Mediators of a randomized controlled trial of a preventive intervention for youth of parents with depressive disorders.

Objective: The present study assessed two theory-driven mediators of the effects of a family group cognitive-behavioral (FGCB) preventive intervention for youth of parents with a history of major depressive disorder (MDD) or dysthymia on long-term youth psychopathology symptoms and diagnoses.

Method: Sample included 180 parents ( = 41.9, 89% female, 82% White, non-Hispanic) and one of their children/adolescents ages 9-15 years ( = 11.

Dimensions of childhood adversity differentially affect autonomic nervous system coordination in response to stress.

It is well-established that disrupted autonomic nervous system (ANS) reactivity exacerbates risk for long-term maladjustment following childhood adversity (CA). However, few studies have integrated measures of both the sympathetic (SNS) and parasympathetic (PNS) branches of the ANS, resulting in a unidimensional understanding of ANS functioning as a mechanism of risk. Further, past work has primarily measured CA only at the aggregate level (e.

Parental Depression Symptoms, Skin Conductance Level Reactivity and Parenting: Associations with Youth Psychopathology.

Parental depression symptoms are a prevalent risk factor for internalizing and externalizing problems in youth, with parenting and parents' physiological stress reactivity representing potential contributing factors in the intergenerational transmission of psychopathology symptoms. In a sample of adolescents (N = 97) and their parents, the current study examined parental depression symptoms, an observational measure of parenting, and parents' physiological reactivity during a dyadic conflict discussion task in association with adolescents' internalizing and externalizing psychopathology. Parental depression symptoms and harsh/insensitive parenting showed positive associations with youth psychopathology symptoms.

Coping with Huntington's Disease in Patients and At-Risk Individuals.

Background: Huntington's disease (HD) presents patients and individuals at risk for HD with significant levels of stress. However, relatively little research has examined how individuals cope with stress related to the disease or the association of specific coping strategies with psychological symptoms.

Objective: This study examined the ways in which HD patients and at-risk individuals cope with HD-related stress using a control-based model of coping and the association of coping strategies with symptoms of depression and anxiety.

Momentary autonomic engagement during parent-adolescent conflict: Coping as a moderator of associations with emotions.

Regulatory efforts are hypothesized to affect associations between emotions and physiology (i.e., concordance) to facilitate adaptive functioning.

Parental Involvement in Adolescent Psychological Interventions: A Meta-analysis.

Psychological interventions for adolescents have shown mixed efficacy, and including parents in interventions may be an important avenue to improve treatment outcomes. Evidence from meta-analyses examining the role of parents in interventions for youth is inconsistent and has typically combined findings for both children and adolescents together. No prior meta-analysis has examined the specific role of parents in adolescent interventions as compared with interventions focused solely on adolescents across several disorders.

Impact of sociodemographic factors, stress, and communication on health-related quality of life in survivors of pediatric cancer.

Background: While most research has largely focused on medical risks associated with reduced health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in survivors, sociodemographic and family factors may also play a role. Thus, we longitudinally examined sociodemographic factors and family factors associated with survivor HRQOL, including adolescent's cancer-specific stress, mother's general stress, and mother-adolescent communication.

Methods: Mothers (N = 80) and survivors (ages 10-23, N = 50) were assessed 5 years following initial diagnosis.

Stress in Huntington's Disease: Characteristics and Correlates in Patients and At-Risk Individuals.

Background: Huntington's disease (HD) is a neurodegenerative disease that presents families with significant numbers of stressful events. However, relatively little empirical research has characterized the stressors encountered by members of HD-affected families and their correlations with psychological symptoms.

Objective: This study examined frequencies of specific stressors in HD patients and at-risk individuals and the correlates of these stressors with demographics, disease characteristics, and symptoms of depression and anxiety.

Cancer-related stress in childhood cancer survivorship: Prevalence and associations with perceptions of health risks and quality of life.

Objective: Limited research has characterized cancer-related stress (CRS) among families of childhood cancer survivors. We examined the prevalence of CRS among survivors and caregivers, as well as its association with health risk perceptions (i.e.

Review: Preventing Psychopathology in the Digital Age: Leveraging Technology to Target Coping and Emotion Regulation in Adolescents.

Objective: Exposure to stress is a risk factor for the development of psychopathology in adolescence. Coping and emotion regulation (ER) mediate and moderate the association between stress exposure and psychopathology, and interventions that teach coping and ER skills to adolescents have demonstrated efficacy for the prevention of psychological symptoms and disorders. Although multiple barriers limit the impact of in-person interventions, digital solutions are promising for delivering interventions in part or whole.

Associations between parental depression, communication, and self-worth of siblings bereaved by cancer.

A child's death from cancer may increase the risk for poor self-worth in bereaved siblings. Furthermore, bereaved parents may experience depressive symptoms and communicate differently with their surviving children. However, limited research has examined family factors associated with self-worth in bereaved siblings.

Physiology and emotions: Within individual associations during caregiver-adolescent conflict.

Concordance between physiological and emotional responses is central to models of emotion and has been shown to correspond to effective responses and well-being in adults. A deeper understanding of physiological-emotional concordance during ecologically relevant scenarios is essential to then determine if these associations predict mental health problems or can serve as a helpful biomarker of risk or resilience in adults and youth. The present study assessed the minute-to-minute associations between sympathetic (i.

Racial/ethnic differences in parenting behaviors among depressed parents.

Low parental warmth and high control are associated with parental depression and with the development of depression in children. The majority of this research, however, has focused on non-Hispanic White (NHW) parents. The present study tested whether parenting behaviors differed by race/ethnicity in a sample ( = 169) of parents with a history of depression.

Intrapersonal and Interpersonal Disengagement Coping: Associations with Emotions of Youth At-Risk for Huntington's Disease.

Background: Families in which a parent has Huntington's disease (HD) are faced with significant stressors that can contribute to difficulties in communicating together about illness-related concerns. Family members who use more disengagement coping strategies, including denial and avoidance, to deal with illness-related stressors may have the greatest challenges to effective communication.

Objective: The current study examined the associations of intrapersonal and interpersonal disengagement coping responses with observed and reported emotions of adolescents and young adults (AYA) at genetic risk for HD.

Adolescents' Coping and Internalizing Symptoms: Role of Maternal Socialization of Coping and Depression Symptoms.

Parental emotion socialization, including processes of the socialization of coping and emotion regulation, is a key factor in shaping children's adjustment in response to acute and chronic stress. Given well-established links between parental depression and youth psychopathology, levels of parental depression symptoms are an important factor for understanding emotion socialization and regulation processes. The present study examined associations among maternal coping and depression symptoms with their adolescents' coping and internalizing problems.

Identifying patterns of neurocognitive dysfunction through direct comparison of children with leukemia, central nervous system tumors, and sickle cell disease.

Purpose: To quantify and compare the magnitude and type of neurocognitive dysfunction in at-risk children with central nervous system (CNS) tumors, acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), and sickle cell disease (SCD) using a common instrument and metric to directly compare these groups with each other.

Methods: Fifty-three participants between the ages of 7 and 12 years (n = 27 ALL, n = 11 CNS tumor, n = 15 SCD) were enrolled and assessed using the NIH Toolbox Cognition Battery (NIHTCB). Participants with ALL or CNS tumor were 0-18 months posttherapy, while participants with SCD possessed the SS or Sβ genotype, took hydroxyurea, and had no known history of stroke.

Caregiver emotion regulation predicts trajectories of psychopathology during pediatric cancer treatment.

Elevated child and caregiver psychopathology are observed in families of children with cancer, with a subset developing clinically significant symptoms. This study examines whether caregivers' resting respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) and observed emotion regulation (ER) are protective against caregiver and child psychopathology during the first year of pediatric cancer treatment. Primary caregivers of children recently diagnosed with cancer ( = 159; child = 5.

Parental drug use disorders and youth psychopathology: Meta-analytic review.

Parental drug use disorders (PDUDs) represent a highly prevalent risk factor for youth's development of psychological and substance misuse. However, most research on associations between parental substance use and child mental health focuses on composites of parental drug, alcohol, and tobacco use. PDUDs are associated with a range of legal, health, and environmental risks that make them substantially distinct from tobacco and alcohol misuse, yet associations between PDUDs and youth psychopathology symptoms have yet to be assessed quantitatively using meta-analytic techniques.

Impairments to executive function in emerging adults with Huntington disease.

Background And Objectives: The clinical diagnosis of Huntington disease (HD) is typically made once motor symptoms and chorea are evident. Recent reports highlight the onset of cognitive and psychiatric symptoms before motor manifestations. These findings support further investigations of cognitive function across the lifespan of HD sufferers.

COVID-19 stressors and symptoms of anxiety and depression in a community sample of children and adolescents.

Background: The COVID-19 public health crisis has created abrupt and unparalleled disruptions to the daily lives of children and adolescents across the world, placing them at significant risk for developing symptoms of anxiety and depression.

Method: The current study used two data collection periods to determine which types of COVID-19-related stressors were associated with the greatest risk of anxiety and depression symptoms in a community sample of children and adolescents in the United States (U.S.

Factors associated with mental health service use among families bereaved by pediatric cancer.

Objectives: We identified types of interventions used by bereaved family members and examined associations with demographic and medical factors. Furthermore, we examined associations between distress and intervention use among bereaved families.

Methods: Bereaved families ( = 85) were recruited from three children's hospitals 3-12 months after their child died of cancer.

Mean-level correspondence and moment-to-moment synchrony in adolescent and parent affect: Exploring associations with adolescent age and internalizing and externalizing symptoms.

Interactions with parents are integral in shaping the development of children's emotional processes. Important aspects of these interactions are overall (mean level) affective experience and affective synchrony (linkages between parent and child affect across time). Respectively, mean-level affect and affective synchrony reflect aspects of the content and structure of dyadic interactions.

CNS-Directed Cancer Treatment and Child Adjustment: Moderating Effects of Maternal Parenting.

Objective: The aim of this study was to examine whether maternal parenting behaviors (i.e., warmth, behavioral/psychological control) moderate the association between central nervous system (CNS)-directed treatment and adjustment among pediatric cancer survivors at 3 years post-diagnosis or relapse.

Posttraumatic stress symptoms and financial toxicity among adolescent and young adult oncology patients and their caregivers at cancer diagnosis.

Background: Adolescent and young adult oncology (AYAO) patients and caregivers may experience significant psychosocial dysfunction and financial toxicity. Understanding early risk factors is critical to improving survivorship trajectories.

Methods: The authors conducted a cross-sectional study of baseline survey data from a prospective cohort of AYAO patient-caregiver dyads enrolled within 1 month of medical oncology treatment initiation.

Inhibitory control, working memory and coping with stress: Associations with symptoms of anxiety and depression in adults with Huntington's disease.

Objective: Huntington's disease (HD) is an autosomal dominant neurodegenerative disease characterized by neuropsychiatric symptoms (e.g., anxiety and depression), where individuals suffer high levels of stress from the social, physical, and cognitive burden of the disease.