Publications by authors named "Lyric N Russo"

Background: Depression is the top contributor to global disability. Early detection of depression and depressive symptoms enables timely intervention and reduces their physical and social consequences. Prevalence estimates of depression approach 30% among college students.

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The current study sought to understand gender differences in how much children value personal attractiveness, whether age is associated with valuing personal attractiveness, and the role of gender identity development. Three- to five-year-olds (N = 170; 89 girls, 81 boys, 0 other genders; primarily Latiné, multiethnic, and non-Hispanic White American) were recruited from child centers across the Los Angeles and Orange County metropolitan areas. Across several indicators (e.

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Relational savoring (RS) is a brief, strengths-based approach to heightening attentional focus to moments of positive connectedness within relationships. RS can be administered preventatively or within an intervention context when a therapist aspires to foster more optimal relational functioning. Typically administered within a one-on-one therapy setting, RS has demonstrated efficacy in enhancing intra- and interpersonal outcomes.

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Background: Community service providers (CSPs) play an integral role in the health care of low-income Hispanic or Latinx (HL) communities. CSPs have high-stress frontline jobs and share the high-risk demographics of their communities. Relational savoring (RS) has been associated with lower cardiovascular reactivity and psychosocial benefits, with particular promise among HL participants.

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COVID-19 has disproportionately affected the Latinx community, leading to heightened economic instability and increased mortality/morbidity. Frontline community health workers () have played an integral role in serving low-income Latinx immigrant communities, disseminating health information to this vulnerable community while also facing heightened risks to their own health and wellbeing. This study explores the impact of the pandemic on Latinx communities and the promotoras that serve them, examining how the stresses and inequities the pandemic wrought might be mitigated.

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Mentalization refers to the ability to understand the mental states of oneself and those of others that motivate action and behavior. Mentalization has generally been linked to adaptive development and healthy functioning whereas diminished mentalization has been associated with maladaptive development and psychopathology. The vast majority of research on mentalization and developmental trajectories, however, is based on Western countries.

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Child abuse has intergenerational consequences for psychopathology, however, there remains a paucity of research regarding how these experiences affect Latinx families, particularly those at risk for additional negative life events, such as racial discrimination. This study aims to contribute to this gap in the literature by examining the impact maternal child abuse exposure has on youth and maternal psychopathology, as well as whether these associations are moderated by racial discrimination, in a sample of 224 Latinx mother-youth dyads. Hierarchical regressions revealed small but significant maternal child abuse exposure x racial discrimination interactions for youth depression and anxiety, but not maternal depression or anxiety, which were solely positively associated with maternal child abuse exposure.

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Objective: Exponential increases in deportation and negative public discourse have resulted in heightened fears of profiling and deportation among Latinx immigrant families in the United States. Deportation fears could compound the inequalities Latinx families face, worsening mental and behavioral health. To better understand the mental health consequences of the climate of deportation concerns among low-income Latinx mothers in the United States, we conducted a linguistic analysis of interviews of Latinx mothers' parenting experiences, examining their use of words related to deportation fears (e.

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Evidence for the effectiveness of attachment-based interventions in improving youth's socioemotional health increases each year, yet potential for scalability of existing programs is limited. Available programs may have lower acceptability within low-income immigrant communities. Co-designing and implementing interventions with trained community workers (Promotors) offers an appealing solution to multiple challenges, but community workers must have high investment in the program for this to be a workable solution.

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Being strong is a prominent male stereotype that children learn early in life; however, it is unknown as to when children start to value being strong and when gender differences in valuing strength might emerge. In the current study, we interviewed an ethnically diverse sample of 168 3-5 year-olds (88 girls, 80 boys) to address this gap in the literature. Results showed that boys as young as age 3 generally valued strength more than girls: (1) boys, on average, said it was more important to be strong than girls did, and (2) boys were more likely to prefer strength-related occupations than girls.

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Latinx families are increasing in the population in the United States and have documented mental health concerns. Much remains to be understood about mental health predictors within this population. The present study aimed to help fill this gap and offer an in-depth assessment of psychopathology within a large (N = 330) sample of Latinx mothers and youth by exploring associations between sociodemographic risk, attachment relationship quality, and mental health.

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Ed Zigler was a champion for underprivileged youth, one who worked alongside communities to fight for long-lasting systemic changes that were informed by his lifespan and ecological perspective on the development of the whole child. This paper reports on the development, implementation, and preliminary outcomes of an intervention that embodied the Zigler approach by adopting a community participatory research lens to integrate complementary insights across community-based providers (promotoras), Latinx immigrant families, and developmental psychologists in the service of promoting parent-child relationship quality and preventing youth aggression and violence. Analyses from the first 112 Latinx mother-youth dyad participants (46% female children, ages 8-17) in the resultant, Confía en mí, Confío en ti, eight-week intervention revealed significant pre-post increases in purported mechanisms of change (i.

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