Kelly M. Tu

Socially Anxious and Peer-Victimized Preadolescents: “Doubly Primed” for Distress?

We examined independent and interactive associations linking preadolescents’ socially anxious feelings and peer victimization experiences with their social behaviors (rated by parents and teachers) and psychophysiological arousal during lab simulations of salient peer stress situations in preadolescence (peer evaluation and peer rebuff). Sixty-three preadolescents and one parent per preadolescent participated. Respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA), skin conductance level (SCL), and heart rate (HR) were assessed during peer stress situations. Preadolescents provided reports of social anxiety; preadolescents and parents reported on peer victimization; and parents and teachers rated prosocial and aggressive behaviors. Peer victimization moderated associations between social anxiety and both physiological arousal and social-behavior problems. As hypothesized, social anxiety was more strongly associated with lower RSA, higher HR, and higher aggressive behavior among preadolescents who experienced higher levels of peer victimization, compared to preadolescents who experienced lower levels of peer victimization.

Sweating under pressure: skin conductance level reactivity moderates the association between peer victimization and externalizing behavior

BACKGROUND This study examined whether the association between peer victimization and externalizing behavior may be illuminated by individual differences in skin conductance level reactivity (SCLR) in the context of peer stress. METHODS Participants included 123 fifth and sixth graders (Mean age = 12.03 years, 50% females; 42% ethnic minorities). SCLR was assessed in the context of an ecologically relevant, lab-based peer-evaluative stress experience in preadolescence. RESULTS As hypothesized, self-reported peer victimization was linked with parent- and teacher-reported externalizing behavior, and SCLR consistently moderated these associations. Peer victimization was associated with parent- and teacher-reported externalizing behavior among preadolescents who exhibited lower SCLR, but not among preadolescents who exhibited higher SCLR. CONCLUSIONS Results suggest that promoting engagement with peer stress experiences and enhancing inhibitory control are potential intervention targets that may reduce externalizing behavior in the context of peer victimization (or reduce peer victimization among preadolescents who exhibit externalizing behavior).

Associations between children's intelligence and academic achievement: The role of sleep

Sleep problems (long wake episodes, low sleep efficiency) were examined as moderators of the relation between childrens intelligence and academic achievement. The sample was comprised of 280 children (55% boys; 63% European Americans, 37% African Americans; mean age = 10.40 years, SD = 0.65). Sleep was assessed during seven consecutive nights of actigraphy. Childrens performance on standardized tests of intelligence (Brief Intellectual Ability index of the Woodcock–Johnson III) and academic achievement (Alabama Reading and Math Test) were obtained. Age, sex, ethnicity, income‐to‐needs ratio, single parent status, standardized body mass index, chronic illness and pubertal development were controlled in analyses. Higher intelligence was strongly associated with higher academic achievement across a wide range of sleep quality. However, the association between intelligence and academic achievement was slightly attenuated among children with more long wake episodes or lower sleep efficiency compared with children with higher‐quality sleep.

Responses to Peer Stress Predict Academic Outcomes Across the Transition to Middle School

This study examined physiological and coping responses to peer-evaluative challenges in early adolescence as predictors of academic outcomes. The sample included 123 young adolescents ( X ¯ age = 12.03 years) who participated in the summer before (T1) and the spring after (T2) the transition to middle school. At T1, respiratory sinus arrhythmia reactivity (RSAR) and engaged coping responses (prosocial problem-solving, positive cognitive appraisals) were assessed in real-time during lab-based simulations of peer-evaluative challenges. Academic performance was assessed with multiple informants (teachers, parents, adolescents) at T1 and T2. Parents provided reports about academic adjustment to middle school at T2. RSAR significantly predicted improved academic performance between T1 and T2 and positive academic adjustment at T2. Engaged coping was marginally associated with improved academic performance and significantly associated with positive academic adjustment; these results were partially corroborated by analyses with an alternative measure of engaged coping (engaged planning), which significantly predicted improved academic performance.

Social Discomfort in Preadolescence: Predictors of Discrepancies between Preadolescents and Their Parents and Teachers

The present study investigated whether salient preadolescent behaviors and experiences predicted parents’ and teachers’ underestimation of preadolescents’ shyness. Participants included a community sample of 129 fifth and sixth graders, along with one parent and teacher per preadolescent. Preadolescents, parents, and teachers provided reports about preadolescents’ shyness, and parents and teachers rated preadolescents’ prosocial and aggressive behaviors, peer victimization experiences, and academic performance. Results indicated that parent- and teacher-reported prosocial behavior, teacher-reported aggressive behavior, and parent-reported peer victimization were associated with lower parent and teacher reports of preadolescent shyness, relative to preadolescent reports, controlling for demographic variables and parent stress. Additionally, higher parent-reported academic performance was associated with lower teacher reports of preadolescent shyness, compared to preadolescent reports. These findings suggest that preadolescents with higher levels of relatively conspicuous behaviors and experiences feel more shyness than their parents and teachers report.

Peer Victimization Predicts Sleep Problems in Early Adolescence

This study examined the prospective association between peer victimization and subjective sleep quality among typically developing early adolescents. At Time 1 (T1), participants included 123 youth (50% boys; X ¯ age = 12.03 years; 58.5% European American, 35% African American), along with one parent and teacher. Youth, parents, and teachers reported on youth’s experiences of peer victimization at T1. Youth reported on sleep quality at T1 and T2 (10 months later). Results from regression analyses revealed that youth-reported, but not parent- or teacher-reported, peer victimization predicted poorer sleep quality over time. Findings provide evidence that experiences of peer victimization can have a negative impact on youth’s sleep quality over time.

Parental social coaching promotes adolescent peer acceptance across the middle school transition

The present study investigated longitudinal associations between behavioral and cognitive dimensions of parental social coaching (i.e., advice about how to behave or think about peer challenges) and young adolescents’ peer acceptance, and whether such associations are moderated by youths’ social skills. Time 1 (T1) participants included 123 young adolescents (M age = 12.03 years; 50% boys; 58.5% European American). Parents gave open-ended reports about their social coaching to hypothetical peer stress scenarios, which were coded from low to high quality on behavioral and cognitive dimensions. Parents and teachers reported on adolescent prosocial behavior (i.e., social–behavioral skills), and adolescents reported on their social appraisals and social self-efficacy (i.e., social–cognitive skills). At T1 (before the first year of middle school) and Time 2 (approximately 10 months later, after the first year of middle school), parents and teachers rated adolescent peer acceptance. Analyses revealed that parents’ prosocial behavioral advice and benign cognitive framing independently predicted adolescents’ higher peer acceptance prospectively (controlling for earlier levels of peer acceptance). Furthermore, adolescent social skills moderated links between coaching and peer acceptance. Specifically, adolescents with higher, but not lower, social–cognitive skills became more accepted in the context of higher-quality coaching, supporting a “capitalization” pattern, such that these youth may be better able to utilize coaching suggestions. Results underscore the utility of parents’ behavioral advice and cognitive framing for adolescent peer adjustment across the middle school transition and suggest that optimal social-coaching strategies may depend in part on adolescent social skill level.

Coping responses moderate prospective associations between marital conflict and youth adjustment.

Childrens engaged coping responses to family conflict were examined as moderators of the prospective association between marital conflict in middle childhood and internalizing and externalizing symptoms in adolescence. Youth and their mothers participated in 4 waves of data collection (1-year intervals from Time 1 [T1] to Time 3 [T3]; 5-year interval between T3 and Time 4 [T4]). The final analytic sample included 304 participants (51% boys; 66% European American, 34% African American). Participants were approximately 8 and 16 years old at T1 and T4, respectively. A multi-informant, longitudinal design was used to address study aims. Mothers reported on marital conflict (T1 to T3) and externalizing problems (T1 to T4); youth reported on coping responses to family conflict (T3) and internalizing symptoms (T1 to T4). Primary (e.g., problem solving) and secondary (e.g., cognitive reappraisal) engaged coping were computed as proportion scores (out of all coping responses). Toward identifying unique effects, path models controlled for internalizing when predicting externalizing symptoms, and vice versa. Primary and secondary engaged coping emerged as moderators. In the context of marital conflict, higher levels of secondary engaged coping protected against, whereas lower levels of secondary engaged coping increased risk for, externalizing problems. Conversely, lower levels of primary and secondary engaged coping protected against, whereas higher levels of primary and secondary engaged coping increased risk for, internalizing symptoms in the context of marital conflict. Findings contribute to the small literature on the moderating role of coping in the context of marital conflict, providing further insight into the prediction of unique externalizing and internalizing symptoms. (PsycINFO Database Record

The link between maternal sleep and permissive parenting during late adolescence

Utilizing a multi‐method design, the present study examined the association between maternal sleep, assessed via actigraphy and self‐reports, and permissive parenting (e.g. lax, inconsistent discipline) during adolescence, as well as the extent to which this association differed by mothers’ race/ethnicity and socioeconomic status. The sample was comprised of 234 mothers (M age = 41.76 years, SD = 6.25; 67% European‐American, 31% African‐American, 2% other race/ethnicities) and 237 adolescents (113 boys, 124 girls; M age = 15.80 years, SD = 0.80; 66% European‐American, 34% African‐American). Mothers’ sleep duration (actual sleep minutes) and quality (sleep efficiency, latency, long wake episodes) were assessed using actigraphy. Mothers also reported on their sleep problems and adolescents reported on mothers’ permissive parenting behaviours. Results revealed that actigraphy‐based longer sleep duration and shorter sleep latency were associated with lower levels of permissive parenting. Further, mothers’ race/ethnicity and socioeconomic status moderated the association between actigraphy‐based sleep quality (i.e. sleep efficiency, long wake episodes) and permissive parenting. Specifically, a negative association between sleep efficiency and permissive parenting was evident only for African‐American mothers. In addition, a positive association between more frequent night wakings and permissive parenting was evident only for mothers from lower socioeconomic status households. The findings highlight the benefits of longer and higher‐quality sleep for reducing the risk of permissive parenting, especially among ethnic minority mothers and mothers from lower socioeconomic status households.

Custom-Fit Parenting: How Low- and Well-Accepted Young Adolescents Benefit from Peer-Related Parenting

SYNOPSIS Objective. The present study investigated whether longitudinal associations between peer-related parenting behaviors (facilitation of peer interactions, social coaching about peer problems) and peer adjustment were moderated by young adolescents’ peer status. Design. Participants included 123 young adolescents (mean age = 12.03 years; 50% boys; 58.5% European American) at Time 1. At Time 1 (summer before the middle school transition), parents reported on their facilitation of peer interaction opportunities and coaching strategies to a hypothetical peer exclusion situation; teachers reported on youth peer acceptance. At Times 1 and 2 (spring after the middle school transition), youth reported on peer adjustment (friendship quality, loneliness, peer victimization). Results. Peer acceptance (pre-middle school transition) moderated prospective associations between peer-related parenting and peer adjustment, yielding two patterns of associations. Parental facilitation predicted better friendship quality and lower levels of loneliness over time among youth with high peer acceptance, but not among youth with low peer acceptance. In contrast, parental social coaching predicted better friendship quality among youth with low peer acceptance, but lower friendship quality among youth with high peer acceptance. Conclusions. Not all forms of positive peer-related parenting are equally beneficial for all youth. Well-accepted youth may have the social opportunities to take advantage of parental facilitation, whereas low-accepted youth may have greater social needs and benefit from support in the form of social coaching. Implications of these findings are discussed in relation to the literatures on peer-related parenting and peer adjustment.