responsibilities as a Reason for Absenteeism.

BACKGROUND: Middle and high school students who are involved in caregiving for aging, chronically ill, and/or disabled family members report more learning challenges compared to their non-caregiving peers. However, little is known about how many students miss school to take care of someone else, and which students are most likely to have this experience. Such knowledge could reveal an important, largely unrecognized reason for school absences and educational disparities. METHODS: Our research-practice partnership surveyed middle-and-high schoolers across Rhode Island public schools in 2022. RESULTS: Among 55,746 students (45% White non-Latinx; 21% Latinx; 45% girls), 13.80% reported they had missed school to take care of someone else, with up to 35% in some districts. Students who missed school for caregiving were disproportionately girls, non-binary, transgender, or preferred not to report gender, older youth, and from historically marginalized racial and ethnic groups, and from urban districts. CONCLUSIONS: Children's experiences caregiving for others may be an important and overlooked contributor to absenteeism and achievement gaps, especially in urban areas. We suggest school policies to better serve these students.

Links Between Objectively-Measured Hourly Smartphone Use and Adolescent Wake Events Across Two Weeks.

PURPOSE: Psychosocial and bioregulatory pressures threaten sleep during adolescence. Although recent work suggests that the ubiquity of smartphone use throughout adolescence may also relate to poorer sleep outcomes, most existing research relies upon self-report and retrospective measures. This study drew upon objective measures of smartphone use and sleep at the hourly level to understand how smartphone use was associated with the duration of wake events during sleeping hours. METHODS: Across a 14-day daily study, 59 racially and ethnically diverse adolescents ages 15 to 18 had their sleep assessed via Fitbit Inspire 2 devices and uploaded screenshots of their screen time, pickups, and notifications as logged by their iPhone's iOS. Multi-level modeling was performed to assess hourly level associations between adolescent smartphone use and wake-events during their sleep sessions (N = 4,287 hourly cases). RESULTS: In hours during adolescents' sleep session with more screen time or pickups, adolescents had longer wake event duration. More notifications in a given hour were not associated with wake event duration in the same hour. CONCLUSIONS: Using objectively measured smartphone and sleep data collected at the hourly level, we found that during sleeping hours, when adolescents are actively engaging with their smartphones, their sleep is disrupted, such that their wake events are longer in that hour.

Linking video chatting, phone calling, text messaging, and social media with peers to adolescent connectedness.

For 14 days three times per day (6072 observations), adolescents (N = 207, Mage = 15.45 years) reported their digital (i.e., video chatting, texting, social media, and phone calling) communication with peers and their social connectedness. Controlling for in-person interactions, adolescents felt more connected in hours when they had communicated with peers by video chatting, texting, or social media, but not phone calling. Girls communicated with peers via text and social media more than boys, and boys talked on the phone more than girls. Boys who talked, texted, or video chatted more on average reported higher connectedness on average, whereas girls did not. As the links with connectedness were only found at the hourly- and not the daily level, results highlight that a sense of connectedness from digital media may be fleeting in nature.

Cortisol response marks biological sensitivity to kindergartners' social hierarchies for emerging school engagement.

This longitudinal study investigated how kindergartners' position in the classroom social hierarchy and cortisol response relate to their change in school engagement across the first year of kindergarten (N = 332, M = 5.3 years, 51% boys, 41% White, 18% Black). We used naturalistic classroom observations of social hierarchy positions, laboratory-based challenges to elicit salivary cortisol response, and teacher, parent, and child reports of emotional engagement with school. Robust, clustered regression models revealed that in the fall, lower cortisol response (but not social hierarchy position) was associated with greater school engagement. However, by spring, significant interactions emerged. Highly reactive, subordinate children showed increases in school engagement from fall to spring of the kindergarten year, whereas highly reactive, dominant children showed decreases in school engagement. This is some of the first evidence that higher cortisol response marks biological sensitivity to early peer-based social contexts.

Adolescents' Perceptions of Social Risk and Prosocial Tendencies: Developmental Change and Individual Differences.

Many prosocial behaviors involve social risks such as speaking out against a popular opinion, bias, group norm, or authority. However, little is known about whether adolescents' prosocial tendencies develop over time with their perceptions of social risks. This accelerated longitudinal study used within-subject growth-curve analyses to test the link between prosocial tendencies and social risk perceptions, in a sample of adolescents who completed self-reports annually for three years (N = 893; M age = 12.30 years, 10 - 14 years at Wave 1, and 10 - 17 years across the full study period; 50% Girls, 33% White non-Latinx, 27% Latinx, 20% African American, 20% Mixed/Other Race). The association between social risk tolerance and prosocial tendencies changed significantly across adolescence, such that at for younger adolescents, more prosocial tendencies were associated with less social risk tolerance, whereas for relatively older adolescents, more prosocial tendencies were associated marginally with more social risk tolerance. Additional individual differences by empathy (but not sensation seeking) emerged. These findings suggest that prosocial development across adolescence may be associated with an underlying ability to tolerate social risks.

Momentary links between adolescents' social media use and social experiences and motivations: Individual differences by peer susceptibility.

This longitudinal ecological momentary assessment study examined whether adolescents' use of social media to interact with peers relates to their experiences of social connectedness, social craving, and sensation seeking on an hourly level. Further, we investigated whether these associations differ for adolescents who were nominated by their peers as more or less susceptible to social influences, because highly susceptible youth may be more strongly impacted by social media due to heightened focus on peer behaviors and social feedback. The sample was 212 adolescents in the southeastern United States (Mage = 15 years; range 14 to 17; 56.2% female; 40% White, 28% Latinx, 26% African American, 15% mixed/other race). Controlling for both daily and between-subjects effects, we found a consistent pattern of hourly-level results that were robust to sensitivity analyses. When highly susceptible adolescents used social media to interact with peers in the last hour, they felt less socially connected to others and more strongly craved social connections and novel sensations. Youth who are particularly sensitive to social input from peers may feel less connected to others and crave more connections and exciting stimuli within 1 hr after using social media to interact with peers. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

A meta-analysis of mother-child synchrony in respiratory sinus arrhythmia and contextual risk.

Biobehavioral frameworks of attachment posit that mother-child dyads engage in physiological synchrony that is uniquely formative for children's neurobiological, social, and emotional development. Much of the work on mother-child physiological synchrony has focused on respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA). However, the strength of the existing evidence for mother-child RSA synchrony during interaction is unclear. Using meta-analysis, we summarized results from 12 eligible studies comprising 14 samples and 1201 children ranging from infancy to adolescence (Mage  = 5.68 years, SD = 4.13, range = 0.4-17 years) and their mothers. We found that there was a statistically significant, albeit modest, positive within-dyad association between mother and child fluctuations in RSA. There also was evidence for significant heterogeneity across studies. Less mother-child RSA synchrony was observed in high-risk samples characterized by clinical difficulties, history of maltreatment, or socioeconomic disadvantage. We did not find that mother-child RSA synchrony significantly differed by task context, mean child age, or by epoch length for computing RSA. Collectively, these findings suggest that mother-child dyads show correspondence in their fluctuations in RSA, and that RSA synchrony is disrupted in high-risk contexts. Future directions and implications for the study of parent-child physiological synchrony are discussed.

Pakistani preschoolers' number of older siblings and cognitive skills: Moderations by home stimulation and gender.

The present study examines the link between children's number of older siblings and their cognitive development, as measured by executive function (EFs) skills and verbal skills (VIQ) in a sample of 1,302 4-year-old children (54% boys) living in rural Pakistan. Specifically, we investigate whether the links between the number of older siblings and preschoolers' EFs and VIQ are moderated by preschoolers' quality of home stimulation and gender. Multivariate regressions revealed that the number of older siblings was positively associated with EFs for boys in homes with both higher and lower levels of stimulation, and for girls in homes with lower levels of stimulation (p < .05). However, the number of older siblings was negatively associated with EFs for girls from homes with higher levels of stimulation (p = .03). Further, the number of older siblings was positively associated with VIQ in homes with lower stimulation (p < .05), but not for higher stimulation homes. Gender was not a statistically significant moderator of the association between the number of older siblings and VIQ. Findings suggest that living with more older siblings may promote emerging EFs and VIQ among boys and girls with fewer opportunities for cognitive stimulation. However, more older siblings may hinder EF development for girls in the context of adequate home stimulation, perhaps due to inequitable allocation of resources among boys and girls in more affluent, larger families. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

A 28-day, 2-year study reveals that adolescents are more fatigued and distressed on days with greater NO2 and CO air pollution.

This 2-year, 28-day study examined whether adolescents felt greater fatigue and emotional distress the same day and the day after air quality was worse. We linked objective daily air quality measurements to daily self-reports from 422 Mexican-American adolescents in Los Angeles County, California from 2009 to 2011 (50% girls, MAge = 15 years). A robust, within-subject analysis of 9696 observations revealed that adolescents with ongoing physical complaints reported greater fatigue and emotional distress on days that the air contained higher levels of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and carbon monoxide (CO). Regardless of physical complaints, adolescents on average also reported greater fatigue the day after NO2 levels were higher. The same-day and next-day associations between air pollution and distress were mediated via daily increases in fatigue. Results were robust when controlling for day of the week, and daily temperature and humidity. Sulfur dioxide (SO2), ozone (O3), PM2.5 and PM10 were not related to daily fatigue or distress.

Estimating effects of parents' cognitive and non-cognitive skills on offspring education using polygenic scores.

Understanding how parents' cognitive and non-cognitive skills influence offspring education is essential for educational, family and economic policy. We use genetics (GWAS-by-subtraction) to assess a latent, broad non-cognitive skills dimension. To index parental effects controlling for genetic transmission, we estimate indirect parental genetic effects of polygenic scores on childhood and adulthood educational outcomes, using siblings (N = 47,459), adoptees (N = 6407), and parent-offspring trios (N = 2534) in three UK and Dutch cohorts. We find that parental cognitive and non-cognitive skills affect offspring education through their environment: on average across cohorts and designs, indirect genetic effects explain 36-40% of population polygenic score associations. However, indirect genetic effects are lower for achievement in the Dutch cohort, and for the adoption design. We identify potential causes of higher sibling- and trio-based estimates: prenatal indirect genetic effects, population stratification, and assortative mating. Our phenotype-agnostic, genetically sensitive approach has established overall environmental effects of parents' skills, facilitating future mechanistic work.

Biological sensitivity to environmental context fluctuates dynamically within individuals from day to day.

This longitudinal, within-subjects study examined whether adolescents' biological sensitivity to socioeconomic status (SES) for emerging social difficulties varied day to day. Diverse adolescents (N = 315; ages 11-18; 57% female; 25% Asian, 18% Latinx, 11% Black) provided daily diaries and saliva samples for 4 days. We measured biological sensitivity as daily fluctuations in diurnal cortisol slope, and SES as a principal component of family income and maternal education. A robust analysis of 1013 daily assessments revealed that youth from lower SES homes reported greater social difficulties only on days that they exhibited flatter diurnal cortisol slopes, and youth from higher SES homes reported fewer social difficulties on these days. SES was not associated with social difficulties on days that adolescents exhibited steeper, declining diurnal cortisol slopes. Findings support recent theory that risk and resilience are dynamic processes that change within individuals over time. For better and for worse, youth may be more biologically sensitive to their family socioeconomic environments on days that their diurnal cortisol rhythms are flattened.

Adolescents take more risks on days they have high diurnal cortisol or emotional distress.

This study investigates how the interplay between adolescents' daily levels of emotional distress and diurnal cortisol relates to their risk-taking behaviors. Specifically, we test competing hypotheses whether emotional distress exacerbates the link between cortisol and risk taking, or whether cortisol only predicts risk taking in the absence of emotional distress. Ethnically diverse adolescents (N = 370; ages 11-18) reported their daily levels of emotional distress and risk-taking behavior for 5 days, and provided 4 saliva samples/day for 4 days. Emotional distress was positively associated with risk taking the same day and on average across days. Moreover, emotional distress and total cortisol output interactively predicted risk taking, such that total cortisol output was positively associated with risk taking on days when adolescents felt low levels of emotional distress, but not on days when adolescents felt high levels of emotional distress. High levels of emotional distress were associated with high levels of risk taking regardless of total cortisol output. There were no direct associations between cortisol and risk taking on daily or average levels. Results suggest that cortisol is associated with risk-taking behavior on days when adolescents are not already feeling emotionally distressed enough to take risks.

The affective harm account (AHA) of moral judgment: Reconciling cognition and affect, dyadic morality and disgust, harm and purity.

Moral psychology has long debated whether moral judgment is rooted in harm versus affect. We reconcile this debate with the affective harm account (AHA) of moral judgment. The AHA understands harm as an intuitive perception (i.e., perceived harm), and divides "affect" into two: embodied visceral arousal (i.e., gut feelings) and stimulus-directed affective appraisals (e.g., ratings of disgustingness). The AHA was tested in a randomized, double-blind pharmacological experiment with healthy young adults judging the immorality, harmfulness, and disgustingness of everyday moral scenarios (e.g., lying) and unusual purity scenarios (e.g., sex with a corpse) after receiving either a placebo or the ß-blocker propranolol (a drug that dampens visceral arousal). Results confirmed the three key hypotheses of the AHA. First, perceived harm and affective appraisals are neither competing nor independent but intertwined. Second, although both perceived harm and affective appraisals predict moral judgment, perceived harm is consistently relevant across all scenarios (in line with the theory of dyadic morality), whereas affective appraisals are especially relevant in unusual purity scenarios (in line with affect-as-information theory). Third, the "gut feelings" of visceral arousal are not as important to morality as often believed. Dampening visceral arousal (via propranolol) did not directly impact moral judgment, but instead changed the relative contribution of affective appraisals to moral judgment-and only in unusual purity scenarios. By embracing a constructionist view of the mind that blurs traditional dichotomies, the AHA reconciles historic harm-centric and current affect-centric theories, parsimoniously explaining judgment differences across various moral scenarios without requiring any "moral foundations." (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Child and adolescent caregiving for family: Emotional, social, physical, and academic risk and individual differences.

In the United States, it is estimated that more than 5.4 million children and adolescents under age 18 provide care for adult family members who are aging or have a chronic illness, disability, or other health conditions that require assistance. However, little is known about how providing care to the family during childhood and adolescence impacts youth development. We examined whether caregiving as a youth is associated with emotional challenges, peer difficulties, course grades, and physical health risk behaviors. A large, diverse sample of middle and high school students in Florida completed the first systematic school-based survey in the U.S. to date to count caregiving youth (N = 10,880; 52% female; Mage = 14.40, 40% Latinx). Youth reported the amount of caregiving they provided to the family each week, in addition to items reflecting their emotional challenges (e.g., suicidality), peer difficulties (e.g., experiences of conflict or victimization), academic course grades, and health risk behaviors (e.g., diet, physical activity, sleep). We found that Latinx and Black youth provided higher levels of caregiving to the family compared to youth from White non-Latinx, Asian, or Other ethnicities. Caregiving was associated with more emotional challenges, more peer difficulties, and lower course grades for all groups. In addition, providing caregiving was associated with a less healthy diet among older youth and sleeping less than 8 hr per night among White non-Latinx youth. These findings highlight a need to support caregiving youth and their families via policies and institutional supports. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

The Physiologic and Emotional Effects of 360-Degree Video Simulation on Head-Mounted Display Versus In-Person Simulation: A Noninferiority, Randomized Controlled Trial.

INTRODUCTION: A key simulation component is its capability to elicit physiological changes, improving recall. The primary aim was to determine whether parasympathetic responses to head-mounted display simulations (HMDs) were noninferior to in-person simulations. The secondary aims explored sympathetic and affective responses and learning effectiveness. METHODS: The authors conducted a noninferiority trial. Hospital providers who did not use chronotropic medications, have motion sickness, or have seizures were included. The authors randomized participants to in-person or HMD simulation. Biometric sensors collected respiratory sinus arrhythmia and skin conductance levels to measure parasympathetic and sympathetic states at baseline, during, and after the simulation. Affect was measured using a schedule. The authors measured 3-month recall of learning points and used split-plot analysis of variance and Mann-Whitney U tests to analyze. RESULTS: One hundred fifteen participants qualified, and the authors analyzed 56 in each group. Both groups experienced a significant change in mean respiratory sinus arrhythmia from baseline to during and from during to afterward. The difference of change between the groups from baseline to during was 0.134 (95% confidence interval = 0.142 to 0.410, P = 0.339). The difference of change from during the simulation to after was -0.060 (95% confidence interval = -0.337 to 0.217, P = 0.670). Noninferiority was not established for either period. Sympathetic arousal did not occur in either group. Noninferiority was not established for the changes in affect that were demonstrated. The mean scores of teaching effectiveness and achievement scores were not different. CONCLUSIONS: Although a parasympathetic and affective response to the video simulation on an HMD did occur, it was not discernibly noninferior to in-person in this study.

Adolescents Are More Likely to Help Others on Days They Take Risks and Crave Social Connections.

This study examined how adolescents' risk-taking behaviors were related to their prosocial behaviors on a daily level and how this association differed depending on adolescents' daily and average levels of sensation seeking and social craving. Adolescents (N = 212; Mage = 15 years) completed daily diaries for 14 days. Adolescents were more likely to engage in prosocial behavior on days when they also took risks, but only when they also felt high levels of social craving. The daily link between risk-taking and prosocial behavior did not vary based on daily or individual differences in sensation seeking. Results suggest that when adolescents feel highly motivated to connect with others, their risk-taking and prosocial tendencies co-occur on a daily basis.

ß-Adrenergic Contributions to Emotion and Physiology During an Acute Psychosocial Stressor.

OBJECTIVE: ß-Adrenergic receptor signaling, a critical mediator of sympathetic nervous system influences on physiology and behavior, has long been proposed as one contributor to subjective stress. However, prior findings are surprisingly mixed about whether ß-blockade (e.g., propranolol) blunts subjective stress, with many studies reporting no effects. We reevaluated this question in the context of an acute psychosocial stressor with more comprehensive measures and a larger-than-typical sample. We also examined the effects of ß-blockade on psychophysiological indicators of sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system reactivity, given that ß-blockade effects for these measures specifically under acute psychosocial stress are not yet well established. METHODS: In a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled study, 90 healthy young adults received 40 mg of the ß-blocker propranolol or placebo. Participants then completed the Trier Social Stress Test, which involved completing an impromptu speech and difficult arithmetic in front of evaluative judges. Self-reported emotions and appraisals as well as psychophysiology were assessed throughout. RESULTS: Propranolol blunted Trier Social Stress Test preejection period reactivity (b = 9.68, p = .003), a marker of sympathetic nervous system activity, as well as salivary α-amylase reactivity (b = -0.50, p = .006). Critically, propranolol also blunted negative, high arousal emotions in response to the stressor (b = -0.22, p = .026), but cognitive appraisals remained intact (b values < -0.17, p values > .10). CONCLUSIONS: These results provide updated experimental evidence that ß-adrenergic blockade attenuates negative, high arousal emotions in response to a psychosocial stressor while also blunting sympathetic nervous system reactivity. Together, these findings shed light on the neurophysiological mechanisms by which stressors transform into the subjective experience we call "stress."Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT02972554.

Examining a new prosocial risk-taking scale in a longitudinal sample of ethnically diverse adolescents.

INTRODUCTION: This longitudinal study designed and tested the validity of a new measure of prosocial risk taking - risks that individuals take in order to help others. METHODS: The sample was racially and ethnically diverse adolescents in the rural Southeastern United States (N = 867; Mage = 12.82 years, 10-14 years at Wave 1; 50% Girls, 33% White non-Latinx, 27% Latinx, 20% Black, 20% Mixed/Other race/ethnicity). Adolescents completed self-report measures of the new prosocial risk-taking scale at baseline and one- and two-year follow-ups. RESULTS: Confirmatory factor analysis demonstrated excellent model fit with a 6-item single factor score. Further, the scale demonstrated good test-retest reliability at one and two-year follow ups. The scale also demonstrated convergent validity, such that prosocial risk taking was positively correlated with prosocial tendencies, empathy, and sensation seeking, and negatively correlated with negative risk-taking behavior and risk tolerance. Finally, we found significant differences by race/ethnicity (but not by gender) in prosocial risk taking, which were not attributable to measurement invariance, and should be interpreted in the context of ongoing societal inequalities between youth. CONCLUSIONS: The new Prosocial Risk-Taking Scale yielded reliable scores in our sample. It may be used in future research to investigate individual differences in adolescents' prosocial risk taking, developmental change in prosocial risk taking, and the significance of prosocial risk taking for adolescents' emotional and social adaptation.

Prior night sleep moderates the daily spillover between conflict with peers and family and diurnal cortisol.

We investigated whether daily experiences of conflict with family and peers were associated with fluctuations in diurnal cortisol, and whether sleep buffers the associations between conflict and diurnal cortisol. A racially diverse sample of 370 adolescents (ages 11-18; 57.3% female) provided daily diaries for 5 days and saliva samples for 4 days. Hierarchical linear models tested how peer and family conflict were associated with diurnal cortisol (i.e., total cortisol output, cortisol slope, and cortisol awakening response) the next day, and whether these associations were moderated by sleep duration the previous night. When adolescents experienced peer conflict, they showed higher area under the curve (AUC) the next day if they had slept less the night prior to conflict, but relatively lower cortisol awakening response (CAR) and flatter cortisol slope the next day if they had slept more the night prior to conflict. When adolescents experienced family conflict, they also showed higher AUC the next day if they had slept less the night prior to conflict, but higher CAR the next day if they had slept more the night prior to conflict. Family conflict and sleep were not directly or interactively related to cortisol slope.