Catherine Walker O'Neal

Adolescent Mental Health and Academic Functioning: Empirical Support for Contrasting Models of Risk and Vulnerability

Adolescents in military families contend with normative stressors that are universal and exist across social contexts (minority status, family disruptions, and social isolation) as well as stressors reflective of their military life context (e.g., parental deployment, school transitions, and living outside the United States). This study utilizes a social ecological perspective and a stress process lens to examine the relationship between multiple risk factors and relevant indicators of youth well-being, namely depressive symptoms and academic performance, as well as the mediating role of self-efficacy (N = 1,036). Three risk models were tested: an additive effects model (each risk factor uniquely influences outcomes), a full cumulative effects model (the collection of risk factors influences outcomes), a comparative model (a cumulative effects model exploring the differential effects of normative and military-related risks). This design allowed for the simultaneous examination of multiple risk factors and a comparison of alternative perspectives on measuring risk. Each model was predictive of depressive symptoms and academic performance through persistence; however, each model provides unique findings about the relationship between risk factors and youth outcomes. Discussion is provided pertinent to service providers and researchers on how risk is conceptualized and suggestions for identifying at-risk youth.

Social consequences of early socioeconomic adversity and youth BMI trajectories: gender and race/ethnicity differences.

The present study investigated the mediating effects of adolescent BMI trajectories on socioeconomic continuity over the early life course using a nationally representative sample of 11,075 respondents. This study considered both the initial severity as well as change over time in BMI as psycho-physiological mediators. Consistent with the life course pathway model and the cumulative advantage and disadvantage principle, the results suggested that early socioeconomic adversity is associated with youth BMI trajectories over time, which in turn, impair young adult socioeconomic attainment. The results also revealed important gender and racial/ethnic differences in the hypothesized associations. These findings elucidate how early adversity exerts an enduring long-term influence on social attainment in young adulthood. Further, the findings suggest that effective obesity intervention and prevention programs should focus not only on the severity of obesity but also on growth in BMI over the early years.

Reducing cardiovascular disease risk in mid-life and older African Americans: A church-based longitudinal intervention project at baseline

INTRODUCTION African Americans (AAs) experience higher age-adjusted morbidity and mortality than Whites for cardiovascular disease (CVD). Church-based health programs can reduce risk factors for CVD, including elevated blood pressure [BP], excess body weight, sedentary lifestyle and diet. Yet few studies have incorporated older adults and longitudinal designs. PURPOSES The aims of this study are to: a) describe a theory-driven longitudinal intervention study to reduce CVD risk in mid-life and older AAs; b) compare selected dietary (fruit and vegetable servings/day, fat consumption), physical activity (PA) and clinical variables (BMI, girth circumferences, systolic and diastolic BP, LDL, HDL, total cholesterol [CHOL] and HDL/CHOL) between treatment and comparison churches at baseline; c) identify selected background characteristics (life satisfaction, social support, age, gender, educational level, marital status, living arrangement and medication use) at baseline that may confound results; and d) share the lessons learned. METHODS This study incorporated a longitudinal pre/post with comparison group quasi-experimental design. Community-based participatory research (CBPR) was used to discover ideas for the study, identify community advisors, recruit churches (three treatment, three comparison) in two-counties in North Florida, and randomly select 221 mid-life and older AAs (45+) (n=104 in clinical subsample), stratifying for age and gender. Data were collected through self-report questionnaires and clinical assessments. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS Dietary, PA and clinical results were similar to the literature. Treatment and comparison groups were similar in background characteristics and health behaviors but differed in selected clinical factors. For the total sample, relationships were noted for most of the background characteristics. Lessons learned focused on community relationships and participant recruitment.

Resilient family processes, personal reintegration, and subjective well-being outcomes for military personnel and their family members.

Deployment affects not just the service members, but also their family members back home. Accordingly, this study examined how resilient family processes during a deployment (i.e., frequency of communication and household management) were related to the personal reintegration of each family member (i.e., how well each family member begins to “feel like oneself again” after a deployment), as well as several indicators of subjective well-being. Drawing from the family attachment network model (Riggs & Riggs, 2011), the present study collected survey data from 273 service members, their partners, and their adolescent children. Resilient family processes during the deployment itself (i.e., frequency of communication, household management), postdeployment positive and negative personal reintegration, and several indicators of well-being were assessed. Frequency of communication was related to personal reintegration for service members, while household management was related to personal reintegration for nondeployed partners; both factors were related to personal reintegration for adolescents. Negative and positive personal reintegration related to a variety of subjective well-being outcomes for each individual family member. Interindividual (i.e., crossover) effects were also found, particularly between adolescents and nondeployed partners.

Contextualizing the Psychosocial Well‐being of Military Members and Their Partners: The Importance of Community and Relationship Provisions

Evidence of the impact of communities has been documented for a variety of individual and relational outcomes, including mental and physical health as well as the quality of romantic and parent-child relationships. The military represents a rather unique work context; in that, it is generally considered a lifestyle with a distinct culture and community. Yet, military families are also members of their broader, comprehensive community. Drawing from the social organizational theory of action and change (SOC) (Mancini & Bowen, 2013), and relationship provisions theory (Weiss, 1969) and utilizing a sample of 266 active duty military families, this study examined connectedness with the military community and the broader, comprehensive community. A dyadic model was evaluated whereby each partners perspective of their comprehensive and military community was hypothesized to influence their own psychosocial well-being as well as their partners psychosocial well-being. The role of relationship provisions (that is, having relationship needs met) as a mechanism linking community connections to psychosocial well-being was also examined. Overall, the findings supported the hypothesized model, particularly for intra-individual effects and military members. Findings emphasize the importance of considering what is gained from connections within a community rather than a focus solely on the connections themselves.

Identifying diverse life transition patterns from adolescence to young adulthood: The influence of early socioeconomic context

The purposes of the present study are to investigate: (1) the heterogeneity in life transition patterns of youth from adolescence to young adulthood (ages 18-30) involving the timing and sequence of four transition events (college graduation, full-time employment, marriage, and parenthood), (2) the influence of early socioeconomic adversity on life transition patterns from adolescence to young adulthood, and (3) the influence of gender and race/ethnicity on these transition patterns. Using a multivariate discrete-time mixture survival model with a sample of 14,503 adolescents from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health), the study identified four life transition patterns and found that early socioeconomic adversity shapes disrupted life transition patterns from adolescence to young adulthood. Gender and race/ethnicity differences are discussed. These results highlight the need for prevention and intervention programs that selectively target at-risk youth beginning in adolescence and continuing through subsequent transition periods.

The decade-long effect of work insecurity on husbands’ and wives’ midlife health mediated by anxiety: A dyadic analysis.

Although the detrimental physical health effects of work insecurity have been noted in previous research, less is known about the mediating processes, such as anxiety symptoms, that link work insecurity to physical health. Even less research has explored these effects at specific life stages and how these effects may impact significant others, even though the impact of this stress may vary across the life course and the mutual influences between married partners may cause dyadic effects stemming from partners’ work insecurity. To fill these gaps, the current study incorporates theories that emphasize the stress-work connection, such as stress appraisal theory (Lazarus, 1999) and resource conservation theory (Hobfoll, 1989), into a neurobiological stress-health perspective. This study uses a sample of 330 consistently married, dual-earner husbands and wives who provided data at multiple time points over a 10-year period from 1991 to 2001. Results from a model including growth curves of work insecurity and anxiety symptoms when respondents were in their early middle years and reports of physical illness in their later middle years generally supported the hypothesized model. Both the level and rate of change in work insecurity were related to the change in anxiety symptoms over time. Similarly, the level and rate of change in anxiety symptoms from 1991 to 1994 were linked to subsequent illness years later in 2001. There was only partial support for the existence of partner effects. Findings are discussed as they relate to previous research as well as policy and clinical implications.

Family hostility and depressive symptoms in middle-aged couples: Moderating effect of marital integration.

This study examined (a) the associations between family hostility (husband–wife marital hostility and child hostility) and middle-aged husbands’ and wives’ depressive symptoms over an 11-year time period and (b) the moderating influence of couples’ marital integration on these associations as measured by their joint activity. Higher order family-level latent constructs captured chronic husband–wife (marital) hostility using husbands’ and wives’ reports of chronic hostile interactions from 1990 to 1992, while a higher order latent construct of chronic child hostility toward parents was measured using parental reports of children’s hostile behaviors from 1990 to 1992. Structural equation modeling with data from 370 families depicted the longitudinal impact of family hostility on depressive symptoms of both husbands and wives in 2001 after accounting for earlier levels of depressive symptoms in 1991. Separate models were fit for couples with high and low levels of marital integration. For couples who experienced low levels of marital integration, chronic marital hostility and child hostility were related to depressive symptoms in husbands and wives. However, for those with high marital integration, these influences were largely diminished.

Adverse work experiences and marital outcomes in middle years: Role of self-esteem: Adverse work experiences and marital outcomes

This study assesses the decade-long influence of adverse work experiences on husbands’ and wives’ problem-solving behaviors and marital quality through self-esteem using structural equation modeling with a sample of 308 dual-earning couples. Analyses controlled for earlier marital quality, allowing for assessment of the residual change in marital quality over 10 years. Adverse work experiences directly affected marital quality and indirectly affected decreases in marital quality through lower self-esteem; lastly, individuals’ self-esteem was positively related to increased problem-solving behaviors. In addition, there was a crossover association, with wives’ and husbands’ self-esteem influencing one another’s problem-solving behaviors. These results contribute to a deeper understanding about the processes responsible for the detrimental impact of adverse work experiences. Adverse work experiences and family life are intricately intertwined with one another, causing experiences in one domain to affect the other (Matthews, Conger, & Wickrama, 1996; Minnotte, Minnotte, & Bonstrom, 2015). This association is particularly important because the number of dual-earner couples has steadily risen since the 1970s. As of 2012, 60% of married individuals in the workforce were dual-earner couples, a 45% increase since 1960 (Pew Research Center, 2012). Additionally, as the age of retirement increases, it is important to consider how adverse work experiences affect individuals as they age. With the rise in dual-earner couples, the increasing retirement age, and the abundance of research indicating that work context is influential for Victoria King, Department of Human Development and Family Science, University of Georgia; Kandauda K. A. S. Wickrama, Child and Family Development, University of Georgia; Catherine Walker O’Neal, Child and Family Development, University of Georgia; Frederick O. Lorenz, Department of Statistics, Iowa State University. Correspondence should be addressed to Victoria King, University of Georgia, Department of Human Development and Family Science, 114 Dawson Hall, 305 Sanford Dr., Athens, GA 30605, e-mail: vab70424@uga.edu. family life, it is important to understand how husbands’ and wives’ adverse work experiences in the early middle years (average age of 40) can impact their marital quality in the later middle years (average age of 50). Midlife (defined as ages 40–50) is a life stage filled with events and transitions that are often stressful, including adverse work experiences, and these stressors can be transferred to other life domains, with long-term consequences on well-being and marital relationships (Cleland, Kearns, Tannahill, & Ellaway, 2016; Moos, Brennan, Schutte, & Moss, 2006). This study seeks to elucidate individual-level processes that link work experiences to middle-aged husbands’ and wives’ marital quality through a psychocognitive lens. Previous research on the work socialization tradition suggests that work experiences influence individuals’ personal resources, such as feelings of mastery, control, and self-esteem (Kohn & Schooler, 1973; Wickrama, Surjadi, Lorenz, & Elder, 2008), which, in turn, has implications for couples’ marital problem-solving behaviors (Hakanen, Wilmar, & Ahola, 2008). In particular, a lack

Marital processes linking economic hardship to mental health: The role of neurotic vulnerability.

Both enduring neurotic vulnerabilities and economic hardship have been shown to negatively influence marital behaviors, which have physical and mental health consequences. However, because most previous research is fragmented and has focused on the early years of marriage or relatively short periods of time, their long-term effects are unclear. Using data from the Iowa Midlife Transitions Project, with a sample of 370 married couples providing data from 1991 to 2001, we assessed enduring personal and couple vulnerabilities, trajectories of family economic hardship, and couples’ marital hostility using a comprehensive dyadic model to ascertain their influence on subsequent mental health. Couple marital hostility trajectories and neurotic vulnerabilities (both additively and interactively) were associated with changes in both spouses’ depressive symptoms. Results also indicated that couples’ marital hostility trajectories link trajectories of family economic hardship to subsequent changes in husbands’ and wives’ depressive symptoms. Last, associations between economic hardship trajectories, marital hostility trajectories, and depressive symptoms were moderated by couples’ neurotic vulnerability as captured by a product term of husbands’ and wives’ neurotic vulnerability. In general, these associations were amplified for couples with a high level of couple vulnerability and weakened (or altogether absent) for those with a low level of vulnerability.