Adolescent Mental Health and Resilience Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic

PURPOSE

We aimed to assess levels of depression, anxiety, and resilience factors before and during the COVID-19 pandemic in a school sample of adolescents. We also aimed to examine the compensatory and protective effects of individual, family, and school resilience factors on adolescent mental health.

METHODS

We used fall 2019 and fall 2020 survey responses from a cluster randomized controlled trial implemented in 20 schools in a Midwestern county. The sample consisted of 3,085 responses from students in grades 5 and 6. Multilevel mixed-effects models with cluster robust standard errors were used to investigate the associations between exposure to the COVID-19 pandemic, mental health (anxiety, depression), and resilience factors (future orientation, family engagement, and having a caring school adult).

RESULTS

Anxiety, but not depression, was higher in fall 2020 compared to fall 2019. Family engagement increased during the pandemic, while future orientation of the student body was lower during that time and the prevalence of having a caring adult at school was unchanged. A positive future orientation was associated with lower levels of anxiety and depression, while having a caring school adult was associated with lower depression. Adolescents with less positive future orientations, low family engagement, and no caring school adults experienced the greatest increases in anxiety.

DISCUSSION

Positive future orientations, family engagement, and supportive nonparental adult relationships had compensatory and protective effects on adolescent mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic. Adding these measures to the inventory of modifiable resilience factors during natural disasters may promote healthy adaptation among adolescents.

Race, ethnicity, psychological factors, and COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy during the COVID-19 pandemic

We examined the associations between perceived risk, perceived severity, and fear of contracting COVID-19 and vaccine acceptance among different ethnic groups in San José, California. We surveyed 3,797 adults living in San José using a multi-stage, clustered sampling design in which we randomly selected census tracts in San José followed by households within each census tract. We estimated the odds ratio (ORs) for perceived risk, perceived general severity, fear of contracting COVID-19, and vaccine acceptance using regression models. Finally, we assessed the differential impacts of perceived risk, perceived severity, and fear of contracting the COVID-19 on vaccine acceptance by controlling for social-demographic variables. Hispanic/Latino respondents reported higher levels of perceived risk and lower fear of contracting COVID-19 than Asians. Hispanic/Latinos (odds ratio [OR] = 0.48, P < 0.05), Whites (OR = 0.61, P < 0.05), and African Americans (OR = 0.28, P < 0.05) were less likely to report intentions to be vaccinated than Asians. Finally, perceived risk and perceived personal severity were not associated with intentions to be vaccinated, while perceived general severity and fear of contracting COVID-19 were stronger predictors of vaccination intentions. The study highlights the importance of psychological factors in understanding vaccine acceptance across race/ethnicity groups.

Modeling the Movement of Homicide by Type to Inform Public Health Prevention Efforts

OBJECTIVES

We modeled the spatiotemporal movement of hotspot clusters of homicide by motive in Newark, New Jersey, to investigate whether different homicide types have different patterns of clustering and movement.

METHODS

We obtained homicide data from the Newark Police Department Homicide Unit's investigative files from 1997 through 2007 (n = 560). We geocoded the address at which each homicide victim was found and recorded the date of and the motive for the homicide. We used cluster detection software to model the spatiotemporal movement of statistically significant homicide clusters by motive, using census tract and month of occurrence as the spatial and temporal units of analysis.

RESULTS

Gang-motivated homicides showed evidence of clustering and diffusion through Newark. Additionally, gang-motivated homicide clusters overlapped to a degree with revenge and drug-motivated homicide clusters. Escalating dispute and nonintimate familial homicides clustered; however, there was no evidence of diffusion. Intimate partner and robbery homicides did not cluster.

CONCLUSIONS

By tracking how homicide types diffuse through communities and determining which places have ongoing or emerging homicide problems by type, we can better inform the deployment of prevention and intervention efforts.

Gang membership and substance use: guilt as a gendered causal pathway

OBJECTIVES

We examine whether anticipated guilt for substance use is a gendered mechanism underlying the noted enhancement effect of gang membership on illegal drug use. We also demonstrate a method for making stronger causal inferences when assessing mediation in the presence of moderation and time-varying confounding.

METHODS

We estimate a series of inverse propensity weighted models to obtain unbiased estimates of mediation in the presence of confounding of the exposure (i.e., gang membership) and mediator (i.e., anticipated guilt) using three waves of data from a multi-site panel study of a law-related education program for youth (N=1,113).

RESULTS

The onset of gang membership significantly decreased anticipated substance use guilt among both male and female respondents. This reduction was significantly associated with increased frequency of substance use only for female respondents, however, suggesting that gender moderates the mechanism through which gang membership influences substance use.

CONCLUSIONS

Criminologists are often concerned with identifying causal pathways for antisocial and/or delinquent behavior, but confounders of the exposure, mediator, and outcome often interfere with efforts to assess mediation. Many new approaches have been proposed for strengthening causal inference for mediation effects. After controlling for confounding using inverse propensity weighting, our results suggest that interventions aimed at reducing substance use by current and former female gang members should focus on the normative aspects of these behaviors.

Exploring the Use of Victim Surveys to Study Gang Crime

There has long been debate on the appropriate method to collect valid and reliable data on gang member involvement in crime and delinquency. In general, research in this area is based on data from self-report surveys, qualitative field work, and official reports which have well-documented limitations. Given these limitations, triangulation of methods is important to fully understand the unique contribution of gang members to the problem of crime and delinquency. This article proposes an additional data source to study gang violence and enhance triangulation: The National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS), which added a measure of the victim’s perception of the offender’s gang status in 1992. We highlight the advantages and disadvantages of using the NCVS for gang violence research and present a comparison of victimizations reportedly committed by gang and nongang perpetrators across situational, offender, and victim characteristics. Findings demonstrate promise for the use of victimization data in future gang research. Like Egley, Maxson, Miller, and Klein, we encourage the use of a ‘‘pluralistic approach’’ for the study of gangs and suggest that victimization data such as the NCVS be used to provide greater insight into gang crime.

Active parental consent in school-based research: how much is enough and how do we get it?

Active parental consent policies have been blamed for low participation rates and selection bias (i.e., loss of "high-risk" youths) in school-based studies. In this article, the authors describe active consent procedures that produced an overall active consent rate of 79% in a sample of more than 4,500 middle school students attending 29 schools in seven cities across the United States. Consent rates, however, varied considerably both within and between schools. To better understand factors associated with active parental consent rates, the authors examined district-level, school-level, and teacher-specific effects on consent rates.

Addressing program fidelity using onsite observations and program provider descriptions of program delivery

Over the past quarter-century, evaluation researchers have recognized the importance of documenting implementation practices of programs as they are transferred from controlled to real-world settings. As programs become widely disseminated in the general population, there is a tendency for practitioners to alter programs in a manner more conducive to their immediate needs, which may adversely affect program outcomes. The current paper uses findings from an ongoing evaluation of a school-based victimization prevention program to highlight some of the difficulties in maintaining a high degree of fidelity when providing prevention programming in a school-based setting. The results, based on observations of program delivery and program provider descriptions of implementation, allow for the examination of fidelity based on different data collection techniques.

Cingulate cortex activation and competing responses: the role of preparedness for competition

Regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) was studied in a task, where a preparatory stimulus (S1) cued for an imperative second stimulus (S2) which was associated with a response. Two preparatory stimuli cued unequivocally each for one response. In contrast, a third preparatory stimulus cued for two response alternatives which appeared for the same ratio (each in 50% of all trials) introducing response competition. In a first experimental condition, non-arbitrary, unambiguous stimuli were used as S1 to enable the subjects to prepare their responses. In a second and third scan, arbitrary preparatory stimuli were used during different stages of awareness for the S1-S2 association. Subjects performed this task "naive" without knowledge about the S1-S2 association and also in an experimental condition being aware of the S1-S2 association. Button presses after unambiguous, non-arbitrary preparatory stimuli activated the right middle frontal gyrus and inferior parietal lobe if S1 was associated with a definite response. When the subjects did not know the S1-S2 relation, left prefrontal cortex activation was associated with trials including definite responses. Performing the same S1-S2 response condition after subjects knew their relation right prefrontal and left parietal areas became additionally engaged. However, in the first experimental condition using unambiguous, non-arbitrary stimuli and in the third, "aware" experimental condition when S1 was coupled with two response alternatives, the anterior cingulate cortex was activated. As these experimental conditions have in common, that the preparatory stimulus shares information about the upcoming competing response alternatives they highlight the evaluative role of the anterior cingulate cortex for competing actions.