Moderators of the link between marital hostility and change in spouses’ depressive symptoms.

This study examined the moderating roles of marital warmth and recent life events in the association between observed marital hostility and changes in spouses’ depressive symptoms over 3 years. Using the actor-partner interdependence model (APIM), structural equation models (N = 416 couples) suggested that husbands’ marital hostility was significantly related to increases in wives’ depressive symptoms. Moderator analyses showed that husbands’ warmth and wives’ warmth moderate the association between marital hostility and change in wives’ depressive symptoms. The association between husbands’ hostility and increases in wives’ depressive symptoms was stronger under conditions of lower levels of husbands’ warmth than under conditions of higher levels of husbands’ warmth. This same pattern was found for wives’ warmth. Regarding life events, the association between wives’ hostility and increases in husbands’ depressive symptoms was stronger for couples with more recent life events than for couples with fewer recent life events. Practical and empirical implications are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The role of attachment to family, school, and peers in adolescents’ use of alcohol: A longitudinal study of within-person and between-persons effects.

A great deal of time and money has been spent to understand why adolescents abuse alcohol. Some of the most fruitful work considers the social context navigated by adolescents, including family, school, and peer contexts. However, most of this work focuses on differences between adolescents in these contexts. The present study adds to the literature by considering within-person changes in these contexts and examines the extent to which these changes are related to alcohol use. Significant changes in all 3 contexts were observed, and these changes were significantly related to alcohol use. The significant influence of intrapersonal variability highlights the importance of attending not only to chronic, between-individual issues facing at-risk youths but emergent and transient issues that may temporarily heighten alcohol use risk. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Marital transitions and changes in African American mothers’ depressive symptoms: The buffering role of financial resources.

The effects of changes in marital status on the changes in depressive symptoms of 443 African American mothers from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 (NLSY) were examined. Results showed that those mothers who exited marriage increased in depressive symptoms relative to continuously married and newly married mothers. Moreover, mothers who entered marriage later experienced the same level of depressive symptoms as continuously married mothers. However, financial resources moderated the effects of marital transitions. Those mothers with more financial resources did not experience an increase in depressive symptoms after divorce, but those with fewer resources experienced a large increase. It was concluded that divorce is a risk factor for mental health concerns among African American mothers, but financial resources serve as a protective factor. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Teachers’ stressors and strains: A longitudinal study of their relationships.

[Correction Notice: An erratum for this article was reported in Vol 17(1) of International Journal of Stress Management (see record 2010-02418-002). In the article, “Teachers’ Stressors and Strains: A Longitudinal Study of Their Relationships” by Arie Shirom, Amalya Oliver, and Esther Stein (International Journal of Stress Management, 2009, Vol. 16, No. 4, pp. 312-332), the two co-authors’ affiliations were incorrectly listed. The co-authors’ correct affiliations are as follows: Amalya Oliver, Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Esther Stein, Beit Berl Educational College.] The authors tested the hypothesized unidirectional or bidirectional effects of 5 types of teachers’ work-related stressors on each of the 4 types of psychological strain: somatic complaints, burnout, and intrinsic and extrinsic job dissatisfaction. The authors used structural regression analyses to analyze the responses of a representative sample of 404 high school teachers who had completed both our T1 (beginning of school year) and T2 (end of school year) questionnaires. The authors found support for the expected unidirectional effects of the T1 work-related stressors on the respondents’ T2 somatic complaints (with baseline somatic complaints controlled for), and also for the expected unidirectional effects of T1 intrinsic and extrinsic job dissatisfaction on the T2 values of the five types of stressors (with baseline stressors controlled for). Only partial support was found for the expected bidirectional relationships between the stressors and teachers’ burnout. The authors suggest that the directionality across time of the relationships between stressors and strains may depend on the intrinsic properties of the strain under consideration. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Teachers’ stressors and strains: A longitudinal study of their relationships: Correction.

Reports an error in Teachers’ stressors and strains: A longitudinal study of their relationships by Arie Shirom, Amalya Oliver and Esther Stein (International Journal of Stress Management, 2009[Nov], Vol 16[4], 312-332). In the article, the two co-authors’ affiliations were incorrectly listed. The co-authors’ correct affiliations are as follows: Amalya Oliver, Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Esther Stein, Beit Berl Educational College. They appear correctly in this record. (The following abstract of the original article appeared in record 2009-21667-004.) The authors tested the hypothesized unidirectional or bidirectional effects of 5 types of teachers’ work-related stressors on each of the 4 types of psychological strain: somatic complaints, burnout, and intrinsic and extrinsic job dissatisfaction. The authors used structural regression analyses to analyze the responses of a representative sample of 404 high school teachers who had completed both our T1 (beginning of school year) and T2 (end of school year) questionnaires. The authors found support for the expected unidirectional effects of the T1 work-related stressors on the respondents’ T2 somatic complaints (with baseline somatic complaints controlled for), and also for the expected unidirectional effects of T1 intrinsic and extrinsic job dissatisfaction on the T2 values of the five types of stressors (with baseline stressors controlled for). Only partial support was found for the expected bidirectional relationships between the stressors and teachers’ burnout. The authors suggest that the directionality across time of the relationships between stressors and strains may depend on the intrinsic properties of the strain under consideration. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Parent–child acculturation, parenting, and adolescent depressive symptoms in Chinese immigrant families.

Using a sample of 388 father–adolescent and 399 mother–adolescent dyads in Chinese immigrant families, the current investigation tested Portes and Rumbaut’s (1996) assertion that generational dissonance may indicate a family context that places children at increased risk for adverse outcomes. Study findings suggest that a high discrepancy in father–adolescent acculturation levels relates significantly to more adolescent depressive symptoms. The study further demonstrates that the quality of the parenting relationship between fathers and adolescents operates as a mediator between father–adolescent acculturation discrepancy and adolescent depressive symptoms. Specifically, a high level of discrepancy in American orientation between fathers and adolescents is associated with unsupportive parenting practices, which, in turn, are linked to more adolescent depressive symptoms. These relationships are significant even after controlling for the influence of family socioeconomic status and parents’ and adolescents’ sense of discrimination within the larger society. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Self-perceived competence and the relation between life events and depressive symptoms in adolescence: Mediator or moderator?

In a 2-wave longitudinal study, 9th-grade students (N ?=?468) completed self-report measures of stressful life events, depressive symptoms, and 5 domains of self-perceived competence (i.e., academic competence, social acceptance, physical appearance, behavioral conduct, and athletic competence). Teachers and peers also reported about the participants' depressive symptoms. In longitudinal analyses, negative (but not positive) events related to depressive symptoms. Results suggested that self-perceived competence served as a mediator (but not a moderator) of this relation. Negative events predicted changes in self-perceived competence. Self-perceived competence predicted changes in depressive symptoms. Also, the direct effect of negative events on depressive symptoms diminished after controlling for self-perceived competence. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Children’s representations of family relationships, peer information processing, and school adjustment.

This study examined children’s peer information processing as an explanatory mechanism underlying the association between their insecure representations of interparental and parent–child relationships and school adjustment in a sample of 210 first graders. Consistent with emotional security theory (P. T. Davies & E. M. Cummings, 1994), results indicated that children’s insecure representations of the interparental relationship were indirectly related to their academic functioning through association with their negative information processing of stressful peer events. Insecure interparental relationships were specifically linked with negative peer information processing patterns that, in turn, predicted increases in child maladjustment over a 1-year period. These pathways remained robust after taking into account the roles of representations of parent–child relationships, trait measures of child negative affect, and socioeconomic characteristics as predictors in the analyses. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The association between parent–child conflict and adolescent conduct problems over time: Results from a longitudinal adoption study.

A handful of prior adoption studies have confirmed that the cross-sectional relationship between child conduct problems and parent–child conflict at least partially originates in the shared environment. However, as the direction of causation between parenting and delinquency remains unclear, this relationship could be better explained by the adolescent's propensity to elicit conflictive parenting, a phenomenon referred to as an evocative gene–environment correlation. In the current study, the authors thus examined the prospective relationship between conduct problems and parent–child conflict in a sample of adoptive families. Participants included 672 adolescents in 405 adoptive families assessed at 2 time points roughly 4 years apart. Results indicated that parent–child conflict predicts the development of conduct problems, whereas conduct problems do not predict increases in parent–child conflict. Such findings suggest that evocative gene–environment correlations are highly unlikely to be an explanation of prior shared environmental effects during adolescence. Moreover, because the adolescents in this study do not share genes with their adoptive parents, the association between conduct problems and parent–child conflict is indicative of shared environmental mediation in particular. Implications of the findings are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Suicidality as a function of impulsivity, callous–unemotional traits, and depressive symptoms in youth.

Suicidality represents one of the most important areas of risk for adolescents, with both internalizing (e.g., depression, anxiety) and externalizing–antisocial (e.g., substance use, conduct) disorders conferring risk for suicidal ideation and attempts (e.g., Bridge, Goldstein, & Brent, 2006). However, no study has attended to gender differences in relationships between suicidality and different facets of psychopathic tendencies in youth. Further, very little research has focused on disentangling the multiple manifestations of suicide risk in the same study, including behaviors (suicide attempts with intent to die, self-injurious behavior) and general suicide risk marked by suicidal ideation and plans. To better understand these relationships, we recruited 184 adolescents from the community and in treatment. As predicted, psychopathic traits and depressive symptoms in youth showed differential associations with components of suicidality. Specifically, impulsive traits uniquely contributed to suicide attempts and self-injurious behaviors, above the influence of depression. Indeed, once psychopathic tendencies were entered in the model, depressive symptoms only explained general suicide risk marked by ideation or plans but not behaviors. Further, callous–unemotional traits conferred protection from suicide attempts selectively in girls. These findings have important implications for developing integrative models that incorporate differential relationships between (a) depressed mood and (b) personality risk factors (i.e., impulsivity and callous–unemotional traits) for suicidality in youth. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Ethnic differences in posttraumatic distress: Hispanics’ symptoms differ in kind and degree.

This longitudinal study of physical injury survivors examined the degree to which Hispanic and non-Hispanic Caucasians reported similar posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms. Adult physical trauma survivors (N = 677) provided information regarding posttraumatic distress by completing an interview-administered version of the PTSD Symptom Checklist (Civilian version) at 3 time points: within days of trauma exposure and again at 6 and 12 months posttrauma. Structural equation modeling with propensity weights was used in analyzing data. Results replicated prior research indicating that Hispanics report greater overall PTSD symptom severity. However, the size of this effect varied significantly across the 17 individual PTSD symptoms, and several symptoms were not reported more highly by Hispanics. Relative to non-Hispanic Caucasians, Hispanics tended to report higher levels of symptoms that could be regarded as exaggerated or intensified cognitive and sensory perceptions (e.g., hypervigilance, flashbacks). In contrast, few differences were observed for symptoms characteristic of impaired psychological functioning (e.g., difficulty concentrating, sleep disturbance). Findings suggest that the pattern of PTSD symptoms experienced most prominently by Hispanics differs in kind and not merely in degree. Results have implications for theory aimed at explaining this ethnic disparity in posttraumatic psychological distress as well as for clinical intervention with trauma-exposed Hispanics. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The impact of family and community violence on children’s depression trajectories: Examining the interactions of violence exposure, family social support, and gender.

This longitudinal study used multilevel modeling to examine the relationships between witnessing intimate partner violence (IPV), community and school violence exposure (CSVE), family social support, gender, and depression over 2 years within a sample of 100 school-aged children. We found significant between-child differences in both the initial levels of depression and the trajectories of depression; depression over time was positively associated with change in witnessing IPV and CSVE and negatively associated with change in support. Two significant 3-way interactions were found: Gender and initial support, as well as gender and initial witnessing IPV, both significantly moderated the effect of change in witnessing IPV on the children’s depression over time. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The unique effect of paternal depressive symptoms on adolescent functioning: Associations with gender and father–adolescent relationship closeness.

Prospective, longitudinal data from a community sample of 451 families were used to assess the unique contribution of paternal depressive symptoms to adolescent functioning. Results indicated that paternal depressive symptoms were significantly related to subsequent depressive symptoms in adolescent offspring; this association remained significant after controlling for previous adolescent depressive symptoms, maternal depressive symptoms, gender, and family demographic variables. Adolescent gender and perception of father–adolescent relationship closeness moderated this association such that paternal depressive symptoms were positively associated with adolescent depressive symptoms for girls whose relations with fathers lacked closeness. These findings add to a growing literature on the interpersonal mechanisms through which depression runs in families, highlighting the need for future investigation of paternal mental health, adolescent gender, and intrafamily relationship quality in relation to adolescent development. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The mediating role of extreme peer orientation in the relationships between adolescent–parent relationship and diabetes management.

The study examined whether the quality of the adolescent–parent relationship was associated with better diabetes management in adolescents with Type 1 diabetes by decreasing adolescents' extreme peer orientation. Adolescents (n = 252; 46% male and 54% female) aged 10 to 14 years with Type 1 diabetes completed assessments of extreme peer orientation (i.e., tendency to ignore parental advice and diabetes care to fit in with friends), adolescent–parental relationship, and adherence; HbA1c scores indexed metabolic control. Adolescents with higher quality relationships with parents reported less peer orientation and better diabetes care. The mediational model revealed that adolescents' high quality relationships with their parents (mother and father) were associated with better treatment adherence and metabolic control through less peer orientation. It is likely that high quality adolescent–parent relationships may be beneficial to adolescent diabetes management through a healthy balance between peer and parental influence. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Beyond neighborhood poverty: Family management, neighborhood disorder, and adolescents’ early sexual onset.

The authors examined how neighborhood disorder modifies associations between family management practices and youth transitions to sex among low-income African American and Latino urban families. The sample included 846 young adolescents and their mothers who participated in Welfare, Children and Families: A Three-City Study. Results from multilevel logistic regression models indicated no main effects of family management practices or neighborhood-level conditions on transitions to sex once accounting for demographics. However, higher levels of family routines and parental knowledge (i.e., awareness of youths’ friends, whereabouts, and activities) were more strongly associated with a lower probability of youth sexual onset as neighborhood disorder increased. Results provide further evidence for the contextually specific nature of parenting impacts on adolescent adjustment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The work–family interface in the United States and Singapore: Conflict across cultures.

This article examines the work–family interface in a cross-cultural comparison between two nationally representative samples from the United States (n = 1,860) and Singapore (n = 1,035) with emphasis on work–family conflict. Family-to-work conflict was negatively related to marital satisfaction in both Singapore and the United States, although the effect was stronger in the United States. Similarly, family-to-work conflict was positively related to job satisfaction in the United States but was negatively related in Singapore. As expected, schedule flexibility was negatively related to depression in the United States, but in Singapore the relationship was positive. These findings suggest that theoretical relationships in the work–family interface developed in the more culturally individualistic West may need to be adapted when studying populations in the more collectivist East. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Parental criticism and externalizing behavior problems in adolescents: The role of environment and genotype–environment correlation.

Genetic factors are important for the association between parental negativity and child problem behavior, but it is not clear whether this is due to passive or evocative genotype–environment correlation (rGE). In this study, we applied the extended children-of-twins model to directly examine the presence of passive and evocative rGE as well as direct environmental effects in the association between parental criticism and adolescent externalizing problem behavior. The cross-sectional data come from the Twin and Offspring Study in Sweden (N = 909 pairs of adult twins) and from the Twin Study of Child and Adolescent Development (N = 915 pairs of twin children). The results revealed that maternal criticism was primarily due to evocative rGE emanating from their adolescent's externalizing behavior. On the other hand, fathers' critical remarks tended to affect adolescent problem behavior in a direct environmental way. This suggests that previously reported differences in caretaking between mothers and fathers also are reflected in differences in why parenting is associated with externalizing behavior in offspring. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

A longitudinal study of coping and gender in a female-dominated occupation: Predicting teachers’ burnout.

This study investigates the role of gender in the benefits of coping (direct action and social support seeking) on the core dimensions of burnout (exhaustion and cynicism) using a longitudinal design. Specifically, the study examined these relationships on teachers, which is typically a female-dominated occupation. Data were gathered during the first term and again during the last term of the academic year. The Time 2 sample was composed of 141 male and 303 female teachers from 100 Spanish primary and secondary schools. Lagged and concurrent longitudinal designs were tested using random coefficient models. Concurrent interactive effects of gender in the relationship among coping strategies and cynicism as well as exhaustion were found. Direct action coping was beneficial only for men. Social support seeking coping was not beneficial for women; moreover, it was found to be detrimental for men. These results were in accord with previous studies confirming the coping-gender match hypothesis. Implications of these results and their significance for practical interventions in the work stress field are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The relations between parents’ Big Five personality factors and parenting: A meta-analytic review.

To investigate the association between Big Five personality factors and three dimensions of parenting—warmth, behavioral control, and autonomy support—the authors conducted meta-analyses using 5,853 parent–child dyads that were included in 30 studies. Effect sizes were significant and robust across mother and father reports and across assessment methods of parenting (self-report versus observations) but were generally small in magnitude. Higher levels of Extraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, and Openness and lower levels of Neuroticism were related to more warmth and behavioral control, whereas higher levels of Agreeableness and lower levels of Neuroticism were related to more autonomy support. Several factors moderated the relationship between specific personality dimensions and parenting: child and parental age, reliability of observational assessment of parenting behavior, and study design. Taken together, these results indicate that personality can be seen as an inner resource that affects parenting. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)