Evidence for a curvilinear dose-response relationship between avoidance coping and drug use problems among women who experience intimate partner violence

Women who experience intimate partner violence (IPV) are at heightened risk for drug use problems. While prevailing models of drug use suggest that IPV-exposed women use drugs in an effort to escape or avoid negative affect, a dearth of literature has examined the role of avoidance coping in drug use problems within this population. Given recent suggestions that flexible, situationally appropriate use of avoidance coping may be adaptive, particularly when confronted with highly stressful situations, we hypothesized that avoidance coping and drug use problems would demonstrate a curvilinear, U-shaped dose-response relationship. Participants were 147 community-recruited women experiencing IPV. Consistent with our hypotheses, moderate levels of avoidance coping were associated with lower levels of drug use problems, whereas high and low levels of avoidance coping were associated with higher levels of drug use problems. Findings highlight the complex relationship between avoidance coping and drug use problems and suggest that avoidance coping, when used in moderation, may be an adaptive strategy for coping with relational conflict among women who experience IPV.     

Problem Solving,Stress, and Coping in Adolescent Suicide Attempts

Twenty adolescents who had made suicide attempts were compared with 20 nonpsychiatric control subjects on measures of problem solving, stress, and coping. The suicidal group did not show evidence of “rigid” thinking or of deficits in the ability to generate solutions to standardized interpersonal problems. However, they did report recent histories of more severe life stress and had inaccurate appraisal of the extent to which stressful events could be controlled. Although suicidal patients were able to generate as many adaptive strategies as control subjects for coping with their own most severe recent real-life stressor, they actually used fewer. They were also more likely to identify maladaptive behaviors as ways of coping. These findings support a transactional model of adolescent suicidal behavior, whereby inaccuracies in the appraisal aspects of problem solving (but not in the solution-generation aspects) in the face of high life stress lead to a reduction in the use of adaptive efforts to cope.     

Do Parent–Adolescent Discrepancies in Family Functioning Increase the Risk of Hispanic Adolescent HIV Risk Behaviors?

In the family‐based prevention science literature, family functioning, defined as positive parenting, parental involvement, family cohesion, family communication, parental monitoring of peers, and parent–adolescent communication, has been shown to ameliorate HIV risk behaviors in Hispanic youth. However, the majority of studies have relied solely on parent or adolescent reports and we know very little about parent–adolescent family functioning discrepancies. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine whether and to what extent parent–adolescent discrepancies in family functioning increased the risk of HIV risk behaviors, including substance use and sexual risk behaviors, and whether these associations vary as a function of acculturation and youth gender. A total of 746 Hispanic 8th grade youth and their primary caregivers were included in the study. Structural equation modeling findings indicate that parent–adolescent family functioning discrepancies are associated with an increased risk of Hispanic adolescent HIV risk behaviors, including lifetime and past 90‐day alcohol and illicit drug use, and early sex initiation. In addition, study findings indicate that results vary by acculturation and youth gender. Findings are discussed in the context of existing family‐based research and practice in preventing and reducing HIV risk behaviors among Hispanic youth and their families.     

Developmental Risk and Young Children’s Regulatory Strategies: Predicting Behavior Problems at Age Five

Children with early developmental delays are at heightened risk for behavior problems and comorbid psychopathology. This study examined the trajectories of regulatory capabilities and their potentially mediating role in the development of behavior problems for children with and without early developmental delays. A sample of 231 children comprised of 137 typically developing children and 94 children with developmental delays were examined during mildly frustrating laboratory tasks across the preschool period (ages 3–5). Results indicated that children with delays had greater use of maladaptive strategies (distraction, distress venting) and lower use of adaptive strategies (constructive coping) than typically developing children. For both groups, strategies had similar rates of growth across time; maladaptive strategies decreased and adaptive strategies increased. The intercept of strategy use, but not the slope, was found to mediate the relation between developmental risk and externalizing behaviors. Findings support that dysregulation, rather than the developmental risk, may be responsible for the high levels of comorbid psychopathology.     

The relationship of adolescent mothers' expectations,knowledge, and beliefs to their young children's coping behavior

Developmental researchers have begun to explore parental cognitions in an effort to better understand adolescent parenthood. However, most research on adolescent mothers has failed to relate cognitions of the mother to the child's functioning. To extend the research on adolescent-parent families, we examined the association between adolescent mothers' knowledge of child development, parental expectations, and child-rearing beliefs to their infants' or toddlers' coping behavior. Trained observers rated children on the three subscales of the Early Coping Inventory–Sensorimotor, Reactive Behavior, and Self-Initiated Behavior. The findings indicated that the adolescent mothers' self-reports of their expectations for their own and their children's behaviors and emotions accounted for a significant proportion of the variance in objective ratings of the children's coping behavior in the sensorimotor and reactive behavior domains. Adolescent mothers who reported more positive, more realistic, and more mature expectations about parenting, children, and the parent-child relationship had children who were rated to display more adaptive and effective sensorimotor and reactive behavior coping capacities. An interaction between the adolescent mothers' knowledge and beliefs significantly predicted self-initiated child behaviors. Implications of the findings include the importance of exploring a “good match” in adolescent mother-child relationships.     

Parental and family risk factors for substance use in inner-city African-American children and adolescents

The purpose of this study was to develop and test a multidimensional model of parental and family influences on risk for substance use in inner-city African-American primary grade children and their adolescent siblings. The risk factors investigated were conceptually grouped into three broad domains of family influences and the respective indices computed: parental risk attributes, family risk attributes, and parenting styles. Parenting styles were captured as indicators of a latent construct, poor parenting. In study 1, we hypothesized that the parental and family risk variables would be mediated through parenting styles to predict intentions to use drugs, actual drug use, positive drug attitudes, and negative drug attitudes in a sample of 455 inner-city African-American families and their primary-grade children. In study 2, the substance use risk model was tested on a sample of 59 adolescent sibilings to determine whether the pattern of parental and family factors that contributed to early high-risk attitudes and behaviors in children would predict drug attitudes and behaviors in teen siblings. The results confirmed our expectations that parental and family risks were important predictors of childrens' negative drug attitudes and intentions to use drugs in the future and that positive parental and family characteristics would protect against future risk by enhancing negative drug attitudes. Also, substance use attitudes and behaviors in the teen siblings were predicted primarily by family risk characteristics. The family risk index also predicted frequency of use of hard drugs, but only when mediated through poor parenting. The implications of these results for future research are discussed.     

Coping with COVID: Use,factor structure,and health behavior implications of specific emotion regulation strategies during the coronavirus pandemic

This series of studies examined U.S. individuals' use of specific emotion regulation/coping strategies during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, investigated the factor structure among strategies during this universally experienced stressor, and the extent to which these factors predicted engagement in COVID-related health-promoting behaviors. In Study 1, participants (N = 520) rated their use of 17 strategies for coping with pandemic-related stress during the past 24 h. Differences emerged in strategy use across demographic groups (age, race, income). Results of exploratory factor analysis suggest a factor structure grouping strategies in terms of goals beyond emotion regulation per se, rather than phases of the emotion process or a binary adaptive versus maladaptive distinction. In Study 2 (N = 264), participants reported daily on their coping strategy use and weekly on their engagement in COVID-specific health behaviors for 22 days. Results of confirmatory factor analysis replicate the factor structure found in Study 1. Some significant associations of coping strategy use with health-promoting behaviors were observed, but these were sporadic and largely involved baseline measures rather than predicting change over time. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.     

Coping with the threat of severe acute respiratory syndrome: Role of threat appraisals and coping responses in health behaviors

The present study examines the psychological impact of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) by exploring the coping strategies and health behaviors enacted in response to the SARS epidemic. Hierarchical linear regression indicated that the use of wishful thinking in response to the threat of SARS was related to both avoiding public places and avoiding people perceived to be possible carriers of the SARS virus, but was not associated with the use of more adaptive health behaviors, such as using disinfectants and hand washing. Conversely, those who reported engaging in empathic responding in response to the threat of SARS were both less likely to report avoiding people perceived as being at a high risk for SARS and more likely to report engaging in effective health behaviors. Support seeking was not a significant predictor of the health behaviors examined in the present study. Results are discussed in terms of coping with health threats and health promotion.     

Gender differences in adolescent coping behaviors and suicidal ideation: findings from a sample of 73,238 adolescents

Suicide among adolescents is an emerging global public health problem as well as a socioeconomic problem. Stress-coping strategies have been shown to be associated with suicidal ideation. We examined coping behaviors related to suicidal ideation and gender differences in adolescents using the data from the 2010 Korea Youth Risk Behavior Survey (ages 12–19 years; N = 73,238). Logistic regression analysis was used to evaluate associations between suicidal ideation and specific coping behaviors while controlling for potentially confounding variables. In both male and female groups, the coping behavior “drinking alcoholic beverages” and “smoking cigarettes” were positively associated with suicidal ideation. “Watching TV,” “playing online/mobile games,” and “sleeping” were negatively associated with suicidal ideation in both groups. In males, “engaging in sports” was negatively related to suicidal ideation. In females, “venting by talking to others” and “eating” were negatively related to suicidal ideation. The results indicate that there are gender differences in the effects of coping behaviors on adolescent suicidal ideation, and that developing adaptive coping strategies may function to reduce suicidality. Future studies are needed to examine whether improving coping skills can reduce suicidal ideation in a gender-specific manner.     

Coping and Positive Affect in Adolescents of Mothers With and Without a History of Depression

The adolescent children of depressed mothers are at increased risk for depression, but little is known about protective factors for these children. Maintenance of positive affect in a stressful context may be an important marker of resilience. Mothers with (n = 34) and without (n = 38) a history of depression and their adolescent children completed questionnaires regarding adolescents’ coping and depressive symptoms and engaged in a 15 min videotaped interaction about family stress. Adolescents’ observed behaviors were coded using the Iowa Family Interaction Rating Scales. No significant differences emerged in observed behavior between adolescents of mothers with and without a history of depression. Higher levels of primary and secondary control coping and lower levels of disengagement coping were related to higher levels of observed positive mood and fewer depressive symptoms in adolescents. Observed positive mood was related to fewer depressive symptoms in adolescents, even after accounting for maternal history of depression and current maternal depressive symptoms. Results suggest the importance of considering positive affect in the context of family stress as a marker of resilience in adolescents at risk for depression. The current study provides evidence for coping as a protective factor, related to higher levels of positive affect and fewer depressive symptoms, in adolescents exposed to maternal depressive symptoms.     

The role of drugs in adolescent suicide attempts

Drug histories of 46 adolescent suicide attempters and their parents are described. In addition, these attempters and their parents are compared with a group of non-attempters and their parents on selected measures of drug use. Findings indicate that adolescent drug use is closely related to and perhaps symptomatic of suicidal behaviors and overall pathology. The relationship between adolescent suicidal behaviors and parental drug use is unclear because of the discrepancy between parent-adolescent responses.     

Personality and the predisposition to engage in risky or problem behaviors during adolescence

Longitudinal data from a representative sample of 1,978 Black and White adolescents were used to examine the role of personality in multiple risk or problem behaviors. Results indicate that covariation among diverse behaviors (educational underachievement, delinquent behavior, substance use, sexual behavior) can be adequately modeled by a single higher order factor, and that impulsivity and avoidance coping serve as generalized risk factors for involvement in these behaviors. Whereas none of the personality variables examined explained change in problem behaviors once established, avoidance coping prospectively predicted involvement among a subgroup of adolescents with little or no prior involvement. Results suggest that dysfunctional styles of regulating emotions and emotionally driven behaviors are core features of risky or problem behaviors during adolescence.     

Mental Health, Social Environment and Sexual Risk Behaviors of Adolescent Service Users: A Gender Comparison

We examined individual mental health problems (depression, conduct disorder, and substance abuse) and social environment (family, peer, and neighborhood) factors associated with the sexual risk behaviors of male and female adolescents. Interviews with 778 adolescents, aged 14 to 18, showed that both mental health problems and social environment were related to adolescents' involvement in sexual risk behaviors. Conduct disorder symptoms, substance abuse or dependence symptoms, and the interaction between peer misbehavior and neighborhood problems were significantly associated with risky sexual behaviors. Peer misbehavior was a particularly strong factor related to sexual risk behaviors for youths who lived in neighborhoods with multiple problems. The only gender differences were found in age, with older males more likely to report engaging in high risk sexual behaviors. This study suggests the utility of multidimensional intervention strategies to deal with various adolescent problem behaviors, including risky sexual behaviors, within the context of their social environment.     

Psychopathology as risk for adolescent substance use disorders: a developmental psychopathology perspective.

Examines several issues on psychiatric diagnoses as risk factors for adolescent drug use and substance use disorders. The articles in this special section are discussed in terms of dynamic models of risk and protective factors, stages of research needed for establishing causal mechanisms in the etiology of drug use disorders, conceptualizing drug use and abuse in the context of the developmental organization of the individual, equifinality and multifinality in developmental pathways to drug use and abuse, and issues in conceptualizing drug use problems as mental disorders. Future directions for research on the etiology of problem drug use, guided by principles of developmental psychopathology and prevention science, are provided.     

A longitudinal study of antisocial behaviors in early adolescence as predictors of late adolescent substance use: gender and ethnic group differences

Data from the National Longitudinal Youth Survey (NLSY) were analyzed to study interrelationships between antisocial behaviors in early adolescence (ages 14-15) and late adolescent alcohol and drug use 4 years later (when adolescents were 18-19). Correlations between classes of antisocial behaviors in early adolescence and substance use in late adolescence were of higher magnitude and more uniform for men than for women; for women, property offenses (e.g., vandalism) in early adolescence were more highly associated with alcohol use, alcohol-related problems, and illicit drug use in late adolescence than with either status offenses or transgressions against persons. Multiple regression analyses indicated that early-adolescent substance involvement was a significant predictor of late-adolescent alcohol and drug use. Additional significant predictors included early adolescent general delinquency, male gender, and non-Black ethnicity.     

Parental Psychological Control and Adolescent Problem Behaviors: The Role of Depressive Symptoms

Parental psychological control has consistently been linked to greater engagement in problem behaviors among adolescents, including over-eating behaviors, under-eating behaviors, risky cyber behaviors, and substance use. Previous research has suggested that child characteristics, such as temperament, may moderate this association. However, little research has examined characteristics of the adolescent that may place them at greater risk for experiencing such problem behaviors as a result of psychologically controlling parenting. Therefore, the current study examined the role of adolescents’ depressive symptoms as a risk factor (moderator) for the association between parental psychological control and adolescent problem behaviors. Participants included 161 adolescents (M_age?=?14.42, SD?=?1.73; 80.7% Caucasian; 59.6% female) living in a University city in a Mid-Atlantic state. Participants completed survey questionnaires about parental psychological control, problematic eating behaviors, risky cyber behaviors, substance use, and depressive symptoms. Results indicated that psychological control was significantly and positively associated with under-eating behaviors. Psychological control was also found to be associated positively with risky cyber behaviors and substance use, but only for adolescents who reported greater depressive symptoms. The findings provide support for the role of depressive symptoms as a risk factor for the associations between psychological control and problem behaviors among adolescents.     

Adolescent and parent perspectives on ethical issues in youth drug use and suicide survey research

The contribution of adolescent and parent perspectives to ethical planning of survey research on youth drug use and suicide behaviors are highlighted through an empirical examination of 322 7th-12th graders' and 160 parents' opinions on questions related to 4 ethical dimensions of survey research practice: (a) evaluating research risks and benefits, (b) establishing guardian permission requirements, (c) developing confidentiality and disclosure policies, and (d) using cash incentives for recruitment. Generational and ethnic variation in response to questionnaire items developed from discussions within adolescent and parent focus groups are described. The article concludes with a discussion of the potential contributions and challenges of adolescent and parent perspectives for planning scientifically valid and ethically responsible youth risk survey research.     

Adolescent and Parent Perspectives on Ethical Issues in Youth Drug Use and Suicide Survey Research

The contributions of adolescent and parent perspectives to ethical planning of survey research on youth drug use and suicide behaviors are highlighted through an empirical examination of 322 7th-12th graders' and 160 parents' opinions on questions related to 4 ethical dimensions of survey research practice: (a)evaluating research risks and benefits, (b)establishing guardian permission requirements, (c)developing confidentiality and disclosure policies, and (d)using cash incentives for recruitment. Generational and ethnic variation in response to questionnaire items developed from discussions within adolescent and parent focus groups are described. The article concludes with a discussion of the potential contributions and challenges of adolescent and parent perspectives for planning scientifically valid and ethically responsible youth risk survey research.     

Childhood conduct problems,attention deficit behaviors,and adolescent alcohol,tobacco, and illicit drug use

The relationships between conduct problems and attention deficit behaviors at age 8 years and the use of alcohol, tobacco, and illicit drugs at 15 years were studied in a birth cohort of over 900 New Zealand children. The analysis showed that while early conduct problems were significantly associated with later substance use there were no significant associations between early attention deficit behaviors and later substance use once the correlations between conduct problems and attention deficit behaviors were taken into account. These associations persisted after control for a range of potentially confounding covariates. Children who showed tendencies to conduct problems at age 8 consumed 1.5 to 1.9 times more alcohol and had rates of alcohol-related problems, daily cigarette smoking, and illicit drug use that were 1.9 to 2.0 times higher than children with low conduct problem scores. It is concluded that attention deficit behaviors, in the absence of conduct problems, are not associated with later substance use. However, even when due allowance is made for social and contextual factors associated with both early conduct problems and later substance use, early conduct problems are a risk factor for later substance use.This research was funded by grants from the Health Research Council of New Zealand and the National Child Health Research foundation.     

Coping dimensions, life stress, and adolescent substance use: a latent growth analysis

The relation of seven coping dimensions to substance (tobacco, alcohol, marijuana) use was tested with a sample of 1,668 participants assessed at mean age 12.5 years and two yearly follow-ups. An associative latent-growth model showed one index of engagement (behavioral coping) to be inversely related to initial level of adolescent use and growth over time in peer use. Three indices of disengagement (anger coping, helpless coping, and hangout coping) were positively related to initial levels of peer use and adolescent use and to growth in adolescent use. Life stress was positively related to initial levels for peer use and adolescent use and to growth in adolescent use. Moderation tests indicated that effects of coping were significantly greater at higher level of stress; behavioral coping buffered the effects of disengagement. Effects of life stress were greater for girls than for boys. Results are discussed with reference to mechanisms of coping-substance use relationships.