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Pride is a complex construct, at times conceptualized positively (as a positive emotional reaction to a personal success) and at other times defined negatively (as exhibiting arrogant or conceited feelings and beliefs). Based on this dichotomy, Tracy and Robins (2007) proposed that pride consists of two facets: authentic pride (AP) and hubristic pride (HP). For over a decade, researchers have used this two-facet model to investigate similarities and differences between AP and HP. The current work aims to synthesize this body of research by presenting findings from a meta-analysis of the association between AP and HP and a wide range of personality characteristics, mental health outcomes, social status constructs, and attributional tendencies. Comprised of 94 independent samples (N = 64,698) of predominantly North American adults, meta-analyses (both unweighted and weighted random effects models) were conducted for the relationship between AP and HP, and for each outcome variable separately, resulting in 103 total analyses (ks = 2-93). This project provides strong evidence that AP and HP are empirically distinct constructs (meta-analytic r = .13) that often align in opposite ways with personality and related variables, with AP exhibiting associations that suggest better psychological health than HP. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Suicide is the second leading cause of death for youths in the United States. More Latino adolescents report suicidal thoughts and/or behaviors (STBs) than youths of most other ethnic communities. Yet few studies have examined multiple psychosocial predictors of STBs in Latino youths using multiyear longitudinal designs. In this study, we evaluated the progression of STBs in 674 Mexican-origin youths (50% female) from fifth grade (10 years old) to 12th grade (17 years old) and identified psychosocial predictors of changes in STBs across this period. Latent growth curve models revealed that being female and later-generation status were associated with increasing prevalence in STBs across adolescence. Family conflict and peer conflict predicted increased STBs, whereas greater familism predicted less STBs. Thus, interpersonal relationships and cultural values contribute to the development of STBs in Mexican-origin youths and may be key levers for decreasing suicidality in this understudied but rapidly growing portion of the U.S. adolescent population.

The experience of poverty embodies complex, multidimensional stressors that may adversely affect physiological and psychological domains of functioning. Compounded by racial/ethnic discrimination, the financial aspect of family poverty typically coincides with additional social and physical environmental risks such as pollution exposure, housing burden, elevated neighborhood unemployment, and lower neighborhood education levels. In this study, we investigated the associations of multidimensional social disadvantage throughout adolescence with autonomic nervous system (ANS) functioning at 17 years. Two hundred and twenty nine low-income Mexican-American adolescents (48.6% female) and their parents were assessed annually between the ages of 10 and 16. Participants' census tracts were matched with corresponding annual administrative data of neighborhood housing burden, education, unemployment, drinking water quality, and fine particulate matter. We combined measures of adolescents' electrodermal response and respiratory sinuses arrhythmia at rest and during a social exclusion challenge (Cyberball) to use as ANS indices of sympathetic and parasympathetic activity, respectively. Controlling for family income-to-needs, youth exposed to greater cumulative water and air pollution from ages 10-16 displayed altered patterns of autonomic functioning at rest and during the social challenge. Conversely, youth living in areas with higher housing burden displayed healthy patterns of autonomic functioning. Altogether, results suggest that toxin exposure in youths' physical environments disrupts the ANS, representing a plausible mechanism by which pollutants and social disadvantage influence later physical and mental health.

Background Substance use (SU) typically increases from middle to late adolescence. Anxiety is one factor associated with greater SU, although variability in who uses substances remains. Some models suggest that brain-based susceptibility markers could reveal which adolescents are at a higher risk for psychopathology, but it is unknown whether these individual differences attenuate or accentuate the association between anxiety and elevated SU even if normative. This study addressed this gap by testing whether neural response to social exclusion moderates the association between anxiety symptoms and increased SU from middle to late adolescence. Methods Participants were 181 Mexican-origin adolescents (48% female; 16–17 years old) who completed a social exclusion task during a functional magnetic resonance imaging scan and filled out questionnaires about their SU and anxiety symptoms. Analyses focused on neural response to social exclusion versus inclusion within 3 regions of interest and change in SU across 2 years. Results Dorsal anterior cingulate cortex response to social exclusion, but not subgenual anterior cingulate cortex or anterior insula, moderated the relation between anxiety symptoms and SU, such that higher anxiety symptoms predicted a greater relative increase in SU only for those youth with a lower dorsal anterior cingulate cortex response to exclusion. Conclusions Blunted dorsal anterior cingulate cortex response to social exclusion may serve as a neural susceptibility marker of altered conflict monitoring or emotion regulation in middle adolescence that, in combination with high levels of anxious feelings, elevates the risk for onset of and/or increased SU by late adolescence. These findings have implications for designing targeted interventions to mitigate SU among adolescents.

A large body of research has documented how personality develops across adulthood, yet very little longitudinal work has examined whether these findings generalize beyond predominantly middle-class, highly educated White American or Western European individuals. This preregistered study uses longitudinal data from 1,110 Mexican-origin adults who completed a well-validated personality measure, the Big Five Inventory, up to six times across 12 years. Individuals generally maintained their rank ordering on the Big Five over time (rs = .66-.80), and the relative ordering of the Big Five within persons was also highly stable (rs = .58-.66). All of the Big Five traits showed small, linear mean-level decreases across adulthood. These trajectories showed few associations with sociodemographic factors (sex, education level, and IQ) and cultural factors (generational status, age at immigration, Spanish/English language preference, Mexican cultural values, American cultural values, and ethnic discrimination). The statistically significant findings we did observe mostly concerned associations between cultural values and Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Openness. Acquiescence bias was also positively associated with Big Five personality trait scores at every wave. There was no evidence of mean-level change in the Big Five when including time-varying acquiescence scores as covariates in the models. Divergences between the present findings and previous research highlight the need to study personality development with diverse aging samples. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Reappraisal (reconstruing emotional experiences to alter their impact) and suppression (inhibiting emotionally expressive behavior) are emotion-regulation strategies with important implications for depression. While reappraisal generally predicts lower depressive symptoms, suppression generally predicts higher depressive symptoms. Because cultural factors can influence the processes involved in these links and because adolescence-especially for ethnic minority youth-brings particular emotional challenges, it's critical to investigate these links among Mexican-origin adolescents. However, research examining emotion regulation among Mexican-origin individuals is scarce and generally limited to cross-sectional designs. Thus, we examined prospective associations between reappraisal and suppression (assessed at age 17) and 2 facets of depressive symptoms (anhedonia and general distress) over 3 years (assessed at ages 16, 18, and 19) among 228 Mexican-origin adolescents. Latent growth curve models indicated that reappraisal was associated with lower anhedonia at baseline (age 16) and lower anhedonia over time, whereas suppression predicted greater anhedonia at baseline but not change over time. Consistent with the Mexican cultural value of simpatía, which emphasizes expressing positive emotions and inhibiting negative emotions, suppression of positive emotions was associated with greater anhedonia over time whereas suppression of negative emotions was associated with lower anhedonia over time. However, neither associated with anhedonia at baseline. Reappraisal and suppression were not associated with distress symptoms, and no effects were moderated by familism, household income, gender, or child nativity. The anhedonia results suggest that the benefits of reappraisal extend to Mexican-origin adolescents, but the effects of suppression may depend upon emotional valence in this group. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

The present study attempts to replicate and extend Snyder et al. (2015, JPSP). The original study examined the latent factor structure of the Early Adolescent Temperament Questionnaire-Revised (EATQ-R), a commonly used measure of adolescent temperament, and showed that the resulting latent factors (i.e., effortful control, negative emotionality, and positive emotionality) had theoretically meaningful concurrent associations with several measures of adolescent functioning (depression, anxiety, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder [ADHD], relational aggression, and school performance and behavior). We performed these same analyses using data from a large sample of Mexican-origin youth (N = 674), and also examined prospective associations between the three EATQ-R factors and measures of adolescent functioning assessed two years later. We found some evidence supporting the bifactor models reported in the original study but poor replication of the correlations among latent factors. Additionally, model comparisons demonstrated that correlated factors models produced more interpretable factors than the bifactor models. In contrast, we replicated most of the concurrent correlations (and extended the findings to prospective associations) between the EATQ-R factors and measures of adolescent functioning, supporting the construct validity of the EATQ-R as a measure of adolescent temperament. Thus, these findings raise concerns about the generalizability of the factor structure identified by Snyder et al. (2015), but bolster claims about the generalizability of the concurrent and predictive validity of the EATQ-R. Overall, differences between the present findings and those of Snyder et al. (2015) highlight the importance of ongoing construct validation in youth temperament research, especially with participants from groups traditionally underrepresented in psychological research. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

A large body of research has documented how personality develops across adulthood, yet very little longitudinal work has examined whether these findings generalize beyond predominantly middle-class, highly-educated White American or Western European individuals. This pre-registered study uses longitudinal data from 1,110 Mexican-origin adults who completed a well-validated personality measure, the Big Five Inventory, up to 6 times across 12 years. Individuals generally maintained their rank ordering on the Big Five over time (rs=.66-.80), and the relative ordering of the Big Five within persons was also highly stable (rs=.58-.66). All of the Big Five traits showed small, linear mean-level decreases across adulthood. These trajectories showed few associations with sociodemographic factors (sex, education level, and IQ) and cultural factors (generational status, age at immigration, Spanish/English language preference, Mexican cultural values, American cultural values, and ethnic discrimination). The statistically significant findings we did observe mostly concerned associations between cultural values and Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Openness. Acquiescence bias was also positively associated with Big Five personality trait scores at every wave. There was no evidence of mean-level change in the Big Five when including time-varying acquiescence scores as covariates in the models. Divergences between the present findings and previous research highlight the need to study personality development with more diverse aging samples.

This study assessed the co-development of adversity and effortful control based on a sample of Mexican-origin youth ( N = 674) and their parents. We used a four-wave longitudinal design and followed target participants from age 10 to 16. At each time point, we measured adversity experienced by the children and their parents and children’s effortful control (self- and parent-reported). We also assessed children’s shift-and-persist coping strategies at ages 14 and 16. Across time, we found slight decreases in child-adversity and slight increases in parent-adversity. Based on bivariate LGC analyses, we found that the strongest effects surfaced for child- (vs. parent-) adversity. Specifically, we found that greater increases in child-adversity were associated with greater decreases in effortful control from ages 10 to 16. Moreover, we found a positive association between initial levels of child-adversity and the slope of effortful control, as well as a cross-sectional negative association between child- and parent-adversity and effortful control (at age 10). We found no evidence of moderation by shift-and-persist coping strategies. In sum, our results suggest that, on average, Mexican-origin youth exposed to more adversity might experience more maladaptive change with respect to effortful control.

Although Latinx parents’ perceptions of the climate of their children’s schools may play a role in their children’s academic adjustment, research examining this idea is sparse. Every 2 years beginning when children were in fifth grade (M(age) = 10.86 years) until they were in 11th grade, Mexican-origin mothers (N = 674) reported on their perceptions of the climate of their children’s schools; information on children’s academic adjustment was collected from children and mothers. Multilevel modeling indicated that when mothers had more positive school climate perceptions, their children valued school more and performed better in school, but did not necessarily hold higher educational expectations. The findings suggest the importance of schools in creating welcoming environments for Mexican-origin parents.

Over the course of two studies, we explored relations between college students’ academic redemptive stories (narratives with negative beginnings and positive endings) and psychological adjustment. In Study 1, redemption in stories of academic high points (but not low points) was associated with greater academic-domain authenticity. In Study 2, students who provided redemptive academic stories during their third year in college evinced greater increases in life satisfaction throughout college relative to those who told non-redemptive stories. During this same period, redemption was unrelated to the mean-levels and trajectories of self-esteem and depression. Collectively, these data suggest that redemptive academic stories provide some, albeit limited, indication of college students’ psychological adjustment and trajectories.

Author(s): Alessandri, Guido; Perinelli, Enrico; Robins, Richard W; Vecchione, Michele; Filosa, Lorenzo | Abstract: ObjectiveThis study investigates associations between Big Five personality trait change, organizational socialization, and organizational identification during a 3-year police officer training program (N = 416 police officer cadets).MethodParticipants completed a questionnaire measuring the Big Five personality traits when they entered the training academy, and then, completed the same personality questionnaire, along with measures of organizational socialization and identification, during their 2nd (n = 360) and 3rd (n = 397) year of training.ResultsResults corroborated the hypotheses that (a) the Big Five traits can show systematic changes even across a relatively short time period and (b) this change is functional, given that the latent difference scores of all Big Five traits significantly predicted increases in organizational socialization and identification.ConclusionThe Big five personality traits showed significant mean level changes across the 3-year training program. Although these changes were not fully consistent with theoretical expectations, they did predict two aspects of organizational adjustment (socialization and identification). The theoretical and practical implications of these findings were discussed.

Many adolescents have difficulty regulating their impulses and become prone to externalizing problems (e.g., attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder [ADHD], oppositional defiant disorder [ODD], and conduct disorder [CD]) and other adverse consequences. Using multimethod data from a longitudinal study of Mexican-origin youth (N = 674), assessed annually from age 10 to 16, we examined the relations between effortful control and ADHD, ODD, and CD symptoms over time. Bivariate latent growth curve models showed negative correlations between the trajectories of effortful control and ADHD, ODD, and CD, indicating that steeper decreases in effortful control were related to steeper increases in ADHD, ODD, and CD symptoms. Using a novel statistical technique, the factor of curves model (FOCUS), we found that ADHD, ODD, and CD share a common "externalizing" trajectory during adolescence. Although effortful control was strongly associated with this common trajectory, it had few unique associations with the individual disorder trajectories, above and beyond their shared trajectory. When we extended the FOCUS model to include the effortful control trajectory as an indicator, we found that ADHD and ODD had strong loadings, whereas effortful control and CD had comparatively weak loadings on the shared developmental trajectory. Follow-up analyses showed that a two-factor solution, with externalizing symptom trajectories on one factor and the effortful control facet trajectories on a separate factor, was a better fit to the data than a one-factor solution. Finally, parent ASPD symptoms were related to increases in CD, but had no significant influence on effortful control, ADHD, or ODD. We discuss the implications for personality and externalizing problem development. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Objective Previous research has shown that self-esteem is associated with academic achievement. However, few studies have used longitudinal data to examine how self-esteem and achievement co-develop over a long time span, and even fewer have focused on ethnic minority youth. Method We used data from a longitudinal study of Mexican-origin youth (N = 674) to examine the bidirectional associations between self-esteem and academic achievement from 5th to 11th grade. Global and domain-specific self-esteem (academic, honesty, peer relationships, appearance) were assessed at ages 10, 12, 14, and 16 using Marsh et al.'s (2005) Self-Description Questionnaire. Academic achievement was assessed at the same ages using self-reported grades and standardized test scores from school records. Results Youth with high global and academic self-esteem showed relative improvements in their grades (but not test scores), and youth who received higher grades and test scores showed relative increases in global and academic self-esteem. Youth with high honesty self-esteem showed relative increases in grades and test scores, and youth with higher grades showed relative increases in peer relationship self-esteem. Conclusion Students who feel better about themselves tend to show improvements in their grades, and getting better grades and test scores promotes more positive self-views.

Objective Altered activity within reward-related neural regions, including the ventral striatum (VS) and medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), is associated with concurrent problematic substance use. The aims of the present study were (a) to identify patterns of reward-related neural activity that prospectively predicted changes in alcohol use 2 years after magnetic resonance imaging in a sample of adolescents, and (b) to examine whether these patterns differed by sex. We also tested whether depression symptoms or impulsivity mediated associations between neural activity and future alcohol use. Method Participants were 262 adolescents (129 male and 133 female) of Mexican origin who completed the Monetary Incentive Delay task during a functional magnetic resonance imaging scan at age 16. Participants reported on their alcohol use at ages 16 and 18. Results Results indicated that different patterns of reward-related neural activity predicted future increases in alcohol use for male and female adolescents. In boys, higher VS activity during reward anticipation and average ventral mPFC activity during reward feedback predicted increases in alcohol use from age 16 to 18 years; in girls, higher dorsal mPFC activity and blunted VS activity during reward anticipation predicted increases in alcohol use from age 16 to 18 years. Depression symptoms or impulsivity did not mediate these associations. Conclusion The results suggest that different pathways of risk may lead to problematic alcohol use for adolescent boys and girls. These sex differences in neural risk pathways have important implications for prevention and intervention approaches targeting Mexican-origin youth.

Ethnic identity is a crucial developmental task for ethnic minority youth. The present study investigated the development of ethnic identity in a large sample of Mexican-origin youth ( N = 674) assessed biennially from age 10 to 19. Latent growth curve modeling was used to examine the trajectory of ethnic identity and its two facets: exploration (efforts to explore one’s ethnic group) and affirmation (positive connection to one’s ethnic group). Results showed a linear decline over time for ethnic identity and both facets; exploration declined more rapidly than affirmation. Using multigroup modeling, we tested whether the trajectories differ across gender and nativity. Compared to boys, girls’ ethnic identity, exploration, and affirmation decreased less. The trajectories did not differ for youth born in Mexico versus the United States. Discussion considers the impact of developmental, acculturative, and social–contextual processes on ethnic identity development as well unique features of our ethnic identity measure.

The contribution that parental educational expectations for youth and youth’s perceptions of academic competence can have on youth’s own educational expectations across early to late adolescence is not well-understood. In a sample of Mexican-origin families, the current study examined longitudinal (from early to late adolescence) associations among mothers, fathers, and youth’s educational expectations, how youth’s educational expectations were associated with perceived academic competence, and the potential mediating role of youth’s perceived academic competence. Data from two-parent families which included one focal child (7(th) grade: N= 469; youth: M(age)=12.31, 50% female) at three waves (7(th), 9(th), and 11(th) grade) were utilized. Structural equation modeling and multi-group analysis were implemented to assess the study’s goals. Results revealed significant associations among parents’ 7(th) grade educational expectations and youth’s 9(th) and 11(th) grade educational expectations. The findings also revealed three significant associations among youth’s perceived academic competence and educational expectations between 7(th) and 11(th) grade. Specifically, youth’s 7(th) grade perceived academic competence predicted youth’s 9(th) grade educational expectations, youth’s 7(th) grade educational expectations predicted youth’s 9(th) grade perceived academic competence, and youth’s 9(th) grade perceived academic competence predicted youth’s 11(th) grade educational expectations. Multigroup analysis did not reveal gender differences for the associations tested. The findings highlight the long-term significance of parents’ educational expectations on youth’s educational expectations and underscore youth’s academic competence, an individual level factor, as critical to consider for understanding educational expectations across adolescence for Mexican-origin youth.

The current study examined the trajectory of gender role attitudes of 471 Mexican-origin adolescents (236 girls, 235 boys) from 5th grade (Mage = 10.86 years) to 11th grade (Mage = 16.75 years), investigating how situating identities (i.e., gender, nativity, SES), ethnic identity (i.e., ethnic pride), and familial context (i.e., parents' attitudes) contributed to adolescents' gender role attitudes across time. Participant interviews were conducted every other year, resulting in 4 waves of data. Most parents (96%) were Mexico natives, with an average immigration age of 18.16 years for fathers and 14.01 years for mothers. Results revealed linear and quadratic trends in gender attitude traditionality for all adolescents, characterized by a linear decline through age 16 years that leveled off through age 18 years. Although both girls and boys trended toward egalitarian gender role attitudes across adolescence, girls endorsed more egalitarian attitudes than did boys. Adolescents from higher-SES backgrounds endorsed more egalitarian attitudes than those from lower-SES backgrounds. Significant within-person effects of ethnic pride surfaced, such that children with higher levels of ethnic pride at any given time also reported more traditional gender role attitudes. Significant between-person effects of mothers' and fathers' attitudes were found, such that parents with more traditional gender role attitudes tended to have children with relatively more traditional gender role attitudes. Overall, these findings highlight the importance of studying gender development in conjunction with situating identities, cultural identities, and the broader context, particularly when children are embedded in multiple cultures with contrasting gender role expectations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Hispanic/Latinx adults are at increased risk for cognitive impairment, and it is critically important to identify modifiable risk factors for cognitive impairment in this population. We addressed two key questions: (1) How does perceived discrimination change across middle adulthood? And, (2) how are discrimination and the trajectory of discrimination associated with cognitive function?We used data from 1,110 Mexican-origin adults between 26 and 62 years old (63% female; 85% born in Mexico). Participants completed a perceived ethnic discrimination scale five times across 12 years and completed cognitive assessments in the last wave, which were composited into a measure of overall cognitive function. We used latent growth curve models to estimate the longitudinal trajectory of perceived ethnic discrimination and growth mixture models to identify sub-groups of change trajectories. We evaluated whether patterns of perceived discrimination trajectories, baseline, intermediary, and concurrent discrimination predicted cognitive function at the last wave.Perceived ethnic discrimination decreased over time on average. Significant individual differences in within-person change revealed two change trajectory classes: Stable Low and High Declining. The Stable Low class had better cognitive performance compared to the High Declining class, but this effect was not robust to educational attainment. Perceived discrimination at the last wave was associated with worse cognitive function, and this effect remained after accounting for covariates.This study is among the first to evaluate changes in perceived ethnic discrimination in a sample of Mexican-origin adults and their associations with cognitive function. The results highlight the need for more research to better understand the role of discrimination and other social stressors on cognitive health outcomes.

A widely held belief among laypeople and psychologists suggests that self-esteem and relational aggression (i.e., perpetration and victimization) are associated over time. The present study examines the bidirectional associations between self-esteem and relational aggression across 6 years, using two types of longitudinal models (latent cross-lagged panel models and latent random intercepts cross-lagged panel models) to separate between- and within-person effects. Six hundred and seventy-four Mexican-origin youth reported their global and domain-specific self-esteem and relational aggression (perpetration and victimization) in the fifth, seventh, ninth, and eleventh grades. Our findings suggest that: (a) being a perpetrator is prospectively associated with later lower opposite-sex relationships self-esteem at the between-person level, (b) lower self-esteem in the domain of honesty-trustworthiness is prospectively associated with becoming a perpetrator and a victim at the within- and between-person level, (c) lower global self-esteem is prospectively associated with higher victimization at the between-person level, and (d) being victimized is not prospectively associated with later global or domain-specific self-esteem, at neither the within- nor the between-person level. The present study provides little evidence for the widely held belief about the bidirectional associations between self-esteem and relational aggression across time but demonstrates the complexity of these associations on the between- and within-person level.

Research on self and identity has greatly enhanced personality science by directing inquiry more deeply into the person’s conscious mind and more expansively outward into the social environments that contextualize individual differences in behavior, thought, and feeling. After delineating key concepts and offering reasons why personality psychologists should care about self and identity processes, we highlight important empirical discoveries that are of special relevance to personality science in the areas of (1) self-insight, (2) self-conscious emotions, (3) self-esteem, (4) narrative identity, and (5) the role of culture in shaping self, identity, and the integration of personality. We anticipate that future research will also move vigorously to (1) develop more comprehensive and precise accounts of how life experiences influence the development of self and identity, (2) explore more fully how the brain builds a sense of self, and (3) harness what we know about self and identity to improve people’s lives and promote personality development.

OBJECTIVE: Although numerous studies have demonstrated that personality traits predict important love and work outcomes, there is mixed evidence for the relevance of Openness to Experience to love and work. We sought to better understand the long-term consequences of Openness in these two domains. METHOD: We examined the associations between Openness and 51 love and work outcomes using data from a 24-year longitudinal study of UC Berkeley students (N = 497) followed from the beginning of college into midlife. Using latent growth curve modeling, we examined whether Openness levels and change in Openness from college to midlife were associated with downstream love and work outcomes. Additionally, we tested whether three facets of Openness (intellectual interests, aesthetic interests, and unconventionality) had differential associations with outcomes. RESULTS: Although stable levels of Openness predicted few work or love outcomes, individual differences in Openness change were associated with delayed romantic commitment and some career outcomes. In addition, there were significant differences among facets of Openness: intellectual interests were highly associated with educational outcomes, whereas aesthetic interests and unconventionality predicted nontraditional career motivations. CONCLUSIONS: We situate these results in past research on real-world consequences of personality traits and discuss implications for theory and future research.

The present study examines the influence of economic and family stress processes on change in drug and alcohol use in a cohort of 478 Mexican American youth (50.8% female) followed longitudinally beginning in Grade 5 when the youth averaged 10.4 years of age. Adolescents, their mothers (median age 36 at Grade 5), and their fathers (median age 39 at Grade 5) were assessed on economic hardship (Grades 5 through 7), family stress processes (Grades 5 through 9), and adolescent substance use (Grades 7 through 9). Hypotheses were derived from a culturally informed family stress model (FSM), which proposes that economic hardship initiates a sequential cascade of problems involving parents' emotional distress, interparental conflict, disruptions in parenting and increased risk for adolescent substance use. Structural equation modeling was used to test these hypothesized linkages and the findings were consistent with predictions derived from the FSM. The results also demonstrated that parents' familism moderated the association between parent distress and interparental conflict, acting as a source of resilience in this family stress process. Findings suggest that prevention and intervention efforts focused on reducing caregiver distress and interparental conflict and enhancing parenting practices, as well as policies that reduce the level of economic hardship experienced by families, may aid in the reduction of adolescent substance use. Additionally, interventions focused on facilitating the cultural value of familism may promote more positive interactions between Mexican American parents which, in turn, may promote more effective parenting practices that help to reduce the risk for adolescent substance use. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

© 2018 Elsevier Inc. Autonomic nervous system (ANS) activity is a core component of emotion processing. The limbic system and medial prefrontal cortex play important roles in the regulation of ANS activity. However, the integration of brain activity and ANS activity has yet to be investigated in adolescents despite independent evidence of adolescents' heightened neural and physiological sensitivity to emotional stimuli. The present study examined the relations of ANS activity in the parasympathetic nervous system (PNS) and sympathetic nervous system (SNS) with brain activity during emotional face processing in adolescents. 135 adolescents (65 female; M = 17.15 yr, SD = 0.42) completed an emotional faces task during an fMRI scan while electrocardiography and skin conductance were recorded simultaneously. Using linear mixed-effect modelling, we tested the effect of change in respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA), a measure of PNS activity, and number of skin conductance responses (SCRs), a measure of SNS activity, on neural activity while adolescents viewed emotional faces. Greater RSA withdrawal, indicating decreased PNS activity, was associated with increased activation in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC). More SCRs, indicating greater SNS activity, were associated with decreased activation in several regions including the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex and increased activation in the left hippocampus. Left hippocampus-SCR coupling and vmPFC-RSA coupling predicted baseline SCR and RSA respectively. These findings implicate the hippocampus for potentiating SNS activity, document that regulation of SNS and PNS activity are coordinated with distinct regions of the medial prefrontal cortex, and suggest potential developmental differences in vmPFC regulation of PNS activity between adolescents and adults.

Previous research has shown that narcissistic traits such as exploitativeness, exhibitionism, and entitlement are associated with delinquency and aggression in childhood and adolescence. However, there is a paucity of longitudinal research examining these associations, and virtually no research examining other problem behaviors such as drug use and early sexual behavior. In this study, we extended previous research by testing whether two facets of narcissism, exploitativeness and superiority, assessed at age 14, predicted problem behaviors at age 16, while controlling for problem behaviors at age 14. We applied two-part count models to data from a longitudinal study of 674 Mexican-origin adolescents living in the United States followed over a two-year period from age 14 to 16. Adolescents with higher exploitativeness levels at age 14 were more likely to engage in drug use, commit delinquent acts, have sexual intercourse, and exhibit symptoms of conduct disorder at age 16, compared to adolescents with lower exploitativeness levels. Superiority had almost no associations with problem behaviors. Thus, exploitativeness may be one personality risk factor that underlies the development of multiple forms of problem behaviors in adolescence.

We examined depression and anxiety symptom trajectories in Mexican-origin youth (N =674) and tested longitudinal associations with acculturation dimensions. We used eight waves of data from the California Families Project, collected annually from 5th (Mage=10.86, SD=0.51) to 12th (Mage=16.79, SD=0.50) grade. Major depression disorder (MD) and generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) symptoms were assessed by structured psychiatric interview. Cultural measures, selected based on theory and empirical evidence, included English/Spanish use, familism, traditional gender role (TGR) attitudes, and ethnic pride. Symptom trajectories were modeled using latent growth analyses, and parallel process growth models examined covariation between internalizing and acculturation trajectories. Models adjusted for child sex, nativity, mother's education, and family income. MD symptoms decreased across adolescence on average, with steeper decreases among boys and children born in Mexico. GAD symptoms also decreased on average, with higher mean levels among girls. Age 10 Spanish use, familism, and ethnic pride were inversely related to age 10 MD symptoms. Steeper increases in Spanish use, familism, and ethnic pride predicted decreasing MD. Higher age 10 MD predicted increasing Spanish use and decreasing English use. Greater age 10 TGR attitudes predicted higher age 10 GAD but steeper declines in GAD and MD. Increasing ethnic pride slopes predicted decreasing GAD. Greater childhood TGR attitudes, and the maintenance of Spanish use, familism, and ethnic pride into adolescence, were associated with more optimal trajectories of MD and GAD symptoms. Interventions for Mexican-origin youth internalizing problems should encourage the retention of heritage culture strengths, including familism and ethnic pride.

The present study (a) tested whether a structure of common mental disorders within the hierarchical taxonomy of psychopathology was invariant from late childhood to adolescence in a sample of Mexican-origin youth, (b) examined the developmental course of psychopathology at different levels of the hierarchy, and (c) tested the degree to which changes in psychopathology were associated with changes in the Big Five personality domains. Results were consistent with the longitudinal hierarchical invariance of common mental disorders from age 12 to 17 (n = 674). Further, initial levels of conscientiousness, agreeableness, and emotional stability were positively associated with lower initial levels of a higher order factor of psychopathology, and increases in extraversion and decreases in neuroticism were associated with decreases in a higher order factor of psychopathology, which captured the general tendency for externalizing, internalizing, and attention-hyperactivity-related dimensions of psychopathology to correlate. Results of the present study indicate that a hierarchical model of common mental disorders extends to Mexican-origin youth and that developmental change in Big Five personality are related to developmental change in psychopathology. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

The association between personality traits and motivational units, such as life goals, has been a long-standing interest of personality scientists. However, little research has investigated the longitudinal associations between traits and life goals beyond young adulthood. In the present study ( N = 251), we examined the rank-order stability of, and mean-level changes in, the Big Five and major life goals (Aesthetic, Economic, Family/Relationship, Hedonistic, Political, Religious, Social) from college (age 18) to midlife (age 40), as well as their co-development. Findings showed that personality traits and major life goals were both moderately-to-highly stable over 20 years. On average, there were mean-level increases in the Big Five and mean-level decreases in life goals over time. Patterns of co-development suggest people formulate goals consistent with their personality traits, and conversely, investing in goal-relevant contexts is associated with trait change. We discuss the results in light of Social Investment Theory and the developmental regulation literature.

In virtually all areas of psychology, the question of whether a particular construct has a prospective effect on another is of fundamental importance. For decades, the cross-lagged panel model (CLPM) has been the model of choice for addressing this question. However, CLPMs have recently been critiqued, and numerous alternative models have been proposed. Using the association between low self-esteem and depression as a case study, we examined the behavior of seven competing longitudinal models in 10 samples, each with at least four waves of data and sample sizes ranging from 326 to 8,259. The models were compared in terms of convergence, fit statistics, and consistency of parameter estimates. The traditional CLPM and the random intercepts cross-lagged panel model (RI-CLPM) converged in every sample, whereas the other models frequently failed to converge or did not converge properly. The RI-CLPM exhibited better model fit than the CLPM, whereas the CLPM produced more consistent cross-lagged effects (both across and within samples) than the RI-CLPM. We discuss the models from a conceptual perspective, emphasizing that the models test conceptually distinct psychological and developmental processes, and we address the implications of the empirical findings with regard to model selection. Moreover, we provide practical recommendations for researchers interested in testing prospective associations between constructs and suggest using the CLPM when focused on between-person effects and the RI-CLPM when focused on within-person effects. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

BackgroundNeurophysiological patterns may distinguish which youth are at risk for the well-documented increase in internalizing symptoms during adolescence. Adolescents with internalizing problems exhibit altered resting-state functional connectivity (RSFC) of brain regions involved in socio-affective processing. Whether connectivity-based biotypes differentiate adolescents’ levels of internalizing problems remains unknown.MethodSixty-eight adolescents (37 females) reported on their internalizing problems at ages 14, 16, and 18 years. A resting-state functional neuroimaging scan was collected at age 16. Time-series data of 15 internalizing-relevant brain regions were entered into the Subgroup-Group Iterative Multi-Model Estimation program to identify subgroups based on RSFC maps. Associations between internalizing problems and connectivity-based biotypes were tested with regression analyses.ResultsTwo connectivity-based biotypes were found: a Diffusely-connected biotype (N = 46), with long-range fronto-parietal paths, and a Hyper-connected biotype (N = 22), with paths between subcortical and medial frontal areas (e.g. affective and default-mode network regions). Higher levels of past (age 14) internalizing problems predicted a greater likelihood of belonging to the Hyper-connected biotype at age 16. The Hyper-connected biotype showed higher levels of concurrent problems (age 16) and future (age 18) internalizing problems.ConclusionsDifferential patterns of RSFC among socio-affective brain regions were predicted by earlier internalizing problems and predicted future internalizing problems in adolescence. Measuring connectivity-based biotypes in adolescence may offer insight into which youth face an elevated risk for internalizing disorders during this critical developmental period.

Sexual debut, or first intercourse, predicts problem behaviors such as substance use. This association could reflect a direct effect of debut itself, general developmental trends, or the fact that some youth are more predisposed to a wide array of problem behaviors (e.g., risky sex, substance use). Understanding the association between sexual debut and substance use thus requires methods that can distinguish between these various accounts. In this study the association between sexual debut and substance use was investigated in a longitudinal sample of Mexican-origin youth (N = 674) assessed annually from 5th (Mage = 10.86 years, SD = 0.51) through 12th grade (Mage = 17.69 years, SD = 0.48). The longitudinal aspect of the data allowed the direct effect of sexual debut on substance use to be tested while accounting for long-term trends in substance use, and stable individual differences in those trends based on early risk and debut timing. Substance use increased over time, and early risk and debut were consistently associated with more substance use. Sexual debut also modestly predicted an increase in substance use after accounting for these effects, however. Taken together, results provide some evidence consistent with each of the potential explanations for the association between sexual debut and substance use across adolescence.

Early exposure to stressful life events is associated with greater risk of chronic diseases and mental health problems, including anxiety. However, there is significant variation in how individuals respond to environmental adversity, perhaps due to individual differences in processing and regulating emotional information. Differences in cognitive control - processes necessary for implementing goal directed behavior - have been linked to both stress exposure and anxiety, but the directionality of these links is unclear. The present study investigated the longitudinal pathway of environmental stress exposure during early adolescence on later adolescent anxiety, and the possible mediating mechanism of cognitive control. Participants were 674 Mexican-origin adolescents (meanage = 10.8 years, 50% male) enrolled in the California Families Project, an ongoing longitudinal study of Mexican-origin families. In the current analysis, we examined self-reports of environmental stressors at age 14 (Time 1), cognitive control at age 16 (Time 2), and anxiety at age 18 (Time 3). Structural equation modeling revealed that environmental stressors (Time 1) had both direct and indirect effects on later anxiety (Time 3) through their effects on cognitive control (Time 2), even when accounting for prior levels of anxiety (Time 2). Cognitive control accounted for 18% of the association between environmental stressors and adolescent anxiety: an increase in stressors decreased cognitive control (β = -0.20, p < 0.001), however, cognitive control buffers against anxiety (β = -0.10, p = 0.004). These findings deepen our understanding of the mechanisms underlying the development of anxiety and highlight the importance of cognitive control as a potential protective factor.

Relational aggression-a psychological form of aggression-has numerous negative consequences for physical and emotional health. However, little is known about the risk factors that lead youth to engage in relational aggression. Using multimethod data from a longitudinal research of 674 Mexican-origin youth, this study examined the influence of parents, siblings, and peers on the development of relational aggression. Increases in relational aggression from age 10 to 16 were associated with: (a) low levels of parental monitoring and (b) increased association with deviant peers and siblings. These results held across gender and nativity status. The findings suggest that multiple socialization agents contribute to the development of relational aggression. We discuss the practical implications for reducing relational aggression during adolescence.

The present study investigated the developmental precursors of effortful control, a temperament trait that involves the propensity to regulate one's impulses and behaviors, to motivate the self toward a goal when there are conflicting desires, and to focus and shift attention easily. Data came from the California Families Project, a multimethod longitudinal study of 674 Mexican-origin youth (and their parents), who were assessed at ages 10, 12, 14, 16, and 19. Effortful control (measured via self- and parent-reports) was moderately stable over time (r = .47 from age 10 to 19), and its developmental trajectory followed a u-shaped pattern (decreasing from age 10 to 14, before increasing from age 14 to 19). Findings from latent growth curve models showed that youth who experience more hostility from their parents, associate more with deviant peers, attend more violent schools, live in more violent neighborhoods, and experience more ethnic discrimination tend to exhibit an exacerbated dip in effortful control. In contrast, youth with parents who closely monitor their behavior and whereabouts exhibited a shallower dip in effortful control. Analyses of the facets of effortful control revealed important disparities in their trajectories; specifically inhibitory control showed linear increases, attention control showed linear decreases, and activation control showed the same u-shaped trajectory as overall effortful control. Moreover, most of the precursors of effortful control replicated for inhibitory control and attention control, but not for activation control. We discuss the broader implications of the findings for adolescent personality development and self-regulation. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Mexican-origin youth are at increased risk for school dropout and low educational attainment. High educational aspirations and expectations provide a potential source of resilience, given their association with positive educational outcomes. Using data from a longitudinal study of 674 Mexican-origin youth, we examined the development of educational aspirations ("how far would you like to go in school?") and expectations ("how far do you actually expect to go?") from 7th grade ( M age = 12.8) to 2 years post–high school ( M age = 19.8). Results indicate that Mexican-origin youth enter adolescence with very high aspirations and expectations (e.g., 67% expect to graduate from college) and maintain them even after transitioning into young adulthood. Several demographic and cultural factors, including parent education level, family income, the cultural value of familism, ethnic identity, and Spanish language use, were associated with higher aspirations and expectations.

Numerous studies have demonstrated long-term benefits of optimism for physical and mental health. However, little research has examined how optimism develops across the life span and how it is shaped by positive and negative life experiences. In this study, we examined the normative trajectory of optimism development from ages 26 to 71 in a longitudinal sample ( N = 1,169) of Mexican-origin couples assessed 4 times across 7 years. Latent growth curve analyses indicated that optimism increased throughout early and middle adulthood before plateauing at age 55, with significant individual differences in change. Furthermore, the experience of positive events was associated with optimism development across adulthood, but negative life events were not associated with development. Men and women developed similarly in optimism, while U.S.-born participants developed differently from Mexican-born participants. We discuss how these findings inform our understanding of optimism as a dynamic, adaptive construct.

Parent-child interactions are likely influenced by the personality characteristics of both the parent and the child. However, questions remain concerning the bidirectional nature of these effects (e.g., does a child's personality evoke changes in his or her parent's behavior?). Furthermore, the existing literature is based primarily on European American children and generally relies on questionnaire measures of parent-child interactions rather than assessing behavior during observed interactions. To address these gaps in the literature, the authors evaluated reciprocal associations between personality traits and observed interactions between Mexican origin adolescents (N = 674) and their parents in 5th- and 7th-grade using the Actor-Partner Interdependence Model (Kenny, Kashy, & Cook, 2006). Adolescent effortful control and aggressiveness were associated with adolescent warmth and hostility (i.e., actor effects) and parent warmth and hostility (i.e., partner effects). Thus, adolescents with poor self-control seem to evoke more negative behaviors from their parents than adolescents with better self-control. Parental extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism predicted parent warmth (actor effects), but there was little evidence that parent personality was associated with specific adolescent behaviors (partner effects). These results help to clarify how personality attributes are associated with adolescent relationships. (PsycINFO Database Record