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PurposeA quarter of women and nearly 1 in 10 men in the United States have reported experiencing intimate partner violence (IPV) that had lasting negative impacts at least once during their lifetime. To prevent IPV over the lifecourse, adolescence has been identified as an ideal period for healthy relationship education that addresses the various IPV risk factors. One of those risk factors is believing in traditional gender roles, but the behavioral aspect of gender performance has been understudied. This study explores the relationship between adolescent gender performance and adult IPV perpetration and victimization/survival.MethodsWe used logistic regression to estimate associations of adolescent gender performance and adult IPV perpetration and victimization/survival in a sample of 2,197 males and 2,587 females from The National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health) between 1994 and 2008.ResultsMale adolescent gender performance was associated with increased adult IPV perpetration (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] = 1.11; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.05-1.18 per 10% increase in gender performance) and victimization/survival (AOR = 1.07; 95% CI, 1.03-1.11 per 10% increase in gender performance). Female adolescent gender performance was not associated with adult IPV perpetration or victimization/survival.DiscussionThe more similarly adolescent males behave to their adolescent male peers, the more likely they are to perpetrate and experience IPV in adulthood. This study supports the implementation of gender transformative education during adolescence and the specific need to address how the behaviors associated with male gender performance are risk factors for adult IPV.

The current study examines the extent to which associations between internalizing problems, body mass index (BMI), and language skills from early (36 months) to late childhood (fifth grade) are due to relatively stable between-child differences, time-specific correlations, or cross-lagged paths. Data from the NICHD study, Early Child Care and Youth Development (N = 1,364) were used. Results showed that internalizing problems and language are significantly and negatively correlated due to relatively stable between-child differences, with some evidence of positive cross-lagged paths, where better language at 36 months, 54 months, and third grade predicted more internalizing problems at the subsequent timepoint, and more internalizing problems at third grade predicted better language at fifth grade. Time-specific associations for BMI showed a negative correlation with language at 36 months and a positive correlation with internalizing problems at 54 months only. Additionally, higher internalizing at third grade predicted higher BMI at fifth grade, though the association was small and no other cross-lagged paths between internalizing and BMI emerged. These findings suggest that previous research documenting cross-lagged associations between BMI and internalizing problems, and between language and internalizing problems may be biased due to between child differences not fully controlled for in prior models. Implications for understanding these key aspects of youth's healthy development are considered.

The thrifty phenotype and fetal overnutrition hypotheses are two developmental hypotheses that originated from the "developmental origins of health and disease" (DOHaD) perspective. The DOHaD posits that exposures experienced prenatally and early in life may influence health outcomes through altering form and function of internal organs related to metabolic processes. Obesity risk and early pubertal timing might be influenced by similar mechanisms. The thrifty phenotype hypothesis is primarily characterized by experiencing a deprivation of nutrients during gestation paired with an energy rich postnatal environment. The fetal overnutrition hypothesis says that obesity experienced prenatally will be associated with increased lifetime risk of obesity in the offspring. Both hypotheses were tested by examining developmental pathways from genetic and prenatal risk through early growth trajectories (birth to 7 years) to pubertal timing at age 11 years. Participants included 361 children adopted at birth (57% male; 57% non-Hispanic White, 11% Black, 9% Hispanic; adoptive family income Mdn = $70,000-$100,000, birth family income Mdn = <$15,000). Associations between boys' childhood body mass index (BMI) and pubertal timing were confounded by genetics, prenatal risk, and early growth. The thrifty phenotype hypothesis was partially supported for boys' childhood BMI (at ages 4 to 7 years). Both hypotheses were partially supported for girls' childhood BMI but not pubertal timing. A novel Gene x Prenatal Risk interaction showed that genetic risk predicted girls' childhood BMI most strongly at adequate compared with at excessive levels of gestational weight gain.

BackgroundWell-orchestrated cortisol and DHEA stress responsivity is thought to support efficacious stressor management (i.e., coping) and reduce risk for psychopathology during adolescence. Evidence of these relations, however, is lacking empirically. This longitudinal investigation had three aims: 1) to identify within-adolescent profiles of joint cortisol-DHEA responsivity, 2) examine profiles as prospective predictors of adolescents' later emotional and behavioral difficulties, and 3) examine whether distraction coping helped buffer such prospective risk in each profile.MethodAt Time 1, boys (n = 110) and girls (n = 105) between 11 and 16 years of age with varied levels of risk for psychopathology completed a lab-based socio-evaluative stressor and questionnaires (e.g., coping, internalizing and externalizing problems). Emotional and behavioral adjustment was assessed again at Time 2 (2 years later).ResultsMulti-trajectory modeling of adolescents' cortisol and DHEA within the context of the stressor revealed three groups: Normative (n = 107; 49.8%), Hyperresponsive (n = 64; 29.8%), Hyporesponsive (n = 44; 20.5%). Relative to Normative, Hyperresponsive and Hyporesponsive adolescents were more and less advanced in pubertal status, respectively. Hyperresponsive adolescents, but not Hyporesponsive, reported greater emotional and behavioral problems at Time 2, relative to Normative adolescents. Links between distraction coping and Time 2 adjustment varied across the groups. Specifically, distraction coping was associated with fewer Time 2 emotional and behavioral problems for Normative adolescents. However, the converse was true for Hyporesponsive adolescents, with distraction associated with greater Time 2 emotional and behavioral problems. Distraction was not associated with Time 2 emotional and behavioral problems for Hyperresponsive adolescents (i.e., elevated levels irrespective of distraction coping utilization).ConclusionOur results strengthen inference about the role neuroendocrine coordination plays in risk for psychopathology. Findings also help to clarify inconsistent distraction coping-psychopathology linkages, illustrating different patterns of cortisol-DHEA responsivity that support as well as thwart the use of this potentially efficacious strategy.

PurposeEarlier timing and faster tempo of puberty have been linked to adolescents' poor mental health. Previous research rarely adjusted for childhood mental health, did not use physical examination to assess puberty, and excluded Latinas and Asian Americans. This study addressed these limitations.MethodsWe followed 822 girls, recruited at ages 6-8, for 8 years. Breast and pubic hair development and anxiety and depressive symptoms were assessed prospectively and repeatedly. Structural equation models tested whether pubertal timing and tempo were associated with adolescent mental health symptoms and whether associations varied by ethnicity. Models were adjusted for childhood mental health symptoms, body mass index, and family income.ResultsEarlier breast development was associated with higher depressive symptoms among whites (β = -.19; p < .01) and higher anxiety symptoms among Latinas (β = -.26; p < .05), but lower depressive symptoms among Asians (β = .24, p < .05). Later pubic hair development (b = .24; p < .05) and faster pubic hair tempo (β = .26; p < .01) were associated with higher anxiety symptoms among Latinas. Faster pubic hair tempo was associated with lower depressive symptoms among Asians (β = -.34; p < .05). Tempo of breast development showed no associations.ConclusionsFindings confirmed that earlier breast development was associated with higher mental health symptoms for Latina and white girls but was protective among Asians. Results for pubic hair and pubertal tempo were inconsistent, requiring future examination. While targeted interventions to prevent mental health problems among early-maturing girls are critical, there is variability among who might benefit most.

Sleep disorders (SD) are common in autism spectrum disorder (ASD), yet relatively little is known about the potential genetic mechanisms involved in SD and ASD comorbidity. The current study begins to fill this gap with a gene enrichment study that (1) identifies risk genes that contribute to both SD and ASD which implicate circadian entrainment, melatonin synthesis, and several genetic syndromes. An over-representation analysis identified several enriched pathways that suggest dopamine and serotonin synapses as potential shared SD and ASD mechanisms. This overlapping gene set and the highlighted biological pathways may serve as a preliminary stepping-stone for new genetic investigations of SD and ASD comorbidity.

PurposeThis study aims to examine the longitudinal association between puberty and sleep in a diverse sample of girls and explore racial/ethnic differences in this association.MethodsUsing latent growth curve modeling, the present study measured pubertal development (timing and rate) and sleep (wake time and bedtime) in 1,239 socioeconomically and ethnically diverse girls starting when they were 6-8 years old and followed longitudinally for up to 8 years. Pubertal assessment was conducted annually in clinic by physical examination, classified by sexual maturation stage for breast and pubic hair development by trained raters.ResultsIn line with previous research, black girls had the earliest pubertal development, followed by Hispanic, white, and Asian girls. Black girls, on average, reported significantly shorter sleep duration than Hispanic (β = -.20, p

The present study examined associations between effortful control, a trait marker of self-regulation, adaptive hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) system functioning (as reflected by the cortisol awakening response [CAR]), and concurrent and longitudinal depressive problems, in a sample of preadolescent Latino youth (N = 119, mean age = 11.53 years, 59% girls). We hypothesized that trait readiness for self-regulation (specifically effortful control) could be related to physiological state readiness for self-regulation (as measured using the Cortisol Awakening Response or CAR), and that both may counter depressive problems. We found that youth's CAR was positively associated with effortful control, and negatively with youth depressive problems. Effortful control and youth depressive problems were also negatively associated. Longitudinal relations of CAR and effortful control on depressive problems at T2 were not significant in the structural equation model after controlling for T1 depressive problems, although these variables were significant in the bivariate correlations. Results suggest that both trait regulation and physiological regulation may counter depressive problems in Latino youth.

This study examines interactions of heritable influences, prenatal substance use, and postnatal parental warmth and hostility on the development of conduct problems in middle childhood for boys and girls. Participants are 561 linked families, collected in 2 cohorts, including birth parents, adoptive parents, and adopted children. Heritable influences on internalizing and externalizing (including substance use) problems were derived from birth mothers' and fathers' symptoms, diagnoses, and age of onset from diagnostic interviews, and the proportion of first-degree relatives with the same type of problems. Smoking during pregnancy (SDP) and alcohol use during pregnancy were assessed retrospectively from birth mothers at 5 months postpartum. Earlier externalizing problems and parental warmth and hostility and were assessed at 1 assessment prior to the outcome (Cohort II: 4.5 years; Cohort I: 7 years). Conduct problems were symptoms from a diagnostic interview assessed at age 6 (Cohort II) or 8 (Cohort I). Findings from regression analyses suggest that (a) SDP plays an important role for the development of conduct problems, (b) some relatively well-accepted effects (e.g., parental hostility) were less important when simultaneously considering multiple factors influencing the development of conduct problems, and (c) main effects of genetic risk and SDP, and interactions among genetic risk and postnatal warmth, SDP and postnatal warmth, and genetic risk, SDP, and postnatal hostility for conduct problems were important for boys' but not girls' conduct problems. Replication is needed, but the current results provide preliminary but empirically grounded hypotheses for future research testing complex developmental models of conduct problems.

Objective: This community‐engaged codesign project identified the changes needed to tailor a family resilience‐building program, the Families Tackling Tough Times Together (FT), into a community setting. Background: There is a need for low‐burden resources to help families mitigate stressful times and build resilience. Guided by Walsh's family resilience framework, FT aims to improve families' ability to cope, recover, and build resilience. Due to the success of FT during the COVID‐19 pandemic, the program is now being modified to help families in the state of Indiana. Method: Three codesign workshops were held with community service providers (CSP) and families. Participants engaged with the FT materials and discussions related to program usability and feasibility. Data were analyzed using a rapid analysis approach. Results: CSPs stated that FT program materials fit with their goals and workload. Families felt the FT program aligned with their personal needs and day‐to‐day lives. Challenges and concerns with the FT materials included activities that required additional resources or that may be intimidating for families to complete. Both CSPs and families provided helpful suggestions on how to modify the materials. Conclusion: The FT program was well received by participants and was viewed as a valuable addition to the services CSPs offer. Modifications will be made to the FT materials based on knowledge gained from the workshops. Implications: This work highlights the collaborative nature of the codesign process as well as the insights gained from participants regarding the use of the FT materials by CSPs as part of their routine service delivery with families in the community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Predictors of friendship stability from individual attributes and dyadic similarities were assessed using cross‐classified multilevel analyses in this 6‐ to 8‐month longitudinal study of 10‐year‐old US (White, Black, Asian, other; n = 477, 50% girls), Chinese (n = 467, 59% girls), and Indonesian (Sudanese, Javanese, other; n = 419, 45% girls) children with complete participation and reciprocated baseline friendships. Across countries, individual attributes of social preference, popularity, and academic achievement and dyadic social preference similarity positively predicted friendship stability. Dyadic similarity of popularity, academic achievement, and aggression respectively predicted friendship stabilities of US, Chinese, and Indonesian children. Both individual attributes and dyadic similarity predicted friendship stability, with results that varied across countries consistent with attributes' reputational salience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Characterization of cortisol production, regulation and function is of considerable interest and relevance given its ubiquitous role in virtually all aspects of physiology, health and disease risk. The quantification of cortisol concentration in hair has been proposed as a promising approach for the retrospective assessment of integrated, long-term cortisol production. However, human research is still needed to directly test and validate current assumptions about which aspects of cortisol production and regulation are reflected in hair cortisol concentrations (HCC). Here, we report findings from a validation study in a sample of 17 healthy adults (mean±SD age: 34±8.6 yrs). To determine the extent to which HCC captures cumulative cortisol production, we examined the correspondence of HCC, obtained from the first 1cm scalp-near hair segment, assumed to retrospectively reflect 1-month integrated cortisol secretion, with 30-day average salivary cortisol area-under-the curve (AUC) based on 3 samples collected per day (on awakening, +30min, at bedtime) and the average of 4 weekly 24-h urinary free cortisol (UFC) assessments. To further address which aspects of cortisol production and regulation are best reflected in the HCC measure, we also examined components of the salivary measures that represent: (1) production in response to the challenge of awakening (using the cortisol awakening response [CAR]), and (2) chronobiological regulation of cortisol production (using diurnal slope). Finally, we evaluated the test-retest stability of each cortisol measure. Results indicate that HCC was most strongly associated with the prior 30-day integrated cortisol production measure (average salivary cortisol AUC) (r=0.61, p=0.01). There were no significant associations between HCC and the 30-day summary measures using CAR or diurnal slope. The relationship between 1-month integrated 24-h UFC and HCC did not reach statistical significance (r=0.30, p=0.28). Lastly, of all cortisol measures, test-retest correlations of serial measures were highest for HCC (month-to-month: r=0.84, p

We observed gendered coping strategies and conflict resolution outcomes used by adolescents and parents during a conflict discussion task to evaluate associations with current and later adolescent psychopathology. We studied 137 middle- to upper-middle-class, predominantly Caucasian families of adolescents (aged 11-16 years, 65 males) who represented a range of psychological functioning, including normative, subclinical, and clinical levels of problems. Adolescent coping strategies played key roles both in the extent to which parent-adolescent dyads resolved conflict and in the trajectory of psychopathology symptom severity over a 2-year period. Gender-prototypic adaptive coping strategies were observed in parents but not youth, (i.e., more problem solving by fathers than mothers and more regulated emotion-focused coping by mothers than fathers). Youth-mother dyads more often achieved full resolution of conflict than youth-father dyads. There were generally not bidirectional effects among youth and parents' coping across the discussion except boys' initial use of angry/hostile coping predicted fathers' angry/hostile coping. The child was more influential than the parent on conflict resolution. This extended to exacerbation/alleviation of psychopathology over 2 years: higher conflict resolution mediated the association of adolescents' use of problem-focused coping with decreases in symptom severity over time. Lower conflict resolution mediated the association of adolescents' use of angry/hostile emotion coping with increases in symptom severity over time. Implications of findings are considered within a broadened context of the nature of coping and conflict resolution in youth-parent interactions, as well as on how these processes impact youth well-being and dysfunction over time.

We comprehensively examined within-person and between-person associations between cortisol and DHEA and cortisol and testosterone across the day. Data are from a sample of 213 adolescents aged 11-16 (M = 13.7, SD = 1.5 years) from the Northeastern US who were oversampled for psychopathology symptoms. Six repeated measures of hormone levels across 3 days were used to test three specific questions of cortisol-DHEA and cortisol-testosterone associations within individuals (coupling) across the day, and one question of cortisol-DHEA and cortisol-testosterone diurnal slopes were associated between adolescents. Results consistently revealed positive cortisol-DHEA and cortisol-testosterone coupling across the day, often more pronounced in girls relative to boys. Cortisol and DHEA slopes were positively associated, whereas cortisol and testosterone were negatively associated between-adolescents. Findings suggest multiple mechanisms and highlight the multifaceted nature of associations of hormone changes during adolescence and importance of considering both axes for between- and within-person aspects of neuroendocrine development.

Despite the well-established importance of prenatal experiences for offspring health throughout the lifespan, our understanding of prenatal influences on psychological outcomes faces challenges due to a wide-ranging and somewhat fragmented literature. Here, we introduce the special issue of Developmental Psychology, "Prenatal Influences Across the Life Course: Biobehavioral Mechanisms of Development," which draws together a broad collection of 12 empirical studies and one review article. These studies illustrate the diversity in biobehavioral mechanisms and biopsychosocial processes that help explain the long-term impacts of prenatal experiences on human development. Collectively, these studies help to disentangle sources of influence across different life stages (e.g., prenatal from genetic, preconception, and/or postnatal influences) and fill key gaps in the literature, such as the inclusion of minoritized populations currently underrepresented in research, the role of fathers, and protective mechanisms. The research featured in this special issue underscores both the long reach of prenatal influences on child and adolescent development as well as the challenges in observing specific biological mediators given that prenatal risks are currently operationalized as specific or broad cumulative measures. In an effort to organize this complex literature, we propose a guiding framework for how to conceptualize the continued integration of the prenatal environment into the field of developmental psychology. This framework broadens the prevailing dichotomous view of prenatal mechanisms as cumulative or specific to articulate a dimensional approach focused on adaptation. We anticipate that such an approach may uncover meaningful and observable biobehavioral mechanisms of prenatal influence on offspring development in the future. Public Significance Statement: This article introduces the 13 articles included in the special issue "Prenatal Influences Across the Life Course: Biobehavioral Mechanisms of Development." This issue illustrates how prenatal influences affect children's psychological development across childhood and adolescence and beyond through a diverse array of biobehavioral mechanisms and biosocial processes. We articulate a new adaptation-focused dimensional approach for measuring and conceptualizing prenatal influences that is expected to advance efforts to integrate the role of the prenatal environment into the field of developmental psychology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study utilised the Early Growth and Development Study (N = 561 adoptive children; 57.2% male, 55.3% White), a study of children adopted at birth, to examine heritable (birth parent psychopathology) and prenatal risk (prenatal maternal distress and smoking during pregnancy), infant negative affectivity, adoptive parent over‐reactivity and warmth as independent predictors of childhood externalising symptoms. The current study evaluated if: (1) infant negative affectivity and over‐reactive parenting are candidate mediators for the effects of heritable and prenatal risk on externalising symptoms and (2) parental warmth weakens the influence of heritable risk, prenatal risk, negative affectivity and over‐reactive parenting on externalising symptoms. There were main effects of heritable risk, infant negative affectivity and over‐reactive parenting on child externalising symptoms. The study found no support for the hypothesised mediation and moderation effects, suggesting that targeting parental over‐reactivity rather than warmth would be more effective in reducing the risk for childhood externalising symptoms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Maternal smoking during pregnancy (SDP) has been linked to poorer offspring executive function across development, but SDP does not occur independent of other familial risk factors. As such, poor and inconsistent control for potential confounds, notably shared familial (i.e., genetic and environmental) confounds, preclude concluding causal effects of SDP on child outcomes. We examined the within-family association between SDP and one component of executive function, inhibitory control, in a sample of families (N = 173) specifically selected for sibling pairs discordant for exposure to SDP. Thus, the present study examines if the SDP-inhibitory control association withstands rigorous control for potential child and familial confounds. 79% of the variation in child inhibitory control was attributable to within-family differences and 21% was attributable to differences between families, indicating that the variability in inhibitory control was primarily a function of differences between siblings rather than differences across families. Further, the association between SDP and inhibitory control was fully attenuated when confounds were considered. These findings suggest that co-occurring vulnerabilities act as more salient risk factors for poorer child inhibitory control than SDP and may serve as effective targets of interventions seeking to improve children's inhibitory control in families with nicotine dependent mothers.

It is hypothesized that hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal and hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axes function together to maintain adaptive functioning during stressful situations differently in adolescence than the characteristic inverse relations found in adulthood. We examined within-person correlated changes (coupling) in cortisol, DHEA and testosterone in response to parent-adolescent conflict discussion, social performance, and venipuncture paradigms. Data are derived from two samples of boys and girls from the Northeastern US (213 adolescents aged 11-16, M=13.7, SD=1.5 years; 108 adolescents aged 9-14, M=11.99, SD=1.55) using different biological sampling vehicles (saliva and blood). Results consistently show that across samples, vehicles, and contexts, cortisol and DHEA and cortisol and testosterone are positively coupled in response to environmental stimuli. Findings underscore the importance of considering the effects of multiple hormones together in order to further our understanding of the biological underpinnings of behavior, especially during adolescence, as adolescence is a developmental transition period that may be qualitatively different from adulthood in terms of hormone functioning.

A growing body of literature highlights the important role of paternal health and socioemotional characteristics in child development, from preconception through adolescence. Much of this research addresses the indirect effects of fathers, for instance, their influence on maternal behaviors during the prenatal period or via the relationship with their partner. However, emerging evidence also recognizes the direct role of paternal health and behavior for child health and adjustment across development. This critical review presents evidence of biological and sociocultural influences of fathers on preconception, prenatal, and postnatal contributions to child development. The National Institutes of Health Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) program incorporates in its central conceptualization the impact of fathers on family and child outcomes. This critical synthesis of the literature focuses on three specific child outcomes in the ECHO program: health outcomes (e.g., obesity), neurodevelopmental outcomes (e.g., emotional, behavioral, psychopathological development), and positive health. We highlight the unique insights gained from the literature to date and provide next steps for future studies on paternal influences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]