Parental Stress and Chinese American Preschoolers' Adjustment: The Mediating Role of Parenting.

Family contexts, such as parental stress and parenting practices, play critical roles in preschoolers' adjustment. However, these processes have been understudied in Chinese American families. The present study examined the associations between Chinese American mothers' experiences of two types of stress (i.e., general/contextual stress and parenting stress) and their preschoolers' socio-emotional and behavioral adjustment problems; in addition, the mediating roles of maternal psychologically controlling parenting and maternal warmth in these associations were assessed. Participants included 207 first-generation Chinese American mothers (Mage = 37.78 years, SDage = 4.36) and their 3- to 6-year-old children (Mage = 4.50 years, SDage = 0.90; 52% boys). Mothers reported on their levels of stress, psychologically controlling parenting, and warmth practices; teachers reported on child adjustment in the school setting. The results revealed that higher levels of general/contextual stress and parenting stress were each uniquely associated with more maternal psychologically controlling parenting practices, which in turn was associated with fewer socio-emotional and behavioral adjustment problems in children. Our findings can inform parenting intervention programs designed to improve Chinese American preschoolers' adjustment.

The Transition to Fatherhood, Contextual Stress, and Substance Abuse: A Prospective Analysis of Rural, Emerging Adult Black American Men.

Background: Among Black American emerging adult men (∼aged 18-25), the early transition to fatherhood is often marred by numerous contextual stressors related to racial discrimination and socioeconomic instability. The strain of transitioning to fatherhood while experiencing high levels of contextual stress may evidence escalations in substance misuse over time as men may turn to substances to cope with the stress of complex life transitions. However, research examining these associations are scarce. Objective: This study aimed to investigate the influence of contextual stress on the association between fatherhood and substance misuse. Hypotheses were tested using multiple linear regression with 3 waves of data from 476 Black American men aged 19 to 22 at baseline living in resource-poor communities in the rural South. Results: Results demonstrated that fatherhood status was associated, prospectively, with Black American fathers' substance misuse when exposure to contextual stress was high but not low. Conclusions: Findings underscore the need for substance misuse prevention programs to (a) support Black American fathers in coping with race-related stress and (b) integrate robust socioeconomic stability services in order in disrupt patterns of future substance misuse by improving Black American men's experience of the transition to fatherhood.

Language Brokering-Stress Transition Profiles and Marijuana Use in Mexican-Origin Adolescents.

Although Mexican-origin adolescents experience multiple contextual stressors (e.g., discrimination, economic stress, and foreigner stress) that may result in increased marijuana use, they actively engage in cultural practices (e.g., language brokering) that may protect them from adverse developmental outcomes. Yet, the joint influence of contextual stressors and language brokering on marijuana use has rarely been studied from a developmental perspective. Using a sample of 604 Mexican-origin adolescent brokers (54% female, Mage.Wave1 = 12.41), we examined how stability and change of language brokering-contextual stress (i.e., broker-stress) profiles across three waves are related to adolescent marijuana use. We hypothesized that adolescents with positive brokering experiences and lower contextual stress across three waves (i.e., those in the Stable Protective profile) would be the least likely to use marijuana. For brokering for mothers, the Stable Protective and the Change to Protective groups were less likely than other groups to use marijuana. For brokering for fathers, the Stable Protective group was the least likely to use marijuana and the Change to Protective group was less likely than the Risk at Any Wave group to use marijuana. Interventions could foster brokering-related positive feelings across the course of adolescence to reduce marijuana use among Mexican-origin adolescents.

Effect of buspirone and mianserine on anxiety-and depression-like behaviors induced by Liang′s contextual-stress box in mice / 中国药理学与毒理学杂志

OBJECTIVE To investigate the effect of anxiolytics and antidepressants on anxiety-and/or depression-like behaviours induced by designing a Liang′s contextual-stress box, (Liang′s box) in mice . METHODS Liang′s box was composed of a central area and three peripheral arms. Buspirone (0.5 and 1.0 mg·kg-1) and mianserin (0.25 and 0.5 mg·kg-1) were injected to mice intraperitoneally and the following behavioral indexes were recorded: ① latency to the central area(CA), ② CA-time, ③ CA-distance,④distance traveled in the peripheral area (PA-distance)⑤number of the transitions, and ⑥global activity. RESULTS ①Buspirone 0.5 and 1.0 mg · kg-1 decreased the latency to CA by as much as 71.9%(P<0.05) and 77.9%(P<0.05), but dose-dependently increased the CA-time by 59.5% and 73.8%(P<0.05) respectively. Although buspirone 0.5 and 1.0 mg · kg-1 obviously reduced the shuttle number(P<0.05), it did not have significant pharmacological effects on the CA-and PA-distance or global activity.②Mianserin 0.25 and 0.5mg·kg-1 decreased the latency to CA by as much as 72.4%(P<0.05) and 82.3%(P<0.05), but dose-dependently increased the CA-time by 39.1%and 43.9%(P<0.05), respec?tively. Mianserin enhanced the shuttle number(P<0.05) and CA-distance(P<0.05) in a dose-dependent manner, but it had no obvious pharmacological effects on the PA-distance or global activity. CONCLUSION Anxiety-and/or depression-like behaviors can be stimulated by Liang′s box in mice, which may be used as a novel animal model of anxiety and depression comorbidity to study its pathophysiological mecha?nisms, screen and evaluate certain new anxiolytics and antidepressants.