Intergenerational Transmission of Cannabis Use: Testing Genetic Risk and the Mitigating Influences of Parent Positive Behavior Support in Early Childhood.

As the prevalence of Cannabis Use Disorder (CUD) in late adolescence increases, understanding the etiology of CUD is paramount. Consistent with resilience frameworks, the current study examined whether parent cannabis use and genetic risk predicted offspring cannabis use and CUD symptoms in late adolescence. Parental positive behavior support in early childhood was considered as a possible buffer of intergenerational transmission and genetic risk for CUD.

Paternal activation parenting and growth in children's inhibitory control across early childhood.

Activation parenting (AP) is a parenting construct derived from research and theory on paternal caregiving that includes behaviors that challenge children to approach novel situations, explore their environments, and take physical and socioemotional risks through a balance of encouragement and limit-setting. Although components of AP have been linked to different domains of children's self-regulation skills, comprehensive measures of AP and longitudinal research on families from low socioeconomic backgrounds are lacking. These limitations greatly constrain our understanding of the potential benefits of paternal AP for children's self-regulation development, including the maturation of inhibitory control (IC) in early childhood.

Predictors of Stability/Change in Observed Parenting Patterns Across Early Childhood: A Latent Transition Approach.

Parenting has long been a topic of research based on its importance for family and child outcomes. Recent methodological advances in person-centered approaches suggest that our understanding of parenting could be further advanced by examining parenting typologies across various parenting behaviors longitudinally. Accordingly, the current study aims to examine latent transitions in parenting practice patterns across four annual assessments during early childhood and examine whether individual- and family-level factors at baseline discriminate parenting transition patterns.

Inhibitory Control in Late Childhood as a Predictor of Antisocial Behavior in Adolescence and the Role of Social Context.

Understanding the factors contributing to adolescent antisocial behavior is crucial for effective interventions. Protracted development of cognitive control systems supporting inhibitory control may be linked to increases in adolescent antisocial behavior, suggesting the promotion of inhibitory control as a potential preventative strategy. Concurrently, social contextual factors, including peer relationships, parent-child dynamics, and the neighborhood environment, may exacerbate or buffer the risk posed by low inhibitory control.

Paternal Activation as a Protective Factor against Problem Behaviors in Early Childhood.

Activation parenting includes behaviors that challenge children to approach novel situations, explore their environments, and take physical and socioemotional risks through a balance of encouragement and limit-setting. Although components of activation parenting have been linked to lower levels of children's problem behaviors, comprehensive measures of activation parenting and longitudinal research on families from low socioeconomic backgrounds are lacking. The goal of the present study was to test associations between paternal activation parenting at age 3 and children's externalizing and internalizing problems at age 5 in a sample of low-income, ethnically diverse fathers.

Cascading Influences of Caregiver Experiences of Discrimination and Adolescent Antisocial Behavior.

Objective: Although a growing body of work has found that parents' experiences of racial and socioeconomic (SES) based discrimination are directly related to their children's behavior problems , more work is needed to understand possible pathways by which these factors are related and to identify potential targets for prevention and/or intervention.

Method: Using a large ( = 572), longitudinal sample of low-income families from diverse racial backgrounds, the current study explored whether caregivers' experiences of racial and SES discrimination during their children's middle childhood (i.e.

How pubertal timing and self-regulation predict adolescent sexual activity in resource-poor environments.

Studies found support for a link between pubertal timing and self-regulation in low-resource environments. This link could potentially explain a link between pubertal timing and early risk behavior. This study builds on this body of research by examining the mediated effect of pubertal timing on sexual activity through self-regulation in 728 adolescents and their families in a group with poor resources and a group with adequate resources.

Dynamic Associations among Caregiver Romantic Satisfaction, Depressive Symptoms, and School-aged Child Problem Behavior.

Parental mental health and social relationships are related to children's problem behaviors in a complex way, but the intricate nuances of such effects remain understudied. Within the context of a prospectively followed, randomized controlled trial of a parenting intervention (the Family Check-Up), the current study investigated reciprocal relations among primary caregiver romantic satisfaction, depressive symptoms and children's externalizing behaviors during the school-age period using a sample of low-income families from diverse racial/ethnic backgrounds. Primary caregiver self-reported romantic satisfaction and depressive symptoms, and caregiver- and teacher-reported child externalizing behavior problems were measured at child ages 7.

Family processes and structure: Longitudinal influences on adolescent disruptive and internalizing behaviors.

Objective: The present study revisits the assumption in American culture, based in "family privilege," that children fare better in two-parent households by longitudinally examining associations between family structure, process, and adolescent behavior.

Background: Societal assumptions and cross-sectional research suggest that there is a difference in child adjustment across varying family structures. Relatedly, the family process literature emphasizes the importance of parent-child relationship quality in addition to family structure on child adjustment.

Exploring the benefits of psychoeducation on college students' mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Objective: This study examines the effects of a scalable psychoeducation intervention to improve students' mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Participants: In a sample of racially diverse undergraduates from a highly selective university ( = 66), students in the control group (mostly women) participated in courses as usual and students in the intervention group (only women) participated in a psychoeducation course on evidence-based strategies for coping, designed for college students living through the pandemic.

Methods: Rates of psychological distress were measured through online surveys at baseline and follow-up assessments.

A Polygenic Risk Score Enhances Risk Prediction for Adolescents' Antisocial Behavior over the Combined Effect of 22 Extra-familial, Familial, and Individual Risk Factors in the Context of the Family Check-Up.

Possessing informative tools to predict who is most at risk for antisocial behavior in adolescence is important to help identify families most in need of early intervention. Polygenic risk scores (PRSs) have been shown to predict antisocial behavior, but it remains unclear whether PRSs provide additional benefit above more conventional tools to early risk detection for antisocial behavior. This study examined the utility of a PRS in predicting adolescents' antisocial behavior after accounting for a broad index of children's contextual and individual risk factors for antisocial behavior.

Developmental genetic effects on externalizing behavior and alcohol use: Examination across two longitudinal samples.

Externalizing behavior in early adolescence is associated with alcohol use in adolescence and early adulthood and these behaviors often emerge as part of a developmental sequence. This pattern can be the result of heterotypic continuity, in which different behaviors emerge over time based on an underlying shared etiology. In particular, there is largely a shared genetic etiology underlying externalizing and substance use behaviors.

Individual differences in symptoms of maternal depression and associations with parenting behavior.

Links between global levels of maternal depressive symptoms and parenting behavior in early childhood are well established. However, depression is a heterogeneous disorder and little is known about how individual differences in depression symptoms may be differentially associated with different types of parenting behavior. We aimed to uncover nuance in the relationship between depression and parenting behavior by examining individual differences in symptoms of maternal depression and associations with parenting behavior with 2- and 3-year-old children.

Indirect Associations between Middle-Childhood Externalizing Behaviors and Adolescent Substance Use through Late-Childhood Exposure to Violence.

Longitudinal research to understand individual risk factors in childhood associated with exposure to violence and substance use is needed to inform prevention efforts. The present study tested indirect associations between age 8.5 externalizing behaviors and age 16 substance use through age 9.

Trajectories of early childhood family instability and the development of externalizing behaviors from middle childhood to adolescence: A prospective study of at-risk families.

This study examined associations between trajectories of family instability across early childhood and trajectories of externalizing behaviors from middle childhood to adolescence. Growth mixture models were fit to annual caregiver reports of instability from child ages 2-5 (N = 731; 49% girls, 50% White). A curve of factors model was fit to externalizing behaviors from child ages 7.

Extracurricular involvement in the school-age period and adolescent problem behavior among low-income youth.

Objective: The present study tested the protective role of youth's school-age extracurricular involvement and multiple informants' reports of adolescent internalizing and externalizing problems in a sample of youth from low-income households.

Method: Participating youth (n = 635, 49% female, 49% White, 28% Black/African American, 14% biracial, 8% other race, 13% Hispanic/Latinx) were drawn from the Early Steps Multisite Study. At ages 7.

Indirect Effects of the Family Check-Up on Youth Extracurricular Involvement at School-Age through Improvements in Maternal Positive Behavior Support in Early Childhood.

Extracurricular involvement in the school-age years has widespread potential benefits for children's subsequent socioemotional development, especially for low-income youth. However, there is a dearth of research on interventions aimed at increasing school-age extracurricular involvement in low-income youth. Thus, the present study aimed to test the collateral effect of a brief, family-focused intervention for low-income families, the Family Check-Up, on children's school-age extracurricular involvement via improvements in maternal Positive Behavior Support in early childhood.

Educational attainment polygenic score predicts inhibitory control and academic skills in early and middle childhood.

Inhibitory control skills are important for academic outcomes across childhood, but it is unknown whether inhibitory control is implicated in the association between genetic variation and academic performance. This study examined the relationship between a GWAS-based (EduYears) polygenic score indexing educational attainment (EA PGS) and inhibitory control in early (M  = 3.80 years) and middle childhood (M  = 9.

Taking a Motivational Interviewing Approach to Prevention Science: Progress and Extensions.

This commentary reviews advances gleaned from the current set of papers to Motivational Interviewing (MI) in prevention science. We begin by acknowledging the pioneering work of Miller and Rollnick to develop the construct of MI, then Dishion's use of MI principles to adapt applications of MI for the field of prevention science. We then highlight some of the contributions provided by the current set of papers and other recent extensions of MI.

Genetic Moderation of the Association Between Early Family Instability and Trajectories of Aggressive Behaviors from Middle Childhood to Adolescence.

The present study tested models of polygenic by environment interaction between early childhood family instability and polygenic risk for aggression predicting developmental trajectories of aggression from middle childhood to adolescence. With a longitudinal sample of 515 racially and ethnically diverse children from low-income families, primary caregivers reported on multiple components of family instability annually from child ages 2-5 years. A conservative polygenic risk score (p = 0.

Genotype-environment correlation by intervention effects underlying middle childhood peer rejection and associations with adolescent marijuana use.

Aggressive behavior in middle childhood can contribute to peer rejection, subsequently increasing risk for substance use in adolescence. However, the quality of peer relationships a child experiences can be associated with his or her genetic predisposition, a genotype-environment correlation (rGE). In addition, recent evidence indicates that psychosocial preventive interventions can buffer genetic predispositions for negative behavior.

Depression in mothers and the externalizing and internalizing behavior of children: An attempt to go beyond association.

Hundreds of studies have documented an association between depression in mothers and behavior problems in children. Theory and empirical findings suggest this association may be confounded by other factors, but little attention has been paid to this issue. We used propensity score methods in a sample of 731 low-income families assessed repeatedly from child age 2 through 14 years to produce a weighted sample of families that were similar at child age 3 years except for mothers' depression.

Romantic Partner Satisfaction Among Low-Income Mothers: Links to Child-Peer and Teacher Relationships via Mother-Child Conflict.

The current project explores maternal inter-parental (IP) romantic partner satisfaction in relation to mother-child conflict and later peer and teacher relations from early to middle childhood among a sample of low-income, ethnically diverse mothers ( 271) who were part of a longitudinal study testing the effectiveness of the Family Check-Up intervention. We hypothesized spillover effects from IP dissatisfaction during early childhood to mother-child conflict two years later. Greater mother-child conflict in turn was expected to lead to poorer peer relations and greater conflict with teachers in middle childhood.

Evidence for two genetically distinct pathways to co-occurring internalizing and externalizing problems in adolescence characterized by negative affectivity or behavioral inhibition.

Unique pathways to adolescents' co-occurring internalizing/externalizing problems, a severe and common form of psychopathology, remain poorly delineated; this paucity of knowledge impedes the development of personalized interventions. We examined established measures of genetic risk and early childhood temperamental dimensions to clarify potentially distinct pathways to adolescents' co-occurring internalizing/externalizing problems. Participants were drawn from a longitudinal randomized controlled trial of a family-based intervention.

Sad Dads and Troubled Tots: Protective Factors Related to the Stability of Paternal Depression and Early Childhood Internalizing Problems.

The present study tested the moderating role of interparental relationship quality and child inhibitory control on the stability of paternal depression over time and associations between paternal depression and child internalizing problems in early childhood. Participants were a subsample (n = 166) of families from the Early Steps Multisite study, a longitudinal study of low-income parents and children. Interparental relationship quality (age 2) attenuated the association between paternal depressive symptoms at age 2 and paternal depressive symptoms at age 3.