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About this paper symposium
| Panel information |
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| Panel 17. Race, Ethnicity, Culture, Context |
| Paper #1 | |
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| Shaped by the city: A mixed methods investigation of neighborhood factors for adolescent mental health | |
| Author information | Role |
| Deena Ahmad Shariq, University of Maryland, College Park, United States | Presenting author |
| Arianna M. Gard, University of Maryland, College Park, United States | Non-presenting author |
| Abstract | |
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Decades of research have linked contextual factors in urban neighborhoods to adolescent mental health. While quantitative studies identify neighborhood factors associated with individual differences in adolescent internalizing and externalizing symptoms (Sui et al., 2022), these studies often lack depth in explaining underlying mechanisms. In contrast, qualitative research provides rich contextual insights into how neighborhood factors impact adolescent mental health (Perry et al., 2015) but falls short of establishing statistically significant effect sizes. Furthermore, additional research is needed to elucidate how socioeconomic factors, like material hardship (i.e., difficulty affording basic needs), alter associations between neighborhood factors and mental health. This study employs a mixed methods design to address these gaps by investigating adolescent and caregiver perceptions of influential neighborhood factors (Aim 1), quantifying the relative association of specific neighborhood characteristics with adolescents’ internalizing and externalizing scores (Aim 2), assessing the moderating role of material hardship on neighborhood–mental health associations (Aim 3), and integrating findings across qualitative and quantitative data (Aim 4). Data were derived from the Communities And Resilient Environments (CARE) Project, a multiphase study in Washington, DC. Participants were recruited from Wards 4 and 5, oversampling block groups with >10% children in majority Black Non-Hispanic neighborhoods. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with seven youth aged 10–17 (M = 13.3, SD = 2.6) and nine caregivers (M = 48.6, SD = 4.7) to assess perceptions of neighborhood assets and risks for adolescent well-being. Most (81.3%) participants lived in their neighborhoods for over 10 years, 50.0% identified as Black or African American, and 56.3% identified as female. Within the sample, there were six caregiver-adolescent dyads/triads, allowing for comparison of perspectives within- and between-households. Thematic analysis revealed four key themes: social cohesion, access to amenities, crime, and greenspaces. Caregivers expressed concerns about safety related to local gun violence, while youth emphasized built environment features that promoted social interaction, such as libraries and recreation centers. A separate survey of 70 caregivers (M = 43.1, SD = 13.7; youth M = 13.2, SD = 2.4) from the same catchment area assessed household composition, neighborhood perceptions, and child health. Geocoded data provided neighborhood variables such as greenspace, distance to public amenities, violent crime, and gentrification (i.e., socioeconomic change scores from 2000 to 2020). Block group-level data on social cohesion and safety perceptions were aggregated from survey responses. We hypothesize that social cohesion, greenspace, and safety will be associated with lower internalizing and externalizing scores, while violent crime, residential instability, and distance to public amenities will be associated with higher scores. We also hypothesize that material hardship (reported by 47.8% of households) will strengthen the relationship between neighborhood factors and mental health outcomes. Quantitative analyses will employ ridge regression to account for multicollinearity, with adjustments to statistical inference criteria for multiple hypothesis testing. Triangulation will assess convergence between qualitative themes and quantitative effect sizes. Specifically, insights from youth and caregiver interviews will contextualize statistical findings, informing policy recommendations to enhance neighborhood assets for adolescent mental health in the local area. |
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| Paper #2 | |
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| Protective role of community cohesion across rural and urban contexts: Implications for youth mental health | |
| Author information | Role |
| Alexis Brieant, Ph.D., University of Vermont, United States | Presenting author |
| Keith B. Burt, University of Vermont, United States | Non-presenting author |
| Abstract | |
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Background: Delineating how environmental risk and protective factors shape development is crucial to identifying potential intervention targets and mitigating disparities in youth mental health. However, evidence from this area of research has overwhelmingly been conducted with youth in urban or suburban regions, potentially obscuring important variation across geographic contexts. Here, we highlight rurality and urbanicity as one aspect of youths’ physical environments that interact with risk and protective factors to shape mental health. We hypothesized that community cohesion (e.g., trust, unity, support) would promote resilience and moderate the effects of adversity and socioeconomic disadvantage on internalizing and externalizing symptoms and that these effects would be stronger among youth in rural areas. Hypotheses and analyses were preregistered on AsPredicted (protocol #155344). Method: Data were drawn from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study (n = 11,868), a longitudinal study of youth development in the United States (9-10 years old at baseline). At baseline, neighborhood socioeconomic disadvantage was measured with the Area Deprivation Index. Youth also reported on the total number of negative life events they had experienced. At the 2-year follow-up, caregivers reported on the degree of cohesion within their community, and at the 3-year follow-up they reported on their child’s internalizing and externalizing symptomatology. A multiple-group structural equation model was used to compare effects for youth living in urban versus rural areas (see Figure 1). Results: There was not a significant effect of the interaction between negative life events and community cohesion for either group. For urban youth, there was a significant interaction between neighborhood disadvantage and community cohesion on externalizing symptomatology (𝛽 = -0.03, SE = 0.01, p = .004). This effect neared conventional significance thresholds for rural youth (𝛽 = -0.09, SE = 0.05, p = .052); however, the strength of the effect was not significantly different between groups (Wald 𝜒2 (1) = 2.05, p = .15). We probed the interaction to determine the specific nature of the interaction, examining the effects of neighborhood disadvantage across low (-1SD), medium (mean), and high (+1SD) levels of community cohesion. For urban youth, results indicated that higher neighborhood disadvantage was associated with higher externalizing symptomatology at low (b = 0.17, SE = 0.04, p < .001) and medium (b = 0.08, SE = 0.03, p = .01), but not high (b = -0.001, SE = 0.04, p = .98), levels of community cohesion. Similarly, for rural youth, higher neighborhood disadvantage was associated with higher externalizing symptomatology at low (b = 0.14, SE = 0.04, p < .001) and medium (b = 0.06, SE = 0.03, p = .03), but not high (b = -0.01, SE = 0.04, p = .75), levels of community cohesion. Conclusions: Taken together, our findings characterize important risk and protective factors among youth in rural and urban communities. Results suggest that community cohesion is a significant protective factor for youth experiencing neighborhood socioeconomic disadvantage in urban areas, and future research will be important to examine the robustness of this association for youth in rural areas. |
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| Paper #3 | |
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| Parsing heterogeneity in mental health and neural correlates of multi-context adverse experiences using person-oriented approaches | |
| Author information | Role |
| Felicia A. Hardi, PhD, Yale University, United States | Presenting author |
| Dylan Gee, Yale University, United States | Non-presenting author |
| Christopher Monk, University of Michigan, United States | Non-presenting author |
| Abstract | |
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Background. Adverse childhood experiences are among the most influential risk factors for adolescent well-being. Despite these longstanding links, there exist wide variations in mental health outcomes associated with adversity. This heterogeneity in outcomes may arise from individual differences in experiences and the broad spectrum of neurodevelopmental embedding of adversity. This talk will focus on applications of person-oriented approaches in two large independent samples to parse these heterogeneous associations. By centering the analysis on the individual, person-oriented approaches can capture the complex intersections of experiences, allowing for greater precision in the identified mental health and neural correlates. Method. In one study using data from the Future Families and Child Well-being Study (FFCWS) (N = 4,210; 53% males; 47% Black), latent profile analysis identified adversity groups based on exposures to 10 family, home, and neighborhood risk factors across ages 0-9 years. Differences in mental health problems (at age 15) were then examined among identified profiles. In an adolescent neuroimaging subsample (N = 167, Mage = 15.87), profile-specific functional connectivity was estimated using Confirmatory Subgrouping GIMME in three brain networks: default mode (DMN), salience (SN), frontopariental (FPN). In a follow-up study using data from the Adolescent Brain and Cognitive Development (ABCD) study (N = 11,637; 52% males; 52% White), agglomerative hierarchical clustering was conducted using 30 multi-contextual (family, home, community, neighborhood) factors measured by multi-informant (parent and youth) and census-tract data collected at ages 9-12. Mental health outcomes and brain connectivity across key networks were examined at ages 12-13. Results. In the FFCWS sample, four profiles were identified: low-adversity (29%), medium-adversity (47%), high-adversity (11%), and a maternal depression (MD) profile (13%). Youth mental health problems increased with adversity levels, but those in the MD profile, despite moderate levels in all other adversities, showed internalizing symptoms similar to the high-adversity group (F(3,3333)=37.84, p<.001; MD-high-adversity Mdiff=-0.11, p=.18). Consistent with these patterns, functional connectivity was similar among the high-adversity and MD youth, specifically in the DMN (F(3,163)=10.65, p<.001, MD-high-adversity Mdiff=-0.007, p=.83). In the ABCD sample, three clusters were identified: low in all risk factors (53%), high parental psychopathology and family conflict (27%), and low socioeconomic resources (19%). Youth internalizing and externalizing symptoms were highest in the high parental psychopathology and family conflict group, followed by the low socioeconomic group (internalizing: F(2,7641)=158.5, p<.001; externalizing: F(2,7641)=224.3, p<.001). Across all brain networks, connectivity was strongest in the low-risk group and lowest in the low socioeconomic group (all ps<.001). Conclusion. Person-oriented approaches can offer novel insights into the associations of adversity, brain, and mental health. Collectively, these findings suggest that youth with exposure to adversity across multiple contexts may be most vulnerable, suggesting that policies and interventions that address root causes of adversity (e.g., structural inequities) can be most beneficial for youth well-being. Moreover, findings from both studies, conducted in two independent samples, revealed the distinct importance of parental mental health, highlighting the need to bolster youth mental health through increased support for parents. |
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| Paper #4 | |
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| Accelerated development of corticolimbic circuitry as short-term adaptation mechanism to ecological stress | |
| Author information | Role |
| Tianying Cai, Ph.D., University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, United States | Presenting author |
| Emily Furtado, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, United States | Non-presenting author |
| Ka I Ip, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, United States | Non-presenting author |
| Abstract | |
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Background: Adolescence is a period marked by heightened biological stress reactivity (Dahl & Gunnar, 2009) and increased risk for mental health problems (Lee et al., 2014; Steinberg, 2008). Defined as socioeconomic disadvantages at multiple ecological levels (e.g., family, neighborhood; Demidenko et al., 2021), ecological stress tends to affect adolescents in a chronic manner, and is common across diverse populations and geographic locations. Previous studies have well-documented the impact of ecological stressors on adolescents’ mental health (e.g., Green et al., 2010; McLaughlin et al., 2010). Yet, what remains unclear is the underlying neurobiological mechanisms that may influence this association. Existing studies on early life adversity have suggested that the development of functional connectivity in the corticolimbic circuitry, a brain region critical for emotion regulation, may be a potential mechanism (Brieant et al., 2021; Gee et al., 2013). However, research in this area is often constrained by cross-sectional data and limited sample diversity, and it tends to focus on family-level indicators, neglecting macrosocial factors such as neighborhood conditions. Addressing the gaps, the current study aimed to (a) apply the person-centered approach to understand the longitudinal development of corticolimbic circuitry across adolescence; and (b) examine whether the maturation of corticolimbic circuitry mediates the association between ecological stress and adolescent internalizing problems. Method: Using data from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) study, the sample included 1845 adolescents (only included those with valid longitudinal brain data; 58% White, 9% Black, 21% Latino, 2% Asian, 10% Other; 52% Male). At baseline (B0), ecological stress was measured as a combination of neighborhood (i.e., crime, deprivation) and family (i.e., income-to-needs ratio, material hardship) level stressors. The function of corticolimbic circuitry was measured by the resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) of the Amygdala-cingulo-opercular network (CON), and Hippocampus-CON at B0, 2-year (T2), and 4-year (T4) follow-up. Internalizing symptoms were measured by parental report via child behavior checklist at T4. Result: Multilevel growth mixture models identified three profiles for both Amygdala-CON and Hippocampus-CON rsFC: accelerated maturation, early maturation and regular maturation (Figure 1). Both accelerated and early maturation profiles had a higher percentage of Black and Latino adolescence compared with the regular maturation profile. Further, mediation analysis revealed that both Amygdala-CON and Hippocampus-CON rsFC development mediated the association between ecological stress and adolescent internalizing symptoms (Figure 2). Adolescents experiencing higher ecological stress were more likely to exhibit accelerated and early maturation of corticolimbic circuitry, which in turn were associated with lower internalizing symptoms over time. Conclusion: These findings support the stress acceleration hypothesis (Callaghan & Tottenham, 2015), indicating that early adversity may accelerate corticolimbic development and offer short-term mental health benefits, challenging the deficit model of poverty. The results also highlight how socioeconomic disadvantages faced by ethnic/racial minorities can penetrate biological systems to accelerate brain maturation. This study underscores the need for developing intervention strategies and informing social policies to promote healthy brain development. |
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Adolescent Development in Context: Effects of Neighborhood and Ecological Environments on Brain and Mental Health
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Paper Symposium
Description
| Session Title | Adolescent Development in Context: Effects of Neighborhood and Ecological Environments on Brain and Mental Health |