The protective role of ethnic and racial identity and aspects of an Africentric orientation against drug use among African American young adults

In this study, the authors examined (a) the protective potential of multiple components of ethnic and racial identity and (b) the aspects of an Africentric orientation for moderating psychobehavioral risk and protective factors for drug use among a sample of 333 urban low-income African American young adults. Ethnic and racial identity and Africentric variables moderated the relationship between psychobehavioral variables and drug stage in 32.5% of the cases. Ethnic and racial identity and Africentric values for African American young adults seemed to be important as moderators of the association between psychobehavioral factors and young adult drug use. The authors suggested implications for future research and interventions.     

“There's more love between us”: The parental experience of attending Mellow Babies,a targeted,early intervention program for parents and their babies

It is recognized that parenthood in the context of psychosocial adversity can have negative implications for infant development. Parenting programs are the first line of intervention to improve outcomes for families; however, evidence for the effectiveness of group-based, targeted early interventions is still scarce. Preliminary findings indicate Mellow Babies (MB) as a promising group-based parenting program for families at risk for parenting difficulties. Using thematic analysis, we aimed to understand: (i) the aspects of the intervention that enabled parents to complete the program and (ii) the relational and behavioral changes perceived as valuable for parents and their babies post-intervention. In total, 68 parents residing in the United Kingdom were interviewed after completing MB (49 mothers and 19 fathers; 88% self-identified as British). Three themes and six subthemes were generated from the data. Parents identified several intervention components as beneficial, including the facilitators' interpersonal skills and multi-dimensional, group-based approach. Participant reflections highlighted three underlying mechanisms that enabled positive change: (i) the sense of community cultivated within the group, (ii) the process of formulating and re-conceptualizing one's difficulties, and (iii) the opportunity to reshape interpersonal interactions. Findings are discussed within the context of perinatal and infant mental health.     

Properties of the item score matrix

A method of deriving from the item score matrix all the usual statistics describing the performance on a test of a group of examinees is given. Since this matrix usually is not actually written out, but is implicit in a set of punched cards, a method of working from a more compact matrixF is described. A numerical example is presented. Applications and advantages of the method are cited, as compared with that of recording only the examinees' test scores and the item difficulties.     

The role of older brothers in younger brothers' drug use viewed in the context of parent and peer influences

The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of an older brother's drug use on his younger brother's drug use viewed in the context of parent and peer influences. The sample consisted of 278 White, middle-class male college students and their oldest brothers, who were given questionnaires assessing drug behavior. Results indicated that older brother, parental, and peer drug use each had an independent impact on younger brother's use. The degree of influence varied, with drug modeling by peers and older brothers having a stronger association with younger brother drug use than did parental drug modeling. Further, the older brother's advocacy of drugs was associated with his younger brother's use even if the older brother did not serve as a drug model. Similarly, older brother drug modeling was of importance even if he did not advocate use. Finally, interactive results suggested that older brothers who did not use drugs could offset the negative effects of parental drug risks on younger brother use. Also, younger brothers were least likely to use drugs if both older brothers and peers served as models for nonuse.     

Stability of personality during adolescence and its relationship to stage of drug use

The purpose of this study was to examine how stability of personality, measured at two points during adolescence, relates to adolescents' stage of drug use, measured at the second point in time. The subjects were 704 black and white high school freshmen and sophomores who participated again two years later. Results indicated that the earlier measures of personality were significantly associated with the later measures of personality, which in turn were associated with the adolescents' stage of drug use. In addition, the adolescents' personality attributes showed a fair amount of stability over the two-year span of the study.     

Transdiagnostic Clinical Staging for Childhood Mental Health: An Adjunctive Tool for Classifying Internalizing and Externalizing Syndromes that Emerge in Children Aged 5–11 Years

Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review - Clinical staging is now recognized as a key tool for facilitating innovation in personalized and preventative mental health care. It places a strong...     

Adolescent Neural Responses to Antismoking Messages,Perceived Effectiveness,and Sharing Intention

ABSTRACT

Health communication delivered via media channels can substantially influence adolescents’ choices, and the effects of messages are amplified through interpersonal sharing. However, the underlying psychological and neurocognitive mechanisms that influence message effectiveness and likelihood of sharing are not well understood, especially among adolescents. Based on research in adults, we hypothesized and preregistered that message-induced neural activation in regions associated with self-reflection, social processing, and positive valuation would be related to greater perceived ad effectiveness and intentions to share messages. We focused on brain activity in meta-analytically defined regions associated with these three processes as 40 adolescent nonsmokers viewed advertisements from “The Real Cost” antismoking campaign. Perceived message effectiveness was positively associated with brain activity in the hypothesized social processing regions and marginally associated with brain activity in self-relevance regions, but not associated with brain activity in valuation regions. By contrast, intentions to share the messages were not associated with neural response in these 3 systems. In contrast to previous neuroimaging studies with adult subjects, our findings highlight the role of social cognition in adolescent processing of persuasive messages. We discuss the possibility that the mental processes responsive to effective and shareworthy messages may reflect developmental processes pertinent to media effects.     

Observation of strain distributions in partially relaxed In0.2Ga0.8As on GaAs using electron channelling contrast imaging

Electron channelling contrast imaging (ECCI) has been used to image misfit dislocations between single epitaxial layers (epilayers) of In0.2Ga0.8As grown on GaAs (001). Bulk specimens of the as-grown material were examined over a range of epilayer thickness from 25 to 3000 nm. Spectral analysis of ECCI intensity traces was used to establish whether strain fields from the individual dislocations overlapped. Significant overlapping of strain fields was first observed at an epilayer thickness of 100 nm which corresponds well to the onset of macroscopic strain relaxation.     

Risk Factors for Adolescent Marijuana Use Across Cultures and Across Time

An integrated analysis of the data from 3 different studies was conducted to examine the early psychosocial predictors of later marijuana use among adolescents. Longitudinal analysis of interview data was performed. The data used in the analysis were derived from (a) a sample of 739 predominantly White adolescents representative of the northeastern United States, (b) a sample of 1,190 minority adolescents from the East Harlem section of New York City, and (c) a sample of 1,374 Colombian adolescents from two cities in Colombia. South America. In 2 of the samples, participants were interviewed in their homes, and in the 3rd study, participants were assessed in school. The predictors included a number of variables from (a) the personality domain, reflecting the adolescents' conventionality and intrapsychic functioning; (b) the family domain, representing the parent-child mutual attachment relationship and parental substance use; (c) the peer domain, reflecting the peer group's delinquency and substance use; and (d) the adolescents' own use of legal drugs. The dependent variable was adolescent marijuana use. The results of the analysis demonstrated remarkable consistency in the risk and protective factors for later marijuana use across the 3 samples, attesting to the robust nature of these predictors and their generalizability across gender, time, location, and ethnic/cultural background. These findings have important implications for designing intervention programs. Programs aimed at preventing adolescent marijuana use can be designed to incorporate universal features and still incorporate specific components that address the unique needs of adolescents from different groups.