Beyond attachment theory: Indigenous perspectives on the child-caregiver bond from a northwest tribal community.

Healthy Indigenous child development is grounded in Indigenous ways of knowing and being. Attachment theory has been influential in understanding the significance of parenting for infant development in Western science but has focused on child-caregiver bonds predominantly within the parent-child dyad. To bring forth Indigenous perspectives regarding understandings of parenting, the attachment bond, and the well-being of Indigenous children, we conducted semi-structured interviews with 28 members of a Northwest tribal community (21 female) in spring and summer 2020. Themes included Community caregiving, Family value systems, Bonding, Traditional teachings, and Historical trauma. The need to expand the lens of attachment theory beyond the dyad is clear. Implications for improving the child welfare system and prevention programs within Indigenous communities are discussed.

White parents' racial socialization during a guided discussion predicts declines in white children's pro-white biases.

Although parent-child conversations about race are recommended to curb White U.S. children's racial biases, little work has tested their influence. We designed a guided racism discussion task for U.S. White parents and their 8-12-year-old White children. We explored whether children's and parents' (a) pro-White implicit biases changed pre to postconversation, (b) racial socialization messages (color conscious, external attributions for prejudiced behavior and colorblind racial ideology [CBRI]) predicted changes in each other's implicit biases, and (c) associations varied by the type of racism (subtle vs. blatant) discussed. Children's and parents' biases significantly declined, pre to postdiscussion. Parents' color conscious messages predicted greater declines and messages reflecting CBRI and external attributions predicted smaller declines in children's bias. These patterns were observed during discussions of subtle, but not blatant bias. Effects of children's messages on parents' bias were mixed. Our findings suggest that color conscious parent-child discussions may effectively reduce implicit pro-White bias in White children. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Perinatal hair cortisol concentrations linked to psychological distress and unpredicted birth complications.

Maternal well-being and stress during the perinatal period have been hypothesized to influence birth outcomes and the postnatal development of offspring. In the present study, we explored whether hair cortisol concentration (HCC) was related to symptoms of psychological distress during the perinatal period and with unpredicted birth complications (UBCs). Surveys measuring symptoms of perceived stress, state/trait anxiety, and depression were collected from 53 participants (mean age = 31.1, SD = 4.04; 83% Caucasian, 17% other races) during the third trimester and again at two and six months after birth, 24.5% of which reported UBCs. In a subset of participants, we measured HCC in hair samples collected during the third trimester (27-39 weeks) and six months after birth. Compared to participants reporting normal births, those reporting UBCs had significantly elevated composite stress, anxiety, and depression (SAD) scores two months after birth, but scores decreased by six months postpartum. During the third trimester, HCC was positively associated with reported SAD scores, and HCC was elevated in participants reporting birth complications. Logistic regression showed HCC, but not SAD scores, predicted UBCs (p = 0.023, pseudo R2= 19.7%). Repeated measures MANOVA showed HCC varied over the perinatal period depending on both SAD scores reported at two months postpartum and the experience of UBCs; but when SAD scores reported at six months postpartum were included in the model, the association between HCC and SAD scores and the influence of UBCs was diminished. Although generalizability is limited by our relatively small, homogeneous sample, findings support a positive association between reported psychological distress and HCC during pregnancy and at two months postpartum. We also report a novel finding that chronically elevated cortisol concentrations during pregnancy were related to the risk of UBCs and remain elevated through the early postpartum period, suggesting the importance of monitoring both psychological distress and HCC during the perinatal period.

Indigenous Voices Against Suicide: A Meta-Synthesis Advancing Prevention Strategies.

Rates of suicidality amongst Indigenous Peoples are linked to historical and ongoing settler-colonialism including land seizures, spiritual oppression, cultural disconnection, forced enculturation, and societal alienation. Consistent with decolonial practices, Indigenous voices and perspectives must be centered in the development and evaluation of suicide prevention programs for Indigenous Peoples in the United States to ensure efficacy. The current study is a meta-synthesis of qualitative research on suicide prevention among Indigenous populations in the United States. Findings reveal little evidence for the centering of participant voices within existing suicide prevention programs. Applied thematic analysis of synthesis memos developed for each article in the final sample surfaced four primary themes: (1) support preferences; (2) challenges to suicide prevention; (3) integration of culture as prevention; and (4) grounding relationships in prevention. The need for culturally centered programming and the inadequacy of 'pan-Indian' approaches are highlighted. Sub-themes with respect to resiliency, kinship connection, and safe spaces to share cultural knowledge also emerge. Implications of this work to further the decolonization of suicide prevention and aid in the promotion of culturally grounded prevention science strategies are discussed.

An Antiracism Community-Based Participatory Research With Organizations Serving Immigrant and Marginalized Communities, Including Asian Americans and Native Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders in the United States Pacific Northwest: Qualitative Description Study With Key Informants.

BACKGROUND: Asian American (AA) community leaders, Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander (NH/PI) community leaders, and allies in the United States Pacific Northwest expressed concern that there are families and children from AA communities and NH/PI communities who experience and witness acts of xenophobia and racism. This can cause racial trauma. The long-time practice of aggregating AA and NH/PI data contributes to erasure and makes it challenging to advance health equity, such as allocating resources. According to AAPI Data's long-awaited report in June 2022, there are over 24 million AAs and 1.6 million NHs/PIs in the United States, growing by 40% and 30%, respectively, between 2010 and 2020. Philanthropic investments have not kept up with this substantive increase. The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine emphasized the need for effective partnerships to advance the health and well-being of individuals and communities in antiracism and system-level research. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this community-based participatory research qualitative description study was to identify perceptions and experiences regarding racial discrimination, race-based stress, and racial trauma; intergenerational healing and resiliency; and sharing the body with science from key informants of an academic and community partnership to inform antiracism coalition work. This partnership includes academic researchers and community leaders from community-based organizations and a health care organization serving immigrant and marginalized communities, including AAs and NHs/PIs in the United States Pacific Northwest. METHODS: In total, 10 key informants joined 1 of 2 participatory group discussions via videoconference for 2 hours in 2022. We used a semistructured and open-ended group interview guide. A qualitative participatory group-level assessment was conducted with the key informants and transcribed. Interpretations and meanings of the main points and the main themes were reflected upon, clarified, and verified with the key informants in real time. The field note-based data transcripts were manually coded using conventional content analysis. Reflexivity was used. RESULTS: There were 6 main themes: prejudice plus power in racism definition and working in solidarity to counter lateral oppression/false sense of security, microaggression as multilayers, "not assimilationist by nature" and responding differently to white superiority, intergenerational- and identity-related trauma, what is healing among People of Color and through a lens of resiliency and intergenerational connection and knowledge, and mistrust and fear in the research and health care systems surrounding intentions of the body. CONCLUSIONS: The themes highlight the importance of internal and intergenerational healing from racial trauma and the need for solidarity among communities of color to combat white supremacy and colonization. This work was foundational in an ongoing effort to dismantle racism and uplift the community voice through a cross-sector academic and community partnership to inform antiracism coalition work.

Prenatal internalizing symptoms as a mediator linking maternal adverse childhood experiences with infant temperament.

BACKGROUND: Maternal adverse childhood experiences are known to significantly influence offspring development. However, mediators linking maternal early-life adversity with infant temperament remain largely unknown. AIMS: The current study investigated whether prenatal internalizing symptoms mediate the association between maternal adverse childhood experiences and infant temperament at two months. Maternal sensitivity/responsiveness during the postpartum period was also examined as a moderator of these associations. STUDY DESIGN: We used a repeated-measures design, with self-report measures administered during pregnancy. Self-report and observational data were also collected at 2 months postpartum. SUBJECTS: The study included a community sample of 64 pregnant women and their infants. OUTCOME MEASURES: Participants completed measures assessing their early-life adversity and current depression/anxiety symptoms. At two months postpartum, mothers reported on their infant's temperament and participated in a parent-child interaction task designed to assess maternal sensitivity/responsiveness. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: Maternal adverse childhood experiences indirectly predicted poor self-regulation during early infancy via prenatal internalizing symptoms. Maternal sensitivity/responsiveness was also found to moderate the association between maternal adverse childhood experiences and certain aspects of infant regulatory capacity and positive affectivity at two months. This research has implications for mental health screening procedures during pregnancy and the development of early intervention programs.

A systematic review of trauma intervention adaptations for indigenous caregivers and children: Insights and implications for reciprocal collaboration.

OBJECTIVE: Indigenous peoples are at elevated risk of exposure to trauma and related mental and physical health difficulties that are rooted in the ongoing experience of settler-colonialism. Historical and current trauma exposure feed intergenerational cycles that compromise the healthy development of Indigenous children. METHOD: We conducted a systematic review of trauma-focused, caregiver-child interventions adapted for Indigenous communities. RESULTS: We identified 13 articles each reporting a unique intervention. Six were implemented among American Indians, five among Indigenous Australians, one among First Nations and Metis peoples, and one among Maori peoples. Eight of the interventions used surface-structure cultural adaptations (i.e., replacing images or examples for greater cultural relevance), one used deep-structure cultural adaptations (i.e., replacing curriculum for greater cultural relevance), and four were culturally grounded interventions (i.e., developed by the Indigenous community in partnership with researchers). CONCLUSIONS: The overall limited number of trauma-focused, caregiver-child interventions for Indigenous communities, and especially those representing reciprocal collaboration between researchers and the communities with whom they engage, is notable. We argue that such collaboration is critical to healing Indigenous traumatization from colonization and provide recommendations for future trauma intervention science. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Applying the Evidence We Have: Support for Having Race Conversations in White U.S. Families.

Popular press articles have advocated for parent-child conversations about race and racism to prevent children from developing racial biases, yet empirical investigations of the impact of racial socialization in White U.S. families are scarce. In an article published in Perspectives on Psychological Science in 2020, Scott et al. warned that, given the lack of empirical evidence, parents might actually do more harm than good by talking to their children about race. In this comment, we draw upon the literature on (a) racial socialization, (b) parenting and parent-child discourse, and (c) the role of nonverbal communication in parental socialization to inform our understanding of parents' ability to engage in race-related conversations in the absence of empirical guidance. We also highlight emerging evidence of the potential benefits of these conversations (even if parents are uncomfortable). In sum, the wealth of existing literature suggests that parents can successfully navigate challenging conversations with their children-which tends to result in better outcomes for children than avoiding those conversations. Thus, although we support Scott et al.'s call for researchers to develop more empirical research, we part with the authors' assertion that researchers need to wait for more sufficient evidence before providing recommendations to White parents-we believe that the time for White families to begin talking about race and racism is now.

Substance use and mental health in pregnant women during the COVID-19 pandemic.

OBJECTIVES: We examined the prevalence of substance use as a coping mechanism and identified relationships between maternal mental health over time and use of substances to cope during the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic among pregnant women in the U.S.A. METHODS: Self-reported repeated measures from 83 pregnant women were collected online in April 2020 and May 2020. Women retrospectively reported their mental/emotional health before the pandemic, as well as depression, stress, and substance use as a result of the pandemic at both time points. Linear regression measured cross-sectional and longitudinal associations between mental health and substance use. RESULTS: Pre-COVID-19 reports of poorer mental/emotional health (b = 0.46) were significantly (p < .05) associated with number of substances used to cope with the pandemic. Elevated stress (b = 0.35) and depressive symptoms (b = 0.27) and poorer mental/emotional health (b = 0.14) in April were also significantly related to higher numbers of substances used in May (p < .05). CONCLUSION: Pregnant women's psychological well-being may be a readily measured indicator substance use risk during crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Interventions addressing increased stress and depression may also mitigate the emergence of greater substance use among pregnant women.

Stressors, coping, and resources needed during the COVID-19 pandemic in a sample of perinatal women.

BACKGROUND: Psychological stress and coping experienced during pregnancy can have important effects on maternal and infant health, which can also vary by race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status. Therefore, we assessed stressors, coping behaviors, and resources needed in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic in a sample of 162 perinatal (125 pregnant and 37 postpartum) women in the United States. METHODS: A mixed-methods study captured quantitative responses regarding stressors and coping, along with qualitative responses to open-ended questions regarding stress and resources needed during the COVID-19 pandemic. Logistic and linear regression models were used to analyze differences between pregnant and postpartum participants, as well as differences across key demographic variables. Qualitative content analysis was used to analyze open-ended questions. RESULTS: During the COVID-pandemic, food scarcity and shelter-in-place restrictions made it difficult for pregnant women to find healthy foods. Participants also reported missing prenatal appointments, though many reported using telemedicine to obtain these services. Financial issues were prevalent in our sample and participants had difficulty obtaining childcare. After controlling for demographic variables, pregnant women were less likely to engage in healthy stress-coping behaviors than postpartum women. Lastly, we were able to detect signals of increased stressors induced by the COVID-19 pandemic, and less social support, in perinatal women of racial and ethnic minority, and lower-income status. Qualitative results support our survey findings as participants expressed concerns about their baby contracting COVID-19 while in the hospital, significant others missing the delivery or key obstetric appointments, and wanting support from friends, family, and birthing classes. Financial resources, COVID-19 information and research as it relates to maternal-infant health outcomes, access to safe healthcare, and access to baby supplies (formula, diapers, etc.) emerged as the primary resources needed by participants. CONCLUSIONS: To better support perinatal women's mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic, healthcare providers should engage in conversations regarding access to resources needed to care for newborns, refer patients to counseling services (which can be delivered online/via telephone) and virtual support groups, and consistently screen pregnant women for stressors.

The interactive effect of family conflict history and physiological reactivity on different forms of aggression in young women.

Evidence indicates that patterns of biological reactivity underlie different forms of aggression, but greater precision is needed in research targeting biopsychosocial processes that underlie such differences. This study investigated how sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system (SNS and PNS) responses to social stress were associated with multiple forms of aggression in an ethnically-diverse sample of young adult females; it further examined whether early life exposure to family conflict moderated these relationships. In the context of high levels of family conflict history, greater SNS activation during a social conflict task was associated with more direct proactive aggression and increasing RSA was associated with more direct reactive aggression. Greater SNS activation during the task was associated with more direct reactive aggression regardless of family conflict history. Our findings affirm the need to capture the contributions of multiple physiological systems simultaneously and the importance of considering family history in the study of aggression.

Keep it to yourself? Parent emotion suppression influences physiological linkage and interaction behavior.

Parents can influence children's emotional responses through direct and subtle behavior. In this study we examined how parents' acute stress responses might be transmitted to their 7- to 11-year-old children and how parental emotional suppression would affect parents' and children's physiological responses and behavior. Parents and their children (N = 214; Ndyads = 107; 47% fathers) completed a laboratory visit where we initially separated the parents and children and subjected the parent to a standardized laboratory stressor that reliably activates the body's primary stress systems. Before reuniting with their children, parents were randomly assigned to either suppress their affective state-hide their emotions from their child-or to act naturally (control condition). Once reunited, parents and children completed a conflict conversation and two interaction tasks together. We measured their sympathetic nervous system (SNS) responses and observed interaction behavior. We obtained three key findings: (a) suppressing mothers' SNS responses influenced their child's SNS responses; (b) suppressing fathers' SNS responses were influenced by their child's SNS responses; and (c) dyads with suppressing parents appeared less warm and less engaged during interaction than control dyads. These findings reveal that parents' emotion regulation efforts impact parent-child stress transmission and compromise interaction quality. Discussion focuses on short-term and long-term consequences of parental emotion regulation and children's social-emotional development. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Not in front of the kids: Effects of parental suppression on socialization behaviors during cooperative parent-child interactions.

Parents often try to hide their negative emotions from their kids, hoping to protect them from experiencing adverse responses. However, suppression has been linked with poor social interactions. Suppression may be particularly damaging in the context of parent-child relationships because it may hinder parents' ability to support children's emotion regulation. Immediately after completing a stressful task, 109 parents of 7 to 11 year olds were randomly assigned to a suppression condition or a control condition during an interaction with their child. Children were given a set of instructions with pictures to build a Lego house and told to verbally instruct their parent without touching the Legos themselves. Trained research assistants coded parents' and children's positive and negative mood, responsiveness, warmth, parents' guidance, and the quality of the interaction. We found that suppression decreased parents' observed positive mood, responsiveness, warmth, and guidance, as well as children's observed positive mood, responsiveness, and warmth, and decreased the overall dyadic interaction quality. However, parent sex played a significant role in moderating these effects. Fathers in the suppression condition were less responsive and warm than control fathers, though children interacting with their fathers did not exhibit decrements in responsiveness or warmth. In contrast, children of suppressing mothers appeared less warm than children of mothers in the control condition, though suppressing mothers did not exhibit decrements in their observed warmth or responsiveness relative to control mothers. Taken together, these findings suggest that the desire to hide one's feelings from one's children may have unwanted negative consequences but may differ for fathers versus mothers. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Affect contagion between mothers and infants: Examining valence and touch.

Mothers and their babies represent one of the closest dyadic units and thus provide a powerful paradigm to examine how affective states are shared, and result in, synchronized physiologic responses between two people. We recruited mothers and their 12- to 14-month-old infants (Ndyads = 98) to complete a lab study in which mothers were initially separated from their infants and assigned to either a low-arousal positive/relaxation condition, intended to elicit parasympathetic nervous system (PNS) reactivity, or a high-arousal negative/stress task, intended to elicit sympathetic nervous system (SNS) reactivity. Upon reunion, infants were placed either on their mothers' laps (touch condition) or in a high chair next to the mother (no-touch condition). We then examined if the babies SNS and/or PNS responses changed from their baseline levels and how the dyads' physiological responses-both PNS and SNS responses-synchronized over time as a function of mothers' affect manipulation and touch condition. Three noteworthy findings were observed. First, infants of mothers assigned to the relaxation task showed greater PNS increases and PNS covariation. Second, infants of mothers assigned to the stress task showed stronger SNS covariation with their mothers over time. Finally, infants who sat on their mothers' laps (i.e., touch condition) showed stronger SNS covariation than those in the no-touch condition. Taken together, these results suggest that mothers' affective states-low-arousal positive states as well as high-arousal negative states-can be "caught" by their infants, and that touch can play a critical role in stress contagion. (PsycINFO Database Record

Children's perceptions of emotion regulation strategy effectiveness: links with attachment security.

Six- and nine-year-old children (N = 97) heard illustrated stories evoking anger in a story character and provided evaluations of the effectiveness of eight anger regulation strategies. Half the stories involved the child's mother as social partner and the other half involved a peer. Attachment security was assessed via the Security Scale. Children reported greater effectiveness for seeking support from adults and peers in the peer context than the mother context, but perceived venting as more effective with mothers. Children with higher security scores were more likely to endorse problem solving and less likely to endorse aggression in both social contexts than those with lower security scores. Early evidence for gender differences was found in that boys endorsed the effectiveness of distraction while girls endorsed venting their emotion.

The impact of maternal depression and overcrowded housing on associations between autonomic nervous system reactivity and externalizing behavior problems in vulnerable Latino children.

The study of autonomic nervous system responses and contextual factors has shed light on the development of children's negative outcomes, but the majority of these studies have not focused on minority populations living under adversity. To address these gaps, the current longitudinal study included a sample of poor, immigrant Latino families to examine whether associations between children's autonomic nervous system reactivity at 6 months and their externalizing behavior problems at 7 years of age were moderated by two risk factors associated with poverty: the interpersonal factor of chronic maternal depression and the environmental factor of chronic overcrowded housing. Multiple linear regression (N = 99) revealed that children who exhibited less parasympathetic nervous system withdrawal in response to challenge during infancy had more externalizing problems during childhood only if they had mothers who experienced chronic depression. Children who exhibited greater sympathetic nervous system reactivity during infancy had the lowest levels of externalizing problems during childhood only if they had mothers who chronic depression. Chronic overcrowded housing did not moderate associations between physiological reactivity and level of externalizing problems. These findings extend our understanding of the interaction of physiology and context on child outcomes to the understudied population of impoverished Latino families.

Physiological and Relational Predictors of Mother-Infant Behavioral Coordination.

Coordinated social behavior and positive affect shared between parent and child in early life provide a foundation for healthy social and emotional development. We examined physiological (cardiac vagal responses) and relational (attachment security) predictors of dyadic behavioral coordination in a sample of 13-month-old infants and their mothers (N = 64). We tested whether cardiac vagal responses moderated the association between attachment security and behavioral coordination. The main effect of attachment on coordination was moderated by infant cardiac vagal tone (i.e., respiratory sinus arrhythmia [RSA] during rest). Securely attached infants with lower cardiac vagal tone were more behaviorally coordinated with their mothers; there was no association between attachment and coordination for infants with high cardiac vagal tone. Infants with greater increases in cardiac vagal reactivity (i.e., RSA during social engagement) exhibited greater behavioral coordination with their mothers regardless of attachment status. There were no effects for maternal cardiac vagal responses. These results illustrate how individual differences in physiological responses inform healthy early social-emotional functioning.

Improvements in the Child-Rearing Attitudes of Latina Mothers Exposed to Interpersonal Trauma Predict Greater Maternal Sensitivity Toward Their 6-Month-Old Infants.

The current study investigated maternal sensitivity in a treatment-seeking sample of predominately Latina, low-income pregnant women with histories of interpersonal trauma exposure. Pregnant women (N = 52; M = 27.08 years, SD = 5.66) who enrolled in a study of a perinatal adaptation of child-parent psychotherapy reported on their posttraumatic stress symptoms and child-rearing attitudes at baseline and again at 6-months postpartum. Maternal sensitivity was measured via observational coding of a free-play episode at 6-months postpartum. Two thirds of mothers exhibited healthy levels of maternal sensitivity, M > 4.0 (range = 2.5-7.0). The results of multiple linear regression predicting maternal sensitivity, R(2) = .26, indicated that greater improvements in child-rearing attitudes over the course of treatment predicted higher levels of maternal sensitivity, ß = .33, whereas improvements in posttraumatic stress symptoms over the course of treatment did not, ß = -.10. Mothers' attitudes regarding parenting during the perinatal period may be a mechanism by which intervention fosters healthy mother-infant relationship dynamics. Thus, parenting attitudes are a worthy target of intervention in vulnerable families.

Stress contagion: physiological covariation between mothers and infants.

Emotions are not simply concepts that live privately in the mind, but rather affective states that emanate from the individual and may influence others. We explored affect contagion in the context of one of the closest dyadic units, mother and infant. We initially separated mothers and infants; randomly assigned the mothers to experience a stressful positive-evaluation task, a stressful negative-evaluation task, or a nonstressful control task; and then reunited the mothers and infants. Three notable findings were obtained: First, infants' physiological reactivity mirrored mothers' reactivity engendered by the stress manipulation. Second, infants whose mothers experienced social evaluation showed more avoidance toward strangers compared with infants whose mothers were in the control condition. Third, the negative-evaluation condition, compared with the other conditions, generated greater physiological covariation in the dyads, and this covariation increased over time. These findings suggest that mothers' stressful experiences are contagious to their infants and that members of close pairs, like mothers and infants, can reciprocally influence each other's dynamic physiological reactivity.

Emotion Regulation and Attachment: Unpacking Two Constructs and Their Association.

This study examined the association between the security of attachment and processes influencing the development of emotion regulation in young children. A sample of 73 4 1/2-year-olds and their mothers were observed in an emotion regulation probe involving mild frustration for children, and mothers and children were later independently interviewed about how the child had felt. Fewer than half the mothers agreed with children's self-reports in the emotion they attributed to children (a lower rate than the concordance of observer ratings with children's self-reports), and higher mother-child concordance was associated with secure attachment and mother's beliefs about the importance of attending to and accepting their own emotions. Mother-child conversations about recent events evoking children's negative emotion were also analyzed. Children were less likely to avoid conversing about negative feelings when they were in secure attachments and when mothers were more validating of the child's perspective. Children's greater understanding of negative emotions was also significantly associated with higher mother-child concordance and less child conversational avoidance. Taken together, these findings underscore the multiple influences of attachment on emotion regulation and the importance of children's emotion understanding to these processes.