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Objectives: Two studies were conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of a brief (6-week) mindfulness-based behavioral parenting program offered in community settings to parents of preschool-age children living in low-income or high-adversity contexts. Method: Study 1 was a quasi-experimental, waitlist control study conducted with 53 parents whose children were enrolled in Head-Start or similar early childhood program. Study 2 evaluated the program when it was delivered synchronously online with 28 parents living in transitional housing or who were unhoused and whose children attended an early learning program. Assessments included parent-reported mindfulness problems, mental health symptoms, parenting and child social competence, and internalizing and externalizing problems. Study 1 also included observational ratings of parenting behaviors. Results: Study 1 treatment group (n = 27) showed significant improvements or positive trends in mindfulness, parental warmth, scaffolding, acceptance, anxiety symptoms, parent-reported rejection, and child internalizing and externalizing problems when compared to waitlist participants (n = 26). Study 2 participants (n = 28) reported increases in consistent limit setting, child social competence, decreases in internalizing, and a tendency toward reduced parental anxiety symptoms from pretest to post-test, and treatment effects were maintained at follow-up. Parents' satisfaction with the program was high, and attendance improved when the program was delivered online. Conclusions: Preliminary results suggest that this brief mindfulness-based behavioral parenting program may improve parental anxiety and parenting behaviors, as well as children's adjustment. The program is acceptable to parents who participated and feasibly implemented both in person and online in community settings with parents living in low-income contexts. Preregistration: This study is not preregistered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Study examined predictors and mental health consequences of appraisal (threat, support satisfaction) and coping (active, avoidant) in a sample of low‐income women during coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19). Pre‐COVID‐19 contextual risk and individual resources and COVID‐19‐specific risk factors were examined as predictors of COVID‐19 appraisal and coping, which, in turn, were tested as predictors of changes in depression and anxiety across the pandemic. Pre‐COVID‐19 resilience predicted more active coping, whereas pre‐COVID‐19 anxiety and depression predicted more avoidant coping and lower support satisfaction, respectively. Increases in anxiety were predicted by lower pre‐COVID‐19 self‐compassion and higher concurrent threat appraisal and avoidant coping. Increases in depression were related to lower pre‐COVID‐19 self‐compassion, active coping and support satisfaction, and higher COVID‐19 hardships and health risk. Findings highlight contextual and individual factors and processes that contribute to mental health problems in a vulnerable population during community‐level stressors, with implications for prevention and intervention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: How individuals differentially implement specific emotion regulation (ER) strategies is a critical indicator of the progression of depressive and anxiety disorders. Symptoms of anxiety and depression may be associated with differences in ER, but little evidence to date had examined whether anxiety and depression were associated with individual differences in the real‐time use of ER strategies. Methods: This study used ecological momentary assessment (EMA) in two samples (n = 276) of undergraduate students from a single university who were assessed for 8–10 days. Baseline surveys captured participant self‐reported anxiety symptoms and depressive symptoms using the PROMIS‐Anxiety scale and the PROMIS‐Depression scale, respectively. We measured ER through EMA‐adapted prompts from the Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (CERQ), which participants received on their internet‐enabled cell phones. In pre‐registered analyses, we tested the associations between anxiety symptoms with the use of discrete ER strategies in EMA using generalized estimating equations with a log‐link function to account for nesting of EMA observations within participants, and further tested whether the findings generalized to depression (not pre‐registered). Results: Symptoms of anxiety and depression were associated with greater odds of using both maladaptive and adaptive ER strategy use during the EMA period, and with lower odds of reporting no strategy use. Moreover, associations were generally stronger for maladaptive than adaptive ER strategies. Conclusion: Anxiety and depressive symptoms are related to increased regulatory efforts overall, and results suggest that individuals with anxiety and depressive symptoms may be especially prone to use maladaptive ER strategies. Tracking ER strategies in a natural environment can further inform our understanding of how anxious and depressed individuals attempt to regulate emotions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While appraisal and coping are known to impact adolescent psychopathology, more vulnerable or resilient responses to stress may depend on individual temperament. This study examined early life temperament as a moderator of the prospective relations of pre-adolescent appraisal and coping with adolescent psychopathology. The sample included 226 (62% female, 14-15 years) adolescents with assessments starting at 3 years of age. Adolescents were predominately White (12% Black 9% Asian, 11% Latinx, 4% Multiracial, and 65% White). Observed early-childhood temperament (fear, frustration, executive control, and delay ability) were tested as moderators of preadolescent coping (active and avoidant) and appraisal (threat, positive) on internalizing and externalizing symptoms during the pandemic. Interaction effects were tested using regression in R. Sex and family context of stress were covariates. Early-childhood temperament was correlated with preadolescent symptoms, however, pre-adolescent appraisal and coping but not temperament predicted adolescent psychopathology. Frustration moderated the relations of active and avoidant coping and positive appraisal to symptoms such that coping and appraisal related to lower symptoms only for those low in frustration. Executive control moderated the associations of avoidant coping with symptoms such that avoidance reduced the likelihood of symptoms for youth low in executive control. Findings underscore the role of emotionality and self-regulation in youth adjustment, with the impact of coping differing with temperament. These findings suggest that equipping youth with a flexible assortment of coping skills may serve to reduce negative mental health outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined bidirectional relations between television exposure and effortful control accounting for the effects of family contextual risk factors. Data were from a sample (N = 306) of parents and their preschool‐age children (T1 M = 36 mos. in 2008–2010) assessed four times, once every 9 mos. At T1, adolescent parent status predicted lower child delay ability (DA), and maternal depression predicted higher TV time. Above these effects, higher T1 and T2 child executive control (EC) prospectively predicted lower T2 and T3 TV time, while higher T1 TV time predicted lower T2 EC. Higher EC at T4 predicted fewer total problems, greater social competence, and greater academic readiness at T4, and higher TV time at T4 predicted lower academic readiness. DA was unrelated to TV time or adjustment. Findings suggest executive control and TV time predict changes in each other in early childhood, and in turn, executive control predicts better child adjustment while TV time might be more relevant for academic readiness. Moreover, family risk factors appear to play a role in both TV viewing time and effortful control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Parents living in low-income contexts shouldered disproportionate hardships during the COVID-19 pandemic with consequences to maternal mental health and child adjustment. The current study uses a sample of first-time mothers (N = 147) of young toddlers, all living in low-income contexts, to examine the roles of pre-pandemic and COVID-19-specific risk and individual resilience factors in the prediction of changes to maternal mental health coinciding with the onset of the pandemic. Maternal mental health symptoms, in turn, were examined as predictors of child adjustment problems across 6 months of the pandemic and as a potential mechanism conferring pandemic risks to children. While pre-pandemic cumulative contextual risk (i.e., low income, single parent status, adolescent parent status, financial instability) did not predict changes in maternal mental health from prior to during the pandemic, COVID-19-specific health risks predicted changes in maternal mental health from before the pandemic, as well as across 6 months of the pandemic. Regarding individual resilience factors to changes in maternal mental health, pre-pandemic self-compassion predicted better maternal mental health during the pandemic, as did COVID-19-specific appraisal and coping strategies. In turn, maternal mental health predicted children's early pandemic levels of adjustment problems and changes in adjustment problems across 6 months of the pandemic, with maternal mental health serving an indirect pathway of COVID-19-specific health risks to children's adjustment. The findings highlight pathways of risk and resilience during a global health crisis and point to targets for interventions in community level crises to promote maternal and child mental health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Difficulties with emotion regulation can take many forms, including increased sensitivity to emotional cues and habitual use of maladaptive cognitive or behavioral regulation strategies. Despite extensive research on emotion regulation and youth adjustment, few studies integrate multiple measures of emotion regulation. The present study evaluated the underlying structure of emotion regulation processes in adolescence using both task- and survey-based measures and determined whether differences in these emotion regulation latent factors mediated the association between peer victimization and internalizing psychopathology. Adolescents aged 16–17 years (n = 287; 55% female; 42% White) recruited in three urban centers in the United States completed baseline and follow-up assessments 4 months apart. Three models of emotion regulation were evaluated with confirmatory factor analysis. A three-factor model fit the data best, including cognitive regulation, behavioral regulation, and emotional reactivity latent factors. Task-based measures did not load onto these latent factors. Difficulties with behavioral regulation mediated the association between peer victimization and depression symptoms, whereas cognitive regulation difficulties mediated the association with anxiety symptoms. Findings point to potential targets for intervention efforts to reduce risk for internalizing problems in adolescents following experiences of peer victimization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]