Difficulties in regulating affect are core characteristics of a wide range of mental health conditions and are associated with deficits in cognitive control, particularly in affective contexts, affective control. The current study explored how affective control relates to mental health over the course of adolescence. We developed an Affective Control Task, which was administered to young adolescents (11–14 years; n = 29); mid-adolescents (15–18 years; n = 31), and adults (22–30 years; n = 31). The task required individuals to sort cards according to continuously changing rules: color, number, or item type. There was a neutral condition in which items were shapes, and an affective condition, in which items were emotional facial expressions. Better affective control was associated with fewer mental health difficulties (p < .001, R2 = .15). Affective control partially accounted for the association between age group and mental health problems, z = 2.61, p = .009, Akaike information criterion = 484, with the association being strongest in young adolescents, r (27) = −.44, p = .018. Affective control further accounted for variance in the association between self-reported (but not experimental) emotion regulation and mental health (z = −3.44, p < .001, Akaike information criterion = 440). Poor affective control, especially in young adolescents, is associated with more mental health problems and higher levels of emotion regulation difficulties. Improving affective control therefore may constitute a promising target for prevention.

Current adolescent substance use risk models have inadequately predicted use for African Americans, offering limited knowledge about differential predictability as a function of developmental period. Among a sample of 500 African American youth (ages 11–21), four risk indices (i.e., social risk, attitudinal risk, intrapersonal risk, and racial discrimination risk) were examined in the prediction of alcohol, marijuana, and cigarette initiation during early (ages 11–13), mid (ages 16–18), and late (ages 19–21) adolescence. Results showed that when developmental periods were combined, racial discrimination was the only index that predicted initiation for all three substances. However, when risk models were stratified based on developmental period, variation was found within and across substance types. Results highlight the importance of racial discrimination in understanding substance use initiation among African American youth and the need for tailored interventions based on developmental stage.

The purpose of the present study was to examine the role of depressive peer group context in individual social and school adjustment in a sample of 1,430 Chinese adolescents (672 boys, mean age = 15.43 years) from middle (n = 430) and high (n = 1000) schools. Peer groups were identified using the Social Cognitive Map technique. One-year longitudinal data on depression and social and school adjustment were obtained from self-reports, peer nominations, teacher ratings, and school records. Multilevel analyses showed that group-level depression positively predicted later individual depression. Moreover, group-level depression negatively predicted later social competence, peer preference, school competence, and academic achievement, and it positively predicted later peer victimization and learning problems. The results suggest that affiliation with more depressive peer groups contributes to more psychological, social, and school adjustment problems in a cascading manner among Chinese adolescents.

There is emerging evidence that the development of problematic aggression in childhood may be associated with specific physiological stress response patterns, with both biological overactivation and underactivation implicated. This study tested associations between sex-specific patterns of stress responses across the sympathetic nervous system (SNS) and hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis and peer nominations of aggression among 271 kindergarten children (Mean age = 5.32 years; 52% Female; 44% White). Upon entry to kindergarten, children participated in a multidomain standardized stress paradigm. Changes in pre-ejection period (PEP) and salivary cortisol were assessed. On a separate day, children provided peer ratings of physical and relational aggression in a standardized interview. As expected, there was a significant three-way interaction between PEP, cortisol reactivity, and sex, but only for physical aggression. Among boys, cortisol reactivity was positively associated with physical aggression only for those with higher SNS reactivity. Findings suggest that for boys, asymmetrical and symmetrical HPA/SNS reactivity may be associated with lower and higher risk for peer-directed physical aggression, respectively. Understanding the complex associations between multisystem physiology, child sex and peer-directed aggression in early childhood may offer insight into individual differences underlying the emergence of behavioral dysregulation in early peer contexts.

Parental alcohol dependence is a significant risk factor for harsh caregiving behaviors; however, it is unknown whether and how harsh caregiving changes over time and across parenting contexts for alcohol-dependent mothers. Furthermore, to our knowledge, no studies have examined whether and how distinct dimensions of child characteristics, such as negative emotionality modulate harsh caregiving among alcohol-dependent mothers. Guided by parenting process models, the present study examined how two distinct domains of children's negative emotionality—fear and frustration—moderate the association between maternal alcohol dependence and maternal harshness across discipline and free-play contexts. A high-risk sample of 201 mothers and their two-year-old children were studied over a one-year period. Results from latent difference score analyses indicated that harsh parenting among alcohol-dependent mothers increased over time in the more stressful discipline context, but not in the parent–child play context. This effect was maintained even after controlling for other parenting risk factors, including other forms of maternal psychopathology. Furthermore, this increase in harsh parenting was specific to alcohol-dependent mothers whose children were displaying high levels of anger and frustration. Findings provide support for specificity in conceptualizations of child negative emotionality and parenting contexts as potential determinants of maladaptive caregiving among alcohol-dependent mothers.

Children who are victims of interpersonal violence have a markedly elevated risk of engaging in aggressive behavior and perpetrating violence in adolescence and adulthood. Although alterations in social information processing have long been understood as a core mechanism underlying the link between violence exposure and externalizing behavior, scant research has examined more basic social cognition abilities that might underlie this association. To that end, this study examined the associations of interpersonal violence exposure with cognitive and affective theory of mind (ToM), core social-cognitive processes that underlie many aspects of social information processing. In addition, we evaluated whether difficulties with ToM were associated with externalizing psychopathology. Data were collected in a community-based sample of 246 children and adolescents aged 8–16 who had a high concentration of exposure to interpersonal violence. Violence exposure was associated with lower accuracy during cognitive and affective ToM, and the associations persisted after adjusting for co-occurring forms of adversity characterized by deprivation, including poverty and emotional neglect. Poor ToM performance, in turn, was associated with externalizing behaviors. These findings shed light on novel pathways that increase risk for aggression in children who have experienced violence.

Prior research has shown that person-level characteristics (e.g., temperament, personality) correlate and interact with social-contextual factors (e.g., parent–child relationship quality, antisocial peer affiliation) to predict adolescent substance use, but less research has examined similar processes for adult substance use problems. We addressed this gap by testing for personality × romantic partner context interplay in relation to symptoms of alcohol use disorder (AUD) at ages 24 and 29. Participants were twins in the longitudinal Minnesota Twin Family Study (N = 2,769; 52% female). Results support the corresponsive principle of personality in that we found that key personality traits in late adolescence (low constraint, negative emotionality) predicted subsequent “selection” into key social contexts in early adulthood (poorer quality romantic relationships and greater romantic partner alcohol use), which subsequently reinforced those traits and associated outcomes (including correlated AUD symptoms) through late young adulthood. There were few meaningful gender differences in these associations. There was also no support for the personality × romantic partner context interaction as a significant predictor of AUD symptoms at ages 24 or 29. Taken together with prior studies, these results suggest that such interactions may be less relevant to the development of young adult AUD compared to adolescent substance use problems.

Childhood adversity is associated with poor mental and physical health outcomes across the life span. Alterations in the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis are considered a key mechanism underlying these associations, although findings have been mixed. These inconsistencies suggest that other aspects of stress processing may underlie variations in this these associations, and that differences in adversity type, sex, and age may be relevant. The current study investigated the relationship between childhood adversity, stress perception, and morning cortisol, and examined whether differences in adversity type (generalized vs. threat and deprivation), sex, and age had distinct effects on these associations. Salivary cortisol samples, daily hassle stress ratings, and retrospective measures of childhood adversity were collected from a large sample of youth at risk for serious mental illness including psychoses (n = 605, mean age = 19.3). Results indicated that childhood adversity was associated with increased stress perception, which subsequently predicted higher morning cortisol levels; however, these associations were specific to threat exposures in females. These findings highlight the role of stress perception in stress vulnerability following childhood adversity and highlight potential sex differences in the impact of threat exposures.

Both preterm birth and early institutional deprivation are associated with neurodevelopmental impairment—with both shared and distinctive features. To explore shared underlying mechanisms, this study directly compared the effects of these putative risk factors on temperament profiles in six-year-olds: Children born very preterm (<32 weeks gestation) or at very low birthweight (<1500 g) from the Bavarian Longitudinal Study (n = 299); and children who experienced >6 months of deprivation in Romanian institutions from the English and Romanian Adoptees Study (n = 101). The former were compared with 311 healthy term born controls and the latter with 52 nondeprived adoptees. At 6 years, temperament was assessed via parent reports across 5 dimensions: effortful control, activity, shyness, emotionality, and sociability. Very preterm/very low birthweight and postinstitutionalized children showed similarly aberrant profiles in terms of lower effortful control, preterm = −0.50, 95% CI [−0.67, −0.33]; postinstitutionalized = −0.48, 95% CI [−0.82, −0.14], compared with their respective controls. Additionally, postinstitutionalized children showed higher activity, whereas very preterm/very low birthweight children showed lower shyness. Preterm birth and early institutionalization are similarly associated with poorer effortful control, which might contribute to long-term vulnerability. More research is needed to examine temperamental processes as common mediators of negative long-term outcomes following early adversity.

To be ready to learn, children need to be focused, engaged, and able to bounce back from setbacks. However, many children come to school with heightened or diminished physiological arousal due to exposure to poverty-related risks. While stress physiology plays a role in explaining how adversity relates to processes that support students’ cognitive development, there is a lack of studies of physiological stress response in educational settings. This review integrates relevant studies and offers future directions for research on the role of stress physiology in the school adaptation of elementary school students, focusing on these important questions: (a) What are the links between physiological stress response and learning-related skills and behaviors, and do they vary as a function of proximal and distal experiences outside of school? (b) How are school experiences associated with students’ physiological stress response and related cognitive and behavioral adaptations? (c) How can we leverage measures of students’ physiological stress response in evaluations of school-based interventions to better support the school success of every student? We hope to stimulate a new wave of research that will advance the science of developmental stress physiology, as well as improve the application of these findings in educational policy and practice.

The role of genetics in relation to attachment is of continued interest to developmental psychology. Recent research has attempted to disentangle genetic main effects, environmental effects, and gene and environment (G × E) interactions in the development of attachment security/insecurity and disorganization. We systematically reviewed associations between gene markers and attachment, including G × E interactions, identifying 27 eligible studies. Inconsistent results emerged for associations between both gene effects and G × E interactions on attachment organization. Where G × E interactions used attachment as the environmental factor in the interaction, we observed more consistent results for differential susceptibility of G × E interactions on offspring behavior. Small sample size and heterogeneity in measurement of environmental factors impacted on comparability of studies. From these results, we propose that the future of research into the role of genetic effects in attachment lies in further exploration of G × E interactions, particularly where attachment acts as an environmental factor impacting on other child developmental outcomes emerging from the caregiving environment, consistent with differential susceptibility approaches to developmental psychopathology. In addition, from a methodological perspective, establishing the role of gene markers in such models will require a shift toward contemporary genomics, including genome-wide analysis (including novel genes and chromosomal loci), and epigenetic individual variations.

Youth's academic and emotional functioning are closely related, yet little is known about the timing and direction of relationships involving internalizing problems, which are characterized by over control of emotions, anxiety, and depression as well as multiple aspects of academic achievement. This study addresses these gaps using data from the Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development (N = 1,048) to examine the processes by which problems in one domain of functioning lead to problems in another, known as a “cascade effect.” Results of longitudinal structural equation modeling indicate (a) a direct and indirect negative cascade effect from girls’ internalizing problems to their school achievement in high school, (b) a positive contemporaneous association of 9th grade boys’ internalizing problems with their cognitive achievement; and (c) ways in which demographic characteristics and adolescent social and maturational processes account for variation in functioning yet do not alter the processes by which the emotional and academic functioning interact. Results are discussed with regard to identifiying adolescents’ internalizing problems, gender differences in the effects of internalizing problems on academic functioning, timing of evidence-based interventions, and implications for mental health promotion among girls.

The maternal brain undergoes adaptations to sensitive caregiving that are critical for infant well-being. We investigated structural alterations associated with neglectful caregiving and their effects on mother–child interactive behavior. High-resolution 3D volumetric images were obtained on 25 neglectful (NM) and 23 non-neglectful control (CM) mothers. Using voxel-based morphometry, we compared differences in gray and white matter (GM and WM, respectively) volume. Mothers completed an empathy scale and participated with their children in a play task (Emotional Availability Scale, EA). Neglectful mothers showed smaller GM volume in the right insula, anterior/middle cingulate (ACC/MCC), and right inferior frontal gyrus and less WM volume in bilateral frontal regions than did CM. A greater GM volume was observed in the right fusiform and cerebellum in NM than in CM. Regression analyses showed a negative effect of greater fusiform GM volume and a positive effect of greater right frontal WM volume on EA. Mediation analyses showed the role of emotional empathy in the positive effect of the insula and right inferior frontal gyrus and in the negative effect of the cerebellum on EA. Neglectful mothering involves alterations in emotional empathy-related areas and in frontal areas associated with poor mother–child interactive bonding, indicating how critical these areas are for sensitive caregiving.

This study used data from 12 cultural groups in 9 countries (China, Colombia, Italy, Jordan, Kenya, Philippines, Sweden, Thailand, and United States; N = 1,315) to investigate bidirectional associations between parental warmth and control, and child externalizing and internalizing behaviors. In addition, the extent to which these associations held across mothers and fathers and across cultures with differing normative levels of parent warmth and control were examined. Mothers, fathers, and children completed measures when children were ages 8 to 13. Multiple-group autoregressive cross-lagged structural equation models revealed that evocative child-driven effects of externalizing and internalizing behavior on warmth and control are ubiquitous across development, cultures, mothers, and fathers. Results also reveal that parenting effects on child externalizing and internalizing behaviors, though rarer than child effects, extend into adolescence when examined separately in mothers and fathers. Father-based parent effects were more frequent than mother effects. Most parent- and child-driven effects appear to emerge consistently across cultures. The rare culture-specific parenting effects suggested that occasionally the effects of parenting behaviors that run counter to cultural norms may be delayed in rendering their protective effect against deleterious child outcomes.

Social anxiety disorder (SAD) is commonly diagnosed during adolescence and is associated with psychological stress reactivity and heightened physiological arousal. No study, however, has systematically examined which aspects of autonomic nervous system function mediate likely links between stress sensitivity and social anxiety symptoms in adolescents. Here, we assessed 163 adolescents (90 females; 12.29 ± 1.39 years) with respect to life stress and social anxiety symptoms, and measured respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) and skin conductance levels (SCL) during a psychosocial stress paradigm. We operationalized stress sensitivity as the residual variance in subjective stress severity after accounting for objective severity and changes in autonomic regulation using standardized change scores in RSA and SCL. In females only, stress sensitivity and social anxiety symptoms were significantly correlated with each other (p < .001) and with autonomic regulation during both reactivity and recovery (all ps < 0.04). Further, sympathetic nervous system dominance during recovery specifically mediated associations between stress sensitivity and social anxiety symptoms (B = 1.06, 95% CI: 0.02–2.64). In contrast, in males, stress sensitivity, autonomic regulation during reactivity or recovery, and social anxiety symptoms were not significantly associated (all ps > 0.1). We interpret these results in the context of psychobiological models of SAD and discuss implications for interventions targeting autonomic processes.

The effects of psychoactive substance abuse are not limited to the user, but extend to the entire family system, with children of substance abusers being particularly at risk. This meta-analysis attempted to quantify the longitudinal relationship between parental alcohol, tobacco, and drug use and child well-being, investigating variation across a range of substance and well-being indices and other potential moderators. We performed a literature search of peer-reviewed, English language, longitudinal observational studies that reported outcomes for children aged 0 to 18 years. In total, 56 studies, yielding 220 dependent effect sizes, met inclusion criteria. A multilevel random-effects model revealed a statistically significant, small detriment to child well-being for parental substance abuse over time (r = .15). Moderator analyses demonstrated that the effect was more pronounced for parental drug use (r = .25), compared with alcohol use (r = .13), tobacco use (r = .13), and alcohol use disorder (r = .14). Results highlight a need for future studies that better capture the effect of parental psychoactive substance abuse on the full breadth of childhood well-being outcomes and to integrate substance abuse into models that specify the precise conditions under which parental behavior determines child well-being.

Registration: PROSPERO CRD42017076088

This study examined the long-term effects of a randomized controlled trial of the Family Check-Up (FCU) intervention initiated at age 2 on inhibitory control in middle childhood and adolescent internalizing and externalizing problems. We hypothesized that the FCU would promote higher inhibitory control in middle childhood relative to the control group, which in turn would be associated with lower internalizing and externalizing symptomology at age 14. Participants were 731 families, with half (n = 367) of the families assigned to the FCU intervention. Using an intent-to-treat design, results indicate that the FCU intervention was indirectly associated with both lower internalizing and externalizing symptoms at age 14 via its effect on increased inhibitory control in middle childhood (i.e., ages 8.5–10.5). Findings highlight the potential for interventions initiated in toddlerhood to have long-term impacts on self-regulation processes, which can further reduce the risk for behavioral and emotional difficulties in adolescence.

This randomized controlled trial investigated the efficacy of Attachment and Biobehavioral Catch-up (ABC; Dozier, Bick, & Bernard, 2011) in reducing disrupted parenting behavior (affective communication errors, role/boundary confusion, fearful/disoriented, intrusive/negativity, and withdrawal) and its association with disorganized attachment. Participants were 105 mother–child dyads randomized to receive either ABC or a control intervention (a 10-session home-visiting intervention focused on improving children's cognitive abilities, gross and fine motor abilities, and language development). At the time of study enrollment, mothers were approximately 26.7 years old (SD = 7.8) and predominantly Black or African American (73.9%). At the first follow-up visit, children were approximately 20.7 months old (SD = 6.3) and most were identified as Black or African American (61.9%). Fifty-two percent of children were male (n = 55). Assessments of disrupted parenting behavior and child attachment quality were assessed approximately 7 months postintervention (SD = 5.8). A one-way analysis of variance revealed that parents who received ABC demonstrated lower levels of parental withdrawal than parents who received the control condition. A structural equation model revealed a significant indirect effect of intervention group on attachment quality through lower levels of parental withdrawal. Results add to the efficacy of the ABC intervention and identified parental withdrawal as a mediator of change.

Although deficits in cognitive empathy are well established in individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), the literature on emotional empathy, or emotional contagion, in individuals with ASD is sparse and contradictory. The authors tested susceptibility to contagious yawning and laughter in children with ASD (n = 60) and typically developing (TD) children (n = 60), ages 5–17 years, under various conditions, to elucidate factors that may affect emotional contagion in these populations. Although TD children showed equal amounts of emotional contagion across conditions, children with ASD were highly influenced by the familiarity of the target stimulus, as well as task instructions that encourage eye gaze to target. More specifically, children with ASD exhibited less contagious yawning and laughter than their TD peers except when their attention was explicitly directed to the eyes or (and even more so) when their parents served as the stimulus targets. The authors explore the implications of these findings for theories about the mechanisms underlying empathic deficits in ASD as well as the clinical implications of having parents involved in treatment.

Understanding individual differences in neural responses to stressful environments is an important avenue of research throughout development. These differences may be especially critical during adolescence, which is characterized by opportunities for healthy development and increased susceptibility to the development of psychopathology. While the neural correlates of the psychosocial stress response have been investigated in adults, these links have not been explored during development. Using a new task, the Minnesota Imaging Stress Test in Children (MISTiC), differences in activation are found in fusiform gyrus, superior frontal gyrus, insula, and anterior cingulate cortex when comparing a stressful math task to a nonstressful math task. The MISTiC task successfully elicits cortisol responses in a similar proportion of adolescents as in behavioral studies while collecting brain imaging data. Cortisol responders and nonresponders did not differ in their perceived stress level or behavioral performance during the task despite differences in neuroendocrine function. Future research will be able to leverage the MISTiC task for many purposes, including probing associations between individual differences in stress responses with environmental conditions, personality differences, and the development of psychopathology.