Exposure to community violence and parenting behaviors: A meta-analytic review.

This meta-analysis examines the association between exposure to community violence and parenting behaviors (i.e., positive parenting, harsh/neglectful parenting, parent-child relationship quality, and behavior control). A systematic search yielded 437 articles that measured community violence exposure before or at the time of parenting, assessed parenting, and were available in English. There were 342 effect sizes across parenting constructs: positive (k = 101; 68 studies), harsh/neglectful (k = 95; 60 studies), relationship quality (k = 68; 41 studies), and behavior control (k = 78; 51 studies), from 160 reports representing 147 distinct studies. Results of the three-level meta-analyses found small but significant effects between community violence and positive parenting (r = -.059, 95% CI [-.086, -.032]; 95% PI [-.268, .151]), harsh/neglectful parenting (r = .133, 95% CI [.100, .166]; 95% PI [-.107, .372]), parent-child relationship quality (r = -.106, 95% CI [-.145, -.067]; 95% PI [-.394, .182]), and behavior control (r = -.047, 95% CI [-.089, -.005]; 95% PI [-.331, .237]). The association between exposure to community violence and harsh/neglectful parenting and behavior control was moderated by the type of exposure to community violence, informant or source of community violence and parenting data, child age, sex, and race/ethnicity. Given the substantial degree of heterogeneity in overall effect sizes, implications for policy and intervention are tentatively considered while emphasizing that more empirical research on the association between community violence and parenting is essential for advancing the field. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Ecological-Systems Contributors to Internalizing Symptoms in a US Sample of Adolescents During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

OBJECTIVE: Internalizing problems are common in adolescence and increased substantially during the COVID-19 pandemic. Although rates of anxiety and depression have since improved, the general increase in the prevalence of mental health problems and disruptions to mental health services during the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in huge gaps in care. Although research has primarily focused on proximal correlates of internalizing problems, a growing literature suggests that factors outside youths' immediate microsystems are equally crucial for their mental well-being. Thus, it is important to investigate multisystemic correlates of internalizing problems to inform individual and community-based interventions to address the current mental health burden. METHOD: Leveraging secondary data from a nationally diverse U.S. sample of 2,954 adolescents (ages 13-16), we examined the associations between factors at multiple levels of youths' ecologies - spanning indicators of threat and deprivation - and their depression and anxiety symptoms during the COVID-19 pandemic. Furthermore, in follow-up exploratory analyses, we examined if these associations differed by adolescents' racial/ethnic groups. RESULTS: Consistent with socioecological models, we found that indicators of threat and deprivation in the adolescents' immediate home and more distal neighborhood environments were associated with depression and anxiety symptoms. The patterns of associations were similar across racial/ethnic groups in multigroup structural equation models. Additionally, we found that mean levels of internalizing symptoms and socioecological predictors significantly differed across racial/ethnic groups. CONCLUSION: These findings have important implications for understanding multi-level contributors to adolescent mental health, which may inform research, practice, and policy.

Intergenerational Effects of Parenting on Children's Internalizing and Externalizing Trajectories: A Latent Growth Model Analysis.

Externalizing and internalizing problems in childhood are associated with risk for later psychopathology. It is important to identify antecedents as they may be targets for intervention. In a sample of 501 children (M = 6.07; 54.7% male; 12.4% Hispanic; 12.2% non-White), we leveraged data from a longitudinal study to examine the transmission of parenting behaviors across two generations and its effects on children's internalizing and externalizing outcomes in the subsequent generation. The results suggested transmission of parenting behaviors, confirmed the role of parenting on children's psychopathology, and provided novel evidence of a direct and indirect role of grandparent's caregiving on children's psychopathology via parenting continuity. These findings may inform interventions addressing continuity of parenting behaviors and their subsequent effects.

Meta-analysis of associations between childhood adversity and diurnal cortisol regulation.

Childhood adversity has been associated with hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis dysregulation, which is associated with mental and physical health consequences. However, associations between childhood adversity and cortisol regulation in the current literature vary in magnitude and direction. This multilevel meta-analysis examines the association between childhood adversity and diurnal cortisol measures, as well as potential moderators of these effects (adversity timing and type, study or sample characteristics). A search was conducted in online databases PsycINFO and PubMed for papers written in English. After screening for exclusion criteria (papers examining animals, pregnant women, people receiving hormonal treatment, people with endocrine disorders, cortisol before age 2 months, or cortisol after an intervention), 303 papers were identified for inclusion. In total, 441 effect sizes were extracted from 156 manuscripts representing 104 studies. A significant overall effect was found between childhood adversity and bedtime cortisol, r = 0.047, 95% CI [0.005, 0.089], t = 2.231, p = 0.028. All other overall and moderation effects were not significant. The lack of overall effects may reflect the importance of the timing and nature of childhood adversity to adversity's impact on cortisol regulation. Thus, we offer concrete recommendations for testing theoretical models linking early adversity and stress physiology.

Schools' Neighborhoods and Characteristics: Implications for Standardized Academic Achievement in Passaic, NJ's Elementary, Middle and High Schools.

Schools in urban neighborhoods receive less funding, have less programming, and have poorer infrastructure. Such disparities may impede academic outcomes among youth. This study used publicly available data to examine the association between school characteristics and surrounding neighborhood environment on educational outcomes across three academic years among 132 schools in Passaic County, New Jersey. Further, we assessed how schools' socioeconomic status could buffer the effects of a school's neighborhood disadvantage on academic outcomes. Results supported compound deprivation theory highlighting that lower-performing schools were located in lower-resourced neighborhoods. Further, school characteristics and neighborhood resource deprivation were associated with lower math, English, and science academic performance. Additionally, we found that associations between neighborhood resources and math and science academic outcomes were strongest in schools with greater economic support. We provide implications for research and practice by identifying multi-faceted approaches to challenge educational disparities addressing school and neighborhood-level disadvantages to improve educational outcomes for youth.

The Effect of Neighborhood-level Resources on Children's Physical Development: Trajectories of Body Mass Index and Pubertal Development and the Influence of Child Biological Sex.

Growing research substantiates the role of neighborhood disadvantage in contributing to early pubertal maturation and higher body mass index; however, previous studies in this area have design limitations. Specifically, many studies have been cross-sectional, have used singular indicators of neighborhood disadvantage (e.g., poverty), and have provided mixed findings about the role of biological sex. The present study addresses these gaps by examining how neighborhood resources (spanning educational, health/environmental, and social/economic domains) predict trajectories of pubertal maturation and body mass index using longitudinal multi-wave data. Furthermore, multigroup analyses assessed how these associations may differ by child biological sex. Participants in this study (n = 505; 54% male) were assessed every 3 years at age 9 (M = 9.17, SD = 0.39), age 12 (M = 12.63, SD = 0.43), and age 15 (M = 15.23, SD = 0.37). Approximately 12% of the sample identified as Hispanic, and 11% as non-White. Using multigroup latent growth analyses, the study examined how neighborhood resources predicted trajectories of pubertal maturation and body mass index using multi-wave data across middle childhood through mid-adolescence. The findings suggested that greater neighborhood resources were cross-sectionally associated with lower pubertal development and predicted slower trajectories across time. Although all girls in the study eventually progressed through pubertal development, girls in lower resourced neighborhoods experienced a much earlier onset of puberty. Additionally, greater neighborhood resources predicted lower BMI both cross sectionally and longitudinally. Specifically, higher resourced neighborhoods were protective against obesity risk for both boys and girls across mid-childhood through mid-adolescence. In sum, the study highlights the role of broader neighborhood factors on early maturity risk for female children, and obesity risk for children regardless of biological sex.

Ecological Predictors of Parental Beliefs about Infant Crying in a Randomized Clinical Trial of ABC.

OBJECTIVE: Attachment theory suggests that parent responsiveness to infant distress predicts secure parent-child attachment and subsequent healthy child development. While much is known about microsystem factors that interfere with responsive caregiving, there is a paucity of research investigating how exosystem factors, such as neighborhood crime, affect parenting. METHOD: In a sample of 200 diverse caregivers and their 5- to 21-month-old infants (M = 11.82; 49% male), we leveraged data from a randomized clinical trial of Attachment and Biobehavioral Catch-up (ABC), an attachment-based intervention, to assess whether individual level burden (indicated by single-parent status, low income, residential instability, young parenthood, parental psychopathology, and own history of early adversity) and neighborhood crime density (geocoded within a 500 ft radius of parent's residence) were associated with their beliefs about infant crying, an indicator of responsive parenting. RESULTS: Consistent with Bronfenbrenner's ecological systems' theory of development, both greater exposure to individual burden indicators and greater neighborhood crime density predicted greater maladaptive beliefs about infant crying, suggesting that contextual factors outside the household are associated with parenting cognitions. Further, when accounting for the effect of crime and individual burden on parental beliefs about infant crying, participation in the ABC intervention was effective in reducing maladaptive parenting beliefs. CONCLUSIONS: We consider implications for multi-level intervention approaches that target family processes, neighborhood-level factors, and policy initiatives to promote community wellbeing and positive child development.

Understanding Neighborhoods' Impact on Youth Substance Use and Mental Health Outcomes in Paterson, New Jersey: Protocol for a Community-Based Participatory Research Study.

BACKGROUND: Substance use among youth is a major public health concern. Of note, substance use among youth is increasing in prevalence, and the incidence of substance use at earlier ages is rising. Given the long-term consequences of early substance use, it is important to identify factors that increase youth vulnerability to drug use, as they may be important targets for future interventions. OBJECTIVE: This study aims to use innovative methods, such as venue-based sampling, to recruit youth who are disconnected from school and use community-based participatory research to gain a better understanding of the prevalence of substance use and important correlates among youth aged between 13 and 21 years in Paterson, New Jersey, a low-income, urban community. The study will use a convergent, mixed methods design involving multiple data collection components and the analysis of a ministrative data source, designed with the strengths of complex intervention frameworks in mind. The overall aims of the study are to identify the prevalence of substance use among youth who are engaged in school and not engaged in school; to understand important antecedents and correlates of substance use; and to use this information to inform social, environmental, and culturally appropriate interventions to address substance use and its correlates among youths in a lower-resourced urban community. METHODS: This study will use both qualitative and quantitative methods to address important questions. Specifically, semistructured interviews using focus group and interview methodologies will be used to assess youths' lived experiences and will account for specific details that quantitative methods may not be able to attain. In addition, quantitative methods will be used to examine direct and multilevel associations between neighborhood factors and youth substance use and mental health outcomes. RESULTS: A previous analysis from a substance use initiative in Paterson, New Jersey found that youth who use substances such as marijuana and alcohol are more likely to have higher rates of depression and anxiety. On the basis of the research questions, this study will examine the association between neighborhood characteristics, substance use, and mental health symptoms among youth in Paterson by using quantitative and qualitative methods and will use these findings to inform the adaptation of a community- and evidence-based substance use prevention intervention for these youths. CONCLUSIONS: The findings of this study will provide an important contribution to understanding the role of socioecological factors in predicting substance use and mental health outcomes among youth in a lower-resourced, urban community. Furthermore, these findings will serve as evidence for the development of a culturally informed, community-based prevention program to address substance use disparities for youth, including those who are truant in Paterson, New Jersey. INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT IDENTIFIER (IRRID): PRR1-10.2196/29427.

Acquisition of remifentanil self-administration: Enhanced in female rats but no effect of adolescent stress exposure.

Animal models of acquisition have been vital in shaping our understanding of vulnerability factors that influence susceptibility to drugs of abuse. Decades of research substantiates a number of biological, environmental, and behavioral factors that predict vulnerability - many of which have been important in the development of early intervention efforts in humans. The goal of the present study was to examine the acquisition of a synthetic opioid derivative in 66 adult male and female Long-Evans rats following histories of stress exposure during adolescence. Stress-exposed rats were subjected to a mild stress paradigm, which included alternating exposure to synthetic fox feces and physical restraint for eight days. Following stress induction and assessment, all rats were implanted with intravenous catheters in order to self-administer remifentanil (1 µm/kg/infusion) with no prior operant training. Acquisition of remifentanil self-administration was measured over 15 days. Findings indicate that regardless of stress condition, female rats acquired remifentanil self-administration sooner and emitted more active lever presses than males. Stress exposed animals exhibited increased anxiety-like response compared to the control group following exposure to stress, operationalized as decreased exploratory behavior on an Elevated Plus Maze. However, these effects were not expressed as significant differences in self-administration by stress. Together, these findings indicate that sex differences are evident in remifentanil self-administration.