Publications

In Press
Clayton, M., Renna, M. E., Klemanski, D. H., Kerns, C., McLaughlin, K. A., & Mennin, D. S. (In Press). The impact of emotion regulation on the relationship between momentary negative affect and end-of-day worry and rumination. Cognitive Therapy and Research , 47 (1), 94-108. Publisher's VersionAbstract

Background: Negative self-referential processing (NSRP), including worry and rumination, is a hallmark feature of generalized anxiety disorder (GAD). Negative afect relates to NSRP, and emotion regulation skills (e.g., reappraisal and acceptance) may attenuate this relationship. This ecological momentary assessment study explored whether increased emotion regulation skills use would alter associations between daily fuctuations of negative afect and end-of-day NSRP.

Methods: Participants were 99 young adults (Mage=19.94; SD=1.81), diagnosed with GAD (n=48) and healthy controls (n=51). They provided twice daily ratings of negative afect, reappraisal, and acceptance over 14 days, and end-of-day ratings of NSRP. Mixed linear models adjusted for covariates, including state-level worry and rumination.

Results: Individuals with GAD reported higher levels of negative than controls, and high negative afect corresponded to greater end-of-day NSRP across all participants. Increased emotion regulation skills altered the relationship between increased negative afect and higher NSRP, though this did not difer by group. Acceptance and reappraisal diferentially afected associations between negative afect and NSRP.

Conclusions: Findings suggest that emotion regulation skills moderate the relationship between negative afect and end-of-day NSRP, highlighting the utility of using reappraisal and acceptance in daily life. This could eventually lead to improvements in treating GAD.

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Keyes, K. M., Kreski, N. T., Joseph, V. A., Hamilton, A. D., Hatzenbuehler, M. L., McLaughlin, K. A., & Weissman, D. G. (In Press). What is not measured cannot be counted: sample characteristics reported in studies of hippocampal volume and depression in neuroimaging studies. Biological Psychiatry: Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging , 8 (5), 492-494. Publisher's VersionAbstract
The field of population neuroscience is expanding, with increasingly large samples, geographic and demographic diversity of participants, and longitudinal studies accelerating the progress of the field. As progress accelerates, there is an increasing ability to consider how social context and structural factors, as well as sampling methods and sample composition, modify associations from neuroimaging studies and influence the magnitude of observed effect sizes across studies.
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Espinosa Dice, A. L., Ye, X., Kim, S. G., McLaughlin, K. A., Amstadter, A. B., Tiemeier, H., & Denckla, C. A. (In Press). Resilient phenotypes among bereaved youth: a comparison of trajectory, relative, and cross-domain approaches. Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health , 17 (23), 1-15. Publisher's VersionAbstract

Background

Bereavement is a common traumatic event associated with adverse health outcomes across the life course. Despite these risks, not all bereaved individuals experience these negative effects. Limited scientific consensus exists on how to define resilience in individuals who have experienced the death of a loved one.

Methods

Using a sample of N = 3766 youth from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children birth cohort, we identified bereavement of a family member between ages 7 and 8.5. We derived and compared three different approaches to assess resilience among bereaved youth. Trajectory-based psychological resilience identified sub-groups with similar psychological symptom profiles between ages 6 and 16 using latent growth mixture models. Relative psychological resilience at age 16 leveraged standardized residuals from a model regressing psychological symptoms on bereavement to determine better-than-expected psychological functioning relative to bereavement status. Relative cross-domain resilience around age 16 was a sum score of the residuals approach applied to eight unique domains of health. Predictive validity of each approach was assessed using depressive symptoms at age 17.5

Results

Overall, N = 877 (23%) youth were bereaved of a family member between ages 7 and 8.5. Using latent growth mixture models, a three-class solution described 84% of bereaved youth with low and stable psychological symptoms over time, 8% with worsening symptoms, and 8% with improving yet elevated symptoms. Each relative resilience score was largely concordant with the trajectory-based approach in identifying individuals as resilient or not, though relative psychological resilience demonstrated a stronger degree of concordance than the cross-domain score. Relative psychological and cross-domain resilience exhibited moderate to low correlation, depending on the domains included (r = 0.14–0.43). For each approach, resilience significantly predicted lower depressive symptoms at age 17.5, highlighting predictive validity of these measures.

Conclusions

Psychological symptom trajectories among bereaved youth aligned with those previously identified among bereaved adults. The residual-based approach to defining resilience exhibited limited utility in the context of bereavement. When identifying risk and resilience after bereavement, researchers and clinicians must address the interplay across psychosocial and physical health domains, as bereaved youth considered resilient from a mental health perspective may benefit from intervention in other domains.

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Machlin, L., & McLaughlin, K. (In Press). Pre-pandemic brain structure and function and adolescent psychopathology during the COVID-19 pandemic. Current Opinion in Psychology , 52. Publisher's VersionAbstract
The COVID-19 pandemic has presented unprecedented challenges for youths and families, dramatically increasing exposure to stressors and stress-related psychopathology. Increasing work has leveraged pre-pandemic neuroimaging data to predict adolescent psychopathology and stress responses during the pandemic, with a particular focus on internalizing symptoms. We review this recent literature on pre-pandemic brain structure and function and adolescent internalizing psychopathology during the pandemic. At present, existing studies have not consistently identified specific alterations in brain structure and function that predict anxiety or depressive symptoms during the pandemic. In contrast, exposure to stress and adversity before and during the pandemic as well as access to peer and family support have emerged as consistent and reliable predictors of youth mental health during the pandemic.
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Carolus, A. E., McLaughlin, K., Lengua, L., Sheridan, M., & Romeo, R. (In Press). Conversation disruptions in early childhood predict executive functioning development: A longitudinal study. Developmental Science. Publisher's VersionAbstract
Conversational turn-taking is a complex communicative skill that requires both linguistic and executive functioning (EF) skills, including processing input while simultaneously forming and inhibiting responses until one's turn. Adult-child turn-taking predicts children's linguistic, cognitive, and socioemotional development. However, little is understood about how disruptions to temporal contingency in turn-taking, such as interruptions and overlapping speech, relate to cognitive outcomes, and how these relationships may vary across developmental contexts. In a longitudinal sample of 275 socioeconomically diverse mother-child dyads (children 50% male, 65% White), we conducted pre-registered examinations of whether the frequency of dyads’ conversational disruption during free play when children were 3 years old related to children's executive functioning (EF; 9 months later), self-regulation skills (18 months later), and externalizing psychopathology in early adolescence (age 10–12 years). Contrary to hypotheses, more conversational disruptions significantly predicted higher inhibition skills, controlling for sex, age, income-to-needs (ITN), and language ability. Results were driven by maternal disruptions of the child's speech, and could not be explained by measures of overall talkativeness or interactiveness. Exploratory analyses revealed that ITN moderated these relationships, such that the positive effect of disruptions on inhibition was strongest for children from lower ITN backgrounds. We discuss how adult-driven “cooperative overlap” may serve as a form of engaged participation that supports cognition and behavior in certain cultural contexts.
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Hatzenbuehler, M., McLaughlin, K., Weissman, D., & Cikara, M. (In Press). Community-level explicit racial prejudice potentiates whites’ neural responses to black faces: A spatial meta-analysis. Social Neuroscience. Publisher's VersionAbstract
We evaluated the hypothesis that neural responses to racial out-group members vary systematically based on the level of racial prejudice in the surrounding community. To do so, we conducted a spatial meta-analysis, which included a comprehensive set of studies (k = 22; N = 481). Specifically, we tested whether community-level racial prejudice moderated neural activation to Black (vs. White) faces in primarily White participants. Racial attitudes, obtained from Project Implicit, were aggregated to the county (k = 17; N = 10,743) in which each study was conducted. Multi-level kernel density analysis demonstrated that significant differences in neural activation to Black (vs. White) faces in right amygdala, dorsal anterior cingulate cortex, and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex were detected more often in communities with higher (vs. lower) levels of explicit (but not implicit) racial prejudice. These findings advance social-cognitive neuroscience by identifying aspects of macro-social contexts that may alter neural responses to out-group members.
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Lurie, L. A., Hangem, E. J., Rosen, M. L., Crosnoe, R., & McLaughlin, K. (In Press). Reduced growth mindset as a mechanism linking childhood trauma with academic performance and internalizing psychopathology. Child Abuse & Neglect. Publisher's VersionAbstract

Background

Despite the high prevalence of childhood adversity and well-documented associations with poor academic achievement and psychopathology, effective, scalable interventions remain largely unavailable. Existing interventions targeting growth mindset—the belief that personal characteristics are malleable—have been shown to improve academic achievement and symptoms of psychopathology in youth.

Objective

The present study examines growth mindset as a potential modifiable mechanism underlying the associations of two dimensions of childhood adversity—threat and deprivation—with academic achievement and internalizing psychopathology.

Participants and setting

Participants were 408 youth aged 10–18 years drawn from one timepoint of two longitudinal studies of community-based samples recruited to have diverse experiences of childhood adversity.

Method

Experiences of threat and deprivation were assessed using a multi-informant, multi-method approach. Youth reported on growth mindset of intelligence and symptoms of anxiety and depression. Parents provided information about youths' academic performance.

Results

Both threat and deprivation were independently associated with lower growth mindset, but when accounting for co-occurring adversities, only the association between threat and lower growth mindset remained significant. Lower growth mindset was associated with worse academic performance and greater symptoms of both anxiety and depression. Finally, there was a significant indirect effect of experiences of threat on both lower academic performance and greater symptoms of anxiety through lower growth mindset.

Conclusions

Findings suggest that growth mindset could be a promising target for efforts aimed at mitigating the impact of childhood adversity on academic achievement and psychopathology given the efficacy of existing brief, scalable growth mindset interventions.

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Rodman, A. M., Rosen, M. L., Kasperek, S., Mayes, M., Lengua, L., Meltzoff, A. N., & McLaughlin, K. A. (In Press). Social behavior and youth psychopathology during the COVID-19pandemic: A longitudinal study. Development and Psychopathology. Publisher's VersionAbstract
The early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic and associated stay-at-home orders resulted in a stark reduction in daily social interactions for children and adolescents. Given that peer relationships are especially important during this developmental stage, it is crucial to understand the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on social behavior and risk for psychopathology in children and adolescents. In a longitudinal sample (N=224) of children (7-10y) and adolescents (13-15y) assessed at three strategic time points (before the pandemic, during the initial stay-at-home order period, and six months later after the initial stay-at-home order period was lifted), we examine whether certain social factors protect against increases in stress-related psychopathology during the pandemic, controlling for pre-pandemic symptoms. Youth who reported less in-person and digital socialization, greater social isolation, and less social support had worsened psychopathology during the pandemic. Greater social isolation and decreased digital socialization during the pandemic were associated with greater risk for psychopathology after experiencing pandemic-related stressors. In addition, children, but not adolescents, who maintained some in-person socialization were less likely to develop internalizing symptoms following exposure to pandemic-related stressors. We identify social factors that promote well-being and resilience in youth during this societal event.
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Rakesh, D., Sheridan, M. A., Whittle, S., & McLaughlin, K. (In Press). Childhood socioeconomic status and the pace of brain development: Accelerated, delayed, or simply different? Trends in Cognitive Sciences. Publisher's VersionAbstract

Socioeconomic status (SES) is associated with children’s brain and behavioral development. Several theories propose that early experiences of adversity or low SES can alter the pace of neurodevelopment during childhood and adolescence. These theories make contrasting predictions about whether adverse experiences and low SES are associated with accelerated or delayed neurodevelopment. We contextualize these predictions within the context of normative development of cortical and subcortical structure and review existing evidence on SES and structural brain development to adjudicate between competing hypotheses. Although none of these theories are fully consistent with observed SES-related differences in brain development, existing evidence suggests that low SES is associated with brain structure trajectories more consistent with a delayed or simply different developmental pattern than an acceleration in neurodevelopment.

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2023
Lurie, L. A., Hangen, E. J., Rosen, M. L., Crosnoe, R., & McLaughlin, K. A. (2023). Reduced growth mindset as a mechanism linking childhood trauma with academic performance and internalizing psychopathology. . Child Abuse and Neglect , 142, 105672-105684. Publisher's VersionAbstract

Background

Despite the high prevalence of childhood adversity and well-documented associations with poor academic achievement and psychopathology, effective, scalable interventions remain largely unavailable. Existing interventions targeting growth mindset—the belief that personal characteristics are malleable—have been shown to improve academic achievement and symptoms of psychopathology in youth.

Objective

The present study examines growth mindset as a potential modifiable mechanism underlying the associations of two dimensions of childhood adversity—threat and deprivation—with academic achievement and internalizing psychopathology.

Participants and setting

Participants were 408 youth aged 10–18 years drawn from one timepoint of two longitudinal studies of community-based samples recruited to have diverse experiences of childhood adversity.

Method

Experiences of threat and deprivation were assessed using a multi-informant, multi-method approach. Youth reported on growth mindset of intelligence and symptoms of anxiety and depression. Parents provided information about youths' academic performance.

Results

Both threat and deprivation were independently associated with lower growth mindset, but when accounting for co-occurring adversities, only the association between threat and lower growth mindset remained significant. Lower growth mindset was associated with worse academic performance and greater symptoms of both anxiety and depression. Finally, there was a significant indirect effect of experiences of threat on both lower academic performance and greater symptoms of anxiety through lower growth mindset.

Conclusions

Findings suggest that growth mindset could be a promising target for efforts aimed at mitigating the impact of childhood adversity on academic achievement and psychopathology given the efficacy of existing brief, scalable growth mindset interventions.

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Kasparek, S. W., Rosen, M. L., Lurie, L. A., Cikara, M., Sambrook, K., Cvencek, D., Meltzoff, A. N., et al. (2023). Differentiating between us & them: Reduced in-group bias as a novel mechanism linking childhood violence exposure with internalizing psychopathology. Research on Child and Adolescent Psychopathology , 51 (7), 961-975. Publisher's VersionAbstract
Strong in-group bonds, facilitated by implicit favoritism for in-group members (i.e., in-group bias), promote mental health across development. Yet, we know little about how the development of in-group bias is shaped by early-life experiences. Childhood violence exposure is known to alter social information processing biases. Violence exposure may also influence social categorization processes, including in-group biases, in ways that influence risk for psychopathology. We examined associations of childhood violence exposure with psychopathology and behavioral and neural indices of implicit and explicit bias for novel groups in children followed longitudinally across three time points from age 5 to 10 years old (n=101 at baseline; n=58 at wave 3). To instantiate in-group and out-group affiliations, youths underwent a minimal group assignment induction procedure, in which they were randomly assigned to one of two groups. Youth were told that members of their assigned group shared common interests (in-group) and members of the other group did not (out-group). In pre-registered analyses, violence exposure was associated with lower implicit in-group bias, which in turn was associated prospectively with higher internalizing symptoms and mediated the longitudinal association between violence exposure and internalizing symptoms. During an fMRI task examining neural responses while classifying in-group and out-group members, violenceexposed children did not exhibit the negative functional coupling between vmPFC and amygdala to in-group vs. out-group members that was observed in children without violence exposure. Reduced implicit in-group bias may represent a novel mechanism linking violence exposure with the development of internalizing symptoms.
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Weissman, D., Hatzenbuehler, M. L., Cikara, M., Barch, D. M., & McLaughlin, K. A. (2023). State-level macro-economic factors moderate the association of low income with brain structure and mental health in U.S. children. Nature Communications , 14 (2085), 1-13. Publisher's VersionAbstract
Macrostructural characteristics, such as cost of living and state-level anti-poverty programs relate to the magnitude of socioeconomic disparities in brain development and mental health. In this study we leveraged data from the Adolescent Brain and Cognitive Development (ABCD) study from 10,633 9-11 year old youth (5115 female) across 17 states. Lower income was associated with smaller hippocampal volume and higher internalizing psychopathology. These associations were stronger in states with higher cost of living. However, in high cost of living states that provide more generous cash benefits for low-income families, socioeconomic disparities in hippocampal volume were reduced by 34%, such that the association of family income with hippocampal volume resembled that in the lowest cost of living states. We observed similar patterns for internalizing psychopathology. State-level anti-poverty programs and cost of living may be confounded with other factors related to neurodevelopment and mental health. However, the patterns were robust to controls for numerous state-level social, economic, and political characteristics. These findings suggest that state-level macrostructural characteristics, including the generosity of anti-poverty policies, are potentially relevant for addressing the relationship of low income with brain development and mental health.
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Sumner, J., Gao, X., Gambazza, S., Dye, C., Colich, N., Baccarelli, A., Uddin, M., et al. (2023). Stressful life events and accelerated biological aging over time in youths. Psychoneuroendocrinology , 151, 106058-106067. Publisher's VersionAbstract
Experiencing adversity in childhood and adolescence, including stressful life events (SLEs), may accelerate the pace of development, leading to adverse mental and physical health. However, most research on adverse early experiences and biological aging (BA) in youths relies on cross-sectional designs. In 171 youths followed for approximately 2 years, we examined if SLEs over follow-up predicted rate of change in two BA metrics: epigenetic age and Tanner stage. We also investigated if rate of change in BA was associated with changes in depressive symptoms over time. Youths aged 8–16 years at baseline self-reported Tanner stage and depressive symptoms at baseline and follow-up and provided saliva samples for DNA at both assessments. Horvath epigenetic age estimates were derived from DNA methylation data measured with the Illumina EPIC array. At follow-up, contextual threat interviews were administered to youths and caregivers to assess youths’ experiences of past-year SLEs. Interviews were objectively coded by an independent rating team to generate a SLE impact score, reflecting the severity of all SLEs occurring over the prior year. Rate of change in BA metrics was operationalized as change in epigenetic age or Tanner stage as a function of time between assessments. Higher objective SLE impact scores over follow-up were related to a greater rate of change in epigenetic age (β = 0.21, p = .043). Additionally, among youths with lower—but not higher—Tanner stage at baseline, there was a positive association of SLE impact scores with rate of change in Tanner stage (Baseline Tanner Stage × SLE Impact Score interaction: β = − 0.21, p = .011). A greater rate of change in epigenetic age was also associated with higher depressive symptom levels at follow-up, adjusting for baseline symptoms (β = 0.15, p = .043). Associations with epigenetic age were similar, although slightly attenuated, when adjusting for epithelial (buccal) cell proportions. Whereas much research in youths has focused on severe experiences of early adversity, we demonstrate that more commonly experienced SLEs during adolescence may also contribute to accelerated BA. Further research is needed to understand the long-term consequences of changes in BA metrics for health.
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Colich, N., Hanford, L., Weissman, D., Allen, N., Shirtcliff, E., Lengua, L., Sheridan, M., et al. (2023). Childhood trauma, earlier pubertal timing, and psychopathology in adolescence: The role of corticolimbic development. Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience , 59, 1-9. Publisher's VersionAbstract
Earlier pubertal development appears to be one pathway through which childhood trauma contributes to psychopathology in adolescence. Puberty-related changes in neural networks involved in emotion processing, namely the amygdala-medial prefrontal (mPFC) circuit, may be a potential mechanism linking trauma and adolescent psychopathology. Our participants were 227 youth between 10 and 13 years of age who completed assessments of threat and deprivation-related experiences of adversity, pubertal stage, and internalizing and externalizing symptoms. A subset (n = 149) also underwent a functional MRI scan while passively viewing fearful and calm faces. Potential mechanisms linking childhood trauma with psychopathology, encompassing earlier pubertal timing and neural response to aversive stimuli were explored. Earlier pubertal development was associated with childhood trauma as well as increased externalizing symptoms in boys only. Earlier pubertal timing in males and females was negatively associated with activation in bilateral amygdala, hippocampal, and fusiform regions when comparing fearful and calm faces. However, amygdala-mPFC connectivity showed no association with pubertal timing or psychopathology symptoms. These findings do not support accelerated amygdala-mPFC development as a mechanism linking childhood trauma and psychopathology, but instead provide support for the role of pubertal development in normative decreases in limbic activation across development.
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Wade, M., McLaughlin, K., Buzzell, G., Fox, N., Zeanah, C., & Nelson, C. (2023). Family-based care buffers the stress sensitizing effect of early deprivation on executive functioning difficulties in adolescence , 93 (1), 43-56. Publisher's VersionAbstract

We examined whether family care following early-life deprivation buffered the association between stressful life events (SLEs) and executive functioning (EF) in adolescence. In early childhood, 136 institutionally reared children were randomly assigned to foster care or care-as-usual; 72 never-institutionalized children served as a comparison group. At age 16 years, adolescents (n = 143; 54% female; 67.1% Romanian) self-reported recent SLEs, completed a battery of memory and EF tasks, and completed a go/nogo task in which mediofrontal theta power (MFTP) was measured using electroencephalogram. More independent SLEs predicted lower EF and more dependent SLEs predicted lower MFTP, but only among adolescents with prolonged early deprivation. Findings provide preliminary evidence that family care following early deprivation may facilitate resilience against stress during adolescence on EF.

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Peverill, M., Rosen, M., Lurie, L., Sambrook, K., Sheridan, M., & McLaughlin, K. (2023). Childhood trauma and brain structure in children and adolescents. Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience , 59, 1-9. Publisher's VersionAbstract
The dimensional model of adversity proposes that experiences of threat and deprivation have distinct neurodevelopmental consequences. We examined these dimensions, separately and jointly, with brain structure in a sample of 149 youth aged 8–17—half recruited based on exposure to threat-related experiences. We predicted that greater threat would be uniquely associated with reduced cortical thickness and surface area in brain regions associated with salience processing including ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC), anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), and insula, and that deprivation experiences would be uniquely associated with reductions in cortical thickness and surface area in frontoparietal areas associated with cognitive control. As predicted, greater threat was associated with thinner cortex in a network including areas involved in salience processing (anterior insula, vmPFC), and smaller amygdala volume (particularly in younger participants), after controlling for deprivation. Contrary to our hypotheses, threat was also associated with thinning in the frontoparietal control network. However, these associations were reduced following control for deprivation. No associations were found between deprivation and brain structure. This examination of deprivation and threat concurrently in the same sample provided further evidence that threat-related experiences influence the structure of the developing brain independent of deprivation.
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Thomas, J., Colich, N., McLaughlin, K., & Sumner, J. (2023). Dimensions of Early Adversity and Sexual Behavior in a US Population-Based Adolescent Sample. Journal of Adolescent Health , 72, 560-567. Publisher's VersionAbstract

Purpose

Early life adversity (ELA) is associated with sexual risk, but ELA dimensions—and potential mechanisms—have been less examined. We evaluated associations between threat and deprivation—two key ELA dimensions—and sexual behaviors in adolescents. Secondary analyses investigated age at menarche as a mechanism linking ELA with sexual outcomes in girls. We predicted associations between threat and sexual behaviors, with younger age at menarche as a pathway.

Methods

Data were from the National Comorbidity Survey, Adolescent Supplement. Adolescents and caregivers reported on youths' ELA experiences, which were categorized as threat- or deprivation-related. Adolescents reported if they engaged in sex (N = 9,937) and on specific sexual risk indicators, including age at first sex, number of past-year sexual partners, and condom use consistency (“always” vs. “not always” used). Girls reported age at menarche.

Results

Threat (odds ratio [OR] = 1.76 [95% confidence interval [CI], 1.62–1.92]) and deprivation (OR = 1.51 [95% CI, 1.24–1.83]) were each linked with engagement in sex, ps<.05. Threat-related experiences were associated with multiple sexual risk markers, even when accounting for deprivation: earlier age at first sex (b = −0.20 [95% CI, −0.27 to 0.13]), greater number of partners (b = 0.17 [95% CI, 0.10–0.25]), and inconsistent condom use (OR = 0.72 [95% CI, 0.64–0.80]), ps <.001. Deprivation was not associated with sexual risk when adjusting for threat. We observed no significant indirect effects through age at menarche.

Discussion

Although threat and deprivation were related to engagement in sexual activity, threat-related experiences were uniquely associated with sexual risk. Screening for threat-related ELA may identify adolescents at-risk for poor sexual health.

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Kim, S. G., Weissman, D. G., Sheridan, M. A., & McLaughlin, K. A. (2023). Child abuse and automatic emotion regulation in children and adolescents. Development and Psychopathology , 35, 157-167. Publisher's VersionAbstract
Child abuse is associated with elevated risk for psychopathology. The current study examined the role of automatic emotion regulation as a potential mechanism linking child abuse with internalizing psychopathology. A sample of 237 youth aged 8–16 years and their caregivers participated. Child abuse severity was assessed by self-report questionnaires, and automatic emotion regulation was assessed using an emotional Stroop task designed to measure adaptation to emotional conflict. A similar task without emotional stimuli was also administered to evaluate whether abuse was uniquely associated with emotion regulation, but not cognitive control applied in a nonemotional context. Internalizing psychopathology was assessed concurrently and at a 2-year longitudinal follow-up. Child abuse severity was associated with lower emotional conflict adaptation but was unrelated to cognitive control. Specifically, the severity of emotional and physical abuse, but not sexual abuse, were associated with lower emotional conflict adaptation. Emotional conflict adaptation was not associated with internalizing psychopathology prospectively. These findings suggest that childhood emotional and physical abuse, in particular, may influence automatic forms of emotion regulation. Future work exploring the socioemotional consequences of altered automatic emotion regulation among youth exposed to child abuse is clearly needed.
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2022
Peverill, M., Dirks, M. A., Narvaja, T., Herts, K. L., Comer, J. S., & McLaughlin, K. A. (2022). Socioeconomic status and child psychopathology in the United States: A meta-analysis of population-based studies. Clinical Psychology Review , 83, 101933-101948. Publisher's VersionAbstract
Children raised in families with low socioeconomic status (SES) are more likely to exhibit symptoms of psychopathology. However, the strength of this association, the specific indices of SES most strongly associated with childhood psychopathology, and factors moderating the association are strikingly inconsistent across studies. We conducted a meta-analysis of 120 estimates of the association between family SES and child psychopathology in 13 population-representative cohorts of children studied in the US since 1980. Among 26,715 participants aged 3–19 years, we observed small to moderate associations of low family income (g = 0.19), low Hollingshead index (g = 0.21), low subjective SES (g = 0.24), low parental education (g = 0.25), poverty status (g = 0.25), and receipt of public assistance (g = 0.32) with higher levels of childhood psychopathology. Moderator testing revealed that receipt of public assistance showed an especially strong association with psychopathology and that SES was more strongly related to externalizing than internalizing psychopathology. Dispersion in our final, random effects, model suggested that the relation between SES and child psychopathology is likely to vary in different populations of children and in different communities. These findings highlight the need for additional research on the mechanisms of SES-related psychopathology risk in children in order to identify targets for potential intervention.
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Romeo, R. R., Flournoy, J. C., McLaughlin, K. A., & Lengua, L. J. (2022). Language development as a mechanism linking socioeconomic status to executive functioning development in preschool. Developmental Science , 25 (5), 13227-13239. Publisher's VersionAbstract
Childhood socioeconomic status (SES) is related to disparities in the development of both language and executive functioning (EF) skills. Emerging evidence suggests that language development may precede and provide necessary scaffolding for EF development in early childhood. The present preregistered study investigates how these skills co-develop longitudinally in early childhood and whether language development explains the relationship between SES and EF development. A socioeconomically diverse sample of 305 children completed repeated assessments of language (sentence comprehension) and EF (cognitive flexibility, behavioral inhibition, and cognitive inhibition) at four waves spaced 9 months apart from ages 3 to 5 years. Bivariate latent curve models with structured residuals were estimated to disaggregate between-person and within-person components of stability and change. Results revealed bidirectional relationships between language and EF across all waves. However, at 3 years, language comprehension more strongly predicted EF than the reverse; yet by 5 years, the bidirectional effects across domains did not significantly differ. Children from higher-SES backgrounds exhibited higher initial language and EF skills than children from lower-SES families, though SES was not associated with either rate of growth. Finally, early language-mediated the association between SES and early EF skills, and this model outperformed a reverse direction mediation. Together, results suggest that EF development is driven by early language development, and that SES disparities in EF are explained, at least in part, by early differences in language comprehension. These findings have implications for early interventions to support children's language skills as a potential pathway to improving early EF development.
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