How Racial Identity and Worry About Discrimination Impact Coping Responses to Racial Discrimination Among Black American Community Members.

Every year, most Black Americans report experiencing racial discrimination, which has been shown to have a variety of negative consequences. Aspects of racial identity, particularly holding a positive perception of one's racial group (private regard), may buffer the impact of negative experiences including racial discrimination through differential coping strategy use. The current study (1) examined whether level of private regard impacted the type of coping strategies used across various forms of perceived experiences of racial discrimination and (2) tested for indirect pathways from perceived experiences of racial discrimination to different coping strategy use. Adults (N = 297) from the community who self-identified as Black American/African American completed several questionnaires on Amazon's Mechanical Turk (MTurk). Four-fifths (80%) of participants reported racial discrimination at least once. Racial identity-particularly private regard-was positively associated with active coping strategy use. Furthermore, results from mediation models demonstrated racial identity was an important predictor of coping strategy use, suggesting high private regard has protective effects against racial discrimination. Worry was an especially robust mediator for pathways from racial discrimination to coping strategies. Altogether, results indicate a need for targeted interventions that promote the development of private regard and address worry about racial discrimination among Black American adults.

Pilot randomized controlled trial of a Spanish-language Behavioral Activation mobile app (¡Aptívate!) for the treatment of depressive symptoms among united states Latinx adults with limited English proficiency.

BACKGROUND: To address the need for disseminable, evidence-based depression treatment options for Latinx adults with limited English proficiency (LEP), our team developed ¡Aptívate!, a Spanish-language Behavioral Activation self-help mobile application. Primary aims of this study were to: 1) examine feasibility and uptake of ¡Aptívate! among depressed Latinx adults with LEP and 2) preliminarily examine ¡Aptívate! efficacy for depression treatment. METHODS: Participants (N = 42) with elevated depressive symptoms were randomized 2:1:1 to: 1) ¡Aptívate! (n = 22), 2) an active control Spanish-language app ("iCouch CBT"; n = 9), or 3) Treatment As Usual (i.e., no app; n = 11). Feasibility was assessed via self-reported app utilization and app analytics data. Depressive symptoms were assessed weekly for eight weeks via self report. RESULTS: All ¡Aptívate! participants used the app at least once, 81.8% of participants used the app ≥8 times, and 36.4% of participants used the app ≥56 times. Weekly retention was strong: 72.7% and 50% of participants continued to use the app at one- and two-months post-enrollment, respectively. Generalized Estimating Equation models indicated a significant interaction between time and treatment, such that ¡Aptívate! participants reported significantly lower depressive symptoms over time than TAU. Depressive symptoms did not differ on average across time between the iCouch and TAU conditions, nor between iCouch and ¡Aptívate!. LIMITATIONS: Limitations include small sample size, limited follow-up, and lack of analytics data for the active control condition. CONCLUSIONS: With further research, ¡Aptívate! may offer a feasible, efficacious approach to extend the reach of evidence-based depression treatment for Latinx adults with LEP.

Evaluation of the Environmental Supports Scale with a Community Sample of Adolescents.

Environmental sources of psychosocial support have been found to modulate or protect against the development of psychopathology and risk behavior among adolescents. Capturing sources of environmental support across multiple developmental contexts requires the availability of well-validated, concise assessments-of which there are few in the existing literature. In order to address this need, the current study explored the factor structure, concurrent and convergent validity of the Environmental Supports Scale (ESS; Genetic, Social, and General Psychology Monographs, 117; 395-417, 1991) with a community sample of adolescents. An unconstrained exploratory factor analysis revealed a separate factor for home, school, and neighborhood settings. Internal consistency and test-retest reliability were evaluated for each factor. Concurrent and predictive validity analyses revealed that the ESS was associated in the expected directions across a range of constructs relevant to adolescent development including internalizing symptoms, well-being, external influences, and engagement in risk behavior. Convergent validity for the neighborhood context was established with an assessment of neighborhood environmental adversity. A brief assessment of perceived environmental support across key developmental contexts provides an important tool for research on resilience processes during adolescence and may help illuminate key protective factors and inform intervention and prevention efforts.

Brief report: The interaction of impulsivity with risk-taking is associated with early alcohol use initiation.

Early alcohol use initiation is a well-established risk factor for the subsequent development of alcohol abuse and dependence. Separate lines of research indicate that impulsivity and risk-taking each are associated with early alcohol use. In this research, the association of the interaction of risk-taking and impulsivity with early alcohol initiation was examined. Results suggest the interaction between impulsivity and risk-taking was related to early alcohol initiation. Among children with lower levels of risk-taking, level of impulsivity was associated with beginning to drink. By contrast, among children with higher levels of risk-taking, level of impulsivity was not associated with the likelihood of initiating alcohol use. These findings suggest that early adolescence is a critical developmental period in which implementing an intervention to reduce impulsivity and risk-taking may be particularly effective to prevent the early initiation of alcohol use.