Fathers' contributions to attachment in adolescence and adulthood: the moderating role of race, gender, income, and residential status

Fathers play a critical yet underappreciated role in adolescent development. To examine contributions of fathers' parenting to attachment in adolescence and adulthood, this longitudinal study followed 184 adolescents from ages 13-24. At age 13, adolescents reported on their fathers' parenting behavior and were observed in a father-teen conflict task; at ages 14 and 24, they completed the Adult Attachment Interview. Adolescents who lived with their father showed higher attachment security at age 14 (Cohen's d = .72), compared to those with non-residential fathers. Fathers' positive relatedness and support for teens' psychological autonomy predicted attachment security at age 14. Fathers' physical aggression predicted attachment insecurity in adolescence, whereas fathers' verbal aggression predicted insecurity in adulthood, illuminating developmental shifts. Pathways to security were moderated by father residential status, adolescent gender, and race. Findings underscore the importance of fathers' presence, autonomy support, and non-aggression in predicting adolescents' state of mind in close relationships.

Etch the Emotional Life: Mother-Child Emotion Socialization from Age 3 to 6 Years

Emotion socialization is conceptualized as a relational process, yet children's role in socializing parents' emotions is rarely considered. This study explored longitudinal patterns of mother-child emotion socialization from early to middle childhood. Participants were 349 children (51% boys, 49% girls) and their mothers from the southeastern United States. Children were 79.4% White, 12% Black or African American, and 8.3% multi-racial or other; 6.3% were Hispanic/Latino. Mother-child dyads completed an etch-a-sketch task when children were 3, 4, and 6 years old. At each time, mothers' and children's expression, coaching, and dismissing of positive and negative emotions were observed. Hierarchical Linear Modeling analyses identified developmental trajectories and within-dyad associations of emotion coaching and dismissing with emotion expression. Over time, expression of positive emotions decreased and expression of negative emotions showed no change for both mothers and children. Mothers decreased in coaching children's positive emotions and showed no change in coaching children's negative emotions. Children increased in coaching mothers' positive emotions and showed no change in coaching mothers' negative emotions over time. Both mothers and children decreased in dismissing emotions over time. Within dyads, mothers' increases in coaching and in dismissing related to children's increased expression. Children's increases in coaching related to mothers' increased expression. Findings highlight complexity and dynamics of emotion socialization processes over time.

Invisible Wounds: Exploring the Coping Strategies of Black Survivors of Homicide Victims in Canada

Canada has experienced a steady increase in homicide. Specifically, out of the 10 provinces and 3 territories, Ontario has consistently experienced the highest number of homicides, the majority concentrated within predominantly African, Caribbean, and Black (ACB) communities in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA). Despite this disproportionate reality, there is limited research on the ways in which survivors of homicide victims cope with the murder of their loved ones. This article explores the identification and characterization of coping strategies for ACB survivors of homicide victims residing in five neighbourhoods in the GTA. Participants in this study provided their insights and experiences, highlighting the coping mechanisms employed, the influence of cultural identity, and the challenges they experienced in accessing adequate care following the death of their loved ones. Implications for future research, policy and practice are discussed.

Experience-dependent neurodevelopment of self-regulation in adolescence

Adolescence is a period of rapid biobehavioral change, characterized in part by increased neural maturation and sensitivity to one's environment. In this review, we aim to demonstrate that self-regulation skills are tuned by adolescents' social, cultural, and socioeconomic contexts. We discuss adjacent literatures that demonstrate the importance of experience-dependent learning for adolescent development: environmental contextual influences and training paradigms that aim to improve regulation skills. We first highlight changes in prominent limbic and cortical regions-like the amygdala and medial prefrontal cortex-as well as structural and functional connectivity between these areas that are associated with adolescents' regulation skills. Next, we consider how puberty, the hallmark developmental milestone in adolescence, helps instantiate these biobehavioral adaptations. We then survey the existing literature demonstrating the ways in which cultural, socioeconomic, and interpersonal contexts drive behavioral and neural adaptation for self-regulation. Finally, we highlight promising results from regulation training paradigms that suggest training may be especially efficacious for adolescent samples. In our conclusion, we highlight some exciting frontiers in human self-regulation research as well as recommendations for improving the methodological implementation of developmental neuroimaging studies and training paradigms.

Black Americans suppress emotions when prejudice is believed to stem from shared ignorance

Past research examining lay theories of the origins of prejudice has focused on white Americans and has not considered how Black Americans' lay theories of prejudice may impact emotion regulation following discrimination. Across three samples of Black Americans (N = 419), the present research examined relationships between endorsement of two lay theories of prejudice origins (1, beliefs that prejudice stems from shared social ignorance and 2, that prejudice stems from malice). Stronger beliefs that prejudice stems from shared ignorance were associated with greater expression suppression following experiences of racial discrimination (studies 1b and 2), which was, in turn, associated with psychological distress (study 2). By centering the beliefs and experiences of Black Americans in response to discrimination events, the present research has implications for understanding how emotion regulation following racial discrimination is impacted by marginalized groups' conceptualizations of prejudice. Future research should investigate how these factors impact health disparities.

A network analysis of psychopathology in young Black children: Implications for predicting outcomes in adolescence

OBJECTIVE

Network analysis may identify specific symptoms involved in the maintenance and development of psychopathology. This approach, however, has not been applied to the study of young Black children, a population facing unique challenges and developmental risks. It is also unclear whether network analysis identifies early symptoms in Black children that are linked to their longer-term difficulties and strengths in adolescence.

METHODS

We conducted a network analysis of emotional and behavioral difficulties in 1238 Black (non-Hispanic) children from the age-3 assessment in the Future of Families and Child Wellbeing Study (47 % female). We also explored whether early childhood symptoms predict subsequent caregiver-reported internalizing and externalizing problems, and youth-reported social competencies and extracurricular and community involvement, at the age-15 assessment.

RESULTS

We identified specific symptoms of externalizing and emotional reactivity as central in the network. Symptoms of emotional reactivity were also involved in comorbidity, bridging different communities of symptoms. Using elastic net models, we identified specific central and bridge symptoms, but also peripheral network symptoms, that contributed uniquely to the prediction of internalizing and externalizing problems in adolescence. Early childhood symptoms were less predictive of positive outcomes in adolescence.

CONCLUSIONS

This study identified central and bridge symptoms in young Black children, an underrepresented population in network analysis research. Some of these central and bridge symptoms, but also peripheral network symptoms, may be useful targets in early interventions to prevent long-term difficulties. Conversely, network approaches to understanding early psychopathology may have less utility for predicting Black children's subsequent strengths in adolescence.

Developmental trajectories of adolescent internalizing symptoms and parental responses to distress

Parents' responses to their children's negative emotions are a central aspect of emotion socialization that have well-established associations with the development of psychopathology. Yet research is lacking on potential bidirectional associations between parental responses and youth symptoms that may unfold over time. Further, additional research is needed on sociocultural factors that may be related to the trajectories of these constructs. In this study, we examined associations between trajectories of parental responses to negative emotions and adolescent internalizing symptoms and the potential role of youth sex and racial identity. Adolescents and caregivers (N = 256) completed six assessments that spanned adolescent ages 13-18 years. Multivariate growth models revealed that adolescents with higher internalizing symptoms at baseline experienced increasingly non-supportive parental responses over time (punitive and distress responses). By contrast, parental responses did not predict initial levels of or changes in internalizing symptoms. Parents of Black youth reported higher minimization and emotion-focused responses and lower distress responses compared to parents of White youth. We found minimal evidence for sex differences in parental responses. Internalizing symptoms in early adolescence had enduring effects on parental responses to distress, suggesting that adolescents may play an active role in shaping their emotion socialization developmental context.

Development and validation of a scale assessing parental varied responses to Chinese adolescents' negative emotions

OBJECTIVES

Parental responses to children's negative emotions (PRCNE) constitute a critical construct in the study of emotion socialization in children and adolescents. The objective of this research was to develop and validate a concise scale for assessing how adolescents perceive PRCNE in a Chinese context, resulting in the creation of the parental varied responses to Chinese adolescents' negative emotions (PVRCANE) scale. The PVRCANE aims to evaluate seven forms of PRCNE, including the six types encompassed by the commonly used Coping with Children's Negative Emotions Scale-Adolescent Version (CCNES-AV), as well as an additional, culturally specific category frequently seen in Chinese families: didactic talk and teaching.

METHODS

In Study 1, a group of participants (N = 901, Mage  = 13.39 years, SD = 0.92) completed the initial PVRCANE and the CCNES-Adolescent Version. In Study 2: A separate group of participants (N = 320, Mage  = 13.54 years, SD = 0.57) filled in PVRCANE and scales evaluating parental socialization goals and adolescents' depressive symptoms.

RESULTS

In Study 1, factor analyses showed that a four-factor structure best fit the data, leading to the final version of the PVRCANE, which includes 35 items. PVRCANE scores exhibited good internal consistency (Omega > 0.79) and convergent validity, demonstrated by their close correlation with traditional CCNES scores. Study 2 confirmed the PVRCANE's measurement invariance for both male and female parents and demonstrated criterion validity by showing significant relationships between PVRCANE scores, parental socialization goals, and adolescents' symptoms of depression.

CONCLUSION

The PVRCANE is a brief, valid, and reliable scale for assessing PRCNE in Chinese adolescents. The study concludes with a discussion on future directions and how this research enhances the existing literature on emotion socialization, with a particular emphasis on the scale's potential application in other cultural settings.

An Integrative Model of Youth Anxiety: Cognitive-Affective Processes and Parenting in Developmental Context

Multiple theoretical frameworks have been proposed to provide a more comprehensive picture of the risk factors that influence anxiety-related developmental trajectories. Nonetheless, there remains a need for an integrative model that outlines: (1) which risk factors may be most pertinent at different points in development, and (2) how parenting may maintain, exacerbate, or attenuate an affective style that is characterized by high negative emotional reactivity to unfamiliar, uncertain, and threatening situations. A developmentally informed, integrative model has the potential to guide treatment development and delivery, which is critical to reducing the public health burden associated with these disorders. This paper outlines a model integrating research on many well-established risk mechanisms for anxiety disorders, focusing on (1) the developmental progression from emotional reactivity constructs early in life to those involving higher-level cognitive processes later in youth, and (2) potential pathways by which parenting may impact the stability of youth's cognitive-affective responses to threat-relevant information across development.

The Protective Effects of Parent-Child Emotion Dialogues for Preschoolers Exposed to Intimate Partner Violence

Exposure to intimate partner violence (IPV) during early childhood is associated with self-regulation difficulties. Caregivers can facilitate children's self-regulation through emotion-focused conversations about past experiences, buffering downstream effects. However, caregivers experiencing violence may avoid distressing emotions activated by such conversations. This paper explores two different models of relational stress responses, one involving indirect effects (i.e. spillover effects) and the other moderation (i.e. buffering effects). Mothers (n = 117), oversampled for violence exposure, self-reported on IPV and participated in an emotional reminiscing task with children (aged 3-5 years); narratives were coded for maternal sensitive guidance. Maternal sensitive guidance was related to children's self-regulation. Sensitive guidance did not have indirect effects in the association between IPV exposure and children's self-regulation, but did buffer the association between physical IPV and self-regulation; this pattern did not hold for psychological IPV. Results suggest sensitive guidance during reminiscing may promote self-regulation in contexts of high IPV.

Racial Identification as a Protective Factor for At-Risk Parenting in Black Parents: A Longitudinal, Multi-Method Investigation

Although considerable literature focuses on risk factors predicting parents' likelihood to engage in maltreatment, relatively less work evaluates potentially protective parental resources, particularly culturally relevant qualities. The current investigation utilized a multi-method longitudinal study to examine parents' racial identification as a possible resource, hypothesizing that Black parents with stronger racial group identification would demonstrate lower at-risk parenting, operationalized as lower child abuse risk and less negative observed parenting. In a sample of 359 mothers and fathers (half self-identified Black, half non-Hispanic White), controlling for socioeconomic status, findings partially supported the hypothesis. Black parents' greater racial identification was associated with lower child abuse risk and less observed negative parenting, whereas the reverse was true for White parents. The potential limitations of current assessment approaches to gauge at-risk parenting in parents of color are discussed, as well as how racial identification could be considered in culturally informed prevention programming for at-risk parenting.

Bidirectional associations between parenting stress and child psychopathology: The moderating role of maternal affection

Parenting stress and child psychopathology are closely linked in parent-child dyads, but how the bidirectional association varies across childhood and adolescence, and shifts depending on maternal affection are not well understood. Guided by the transactional model of development, this longitudinal, prospective study examined the bidirectional relations between parenting stress and child internalizing and externalizing problems and investigated the moderating role of maternal affection from childhood to adolescence. Participants were from the Future of Families and Child Wellbeing Study, a diverse, nationally representative sample of 2,143 caregiving mothers who completed assessments at children ages 5, 9, and 15. Using cross-lagged panel modeling, we found bidirectional effects between parenting stress and child internalizing and externalizing problems. However, additional multigroup analyses showed that bidirectional associations depend on the levels of maternal affection. In the high maternal affection group, parenting stress at age 5 predicted higher internalizing and externalizing problems at age 9, and reverse child-to-parent paths were found from age 9 to age 15. In contrast, only one cross-lagged path was found in the low maternal affection group. Findings suggest that maternal affection can heighten the transactional associations between parenting stress and child psychopathology.

The Role of Socialization Contexts on Adolescent Substance Use across Racial and Ethnic Groups

Purpose of Review

This review summarizes theories and empirical work regarding socialization contexts contributing to substance use across marginalized adolescents. Future directions and recommendations to minimize the perpetuation of racial stereotypes are provided.

Recent Findings

Neighborhoods high in social cohesion may offset substance use risk. Promoting school connectedness via increased support from teachers and peers could reduce school-based discrimination and enhance feelings of belongingness. The influence of peers on substance use engagement largely differs across racial groups and level of acculturation. Family cultural values emphasizing respect, obedience, and collectivism offer protection from substance use.

Summary

Despite lower prevalence rates of adolescent substance use within racial/ethnic groups, rates of negative consequences due to substances are far greater compared to White adolescents. Transcultural factors (e.g., strong family ties), as well as culture-specific factors, should be leveraged to delay the onset of substance use and prevent negative sequelae resulting from substance use initiation.

Adolescent emotion regulation trajectories: The influence of parent and friend emotion socialization

With mounting evidence demonstrating the link between child emotion regulation (ER) and emotion socialization, we conducted a longitudinal study to understand (a) emotion-specific trajectories of adolescent ER and (b) how specific parent and friend emotion socialization strategies impact ER over 4 years. Participants were 209 adolescents (52.5% girls; Mage  = 12.66 years; 75.7% White) and their parents. Latent growth curve models identified unique trajectories for anger and sadness/worry regulation. Anger regulation increased across time, whereas sadness/worry regulation remained highly stable longitudinally, lacking variance for growth modeling. Friend emotion socialization emerged as a more salient predictor of anger regulation than parent emotion socialization. Friend reward, override, and punish responses predicted initial levels. Friend punish and parent magnify responses predicted the slope.

The role of culture in the association between racial discrimination and alcohol use among North American Indigenous adolescents reporting recent drinking

BACKGROUND

North American Indigenous (NAI) communities have identified alcohol use as a primary health concern. Experiences of racial discrimination are associated with greater alcohol use, but findings are mixed regarding the role of culture in this relationship. The goal of the present study was to examine the role of culture in the association between racial discrimination and alcohol use.

METHODS

Across two studies (Study 1: N = 52; Study 2: N = 1743), NAI adolescents living on or near NAI reservations who reported recent alcohol use completed self-report measures of racial discrimination, cultural affiliation, and alcohol use (e.g., frequency).

RESULTS

Bivariate correlations revealed a significant positive association between racial discrimination and alcohol use (Study 1: r = 0.31, p = 0.029; Study 2: r = 0.14, p < 0.001) but not between cultural affiliation and alcohol use. Racial discrimination and cultural affiliation were significantly positively correlated in Study 1 (r = 0.18, p < 0.001), but not in Study 2. Across both studies, the interactions between racial discrimination and cultural affiliation significantly predicted alcohol use in unadjusted models (Study 1: b = 0.70, SE = 0.32, p = 0.033, 95% CI [0.06, 1.33]; Study 2: b = 0.01, SE = 0.01, p = 0.041, 95% CI [0.001, 0.03]), such that the association between racial discrimination and alcohol use was stronger for adolescents reporting high (vs. low) levels of cultural affiliation. In adjusted models controlling for age and sex, the interaction between racial discrimination and cultural affiliation remained significant in Study 2 (b = 0.01, SE = 0.01, p = 0.0496, 95% CI [0.00002, 0.03]) but was no longer significant in Study 1.

CONCLUSIONS

Findings speak to the need to reduce racial discrimination against NAI youth and to consider youths' different needs based on level of cultural affiliation to reduce subsequent alcohol consumption.

Exploring Black Youth's Belief in Racial Socialization Across Parental and Non-parental Agents

Historically, racial socialization (RS) literature has focused on the content and frequency of RS messages communicated between Black parents and youth. In an effort to examine the potential added benefit of receiving RS messages from non-parental agents, three hierarchical linear regressions were tested among a sample of Black youth (ages 14-21). Black youths' acquisition of protection and bicultural coping messages from parents were associated with their belief in racial protection messages along with select relevant covariates. Black youths' acquisition of protection and racial stereotyping messages from parental agents and racial stereotyping messages from non-parental agents were associated with their belief in racial stereotyping messages. Finally, Black youths' belief in bicultural coping messages were association with their acquisition of protection, racial stereotyping, and bicultural coping messages from parental agents and racial stereotyping and bicultural coping messages from non-parental agents. Findings underscore the enduring role parental and non-parental figures serve in Black youths' racial socialization experiences across ecological contexts. As such, future interventions and community-based programs should be oriented towards equipping parents and supports for Black youth (e.g., including multiracial families) with the competency to communicate racial pride and skillfully support Black children's management of racialized experiences.

Multidimensional Discrimination Distress, Controlling Parenting, and Parent-Adolescent Attachment Relationships: Racial/Ethnic Differences

Parents have multifaceted identities, across dimensions like race/ethnicity, gender, and class, which shape their experience of discrimination. However, little is known about how distress from such multidimensional discrimination influences parenting behavior and parent-adolescent relationships. We tested associations between mothers' multidimensional discrimination distress and parental control (overcontrol and conditional regard) and daughters' attachment, among 82 African American (AA), Hispanic/Latina (HL), and non-Hispanic White (NHW) mother-adolescent daughter dyads in the United States. Additionally, we examined whether these associations vary by race/ethnicity. Mothers reported their distress due to multidimensional discrimination and adolescents reported mothers' overcontrol, mothers' conditional regard, and adolescents' attachment to mothers. Across racial/ethnic groups, more multidimensional discrimination distress was associated with more maternal overcontrol. Additionally, racial/ethnic groups differed in associations between discrimination, maternal conditional regard, and adolescent attachment, such that AA mothers were buffered from the deleterious effects of discrimination on conditional regard and adolescent attachment. HL mothers were buffered from effects on adolescent attachment and conditional regard for anger expression, but not fear expression. Findings suggest that stigmatized racial/ethnic groups may rely on adaptive cultural practices to parent effectively in the face of multidimensional discrimination distress, but these resources may not be available to NHW mothers.

Self-regulation linking the quality of early parent-child relationship to adolescents' obesity risk and food consumption

BACKGROUND

The quality of parent-child relationships has been examined as a contributor to children's healthy behaviours and weight outcomes, but the mechanisms accounting for associations remain understudied.

OBJECTIVE

This study examined whether the quality of early parent-child relationship is associated with adolescent obesity risk and whether self-regulation and (un)healthful food consumption mediate these associations.

METHODS

Employing structural equation modelling, two theory-driven models were examined using a large sample (N = 1237) drawn from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development. Indicators of the quality of parent-child relationship included assessments of child attachment security and observational assessments of maternal sensitivity (15, 24, and 36 months). Self-regulation at 54 months was assessed using behavioural and computerized tasks and, at ages 11-12 and 15 years, using parental ratings of self-control. Food consumption was self-reported at age 11-12. Height and weight measures in early/middle childhood and adolescence were used to compute BMI z-scores.

RESULTS

No direct associations between the quality of parent-child relationship and adolescent obesity risk were found in either model. Instead, child self-regulation was found to mediate the associations between the quality of parent-child relationship and both unhealthy food consumption and higher adolescent BMI status.

CONCLUSION

The findings highlight how the nature of parent-child relationships impacts developing regulatory processes in children which, in turn, have implications for obesity-related behaviours and outcomes. Interventions to reduce childhood obesity should consider self-regulation skills across multiple domains, and early parenting practices that foster these capacities.

Illuminating Associations between Parenting and Deleterious Neighborhood Characteristics via an Exhaustive Modeling Approach

OBJECTIVE

Our goal was to illuminate associations between specific characteristics of under-resourced neighborhoods (i.e., socioeconomic deprivation, danger) and specific aspects of parenting (e.g., parental praise, parental nurturance, harsh parenting, parental control).

BACKGROUND

Prior work has highlighted associations between level of neighborhood disadvantage and the parenting of its residents. However, this work has yet to clarify the specific characteristics of the neighborhood or the types of parenting involved.

METHOD

Exhaustive modelling analyses were conducted in a sample of 1,030 families of twins (average age 8 years; 51% male, 49% female; the racial composition was 82% White, 10% Black, 1% Asian, 1% Indigenous, 6% multiracial) from the Twin Study of Behavioral and Emotional Development in Children. Neighborhood and parenting were assessed using multiple informants and assessment strategies (neighborhood informants, family informants, administrative data, videotaped parent-child interactions).

RESULTS

Neighborhood socioeconomic deprivation (i.e., limited institutional and economic structural resources) demonstrated small but consistent associations with positive parenting behaviors and maternal control, but not with negative parenting behaviors. Neighborhood danger (i.e., recorded crime, fear of crime, exposure to community violence), by contrast, demonstrated weaker associations with parenting that dissipated once we controlled for overlap with socioeconomic deprivation.

CONCLUSION

Danger and socioeconomic deprivation do not function as interchangeable characteristics of under-resourced neighborhoods, at least in terms of their association with positive parenting. Future studies should identify the specific mechanisms through which neighborhood socioeconomic deprivation is associated with supportive parenting.

Racial disparities in EEG research and their implications for our understanding of the maternal brain

Racial disparities in maternal health are alarming and persistent. Use of electroencephalography (EEG) and event-related potentials (ERPs) to understand the maternal brain can improve our knowledge of maternal health by providing insight into mechanisms underlying maternal well-being, including implications for child development. However, systematic racial bias exists in EEG methodology-particularly for Black individuals-and in psychological and health research broadly. This paper discusses these biases in the context of EEG/ERP research on the maternal brain. First, we assess the racial/ethnic diversity of existing ERP studies of maternal neural responding to infant/child emotional expressions, using papers from a recent meta-analysis, finding that the majority of mothers represented in this research are of White/European ancestry and that the racially and ethnically diverse samples that are present are limited in terms of geography. Therefore, our current knowledge base in this area may be biased and not generalizable across racially diverse mothers. We outline factors underlying this problem, beginning with the racial bias in EEG equipment that systematically excludes individuals of African descent, and also considering factors specific to research with mothers. Finally, we highlight recent innovations to EEG hardware to better accommodate diverse hairstyles and textures, and other important steps to increase racial and ethnic representativeness in EEG/ERP research with mothers. We urge EEG/ERP researchers who study the maternal brain-including our own research group-to take action to increase racial diversity so that this research area can confidently inform understanding of maternal health and contribute to minimizing maternal health disparities.

The Utility of Assessing Alexithymia, in Addition to Coping, in the Context of Posttraumatic Stress

ABSTRACT

The distinction between alexithymia and coping in relation to posttraumatic stress has not been fully explored. The present study examined the extent to which alexithymia explained unique variance in posttraumatic stress, beyond the variance explained by coping, in a sample of trauma-exposed adults ( N = 706; M age = 19.41 years, SD = 1.5; 77.1% female). Then, we explored the effect of race on these associations, comparing participants who identified as Black ( n = 275) to those who identified as White ( n = 337). Avoidant-emotional coping showed stronger correlations (compared with problem-focused and active-emotional coping) with total alexithymia, difficulty identifying feelings, and difficulty describing feelings. In regression analyses, we found alexithymia explained unique variance in posttraumatic stress severity beyond the effect of coping. Results did not differ by racial identity. These findings suggest that despite some overlap between alexithymia and coping, each shows unique relations with posttraumatic stress.

Pathways to emotion regulation in young Black children: An attachment perspective

Attachment theory proposes that a central function of caregivers is to provide protection and co-regulation of children's distress in the context of threat, and that children's secure attachment (confidence in a secure base/safe haven when needed) precipitates positive developmental cascades in part by supporting children's emotion regulation. Yet the field of attachment has rarely considered the unique experiences of African American families, including the context of systemic racism in which caregivers must provide physical and emotional protection for their children, and in which children must learn to regulate emotion across different sociocultural contexts (emotional flexibility and "code-switching"; Dunbar et al., 2022a; Lozada et al., 2022; Stern et al., 2022b). This chapter brings attachment theory into conversation with the field of positive Black youth development to explore pathways to emotion regulation in African American children during early childhood. In doing so, we (a) highlight the strengths of African American caregivers in providing unique and specific forms of protection via racial and emotional socialization; (b) review research on predictors and consequences of secure caregiver-child relationships in Black families, with a focus on the outcome of child emotion regulation; (c) present a theoretical framework for understanding cascades of positive Black youth development via healthy relationships and emotion regulation; and (d) outline promising new directions for more inclusive and just attachment research.

Maternal Worry Socialization and Toddler Inhibited Temperament: Transactional Associations and Stability across Time

Caregiver socialization of child emotions has consequences for both typical development and anxiety risk, with caregivers' non-supportive responses to worry perhaps especially salient to children's anxiety development. Children, in turn, impact the caregiving environment they receive through their temperament. We investigated transactional relations between maternal non-supportive responses to child worry (mother-reported) and two differently-measured child inhibited temperament indices (i.e., mother-perceived child inhibition to novelty, laboratory-observed child dysregulated fear) in a sample of 136 predominantly non-Hispanic, White mother-toddler dyads. Worry socialization and mother-reported inhibition to novelty were measured at each of three time points (toddler age 2, 3, 4 years), and dysregulated fear was measured at ages 2 and 3. Constructs showed stability across time, with effect sizes ranging from medium to large. Child inhibited temperament measures positively correlated within time point at ages 2 and 3, and laboratory-observed child dysregulated fear predicted mothers' later perceptions of their children's inhibition to novelty. At toddler age 2, mothers of children showing more dysregulated fear reported responding more non-supportively to worry. However, when controlling for one another, more mother-perceived child inhibition to novelty and less laboratory-observed child dysregulated fear at age 3 predicted mothers' greater non-supportive worry responses at child age 4. There was an indirect effect across time, such that children's greater laboratory-observed dysregulated fear predicted their mothers' heightened perceptions of inhibited temperament, which in turn predicted mothers' greater non-supportive worry responses. Findings lend support to anxiety-relevant construct stability in toddlerhood, as well as child-elicited, rather than parent-elicited, associations across time.

Intersection between social inequality and emotion regulation on emerging adult cannabis use

Emerging adulthood (EA; ages 18-25) is characterized by socioemotional and neurodevelopmental challenges. Cannabis is a widely used substance among EAs, and hazardous use may increase risk for sustained use patterns and related health consequences. Research shows differential increases in hazardous use by objective as well as subjective measures of social inequality, with more concerning trajectories for youth with greater experiences of social inequality. Learning how to flexibly monitor and modify emotions in proactive ways (i.e., emotion regulation) is a central developmental task navigated during the EA window. Challenges to and with emotion regulation processes can contribute to the emergence of mental health symptoms during EA, including hazardous cannabis use. In this perspective, we highlight emotion dysregulation and social inequality as two critical factors that interact to either buffer against or exacerbate cannabis use during the EA period, noting critical gaps in the literature that merit additional research. We recommend novel methods and longitudinal designs to help clarify how dynamic cognition-emotion interplay predicts trajectories of negative emotional experiences and cannabis use in EA.

Individual, family, and social correlates of flourishing outcomes among youth: Findings from the 2016-2017 National Survey of Children's Health

BACKGROUND

Flourishing is considered an optimal state of well-being and is associated with positive psychological outcomes. Although, individual, family, and social factors may either facilitate or impede flourishing, their unique influence on flourishing outcomes is not well-understood among youth.

OBJECTIVE

Using data from the 2016-2017 National Survey of Children's Health (NSCH), this study investigated cross-sectional associations among adverse family experiences (AFE), community safety, family resilience, parental aggravation, and flourishing among youth.

PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING

Data from the 2016-2017 NSCH (N = 51,156) were analyzed. Participants included males (n = 26,124) and females (n = 25,032) whose ages ranged from 6 to 17 years old (M = 12.14, SD = 3.45).

METHODS

After controlling for relevant demographics, adjusted odds ratios (AORs) using a single-block logistic regression determined the relative likelihood of flourishing.

RESULTS

Youth who experienced zero to one AFE (AOR = 2.10; 95% CI [1.95, 2.26]) and two to three AFEs (1.32 [1.20, 1.45]) were more likely to flourish than youth with four or more AFEs. Youth whose parents endorsed low parental aggravation (6.80 [6.41, 7.22]) and moderate parental aggravation (3.70 [3.51, 3.89]) were more likely to be flourishing than youth whose parents endorsed high parental aggravation.

CONCLUSIONS

Findings suggest that high parental aggravation is related to poorer flourishing outcomes, after considering community safety, family adversity, family resilience, and demographic characteristics. Providers should consider interventions to support the emotional regulation of parental systems as a means of maximizing developmental outcomes among youth.

Measuring Children's Emotion Knowledge: Steps Toward an Anti-Racist Approach to Early Childhood Assessments

Emotion knowledge (EK) is a malleable set of skills that is central to social interactions and school success during early childhood. The current study describes an anti-racist approach to adapting an EK measure that assesses knowledge of facial expressions to be ecologically valid for young children of color attending pre-Kindergarten (pre-K) programs in a large urban school district. This approach involved (1) attending to race/ethnicity in selection of visual stimuli, (2) ensuring appropriate translation and language for administration, and (3) exploring the functioning of the measure within a racially, ethnically, and linguistically diverse group of children. A total of 235 children (67.4% Latinx, 14.1% non-Latinx Black, 7.1% non-Latinx White, 7.8% Asian, 3.6% another racial/ethnicity) were assessed in English (74%) or Spanish (26%) during the fall of pre-K (mean age = 4.4). Both English and Spanish versions appear to have similar reliability, although accuracy levels were lower when administered in Spanish. No differences in mean accuracy scores were found across racial/ethnic groups or for boys versus girls. This study contributes to the growing literature necessary to advance anti-racist research in affective science.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s42761-022-00105-w.

Black Emotions Matter: Understanding the Impact of Racial Oppression on Black Youth's Emotional Development: Dismantling Systems of Racism and Oppression During Adolescence: Dismantling Systems of Racism and Oppression During Adolescence

Black US Americans' emotions are subject to stereotypes about the anger and aggression of Black people. These stereotypes are readily applied to Black adolescents' emotions. The purpose of this conceptual paper is to operationalize racial oppression in the emotional lives of Black adolescents through an application of García Coll et al.'s (1996) ecological model for minority youth development. We specify emotionally inhibitive features of Black adolescents' schools, the adaptive culture of Black Americans in the United States that responds to emotional inhibition, Black families' emotion socialization processes, and Black adolescents' emotional flexibility behaviors. Throughout, we integrate findings from research on Black adolescents' emotional adjustment with research on cultural values, emotion and racial socialization, school-based racial experiences, and theory on emotion and cultural navigation.

Spotlighting Black Adolescent Development in the Shadow of Racism: A Commentary

The special issue brings together scholarship that expands our understanding of the adverse effects of interpersonal, online, and vicarious racial discrimination on Black adolescents' psychosocial well-being and sociocultural factors (e.g., racial socialization and positive racial identity) that mitigate these effects. It also focuses attention on ways that adolescents' behavior and characteristics shape racial socialization. Some of the critical tasks that lie ahead include elevating a developmental perspective, documenting developmental pathways, directly assessing proximal mediating processes, giving more attention to the robustness and replicability of findings, and expanding levels of analyses and outcomes to include both macro-structural indicators and indicators of physiological and neuropsychological functioning.

Black Lives and Black Research Matter: How our Collective Emotions Continue to Drive a Movement

The author discusses (1) how the collective emotional experience of the Black community has propelled two parallel movements, Black Lives Matter and Black Research Matters, (2) the state of developmental science as it pertains to Black youth, and (3) suggestions for future research to integrate across fields and to evolve beyond Black pain to incorporate Black joy. The author suggests that the palpable anger collectively felt and expressed as a community has propelled a host of social-political actions to dismantle anti-Black systems of oppression, including within academia. She highlights that the scholarship on Black youth development has driven innovations in theory and methodology that have influenced the field of developmental science broadly and recommends future research areas for consideration.

Resilience and Family Socialization Processes in Ethnic Minority Youth: Illuminating the Achievement-Health Paradox

Youth in marginalized communities who "strive" to rise above adversity, including systemic racism and poverty, are considered "resilient." African-American, Latinx, and Asian-American youth often achieve admirable academic success despite limited social capital and high early life stress by adopting a "striving persistent behavioral style" (SPBS). SPBS may be supported by family socialization processes that facilitate reliance on self-regulation processes. Unfortunately, a young person's resilience in one domain (i.e., academic) can come at a cost in other domains, including physical and mental health morbidities that are under-identified and under-treated. Indeed, research suggests a link between SPBS in the face of adversity and later health morbidities among ethnic minority youth. Herein, we describe SPBS as an adaptation to minority stress that not only promotes social mobility but may also stoke physical and mental health disparities. We review how family processes related to academic, emotional, and ethnic-racial socialization can facilitate the striving persistent behavioral style. We emphasize the double bind that ethnic minority families are caught in and discuss directions for future research and clinical implications for individual and family-level interventions. While needed, we argue that individual and family-level interventions represent a near-term work around. Solutions and factors that shape the need for SPBS and its cost must be addressed structurally.

Profiles of Emotion Socialization Across Development and Longitudinal Associations with Youth Psychopathology

Although there is relative consensus in the literature regarding associations between certain emotion socialization (ES) strategies and youth behavioral health, there is very limited research from a person-centered perspective. To address this gap, the current study examined patterns of ES strategies in families and explored predictors and youth outcomes associated with those patterns. An economically-diverse sample of 229 predominately White mothers and fathers of youth aged 3-12 years was recruited online for a longitudinal study. Latent profile analysis was used to determine the optimal number of family clusters with similar ES profiles. Model fit supported a four-class model, which consisted of an Emotion Coaching profile, characterized by the lowest levels of putatively labeled unsupportive ES practices and the highest levels of putatively labeled supportive ES practices, a Moderate profile characterized by moderate levels of both unsupportive and supportive ES practices, a Limited Engagement profile characterized by low levels of both unsupportive and supportive ES practices, and an Emotion Dismissing profile characterized by the highest levels of unsupportive ES practices and the lowest levels of supportive ES practices. Cross-sectional and longitudinal differences were observed across the ES profiles with regard to demographic and parent emotional competence predictors and youth outcomes. The current study extends the literature on ES by providing evidence on how distinct ES profiles differentially predict youth behavioral health outcomes. Findings also underscore the importance of examining parent emotional competence as a catalyst for adaptive change in the family system.

Longitudinal Links among Mother and Child Emotion Regulation, Maternal Emotion Socialization, and Child Anxiety

Models of transdiagnostic family emotion processes recognize parents' emotion-related characteristics and behaviors as key contributors to child emotional development and psychological functioning. One such psychological outcome, child anxiety, is prevalent and early emerging, underscoring the importance of identifying early family- and emotion-related mechanisms involved in anxiety risk. We investigated the extent to which mother and child emotion-related traits and behaviors related to child anxiety in a community sample of 175 mother-child dyads. Using three time-points (child ages 2-4 years, assessments 1 year apart), we examined how mothers' emotion dysregulation predicted their emotion socialization practices (either supportive or non-supportive) and children's emotion regulation (ER; either attention- or caregiver-focused) over time, in relation to later child anxiety. Models controlled for child inhibited temperament and also tested the role of maternal anxiety in these trajectories. Mothers reported on their emotion dysregulation, emotion socialization, and their own and their child's anxiety, whereas child ER and inhibited temperament were measured using laboratory observation. In supportive emotion socialization models, maternal emotion dysregulation predicted child anxiety 2 years later. An indirect effect emerged, such that greater maternal emotion dysregulation predicted greater non-supportive emotion socialization, which in turn related to children's greater caregiver-focused ER. Maternal emotion dysregulation, maternal anxiety, and child inhibited temperament each predicted child anxiety above and beyond other variables, although their shared variance likely accounted for some of the results. Findings lend partial support to current theoretical models of transdiagnostic family emotion processes and child anxiety development, suggesting promising avenues of future research.

When is Parental Suppression of Black Children's Negative Emotions Adaptive? The Role of Preparation for Racial Bias and Children's Resting Cardiac Vagal Tone

Research demonstrates that Black parents attempt to suppress children's expressions of negative emotions (e.g., anger, fear), in part, to protect them from experiencing racial bias from authority figures. The goal of this study was to examine whether the effectiveness of parental suppression strategies in reducing behavior problems depends on whether parents talk to children about the potential of experiencing racism (i.e., preparation for bias) and children's resting cardiac vagal tone as indexed by baseline respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA). Ninety-four parents (97% mothers) who identified their child as Black (56% girls) completed questionnaires about their punitive and minimizing responses to their child's negative emotions and their child's internalizing and externalizing problems at ages 5 and 6. Children's baseline RSA was assessed at age 5. Results indicated that parents' suppression of children's negative emotions predicted decreased externalizing behaviors (e.g., acting out) only when parents talked to their children about racism. When parents did not contextualize their restrictions on children's emotional expressions with discussions about race, children with higher baseline RSA demonstrated increased externalizing behaviors, whereas those with lower baseline RSA were unaffected. Parental suppression strategies led to increased internalizing symptoms (e.g., anxiety, withdrawal) among children with higher baseline RSA regardless of whether parents discussed racism. Black parents face a conundrum in which suppressing their children's negative emotions, in hopes of subverting racism, may reduce their children's externalizing problems under some circumstances, but may increase the risk of their children developing internalizing problems. Implications for systemic policy change to combat racism are discussed.

Exploring the moderating role of gender in the relation between emotional expressivity and posttraumatic stress disorder symptom severity among Black trauma-exposed college students at a historically Black university

OBJECTIVES

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is characterized in part by negative alterations of cognition or mood, including alterations in emotional expressivity, or the extent to which one outwardly displays emotions. Yet, research in this area has relied on predominantly white samples and neglected to consider the potential role of gender, despite there being demonstrated gender differences in both PTSD symptom severity and emotional expressivity, separately. The goal of the current study was to fill a critical gap in the literature by examining the moderating role of gender in the relation between PTSD symptom severity and emotional expressivity in a sample of trauma-exposed Black adults.

METHODS

Participants were 207 Black individuals enrolled in a historically Black university in the Southern United States (68.6% female; M_age  = 22.32 years).

RESULTS

Findings provided support for the moderating role of gender in the association between PTSD symptom severity and emotional expressivity. Specifically, greater PTSD symptom severity was inversely related to emotional expressivity among trauma-exposed Black males and positively associated with emotional expressivity among trauma-exposed Black females.

DISCUSSION

These results suggest the potential need for gender-specific assessment and treatment techniques for PTSD symptom severity among trauma-exposed Black college students.

Profiles of Emotion Socialization Across Development and Longitudinal Associations with Youth Psychopathology

Although there is relative consensus in the literature regarding associations between certain emotion socialization (ES) strategies and youth behavioral health, there is very limited research from a person-centered perspective. To address this gap, the current study examined patterns of ES strategies in families and explored predictors and youth outcomes associated with those patterns. An economically-diverse sample of 229 predominately White mothers and fathers of youth aged 3-12 years was recruited online for a longitudinal study. Latent profile analysis was used to determine the optimal number of family clusters with similar ES profiles. Model fit supported a four-class model, which consisted of an Emotion Coaching profile, characterized by the lowest levels of putatively labeled unsupportive ES practices and the highest levels of putatively labeled supportive ES practices, a Moderate profile characterized by moderate levels of both unsupportive and supportive ES practices, a Limited Engagement profile characterized by low levels of both unsupportive and supportive ES practices, and an Emotion Dismissing profile characterized by the highest levels of unsupportive ES practices and the lowest levels of supportive ES practices. Cross-sectional and longitudinal differences were observed across the ES profiles with regard to demographic and parent emotional competence predictors and youth outcomes. The current study extends the literature on ES by providing evidence on how distinct ES profiles differentially predict youth behavioral health outcomes. Findings also underscore the importance of examining parent emotional competence as a catalyst for adaptive change in the family system.

Conceptualizing Emotion Regulation and Coregulation as Family-Level Phenomena

The ability to regulate one’s emotions is foundational for healthy development and functioning in a multitude of domains, whereas difficulties in emotional regulation are recognized as a risk factor for a range of adverse outcomes in childhood, adolescence, and adulthood. Caregivers play a key role in cultivating the development of emotion regulation through coregulation, or the processes by which they provide external support or scaffolding as children navigate their emotional experiences. The vast majority of research to date has examined coregulation in the context of caregiver–child dyads. In this paper, we consider emotion regulation and coregulation as family-level processes that unfold within and across multiple family subsystems and explore how triadic and whole family interactions may contribute to the development of children’s emotion regulation skills. Furthermore, we will examine the implications of a family-centered perspective on emotion regulation for prevention of and intervention for childhood emotional and behavioral disorders. Because emotion regulation skills undergo such dramatic maturation during children’s first several years of life, much of our focus will be on coregulation within and across the family system during early childhood; however, as many prevention and intervention approaches are geared toward school-aged children and adolescents, we will also devote some attention to later developmental periods.

Observed dyadic racial socialization disrupts the association between frequent discriminatory experiences and emotional reactivity among Black adolescents

Understanding the underlying mechanisms by which racism degrades mental health and the factors that disrupt these mechanisms is paramount. Black adolescents (Mage  = 15.5) and their mothers (Mage  = 44) were observed discussing a hypothetical discriminatory situation and surveyed about their discriminatory experiences (N = 110). Results indicated that adolescents' submissive emotional reactivity (e.g., sadness, embarrassment) in direct response to discrimination, rather than dominant reactivity (e.g., anger, frustration), was the primary mechanism explaining the link between discrimination and internalizing and externalizing symptoms. Maternal advocacy combined with high levels of dyadic warmth and emotion expression reduced girls' submissive reactivity, whereas a more directive "no-nonsense" advocacy approach reduced boys' submissive reactivity. Findings demonstrate how racial socialization can disrupt the pain of discrimination.

Call to action: Centering blackness and disrupting systemic racism in infant mental health research and academic publishing

The Infant Mental Health Journal is committed to ending systemic racism and promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion in academic publishing. IMHJ unequivocally denounces all forms of racism and white supremacy, including systemic racism in academic publishing. We commit to investigating and working to terminate the ways in which systemic racism has become normalized in academic publishing, including examining our practices and processes at IMHJ. We invite you to join us in intentional, anti-racist work through your scholarship. As part of this effort, IMHJ has updated the author guidelines to include new information regarding how authors can express the ways in which they are engaging with intention in diverse, anti-racist research. These guidelines are available under the author guidelines section on the IMHJ website (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10970355). As a second immediate response relative to promoting diverse, equitable, and inclusive research, IMHJ is releasing the following Call to Action, focusing on centering Blackness in infant and early childhood mental health research. This call is designed as a first step in our efforts, and IMHJ looks forward to coming initiatives aimed at disrupting systemic racism in infant and early childhood mental health research for the many scholars studying and working with diverse populations marginalized by racism and systemic inequities.

Parent emotional regulation: A meta-analytic review of its association with parenting and child adjustment

We conducted a meta-analytic review of 53 studies published between 2000 and 2020 to quantify associations of parents’ emotion regulation with parenting behavior and children’s emotion regulation and internalizing and externalizing symptoms. Twelve meta-analyses, which included between 4 to 22 effect sizes ( N from 345 to 3609), were conducted to summarize associations of parent emotion regulation with positive or negative parenting behaviors and child outcomes of emotion regulation, difficulties in emotion regulation, internalizing symptoms, or externalizing behavior. Given the range of behavioral parent emotion regulation measures used across studies, effect sizes for parent emotion regulation strategy use ( skill) were analyzed separately from effect sizes for parents’ difficulties with emotion regulation. Summary effect sizes ranged from |.08| to |.28| for relations of parent emotion regulation skill with parenting behaviors and children’s adjustment. Summary effect sizes ranged from |.03| to |.42| for relations of parent emotion regulation difficulties with parenting behaviors and children’s adjustment. In general, parents with better emotion regulation skill or fewer difficulties are higher in positive parenting behaviors and have children with better emotion regulation and fewer internalizing symptoms. Evidence was less clear-cut for child externalizing behaviors. Significant effect size heterogeneity was observed in most analyses, and study characteristics (measures, child age, parent gender, sampling, and region where the study was conducted) were examined as moderators. Measures used, child age, and participant risk status moderated effect size in some analyses.

Mothers' preparation for bias and responses to children's distress predict positive adjustment among Black children: an attachment perspective

Traditional conceptualizations of maternal sensitivity overlook the adaptive function of some parenting behaviors. This study examined mothers' preparation for bias, suppression responses, and supportive responses to their Black children's distress as indicators of secure base provision at age five and predictors of children's age six emotional and behavioral self-regulation. Participants included 91 Black children (52% female) and their mothers. Results indicated a significant 3-way interaction such that mothers' preparation for bias predicted children's greater self-regulation when mothers reported high support and moderate suppression in response to children's distress, b = .40, p < .001. Preparation for bias predicted children's lower self-regulation when mothers were highly supportive yet low on suppression responses to distress, b = -.31, p < .01. Attachment researchers should consider evaluating caregiving behaviors traditionally deemed insensitive (e.g. parental suppression) through the lens of serving an adaptive function within a complex system of protective practices among Black families.

Working toward anti-racist perspectives in attachment theory, research, and practice

Recent social movements have illuminated systemic inequities in U.S. society, including within the social sciences. Thus, it is essential that attachment researchers and practitioners engage in reflection and action to work toward anti-racist perspectives in the field. Our aims in this paper are (1) to share the generative conversations and debates that arose in preparing the Special Issue of Attachment & Human Development, "Attachment Perspectives on Race, Prejudice, and Anti-Racism"; and (2) to propose key considerations for working toward anti-racist perspectives in the field of attachment. We provide recommendations for enriching attachment theory (e.g. considering relations between caregivers' racial-ethnic socialization and secure base provision), research (e.g. increasing the representation of African American researchers and participants), and practice (e.g. advocating for policies that reduce systemic inequities in family supports). Finally, we suggest two relevant models integrating attachment theory with perspectives from Black youth development as guides for future research.