The moderating role of emotion regulation strategies on Asian American parents' discrimination experiences and mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Asian American parents have experienced significant stressors associated with racial discrimination and anticipatory COVID-19-related discrimination fear during the COVID-19 pandemic, which may adversely impact their mental health. Emotion regulation strategies may attenuate the negative effects of discrimination experiences on mental health, but existing findings have been inconsistent regarding the associations between these factors, particularly among the Asian American population. One hundred ninety-three Asian American parents (Mage = 40.58 years, SD = 6.42 years; 82.4% female) were assessed on their discrimination experiences (racial discrimination in the past year, COVID-19 discrimination fear), emotion regulation strategies (cognitive reappraisal, expressive suppression), and mental health (depression, anxiety). Significant interactions emerged between expressive suppression and racial discrimination in the past year on depression (b = .02, p = .006) and anxiety (b = .03, p < .001). Cognitive reappraisal did not significantly moderate the associations between discrimination experiences and mental health. Results indicated that greater use of expressive suppression exacerbated the adverse effects of racial discrimination on the mental health of Asian American parents. These findings inform research and practice regarding the deleterious effects of racial discrimination and the differential impact of using various emotion regulation strategies on the mental health of Asian American parents. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Differential impact of the school context on ethnic and racial identity and depression for monoracial and multiracial early adolescents.

Introduction: This study examined the direct and indirect effects of school context (negative peer relationships, school environment) on ethnic and racial identity (ERI) development in middle school and later depression symptoms in high school. Differences by racial group were examined for non-Hispanic White (NHW) early adolescents, monoracial adolescents, and multiracial adolescents. Methods: This study used existing data from a large, multiwave, longitudinal study that included 593 racial/ethnically diverse adolescents from sixth grade through ninth grade across three public middle schools in the Pacific Northwest. Results: Using multigroup path analysis in structural equation modeling, the findings indicated differences by racial group-school environment was associated with positive ERI development in middle school for NHW and monoracial adolescents but not for multiracial adolescents. For multiracial adolescents, ERI predicted later depression symptoms. Discussion: These findings demonstrated the importance of examining school context and peer relationships in relation to ERI development and psychological wellbeing.

Promoting mental and physical health of Vietnamese immigrants through a cultural movement intervention.

OBJECTIVES: Older Vietnamese adults are among the most underserved groups in the United States, despite being at high risk for stress and other negative experiences (e.g., access to same-language practitioners, transportation barriers, lack of health care). Minimal progress has been made in decreasing treatment barriers for this underserved population. One promising approach involves using indigenous, culturally based interventions to enhance psychological and physical well-being. Such interventions may reduce utilization and quality of care disparities because they emphasize a more holistic approach to health, thereby limiting the shame and face loss often experienced due to the stigma associated with mental illness. The present study examined the efficacy of lishi, a traditional East Asian movement form of exercise, in promoting mental and physical health outcomes for older Vietnamese immigrant adults. METHOD: Seventy-one older Vietnamese adults participated in this randomized waitlist control study. Participants were between 60 and 75 years old. Multivariate analysis of covariance was used to determine posttest outcomes differences between the intervention and control groups. RESULTS: Intervention group participants experienced significantly higher levels of self-efficacy and physical energy, less bodily pains, and better body balance at posttest compared to the control group. CONCLUSIONS: Lishi may be an effective culturally valid intervention for older Vietnamese adults and demonstrated promise at engaging this hard-to-reach population in treatment and services. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Asian American parents' experiences of stress, discrimination, and mental health during COVID-19.

INTRODUCTION: COVID-19 has placed Asian Americans (AA) at higher risk for discrimination within the U.S. This exacerbates the mental health distress of AA parents, who are also experiencing COVID-19-related stress (e.g., health, financial, work, childcare). The risk factors associated with mental health outcomes for AA parents are not well understood. This brief report examined the relationships among COVID-19 stress, discrimination, and psychological distress of AA parents during the initial months of the pandemic. METHOD: Baseline data of an ongoing longitudinal examination into the COVID-19 experiences of AA parents and their families were utilized. Participants were 166 AA parents of children ages 2-19 years. They completed an online survey about their experiences of COVID-19-related stress (i.e., childcare, school, work), discrimination, and psychological distress. RESULTS: The majority of AA parents were highly stressed due to school closures and childcare changes; school-age parents reported significantly more stress resulting from school closures than parents of young children or adolescents. Over 21% of AA parents experienced some discrimination resulting from COVID-19; the majority reported discrimination fears for themselves and their family/friends. Experiencing discrimination was positively associated with psychological distress, as was COVID-19 stress related to work performance and relationship quality. Conversely, the majority of parents reported increased quality time with their family (i.e., children, partners). DISCUSSION: AA parents are experiencing high levels of COVID-19-related stress, and have the added psychological burden of experiencing and fearing racial/ethnic discrimination. However, the pandemic has led to families spending more quality time together. Implications for future studies are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Examining risk and protective predictors of substance use among low-income Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander adolescents.

Substance use (SU) among adolescents is a critical public health concern that increases the risk for negative outcomes. Although Asian American (AA) adolescents tend to report low rates of SU, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (NH/PI) adolescents often report significantly higher rates of use. Yet, NH/PI youth are seldom studied as a separate group. Consequently, little is known about the factors involved in SU among NH/PI adolescents and how to prevent it. This prospective study investigated the effect of ecological risk and protective factors at the individual, family, and school levels on SU for NH/PI adolescents. This prospective study utilized longitudinal data from 120 NH/PI adolescents who were7 part of an SU prevention program. Information was collected at two time points-Time 1 and Time 2 (32 weeks later)-and included adolescents' SU behaviors and individual, family, and school factors. The parents of these adolescents also provided data; all information was self-report. Positive academic attitudes at Time 1 were negatively associated with alcohol and other drug (e.g., marijuana) use at Time 2. Specifically, NH/PI adolescents who had more positive attitudes toward their school, peers, and teachers reported less alcohol and other SU. Prevention efforts may be most effective for NH/PI adolescents if addressed within the school context. This may include programs implemented in schools, utilizing teachers as role models, and/or promoting prosocial peer relationships to support positive behaviors. Additional implications are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Determinants of Depression Risk among Three Asian American Subgroups in New York City.

Objective: Although the fastest growing minority group, Asian Americans receive little attention in mental health research. Moreover, aggregated data mask further diversity within Asian Americans. This study aimed to examine depression risk by detailed Asian American subgroup, and further assess determinants within and between three Asian ethnic subgroups. Methods: Needs assessment surveys were collected in 16 Asian American subgroups (six Southeast Asian, six South Asian, and four East Asian) in New York City from 2013-2016 using community-based sampling strategies. A final sample of N=1,532 completed the PHQ-2. Bivariate comparisons and multivariable logistic models explored differences in depression risk by subgroup. Results: Southeast Asians had the greatest depression risk (19%), followed by South Asians (11%) and East Asians (9%). Among Southeast Asians, depression risk was associated with lacking health insurance (OR=.2, 95% CI: 0-.6), not having a provider who speaks the same language (OR=3.2, 95% CI: 1.3-8.0), and lower neighborhood social cohesion (OR= .94, 95% CI: .71-.99). Among South Asians, depression risk was associated with greater English proficiency (OR=3.9, 95% CI: 1.6-9.2); and among East Asians, depression risk was associated with ≤ high school education (OR=4.2, 95% CI: 1.2-14.3). Additionally, among Southeast Asians and South Asians, the highest depression risk was associated with high levels of discrimination (Southeast Asian: OR=9.9, 95% CI: 1.8-56.2; South Asian: OR=7.3, 95% CI: 3.3-16.2). Conclusions: Depression risk and determinants differed by Asian American ethnic subgroup. Identifying factors associated with depression risk among these groups is key to targeting limited public health resources for these underserved communities.

Longitudinal Trajectories of Parenting Stress Among Ethnic Minority Adolescent Mothers.

OBJECTIVES: Parenting stress has been linked with negative outcomes for parents and their infants (e.g., parental depression, negative parenting behaviors, poor attachment). Racial/ethnic minority adolescent mothers have increased risk for experiencing parenting stress compared to their White counterparts. Little is known about the changes in parenting stress over time for this population. METHODS: Growth mixture modeling (GMM) was conducted to determine the growth trajectory classes of 185 African American and Latina/Hispanic adolescent mothers over 2 years. Risk and protective factors (e.g., maternal depression, social support, self-esteem) were examined to determine their influence on parenting stress trajectories. RESULTS: Three distinct trajectories of parenting stress were found: low stable stress (40.90%), decreasing stress (35.78%), and high stable stress (23.28%). Lower maternal depression (OR = 2.35), higher self-esteem (OR = 1.29), lower perceived social support from family (OR = 0.53) and higher perceived support from friends (OR = 1.65) predicted placement into the low stable parenting stress group over the high stable parenting stress group. Adolescents living with family (OR = 2.74) and Latina race/ethnicity (OR = 2.78) also served as predictors of placement into the low stable parenting stress group. Higher self-esteem (OR = 1.66) predicted placement into the decreasing parenting stress group over the high stable parenting stress group. CONCLUSIONS: These findings highlight the importance of perceived peer support by adolescent mothers, regardless of their support family support (e.g., living at home and receiving child care). Considering developmental factors such as peer relationships may be important when working with adolescent mothers.

Racial/ethnic differences in alcohol use trajectories among adolescents involved in child welfare.

This study examined racial/ethnic differences in growth trajectories of alcohol use for a nationally representative sample of U.S. adolescents in the child welfare system (CWS), and how individual, family, and child welfare (i.e., proximal) factors predicted alcohol use trajectories for these adolescents. The study included 1,080 Hispanic, African American, and White adolescents aged 11 to 14 years old (at baseline) from the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being dataset, which is a nationally representative sample of U.S. children in the CWS. Latent growth modeling was used to determine alcohol use growth over 36 months, and multigroup analyses were conducted to examine racial/ethnic differences on alcohol use trajectories and the proximal factors predicting these trajectories. Findings indicated that CWS adolescents demonstrated similar trends in alcohol use growth and initiation compared to adolescents in the general population, especially the Hispanic CWS adolescents. This may reflect an overall shift in nativity status of Hispanic youth in the overall U.S. population. African American adolescents had the fewest significant predictors; this may suggest that factors more relevant for these adolescents and their alcohol use are missing from CWS research. Family-level factors were found to differentially affect use for CWS adolescents compared to adolescents in the general population. Overall, these findings point to a need for improvements in the assessment of CWS adolescents of color in research and practice settings to fully capture the complexity of experiences for these youth and their families. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Caseworker assessment of child risk and functioning and their relation to service use in the child welfare system.

Children within the child welfare system are more likely to experience emotional and behavioral problems than children not involved with the system. Many states have adopted standardized risk and assessment measures to inform decision-making on appropriate levels of care related to placement or service intensity for children within the system. This study examined the relationship of caseworker ratings of risk across multiple domains to youth functioning and service use for a sample of children open to the child welfare system. The study identified a stratified random sample of youth who were between the ages of five and 21 and open to the child welfare system (n = 184). Stratification was based on current placement (i.e., in-home, foster home, congregate care, and juvenile justice placements). Administrative data was used to access caseworker ratings of risk across child, parent, and family domains using a standardized risk assessment tool. Children's caseworkers (n = 103) completed a standardized measure of child functioning and reported on youth utilization of services across multiple sectors including specialty mental health, school-based, juvenile justice, and medical settings. Regression analyses using variance-corrected estimation for clustered data (by caseworker) revealed higher levels of child risk were associated with poorer child functioning, which, in turn, were associated with higher rates of multi-sector service use. Recommendations and future directions are discussed.

Cultural influences in mental health treatment.

Research on mental health treatments from 2010 to 2015 has continued to highlight the critical role of culture on treatment services, processes, and outcomes for racial/ethnic minority groups. Studies showed that factors such as acculturation and phenotypic appearance were associated with risk for psychopathology. Issues such as face concern and acculturation level were associated with the quality of client-therapist relationships and the amount of information clients disclosed in sessions. While racial/ethnic minority clients generally preferred same-ethnicity therapists, findings showed relatively small effects for racial/ethnic match and positive treatment outcomes. Several studies provided additional evidence for the effectiveness of culturally-adapted, evidence-based treatments compared to non-adapted treatments for minority clients, and more researchers are beginning to delineate the processes involved in making these successful adaptations.

Parenting Stress, Social Support, and Depression for Ethnic Minority Adolescent Mothers: Impact on Child Development.

Rates of teenage pregnancies are higher for African American and Latina adolescents compared to their White peers. African American and Latina adolescent mothers also experience more adversities than their White peers, such as higher rates of depression, school dropout, and economic disadvantage. Furthermore, children of adolescent mothers are at higher risk for adverse development. Parenting stress and social support can impact outcomes experienced by adolescent parents and their children. The present study examined the influence of adolescent mothers' parenting stress and perceived social support on maternal depression at baseline (six months after birth), and its impact on infant development one year later (18 months after birth). Participants were 180 adolescent mothers of African American or Latino/Hispanic descent. Results suggest that higher levels of parenting stress and less perceived social support were associated with higher levels of depression in the adolescent mothers at baseline. Higher levels of maternal depression were also associated with more developmental delays in infants one year post-baseline. Additionally, depression mediated the relationship between parenting stress and later child outcomes. These findings highlight the importance of examining parenting factors such as parenting stress, social support, and maternal depression in ethnic minority adolescent parents, and provide valuable information regarding unique risk and protective factors associated with positive maternal outcomes for ethnic minority adolescent parents and healthy development for their children.

Health, emergency department use, and early identification of young children exposed to trauma.

BACKGROUND: Childhood trauma is an important public health problem with financial, physical health, and mental health repercussions. Emergency departments (EDs) are often the first point of contact for many young children affected by emotionally or psychologically traumatic events (e.g., neglect, separation from primary caregiver, maltreatment, witness to domestic violence within the family, natural disasters). STUDY OBJECTIVES: Describe the prevalence of physical health symptoms, ED use, and health-related problems in young children (birth through 5 years) affected by trauma, and to predict whether or not children experiencing trauma are more likely to be affected by health-related problems. METHODS: Community-based, cross-sectional survey of 208 young children. Traumatic events were assessed by the Traumatic Events Screening Inventory - Parent Report Revised. Child health symptoms and health-related problems were measured using the Caregiver Information Questionnaire, developed by ORC Macro (Atlanta, GA). RESULTS: Seventy-two percent of children had experienced at least one type of traumatic event. Children exposed to trauma were also experiencing recent health-related events, including visits to the ED (32.2%) and the doctor (76.9%) for physical health symptoms, and recurring physical health problems (40.4%). Children previously exposed to high levels of trauma (four or more types of events) were 2.9 times more likely to report having had recently visited the ED for health purposes. CONCLUSIONS: Preventing recurrent trauma or recognizing early trauma exposure is difficult, but essential if long-term negative consequences are to be mitigated or prevented. Within EDs, there are missed opportunities for identification and intervention for trauma-exposed children, as well as great potential for expanding primary and secondary prevention of maltreatment-associated illness, injury, and mortality.

Relationship of risk assessment to placement characteristics in a statewide child welfare population.

Risk assessments allow child and youth services to identify children who are at risk for maltreatment (e.g., abuse, neglect) and help determine the restrictiveness of placements or need for services among youth entering a child welfare system. Despite the use of instruments by many agencies within the U.S. to determine the appropriate placements for youth, research has shown that placement decisions are often influenced by factors such as gender, age, and severity of social-emotional and behavior problems. This study examined ratings of risk across multiple domains using a structured assessment tool used by caseworkers in the Rhode Island child welfare system. The relationship between ratings of risk and placement restrictiveness was also examined. Risk levels varied across placement settings. Multivariate analyses revealed that lower caseworker ratings of parent risk and higher ratings of youth risk were associated with more restrictive placements for youth. Implications for the child welfare system are discussed.

A longitudinal examination of early adolescence ethnic identity trajectories.

Early adolescence is marked by transitions for adolescents, and is also a time for identity exploration. Ethnic identity is an essential component of youths' sense of self. In this study we examined the trajectories of ethnic identity for adolescents from ethnic minority backgrounds during a 4-year period. Six latent class trajectories were identified in the study: the majority of adolescents (41.8%) displayed growth in ethnic identity over 4 years, followed by 30.1% whose high levels of ethnic identity remained stable, then by those who experienced moderate decreases in ethnic identity (10.8%). Another class of adolescents (7.3%) showed significant declines in ethnic identity level, followed by 5.5% of adolescents with significant increases, and finally by 4.5% of adolescents with low stable levels of ethnic identity during this developmental period. The classes differed by ethnicity, and adolescents with increasing high levels of ethnic identity reported better parent-child relationships. Findings and implications are discussed.