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Little is known regarding the processes that occur when parents support their child who is being victimized by peers. The current study utilized in-depth interviews with 11 fourth- through sixth-grade early adolescents and their mothers as to the processes that occurred when the mothers attempted to help their child cope with peer victimization. Findings indicated a support-giving process that often started after initial disclosure of the victimization and continued for months or even years. Mothers' responses included teaching their child how to respond to peer victimization, actively intervening, and enacting compensatory behaviors. Dyads reported individual and joint evaluation of the effectiveness of responses, and participants emphasized the role of communication for effective coping. A conceptual framework is presented to help generate novel lines of inquiry into the processes that occur when parents assist their peer-victimized adolescent and examine the applicability of the findings to more diverse samples and family climates.

Respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA), an index of parasympathetic nervous system activity, has been linked with sleep quality among children with neurotypical development. The current study extended examination of these processes to children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), a group at considerable risk for sleep problems. Participants included 54 children with ASD (aged 6-10 years, 43% Hispanic). RSA data were collected via a wired MindWare system during a 3-min baseline and a 3-min challenge task. Parents reported on their childrens sleep problems and sleep duration using the Childrens Sleep Habits Questionnaire, Abbreviated. Although no significant correlations emerged between RSA indices and parent-reported child sleep, baseline RSA and RSA reactivity interacted in the prediction of sleep problems. For children with higher RSA reactivity, higher baseline RSA was associated with fewer sleep problems, but for children with lower RSA reactivity, baseline RSA was not predictive. No main effects or interactions of RSA predicted sleep duration. Findings suggest resilience against sleep problems for children with ASD presenting with higher baseline RSA and higher RSA reactivity. Implications of these results center upon directly targeting psychophysiology (i.e., parasympathetic nervous system regulation) as a possible mechanism to improve sleep in children with ASD, and developing personalized interventions based on physiological markers of risk and resilience.

Sleep is a robust predictor of child and adolescent development. Race/ethnicity, socioeconomic status (SES), and related experiences (e.g., discrimination) are associated with sleep, but researchers have just begun to understand the role of sleep in the development of racial/ethnic and SES disparities in broader psychosocial adjustment and cognitive functioning during childhood and adolescence. In this article, we discuss poor sleep as a potential mechanism contributing to the development of such disparities, and better sleep as a potential protective factor that diminishes such disparities. We conclude by offering recommendations for research to advance understanding of sleep as a key bioregulatory system that may underlie or protect against detrimental developmental outcomes related to socioeconomic adversity and belonging to a historically minoritized group.

Scientific evidence for effective "parental responses to peer victimization" ("PRPV") is sorely lacking. In this conceptual article, we first consider direct parental efforts to reduce peer victimization (i.e., direct PRPV) through explicitly coaching children about how to cope with peer victimization or intervening in the situation. We encourage researchers to examine whether and how direct PRPV may be successful, acknowledge possible limitations, and explore other forms of parental influence in the context of peer victimization. As an alternative or supplemental approach, we describe indirect, or "compensatory," parental efforts to support the psychological health of children who experience peer victimization (i.e., compensatory PRPV). We provide illustrations of compensatory PRPV in which parents step up their efforts to encourage positive self-appraisals, facilitate positive social interactions, and support activity involvement in response to children's experiences of peer victimization. We also suggest directions for future research on PRPV.

Prospective associations linking parental responses to peer victimization (i.e., coping suggestions, school contact) with adolescents' coping and experiences of peer victimization were examined. Participants were 203 adolescents (X-bar[subscript] age = 12.16 years, SD = 0.98) and a parent (81% mothers). At Time 1, parents provided open-ended responses to a hypothetical peer victimization scenario. At Time 1 and Time 2, adolescents reported on peer victimization and coping with peer victimization. Parents' active-engaged responses to the hypothetical scenario (e.g., approaching the school) predicted more adolescent-reported conflict resolution and support seeking, whereas parents' passive-disengaged responses (e.g., tell an adult) predicted less adolescent-reported support seeking over time. Somewhat surprisingly, parents' positive and negative appraisals predicted less conflict resolution and revenge seeking, respectively. Parents' suggestions to be assertive predicted more peer victimization over time. Some gender differences emerged in associations between parents' responses and adolescents' coping and peer victimization. Implications of these findings and future directions are discussed.

Children with autism spectrum disorder exhibit significant difficulties with emotion regulation. Respiratory sinus arrhythmia is a biomarker for processes related to emotion regulation, with higher baseline rates linked to beneficial outcomes. Although reduction in respiratory sinus arrhythmia in response to challenge can index adaptive processes in community samples, excessive withdrawal may suggest loss of regulatory control among children with clinical concerns. Psychophysiological risk for problems may be protected against or exacerbated by parenting environments more or less supportive of the development of children's regulatory competence. Respiratory sinus arrhythmia was examined in 61 children with autism spectrum disorder ages 6-10 years in relation to externalizing behavior, and parenting was considered as a moderator. Respiratory sinus arrhythmia was obtained during laboratory tasks, and positive parenting, negative parenting, and children's externalizing behaviors were each indexed through multiple methods. Respiratory sinus arrhythmia reactivity interacted with negative, but not positive parenting. Higher respiratory sinus arrhythmia reactivity was associated with more externalizing behavior under conditions of higher negative parenting, but with lower externalizing behavior at lower levels of negative parenting. Similarly, negative parenting was only associated with externalizing behaviors in the context of high child respiratory sinus arrhythmia reactivity. Implications for our understanding of emotion regulation in children with autism spectrum disorder, and for related interventions, are discussed.

The deleterious effects of marital conflict on youth outcomes are well-documented in both cross-sectional and longitudinal studies. To date, longitudinal studies have focused on repeated measures of youths' outcomes and the temporal dynamics of marital conflict have largely been ignored. Marital conflict changes over time as contextual and relationship characteristics change, and these patterns of change may provide unique predictive power in accounting for differences in youth outcomes. This study provides a novel exploration of an old idea by focusing on dynamic patterns of marital conflict in predicting trajectories of adolescents' adjustment. All variables were measured at ages 16, 17, and 18 with 252 adolescents (53% female) enrolled in the longitudinal Family Stress and Youth Development Study. Latent growth curve models with latent variable interactions were used to determine whether marital conflict at age 16 (intercept), change over time in marital conflict (slope), and the intercept--slope interaction predicted change over time in adolescent internalizing and externalizing symptoms and levels of internalizing and externalizing symptoms at age 18. Youth exposed to high and increasing levels of marital conflict reported high and stable levels of internalizing and externalizing symptoms across adolescence. Adolescents exposed to low and decreasing levels of marital conflict had consistently fewer symptoms. Furthermore, exposure to initially low but increasing levels of marital conflict was associated with increases in problems across adolescence, which contrasted with findings for youth with initially high marital conflict exposure that decreased over time. Findings are discussed in relation to both conceptual and methodological advances.

This study examined the prospective association between peer victimization and subjective sleep quality among typically developing early adolescents. At Time 1 (T1), participants included 123 youth (50% boys; X-bar age = 12.03 years; 58.5% European American, 35% African American), along with one parent and teacher. Youth, parents, and teachers reported on youth's experiences of peer victimization at T1. Youth reported on sleep quality at T1 and T2 (10 months later). Results from regression analyses revealed that youth-reported, but not parent- or teacher-reported, peer victimization predicted poorer sleep quality over time. Findings provide evidence that experiences of peer victimization can have a negative impact on youth's sleep quality over time.

The present study investigated matches and mismatches between adolescent and parent socialization domains (i.e., protection, guidance) as related to adolescent reception of parental support during a laboratory-based social evaluation challenge. Participants were 80 early adolescents (Mage = 12.36 years, SD = 1.33, 55% males, 55% Black, 42.5% White, and 2.5% other races or ethnicities) and one parent or guardian per adolescent. Observational measures of parent socialization domains assessed sensitivity to adolescents' thoughts and feelings (protection domain) and prosocial behavioral advice (guidance domain). Measures of parallel adolescent socialization domains included self-reported discomfort during a social evaluation challenge (protection domain) and desire to continue the social evaluation challenge (guidance domain). Adolescent reception of parental support was assessed using an observational measure of adolescent attentiveness and responsiveness to the parent during a parent–adolescent discussion about how to approach the social evaluation challenge. Analyses of interactions between measures of parent and adolescent socialization domains revealed: (a) higher levels of adolescent-reported discomfort during the social evaluation challenge interfered with their reception of parental prosocial behavioral advice but did not enhance their reception of parental sensitivity, and (b) higher levels of adolescent-reported desire to continue the social evaluation challenge interfered with their reception of parental sensitivity but did not enhance their reception of parental prosocial behavioral advice. This study advances socialization research by identifying conditions under which adolescents are more and less receptive to supportive communication from parents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study investigates how coordination between stress responsivity of the parasympathetic nervous system (PNS) and sympathetic nervous system (SNS) moderates the prospective effects of marital conflict on internalizing and externalizing symptoms across adolescence. Although an important avenue for psychophysiological research concerns how PNS and SNS responses jointly influence adjustment in the context of stress, these processes have rarely been studied in adolescence or longitudinally. Participants were 252 youth (53% female, 66% European American, 34% African American) who participated in laboratory assessments when they were 16, 17, and 18 years old. PNS activity (measured via respiratory sinus arrhythmia [RSA]) and SNS activity (measured via skin conductance level [SCL]) were assessed during a resting baseline and in response to a laboratory-based challenge (star tracing). Parents and adolescents both reported on marital conflict and adolescents reported on their internalizing and externalizing symptoms. At higher levels of marital conflict, coactivation of PNS and SNS activity, characterized by increased RSA and increased SCL from baseline to challenge, predicted elevated internalizing symptoms and an increase in externalizing behavior across adolescence. Coinhibition, or decreased activity across both systems, also predicted an increase in internalizing symptoms over time. At lower levels of marital conflict, internalizing and externalizing symptoms were relatively low. Findings extend primarily cross-sectional work with younger children by demonstrating that coordination between the two branches of the autonomic nervous system (ANS) moderates the longitudinal effects of marital conflict on psychological and behavioral maladjustment among adolescents.

BackgroundWe examined maternal depressive symptoms (MDS) as longitudinal predictors of actigraphy-measured sleep; children's respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) was tested as a moderator of these relations.MethodA total of 271 children (145 boys and 126 girls) participated in a three-wave study (M age at T1 = 9.38 years), with a 1-year lag between waves. Children wore actigraphs to derive sleep parameters. RSA reactivity was assessed during a social stress test.ResultsContrary to hypotheses, MDS were related to less sleep over time for children exhibiting greater RSA withdrawal. Consistent with hypotheses, MDS were related longitudinally to decreased sleep activity for children exhibiting less RSA withdrawal.ConclusionsFindings illustrate the importance of maternal influences and physiological regulation as predictors of children's sleep.

Associations between variability in sympathetic nervous system arousal and individual differences in symptom severity were examined for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Thirty-four families participated in a laboratory visit that included continuous measurement of electrodermal activity (EDA) during a battery of naturalistic and structured parent-child, child alone, and direct testing tasks. Multiple indices of EDA were considered. Greater variability in EDA was associated with higher levels of ASD symptoms, with findings generally consistent across tasks. Intellectual functioning did not moderate the relation between EDA and ASD symptoms. Sympathetic arousal tendencies may represent an important individual difference factor for this population. Future directions and conceptualizations of EDA are discussed.

The present study examined sympathetic and parasympathetic indices of autonomic nervous system reactivity as moderators of the prospective association between parental management of peers via directing of youths' friendships and peer adjustment in a sample of typically developing adolescents. Participants included 246 adolescents at Time 1 (T1) [47% boys; 66% European American (EA), 34% African American (AA)] and 226 adolescents at Time 2 (T2; 45% boys; 67% EA, 33% AA). Adolescents were approximately 16 and 17 years old at T1 and T2, respectively. To address study aims, a multiinformant, multimethod longitudinal design was utilized. Skin conductance level (SCL) and respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) were measured during a baseline period and challenge task (star-tracing). Reactivity was computed as a difference score between the task and baseline period. Results from path models revealed that higher levels of mother-reported parental directing predicted decreases in adolescent-reported peer rejection and friends' deviant behavior from T1 to T2 at relatively low levels of physiological arousal in response to challenge (i.e., low SCL reactivity, RSA augmentation). Further, exploratory analyses indicated that directing was associated with decreases in friends' deviant behavior and peer rejection particularly among boys who exhibited lower levels of physiological arousal, but increases in friends' deviant behavior among boys who exhibited higher levels of arousal reflected in RSA withdrawal only. Overall, findings are consistent with prior studies revealing the benefits of parental behavioral control for underaroused youth, contributing to the growing literature on the interplay of parenting and physiological factors in the adolescent peer domain.

Summary: Maternal psychological control has been linked consistently to poorer adjustment for adolescents, however, studies of variability in the association between psychological control and adjustment are rare. Sleep serves crucial bioregulatory functions that promote well‐being and protect youths against poor adjustment associated with negative family environments. We hypothesised that the link between maternal psychological control and adolescent maladjustment would be strongest for youths with poorer actigraphy‐based sleep. The current study included 245 adolescents (Mage = 15.79 years, 52.2% girls, 33.1% Black/African American and 66.9% White/European American; 43% at or below the poverty line). Adolescents reported on their mothers' psychological control toward them, as well as their internalising and externalising symptoms (aggressive and rule breaking behaviours). Several sleep variables were derived: minutes, onset time, and variability in each parameter over 1 week. For youths with shorter, less consistent sleep (both mean levels and variability in minutes and onset), maternal psychological control was associated with adjustment difficulties, especially externalising symptoms. This association was not significant for youth obtaining longer, more consistent sleep. The results were most evident for variability in sleep minutes and onset as moderators of effects. The findings suggest that longer and more consistent sleep is an important protective factor in the context of more controlling parenting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prior research has demonstrated both socialization and selection effects for the relationship between antisocial peer affiliation and externalizing problems in adolescence. Less research has evaluated such effects postadolescence. In this study, a cross-lagged panel analysis was used to evaluate the extent of "socialization" (i.e., the effect of antisocial peer affiliation on subsequent externalizing disorders) and "selection" (i.e., the effect of externalizing disorders on subsequent antisocial peer affiliation) in the prospective relationships between antisocial peer affiliation and externalizing disorders from adolescence through young adulthood. Data from a community sample of 2,769 individuals (52% female) with assessments at ages 17, 20, 24, and 29 were used. Analyses with a latent externalizing measure (estimated using clinical symptom counts of nicotine dependence, alcohol use disorder, illicit drug use disorder, and adult antisocial behavior) and self-reported antisocial peer affiliation revealed significantly stronger socialization effects from age 17 to 20, followed by significantly stronger "selection" effects from age 20 to 24 and 24 to 29. To better understand the impact of college experience, moderation by college status was evaluated at each developmental transition. Results were generally consistent for those who were in or were not in college. Results suggest selection effects are more important in later developmental periods than earlier periods, particularly in relation to an overall liability toward externalizing disorders, likely due to more freedom in peer selection postadolescence.

This study examined physiological and coping responses to peer-evaluative challenges in early adolescence as predictors of academic outcomes. The sample included 123 young adolescents (X-bar[subscript age]) = 12.03 years) who participated in the summer before (T1) and the spring after (T2) the transition to middle school. At T1, respiratory sinus arrhythmia reactivity (RSAR) and engaged coping responses (prosocial problem-solving, positive cognitive appraisals) were assessed in real-time during lab-based simulations of peer-evaluative challenges. Academic performance was assessed with multiple informants (teachers, parents, adolescents) at T1 and T2. Parents provided reports about academic adjustment to middle school at T2. RSAR significantly predicted improved academic performance between T1 and T2 and positive academic adjustment at T2. Engaged coping was marginally associated with improved academic performance and significantly associated with positive academic adjustment; these results were partially corroborated by analyses with an alternative measure of engaged coping (engaged planning), which significantly predicted improved academic performance.

This study examined whether the longitudinal association between parental directing of friendships (i.e., encouraging or discouraging certain friendships) and young adolescents' friendship adjustment (i.e., friendship quality and friends' positive characteristics) was moderated by skin conductance level reactivity (SCLR) to peer stress. Participants included 123 young adolescents (M age = 12.03 years at Time [T]1; 50% boys; 58.5% European Americans). At T1 (summer before the transition to middle school), parents reported on the extent to which they directed adolescents toward or away from certain peers, and adolescents' SCLR was assessed during a lab-based peer evaluation task. At T1 and T2 (spring of the first year of middle school), adolescents reported on the quality of their friendships and positive peer affiliations. Controlling for T1 friendship adjustment, parental directing predicted higher friendship quality and more positive peer affiliations, but only among young adolescents with lower SCLR, which was conceptualized as a marker of underarousal and insensitivity to stress. Results are discussed with reference to the developmental period of early adolescence and related research on interactions between parental control and child characteristics as predictors of adolescent adjustment.

This study examined longitudinal relations between sleep and body mass index (BMI) from late childhood ([X-bar] age = 9.44 at T1) to early adolescence ([X-bar] age = 11.36 at T3) with a relatively large (n = 273 at T1) and diverse (35% African Americans) sample. Sleep was assessed with actigraphy-based sleep minutes and self-reported sleep problems. Latent growth modeling revealed associations between sleep and BMI that varied based on the sleep parameter and sex of the child. In particular, although boys reported more sleep problems and had higher BMI than girls across time, self-reported sleep problems at age 9 predicted higher BMI at age 11 among girls (but not boys). Furthermore, more minutes of actigraph-assessed sleep at age 9 only predicted less growth in BMI among the girls. Possible mechanisms and intervention implications are discussed.

The present study investigated whether salient preadolescent behaviors and experiences predicted parents' and teachers' underestimation of preadolescents' shyness. Participants included a community sample of 129 fifth and sixth graders, along with one parent and teacher per preadolescent. Preadolescents, parents, and teachers provided reports about preadolescents' shyness, and parents and teachers rated preadolescents' prosocial and aggressive behaviors, peer victimization experiences, and academic performance. Results indicated that parent- and teacher-reported prosocial behavior, teacher-reported aggressive behavior, and parent-reported peer victimization were associated with lower parent and teacher reports of preadolescent shyness, relative to preadolescent reports, controlling for demographic variables and parent stress. Additionally, higher parent-reported academic performance was associated with lower teacher reports of preadolescent shyness, compared to preadolescent reports. These findings suggest that preadolescents with higher levels of relatively conspicuous behaviors and experiences feel more shyness than their parents and teachers report.

We assessed trajectories of children's internalizing symptoms, indexed through anxiety and depression, with a focus on the role of interactions between interparental marital conflict, children's sympathetic nervous system activity indexed by skin conductance level (SCL), and parasympathetic nervous system activity indexed by respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) as predictors of growth. Children participated in 3 waves of data collection with a 1-year lag between each wave. At T1, 128 girls and 123 boys participated (M age = 8.23 years; SD = 0.73). The most important findings reveal that girls with either low RSA in conjunction with low SCL (i.e., coinhibition) at baseline or with increasing RSA and decreasing SCL in response to a challenging task (i.e., reciprocal parasympathetic activation) are susceptible to high or escalating anxiety and depression symptoms, particularly in the context of marital conflict. Findings support the importance of concurrent examinations of environmental risk factors and physiological activity for better prediction of the development of anxiety and depression symptoms. (Contains 6 tables, 5 figures and 3 footnotes.)

We examined independent and interactive associations linking preadolescents' socially anxious feelings and peer victimization experiences with their social behaviors (rated by parents and teachers) and psychophysiological arousal during lab simulations of salient peer stress situations in preadolescence (peer evaluation and peer rebuff). Sixty-three preadolescents and one parent per preadolescent participated. Respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA), skin conductance level (SCL), and heart rate (HR) were assessed during peer stress situations. Preadolescents provided reports of social anxiety; preadolescents and parents reported on peer victimization; and parents and teachers rated prosocial and aggressive behaviors. Peer victimization moderated associations between social anxiety and both physiological arousal and social-behavior problems. As hypothesized, social anxiety was more strongly associated with lower RSA, higher HR, and higher aggressive behavior among preadolescents who experienced higher levels of peer victimization, compared to preadolescents who experienced lower levels of peer victimization.

The present study examined indices of friends' social adjustment (prosocial skills and social anxiety) that may protect against or exacerbate vulnerability to lower academic competence in the context of peer victimization during middle school (N=320). Peer victimization was assessed with peer nominations, social anxiety was measured with self reports, and prosocial skills and academic competence were assessed with teacher ratings. Friends' prosocial skills were associated with early adolescents' higher academic competence, and friends' social anxiety was associated with lower academic competence, controlling for sex, grade, early adolescents' peer victimization, and total number of mutual friends. Moreover, the association between peer victimization and lower academic competence was attenuated among early adolescents with high-prosocial friends. Results contribute to the body of research that supports and informs peer-focused victimization prevention programs as well as universal social-emotional learning programs. (Contains 2 figures and 3 tables.)

The theory of biobehavioral synchrony proposes that the predictive power of parent-child attunement likely lies in the manner with which behaviors are aligned with relevant biological processes. Symptoms of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) may challenge the formation of behavioral and physiological synchrony, but maintenance of such parent-child attunement could prove beneficial. The present study is the first to examine parent-child physiological synchrony in ASD. Parent and child electrodermal activity (EDA) was measured continuously during naturalistic free play. Parent-child EDA synchrony (positive covariation) was positively correlated with observed parent-child emotional attunement. Hierarchical linear modeling revealed that child ASD symptoms moderated the association between parent EDA and child EDA, such that EDA synchrony was stronger for children with lower ASD symptom levels., Author(s): Jason K. Baker[sup.1] , Rachel M. Fenning[sup.1] , Mariann A. Howland[sup.1] , Brian R. Baucom[sup.2] , Jacquelyn Moffitt[sup.1] , Stephen A. Erath[sup.3] Author Affiliations: (1) Department of Child and [...]

The predictive relations between social capital depth (high-quality relationships across contexts) and breadth (friendship network extensivity) and early-adult life adjustment outcomes were examined using data from a prospective longitudinal study. Interviews at age 22 yielded (a) psychometrically sound indexes of relationship quality with parents, peers, and romantic partners that served as indicators of a latent construct of social capital depth, and (b) a measure of number of close friends. In follow-up interviews at age 24, participants reported on their behavioral adjustment, educational attainment, and arrests and illicit substance use. Early-adolescent assessments of behavioral adjustment and academic performance served as controls; data on what were construed as interpersonal assets (teacher-rated social skills) and opportunities (family income) were also collected at this time. Results showed that depth was associated with overall better young-adult adjustment, net of prior adjustment, and assets and opportunities. Breadth was only modestly associated with later outcomes, and when its overlap with depth was taken into account, breadth predicted higher levels of subsequent externalizing problems. These findings are consistent with the notion that social capital is multidimensional and that elements of it confer distinct benefits during an important life transition. (Contains 3 tables.)