RECASTing racial coping stress in school: Self-efficacy as buffer for adolescent agency.

OBJECTIVE: The consequences of racism and racial stress on the academic and social well-being of adolescents are profound and well-documented. However, our understanding of how adolescents navigate racial stress and develop the agency to address discriminatory encounters, particularly in settings where educators struggle to intervene with microaggressions, remains limited. Research into the development of racial coping self-efficacy (RCSE) and coping skills has shown promise in enhancing the overall well-being of youth. In this study, we employ racial encounter coping appraisal and socialization theory (RECAST) to investigate the relationships among key school-based factors that influence how students cope with racial challenges. Specifically, we examine the role of RCSE, agency, stress, vigilance, and sense of belonging in the school environment for students. METHOD: Participants included 645 high school students from a diverse public school district who completed an online survey during a single class period. Analyses examined the mediating and moderating effects of RCSE, racial coping stress (RCS), and racial vigilance on agency. RESULTS: RCSE reduced the negative influence of RCS on student racial agency in resolving racial conflicts with teachers and peers, particularly for Latinx students. CONCLUSIONS: Implications for advancing RECAST-based interventions to help adolescents develop the agency to problem solve traumatic racial events in schools are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Touchstones of Equivalence and the Houdini Transformation.

Inspired by Peter Molenaar's Houdini transformation, we consider the idea of touchstones between different models. Touchstones represent instances where models that appear different on the surface can have equivalent characteristics. Touchstones can appear as identical tests of model parameters. They can exist in the mean structure, in the covariance structure, or in both. In the latter case, the models will generate identical mean and covariance structures and will fit the data equally well. After showing some examples of touchstones and how they result from constraints on a general model, we show how that idea can suggest Molenaar's Houdini transformation. This transformation allows one to take a latent variable model and derive an equivalent model comprised solely of manifest (observed) variables. As equivalent models, the parameters of one can be transformed into the parameters of the other.

The Stability of Nursing Home Residents' Ratings of Importance of Recreation Preferences Over One Year.

Long-term stability of nursing home (NH) residents' everyday preference remains unknown. We examined 1-year stability in reports of importance of 34-recreational activity preferences (8-MDS 3.0 Section F items; 26-Preferences for Everyday Living Inventory-NH items) by NH residents (N = 161). We examined mean differences on demographic and clinical characteristics of residents for preferences showing change. Importance ratings of preferences were highly stable over 1-year, with 91% of items retaining the same valence of importance for the majority of the sample (<20% change). Three preferences showed greater change. More functionally able residents were more likely to change their importance on "being with groups of people," and older residents were more likely to change their preferences for being "involved in religious practices" and "around animals such as pets". Overall, annual assessments of recreational activity preferences capture an accurate representation of preferences with reassessment only needed in a few circumstances.

The impact of nursing home residents' characteristics on ratings of importance of autonomy preferences in daily care over time.

Objective: Nursing home (NH) residents' preferences for everyday living are the foundation for delivering individualized care. Yet, work has not examined the impact of demographic and clinical characteristics of NH residents on the stability of their preferences over time.Method: This study examined the rate of change in reports of importance of 27 autonomy-related everyday preferences from the Preferences for Everyday Living Inventory over 3-months and the demographic and clinical characteristics associated with change for nursing home residents (N = 255). Descriptive frequencies and tests of mean difference were utilized to examine differences between individuals reporting change in importance over time compared to those that did not report change.Results: Autonomy preferences in daily care remained stable over 3-months for the majority of residents. For residents that did report change on autonomy preferences, no systematic associations of demographic or clinical characteristics were found to be associated with change. Rather, change was associated with differential characteristics based on the preference.Conclusion: This study indicates that knowing a person's demographic or clinical characteristics in care will not uniformly inform a caretaker's understanding of the individual's reports of importance for autonomy related preferences over time. Future work should explore the role of care environment on change in preference ratings over time.

The Change in Nursing Home Residents' Preferences Over Time.

OBJECTIVES: Nursing home (NH) residents' preferences for everyday living are the foundation for delivering individualized person-centered care. Yet, work has not examined what the most and least important preferences of nursing home residents are and if those preferences change over time. DESIGN: This study examined the change in nursing home residents' (n = 255) preferences for everyday living over a 3-month period. Participants were recruited from 28 NHs in the suburbs of a major metropolitan East Coast area of the United States. MEASURES: Residents were interviewed face-to-face using the Preferences for Everyday Living Inventory-Nursing Home version at baseline (T1) and 3 months later (T2). Change was analyzed in 2 ways: (1) percentage exact agreement (eg, respondent stated "very important" at both time points) and (2) percentage of preferences that remained either important or not important between T1 and T2. RESULTS: Sixteen preferences were rated as very or somewhat important by 90% or more of NH residents. With regard to the stability of preference ratings, findings demonstrate an average exact agreement of 59%, and an average important versus not important agreement of 82%. In addition, 68 of the 72 preferences had 70% or higher stability over time. In other words, the preference either remained "important" or "not important" to the NH resident 3 months later. Preferences in the domain of enlisting others in care had the least amount of change. CONCLUSION/IMPLICATIONS: This study highlights the most important everyday living preferences of NH residents and provides assurance to care providers that the majority of preferences assessed via the PELI are both important to NH residents and stable over time. Preference-based care plans can be designed and used over a 3-month period with confidence by providers.

Modeling Cortisol Daily Rhythms of Family Caregivers of Individuals With Dementia: Daily Stressors and Adult Day Services Use.

Objectives: The study examined the typical diurnal cortisol trajectory and its differential associations with an intervention, the adult day services (ADS) use, among a sample of family caregivers who experienced high levels of daily stress. Method: On hundred and sixty-five caregivers of individuals with dementia completed an 8-day diary on daily stressors, positive events, sleep quality, and ADS use. The caregivers also provided five saliva samples on each diary day. Daily cortisol trajectories were modeled as a function of time elapsed since awakening, and three spline growth curve models were fit to the cortisol data. Based on the best-fitting linear spline model, the effect of daily ADS use was examined at both daily and person levels. Covariates included daily experiences and other caregiving characteristics. Results: On ADS days, caregivers had a steeper cortisol awakening response (CAR) slope and a steeper morning decline. ADS use remained significant after controlling for covariates at both daily and person levels. Discussion: The findings suggested potential biophysiological benefits of daily ADS use for a sample that was under chronic stress and high levels of daily stress.

Latent Growth Curve and Repeated Measures ANOVA Contrasts: What the Models are Telling You.

The relationship between the latent growth curve and repeated measures ANOVA models is often misunderstood. Although a number of investigators have looked into the similarities and differences among these models, a cursory reading of the literature can give the impression that they are very different models. Here we show that each model represents a set of contrasts on the occasion means. We demonstrate that the fixed effects parameters of the estimated basis vector latent growth curve model are merely a transformation of the repeated measures ANOVA fixed effects parameters. We further show that differences in fit in models that estimate the same means structure can be due to the different error covariance structures implied by the model. We show these relationships both algebraically and through using data from a simulation.

Latent national subpopulations of early education classroom disengagement of children from underresourced families.

This research examined the latent developmental patterns for early classroom disengagement among children from some of the most underresourced families in the nation. Based on standardized teacher observations from the Head Start Impact Study, a nationally representative sample of children (N=1377) was assessed for manifestations of reticent/withdrawn and low energy behavior over four years spanning prekindergarten through first grade. For each form of disengagement, latent growth mixture modeling revealed three distinct subpopulations of change patterns featuring a dominant class associated with generally good classroom adjustment, a medial class that varied close to the population average over time, and a more extreme class (about 10% of the population) whose adjustment was relatively marginal and sometimes reached problematic levels. Whereas reticent/withdrawn behavior ordinarily subsided over time, low energy behavior increased. More extreme low energy behaviors tended to dissipate through schooling and extreme reticence/withdrawal became more accentuated, with both types associated with later academic and social problems. Attendant risk and protective factors are identified and mitigating assessment and prevention measures are discussed.

VI. PERSON-SPECIFIC INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCE APPROACHES IN DEVELOPMENTAL RESEARCH.

In this chapter, we demonstrate the way certain common analytic approaches (e.g., polynomial curve modeling, repeated measures ANOVA, latent curve, and other factor models) create individual difference measures based on a common underlying model. After showing that these approaches require only means and covariance (or correlation) matrices to estimate regression coefficients based on a hypothesized model, we describe how to recast these models based on time-series related approaches focusing on single subject time series approaches (e.g., vector autoregressive approaches and P-technique factor models). We show how these latter methods create parameters based on models that can vary from individual-to-individual. We demonstrate differences for the factor model using real data examples.

Care Transitions and Adult Day Services Moderate the Longitudinal Links between Stress Biomarkers and Family Caregivers' Functional Health.

BACKGROUND: Stress biomarkers have been linked to health and well-being. There are, however, few studies on how dysregulation in the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis and sympathetic nervous system actually affects functional health of family caregivers of persons with dementia. Further, it is not clear whether and how factors affecting caregiving stressor exposures such as care transitions and adult day services (ADS) use may affect such association. OBJECTIVE: First, to examine the association of daily stress biomarkers and functional health over time among family caregivers of persons with dementia. Second, to examine effects of care transitions and ADS use on the association between baseline stress biomarkers and functional health over time. METHODS: At baseline, caregivers provided 5 saliva samples each day during an 8-day diary study, where all caregivers were having a varying number of ADS days per week. There were 2 longitudinal follow-ups at 6 and 12 months on ADS use, care transitions, and caregivers' functional health. The average daily total output across days was computed at baseline for salivary cortisol, the sulfated form of dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA-s), and salivary alpha amylase (sAA), which were used as predictors of caregivers' longitudinal functional limitation trajectories. Care transitions and total number of ADS days per week at baseline were considered as moderators of the associations between stress biomarkers and health over time. RESULTS: The associations between functional limitation trajectories and daily total outputs of cortisol and sAA were modified by ADS use and care transitions. Among caregivers who experienced a transition, and who used less than average ADS days per week, lower daily cortisol total output and lower daily sAA total output were associated with increasing functional limitations. Caregivers who experienced a transition but used greater than average ADS days per week did not show such patterns of association. No significant effect was found for DHEA-s. CONCLUSION: The study contributes to an important but largely unanswered question regarding implications of stress biomarkers on functional health. Assessments of the association between stress biomarkers and health among family caregivers of persons with dementia need to consider changes in stressor exposures over time, such as care transitions and ADS use.

Intrinsic Emotional Fluctuation in Daily Negative Affect across Adulthood.

Objectives: The study explored daily negative affect (NA) fluctuation, its associations with age, and its developmental characteristics. Method: The sample (n = 790) was drawn from the Midlife Development in the United States; participants completed two 8-day daily diaries 10 years apart. Multilevel models were estimated within each diary component, where two single daily NA (depression and nervousness) and daily NA diversity were predicted separately by daily stressor exposures, physical health symptoms, age, gender, education, and neuroticism. The variances of within-person residual were output for single NA and NA diversity as intrinsic emotion fluctuation (IEF) within each diary component (i.e., controlled for within- and between-person contextual factors). Then multilevel growth models were fit to explore the developmental characteristics of day-to-day IEF across 10 years. Results: At the daily level, older age was associated with less IEF in depression and nervousness. Over time, IEF in depression decreased. Additionally, IEF in NA diversity increased for older participants longitudinally. Discussion: IEF represents a new conceptualization of midlife individuals' daily emotional ups and downs, specifically, the intrinsic within-person volatility of emotions. The magnitude of IEF and its longitudinal dynamics may have implications for health and well-being of middle-aged adults.

Activity Restriction and Depressive Symptoms in Older Couples.

OBJECTIVE: The present study aimed to clarify the circumstances under which activity restriction (AR) is associated with depressive symptoms among patients with osteoarthritis (OA) and their spouses. METHOD: A total of 220 older adults with OA and their caregiving spouses participated in the study. The actor-partner interdependence model (APIM) was used to examine the associations between AR stemming from patients' OA and the depressive symptoms of patients and spouses. The potential moderating role of marital satisfaction also was examined. RESULTS: After accounting for pain severity, health, and life stress of both patients with OA and spouses, higher AR was associated with more depressive symptoms for both patients and spouses. In regard to partner effects, patients whose spouse had higher AR reported more depressive symptoms. In addition, the association of spouses' and patients' AR and their own depressive symptoms was moderated by their marital satisfaction. For both patients and spouses, the associations between their own AR and depressive symptoms were weaker for those with higher levels of marital satisfaction compared with those with lower levels of marital satisfaction. DISCUSSION: This pattern of findings highlights the dyadic implications of AR and the vital role of marital satisfaction in the context of chronic illness.

Exploring the benefits of respite services to family caregivers: methodological issues and current findings.

OBJECTIVES: There is growing emphasis on empirical validation of the efficacy of community-based services for older people and their families, but research on services such as respite care faces methodological challenges that have limited the growth of outcome studies. We identify problems associated with the usual research approaches for studying respite care, with the goal of stimulating use of novel and more appropriate research designs that can lead to improved studies of community-based services. METHOD: Using the concept of research validity, we evaluate the methodological approaches in the current literature on respite services, including adult day services, in-home respite and overnight respite. RESULTS: Although randomized control trials (RCTs) are possible in community settings, validity is compromised by practical limitations of randomization and other problems. Quasi-experimental and interrupted time series designs offer comparable validity to RCTs and can be implemented effectively in community settings. CONCLUSION: An emphasis on RCTs by funders and researchers is not supported by scientific evidence. Alternative designs can lead to development of a valid body of research on community services such as respite.

Examining Clinical Predictors of Change in Recreational Preference Congruence Among Nursing Home Residents Over Time.

OBJECTIVE: There remains a significant gap in the field regarding the measurement of preference-based care over time in nursing homes (NHs). This study discusses the use of a quality indicator that tracks recreational preference congruence (PC; that is, the match between NH residents' important preferences in recreational activities and their weekly attendance in these preferred activities). METHOD: Using a sample of 199 older adults, we examine the change in PC over 52 weeks using multilevel-mixed effects regression analyses. RESULTS: PC over time is highly variable and residents with greater functional limitations (vision, language comprehension, incontinence) and no diagnoses of mental health or neurological disorders have lower PC over time. DISCUSSION: Certain clinical characteristics have greater impact on resident PC over time. Particular attention needs to be given to the recreational attendance of residents with incontinence, and visual and language comprehension difficulties.

Parent-Youth Differences in Familism Values from Adolescence into Young Adulthood: Developmental Course and Links with Parent-Youth Conflict.

A critical step in capturing family processes is to incorporate the perspectives and experiences of multiple family members toward characterizing how families operate as systems. Although some research has examined differences between parents' and youth's family experiences, most studies have focused on European American families, and we know little about the nature and implications of divergent parent-youth experiences in other ethnic groups. Accordingly, we focused on Mexican-origin families and assessed the links between mother-youth and father-youth differences in familism values and parent-youth conflict from early adolescence into young adulthood. Participants were mothers, fathers, and two siblings (248 female and 244 male, 51 % female; M age = 14.02 years) from 246 families who were interviewed in their homes on three occasions over 8 years. We operationalized parent-youth differences in familism values using difference scores, controlling for mean levels of familism. Multilevel models revealed that mothers' and fathers' familism values remained relatively stable over time, but youth's familism values declined until age 17, stabilized, and then increased slightly in young adulthood. Lagged models tested directions of effect by examining whether parent-youth differences in familism values predicted parent-youth conflict or vice versa. The findings revealed that parent-youth conflict predicted greater differences in parent-youth familism values, but differences in familism values did not predict conflict. Our findings align with a family systems perspective in documenting the significance of differences between family members' perspectives and highlighting that such processes are dynamic. Further, by testing bi-directional associations in longitudinal models, we were able to disentangle the temporal ordering of differences in familism values and parent-youth conflict thereby advancing understanding of parent-youth discrepancies in cultural values.

Anticipating an Easier Day: Effects of Adult Day Services on Daily Cortisol and Stress.

PURPOSE OF THE STUDY: Family caregivers experience high levels of stress that place them at risk for poor health outcomes. We explore whether an intervention which lowers caregivers' daily exposure to stressors, adult day services (ADS), leads to improved regulation of the stress hormone, cortisol, which has implications for health and well-being. DESIGN AND METHODS: Participants (N = 158) were family caregivers of individuals with dementia (IWD) who were using ADS. Eligibility included: the IWD had a dementia diagnosis, IWD used ADS at least twice a week, and IWD and caregiver lived in the same household. A within-subject treatment design was used to compare caregivers' diurnal cortisol responses on days they received the intervention (ADS use by the IWD) and days they did not. Participants completed daily interviews over eight consecutive days and provided five saliva samples on each of those days. Primary outcomes were salivary cortisol awakening response (CAR) and cortisol area under the curve with respect to ground (AUC-G). RESULTS: Caregivers with a "burned-out" or flattened CAR, and associated low AUC-G on non-ADS days displayed a more normative CAR and AUC-G response on ADS days. Restored cortisol regulation was also observed on ADS days among caregivers with the highest CAR and AUC-G levels on non-ADS days. IMPLICATIONS: Results indicate that ADS use improves caregivers' cortisol regulation, which could enhance long-term health outcomes. Effects may be due to caregivers' anticipation of an easier day when the IWD attends ADS.

Psychological and social resources relate to biomarkers of allostasis in newly admitted nursing home residents.

OBJECTIVES: This paper presents preliminary baseline data from a prospective study of nursing home adaptation that attempts to capture the complexity of residents' adaptive resources by examining psychological, social, and biological variables from a longitudinal conceptual framework. Our emphasis was on validating an index of allostasis. METHOD: In a sample of 26 long-term care patients, we measured 6 hormone and protein biomarkers to capture the concept of allostasis as an index of physiological resilience, related to other baseline resources, including frailty, hope and optimism, social support, and mental health history, collected via interview with the resident and collaterals. We also examined the performance of self-report measures reflecting psychosocial and well-being constructs, given the prevalence of cognitive impairment in nursing homes. RESULTS: Our results supported both the psychometric stability of our self-report measures, and the preliminary validity of our index of allostasis. Each biomarker was associated with at least one other resilience resource, suggesting that our choice of biomarkers was appropriate. As a group, the biomarkers showed good correspondence with the majority of other resource variables, and our standardized summation score was also associated with physical, social, and psychological resilience resources, including those reflecting physical and mental health vulnerability as well as positive resources of social support, optimism, and hope. CONCLUSION: Although these results are based on a small sample, the effect sizes were large enough to confer some confidence in the value of pursuing further research relating biomarkers of allostasis to psychological and physical resources and well-being.

Modeling dyadic processes using Hidden Markov Models: A time series approach to mother-infant interactions during infant immunization.

The focus of the present longitudinal study, to examine mother-infant interaction during the administration of immunizations at two and six months of age, used hidden Markov modeling, a time series approach that produces latent states to describe how mothers and infants work together to bring the infant to a soothed state. Results revealed a 4-state model for the dyadic responses to a two-month inoculation whereas a 6-state model best described the dyadic process at six months. Two of the states at two months and three of the states at six months suggested a progression from high intensity crying to no crying with parents using vestibular and auditory soothing methods. The use of feeding and/or pacifying to soothe the infant characterized one two-month state and two six-month states. These data indicate that with maturation and experience, the mother-infant dyad is becoming more organized around the soothing interaction. Using hidden Markov modeling to describe individual differences, as well as normative processes, is also presented and discussed.

Daily stressors and adult day service use by family caregivers: effects on depressive symptoms, positive mood, and dehydroepiandrosterone-sulfate.

OBJECTIVE: This study examines effects of daily use of adult day service (ADS) programs by caregivers of individuals with dementia (IWD) on a salivary biomarker of stress reactivity, dehydroepiandrosterone-sulfate (DHEA-S), and whether these effects on DHEA-S are associated with daily variability in positive mood and depressive symptoms. METHODS: We used a daily diary design of 8 consecutive days with alternation of intervention (ADS) and nonintervention days to evaluate within- and between-person effects of the intervention. Family caregivers (N = 151) of IWD who were using ADS were interviewed daily by telephone at home. Saliva samples were collected from caregivers five times a day for 8 consecutive days and were assayed for DHEA-S. Daily telephone interviews assessed daily stressors and mood. RESULTS: DHEA-S levels were significantly higher on days after ADS use. Daily DHEA-S levels covaried significantly with daily positive mood but not with depressive symptoms. CONCLUSION: These results demonstrate an association of ADS use by family caregivers and higher DHEA-S levels on the next day. Prior research has found that higher DHEA-S levels are protective against the physiologic damaging effects of stressor exposure and may reduce risks of illness. Regular use of ADS may help reduce depletion of DHEA-S and allow the body to mount a protective and restorative response to the physiologic demands of caregiving. To our knowledge, this is the first study to examine DHEA-S levels across the day in connection with an intervention that affected daily exposure to stressors.

Synchrony of diurnal cortisol pattern in couples.

Cortisol is a biomarker of stress reactivity, and its diurnal pattern is an indicator of general neuroendocrine health. Despite theories conceptualizing marital dyads as dynamic systems wherein spouses are interdependent in their physiology and stress coping, little is known about the daily processes in which spouses possibly influence each other in biological stress. Nineteen heterosexual couples provided saliva samples containing cortisol 4 times a day for 4 consecutive days. We used multilevel modeling to examine whether one's cortisol awaking response (CAR) and diurnal cortisol slope (DCS) predict those of the spouse's on the same day and/or on the next day. We found that spouses synchronize their DCS, such that on days when one experiences faster or slower decline in diurnal cortisol than usual, the spouse also experiences faster or slower decline than usual. For CAR, positive synchrony was only observed in couples reporting high levels of marital strain and disagreement. Cross-lagged regression analysis reveals stability in diurnal cortisol pattern. A steeper cortisol slope on a particular day predicts a steeper slope on the next day within an individual, but no significant cross-lagged relation was found between spouses. Couples reporting more spousal support tend to have stronger stability in CAR. These findings provide evidence that spouses are interdependent in their diurnal cortisol patterns on a day-to-day basis, and that these daily dynamics are associated with marital relationship quality. The study contributes to our understanding of marital processes and biobehavioral health. It also contributes methodologically to the advancement of longitudinal dyadic analysis.