Christina Gamache Martin

Racial and Ethnic Differences in Diurnal Cortisol Rhythms in Preadolescents: The Role of Parental Psychosocial Risk and Monitoring

Racial/ethnic minorities experience persistent health disparities due in part to their exposure to chronic SES and psychosocial risk. The hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis and its hormonal end product, cortisol, are believed to mediate the associations between chronic stress and poor health. In this study, racial/ethnic differences in diurnal salivary cortisol rhythms in 179 preadolescent youths and the contributing roles of SES risk, psychosocial risk, perceived discrimination, harsh parenting, and parental monitoring were examined. The analyses revealed racial/ethnic differences in diurnal cortisol rhythms, with African Americans having significantly flatter morning-to-evening cortisol slopes than Caucasians and with Latinos having significantly lower evening cortisol levels than Caucasians. Greater psychosocial risk and less parental monitoring were associated with flatter cortisol slopes. Racial/ethnic differences on the cortisol measures persisted when controlling for SES, psychosocial risk, and parenting quality. The need to assess chronic risk across the lifespan and disentangle possible genetic from environmental contributors is discussed.

Teachers' Beliefs about Maltreatment Effects on Student Learning and Classroom Behavior

This study sought to examine teachers’ perceptions of child maltreatment. Teachers (N = 66) responded to open-ended questions asking how physical and sexual abuse and emotional neglect affect student learning and classroom behavior in an online survey. Teachers reported that maltreatment outcomes manifest in academic difficulties, attention-deficit, disruptive and internalizing behaviors, and other maltreatment-related sequelae. Teachers reported more negative consequences from attention-deficit and disruptive behaviors on classroom behavior compared to all other maltreatment outcomes combined. Given the overlapping behaviors exhibited by maltreated children and children with attention-deficit and disruptive behavior disorders, a greater emphasis should be placed on educating teachers on these similarities to better assist them in detecting and responding appropriately to potential cases of child maltreatment.

Linking typologies of childhood adversity to adult incarceration: findings from a nationally representative sample

Ecologically valid typologies of adverse child experiences (ACEs) were identified to investigate the link between ACEs and adult incarceration. In a nationally representative sample (N = 34,653, age 20+), latent class analysis (LCA) was conducted with childhood maltreatment (physical, sexual, and emotional abuse, interpersonal violence [IPV] exposure, physical neglect) and caregiver maladjustment (substance use, incarceration, mental illness, and suicidal behavior) indicators. LCA identified a 5-typology model (1. Low Adversity Risk; 2. Caregiver Substance Use, and Maltreatment Acts of Omission; 3. Physical and Emotional Maltreatment; 4. Severe Cross-Subtype Maltreatment and Caregiver Substance Use; and 5. Caregiver Maladjustment). Controlling for sociodemographics and substance use problems, logistic regression analyses determined that, compared with the Low Adversity Risk typology, all typologies (except Caregiver Maladjustment) had elevated incarceration risk (adjusted odds ratios: 1.76–4.18). Maltreatment experiences were more predictive of incarceration for women versus men. Childhood maltreatment confers risk for incarceration beyond established risk factors, but caregiver maladjustment, alone, does not. Preventative efforts should focus on understanding and targeting pathways to delinquency for individuals with childhood maltreatment.

Profiles of childhood trauma: betrayal, frequency, and psychological distress in late adolescence

OBJECTIVE With an emphasis on betrayal trauma, this study used latent profile analysis to examine how childhood traumas co-occur and whether trauma patterns differentially predicted psychological distress. METHOD A community sample of 806 adolescents and young adults participated. Youths reported their trauma histories, and lifetime DSM-IV disorders were assessed using a structured diagnostic interview. RESULTS Latent profile analysis yielded 5 profiles: high betrayal trauma physical violence and emotional abuse (HBTPE), high betrayal trauma sexual and emotional abuse (HBTSE), low betrayal trauma (LBT), parent death (PD), and a no/low trauma profile. Logistic regression analyses compared youths in the no/low trauma profile to those in the trauma profiles. Youths in the HBTPE profile were more likely to have moderate/severe major depressive disorder (odds ratio [OR] = 2.92, 95% CI [1.16, 7.32]), posttraumatic stress disorder (OR = 4.33, 95% CI [1.34, 14.03]), and hallucinations (OR = 5.03, 95% CI [2.00, 12.67]); youths in the HBTSE and LBT profiles were more likely to experience hallucinations (OR = 3.19, 95% CI [1.21, 8.39] and OR = 3.20, 95% CI [1.01, 10.19], respectively); and youths in the PD profile were more likely to have moderate/severe depression (OR = 2.42, 95% CI [1.07, 5.43]). CONCLUSIONS Specific trauma types co-occurred when considering type, level of betrayal, and frequency. The emergence of the 2 high betrayal trauma profiles, with differing symptom presentations, suggests that experiences of high betrayal traumas are not homogenous and specific trauma-focused interventions may be more appropriate for differing trauma profiles.

In the spirit of full disclosure: Maternal distress, emotion validation, and adolescent disclosure of distressing experiences.

The purpose of the current study was to investigate the dynamic process of disclosure within the adolescent–mother relationship by examining how maternal personal distress and validation of adolescent negative affect would be related to adolescent disclosure of a distressing experience for the first time. A community sample of 66 mothers and their adolescent children (M = 14.31 years, 58% female) participated. The adolescents disclosed an emotionally distressing experience to their mothers for the first time. Mothers’ validating behaviors and personal distress in response to their adolescents’ expressions of negative emotion were predictive of adolescent disclosure. Adolescents made less detailed or substantive disclosures to their mothers when adolescents perceived their mothers as less validating of their negative emotions and when mothers were more likely to become distressed themselves. Neither adolescent-perceived maternal invalidation nor observed maternal validating or invalidating behaviors were related to adolescent disclosure. Maternal personal distress was further indirectly associated with less substantive disclosures through less maternal validation of negative emotion. These findings provide the foundation for future research evaluating clinical interventions targeted at increasing mothers’ emotion regulation skills and validation of children’s negative emotions. Such interventions may provide an effective way to promote better mother–adolescent communication, especially in regard to distressing experiences.

Identifying novel applications of dialectical behavior therapy: considering emotion regulation and parenting

Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) is an effective treatment for an increasing number of mental disorders. Its increased application to a range of disorders has been prompted by the recognition that DBT targets emotion dysregulation, which is a transdiagnostic feature underlying several forms of psychopathology. More recently, DBT has been used to target additional clinically relevant domains that are outside diagnostically bound categories, such as improving parenting quality as a means of preventing psychopathology in children of parents with psychopathology. As the ability to regulate emotions is critical to parenting, this paper uses the connection between DBT, emotion regulation, and parenting as an illustration of how focusing on mechanistic features by which DBT is effective aids in strategically identifying areas by which DBT may be a highly useful treatment option.