Going through the rites of passage: timing and transition of menarche, childhood sexual abuse, and anxiety symptoms in girls.

Menarche is a discrete, transitional event that holds considerable personal, social, biological, and developmental significance. The present longitudinal study examined both the transition and timing of menarche on the trajectory of anxiety in girls with histories of childhood maltreatment (N = 93; 63% European American, 14% multiracial, 10% Latino, 9% African American, and 4% Native American). We hypothesized that because menarche is a novel, unfamiliar experience, girls would show greater anxiety around the time of menarche. The anxiety-provoking nature of menarche may be accentuated among earlier-maturing girls and girls with histories of childhood sexual abuse. Results indicated that earlier-maturing girls were more anxious in the pre- and peri-menarche periods than their later-maturing peers; however, their anxiety declined after menarche. Childhood sexual abuse was associated with heightened anxiety throughout this transition. The developmental significance of the timing and transition of menarche in relation to childhood sexual abuse and anxiety is discussed

Young adult outcomes associated with teen pregnancy among high-risk girls in a randomized controlled trial of Multidimensional Treatment Foster Care

Teen pregnancy is associated with a host of deleterious outcomes for girls, such as drug use and poor parenting. Thus, reducing teen pregnancy rates could improve long-term developmental outcomes for girls, including adjustment during young adulthood. Based on the positive effects of Multidimensional Treatment Foster Care (MTFC) relative to group care (GC) in a study of adolescent girls (significantly fewer pregnancies reported in the 2-year follow-up for MTFC girls), the present study followed this sample into young adulthood (approximately 7 years post-baseline) to examine the effects of adolescent pregnancy on young adult substance use and pregnancy-related outcomes. All participants were randomly assigned to MTFC (N = 81) or GC (N = 85) as adolescents as part of a randomized controlled trial (RCT). Results from logistic regression analyses indicated that becoming pregnant during the 2-year follow-up was significantly related to illicit drug use, miscarriage from a new pregnancy, and child welfare involvement 7 years post-baseline. In addition, baseline marijuana use predicted marijuana use at 7 years post-baseline. © 2013 Copyright Taylor and Francis Group, LLC

Utilising genetically informed research designs to better understand family processes and child development: implications for adoption and foster care focused interventions

Understanding the interplay between genetic factors and family environmental processes (e.g. interparental relationship quality, positive vs negative parenting practices) and children’s mental health (e.g. anxiety, depression, conduct problems, ADHD) in the contexts of adoption and foster care research and practice is critical for effective prevention and intervention programme development. While evidence highlights the importance of family relationship processes (e.g. interparental relationship quality, parent‒child relationship quality) for the mental health and well-being of children in adoption and foster care, there is relatively limited evidence of effective interventions specifically for these families. Additionally, family-based interventions not specific to the context of adoption and foster care typically show small to medium effects, and even where interventions are efficacious, not all children benefit. One explanation for why interventions may not work well for some is that responses to an intervention may be influenced by an individual’s genetic make-up. Alternatively, the targets of family relationship level interventions (e.g. parenting processes) may not always affect the specific environment ‘trigger’ deemed salient to specific child/adolescent outcomes. This article summarises how genetically informed research designs can help disentangle genetic from environmental processes underlying psychopathology outcomes for children, and how this evidence can provide improved insights into the development of more effective preventive intervention targets for adoptive and foster families. We discuss current difficulties in translating behavioural genetics research to prevention science and provide recommendations to bridge the gap between behavioural genetics research and prevention science, with lessons for adoption and foster care research and practice

Siblings reared apart: a sibling comparison study on rearing environment differences

A plethora of studies with parents and children who are biologically related has shown that the family environment plays an important role in child development. However, scientists have long known that a rigorous examination of environmental effects requires research designs that go beyond studies of genetically-linked family members. Harnessing the principles of sibling comparison and animal cross-fostering designs, we introduce a novel approach: the siblings-reared-apart design. Supplementing the traditional adoption design of adopted child and adoptive parents with a sample of the adopted children’s birth parents who raised their biological child(ren) at home (i.e., biological siblings of adoptees), this design provides opportunities to evaluate the role of specific rearing environments. In this proof of concept approach, we tested whether rearing environments differed between adoptive and birth families. Using data from 118 sets of adoption-linked families, each consisting of an adoptive family and the adoptee’s birth family, both of whom are raising at least a child in each home, we found that compared with families in the birth homes, (a) adoptive families had higher household incomes and maternal educational attainment; (b) adoptive mothers displayed more guiding parenting, less harsh parenting, and less maternal depression; and (c) socioeconomic differences between the two homes did not account for the behavioral differences in mothers. We discuss the potential of the sibling-reared-apart design to advance developmental science

Naturalistic experimental designs as tools for understanding the role of genes and the environment in prevention research

Before genetic approaches were applied in experimental studies with human populations, they were used by animal and plant breeders to observe, and experimentally manipulate, the role of genes and environment on specific phenotypic or behavioral outcomes. For obvious ethical reasons, the same level of experimental control is not possible in human populations. Nonetheless, there are natural experimental designs in human populations that can serve as logical extensions of the rigorous quantitative genetic experimental designs used by animal and plant researchers. Applying concepts such as cross-fostering and common garden rearing approaches from the life science discipline, we describe human designs that can serve as naturalistic proxies for the controlled quantitative genetic experiments facilitated in life sciences research. We present the prevention relevance of three such human designs: (1) children adopted at birth by parents to whom they are not genetically related (common garden approach); (2) sibling designs where one sibling is reared from birth with unrelated adoptive parents and the other sibling is reared from birth by the biological mother of the sibling pair (cross-fostering approach); and (3) in vitro fertilization designs, including egg donation, sperm donation, embryo donation, and surrogacy (prenatal cross-fostering approach). Each of these designs allows for differentiation of the effects of the prenatal and/or postnatal rearing environment from effects of genes shared between parent and child in naturalistic ways that can inform prevention efforts. Example findings from each design type are provided and conclusions drawn about the relevance of naturalistic genetic designs to prevention science

Young Adult Follow-up of Adolescent Girls in Juvenile Justice Using the Columbia Suicide Severity Rating Scale

We studied the reliability and validity of the Columbia Suicide Severity Scale (C-SSRS). Severely delinquent adolescent girls (n = 166) participated in a treatment trial and repeated assessments over time. Lifetime suicide attempt history was measured using the C-SSRS in early adulthood (n = 144; 7–12 years post-baseline). Nonclinician raters showed strong interrater reliability using the C-SSRS. Self-, caseworker-, and caregiver-reports of girls’ suicide attempt histories collected at baseline correlated with adult participants’ recollections of their baseline attempt histories. Suicidal ideation measured prospectively across a 7–12 year period was associated with retrospectively reported suicide attempt across the same period

Longitudinal examination of pathways to peer problems in middle childhood: a siblings-reared-apart design

To advance research from Dishion and others on associations between parenting and peer problems across childhood, we used a sample of 173 sibling pairs reared apart since birth (because of adoption of one of the siblings) to examine associations between parental hostility and children’s peer problems when children were ages 7 and 9.5 years (n = 326 children). We extended conventional cross-lagged parent–peer models by incorporating child inhibitory control as an additional predictor and examining genetic contributions via birth mother psychopathology. Path models indicated a cross-lagged association from parental hostility to later peer problems. When child inhibitory control was included, birth mother internalizing symptoms were associated with poorer child inhibitory control, which was associated with more parental hostility and peer problems. The cross-lagged paths from parental hostility to peer problems were no longer significant in the full model. Multigroup analyses revealed that the path from birth mother internalizing symptoms to child inhibitory control was significantly higher for birth parent–reared children, indicating the possible contribution of passive gene–environment correlation to this association. Exploratory analyses suggested that each child’s unique rearing context contributed to their inhibitory control and peer behavior. Implications for the development of evidence-based interventions are discussed