RESUMEN
OBJECTIVE: This study used a randomized clinical trial design to evaluate the success with which The Building a Strong Identity and Coping Skills intervention (BaSICS) engaged the proximal mechanisms of poverty-related stress's impact on the psychosocial functioning and mental health of young adolescents living in high poverty contexts. METHOD: 129 youth from very low-income families were randomized to receive the 32-hour group-based intervention or no-treatment control - 16 of these families withdrew before the intervention groups began. The remaining 113 youth aged 11-12 (53% assigned to intervention; 54% female; 40% Hispanic, 63% Black, 20% White) participated in the study, which included four assessment waves: pretest, posttest, 6-month follow-up and 12-month follow-up assessments. Primary control, secondary control, and disengagement coping were assessed via a combination of parent and youth reports as well as via interviews and questionnaires. Hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA) reactivity was assessed via salivary cortisol responses occurring during a lab-based stress induction (Trier Social Stress Test). RESULTS: Multilevel regression models with repeated measures nested within subjects revealed that in comparison to controls, intervention youth had sustained significant increases in their knowledge about primary control coping (e.g., problem solving, emotion modulation), knowledge and utilization of secondary control (e.g., cognitive restructuring) coping, as well as decreased reliance on disengagement coping. These were accompanied by decreased cortisol reactivity in intervention versus control youth. CONCLUSIONS: These findings support that BaSICS engages several proximal mechanisms of poverty-related stress' impact on early adolescent mental health - coping skills and HPA reactivity - during the neurodevelopmentally plastic pubertal period.
Asunto(s)
Sistema Hipotálamo-Hipofisario , Sistema Hipófiso-Suprarrenal , Adaptación Psicológica , Adolescente , Femenino , Humanos , Hidrocortisona , Sistema Hipotálamo-Hipofisario/fisiología , Masculino , Salud Mental , Sistema Hipófiso-Suprarrenal/fisiología , Pobreza/psicología , Estrés Psicológico/prevención & control , Estrés Psicológico/psicologíaRESUMEN
This proof-of-concept study tests the initial efficacy of the Building a Strong Identity and Coping Skills (BaSICS) intervention, a selective prevention of internalizing problems program for early adolescents exposed to high levels of poverty-related stress. Eighty-four early adolescents (Mage = 11.36 years) residing in very low-income neighborhoods were randomized to receive the 16-session intervention (n = 44) or to an assessment-only control condition (n = 40). BaSICS teaches coping skills, social identity development, and collective social action to empower youth with the ability to connect with members of their communities and cope with poverty-related stress in positive and collaborative ways. Pretest-posttest analyses showed that intervention adolescents acquired problem-solving and cognitive-restructuring skills and reduced their reliance on avoidant coping. In addition, HPA reactivity was significantly reduced in the intervention youth, but not controls. Finally, intervention youth's internalizing and somatic symptoms as reported by both youth and their parents, showed significant reductions over time, whereas control youth had no such changes. Results provide strong support for this approach to strength-building and symptom reduction in a population of early adolescents exposed to poverty-related stress.
Asunto(s)
Adaptación Psicológica , Pobreza/psicología , Estrés Psicológico/psicología , Estrés Psicológico/terapia , Adolescente , Niño , Cognición , Depresión/psicología , Femenino , Humanos , Hidrocortisona/análisis , Conocimiento , Masculino , Padres , Pennsylvania , Estrés FisiológicoRESUMEN
Understanding co-activation patterns of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA) and sympathetic adrenal medullary (SAM) during early adolescence may illuminate risk for development of internalizing and externalizing problems. The present study advances empirical work on the topic by examining SAM-HPA co-activation during both the reactivity and recovery phases of the stress response following acute stress exposure. Fourth and fifth grade boys and girls (N = 149) provided cortisol and alpha-amylase via saliva at seven times throughout a 95-min assessment in which they were administered the modified Trier Social Stress Test. Parents reported on adolescents' life stress, pubertal development, medication use, and externalizing problems. Adolescents reported their own internalizing symptoms. Multiple linear regressions tested both direct and interactive effects of SAM and HPA reactivity and recovery on internalizing and externalizing problems. Results from these analyses showed that whereas SAM and HPA reactivity interacted to predict internalizing symptoms, it was their interaction during the recovery phase that predicted externalizing. Concurrent high SAM and HPA reactivity scores predicted high levels of internalizing and concurrently low SAM and HPA recovery scores predicted high levels of externalizing. Implications of the findings for further study and clinical application are discussed.
Asunto(s)
Síntomas Conductuales , Conducta Infantil/fisiología , Hidrocortisona/metabolismo , Sistema Hipotálamo-Hipofisario , alfa-Amilasas Salivales/metabolismo , Estrés Psicológico , Sistema Nervioso Simpático , Síntomas Conductuales/fisiopatología , Niño , Femenino , Humanos , Sistema Hipotálamo-Hipofisario/metabolismo , Sistema Hipotálamo-Hipofisario/fisiopatología , Masculino , Estrés Psicológico/metabolismo , Estrés Psicológico/fisiopatología , Sistema Nervioso Simpático/metabolismo , Sistema Nervioso Simpático/fisiopatologíaRESUMEN
This article aims to integrate theory and empirical findings about understanding and fostering the process of resilience and adaptation in children and families who live in poverty. In this article, we draw from multiple, somewhat distinct, scholarly streams to identify sources of protection, integrating across the literatures on stress and coping, psychophysiology, cultural identity development, and empowerment theory. Because living in poverty cuts across other dimensions of social differentiation and structural inequality, intersectionality theory frames our discussion of how to leverage poverty-affected youths' diverse experiences. We present a framework to guide intervention and research on resiliency promotion, describe the Building a Strong Identity and Coping Skills intervention stemming from the framework, and suggest possible avenues and next steps for both interventions and research.
Asunto(s)
Investigación Biomédica/tendencias , Pobreza/prevención & control , Pobreza/tendencias , Adaptación Psicológica/fisiología , Adolescente , Investigación Biomédica/métodos , Niño , Consejo/métodos , Consejo/tendencias , Predicción , Humanos , Factores SocioeconómicosRESUMEN
This random assignment experimental study examined the intersection of children's coping and physiologic stress reactivity and recovery patterns in a sample of preadolescent boys and girls. A sample of 82 fourth-grade and fifth-grade (Mage = 10.59 years old) child-parent dyads participated in the present study. Children participated in the Trier Social Stress Test and were randomly assigned to one of two post-Trier Social Stress Test experimental coping conditions-behavioral distraction or cognitive avoidance. Children's characteristic ways of coping were examined as moderators of the effect of experimental coping condition on cortisol reactivity and recovery patterns. Multilevel modeling analyses indicated that children's characteristic coping and experimental coping condition interacted to predict differential cortisol recovery patterns. Children who characteristically engaged in primary control engagement coping strategies were able to more quickly down-regulate salivary cortisol when primed to distract themselves than when primed to avoid, and vice versa. The opposite pattern was true for characteristic disengagement coping in the context of coping condition, suggesting that regulatory fit between children's characteristic ways of coping and cues from their coping environment may lead to more and less adaptive physiologic recovery profiles. This study provides some of the first evidence that coping "gets under the skin" and that children's characteristic ways of coping may constrain or enhance a child's ability to make use of environmental coping resources.
Asunto(s)
Adaptación Psicológica/fisiología , Análisis Multinivel/métodos , Estrés Psicológico/psicología , Niño , Femenino , Humanos , MasculinoRESUMEN
Two studies examined how non-interpersonal forgiveness (when there is no social relationship between the transgressor and forgiver) related to coping and involuntary responses to stress, psychological distress, and religiosity. Three to six weeks after September 11th, 2001, forgiveness had non-linear associations with other responses to the terrorist attacks. Among college students (N=488), those who were trying or had forgiven (pro-forgiveness) the terrorists reported less involuntary engagement, more primary and secondary control coping, and more meaning finding than those who were unsure about forgiveness (ambivalent) and those who did not believe the perpetrators should be forgiven (anti-forgiveness). Ambivalent students reported the most distress, even after controlling for religion. Anti-forgiveness students reported less religiosity than ambivalent and pro-forgiveness students. Most findings were consistent among middle schoolers (N=154), particularly regarding psychological distress and responses to stress. Also, forgiveness of strangers for acts against one's community functioned separately from religion.