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Although research on ethnic–racial socialization is well established, limited studies have examined the influence of specific, highly publicized anti‐Black murders. We assessed Black mothers' (N = 12, mean age = 37.45) concerns and ethnic–racial socialization with adolescents aged 11–18 years old approximately 1 year following the murders of George Floyd and other unarmed Black people. Researchers generated the following themes using reflexive thematic analysis: protecting adolescents from physical harm; protecting adolescents from psychological harm; parents' emotional distress; and parents' lack of confidence in their ethnic–racial socialization practices. Black mothers exhibit exceptional amounts of strength and courage as they navigate pervasive physical and psychological threats to their adolescents while experiencing worry and low confidence in their ability to socialize their adolescents about anti‐Black racism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although research on racial socialization is well established, few studies have examined the influence of specific, highly publicized racialized events. We sought to gain a deeper understanding of Black parents' preparation for bias with young children following the murder of George Floyd and other high-profile anti-Black murders during the pandemic. Researchers generated the following themes from parents' responses using reflexive thematic analysis: determining their child's readiness for the talk, reasons to delay the talk, initiating the talk, and recommendations for beginning the talk. The majority of parents of children age six and younger did not engage in preparation for bias following the murder of George Floyd due to perceptions of children's inability to understand racism as well as desires to preserve children's "innocence" and positive perceptions of police. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective. This study examined the relations between parenting styles and perceived mother-adolescent relationship quality in a socioeconomically diverse sample of African American mothers and adolescents. Design. African American female caregivers (N = 109) completed measures of maternal warmth, maternal monitoring, and information on family demographics. Adolescents completed measures assessing their perceptions of specific aspects of mother-adolescent relationship quality and demographic information. Results. Authoritative mothers reported greater monitoring than mothers classified as having authoritarian, indulgent, and neglectful styles. Authoritative mothers also reported higher levels of warmth than mothers classified as authoritarian or neglectful styles. Authoritarian mothers reported significantly higher levels of monitoring when compared to indulgent mothers and neglectful mothers. Consistent with predictions, adolescents with authoritative mothers reported more positive mother-adolescent relationship quality in the form of greater communication, trust, and alienation when compared to adolescents with authoritarian and neglectful mothers. Against predictions, neither household income nor adolescent gender moderated the associations between parenting style and mother-adolescent relationship quality. Results from several exploratory analyses are also reported. Conclusions. The mother-adolescent relationship benefits from authoritative parenting in socioeconomically diverse African American families. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined family processes on the adjustment of adolescents from single-mother households using a dyadic approach. Participants included 107 noncohabiting Black parental dyads of adolescents aged 12 to 18 years. Each parent completed measures of positive parenting, parent-child relationship quality, parental depressive symptoms, coparenting relationship quality, and adolescent adjustment. Data were analyzed using the actor-partner interdependence model (APIM) and extended mediational model (APIMeM) within a structural equation modeling framework. APIM demonstrated significant actor effects from parent-child relationship quality and parental depressive symptoms to both adolescent externalizing and internalizing problems as well as significant partner effects from parent-child relationship quality to adolescent externalizing problems for both mothers and fathers. Additionally, APIMeM revealed significant indirect actor and partner effects from parent-child relationship quality to externalizing behavior through one's own and one's coparent's coparenting relationship quality for both parents. Indirect actor effects were also observed from positive parenting to externalizing behavior through one's own perception of coparenting relationship quality for both parents. Both APIM and APIMeM models found a significant gender difference for the direct effect from positive parenting to externalizing problems. Specifically, the association was negative for mothers in both models; whereas it was nonsignificant (APIM) and positive (APIMeM) for fathers. This study highlights the unique contributions of mother's and father's parent and coparent factors on one's own, and one's coparent's, perception of adolescent adjustment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Although previous studies have found small effects of nonresident father involvement on child outcomes, the mechanisms linking nonresident father involvement to child outcomes is understudied. Methods: This review examines the maternal processes that link nonresident father involvement to children's development. We reviewed ten longitudinal mediational studies that examined the indirect associations between nonresident father involvement and child outcomes. All of the studies reviewed included samples comprised of predominantly Black mothers with young children. Results: Using ecological models, researchers found that maternal factors, including maternal parenting, maternal parenting stress, and maternal depression, mediate the relationships between nonresident father involvement and child outcomes. Maternal parenting has also been found to mediate the influence of both maternal parenting stress and maternal depression on child outcomes. Of the longitudinal mediational models reviewed, limited studies found support for the direct relationship between nonresident father involvement and child outcomes. Conclusions: We propose a conceptual model for explaining the indirect relationship between nonresident father involvement and children's developmental outcomes. The model delineates the role of maternal parenting, maternal parenting stress, and maternal depression as mediators in the relationship between nonresident father involvement and child outcomes. The conceptual model extends previously tested models by highlighting the central process of maternal parenting to child outcomes as influenced by nonresident father involvement transmitted through maternal parenting stress and maternal depression. Implications for future research on the role of nonresidential fathers in children's development and interventions for increasing nonresidential father involvement are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examined the responsivity of unmarried African American fathers to bids from their 3-month-old infants during the Lausanne Trilogue Play (LTP), and the responses of mothers subsequent to father-baby exchanges. Twenty mother-father-infant triads (75% noncoresidential) with parents between the ages of 14 and 53 took part in the investigation. All fathers and the majority of mothers were African American with reported incomes at least 200% below the U.S. poverty line. All participants had previously completed a prenatal intervention study examining formation of coparenting alliances across their transitions to parenthood and were observed while playing together in videotaped LTP sessions at 3-months postpartum. We microanalyzed infants’ gaze orientation toward their fathers and the sequence of parent behaviors after babies’ bids to fathers. Father responses to bids from the infant were characterized as withdrawal, nonwithdrawal but failure to adapt behavior he had been showing prior to the baby’s bid, or affective and/or behavioral adjustment in response to the baby’s bid. Maternal reactions to the father-baby exchange were coded as either reinforcing, opposing, or neutral. Analyses revealed that fathers showed substantial evidence of intuitive parenting and matching behavior, and mothers overwhelmingly supported, rather than interfered with or disrupted, baby-father exchanges. Results are discussed in contradistinction to deceptive commonplace depictions of African American families that focus largely on deficits rather than strengths, and recommendations for family research and practice are offered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The impacts of the Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) Study continue to reverberate across medicine, influencing clinical practice, research, and public policy, prompting reexamination of the original ACEs research, and generating a range of new research questions that are critical for understanding health and development across the lifespan.1,2 Within child and adolescent psychiatry, this explosion of interest in childhood trauma and its consequences is generating rich new areas of inquiry: how does adversity become biologically embedded in brain structure and functioning? What familial, environmental, and genetic factors influence resilience and risk? How should we update and adapt the original ACEs framework to account for cultural, ethnic, and geographic differences across populations with various exposures during childhood and distinct ways of experiencing and understanding these exposures? What positive experiences during childhood might have equally profound lifelong health impacts? In this issue of the Journal, Salhi et al.3 present findings from a large cross-national survey of parents of young children to examine their hypotheses that particular household exposures, physical discipline, and lack of cognitive stimulation represent adverse experiences associated with specific developmental outcomes in young children. Like much related research emerging in this area, the present study may provoke more new questions than it answers, and the article sharpens our focus to better understand the developmental science of early adversity and its implications for mental health promotion and clinical care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Racial disparities in mental health care access and quality are associated with higher levels of unmet need for Black parents and families, a population disproportionately affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Integrating services within early childhood education centers may increase mental health care access for Black families with young children. The current study examined the feasibility, acceptability, and perceived impact of an integrated program offering mental health care for parents, children, and dyads during the pandemic. Black parents (N = 61) completed measures of program satisfaction and perceived benefits of participation, and 47 parents also participated in focus groups further assessing perceptions of the program. Results demonstrated high levels of satisfaction and perceived benefit of the program for parents and children. Themes generated through analysis included: social support, creating a safe space, prioritizing self-care, and sharing parenting strategies. Parents’ feedback provides preliminary feasibility and acceptability for the integrated mental health program. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT This report examines coparenting and triadic interactions in 19 unmarried, first-time African American families as fathers, mothers, and 3-month-old infants navigated the Lausanne Trilogue Play (LTP; E. Fivaz-Depeursinge & A. Corboz-Warnery, ). Parents in 10 of the 19 families reported coresidence at the time of the 3-month assessment, and the other 9 sets of coparents lived apart. All participating families had taken part in a prenatal intervention emphasizing the importance of father engagement in children's lives, and in all families, parents reported episodic to regular father contact with the children at 3 months. Analyses of LTP sessions revealed that 9 of the 19 families exhibited high levels of coparenting solidarity-cooperation and family warmth accompanied by low levels of coparenting competition and disengagement. Among the remaining 10 families, competitiveness (verbal sparring, interference) and/or disengagement (repeated, episodic absenting by one or both parents from the ongoing interaction) signaled strain and challenges to solidarity. Differences between the higher and lower solidarity groups were found in father-reported relationship rapport. However, coresidentiality versus noncoresidentiality of the parents did not distinguish high- from low-solidarity groups. A case analysis of one family's triadic session is presented to elucidate the rich potential for clinical intervention in triadic work with fragile family systems. Implications of the study and its findings for theory, research, and clinical work with unmarried fathers and families, along with limits of the study design and generalizability of findings, are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a study which examines the factors on the involvement of African American fathers to their children. It mentions that a priori power analysis was performed and flyers were posted in low-income areas to recruit participants. It shows that father and coparental factors were associated to high levels of paternal involvement.

The Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale 10 (CD-RISC 10; Campbell-Sills & Stein, 2007) is a self-report measure of resilience that has been found to provide reliable and valid scores among U.S. and international samples, although its psychometric properties have not been validated among African Americans. This study used confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and structural equation modeling to examine the psychometric properties of the CD-RISC 10 among a community sample of 127 low-income, African American men. Participants completed measures of resilience, spirituality, and psychological distress. CFA results supported the unidimensional factor structure of the CD-RISC 10. The CD-RISC 10 scores also evidenced construct validity by being related to theoretically relevant constructs (i.e., spirituality and psychological distress). Satisfactory internal consistency score reliability was demonstrated. These results support the validity of the CD-RISC 10 scores in a sample of low-income, African American men. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the proliferation of child maltreatment research over the last 30 years, there remains a dearth of research examining the long-term effects of child psychological maltreatment (CPM), particularly child verbal abuse (CVA). Using a college sample of 173 participants from a Southeastern university, this study examined the role of gender and perpetrator relationship in predicting psychological distress and self-worth of adults exposed to CVA. Maternal CVA emerged as a significant predictor of lower levels of self-worth in adult daughters and sons as well as greater psychological distress in adult daughters. Paternal CVA did not emerge as a significant predictor of greater psychological distress or lower levels of self-worth in either adult daughters or sons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A letter to the editor is presented which discusses the case study of schizencephaly linked with obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT) has demonstrated promising evidence in its implementation with deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) families. This case study presents the implementation of PCIT with a hearing mother, a deaf father, and their 7-year-old hearing son with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and oppositional behaviors, using the assistance of certified interpreters. Results documented improvement in child behavior, parenting skills and stress, and parent-child communication. Notably, paternal ratings showed greater improvement across these outcomes than maternal ratings. Overall, PCIT continues to demonstrate its effectiveness as a treatment option for DHH families with children with challenging behaviors. The limitations and implications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Parents play a central role in utilization of mental health services by their children. This study explored the relationship between parents' recognition of child mental health problems and their decisions to seek help. Participants included 251 parents (49% Black, 51% White; 49% fathers, 51% mothers) recruited from community settings. Parents ranged in age from 20 to 66 years old with at least one child between ages 2 and 21. Parents read three vignettes that described a child with an anxiety disorder, ADHD, and no clinically significant diagnosis. Parents completed measures of problem recognition, perception of need, willingness to seek help, and beliefs about causes of mental illness. Findings from Generalized Estimating Equations revealed that parents were more likely to report intentions to seek help when they recognized a problem (odds ratio [OR] = 41.35,p < .001), 95% confidence interval (CI) [14.81, 115.49]; when it was an externalizing problem (OR = 1.85,p < .05), 95% CI [1.14, 3.02]; and when parents were older (OR = 1.04,p < .05), 95% CI [1.01, 1.08]. Predictors of parental problem recognition included perceived need, prior experience with mental illness, and belief in trauma as a cause of mental illness. Predictors of help-seeking intentions included problem recognition, perceived need, externalizing problem type, and being female. Given the relationship between parental problem recognition and willingness to seek help, findings suggest that efforts to address disparities in mental health utilization could focus on problem-specific, gender-sensitive, mutable factors such as helping parents value help-seeking for internalizing as well as externalizing problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Attachment theory posits that parenting plays akey role in children's attachment and subsequent development. Given the normativity of racial discrimination on everyday life experiences of African American families, there is a need to integrate historical and socio-environmental processes in studies to understand how minoritized parents raise secure and stable children. Results from the current study revealed direct associations between mothers' reports of discrimination and heightened depression and anxiety. Maternal discriminatory experiences were indirectly associated with more negative parenting and compromised parent-child relationship quality, through mothers' psychological functioning. Elevated emotional and behavioral management problems among youth were directly associated with exposure to racial discrimination. Exposure to discrimination during middle childhood facilitated adapted or learned strategies to manage similar situations as youth transitioned into adolescence, with reduced patterns of depressive symptomology. No significant gender effects emerged. Implications for theoretical advancement and future research are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Structural racism-the ways that institutional policies, practices, and other norms operate to create and sustain race-based inequities1-has historically been foundational to the operations of academic medical centers and research institutions. Since its inception, academic medicine has depended on the exploitation of vulnerable communities to achieve medical, educational, and research goals.2 Research practices have long ignored or taken advantage of the individuals purportedly benefiting from the research, a dynamic most manifestly true for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) communities in the United States. Reflecting current practices in racial justice work, we intentionally use the term "BIPOC" to highlight shared experiences within racially and ethnically minoritized communities, given the history of White supremacy in the United States. We acknowledge limitations of this term, which collapses myriad unique communities and histories into one construct. Specifically, child and adolescent psychiatry has historically been driven by Eurocentric approaches, paradigms, and methodology. These nonparticipatory dominant research practices have contributed to a lack of culturally responsive interventions for BIPOC communities, a paucity of evidence-based practices with demonstrated effectiveness within BIPOC communities, and disparities in access and quality of care.3 Mental health research involving BIPOC communities has been replete with exploitation and inequality.2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current pediatric mental health crisis, recently named by AACAP and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP),1 is inextricably linked to school-based policies and practices. Fueled by public fears of crime and violence, "tough on crime" approaches took root in the United States during the 1980s, when school systems became an extension of a national-scale punitive apparatus. Punitive policies (eg, zero-tolerance policies) became a reflex response to disruptive behaviors at school, and police presence within schools increased. Envisioned to deter crime and violence, these policies instead too often criminalized routine, nonviolent misbehaviors, producing an intimate connection between school discipline and incarceration systems,2 often referred to as the "school-to-prison pipeline" disproportionately affecting Black students. In the contemporary context of calls for racial justice, local and state officials are re-examining the impacts of school-based police and strict discipline policies to better understand the potential academic and psychological consequences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]