abstract: It is well-established that maternal depression is significantly related to internalizing and externalizing behavioral problems and psychopathology in general. However, research suggests maternal depression does not account for all the variance of these outcomes and that other family contextual factors should be investigated. The role of fathers beyond their simple presence or absence is one factor that needs to be further investigated in the context of maternal depression. The proposed study used prospective and cross-sectional analyses to examine father effects (i.e., paternal depression, alcohol use, involvement, and familism) on youth internalizing and externalizing symptoms within the context of maternal depression. The sample consisted of 405 Mexican-American families who had a student in middle school. Data were collected when the students were in 7th and 10th grade. Results from path analyses revealed that maternal depression significantly predicted concurrent youth internalizing symptoms in 7th and 10th grade and externalizing symptoms in 10th grade. In contrast, paternal depression was not related to adolescent symptomatology at either time point, nor was paternal alcoholism, and analyses failed to support moderating effects for any of the paternal variables. However, paternal involvement (father-report) uniquely predicted youth internalizing and externalizing symptoms over and above maternal depression in 7th grade. Youth report of paternal involvement uniquely predicted both internalizing and externalizing in 7th and 10th grade. Paternal familism uniquely predicted youth externalizing symptoms in 7th grade. The present findings support that maternal depression, but not paternal depression, is associated with concurrent levels of youth symptomatology in adolescence. The study did not support that fathers adjustment moderated (exacerbate or buffer) maternal depression effects. However, paternal involvement and paternal familism showed compensatory effects on youth symptomatology in concurrent analyses. / Dissertation/Thesis / M.A. Psychology 2013

abstract: Alcohol use disorders and internalizing disorders are highly comorbid in adults, but how this comorbidity unfolds over development is not well understood. Previous retrospective studies in adults have shown that internalizing problems are associated with a rapid transition from first drink and first regular drinking to the onset of alcohol dependence. Some results also suggest that internalizing is a stronger predictor of rapid transitions through later stages of alcohol involvement, but these stage-specific effects have not been explicitly tested. The present study utilized a prospective dataset to investigate effects of adolescent internalizing symptoms on speed of transition through multiple stages of alcohol involvement. Specifically, it was hypothesized that greater early internalizing symptoms would predict a later age of first drink, a slower transition from first drink to first binge, and a faster transition from first binge to first dependence symptom. The moderating effects of gender were also examined. Data were from a longitudinal study of children of alcoholics and matched controls (n = 454) followed from late childhood to mid-life. Linear regression and Cox regression were the primary analytic strategies. Covariates were externalizing symptoms, family history of alcohol use disorders, and gender. Analyses also controlled for age at which the participant entered each interval. Generally, stage-specific hypotheses concerning the effects of internalizing were not supported. Internalizing symptoms marginally predicted an earlier age of first drink and a faster transition from first binge to first dependence symptom, and significantly predicted a faster transition through the overall interval from first drink to first dependence symptom. Internalizing was a stronger predictor of rapid transitions for women, and the effects of internalizing were not specific to early or later stages of alcohol involvement among women. These results suggest that early internalizing problems are a general risk factor for a rapid transition through all stages of alcohol involvement, and this risk may be stronger for women than for men. These results have important implications for our theoretical understanding of the relationship between internalizing problems and alcohol use disorders as well as prevention and intervention efforts targeting these problems. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Psychology 2014

abstract: Although research has documented robust prospective relationships between externalizing symptomatology and subsequent binge drinking among adolescents, the extent to which internalizing symptoms increase risk for drinking remains controversial. In particular, the role of anxiety as a predictor of binge drinking remains unclear. Recent evidence suggests that one possible reason for these mixed findings is that separate dimensions of anxiety may differentially confer risk for alcohol use. The present study tested two dimensions of anxiety - worry and physiological anxiety -- as predictors of binge drinking in a longitudinal study of juvenile delinquents. Overall, results indicate that worry and physiological anxiety showed differential relations with drinking behavior. In general, worry was protective against alcohol use, whereas physiological anxiety conferred risk for binge drinking, but both effects were conditional on levels of offending. Implications for future research examining the role of anxiety in predicting drinking behavior among youth are discussed. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Psychology 2014

Data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth (NLSCY), a nationally representative and prospective cohort, was used to explore patterns of problem behaviour in elementary school aged children across time and their association to adolescent health-risk outcomes. Latent profile analyses identified four profiles of problem behaviour: (1) low on all problem behaviours, (2) moderate on all problem behaviours, (3) high on all problem behaviours, and (4) high on hyperactivity/inattention and internalizing. This measurement invariant trend was observed at ages 6/7, 8/9, and 10/11. Transition patterns between these profiles of problem behaviour from ages 6/7 to 10/11 were also identified (n=8,266). The association of these profiles and transition patterns with health-risk outcomes were computed using logistic regression modelling. While patterns of persisting problem behaviour were associated with suicidal thoughts, substance use, and delinquency, they did not differ from the profile at age 10/11 years, where the “Moderate all” and “High all” profiles of problem behaviour predicted the most health-risk outcomes in adolescence. The most recent assessment of problem behaviour in adolescence was as good of a predictor of adolescent health-risk outcomes relative to patterns of problem behaviour across time.

This study examined the role of nonresidential, Black fathers in the psychosocial adjustment of Black adolescents from single-mother households. Participants included 107 noncohabiting Black parental dyads with children between the ages of 12 and 18 years. Participants completed measures of positive parenting, parent-child relationship quality, depressive symptoms, coparenting relationship quality, and adolescents’ emotional and behavioral functioning. Results of hierarchical multiple regressions found that father factors contributed unique variance to adolescent outcomes when using father-reported and combined father- and mother-reported adolescent functioning. Coparenting relationship quality mediated the relationship between father-child relationship quality and adolescent behavioral problems when using mother-reported and combined father- and mother-reported adolescent functioning. This study highlights the unique contributions of nonresident Black father factors to adolescent outcomes and supports the need for further research in this area.

Background and Objective: Type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) is one of the most common pediatric chronic illnesses. Youth with T1DM have been shown to be at risk for internalizing problems and obtaining insufficient sleep. An emerging body of literature has demonstrated the feasibility and potential benefit of increasing sleep duration as a strategy to improve psychological outcomes in nondiabetic school age populations. The current study seeks to investigate the relationship between sleep and internalizing symptoms and empirically examine the effect of a sleep extension intervention on internalizing symptoms in youth with T1DM. Methods: The sample consisted of 106 youth with T1DM (mean age = 13.5 ± 2.1 years) who were part of a larger study recruited over a three-year period. Participants were 52.8% male and 50.9% identified as non-white. The primary outcome measure was the Behavior Assessment System for Children, Second Edition (BASC-2), both parent and self-report. Other behavioral and sleep measures included actigraphy, sleep diary, the School Sleep Habits Survey (SSHS), Pediatric Symptoms Checklist (PSC), and the Child Sleep Habits Questionnaire (CSHQ). Participants were randomly assigned to either the Sleep Extension condition (n = 50), in which they were asked to extend their sleep duration, or the Fixed Sleep Duration condition (n = 56), in which they were asked to maintain the same amount of sleep as their baseline. Results: Average sleep durations varied across measures, with all values falling in the lower range or below national recommendations. More than a third (34.5%) of the sample had elevated scores for internalizing problems based on parent report, and 17.7% were elevated based on self-report. Pearson correlations indicated that parent reported sleep duration was negatively related to self-reported anxiety, r(106) = -0.237, p = 0.018, as well as parent-reported depression, r(106) = -0.218, p = 0.028, and emotional self-control, r(106) = -0.232, p = 0.018. No other measure of sleep duration was significantly correlated with internalizing symptoms. Secondary analyses of measures of sleep quality including sleep efficiency (SE), wake after sleep onset (WASO), and sleepiness, were significantly related to internalizing problems based on both parent and self-report (all p < 0.05), whereas more variability in sleep duration (CV) was related to higher self-reported depression, r(106) = 0.210, p = 0.033. Following the sleep intervention, participants in the Sleep Extension condition increased their average sleep duration by 26.71 minutes based on actigraphy, while participants in the Fixed Sleep duration decreased by 0.14 minutes from pre- to post-intervention. Participants in the Sleep Extension condition had significantly lower scores on the BASC-2 Internalizing Problems Composite than participants in the Fixed Sleep Duration condition following the intervention, after controlling for sex and baseline internalizing symptoms, F(1, 98) = 4.18, p = 0.044. On average, the Internalizing Problems Composite score of participants in the Sleep Extension condition decreased by almost half a standard deviation (4.65 ± 6.41 points), compared to a decrease of 2.31 ± 6.59 points for participants in the Fixed Sleep Duration condition. There were no significant effects for self-report. Conclusions: Youth with T1DM obtained insufficient sleep and experienced high rates of internalizing symptoms. The results also suggest that relations between sleep and internalizing symptoms exist; however, these associations may be more driven by other aspects of sleep rather than actual sleep loss, such as nighttime sleep disturbance, daytime sleepiness, and variability of the sleep schedule. The findings further indicated that a sleep extension intervention was effective in increasing sleep duration, as well as reducing parent-reported internalizing symptoms in a sample of children and adolescents with T1DM. This intervention has the potential to be utilized as a cost effective, and relatively easy to implement method for reducing internalizing symptoms in youth with T1DM.

Differences in family structure have been linked to several mental health outcomes, where children living in a nuclear family setting are best-off, while children in joint physical custody are second best followed by those living mostly and only with one parent. One of the biggest changes in recent years is that joint physical custody is growing more common. The dependent variables in this thesis were three dimensions of mental health from the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire. Data from 6th and 9th graders in the entire Sweden 2009 was used. Regression modelling showed differences in mental health between the family structures throughout, although children in  joint physical custody was not significantly different from those in nuclear families (reference category) in half of the models. Children living mostly with one parent reported the third worst levels of problematic behaviour and prevalence of low prosocial behaviour while those living with just one parent were worst off. Stratifying by gender did reveal small coefficient differences and so did controls for birth region. This thesis, although in a line of other publications based on this study can help shape future guidelines for e.g. social workers.

This study used a twin and triplet sample to investigate the influence of preschoolers’ physical activity levels and internalizing problems on subsequent health outcomes (body-mass index, internalizing behavior problems, household health behaviors) in middle childhood. The potential influence of stressors salient in childhood (household chaos, socioeconomic status, stressful life events) on the hypothesized relationship between physical activity and internalizing on health was also explored. A specific focus was placed on examining the underlying genetic and environmental influences of children’s physical activity levels, as assessed by both temperamental (parent-reported) activity levels and observed (in-lab) motor behavior, using a behavioral genetic approach. By measuring physical activity in these two ways, this project also investigated the validity of the observational coding scheme developed for the current study to assess preschoolers’ overt motor behavior during laboratory testing. Data from 65 families (n = 134 children) included in the Southern Illinois Twins/Triplets and Siblings Study (SITSS) were examined from age 5 (physical activity levels, internalizing problems, and household chaos) to follow-up (body-mass index, internalizing problems, household health behavior, socioeconomic status, and stressful life events) when children were age 7-13 years old. Findings indicated that observed motor behavior and temperamental activity were not significantly correlated, suggesting that these measures assess different aspects of preschoolers’ physical activity levels. Additionally, results supported the reliability and validity of the newly developed observational coding scheme, which underscores the utility of this measure; employing this methodological tool in future studies focused on investigating motor behavior in childhood may be particularly fruitful. Genetic analyses demonstrated that approximately 66% and 34% of the variance in observed motor behavior was accounted for by additive genetic and non-shared environmental influences, respectively, whereas the variance in temperamental activity was attributable to dominant genetic effects (72%) and non-shared environmental influences (28%). These results suggest that differences in age 5 physical activity levels are largely due to genetic differences. Finally, longitudinal analyses showed that health outcomes at follow-up were significantly influenced by 5-year-old temperamental activity and internalizing problems, as well as follow-up socioeconomic status and stressful life events: 1) children who were older, were boys, and lived in a low socioeconomic status household had a higher body-mass index at follow-up; 2) children with higher age 5 internalizing problems and concurrent stressful life events had greater internalizing problems at follow-up; 3) boys and children with higher age 5 temperamental activity had lower scores for household health behaviors. The present project provides greater insight into childhood health (body-mass index, internalizing, household health behaviors) by examining factors relevant to health (physical activity levels, internalizing problems, stress) across development (i.e., from age 5 to ages 7-13 years).

abstract: This study examined whether periods of secure confinement in juvenile detention, jails, and prisons are associated with short- and longer-term increases in adolescent males’ internalizing problems during adolescence and young adulthood. Data came from a longitudinal community sample of 506 male adolescents who were assessed every six months for three years and annually for ten subsequent years. At each assessment, participants reported on their confinement experiences and internalizing problems (i.e., anxiety, depression) during the recall period. Fixed-effects models examined within-individual changes in internalizing problems before, during, and after youth reported any overnight stay in a correctional facility, after controlling for the time-varying confounds of externalizing problem behaviors and previous justice system contact. Additionally, this study tested whether changes in the participants’ internalizing problems varied depending on the confinement facility (i.e., juvenile detention, jail, prison). Overall, results indicated that internalizing problems increased during periods where participants had been confined in a facility. In contrast, there were no changes in internalizing problems in the period prior to confinement and internalizing problems returned to baseline levels in the year following confinement. Facility-specific analyses indicated confinement in prison was associated with the largest increase in internalizing problems. Findings from this study indicate confinement does influence internalizing problems and interventions sensitive to internalizing problems should focus on providing services during confinement and immediate reentry period. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Criminology and Criminal Justice 2020

Co-rumination is a nuanced emotion socialization process that occurs with parents and friends during adolescence. Although co-ruminating builds closeness with others, it corresponds to increased internalizing symptoms, particularly for adolescent girls. The present study explored how specific features of co-rumination vary by relational context (parents, friends) and adolescent gender. These features were also examined in relation to adolescent internalizing symptoms, with adolescent gender as a potential moderator. Thirty adolescents (13–18 years old; 60% female, 40% male) participated in separate discourse tasks with their parent and their same-gender close friend. Co-rumination was observed during these conversations, and adolescents reported their internalizing symptoms. Features of co-rumination varied by relational context and adolescent gender, with unique links to adolescent internalizing symptoms. This study extends prior research by providing a fine-grained analysis of how co-rumination corresponds to internalizing symptoms across two relational contexts.