Dispositional Active Coping Predicts Patterns of Adolescents' Cortisol Responsivity in the Context of School-related Stressors.

OBJECTIVE: The goal of this study was to examine the direct and conditional effects of active coping and prior exposure to school-related stressors on cortisol reactivity and recovery in response to an academically salient, social stress task. METHOD: Participants included N= 758 adolescents (50% male; M age = 12.03 years, SD = .49) enrolled in the 7th grade in Title 1 middle schools. Adolescents were predominantly ethnic minorities (62% Hispanic, 12% non-Hispanic White, 11% non-Hispanic Black, 7% Native American, and 8% "other"). Youth completed self-reported assessments of their dispositional use of active coping strategies, prior exposure to school hassles, pubertal status, medication use, and relevant demographic information. In addition, youth engaged in an academically salient group public speaking task adapted for adolescents and provided salivary cortisol sample pre-task, immediately post-task, 15-, and 30-minutes post-task. RESULTS: Results from piecewise latent growth curve modeling revealed that active coping independently predicted lower cortisol reactivity to the stress task. Furthermore, active coping was associated with slower cortisol recovery when adolescents reported not having experienced any school hassles in the past three months and faster recovery when having experienced several school hassles in the past three months. Results from multinomial logistic regressions revealed that greater use of active coping strategies was less likely to predict a hyper-reactive pattern of cortisol responding compared to other patterns. CONCLUSION: Findings provide support for active coping as a way to promote adaptive physiological responding to school-related stressors among ethnically diverse youth residing in low-income communities.

Measurement and Functional Equivalence of a Reduced Version of the UPPS Impulsivity Scale Among Hispanic, Non-Hispanic Black, and Non-Hispanic White Adolescents.

The current study aimed to assess the measurement equivalence and functional equivalence of the UPPS (Urgency, Premeditation, Perseverance, Sensation Seeking) Impulsivity Scale among three ethnoracial adolescent samples in the U.S. seventh-grade students who self-identified as Hispanic (n = 472), non-Hispanic Black (n = 89), or non-Hispanic White (n = 90), and completed an English-language version of the Child version of the UPPS, which was shortened and modified to include positive urgency items. Through a series of confirmatory factor analyses, the UPPS demonstrated configural, metric, and partial threshold invariance. Fisher's r-to-z transformations were used to assess the functional equivalence of the UPPS against well-validated measures of self-regulation and mental health commonly associated with impulsivity. We found some group differences in the magnitude of associations. Yet, overall, this study provides evidence that the UPPS can be used to measure distinct factors of impulsivity among Hispanic, non-Hispanic Black, and non-Hispanic White adolescents.

Predictors of Caregiver Participation in an Engagement Strategy to Increase Initiation into a Family-Based Preventive Intervention.

Previous studies have shown that engagement strategies can help increase enrollment and initiation of families in evidence-based preventive programs under natural service delivery settings. However, little is known about factors that predict completion of these engagement strategies. This study aimed to examine predictors (i.e., perceived need, perceived barriers, and sociocultural context) of caregiver participation in an evidence-based engagement call strategy. This call was expected to increase initiation into a school-based, family-focused prevention program. In addition, this study examined engagement call completion as a predictor of program initiation among already enrolled families. Participants included ethnically diverse families recruited from three Title I schools (n = 413) who were randomized to receive the prevention program. Results showed that interparental conflict-an indicator of perceived need-was associated with an increased likelihood of completing the engagement call. Furthermore, caregivers from low-socioeconomic status (SES), foreign-born, Spanish-speaking, Hispanic families were more likely to complete the call relative to those from low- and mid-SES, US born, English-speaking, ethnically diverse families. Importantly, engagement call completion was associated with an increased likelihood of program initiation. These findings provide limited support that families with higher perceived needs are more likely to participate in an evidence-based engagement call strategy. Results suggested that the call strategy provides a promising way to reduce attrition from family prevention programs, which is commonly observed between enrollment and initiation. Project Number: R01 DA035855; Date of Registration: 06/15/2014.