Trauma exposure and post-traumatic stress symptoms among Syrian refugee youth in Jordan: Social support and gender as moderators

This study assessed relations between exposure to trauma and post-traumatic stress (PTS) symptoms, and whether perceived social support from family and friends and gender moderated these associations. Syrian refugee youth (N = 418, 55.0% female) attending public schools in Jordan participated. Boys reported more age-adjusted PTS symptoms than girls. Analyses revealed that family support and gender moderated the association of trauma on PTS symptoms. For males, the benefits of family support were most evident under conditions of high traumatic stress exposure, while for females, benefits of family support were evident when no loss or injury to family members had been reported. Support from friends was not helpful for either gender. School- or family-based interventions designed to treat PTS symptoms need to consider the different needs of boys and girls, particularly within the Syrian Muslim cultural context.     

Family and Contextual Predictors of Depressive Symptoms in Inner-City African American Youth

Family and contextual predictors of depression in inner-city, African American youth have rarely been examined. In this study we explore the contribution of current and historical life events, family conflict, perceived social support from mother, maternal depression, and maternal explanatory style to the depressive symptoms of inner-city African American school-age (M = 10.7 years) children. Home interviews were conducted with 89 mother and child dyads living in moderate- to high-violent areas of a southeastern city. Regression analyses revealed that the children in this sample with higher levels of depressive symptoms had higher levels of child-reported everyday stress, were more likely to have been abused at some point in their past, came from homes with mothers who were less well educated, and had mothers who reported higher levels of depression, a past history of domestic abuse, as well as a less pessimistic explanatory style. Implications for interventions with inner-city African American families are discussed.     

Gender Differences in the Relation Between Neighborhood Quality and Cardiovascular Reactivity in African American Adolescents1

Although research on the influence of neighborhoods on the development of youth is growing, few researchers have examined the impact of neighborhood quality on physiological outcomes or across gender. The present experiment examined gender differences in the association of neighborhood quality and cardiovascular reactivity (increased blood pressure, BP, in response to stress) among 77 healthy African American adolescents (46% male; M age = 14 years). Participants took part in a cold-face stimulus task to determine reactivity scores. After controlling for baseline BP, family income, and parental education, poorer neighborhood quality was associated with increases in both systolic and diastolic BP to the cold-face task for females, and decreases in BP for males. Adolescents’ reports of life stress and support from family members did not explain the differential effect of neighborhood quality across gender. Implications for future research are discussed.     

Patterns of Adolescents’ Beliefs About Fighting and Their Relation to Behavior and Risk Factors for Aggression

This study examined adolescents' patterns of beliefs about aggression, and how these patterns relate to aggressive and prosocial behavior, and to risk factors associated with aggression. A sample of 477 sixth graders from two urban schools and a school in a nearby county completed measures of beliefs, behavior, and individual, peer and parental factors associated with aggression. Teacher ratings of participants' behavior and emotion regulation were also obtained. The urban sample was 84% African American; the county school was in a rural fringe area with a student population that was 45% Caucasian and 40% African American. Latent class analysis of items on a beliefs measure supported hypotheses predicting three groups: (a) a Beliefs Against Fighting (BAGF) group that opposed the use of aggression (31% of the sample); (b) a Fighting is Sometimes Necessary (FSNEC) group that endorsed beliefs that fighting is sometimes necessary or inevitable (41%), and (c) a Beliefs Supporting Fighting (BSUPF) group that supported aggression across multiple contexts (28%). Differences across groups were found on race/ethnicity and family structure, but not on gender. Significant differences were also found such that the FSNEC group fell between levels of the BAGF and BSUPF groups on most measures. In contrast, the FSNEC and BAGF groups both differed from the BSUPF group, but not from each other on measures of empathy, perceived effectiveness of nonviolence and aggression, and parental messages supporting nonviolence. These differences suggest the need for tailoring prevention approaches for subgroups of adolescents who differ in their patterns of beliefs.     

Adjustment Profiles of Low-Income Caregivers from the United States and South Africa: Contrasts and Commonalities

Although low-income parents living in under-resourced communities in the United States and around the world face challenges, many do well while others struggle in one or more areas of functioning. The present study examined patterns of adjustment among maternal caregivers living in the United States (US) (N?=?320) and South Africa (SA) (N?=?324). Cluster analyses across four domains of functioning representing both positive and negative adjustment and conducted within country revealed similar patterns of adjustment, with a majority of caregivers (37.8% in the US; 47.5% in SA) landing in a “holding steady” pattern, exhibiting good but not exceptional adjustment. Other patterns of adjustment (three additional in the US sample; two additional in the SA sample) showed elevated impairment in somatic complaints, problems with alcohol, or life satisfaction. In both the US and SA, support from family, friends, and neighbors differentiated the adjustment profiles. Further, both current stressors within and outside of the family and previous stressors including direct and indirect exposure to violence discriminated caregivers who were “holding steady” from those who were struggling in one or more domains. Additionally, across both countries, caregivers who were “holding steady” evidenced less avoidant coping. Implications of this work for fostering resilience among caregivers and their children are discussed.     

Cumulative Risk,Emotion Dysregulation,and Adjustment in South African Youth

Research on cumulative risk is growing, however, little work has occurred in low- or middle-income countries, and few studies have focused on processes linking risk to outcomes. This study explored relations between components of cumulative risk and adjustment in a sample of 324 South African youth (M age?=?13.11 years; SD?=?1.54 years; 65% female; 56% Black/African; 14% Colored; 23% Indian; 7% White), and tested competing models of emotion dysregulation as a mediator or moderator of risk—adjustment links. Data was collected from youth and their female caregivers during home interviews. Structural equation models and regression analyses accounting for age and sex contributions revealed that emotion dysregulation mediated associations between sociodemographic risk and internalizing symptoms, externalizing problem behavior, and drug use severity, and moderated links between psychosocial risk and internalizing symptoms and externalizing problem behavior. For the mediator models, sociodemographic risk was associated with impaired emotion regulation, which in turn was linked with heightened adjustment difficulties. For the moderator models, psychosocial risk was linked with adjustment problems only when emotion dysregulation was high. These data indicate the importance of disentangling components of cumulative risk. Future research within the South African cultural context might build on these findings by adapting and testing school- or family-based prevention or intervention programs that include modules on emotion regulation.     

Control Appraisals as Moderators of the Relationship Between Intrusive Thoughts and Coping1

This study examined the relationship between intrusive thinking, control appraisals, and coping strategies within the context of stressful negative events using a short-term longitudinal design. Although intrusive thoughts were not related to problem-focused coping at Time 1, these cognitions were positively associated with problem-focused coping at subsequent reporting periods. Intrusive thoughts were positively associated with behavioral engagement. Perceived control was positively associated with problem-focused coping across all reporting periods, whereas perceptions of other's culpability were positively related to behavioral disengagement for all time periods except Time 1. There was limited support for the hypothesis that appraisals of control would moderate the relationship between intrusive thinking and coping behaviors.     

The Costs of Type B Behavior: Females at Risk in Achievement Situations'

This study investigated the costs associated with the Type B behavior pattern in an achievement task completed by 84 male and female fifth- and sixth-grade students preselected for their Type A-B scores. We hypothesized that the achievement behaviors of Type B girls, in comparison to boys and Type A girls, would be most negatively affected by failure experiences. Hypothesis-testing strategies were assessed during a discrimination task that included eight training, four forced failure, and four success problems. Self-ratings of performance were obtained following failure and success experiences, and preference for challenge was measured. As expected. Type B girls in comparison to all other children showed the greatest decrement in their hypothesis-testing strategies during failure, appeared to have the most difficulty recovering from failure, were the only group to view their performance following success as poorer than other children's performance, and exhibited the least preference for challenge. These findings suggest that Type B girls are at risk in achievement situations.     

Impact of Exposure to Community Violence on Anxiety: A Longitudinal Study of Family Social Support as a Protective Factor for Urban Children

In a longitudinal study, we examined the relationship between exposure to community violence and anxiety, and the extent to which family social support moderated this relationship within a predominantly African American sample of 385 children in an urban public school system. Children reported notably lower anxiety levels compared to normative data for African American children. A high percentage reported witnessing a variety of violent acts. Cross-sectional results indicated that among girls exposure to violence was significantly correlated with total, physiological, and concentration anxiety. Among boys violence exposure was not associated with anxiety. Hierarchical regression analyses indicated that after controlling for gender, exposure to violence at Time 1 did not significantly predict changes in anxiety. A significant interaction was found for gender and exposure to violence on concentration anxiety; girls who reported higher initial violence exposure reported greater increases in subsequent concentration anxiety than boys. Whereas findings from our study did not support a moderating relationship of family social support on children's exposure to violence and anxiety, a strong negative relationship was found between anxiety and family support. Among children with initially low worry anxiety, those with low family social support showed greater increases in subsequent worry anxiety.