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INTRODUCTION: The COVID-19 pandemic led countries' governments to rapidly establish lockdowns and social distancing, which altered family routines and the quality of family relationships worldwide. OBJECTIVES: This exploratory cross-sectional study aimed to identify the impacts of the social distancing and lockdown in parenting practices of caregivers from Brazil, Mexico, and the USA, and to analyze the continuity of parenting intervention support for children and their families at the beginning of the pandemic in these countries. METHODS: The sample consisted of 704 caregivers of children (286 from Brazil, 225 from Mexico, and 193 from the USA) who answered an online survey about parenting practices before/after quarantine, caregiver/child routines, feelings related to quarantine, changes in everyday life since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, contact with health professionals, and sources of parenting information. RESULTS: Data indicate that caregivers from the three countries experienced similar parenting practices during this time, and did not report significant changes before and after the lockdown. They sought information about parenting predominantly via social media. Those receiving previous mental health care perceived the transition from in-person to telehealth services during the pandemic as feasible and acceptable. CONCLUSION: This study will be helpful for clinicians and parents to contextualize their practices amid long-standing effects that the COVID-19 pandemic can have on children and their families during and post-pandemic from multiple cultural backgrounds.

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Youth exposed to natural disasters are at risk of developing trauma-related symptoms as well as engaging in substance use. Although previous research has established associations between disaster-related stressors and substance use in youth, less has focused on how symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) may underpin this association. The current study used network analysis to identify specific PTSD symptoms associated with substance use following a natural disaster. Participants were 91,732 youths (Grades 3-12) from across Puerto Rico who completed a needs assessment 5-9 months after Hurricane Maria made landfall in September 2017. We examined associations between PTSD symptoms and substance use, identified clusters of symptoms and bridges between them, and explored age- and binary gender-related differences in associations between specific PTSD symptoms and substance use. Analyses identified two symptom communities: (a) arousal and reactivity, negative alterations in cognition and mood, and substance use, and (b) avoidance and intrusion. Broader findings suggested that substance use was most strongly associated with PTSD-related irritability and angry outbursts among youths. Surrounding nodes explained only 4.1% of the variance in substance use, but this was higher among youths who reported not having a supportive adult, R2 = 8.5; friend, R2 = 7.9; or teacher/counselor, R2 = 7.7, in their life. The bridge symptoms of sleep disruption and physiological reactivity were identified as potentially critical intervention targets for disrupting PTSD symptom networks after a natural disaster. Implications for triaged mental health care following natural disasters and directions for future research are discussed.

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Abstract Introduction The COVID-19 pandemic led countries' governments to rapidly establish lockdowns and social distancing, which altered family routines and the quality of family relationships worldwide. Objectives This exploratory cross-sectional study aimed to identify the impacts of the social distancing and lockdown in parenting practices of caregivers from Brazil, Mexico, and the USA, and to analyze the continuity of parenting intervention support for children and their families at the beginning of the pandemic in these countries. Methods The sample consisted of 704 caregivers of children (286 from Brazil, 225 from Mexico, and 193 from the USA) who answered an online survey about parenting practices before/after quarantine, caregiver/child routines, feelings related to quarantine, changes in everyday life since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, contact with health professionals, and sources of parenting information. Results Data indicate that caregivers from the three countries experienced similar parenting practices during this time, and did not report significant changes before and after the lockdown. They sought information about parenting predominantly via social media. Those receiving previous mental health care perceived the transition from in-person to telehealth services during the pandemic as feasible and acceptable. Conclusion This study will be helpful for clinicians and parents to contextualize their practices amid long-standing effects that the COVID-19 pandemic can have on children and their families during and post-pandemic from multiple cultural backgrounds.

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Machine learning provides a method of identifying factors that discriminate between substance users and non-users potentially improving our ability to match need with available prevention services within context with limited resources. Our aim was to utilize machine learning to identify high impact factors that best discriminate between substance users and non-users among a national sample (N = 52,171) of Mexican children (i.e., 5th, 6th grade; Mage = 10.40, SDage = 0.82). Participants reported information on individual factors (e.g., gender, grade, religiosity, sensation seeking, self-esteem, perceived risk of substance use), socioecological factors (e.g., neighborhood quality, community type, peer influences, parenting), and lifetime substance use (i.e., alcohol, tobacco, marijuana, inhalant). Findings suggest that best friend and father illicit substance use (i.e., drugs other than tobacco or alcohol) and respondent sex (i.e., boys) were consistent and important discriminators between children who tried substances and those that did not. Friend cigarette use was a strong predictor of lifetime use of alcohol, tobacco, and marijuana. Friend alcohol use was specifically predictive of lifetime alcohol and tobacco use. Perceived danger of engaging in frequent alcohol and inhalant use predicted lifetime alcohol and inhalant use. Overall, findings suggest that best friend and father illicit substance use and respondent's sex appear to be high impact screening questions associated with substance initiation during childhood for Mexican youths. These data help practitioners narrow prevention efforts by helping identify youth at highest risk.

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Parents shape their children's behaviors and impact their developmental trajectories. Despite this, few studies have examined the potential relationship between child reported parenting factors and lifetime substance use and use intentions. The current study examined the potential impact of parenting factors (i.e., positive parenting, supervision, parental illicit substance use, substance-specific communication) on early substance use and intentions among Latinx children. Data for the present study utilized a representative sample of Mexican children (n = 52,171; 5th and 6th grades) who participated in a national survey on substance use. Children reported their demographics, lifetime substance use/intentions, and perceived parenting characteristic and practices. Child reported parental (i.e., individual or both parents) illicit substance use was associated with the largest increases in risk for reporting lifetime use of all substances examined. Higher levels of positive parenting were consistently associated with reductions in risk for reporting intentions for and use of all substances examined. Parent-child substance specific communication was not significantly related to child reported lifetime use or use intentions, with the exception of a minor decrease in the odds of reporting lifetime inhalant use. Supervision was associated with small to modest increase in risk. Substance use prevention efforts targeting Latinx populations may benefit from promoting positive parenting and direct supervision during childhood. Targeted prevention efforts may be needed for Latinx children exposed to parental illicit substance use, as they may be especially at risk for early substance initiation.

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