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

Contact and Knowledge in the Adoption Kinship Network: What Benefits Network Members Most

Contact and Knowledge in the Adoption Kinship Network: What Benefits Network Members Most Martin, Neiderhiser, Leve, Shaw, Ganiban, Reiss The right amount and quality of openness in adoption may vary from one placement to another (Grotevant, et al. 1994). Still, greater openness has been associated with better adjustment following a placement for birth parents and greater satisfaction with adoption process for all members of the adoption kinship network (Ge, et al., 2008). While multiple aspects of openness have been shown to differentially affect members of the adoption kinship network (e.g. Cushman, et al., 1997; Dunbar et al., 2006) no study has examined these aspects using multivariate techniques to estimate the relative influence of different aspects of openness on psychological outcomes. Using the Early Growth and Development Study (EGDS) sample of adoption linked birth and adoptive parents (N= 561) we can regress different aspects of openness in adoption reported shortly after placement on psychological outcomes for network members 18 months post-placement (these include depression, anxiety, adjustment to life after placement, and satisfaction with the adoption process). Out of the four outcome measures satisfaction with the adoption process was correlated with the most aspects of openness for all network members. Regression analyses showed Birth Mother satisfaction was positively and significantly associated with greater choice regarding degree of openness (p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p Importantly, each network role uniquely affects the others. The only overlap in patterns of significance for the different aspects of openness is between the adoptive mother and adoptive father. The patterns may show differences in the impact of the developmentally salient task of starting a family on the different members of the adoption kinship network. Overcoming infertility by honorably accepting the responsibility for the offspring of others, relinquishing one’s offspring and the responsibilities for them in the best way one can, and working out the nature of network relationships through openness likely contribute to these pattern differences for network members. In-depth interviews with all members of many networks is necessary for understanding the nature openness’ impact on satisfaction within the network. </p

Young Adult Outcomes Associated with Teen Pregnancy Among High-Risk Girls in an RCT 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, improving 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 two RCTs. 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 at 7 years post-baseline. In addition, baseline marijuana use predicted marijuana use at 7 years post-baseline.Keywords: juvenile justice, young adulthood, teen pregnancy, RCT, drug us

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

Human microbiome variation associated with race and ethnicity emerges as early as 3 months of age

Human microbiome variation is linked to the incidence, prevalence, and mortality of many diseases and associates with race and ethnicity in the United States. However, the age at which microbiome variability emerges between these groups remains a central gap in knowledge. Here, we identify that gut microbiome variation associated with race and ethnicity arises after 3 months of age and persists through childhood. One-third of the bacterial taxa that vary across caregiver-identified racial categories in children are taxa reported to also vary between adults. Machine learning modeling of childhood microbiomes from 8 cohort studies (2,756 samples from 729 children) distinguishes racial and ethnic categories with 87% accuracy. Importantly, predictive genera are also among the top 30 most important taxa when childhood microbiomes are used to predict adult self-identified race and ethnicity. Our results highlight a critical developmental window at or shortly after 3 months of age when social and environmental factors drive race and ethnicity-associated microbiome variation and may contribute to adult health and health disparities

Birth Parents & Openness with Adoptive Families: An Examination of Actual Contact & Satisfaction with Contact

The impact of openness on members of the adoption constellation has been a topic of much research and discussion over the past decade. Patterns of contact and communication between birth and adoptive families have continued to evolve, with a trend towards more information sharing and direct contact between the two parties. Generally, research has shown positive outcomes for adoption constellation members when greater openness is present. Much of this research, however, has focused on outcomes for adopted children. The long term effects of openness on birth parents’ adjustment following adoption are unknown. The Early Growth and Development Study is a longitudinal study of birth and adoptive families completing a domestic, infant adoption. The sample includes 554 birth mothers and 173 birth fathers who were interviewed in person, by mail, or by phone over a period of 5-10 years. Openness was examined two ways: at 4-6 months (T1), 18-months (T2), and 4 years (T3) post placement. At T1 and T2 birth parents were asked to describe the amount of contact they have with the adoptive families (openness contact), and their satisfaction with their level of contact was assessed (openness satisfaction). Birth parents’ adjustment was measured using self-report measures of depression (Beck Depression Scale) and general life satisfaction scores (Crnic’s Social Support Measure) at T1, T2, and T3. On average, birth parents reported moderate levels of contact with adoptive families, with direct contact in person, by phone or email a few times per year, and high satisfaction with this amount of contact. Preliminary analysis based on data from Times 1 and 2 indicated that levels of depression and general life satisfaction were moderately stable for both birth mothers and birth fathers (r’s .42 to .65). Openness satisfaction and openness contact also demonstrated stability from T1 to T2 (r’s .69 to .79). Regression models were used to test if changes in openness satisfaction predicted changes in depression and general life satisfaction from T1 to T2. For birth mothers, the levels of actual contact at T1 did not predict depression scores over time. However, changes in their openness satisfaction partially explained changes in depression from T1 to T2, with higher satisfaction predicting lower levels of depression. Similarly, birth mothers’ openness satisfaction at T1 predicted changes in life satisfaction at T2. For birth fathers, the level of contact between birth and adoptive families did not predict depression or general life satisfaction. In contrast, openness satisfaction predicted change in depression over time, but not general life satisfaction. Overall findings suggest that while contact between birth and adoptive families is relatively open, the perceived level of satisfaction with contact contributes more to birth parents’ post adoption adjustment than does the amount of actual contact with adoptive families.</p