Parent and youth dopamine D4 receptor genotypes moderate multilevel contextual effects on rural African American youth's risk behavior

A person-centered data analytic approach to dopaminergic polygenic moderation of child maltreatment exposure

The present study illustrates the utility of latent class analysis, a person-centered data analytic approach, as an innovative method for identifying naturally occurring patterns of polygenic risk, specifically within the dopaminergic system. Moreover, this study tests whether latent classes of polygenic variation moderate the effect of child maltreatment exposure on internalizing symptoms among African ancestry youth. African ancestry youth were selected for this study because youth of color are overrepresented in the child welfare system and because African ancestry individuals are significantly underrepresented in genomics research. Results identified three latent classes of dopaminergic gene variation. Class 1 was marked predominately by homozygous minor alleles, Class 2 was characterized by homozygous major and heterozygous presentations, and Class 3 was marked by heterozygous alleles on the DAT-1 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and a combination of homozygous major and minor alleles on the other SNPs. Results indicated that a greater number of maltreatment subtypes experienced were associated with higher internalizing symptoms only for children with the latent polygenic Class 2 pattern. This latent class was distinctly characterized by more homozygous major or heterozygous allelic presentations along all three DAT-1 SNPs. This significant latent polygenic class by environment interaction was replicated in an independent replication sample. Together, findings suggest that African ancestry children with a pattern of dopaminergic variation characterized by this specific combination of polygenic variation are more vulnerable to developing internalizing symptoms following maltreatment exposure, relative to their peers with other dopamine-related polygenic patterns.

Measurement invariance of the Young Adult Alcohol Consequences Questionnaire across college status, race, and childhood SES in a diverse community sample

OBJECTIVE

The Young Adult Alcohol Consequences Questionnaire (YAACQ) was designed to measure the various domains of alcohol-related problems experienced by emerging adults (EAs), but has primarily been used in college samples and it remains unclear whether the psychometric properties of the YAACQ function similarly in racially and economically diverse populations. The present study assessed the factor structure and evaluated measurement invariance, latent mean differences, and correlates of the 48-item eight-factor YAACQ across college status, race, and childhood socioeconomic status (SES).

METHOD

EAs ages 21.5-25 (N = 602; 57.3% female, 47.0% White, 41.5 % Black, 35.4% noncollege EAs) who consumed 3/4 + alcoholic beverages (for women/men) at least twice in the previous month completed measures of alcohol use, alcohol-related consequences and demographics.

RESULTS

Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) supported the 48-item eight-factor structure across the entire sample. However, one item related to academic achievement was predictably endorsed by few noncollege EAs and thus, was dropped. Multiple-group CFA demonstrated measurement invariance of a revised 47-item eight-factor YAACQ across college status, race, and childhood SES. Assessment of latent mean differences revealed that noncollege EAs reported more alcohol-related consequences overall, compared to college students, including greater endorsement of severe problem domains. White EAs reported more total alcohol-related consequences relative to Black EAs, and EAs of low childhood SES reported more total alcohol-related consequences compared to those of high childhood SES. Furthermore, all eight alcohol consequence factors demonstrated concurrent associations with weekly alcohol use, binge drinking, and high intensity drinking within each subgroup.

CONCLUSIONS

Findings suggest that the YAACQ is a psychometrically robust measure of alcohol-related consequences across demographic groups. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Association of Reported Concern About Increasing Societal Discrimination With Adverse Behavioral Health Outcomes in Late Adolescence

IMPORTANCE

Public expressions of discrimination may generate stress and behavioral health problems, particularly in racial/ethnic minority or socioeconomically disadvantaged youths.

OBJECTIVES

To determine whether concern about increasing discrimination in society reported among adolescents during 2016 and the magnitude of increase in concern from 2016 to 2017 were associated with behavioral health outcomes by 2017 and to examine racial/ethnic or socioeconomic differences in associations.

DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS

This prospective cohort survey collected data at baseline from January 2 through September 28, 2016 (11th grade), and at follow-up from January 1 through August 10, 2017 (12th grade), at 10 high schools in Los Angeles, California, recruited through convenience sampling. A total of 2572 students completed both surveys.

EXPOSURES

Reported concern, worry, or stress regarding "increasing hostility and discrimination of people because of their race, ethnicity, sexual orientation/identity, immigrant status, religion, or disability status in society" were scored as "not at all" (0) to "extremely" (4). Mean ratings were calculated in a 3-item composite (range, 0-4).

MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES

Self-reported days of cigarette, alcohol, or marijuana use in the past month (range, 0-30 days), number of substances used in the past 6 months (range, 0-27), mild to moderate depression (yes or no), and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) (yes or no) at follow-up.

RESULTS

The sample of 2572 students (54.4% female; mean [SD] baseline age, 17.1 [0.4] years; 1969 [87.7%] had at least 1 parent with high school diploma) included 2530 with race/ethnicity data (1198 [47.4%] Hispanic; 482 [19.0%] Asian; 104 [4.1%] African American; 155 [6.1%] multiracial; 419 [16.6%] white; 172 [6.8%] other). Appreciable numbers of students reported feeling very or extremely concerned (baseline, 1047 [41.5%]; follow-up, 1028 [44.6%]), worried (baseline, 743 [29.7%]; follow-up, 795 [34.7%]), or stressed (baseline, 345 [13.9%]; follow-up, 353 [15.5%]) about increasing societal discrimination. Each 1-SD increase on the societal discrimination concern composite in 2016 was associated with more days of past-month cigarette (incidence rate ratio [IRR], 1.77; 95% CI, 1.42-2.20; P < .001), marijuana (IRR, 1.13; 95% CI, 1.01-1.26; P = .03), and alcohol (IRR, 1.11; 95% CI, 1.02-1.21; P = .01) use, more substances used (IRR, 1.07; 95% CI, 1.01-1.17; P = .04), and greater odds of depression (odds ratio [OR], 1.11; 95% CI, 1.01-1.23; P = .04) and ADHD (OR, 1.12; 95% CI, 1.01-1.26; P = .04) symptoms in 2017. The magnitude of increase in societal discrimination concern from 2016 to 2017 was also associated with several behavioral health problems in 2017; some associations were amplified among teenagers who were African American (IRR for cigarette smoking, 2.97; 95% CI, 1.45-6.09) or Hispanic (IRR for cigarette smoking, 1.30; 95% CI, 1.09-1.54) or had parents with less educational attainment (IRR for alcohol use, 1.41 [95% CI, 1.14-1.74]; OR for ADHD, 1.81 [95% CI, 1.13-2.89]).

CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE

Concern over societal discrimination was common among youths in Los Angeles in 2016 and was associated with behavioral health problems 1 year later. Adolescents' behavioral responses to recent societal expressions of discrimination may warrant public health attention.

Developmental Pathways from Parental Socioeconomic Status to Adolescent Substance Use: Alternative and Complementary Reinforcement

Although lower socioeconomic status has been linked to increased youth substance use, much less research has determined potential mechanisms explaining the association. The current longitudinal study tested whether alternative (i.e., pleasure gained from activities without any concurrent use of substances) and complementary (i.e., pleasure gained from activities in tandem with substance use) reinforcement mediate the link between lower socioeconomic status and youth substance use. Further, we tested whether alternative and complementary reinforcement and youth substance use gradually unfold over time and then intersect with one another in a cascading manner. Potential sex differences are also examined. Data were drawn from a longitudinal survey of substance use and mental health among high school students in Los Angeles. Data collection involved four semiannual assessment waves beginning in fall 2013 (N = 3395; M baseline age = 14.1; 47% Hispanic, 16.2% Asian, 16.1% multiethnic, 15.7% White, and 5% Black; 53.4% female). The results from a negative binomial path model suggested that lower parental socioeconomic status (i.e., lower parental education) was significantly related to an increased number of substances used by youth. The final path model revealed that the inverse association was statistically mediated by adolescents' diminished engagement in pleasurable substance-free activities (i.e., alternative reinforcers) and elevated engagement in pleasurable activities paired with substance use (i.e., complementary reinforcers). The direct effect of lower parental education on adolescent substance use was not statistically significant after accounting for the hypothesized mediating mechanisms. No sex differences were detected. Increasing access to and engagement in pleasant activities of high quality that do not need a reinforcement enhancer, such as substances, may be useful in interrupting the link between lower parental socioeconomic status and youth substance use.

The Evolution of Interaction Shape in Differential Susceptibility

Expectations about the shape of statistical interactions play a crucial role in the study of differential susceptibility and other types of person-environment interplay. These expectations shape methodological guidelines and inform the interpretation of empirical findings; however, their logic has never been explicitly examined. This study is the first systematic exploration of the evolution of interaction shape in differential susceptibility. The model introduced here yields a number of novel insights; for example, interactions in differential susceptibility should usually be asymmetric and likely to be biased toward the prototypical shape of diathesis-stress models. This article also presents an exploratory analysis of interaction shape in recent empirical studies and ends with a discussion of the theoretical and methodological implications of the present findings.

Risk and Protective Processes Predicting Rural African American Young Men's Substance Abuse

Informed by a life course perspective, this study tested a cascade model linking harsh, unresponsive parenting during childhood to young African American men's substance abuse via precocious transitions, economic instability, and future orientation. The moderating influence of community disadvantage and romantic partner support on the hypothesized pathways was also examined. At the baseline, the sample included 505 African American men between ages 19 and 22 years from high-poverty rural communities. Follow-up data were collected 18 months after baseline. Using structural equation modeling, we identified harsh, unresponsive parenting influenced precocious transitions in adolescence, which in turn increased economic instability during young adulthood. Economic instability was associated with a reduction in future orientation, a proximal influence on increases in substance abuse. Also, residence in a disadvantaged community amplified the influence of precocious transitions on economic instability and the influence of economic instability on future orientation. Involvement with supportive romantic partnership evinced a protective effect, attenuating the influence of precocious transitions on economic instability and the influence of economic instability on a future orientation. This study expands understanding of young adults' substance abuse by demonstrating the risk and protective processes linking substance abuse to developmental factors across childhood, adolescence, and young adulthood.

Exploring genetic moderators and epigenetic mediators of contextual and family effects: From Gene × Environment to epigenetics

In the current manuscript, we provide an overview of a research program at the University of Georgia's Center for Family Research designed to expand upon rapid and ongoing developments in the fields of genetics and epigenetics. By placing those developments in the context of translational research on family and community determinants of health and well-being among rural African Americans, we hope to identify novel, modifiable environments and biological processes. In the first section of the article, we review our earlier work on genotypic variation effects on the association between family context and mental and physical health outcomes as well as differential responses to family-based intervention. We then transition to discuss our more recent research on the association of family and community environments with epigenetic processes. In this second section of the article, we begin by briefly reviewing terminology and basic considerations before describing evidence that early environments may influence epigenetic motifs that potentially serve as mediators of long-term effects of early family and community environments on longer term health outcomes. We also provide evidence that genotype may sometimes influence epigenetic outcomes. Finally, we describe our recent efforts to use genome-wide characterization of epigenetic patterns to better understand the biological impact of protective parenting on long-term shifts in inflammatory processes and its potential implications for young adult health. As will be clear, research on epigenetics as a mediator of the connections between family/community processes and a range of health outcomes is still in its infancy, but the potential to develop important insights regarding mechanisms linking modifiable environments to biological processes and long-term health outcomes already is coming into view.

Genetic moderation of transactional relations between parenting practices and child self-regulation

The present study addressed the ways in which parent and child dopamine D4 receptor (DRD4) genotypes jointly moderate the transactional relations between parenting practices and child self-regulation. African American children (N = 309) and their parents provided longitudinal data spanning child ages 11 to 15 years and a saliva sample from which variation at DRD4 was genotyped. Based on the differential susceptibility perspective, this study examined moderation effects of DRD4 status on (a) the extent to which parenting practices affect child self-regulation and (b) the extent to which child self-regulation, as an environmental influence on the parent, affects parenting behavior. Results indicated that responsive-supportive parenting interacted with children's DRD4 status to influence increases in child self-regulation. Also, child self-regulation interacted with parent's DRD4 status to predict changes in parenting practices. Both Gene × Environment effects conformed to a differential susceptibility model in which parents' and children's DRD4 genes operated to increase environmental sensitivity "for better and for worse." (PsycINFO Database Record

Translating Genetic Research into Preventive Intervention: The Baseline Target Moderated Mediator Design

In this paper we present and discuss a novel research approach, the baseline target moderated mediation (BTMM) design, that holds substantial promise for advancing our understanding of how genetic research can inform prevention research. We first discuss how genetically informed research on developmental psychopathology can be used to identify potential intervention targets. We then describe the BTMM design, which employs moderated mediation within a longitudinal study to test whether baseline levels of intervention targets moderate the impact of the intervention on change in that target, and whether change in those targets mediates causal impact of preventive or treatment interventions on distal health outcomes. We next discuss how genetically informed BTMM designs can be applied to both microtrials and full-scale prevention trials. We use simulated data to illustrate a BTMM, and end with a discussion of some of the advantages and limitations of this approach.