Youth's Perceptions of Parental Support and Parental Knowledge as Moderators of the Association Between Youth-Probation Officer Relationship and Probation Non-compliance

Perceptions of neighborhood threat and caregiver support in early adolescence: Sex differences in neural and behavioral correlates in the ABCD study

BACKGROUND

Adolescents, particularly racial and ethnic minorities, are at increased risk for neighborhood threat and violence exposure, which impacts behavioral and neural outcomes. Caregiver support is associated with healthy socioemotional adjustment and self-regulatory and coping behaviors; however, it remains unclear whether caregiver support, specifically, consolation, can moderate the behavioral and neural impacts of neighborhood threat.

OBJECTIVE

The aim of this study was to examine the role of youth-perceived neighborhood threat on neural and behavioral correlates and to test the moderating potential of caregiver support. Sex differences in associations were examined.

PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING

11,559 nine- and ten-year old youth enrolled in the multi-site Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study at baseline.

METHODS

Associations were examined via linear regression models employing youth-perceived neighborhood threat and caregiver support. Regression and interaction models controlled for youth age, sex, race and ethnicity, primary caregiver's education, family income, family structure, youth-perceived school threat, and intracranial volume when examining neural outcomes. An ANOVA employing a Chi-square test and simple slopes analysis were used to identify significant interactions in moderation models.

RESULTS

Neighborhood threat is associated with structural alterations in the left amygdala (p = .004). Meanwhile, caregiver support interacts in a dose-response fashion with neighborhood threat to attenuate its relationship with left amygdala volume (p = .008). Among youth reporting neighborhood threat, problematic behaviors were more common (p < .0001). While not significant, males reported higher rates of neighborhood threat than females (p = .267). Females reported greater levels of caregiver support (p = .017). Lastly, racial and ethnic differences in neighborhood threat and caregiver support were evident (p < .001).

CONCLUSIONS

While youth may not have been exposed to direct or immediate sources of threat and violence, these findings shed light on the impact of neighborhood threat perception on problematic behaviors and amygdala volume among nine- and ten-year olds. Future research should identify other culturally inclusive sources and measures of support and resiliency.

JUVENILE PROBATION OFFICER PERCEPTIONS OF PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT IN JUVENILE PROBATION AND WITH CONTINGENCY MANAGEMENT

Probation is a common sanction for youth substance users, and as such, juvenile probation officers (JPOs) shoulder much of the burden for treatment and rehabilitation. To improve youth outcomes and alleviate some of the burden, JPOs may seek parental involvement in the probation and substance use desistance processes. Using focus group data, we analyzed JPO perceptions of the role parents play in contingency management (CM)-an incentive system designed to produce and reward decreased substance use-and whether they perceived any value in CM. We found that most JPOs perceived parental involvement as critical to the success of both substance use treatment and CM for youth. Our findings also suggest JPOs found parental involvement in CM valuable given that CM was employed on nonstudy clients and future clients. This has implications for the practicality and sustainability of CM as a youth probation intervention.