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The present study examined adolescents' neural responses to social exclusion as a mediator of past exposure to a hostile school environment (HSE) and later social deviance, and whether family connectedness buffered these associations. Participants (166 Mexican-origin adolescents, 54.4% female) reported on their HSE exposure and family connectedness across Grades 9-11. Six months later, neural responses to social exclusion were measured. Finally, social deviance was self-reported in Grades 9 and 12. The HSE-social deviance link was mediated by greater reactivity to social deviance in subgenual anterior cingulate cortex, a region from the social pain network also implicated in social susceptibility. However, youths with stronger family bonds were protected from this neurobiologically mediated path. These findings suggest a complex interplay of risk and protective factors that impact adolescent behavior through the brain.

Objective: The objective of this study was to evaluate sibling support as a buffer against the intergenerational transmission of romantic relationship hostility. Background: Parental marital discord in adolescence negatively affects romantic relationships in adulthood. Given that sibling support is linked to positive outcomes in adolescence and adulthood, the current study investigated sibling support as a protective factor against romantic relationship hostility from adolescence to adulthood. Method: Using prospective longitudinal data from a community sample, 351 participants completed home assessments during adolescence (7th, 8th, 9th, and 10th grades) and adulthood (Mage = 31 years old). Romantic relationship hostility was coded from videotaped observations of participant interparental relations in adolescence and participant behavior toward a romantic partner in adulthood. In addition, the participants reported on the support they received from a sibling in adolescence, which was modeled as a moderator between romantic hostility in adolescence and adulthood using structural equation modeling. Results: Across sibling dyads, sibling support did not moderate the intergenerational transmission of romantic relationship hostility; however, sex differences revealed that sibling support buffered this effect in sister pairs, whereas sibling support exacerbated this effect in brother pairs. Sibling support moderated this association above and beyond parental support, socioeconomic status, and sibling age spacing. Conclusion: Perceived sibling support can potentially ameliorate or catalyze the intergenerational transmission of observed romantic relationship hostility depending on gender socialization in the family. Implications for sibling‐focused interventions are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Adolescents are more susceptible to dysregulation in positive social contexts, compared to children. We investigated whether maternal presence would buffer these effects in adolescence. Fifty‐four adolescents and children (age range = 8–17 years, Mage = 13.38 years) completed a social go‐nogo task during an fMRI scan alone and in the presence of their mother. We found age‐related patterns, such that older relative to younger youth displayed more disinhibition toward socially appetitive than socially aversive stimuli, which was buffered by maternal presence. Furthermore, with age, maternal buffering in socially appetitive contexts elicited heightened activation in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex and amygdala–medial prefrontal cortex connectivity. Findings underscore the importance of caregivers in promoting the neural regulation of their offspring during adolescence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

School commitment typically declines across adolescence, but the family‐level factors that explain this decline have not been fully characterized. This study investigated sibling support as a family resource in predicting school commitment across 7th–10th grade using a sample of 444 adolescents (Mages = 12.61, 13.59, 14.59, 15.58 years). Results showed that sibling support linearly increased and school commitment decreased and stabilized, independently, over time. Sibling support positively predicted school commitment in seventh grade and across time, suggesting that having supportive siblings may help to offset adolescents' declines in school commitment. Furthermore, having a brother enhanced this association versus having a sister. These findings provide insight into ways to help youth maintain school commitment across the middle‐ to high school transition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]