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Exposure to direct and intergenerational adversity can negatively affect the mental health (e.g., depressive symptoms) of adolescents. Black adolescents are at particularly heightened risk for experiencing adversity due to systematic exposure to racism-related stress and discrimination; yet most Black youth do not develop mental health problems. Given this context, the current study explored social-ecological protective factors (e.g., internal assets, mother-adolescent communication, community cohesion) that Black adolescents may access to mitigate depressive symptoms. The sample included 141 Black adolescents and their mothers. Adolescents ranged in age from 11 to 17 (M age = 13.70; SD = 2.02) and more than half identified as girls (64.08%). Mothers were between the ages of 28 and 64 (M age = 37.91; SD = 7.64). Hierarchical linear regression modeling was used to (1) assess the direct effects of social-ecological factors and adversity-related variables on depressive symptoms while controlling for socioeconomic status, and (2) examine the moderating effects of the social-ecological factors on the association between direct adversity and depressive symptoms. Results indicated that less adversity exposure, more internal assets, and better mother-adolescent communication were associated with fewer depressive symptoms. Further, mother-adolescent communication moderated the relation between adolescents' adversity exposure and their depressive symptoms, such that more effective mother-adolescent communication reduced the strength of the relation between adversity and depressive symptoms. Future interventions targeting depression in Black adolescents may benefit from focusing on familial communication and bolstering internal assets., Competing Interests: Compliance with Ethical Standards. Funding: This work was supported by the National Institute of Health (R15HD089410; PI: Howell). This support does not necessarily imply endorsement of the study’s research conclusions by the funding agency. Conflict of Interest: The authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose. The authors have no relevant financial or non-financial interests to disclose. Ethical Approval: Prior to data collection, all aspects of the current study were approved of by the University of Memphis Institutional Review Board. Informed Consent: The study conformed to APA ethical standards of informed consent/assent and confidentiality for participants. Participant consents did not include permission for public release of deidentified data. As such, aggregate data may be available upon reasonable request to the corresponding author., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.)

Intimate partner violence (IPV) during pregnancy negatively affects both maternal and infant health, yet gaps remain in understanding factors that maintain violence and/or promote resilience within the context of mothering. Nine focus groups were conducted with pregnant and/or IPV-exposed women ( n  =  17) and service providers ( n  =  26) working with these women in Nuevo León, Mexico. Thematic analysis of the focus group data revealed the detrimental impact of cultural norms that prioritize the relationship with women's partners, marriage, and family above women's dignity. Participants also identified ways that values regarding motherhood function as motivation for women to pursue a life without violence., Competing Interests: Declaration of Conflicting InterestsThe authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Objective: Family violence can negatively affect youth's psychosocial functioning. Strengths-based interventions may enhance positive youth functioning among youth experiencing adversity, but little is known about the effectiveness of camp-based interventions for youth exposed to family violence. The current study examined the effectiveness of Camp HOPE Tennessee in promoting multidimensional well-being and school engagement among youth exposed to family violence., Method: This pilot study employed a nonmasked, parallel randomized controlled design. Participants were 47 children and their caregivers who sought services from a Family Justice Center. Children were 7-12 years old ( M = 9.55, SD = 1.63; 79% Black/African American). Using block randomization, caregiver-child dyads were assigned to the camp ( n = 23) or waitlist control ( n = 24) condition and completed evaluations at baseline, 2-month follow-up, and 5-month follow-up. Children reported on two indicators of positive functioning: multidimensional Quality of Life (i.e., Physical Well-Being, Psychological Well-Being, Autonomy And Parent Relations, Social Support And Peers, And School Environment) and School Engagement. Piecewise latent growth curve models evaluated between-group differences in positive youth functioning at 2- and 5-month follow-up (ClinicalTrials.gov: CampHopeTN)., Results: Results suggest that Camp HOPE positively impacted children's psychological well-being (difference = 12.28, SE = 2.84, p < .001, g = 0.94) and autonomy and parent relations (difference = 7.96, SE = 2.95, p = .007, g = 0.77) at 2-month follow-up. Additionally, the camp appeared to have a long-term effect on school engagement at 5-month follow-up (difference = 9.97, SE = 4.83, p = .039, g = 0.59)., Conclusions: Results suggest that camp interventions may enhance positive functioning among youth exposed to family violence. Larger investigations are needed to strengthen the evidence base for Camp HOPE's effectiveness and support further dissemination. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) and resilience are two well-established outcomes following trauma exposure, but little work has examined the unique associations between these outcomes and factors across the social ecology. This theoretically grounded study assessed how individual, relational, and contextual social ecological factors relate to PTSS and resilience. Participants included 606 college students (18-25 years, M age  = 20.79, SD  = 1.86; 82.51% Female; 56.60% White, 29.37% Black or African American, 5.78% Asian, 8.25% Other races) with exposure to at least one traumatic event. Two hierarchical linear regression models examined associations between individual (i.e., emotion dysregulation, anger severity), relational (i.e., family support, friend support), and contextual (i.e., community cohesion, community disorder) factors, and PTSS and resilience. At the individual level, higher emotion dysregulation was associated with higher PTSS and lower resilience; anger severity was not related to either outcome. At the relational level, more friend support was negatively associated with PTSS. Friend and family support were positively related to resilience. At the contextual level, community cohesion was positively associated with resilience, but not PTSS, and community disorder was unrelated to both outcomes. Findings demonstrate unique factors across the social ecology that differentially relate to PTSS and resilience. Variables at all three ecological levels were associated with resilience, whereas only individual and relational variables were related to PTSS. Replication with longitudinal data could inform treatments for trauma-exposed individuals that may mitigate PTSS and bolster resilience.

Intimate partner violence (IPV) and posttraumatic stress disorder increase the risk of poor pregnancy outcomes, but associations among IPV exposure, mental health, and pregnancy complications remain underexplored. This study assessed the interaction between three types of IPV exposure (i.e., physical, sexual, psychological) and posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) on prenatal complications (e.g., preeclampsia, gestational diabetes) among pregnant women exposed to IPV. Participants included 137 IPV-exposed pregnant women (M age = 27.29, SD = 6.00; 66.9% African American/Black). Three regression models were run to test the main effect of each type of IPV and PTSS on pregnancy complications, and the moderating effect of PTSS on the association between IPV and pregnancy complications, controlling for socioeconomic status, gestational age, and childhood trauma. Main effects were observed for sexual coercion, β = .32, p = .010, R 2 part = .050, and PTSS, β = 0.19, p = .039, R 2 part = .026, with more frequent sexual IPV and higher levels of PTSS associated with more pregnancy complications. Moderating effects were also evident, with the IPV x PTSS interaction significant for all three IPV domains: psychological aggression, f 2 = .046; sexual coercion, f 2 = .079; and physical assault, f 2 = .048. PTSS strengthened the positive association between psychological and sexual IPV and pregnancy complications. Physical IPV and pregnancy complications were inversely related for participants with low-level PTSS. Results provide novel information on how IPV types and PTSS function together during pregnancy. Findings highlight the need for evidence-based prenatal interventions that successfully address both IPV exposure and PTSS severity., (© 2022 International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies.)

Objective: Intimate partner violence (IPV) during pregnancy is associated with perinatal health problems and postpartum psychopathology. Prenatal IPV is also detrimental to a mother's perceptions of her unborn child, which may impact early parenting skills and contribute to negative effects on infant development. This study explored factors associated with parenting confidence among IPV-exposed pregnant women., Method: Participants included 137 women who experienced IPV during pregnancy ( M age = 27.3 years; 66.9% African American/Black). Hierarchical linear regression modeling was used to examine factors that may be related to parenting confidence, with number of children and number of pregnancy complications entered in Model 1, adverse childhood experiences and IPV severity added in Model 2, and depressive symptoms and resilience added in Model 3., Results: All models were significant, with the final model accounting for 23.2% of the variance in parenting confidence, F(6, 130) = 6.53, p < .001, R ² = .23. In this model, having other children (β = .18, p = .023), fewer pregnancy complications (β = -.19, p = .019), and higher resilience (β = .33, p < .001) were associated with higher parenting confidence., Conclusions: Results suggest that intervention strategies that promote resilience and address pregnant women's health concerns may facilitate greater parenting confidence among IPV-exposed pregnant women. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).