Publications by authors named "W E Copeland"

Preschool anxiety is highly prevalent and well known to predict risk for future psychopathology. The present study explores whether a diagnosis of an anxiety disorder in preschool interacts with (a) social skills and (b) cognitive ability to longitudinally predict psychopathology, two well-known protective factors, among a sample of 207 children measured at preschool (Mage = 4.34 years) and early childhood (Mage = 6.

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Objective: Understanding factors associated with early onset of substance use is critical as using alcohol or drugs at a young age is a strong predictor of later substance dependency. Experiencing stressful life events is associated with increased risk for early substance use in youth. Hair cortisol concentration (HCC) is considered a biomarker of psychological stress experienced over longer periods of time.

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Physical activity (PA) is a critical factor in maintaining mental health, particularly among college students who are vulnerable to stress, anxiety, and mood disturbances. The COVID-19 pandemic introduced unprecedented disruptions to daily routines. The purpose of this cohort study was to examine the longitudinal PA behaviors before and during COVID-19 using device-based assessment in a sample of college students.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study investigates the relationship between health risks and epigenetic aging using data from individuals followed from age 9 to 35, focusing on psychiatric, lifestyle, and adversity factors.
  • Concurrent analyses found a significant link between BMI and epigenetic aging at the individual level, but not at the timepoint level; lagged analyses revealed that depressive symptoms during adolescence predict accelerated epigenetic aging in adulthood.
  • The findings suggest that while immediate changes in health risks do not accelerate biological aging, childhood experiences—especially depressive symptoms—can have long-term effects on epigenetic aging, highlighting the need for further research on these relationships over time.
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Cash transfer policies have been widely discussed as mechanisms to curb intergenerational transmission of socioeconomic disadvantage. In this paper, we take advantage of a large casino-funded family transfer program introduced in a Southeastern American Indian Tribe to generate difference-in-difference estimates of the link between children's cash transfer exposure and third grade math and reading test scores of their offspring. Here we show greater math (0.

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