Socio-ecological Resilience Relates to Lower Internalizing Symptoms among Adolescents during the Strictest Period of COVID-19 Lockdown in Perú.

The COVID-19 pandemic has touched the lives of adolescents around the world. This short-term longitudinal, observational study followed 1,334 adolescents (11-17 yo) to investigate whether social-ecological resilience relates to intra- and inter-personal resources and/or the caregiver relationship relates to changes in internalizing symptoms during five stressful weeks of COVID-19 lockdown in Perú. In this work, we contextualize social-ecological resilience in relation to culturally-relevant personal and caregiver resources that youth can use to adapt to stressful situations. We found that adolescents who reported higher levels of personal, caregiver, and overall resilience had lower levels of anxiety and depressive symptoms at week six. We also find that personal, caregiver, and overall resilience moderated the change in anxiety symptoms from week 6 to week 11 of lockdown in 2020. Our findings underscore the importance of social-ecological resilience related to both intra/interpersonal resources and the caregiver relationship for minimizing the harmful impacts of COVID-19 on adolescent internalizing symptoms.

A practical guide for researchers and reviewers using the ABCD Study and other large longitudinal datasets.

As the largest longitudinal study of adolescent brain development and behavior to date, the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study® has provided immense opportunities for researchers across disciplines since its first data release in 2018. The size and scope of the study also present a number of hurdles, which range from becoming familiar with the study design and data structure to employing rigorous and reproducible analyses. The current paper is intended as a guide for researchers and reviewers working with ABCD data, highlighting the features of the data (and the strengths and limitations therein) as well as relevant analytical and methodological considerations. Additionally, we explore justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion efforts as they pertain to the ABCD Study and other large-scale datasets. In doing so, we hope to increase both accessibility of the ABCD Study and transparency within the field of developmental cognitive neuroscience.

Multimethod assessment of pubertal timing and associations with internalizing psychopathology in early adolescent girls.

Early pubertal timing has consistently been associated with internalizing psychopathology in adolescent girls. Here, we aimed to examine whether the association between timing and mental health outcomes varies by measurement of pubertal timing and internalizing psychopathology, differs between adrenarcheal and gonadarcheal processes, and is stronger concurrently or prospectively. We assessed 174 female adolescents (age 10.0-13.0 at Time 1) twice, with an 18-month interval. Participants provided self-reported assessments of depression/anxiety symptoms and pubertal development, subjective pubertal timing, and date of menarche. Their parents/guardians also reported on the adolescent's pubertal development and subjective pubertal timing. We assessed salivary dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), testosterone, and estradiol levels and conducted clinical interviews to determine the presence of case level internalizing disorders. From these data, we computed 11 measures of pubertal timing at both time points, as well as seven measures of internalizing psychopathology, and entered these in a Specification Curve Analysis. Overall, earlier pubertal timing was associated with increased internalizing psychopathology. Associations were stronger prospectively than concurrently, suggesting that timing of early pubertal processes might be especially important for later risk of mental illness. Associations were strongest when pubertal timing was based on the Tanner Stage Line Drawings and when the outcome was case-level Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th edition (DSM-IV) depression or Hierarchical Taxonomy of Psychopathology (HiTOP) distress disorders. Timing based on hormone levels was not associated with internalizing psychopathology, suggesting that psychosocial mechanisms, captured by timing measures of visible physical characteristics might be more meaningful determinants of internalizing psychopathology than biological ones in adolescent girls. Future research should precisely examine these psychosocial mechanisms. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

A Researcher's Guide to the Measurement and Modeling of Puberty in the ABCD Study® at Baseline.

The Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development℠ (ABCD) Study is an ongoing, diverse, longitudinal, and multi-site study of 11,880 adolescents in the United States. The ABCD Study provides open access to data about pubertal development at a large scale, and this article is a researcher's guide that both describes its pubertal variables and outlines recommendations for use. These considerations are contextualized with reference to cross-sectional empirical analyses of pubertal measures within the baseline ABCD dataset by Herting, Uban, and colleagues (2021). We discuss strategies to capitalize on strengths, mitigate weaknesses, and appropriately interpret study limitations for researchers using pubertal variables within the ABCD dataset, with the aim of building toward a robust science of adolescent development.

Psychological Resilience, Experimentally Manipulated Social Status, and Dietary Intake among Adolescents.

Relative to other racial/ethnic groups in the United States, Hispanic American (HA) youth have higher rates of overweight and obesity. Previous work suggests that low perceived social status (SS) promotes excess caloric intake and, thereby, development of obesity. Psychological resilience may play a role in reducing adverse eating behaviors and risk for obesity. The objective of this study was to investigate whether resilience (as measured by the Connor Davidson Resilience Scale) interacts with experimentally manipulated SS to affect dietary intake among HA adolescents (n = 132). Using a rigged game of Monopoly (Hasbro, Inc.), participants were randomized to a high or low SS condition. Following the Monopoly game, participants consumed an ad libitum lunch and their dietary intake was assessed. There was a significant interaction between resilience and experimentally manipulated SS for total energy intake (p = 0.006), percent energy needs consumed (p = 0.005), and sugar intake (p = 0.004). For the high SS condition, for each increase in resilience score, total energy intake decreased by 7.165 ± 2.866 kcal (p = 0.014) and percent energy needs consumed decreased by 0.394 ± 0.153 (p = 0.011). In the low SS condition, sugar intake increased by 0.621 ± 0.240 g for each increase in resilience score (p = 0.011). After correction for multiple comparisons, the aforementioned interactions, but not simple slopes, were statistically significant.

The importance of considering polysubstance use: lessons from cocaine research.

BACKGROUND: Polysubstance use (PSU) is prevalent among individuals with substance use disorders, but the vast majority of preclinical substance use research has focused on individual substances in isolation. Cocaine has been prevalent in the repertoire of persons who use more than one illicit substance. METHODS: We conducted a meta-analysis combining results from literature searches and secondary data analyses to estimate the prevalence of simultaneous and concurrent cocaine + alcohol and cocaine + cannabis use among cocaine users. We next summarized the small body of literature on behavioral, cognitive and neurobiological consequences of cocaine PSU across species, with a focus on alcohol and cannabis. Finally, we used systematic literature searches to assess the extent to which human and animal studies on the neurobiological consequences of cocaine include PSU subjects. RESULTS: The estimated prevalence of simultaneous and concurrent alcohol use among human cocaine users was 74% and 77%, respectively. The estimated prevalence of simultaneous and concurrent cannabis use among cocaine users was 38% and 64%, respectively. Consumption of alcohol or cannabis with cocaine enhances subjective responses to cocaine, concomitant with changes in cocaine metabolism that increase blood cocaine levels, and, in the case of alcohol, produce the psychoactive metabolite cocaethylene. There is also consistent evidence for neurobiological effects of cocaine + alcohol combinations. However, animal PSU research with cocaine lags behind human research. CONCLUSION: Based on the prevalence and known consequences of PSU, consideration of PSU in both human and animal research is vital for understanding patterns of substance use.