Examining the influence of adversity, family contexts, and a family-based intervention on parent and child telomere length.

Background: Exposure to adversity, trauma, and negative family environments can prematurely shorten telomeres, the protective caps at the ends of chromosomes. Conversely, some evidence indicates that positive environments and psychosocial interventions can buffer the shortening of telomere length (TL). However, most work has examined individual aspects of the family environment as predictive of TL with little work investigating multiple risk and protective factors. Further, most research has not examined parent TL relative to child TL despite its heritability. Objective: In the current study, we examined interparental conflict, positive parenting, alcohol use, adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), and a family-based intervention as predictive of parent TL. We also examined interparental conflict, positive parenting, ACEs, and a family-based intervention as predictive of child TL. Method: Parents and adolescents from a sample of divorced families participated in either a 10-session family-based intervention, the New Beginnings Programme (NBP), or a 2-week active control condition. Approximately six years after the intervention, a subsample of parents (n = 45) and adolescents (n = 41) were assessed for TL. Parents reported on interparental conflict, ACEs, and alcohol use. Children reported on interparental conflict, positive parenting, and ACEs. In separate models, these constructs and the NBP intervention condition were examined as predictors of parent TL and child TL. Results: Findings indicated that the family-based intervention was associated with longer TL in parents. Also, positive parenting was associated with longer TL in children. Conclusions: These findings have important implications for the role of the family and family-based preventive interventions in buffering parent and child biological stress. HIGHLIGHTS: Across multiple indices of psychosocial functioning, we found a family-based intervention associated with longer telomere length in parents and positive parenting associated with longer telomere length in children.

Antecedentes: La exposición a la adversidad, el trauma y los entornos familiares negativos pueden acortar prematuramente los telómeros, las tapas protectoras en los extremos de los cromosomas. Por el contrario, algunas pruebas indican que los entornos positivos y las intervenciones psicosociales pueden amortiguar el acortamiento de la longitud de los telómeros (LT). Sin embargo, la mayor parte del trabajo ha examinado aspectos individuales del entorno familiar como predictivo de LT con pocos trabajos que investiguen múltiples factores de riesgo y protección. Además, la mayoría de las investigaciones no han examinado la LT de los padres en relación con la LT del niño a pesar de su heredabilidad.Objetivo: En el estudio actual, examinamos el conflicto interparental, la crianza positiva, el consumo de alcohol, las experiencias infantiles adversas (ACE, por sus siglas en inglés) y una intervención basada en la familia como predictores de LT de los padres. También examinamos el conflicto interparental, la crianza positiva, las ACE y una intervención basada en la familia como predictores de LT infantil.Método: Los padres y los adolescentes de una muestra de familias divorciadas participaron en una intervención familiar de 10 sesiones, el nombre de la intervención está oculto para su revisión, o en una condición de control activo de 2 semanas. Aproximadamente seis años después de la intervención, se evaluó la longitud de los telómeros en una submuestra de padres (n = 45) y adolescentes (n = 41). Los padres informaron sobre conflictos entre padres, ACE y consumo de alcohol. Los niños informaron sobre conflictos entre padres, crianza positiva y ACE. En modelos separados, estos constructos y la condición de intervención nombre oculto para su revisión se examinaron como predictores de LT de padres y LT de niños.Resultados: Los hallazgos indicaron que la intervención basada en la familia se asoció con una LT más prolongada en los padres. Además, la crianza positiva se asoció con una LT más prolongada en los niños.Conclusiones: Estos hallazgos tienen implicaciones importantes para el papel de la familia y las intervenciones preventivas basadas en la familia para amortiguar el estrés biológico de padres e hijos.

Genotype-environment correlation by intervention effects underlying middle childhood peer rejection and associations with adolescent marijuana use.

Aggressive behavior in middle childhood can contribute to peer rejection, subsequently increasing risk for substance use in adolescence. However, the quality of peer relationships a child experiences can be associated with his or her genetic predisposition, a genotype-environment correlation (rGE). In addition, recent evidence indicates that psychosocial preventive interventions can buffer genetic predispositions for negative behavior. The current study examined associations between polygenic risk for aggression, aggressive behavior, and peer rejection from 8.5 to 10.5 years, and the subsequent influence of peer rejection on marijuana use in adolescence (n = 515; 256 control, 259 intervention). Associations were examined separately in control and intervention groups for children of families who participated in a randomized controlled trial of the family-based preventive intervention, the Family Check-Up . Using time-varying effect modeling (TVEM), polygenic risk for aggression was associated with peer rejection from approximately age 8.50 to 9.50 in the control group but no associations were present in the intervention group. Subsequent analyses showed peer rejection mediated the association between polygenic risk for aggression and adolescent marijuana use in the control group. The role of rGEs in middle childhood peer processes and implications for preventive intervention programs for adolescent substance use are discussed.

Effects of stress, alcohol prime dose, and sex on ad libitum drinking.

OBJECTIVE: The Self-Medication Hypothesis (SMH) theorizes that alcohol is used to alleviate negative states. We assessed whether an acute social stressor (Trier Social Stress Test, TSST), a priming dose of alcohol, and participant sex impacted 90-min ad libitum drinking. We expected exposure to stress to be associated with increased consumption, and this effect to be stronger following an alcohol priming dose; we also explored whether participant sex moderated these effects. METHOD: Using a 2×2 experimental design, we randomized groups of two to three drinkers to stress (TSST vs. no TSST) and priming beverage (alcohol vs. placebo) conditions. All participants subsequently completed the 90-min ad libitum drinking period and were instructed not to exceed more than one alcoholic beverage per hour for optimal performance to model behavioral impaired control. We examined (a) number of drinks ordered, (b) violations of the drink limit, (c) change in breath alcohol concentration (BAC), and (d) peak BAC. RESULTS: Analyses showed that exposure to stress was associated with heavier ad libitum drinking. This effect was qualified by a three-way interaction; women who received a stressor and no prime dose (placebo) reached higher BACs, whereas men who received a stressor and a prime reached higher BACs. CONCLUSIONS: The hypothesized interaction between an alcohol priming dose and social stress was only evident among men, whereas women drank more under social stress in the absence of a priming dose. Findings suggest the importance of exploring sex differences in future studies of the SMH. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Relations Between Child Temperament and Adolescent Negative Urgency in a High-Risk Sample.

Negative urgency, rash action during negative mood states, is a strong predictor of risky behavior. However, its developmental antecedents remain largely unstudied. The current study tested whether childhood temperament served as a developmental antecedent to adolescent negative urgency. Participants (N=239) were from a longitudinal study oversampled for a family history of alcohol use disorder (AUD). Negative emotionality (anger and sadness reactivity) and effortful control were measured in childhood (5-8) and negative urgency in adolescence (13-18). Childhood anger reactivity was uniquely related to later negative urgency above and beyond sadness reactivity. Effortful control was not related to later negative urgency; however, a latent variable capturing the shared variance between childhood effortful control and anger reactivity was related to later negative urgency.

Maternal Influences on Effortful Control in Adolescence: Developmental Pathways to Externalizing Behaviors.

Adolescents' effortful control is subject to numerous maternal influences. Specifically, a mother's own effortful control is associated with her child's effortful control. However, maternal substance use, psychopathology, and stress within the parenting role may also lead to poor effortful control for their child. Poor effortful control during adolescence can subsequently contribute to a variety of negative outcomes, including externalizing behaviors. A sample of 460 adolescents (47% female, 59.3% Non-Hispanic Caucasian) was selected from a longitudinal, multigenerational study. The goal was to examine maternal effortful control, substance use, psychopathology, and stress in their offspring's childhood (Mage = 6.27) and their influence on their children's effortful control in early adolescence (Mage = 12.21) and the subsequent effect of effortful control on adolescents' externalizing behavior (Mage = 13.53). Maternal effortful control (measured via conscientiousness) and psychopathology were associated with adolescent effortful control, which was associated with externalizing behavior a year later. Additionally, there was a significant indirect association between maternal effortful control and adolescent externalizing behaviors via adolescent effortful control. Thus, adolescent effortful control is associated with maternal effortful control but also subject to specific maternal risk factors in childhood. These results inform potential maternal strategies for promoting positive developmental outcomes in adolescents.

Effects of Observable Parent Alcohol Consequences and Parent Alcohol Disorder on Adolescent Alcohol Expectancies.

BACKGROUND: Parental drinking and parent alcohol use disorder (AUD) are known predictors of adolescent positive alcohol expectancies, but their link to negative expectancies is unclear. Research suggests that parent drinking may indirectly predict adolescent expectancies through exposure to parental drinking events. However, exposure to parent negative alcohol consequences may be more relevant to adolescents' expectancies. The present study tested the mediating effect of parent observable negative alcohol consequences in the association between parent AUD and adolescent expectancies. METHODS: This study used parent and adolescent data from the Adult and Family Development Project. A total of 581 adolescents reported on their alcohol expectancies across 2 waves of data, and their parents reported on potentially observable alcohol-related negative consequences during the first wave. Past-year and lifetime parent AUD were assessed with diagnostic interviews across 6 waves of data. RESULTS: Mothers' observable consequences mediated the effect of her past-year AUD on adolescent negative expectancies in adolescence, but this effect did not hold at a 1.5-year follow-up. Mothers' lifetime AUD was the only prospective predictor of later adolescent negative expectancies. No father drinking variables predicted expectancies, and all models were invariant across child biological sex. Finally, older adolescent age prospectively predicted higher positive expectancies, whereas the adolescents' own drinking predicted lower negative expectancies. CONCLUSIONS: These findings, in line with other recent studies, suggest that exposure to mothers' negative experiences with alcohol may counterintuitively normalize negative alcohol effects. This may paradoxically increase risk for adolescents rather than buffering the effects of a family history of parental AUD.

The Direct and Indirect Influences of Parenting: The Facets of Time-Perspective and Impaired Control Along the Alcohol-related Problems Pathway.

BACKGROUND: Social Learning Theory suggests how one conceptualizes time will be passed from parent to child (Bandura & Walters, 1963). Through the lens of Behavioral Economics Theory (Vuchinich & Simpson, 1998), impaired control may be characterized as consuming alcohol as a form of immediate gratification as a choice over more distal rewards. Because impaired control reflects a self-regulation failure specific to the drinking situation, it may be directly related to time-perspectives. OBJECTIVES: This investigation explored whether or not the indirect influences of perceived parenting styles on alcohol use and related problems is mediated by both facets of time-perspective (e.g. hedonism, present-fatalism, future, past-positive, past-negative) and impaired control over drinking. METHODS: We examined a structural equation model with 391 (207 women; 184 men) college student drinkers. We used an asymmetric bias-corrected bootstrap technique to conduct mediational analyses (MacKinnon, 2008). RESULTS: Higher levels of past-positive time-perspective were indirectly linked to both less alcohol use and fewer alcohol-related problems through less impaired control. In contrast, higher levels of present-fatalism were indirectly linked to more alcohol use through more impaired control. Higher levels of father permissiveness and mother authoritarianism were indirectly linked to both more impaired control and alcohol use through more present-fatalism. In addition, higher levels of father authoritarianism were indirectly linked to more alcohol use through more hedonism. CONCLUSIONS/IMPLICATIONS: Our results support the notion that drinking beyond one's self-prescribed limits is associated with time-perspectives related to negative aspects of the parent-offspring socialization process, such as fatalism.