Psychology

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    Facilitators and Barriers of Neighborhood Social Integration
    (2024) Fuchs, Joelle; Gard, Arianna M; Psychology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    Social isolation has reached concerning rates, particularly in the wake of COVID-19 pandemic. Social integration can combat social isolation and loneliness and promote feelings of belonging. Social integration within the neighborhood context (e.g., chatting with neighbors, participating in local organizations) can be used combat loneliness, but less is known about the process of social integration across various social identities. The current study examines variability in the patterns and mechanisms of neighborhood social integration across sociodemographic characteristics (e.g., developmental stage-social role, ethnic-racial identity, and housing tenure). Thematic analyses were conducted on interviews with 29 residents of Wards 4 and 5 of Washington, D.C. Results suggested that youth were far less socially integrated with their neighborhoods due to gentrification-induced transience and school choice programming. Despite sociodemographic differences in the perceived facilitators and barriers to neighborhood social integration, many residents called for more community programming and shared spaces to facilitate neighborhood connections.
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    Early Adolescent Romantic Experiences: Early Childhood Predictors and Concurrent Associations with Psychopathology
    (2019) Foster, Chelsey Barrios; Dougherty, Lea R; Psychology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    Research has demonstrated that early adolescent romantic relationships are prevalent, and initiation of romantic relationships at younger ages bears important implications for youths’ future development. Although earlier dating involvement may increase risk for negative outcomes, the majority of research on teen relationships focuses on older adolescents; a paucity of research explores the phenomenology of preteen romantic relationships. Further, a striking gap exists in the study of how early childhood factors may affect early adolescent romantic relationships. In order to address these gaps, the current study aimed to elucidate the phenomenology and concurrent psychosocial correlates of preteen (age 12) romantic relationships and to delineate early childhood variables that predict involvement in and quality of preteen romantic relationships. In a longitudinal sample of 440 youth, we examined concurrent associations between multiple dimensions of age 12 romantic relationships (dating experiences, risky dating, relationship discord, relationship closeness, sexual experience) and friendship competence, and age 12 psychopathology (anxiety, depression, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder [ADHD], disruptive behavior disorder [DBD] symptoms) and psychosocial functioning. Given prior research indicating that pubertal status and child sex may also play a role in romantic relationship involvement, we examined these two variables as moderators in concurrent analyses. In addition, we examined how two salient dimensions of early childhood (temperament and parenting, assessed at age 3) predicted romantic relationship outcomes at age 12. Results indicated that more frequent romantic experiences at age 12 were associated with increased psychosocial distress and poorer functioning; however, youth with higher quality romantic relationships evidenced lower levels of psychiatric symptoms and better psychosocial functioning. In addition, the associations between early adolescent romantic relationships and adjustment were complex and were moderated by child sex and pubertal status. Further, dimensions of age 3 childhood temperament and parenting differentially predicted dimensions of early adolescent romantic relationships and friendship competence. Importantly, our findings contribute to a growing body of literature on preteen romantic relationships, and are among the first data to examine early childhood predictors of age 12 romantic relationship outcomes. These findings hold important clinical implications for future early adolescent prevention and intervention programs.
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    Developmental pathways from maternal emotion dysregulation to parenting behaviors and adolescent emotion lability: interactive effects of youth ADHD symptoms and sex
    (2019) Oddo, Lauren Elizabeth; Chronis-Tuscano, Andrea; Psychology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    A large literature base convincingly suggests that maternal and child characteristics interact to predict parenting practices and children’s emotional development. However, the independent and interactive effects of parent- and youth-level risk factors on emotion parenting behaviors and adolescent emotion lability over time is largely unknown. Using secondary data analyses of a longitudinal community sample of adolescents and their caregivers (N = 277), the current study examined the extent to which supportive vs. harsh parenting reactions to adolescents’ expressions of negative emotions underlie the longitudinal association between maternal emotion dysregulation and changes in adolescent emotion lability, and whether youth ADHD symptoms and sex impact these processes. Using structural equation modeling, results showed that mothers who reported being more emotionally dysregulated were more likely to endorse engaging in harsh parenting for boys with more ADHD symptoms, relative to mothers of adolescent girls or adolescents with fewer ADHD symptoms. Contrary to hypotheses, no other pathways were statistically significant. These results partially align with a transactional model of parenting wherein parent- and adolescent-level risk factors interact to confer risk for maladaptive parenting. Future work should further attempt to characterize the independent and interactive effects of maternal emotion dysregulation and youth ADHD symptoms on parenting and adolescent outcomes over time.
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    Experimentally Testing the Effect of Parent-Adolescent Conflict on HIV Risk, and Investigation of a Neurobiological Moderator of This Effect
    (2015) Thomas, Sarah Ann; De Los Reyes, Andres; Psychology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a condition in which immune cells become destroyed such that the body may become unable to fight off infections. Engaging in risk-taking behaviors (e.g., substance use) puts people at heightened risk for HIV infection, with mid-to-late adolescents at increasing risk (Leigh & Stall, 1993). Environmental and neurological reasons have been suggested for increased risk-taking among adolescents. First, family-level precursors such as parent-adolescent conflict have been significantly associated with and may pose risk for engaging in substance use and risk-taking (Duncan, Duncan, Biglan, & Ary, 1998). Thus, parent-adolescent conflict may be an important proximal influence on HIV risk behaviors (Lester et al., 2010; Rowe, Wang, Greenbaum, & Liddle, 2008). Yet, the temporal relation between parent-adolescent conflict and adolescent HIV risk-taking behaviors is still unknown. Second, at-risk adolescents may carry a neurobiological predisposition for engaging in trait-like expressions of disinhibited behavior and other risk-taking behaviors (Iacono, Malone, & McGue, 2008). When exposed to interpersonally stressful situations, their likelihood of engagement in HIV risk behaviors may increase. To investigate the role of parent-adolescent conflict in adolescent HIV risk-taking behaviors, 49 adolescents ages 14-17 and their parent were randomly assigned to complete a standardized discussion task to discuss a control topic or a conflict topic. Immediately after the discussion, adolescents completed a laboratory risk-taking measure. In a follow-up visit, eligible adolescents underwent electrophysiological (EEG) recording while completing a task designed to assess the presence of a neurobiological marker for behavioral disinhibition which I hypothesized would moderate the links between conflict and risk-taking. First, findings indicated that during the discussion task, adolescents in the conflict condition evidenced a significantly greater psychophysiological stress response relative to adolescents in the control condition. Second, a neurobiological marker of behavioral disinhibition moderated the relation between discussion condition and adolescent risk-taking, such that adolescents evidencing relatively high levels of a neurobiological marker related to sensation-seeking evidenced greater levels of risk-taking following the conflict condition, relative to the control condition. Lastly, I observed no significant relation between parent-adolescent conflict, the neurobiological marker of behavioral disinhibition and adolescent engagement in real-world risk-taking behavior.
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    Childhood Attention Problems and the Development of Comorbid Symptoms at the Transition to High School: The Mediating Role of Parent and Peer Relationships
    (2015) LeMoine, Kaitlyn Ashley; Chronis-Tuscano, Andrea; Psychology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    Children with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) are at increased risk for the development of depression and delinquent behavior. Children and adolescents with ADHD also experience difficulty creating/maintaining high quality friendships and parent-child relationships, and these difficulties may contribute to the development of co-morbid internalizing and externalizing symptoms in adolescence. However, there is limited research examining whether high quality friendships and parent-child relationships mediate the relation between ADHD and the emergence of these co-morbid symptoms at the transition to high school. This study examines the mediating role of relationship quality in the association between ADHD and depressive symptoms/delinquent behaviors at this developmentally significant transition point. Results revealed significant indirect effects of grade 6 attention problems on grade 9 depressive symptoms through friendship quality and quality of the mother-child relationship in grade 8. Interventions targeting parent and peer relationships may be valuable for youth with ADHD to promote successful transitions to high school.
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    I get High with a Little Help from my Friends (and Family): Close Relationships, Distress Tolerance, and Risk-Taking in Adolescence
    (2012) Ehrlich, Katherine Babcock; Cassidy, Jude A; Psychology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    Despite substantial efforts to educate adolescents about the consequences of their risky decisions, adolescent risk behavior remains a significant social and public health problem. The goal of this research was to examine the role of individual and contextual predictors of adolescent health risk behavior and risk-taking measured in the laboratory. Specifically, I examined parent-adolescent relationships and friendships as two contextual predictors of risk, and I measured adolescent distress tolerance as an individual predictor of risk behavior in a longitudinal study of adolescents and their families. In Aim 1, I used a variable-centered approach to examine concurrent and prospective predictors of adolescent risk-taking. In Aim 2, I took a person-oriented statistical approach to the study of adolescent risk-taking by examining whether there are particular groups of adolescents with particular relationship characteristics who were most likely to engage in risky behavior, and whether these groups of adolescents would be more likely to take risks if they had low distress tolerance. Aim 1 analyses revealed that adolescents were most likely to engage in health risk behaviors when they had negative parent-adolescent relationships or positive friendships, but distress tolerance was unrelated to risk-taking. None of the predictors was related to laboratory risk behavior. Aim 2 analyses revealed that the influence of adolescents' relationships on their risk-taking behaviors depended on their ability to tolerate and manage their emotions. Among adolescents with high levels of friendship conflict, distress tolerance served as a protective factor against health risk behavior. Among high distress tolerant adolescents, those who had high parent-adolescent conflict engaged in greater risk-taking than adolescents who had high friendship conflict. Across all analyses, none of the predictors accounted for Time 2 risk behavior after accounting for Time 1 risk-taking in the models. Overall, these findings suggest that adolescents' relationship experiences and distress tolerance relate to risk-taking behaviors, even at an age when adolescents are engaging in relatively low levels of risk behavior. Future research should continue investigating predictors of risk behavior across multiple levels of analysis, with an emphasis on biological, individual, relational, and environmental factors that contribute to risk-taking.