Mental health and health behaviors among college student mentors in a randomized controlled trial interrupted by COVID-19.

Objective: The benefits of mindfulness-training and mentoring for college students have yet to be investigated. We aimed to provide an exploratory and descriptive account of their potential benefits during the COVID-19 pandemic. Participants: In February 2020, 49 undergraduates (M = 20.51 years-old; 94% female) participated in a randomized trial of 12-week mentoring + mindfulness or mentoring-as-usual. After five weekly mentoring-sessions, programs were interrupted by COVID-19; mentoring continued online. Methods: Undergraduates completed questionnaires about mental health, behaviors, and regulatory processes in February and July 2020, with additional COVID-19-related questions at follow-up. Results: Participants reported moderate COVID-19-related perceived stress, but mental health, health behaviors, and regulatory processes did not diminish over time, with no condition differences. Undergraduates described using contemplative practices and social support to cope with COVID-19-stress. Conclusions: Undergraduates showed stable mental health/health behaviors despite moderate COVID-19-related-stress. Future research on mentoring with a mindfulness component among a larger and more heterogeneous sample will be necessary.

Health effects of COVID-19 for vulnerable adolescents in a randomized controlled trial.

Emerging evidence suggests the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is adversely affecting adolescents' mental health and health behaviors, particularly among those with preexisting mental health conditions and from lower socioeconomic backgrounds. However, direct tests of changes in health outcomes among vulnerable adolescents from before to during COVID-19 are limited. In addition, little is known about how to buffer adolescents, particularly those who are most vulnerable, against stress-related decrements in health. This randomized controlled trial begins to fill these gaps in the literature by exploring changes in mental health, health behaviors, executive function, emotion regulation, and mindfulness among vulnerable adolescents involved in a mentoring program during the COVID-19 pandemic. It also examined to what extent there were protective benefits of incorporating mindfulness training within a mentoring program for buffering adolescents from negative pandemic health effects. Thirty-five adolescents (Mage = 12.9, 37% female) and 32 parents (Mage = 44.75, 80% female) completed questionnaires at baseline (February 2020) and follow-up (July 2020). There were few significant reductions in health; instead, on average, youth reported improvements in sleep, emotion regulation, executive function, and mindfulness over time. Adolescents randomized to mentoring + mindfulness displayed significantly less posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptomatology and emotional impulsivity at follow-up, compared to the mentoring-as-usual condition. These pilot findings suggest that mentoring with a mindfulness training component may offer an effective strategy for protecting adolescents from deteriorations in health outcomes during COVID-19. Further, there may be unique benefits of mindfulness training for vulnerable youth as a way to adapt to stressful events. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Associations of adverse childhood experiences with stress physiology and insulin resistance in adolescents at risk for adult obesity.

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) heighten the risk for adult obesity and cardiometabolic disease, but physiological factors underlying this connection are not well understood. We determined if ACEs were associated with physiological stress response and insulin resistance in adolescents at risk for adult obesity. Participants were 90 adolescents 12.0-17.5 years (50% female, 30% Hispanic/Latinx), at risk for adult obesity by virtue of above-average body mass index (BMI; kg/m2 ≥ 70th percentile) or parental obesity (BMI ≥ 30 kg/m2 ). ACEs were determined as presence (vs. absence) based upon the Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia for School-Aged Children. Physiological stress response was measured as heart rate/blood pressure response to the Trier Social Stress Test. Homeostatic model assessment of insulin resistance was determined from fasting glucose/insulin. Sixty-one percent of adolescents reported positive ACE history. The presence of ACEs predicted greater heart rate (p < .001) and diastolic blood pressure (p = .02) response to stress, controlling for age, sex, race/ethnicity, puberty, and BMI standard score. Systolic blood pressure and insulin resistance did not differ by ACE history (p-values > .08). Findings suggest heightened sympathetic stress response in adolescence could be explanatory in how ACEs increase the risk for later cardiometabolic disease. Future studies should characterize ACEs in relationship to day-to-day variations in adolescents' stress physiology and glucose homeostasis.

Effects of a mindfulness-induction on subjective and physiological stress response in adolescents at-risk for adult obesity.

BACKGROUND: Mindfulness-training may benefit stress response and stress-eating, yet few studies have experimentally tested these effects in adolescents. In this short communication, we report whether a brief mindfulness-induction affected acute stress response and stress-eating in adolescents at-risk for adult obesity. We explored disordered eating as a moderator. METHOD: Twenty-nine adolescents (age 14 ± 2 y) at-risk for adult obesity participated in a within-subjects, randomized crossover experiment. Following a 10-minute mindfulness or neutral-induction on different days in random order, the Trier Social Stress Test adapted for adolescents was administered, followed by an ad libitum lunch meal. Physiological stress response (heart rate, blood pressure) and subjective stress response (anxiety, mindlessness) were determined with area under the curve with respect to increase. Stress-eating was measured as test meal energy consumed. Global disordered-eating and binge-eating were assessed with the Eating Disorders Examination-Questionnaire. RESULTS: Relative to a neutral-induction, a mindfulness-induction reduced state anxiety response (p = .04). There were significant interactions of induction-type by global disordered-eating (p = .02) and binge-eating (p = .03), such that the mindfulness-induction most reduced anxiety response in adolescents with relatively lower global disordered-eating and those with no binge-eating. Induction-type also interacted with binge-eating in predicting diastolic blood pressure (p = .03). A mindfulness-induction, versus neutral-induction, most reduced diastolic blood pressure response in adolescents with binge-eating. CONCLUSIONS: Brief mindfulness-training may alter some aspects of acute stress response, with variations by disordered-eating. Future research should test alternative mindfulness induction-types (e.g., acceptance/self-compassion) to improve our understanding of how mindfulness-training may benefit adolescents at-risk for adult obesity.

Associations of parental feeding practices and food reward responsiveness with adolescent stress-eating.

Rates of adolescent obesity have continued to rise over the past decade. As adolescence is an important time for developing eating habits that endure into adulthood, more information is needed about the potentially modifiable family- and individual-level factors that influence the development of common overeating behaviors such as stress-eating during adolescence. In this study, we conducted secondary data analyses to evaluate how parental feeding practices and adolescents' food reward responsiveness related to adolescents' stress-eating during a laboratory test meal. Participants were 90 healthy adolescents (50% female), 12-17 years of age (M = 14.3, SD = 1.7 years), at risk for excess weight gain (BMI percentile M = 92.7, SD = 7.5). Parental feeding behaviors were assessed with parent-report on the Child Feeding Questionnaire-Adolescent Version. Adolescents' relative reward value of food was measured with a behavioral task. Stress-eating was assessed as total energy intake from a buffet lunch meal after adolescents participated in the Trier Social Stress Test adapted for adolescents. Results revealed that parental concern about their child's weight (t = 2.27, p = .02) and adolescents' relative reward value of food (t = 2.24, p = .03) were related to greater stress-eating, controlling for BMI standard score, age, sex, and general perceived stress. Parental restriction was not related to stress-eating in this sample (p = .21). These findings suggest that parental attitudes about their adolescent's weight and adolescents' own internalized responsiveness to food as a reward may play a role in propensity to engage in overeating in response to stress.