Sports Participation, Frequency, and Competence Differentially Impact Youth Depressive, Anxious, and Somatic Symptoms: Gender, Neighborhood, and Sports Type Effects.

Mental health problems are prevalent in adolescence, but sports participation may offer mental health benefits through this developmental period and beyond. Characteristics of sports participation including perceived frequency and competence may differentially predict adolescent depressive, anxious, and somatic symptoms over time and results may further vary according to gender, neighborhood context, and type of sport engagement. Data were collected at two time-points six months apart from an ethnically diverse sample of adolescents ( = 183, female = 51%).

Latinx adolescents' trust in adults: A precursor to psychological well-being via mentoring relational quality and self-esteem.

This study aimed to test a longitudinal model of trust in adults and psychological well-being among Latinx adolescents, a population that has received little attention in the trust literature. The participants were urban, low-income Latinx (N = 294) students at two urban, Midwestern high schools who indicated they had at least one natural mentor in 9th grade. Participants completed surveys at two-time points, in 9th and 10th grade, and responded to measures of their feelings toward adults, quality of their natural mentoring relationships, self-esteem, intrinsic academic motivation, and coping self-efficacy.

The impact of social support on adolescent coping in the context of urban poverty.

Objective: This study used a mixed method, prospective, multi-informant design to (a) identify coping strategies used by youth residing in urban poverty and (b) test whether these coping strategies buffer the effects of stress exposure when adult support is present and when absent.

Method: There were 286 youth ages 10 to 16 (mean age at Time 1 = 13; 65% female; 34% male; 1% not identified; 46% African American; 25% Latino; 11% European American; 8% Asian American, 4% Mixed/Biracial, 6% Other) and their parents who participated. Thematic analyses were used to code adolescent interviews about protective factors to identify specific coping strategies used.

Environmental stress and socioeconomic status: Does parent and adolescent stress influence executive functioning in urban youth?

This study examined whether parental and adolescent stress act as mediators between socio-economic status (SES) and adolescent executive functioning (EF) in urban youth. Two hundred and sixty-seven 6th-11th grade students (ages 11-16, 55.4% female; 49.

Taking on the stress-depression link: Meaning as a resource in adolescence.

We investigated how meaning in life affects the link between stress and depression symptoms in adolescents. Adolescents (N = 177; 58.4% female, mean age = 14.

Trauma Intervention in Sub-Saharan African Children: A Systematic Literature Review.

Sub-Saharan Africa is a part of the world that is highly affected by a large number of atrocities, causing a myriad of financial, physical health, and mental health consequences. Yet, unfortunately, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), this is also the part of the world that is least served by mental health services. In response, the WHO has created mandates to increase mental health resources and capacity in all countries.

Negative cognitive style and cortisol recovery accentuate the relationship between life stress and depressive symptoms.

When exposed to stressful life events, a significant number of adolescents will experience depressive symptoms. One model of depression suggests that individuals with a negative cognitive style are most vulnerable to depression following life stress. Alternatively, altered activation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis may explain vulnerability to depression following life stress.

Adolescents' technology and face-to-face time use predict objective sleep outcomes.

Objectives: The present study examined both within- and between-person associations between adolescents' time use (technology-based activities and face-to-face interactions with friends and family) and sleep behaviors. We also assessed whether age moderated associations between adolescents' time use with friends and family and sleep.

Design: Adolescents wore an actigraph monitor and completed brief evening surveys daily for 3 consecutive days.

Exposure to Community Violence and the Trajectory of Internalizing and Externalizing Symptoms in a Sample of Low-Income Urban Youth.

This study examined trajectories of psychopathology in a sample of low-income urban youth and tested exposure to community violence as a predictor of these trajectories. Self-report and parent-report survey measures of psychological problems and exposure to community violence were collected annually over 3 years from a sample of 364 fifth- to ninth-grade low-income urban youth (64% female; 95% youth of color). Linear growth models showed that youth experienced declines in both internalizing and externalizing symptoms across adolescence.

The Costs and Benefits of Active Coping for Adolescents Residing in Urban Poverty.

The present study addresses the lack of specificity and diversity highlighted in recent stress literature reviews by examining active coping in relationships between exposure to violence and internalizing and externalizing symptoms in a sample of urban youth from predominantly low-income, African American and Latino backgrounds. Two hundred and forty-one youth (mean age at Time 1 = 13 years; 66 % female; 41 % African American, 28 % Latino, 14 % European American, 6 % Asian American, 7 % mixed/biracial, 1 % American Indian/native American, .5 % Hawaiian/Pacific Islander, 2 % other) and their parents participated in this three-wave study.

Development of an Empirically Based Preventive Intervention for Depression in Preadolescent African American Girls.

We describe the development, feasibility, and acceptability of a novel preventive intervention for depression in African American girls living in urban poverty. Our approach targeted individual and interpersonal vulnerabilities that have been shown to confer risk for depression in samples of African American girls living in low-income, urban settings, including suppression of negative emotion and lack of assertiveness with peers, memory for positive emotion, active coping, and family connection. Focus groups and an open trial were conducted to refine the goals and mechanisms for skill building.

Cortisol responses to a group public speaking task for adolescents: variations by age, gender, and race.

Laboratory social stress tests involving public speaking challenges are widely used for eliciting an acute stress response in older children, adolescents, and adults. Recently, a group protocol for a social stress test (the Trier Social Stress Test for Groups, TSST-G) was shown to be effective in adults and is dramatically less time-consuming and resource-intensive compared to the single-subject version of the task. The present study sought to test the feasibility and effectiveness of an adapted group public speaking task conducted with a racially diverse, urban sample of U.

The manifestation of depression in the context of urban poverty: a factor analysis of the Children's Depression Inventory in low-income urban youth.

The current study used confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to compare the fit of 2 factor structures for the Children's Depression Inventory (CDI) in an urban community sample of low-income youth. Results suggest that the 6-factor model developed by Craighead and colleagues (1998) was a strong fit to the pattern of symptoms reported by low-income urban youth and was a superior fit with these data than the original 5-factor model of the CDI (Kovacs, 1992). Additionally, results indicated that all 6 factors from the Craighead model contributed to the measurement of depression, including School Problems and Externalizing Problems especially for older adolescents.

Development of cities mentor project: an intervention to improve academic outcomes for low-income urban youth through instruction in effective coping supported by mentoring relationships and protective settings.

This manuscript summarizes an iterative process used to develop a new intervention for low-income urban youth at risk for negative academic outcomes (e.g., disengagement, failure, drop-out).

The influence of nondisclosure on the mental health of urban African-American adolescents exposed to community violence.

African-American youth residing in urban poverty have been shown to be at increased risk for exposure to violence and internalizing symptoms, but there has been little investigation of moderating processes that might attenuate or exacerbate this association. The current study examined nondisclosure as a possible moderator of the association between community violence and internalizing symptoms with a sample of 152 low-income urban African-American early adolescents using hierarchical regression analyses. Results revealed that nondisclosure for relationship reasons (e.

Stressful life experiences and peer externalizing behaviors mediate the relation between reduced family support and externalizing symptoms in low-income urban youth.

Family support, urban stressors, and peer behavior were examined in relation to externalizing symptoms in 605 predominantly low-income urban sixth through eighth grade adolescents. Mother and father support were each associated with lower levels of externalizing symptoms in both males and females. For males, father absence was associated with increased peer externalizing behavior and heightened rates of youth externalizing symptoms.

Depressive symptoms in low-income, urban adolescents: cognitive and contextual factors.

This study examined the relationships among cognitive variables, family immigration history, negative life events, and depressive symptoms in a sample of 306 low-income, urban fifth- and sixth-grade children. Explanatory style and negative automatic thoughts were the cognitive variables examined. There were three key findings.

Depressive symptoms in young, urban schoolchildren: environmental, social, and cognitive risk.

This study examined relations among stressors, perceived social competence, attributional style, and depressive symptoms in young urban schoolchildren. Data were collected from 85 5- to 11-year-olds, mostly African American, who attended a public elementary school in a low-income urban area. Social competence was examined as a potential mediator, and attributional style was examined as a potential moderator of the relation between stressful life events and depressive symptoms.

Seeking systemic change: risk and protective factors affecting low-income urban youth.

This themed issue presents five articles tackling the topic of risk and protective processes affecting children and adolescents living in urban poverty. Through their research, the authors seek understanding of the particular challenges that low-income urban youth face, with the ultimate goal of understanding how best to intervene at various levels of the ecological system. Within this broad theme, studies examine specific stressors, mediators, and moderators that impact the mental health of youth living in urban poverty.

Mediating effects of parent-child relationships and body image in the prediction of internalizing symptoms in urban youth.

Youth are faced with many stressful interpersonal, contextual, and identify development related challenges that contribute to the increased risk of negative outcomes during adolescence. The current study examined two important factors related to youth's development and well-being: parent-child attachment and negative body image. Specifically, the current study examined body image as one mechanism responsible for the effect that mother and father attachment has on internalizing symptoms in a sample of low-income, ethnic minority youth.

A prospective comparison of moderating relationships among stressors, hopelessness, and internalizing symptoms in low-income urban youth with asthma.

There are many risk factors associated with the development of internalizing symptoms in low-income urban youth, and youth with asthma appear to be at greater risk for experiencing stressors in multiple domains. The purpose of the current study was to examine stressors, hopelessness, and the interaction between them, as predictors of trajectories of anxious/depressed and withdrawn symptoms over a 4-year period of adolescence. Participating in the study were 53 youth from Chicago public schools, the majority of whom identified themselves as African American or Latino.

Posttraumatic growth among children and adolescents: a systematic review.

Stress and trauma research has traditionally focused on negative sequelae of adversity. Recently, research has begun to focus on positive outcomes, specifically posttraumatic growth (PTG) - "positive change experienced as a result of the struggle with trauma" - which emphasizes the transformative potential of one's experiences with highly stressful events and circumstances. The positive changes of PTG are generally thought to occur in five domains: new possibilities, relating to others, personal strength, appreciation of life, and spiritual change.

Suppressor effects in coping research with African American adolescents from low-income communities.

Objective: The purpose of the current study was to demonstrate the replicable nature of statistical suppressor effects in coping research through 2 examples with African American adolescents from low-income communities.

Method: Participants in the 1st example included 497 African American adolescents (mean age = 12.61 years, SD = 0.

Maternal attachment and depressive symptoms in urban adolescents: the influence of coping strategies and gender.

The current study examined coping strategies as mediators of the relation between maternal attachment and depressive symptoms in a sample of urban youth. Participants included 393 adolescents (M age = 12.03, SD = .

Post-traumatic reactions in adolescents: how well do the DSM-IV PTSD criteria fit the real life experience of trauma exposed youth?

This study examined the structure and symptom specific patterns of post traumatic distress in a sample of 1,581 adolescents who reported exposure to at least one traumatic event. Symptom reporting patterns are consistent with past literature in that females reported more symptoms than males and older youth reported more symptoms than did their younger peers. Young people reporting exposure to exclusively violent type traumas were also found to be more likely to endorse symptoms than peers exposed exclusively to non violent type traumas.