Measuring gender in elementary school-aged children in the United States: Promising practices and barriers to moving beyond the binary

How gender identity is assessed directly shapes how students are supported in elementary schools in the United States. Despite the existence of gender diversity, calls for more inclusive science, and recommendations from national research associations and societies to incorporate and emphasize the voices of individuals with diverse gender identities, most studies exploring gender disparities in education have relied heavily on the assumption of a gender binary. As a result, the omission of diverse gender identities from educational research in the elementary years is troubling. To address this area of need, the current article summarizes the opportunities for and constraints surrounding inclusive evaluation of gender identity in the elementary school years. We begin with a brief review of common methods used to assess gender identities for children in elementary school, including the strengths and limitations of each. We next contextualize these measures by outlining the current state-level barriers to including diverse gender identities in assessments of gender. In highlighting the best available practices and the structural systems of oppression realized through state-level policies that perpetuate an inability to represent student voices across the gender spectrum, we conclude with a call to action to inspire the evolution of best practices in the service of all students. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Emotional Engagement and Caring Relationships: The Assessment of Emotion Regulation Repertoires of Nurses

In spite of the importance of emotion regulation for nurses' well-being, little is known about which strategies nurses habitually use, how these strategies combine in order to regulate their emotional distress, and how these are related to their caregiving orientations. The current study aimed to explore the emotion regulation repertoires that characterize health-care providers and to investigate the association between these repertoires and caregiving orientations in a sample of nurses. Firstly, a confirmatory factor analyses was run to test the suitability of the Regulation of Emotion System Survey for the assessment of six emotion regulation strategies among health-care providers. Subsequently, the latent profiles analysis was employed to explore emotion regulation repertoires. Three repertoires emerged: The Average, the Suppression Propensity and the Engagement Propensity profiles. The participants of the last two groups relied on Expressive Suppression and Engagement, respectively, more often than others. Nurses were more likely to be placed within the Engagement Propensity group when compared to the first responders, and higher levels of hyperactivation of the Caregiving System were associated with this repertoire. A greater reliance on Expressive Engagement among nurses was discussed in terms of the fact that nurses usually have a longer and more care-oriented relationships with patients than first responders.

Nonjudgmental Regard of Others: Investigating the Links Between Other-Directed Trait Mindfulness and Prejudice

Although researchers predict that experiencing greater trait mindfulness should be related to less prejudiced attitudes towards others, the evidence has been inconsistent. We suggest that this is due to the narrow operationalizations of mindfulness that have been utilized thus far. Specifically, research to date has relied solely on mindfulness as it pertains to the self. We therefore examined an expanded definition of mindfulness to study the role of nonjudgmental attitudes towards others and its relation with prejudice. Using a new measure of Nonjudgmental Regard towards Others (NRO), the current study found that Ideological Acceptance, or judgments of another's actions, ideas, and personality, and Emotion Acceptance, or acceptance of another's emotions and emotional expressions, were independently associated with prejudiced attitudes towards numerous different outgroups such as drug users, people who are overweight, homosexuals, and people with disabilities. Furthermore, they were able to explain variance over and above the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire, Social Dominance Orientation and Right-Wing Authoritarianism. Having a nonjudgmental regard towards others, not just the self, may be an important component of mindfulness that has not yet been explored.

Associations between early poverty exposure and adolescent well-being: The role of childhood negative emotionality

Using a longitudinal design (Wave 1 n = 164, Mage = 3.57 years, 54% female, predominantly White and French-speaking), the current study sought to answer two questions: 1) does poverty influence children's negative emotionality through heightened family-level, poverty-related stress? and 2) is negative emotionality, in turn, predictive of adolescent internalizing symptoms, externalizing behaviors, cognitive abilities, and physical health? Results confirmed an indirect pathway from family poverty to child emotionality through poverty-related stress. In addition, negative emotionality was associated with adolescent internalizing symptoms, attention difficulties, and physical health, but not externalizing symptoms, even when controlling for early poverty exposure.

An intensive longitudinal investigation of maternal and infant touching patterns across context and throughout the first 9-months of life

Touch is a central component of mothers' and infants' everyday interactions and the formation of a healthy mother-infant relationship. Twelve mothers and their full-term infants from the Midwest, USA participated in the present study, which examined the quality and quantity of their touching behaviors longitudinally at 1-, 3-, 5-, 7-, and 9-months postpartum and within two normative interaction contexts (face-to-face, floor play). Findings revealed that mothers' and infants' individual touch patterns, varied according to context, infant age (time), and the specific type of touch examined. At 1-month postpartum, dyads coordinated their touch via behavioral matching and were especially reliant on rudimentary types of touch with soothing and regulatory properties (static/motionless touch, stroking). As infants aged to 9-months, dyads transitioned to a more complex form of tactile synchrony characterized by the parallel use of complementary types of touch (grasp, poke, pull). This evolution of tactile synchrony may reflect infants' growing behavioral repertoire and increased capacity to use more refined forms of touch. To our knowledge, this study was the first of its kind, uniquely contributing to the scant knowledge about the development of mother-infant touch and synchrony and offering direct implications for early care practices and infant health and well-being.

Taking a nuanced look at adolescent technology use and negative affect: the protective role of preparedness

Adolescents are online more than any other age group, with the majority of their time on social media. Increases in technology use among adolescents have heightened conversations regarding its effects on their negative affect. There have been mixed findings regarding the relationship between technology use and adolescent negative affect; some studies present a negative association or no association, and some show a positive association. To clarify this relationship, we propose moving away from asking only how much adolescents use technology to asking how and what they use it for. We employed the Multidimensional Healthy Technology Use and Social Media Habits Scale (MTECH) and adapted forms of the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS) in a sample of 7,234 middle and high school students to assess the extent to which students feel prepared to use technology safely and successfully and whether this impacts the association between the amount of various types of technology they use and their negative affect. We conducted eight moderated regression analyses that, in some models, revealed preparedness had a protective role in the association between technology use and negative affect. In these models, at all levels of technology use, adolescents with higher levels of preparedness experienced lower levels of negative affect than their peers; however, in some instances, this effect was diminished for those using technology with high frequency. These findings support the notion that the association between technology and negative affect is not best modeled as a direct relationship, and instead that we must consider important moderators of this complex association.

Are equitable physical performance tests perceived to be fair? Understanding officer cadets' perceptions of fitness standards

In the last few decades, the armed forces in Western countries such as Canada and the United States have accepted women into virtually all military occupations. Despite this, a growing body of research confirms that female service members face prejudiced treatment while conducting their work in these organizations that continue to be predominately masculine and male-dominated. In particular, women attending the Canadian Military Colleges (CMCs) experience gender-related conflicts arising from the dissimilar fitness test standards between male and female cadets. There have been, however, few studies that scrutinize the psychological mechanisms of these tensions. The aim of this study was to unpack the existing biased perceptions against women pertaining to physical fitness through ambivalent sexism, social dominance orientation, and right-wing authoritarianism. Officer and naval cadets (n = 167, 33.5% women) at the Royal Military College of Canada (RMC) completed survey measures. Indirect effect analyses showed that cadets who viewed the fitness standards to be unfair expressed more hostile rather than benevolent sexist outlooks against women, and these negative feelings were connected to greater levels of social dominance and right-wing authoritarianism. These results indicate that sexist beliefs, competitive worldviews, and authoritarianism are underlying attitudes that should be addressed by militaries striving to fully integrate women into their forces.

Momentary emotion regulation strategy use and success: Testing the influences of emotion intensity and habitual strategy use

Successful emotion regulation (ER) is important for a wide range of psychosocial outcomes. Specific ER strategies have been identified as being more or less likely to be successful. However, recent evidence suggests significant individual differences in the association between strategy implementation and ER success. Indeed, 2 key factors may play an important role in moderating the link between ER strategy use and ER success in the moment: (a) the intensity of the specific emotional experience, and (b) the relative frequency in using a given ER strategy. Experience-sampling across 14-days (N = 304, M_age = 19.14, % female = 87.5) was used to assess whether emotion intensity and trait ER strategy use were differentially associated with perceived regulatory success depending on which ER strategy was used. Multilevel modeling revealed that more intense emotions were associated with lower perceived success for all strategies. Additionally, habitual reappraisal predicted greater success and habitual rumination predicted lower success. We discuss the possibility that results reflected intensity-based ER strategy choices and add to the growing call to abandon the reductive labeling of ER strategies as either "adaptive" or "maladaptive." (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Relationship Quality and Mental Health Implications for Adolescents during the COVID-19 Pandemic: a Longitudinal Study

Although parent-adolescent and peer-adolescent relationship quality are critical for adolescent wellbeing during typical stressful life events, the unique features of the COVID-19 pandemic put into question whether strong parent-adolescent and peer-adolescent relationship quality functioned as protective factors of adolescent mental health in this context. The current longitudinal study examined a community sample of adolescents across 3 time points, each 6 months apart (Time 1: Fall, 2019; n = 163, 50.9% male; mean age = 15.75 years, SD = 1.02). Results showed that increases in depression symptoms, perceived stress, and emotion dysregulation from Fall 2019 to Fall 2020 were predicted by changes in parent, but not peer relationship quality. The current study demonstrates that adolescent-parent relationship quality may be protective against mental health difficulties during the COVID-19 pandemic, while adolescent-peer relationship quality may not. Identifying protective factors that may play a role in mitigating the impact of the pandemic, and other such widespread health crises, on youth mental health is critical in reducing the long-term psychological harm of the viral outbreak, as well as promoting adolescent wellbeing and resilience.

Adolescents suppress emotional expression more with peers compared to parents and less when they feel close to others

Adolescence is characterized by frequent emotional challenges, intense emotions, and higher levels of expressive suppression use than found in older populations. While evidence suggests that contingent expressive suppression use based on context is the most functional, it remains unclear whether adolescents use expressive suppression differentially based on social context. Because the peer relationship is highly salient in adolescence, the current study was designed to assess whether adolescents use expressive suppression differentially based on their social context. Adolescents (N = 179, M_age  = 13.94, 49.2% female) reported emotional events using experience sampling via a smartphone application for 14 days. Multilevel modeling revealed that adolescents used less expressive suppression when they were alone compared with when they were with people, and used more expressive suppression when they were with their peers compared with when they were with family. In addition, more closeness with family predicted less overall expressive suppression use, while closeness with peers did not influence the level of expressive suppression use within the peer context. We discuss the importance of peer relations in adolescence and the relationship between closeness and emotional expression.

Persistence on challenging tasks mediates the relationship between childhood poverty and mental health problems

Childhood disadvantage is associated with psychological distress throughout the lifespan. Poor children are alleged to give up more often than their more privileged peers when facing challenges. Yet little research has examined the role of task persistence in poverty and mental health. We test whether poverty-related deficits in persistence contribute to the well-documented link between childhood disadvantage and mental health. We used growth curve modeling to analyze three waves (age 9, 13, and 17) of data assessing the trajectories of persistence on challenging tasks and mental health. Childhood poverty is the proportion of time participants lived in poverty from birth to age 9. We found that individuals experiencing more poverty in early childhood demonstrate less persistence and deteriorated mental health from ages 9 to 17. As expected, task persistence accounts for a portion of the robust childhood poverty - worsening mental health association. Clinical research on childhood disadvantage is in the early stages of unpacking underlying reasons why childhood poverty is bad for psychological well-being throughout life, revealing potential points of intervention.

Emotion Regulation Strategy Use and Success During Adolescence: Assessing the Role of Context

This study evaluated the role of situational factors in emotion regulation (ER) strategy choice and perceived ER success within a sample of adolescents (n = 178, M_age  = 13.93, 42.2% female). Experience-sampling results showed that emotion type and intensity, but not situational control, were associated with strategy use. Instances of anxiety and situational control were associated with higher levels of ER success, while intensity was associated with lower levels of ER success. Finally, situational factors moderated the reappraisal-success and engagement-success associations. These results provide the first assessment of multiple contextual factors on strategy selection and regulatory success during naturalistic emotional evocations and suggest that context is influential for strategy selection, regulatory success, as well as associations between these two highly researched elements of ER.

Understanding the association between reappraisal use and depressive symptoms during adolescence: the moderating influence of regulatory success

Higher levels of reliance on cognitive reappraisal to manage daily emotional events are commonly associated with lower levels of depressive symptoms. However, reappraisal is a cognitively demanding regulation strategy, and its efficacy may depend on how successfully an individual is able to employ it. Individual differences in the association between reappraisal use and depressive symptoms may be particularly evident during adolescence, when the cognitive skills required to implement this complex strategy are still in development. The current study sought to determine whether the association between reappraisal use and subsequent depressive symptom development is contingent on perceived regulatory success when using reappraisal. At Wave 1, adolescents (n =  178, mean age = 13.92, 49.7% female) used an experience-sampling smartphone app to report on their reappraisal use and perceptions of regulatory success over the course of two weeks. Six, 12, and 18 months later, adolescents completed a self-report measure of their depressive symptoms. Results showed that a) reappraisal use was associated with both subsequent depressive symptoms and trajectories of depressive symptoms over time, b) these associations were moderated by perceptions of regulatory success. Higher levels of reappraisal use were associated with lower levels of depressive symptoms only for those who reported higher than average between-subject regulatory success when reappraisal was enacted.

The mental health implications of COVID-19 for adolescents: Follow-up of a four-wave longitudinal study during the pandemic

On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization declared a pandemic due to the global outbreak of the novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). While scientists have moved quickly to study the physical health implications of the disease, less attention has been paid to the negative mental health repercussions. The current study utilized a community sample of adolescents who had recently completed a 2-year, four wave study of adolescent mental health (Wave 1 n = 184, Mage = 13.9 years; 50.3% female). Participants were recontacted to assess their anxiety, depression, and emotion dysregulation symptoms during the pandemic. Latent growth modeling based on four pre-COVID time points indicated the extent to which the fifth (COVID) time point deviated from trend expectations. Results showed that (a) anxiety and depression scores were significantly higher than previous trajectories would have predicted, and (b) deviations from personal trajectories were associated with higher levels of perceived lifestyle impact due to the pandemic. Furthermore, gender-based analyses revealed that financial impacts, lifestyle impacts, and coronavirus fear were differentially associated with symptom increases for male and female participants. The current study is among the first to report that adolescent mental health trajectories have been altered in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. As physical distancing and other safety precautions may be required for several years, it is essential that we gain a deep understanding of how prevention efforts are associated with significant disruptions to youth mental health to bolster youth resilience during these unprecedented times. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Any time and place? Digital emotional support for digital natives

Digital natives (i.e., those who have grown up in the digital age) are likely to receive emotional support through digital means, such as texting and video calling. However, virtually all studies assessing the benefits of emotional support have focused on in-person support; the relative efficacy of digital support remains unclear. This study assessed a sample of young adults' negative emotions, digital and in-person support for those emotions, and success in regulating them 3 times per day for 14 days (N = 164; 6,530 collective measurement occasions). Participants' social surroundings at the time of each negative emotion and trait levels of social avoidance were also considered. Digital support was expected to be received more often and perceived as more effective for regulating negative emotions when participants were alone and higher in social avoidance. However, with the exception of those higher in social avoidance receiving less digital (and in-person) support, digital support was received and perceived as effective regardless of these factors, and its perceived effectiveness was on par with that of in-person support. For digital natives, digital support may be just as effective as the "real thing" and its benefits may not be restricted to isolated or socially avoidant users. Findings are discussed in relation to the emotional consequences and social constraints of the COVID-19 pandemic. If transcending the time and space limitations of in-person support with digital support is the new norm, the good news is that it seems to be working. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Implicit theories of emotion and mental health during adolescence: the mediating role of emotion regulation

Despite strong evidence of the influence of implicit theories of emotion (ITE) on mental health symptoms among adult samples, scant attention has been paid to this important relation during adolescence. Moreover, it remains unclear which proximal processes may help to explain the link between ITE and mental health. As such, the current study had two objectives: (1) to assess the association of ITE and later anxiety and depressive symptoms within an adolescent sample, and (2) evaluate the mediating role of real-world emotion regulation strategies on the association between ITE and mental health. A sample of 13-15-year-old adolescents (n = 183, mean age = 13.9, SD = 0.91, 50% female) completed a measure of ITE (Time 1), and subsequently reported on their emotion regulation strategy use via an ESM smart-phone app for two weeks (Time 2). Youth then reported on their anxiety and depressive symptoms six months later (Time 3). Mediational analyses revealed that the proportion to which adolescents used reappraisal and suppression mediated the association between ITE and depressive symptoms: higher levels of incremental theories of emotion were associated with more reappraisal, and less suppression, use, which in turn predicted fewer depressive symptoms six months later. None of the strategies measured, however, mediated the association between ITE and anxiety symptoms.

Regulating Emotion Systems in Everyday Life

Abstract. Researchers are increasingly using ecological momentary assessment (EMA) to investigate how people regulate their emotions from moment-to-moment in daily life. However, existing self-report measures of emotion regulation have been designed and validated to assess habitual/trait use of emotion regulation strategies and may therefore not be suited to assessing momentary emotion regulation. The present study aimed to develop a brief, yet reliable, EMA measure of emotion regulation in daily life by adapting the Regulation of Emotion Systems Survey (RESS; DeFrance & Hollenstein, 2017 ), a recently developed global self-report questionnaire assessing habitual use of six emotion regulation strategies. We created an EMA version of the RESS by selecting 12 items from the original scale and adapting them for EMA. We investigated the psychometric properties of the new RESS-EMA scale by administering it eight times daily for 7 days via smartphones to a sample of undergraduates ( n = 112). Results of multilevel modeling analyses supported the within- and between-person reliability and validity of the RESS-EMA scale and suggest that it is a viable way to comprehensively assess momentary emotion regulation strategy use in daily life.

Expanding context in the role of emotion regulation in mental health: How socioeconomic status (SES) and developmental stage matter

Reliance on disengagement strategies to manage emotional experiences is associated with higher levels of mental health symptomology. Nascent research suggests, however, that socioeconomic status (SES) may moderate the associations between emotion regulation (ER) strategy use and mental health problems. A handful of studies have been conducted assessing moderators of ER and mental health, but few have examined disengagement and all are cross-sectional. As such, little is known about whether SES influences the association between disengagement use and mental health or whether these associations vary across developmental period. The current study, therefore, examined whether the efficacy of ER during the transition from early adolescence to adulthood is moderated by SES. Participants (n = 341) who were part of a larger, longitudinal study were assessed during early adolescence (M_age = 13), late adolescence (M_age = 17), and adulthood (M_age = 24). SES moderated the association between disengagement use and internalizing symptoms during early adolescence and adulthood, but not late adolescence. SES also moderated the association between disengagement use and externalizing symptoms, but only during early adolescence. In each case the significant adverse association between disengagement and mental health was amplified among those from lower SES backgrounds. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Emotion regulation and relations to well-being across the lifespan

The specific strategies that individuals use to regulate their emotions have shown strong associations with various indices of well-being. However, theoretical accounts suggest that strategy use, and the associations between strategy use and well-being, may change across the life span. Attempts have been made to assess whether levels of strategy use, and the association between strategy use and well-being, change across development; however, studies typically do not take into account potential differences in base rates of item endorsement across the life span. Therefore, the current study had two objectives. First, we sought to examine whether relative ER strategy reliance, or the proportional degree to which an individual relies on various ER strategies, varied across three developmental periods: early adolescence, young adulthood, and adulthood. Second, we sought to identify whether the associations between relative strategy use and well-being differed significantly across these developmental periods. Results showed that relative reliance on distraction, rumination, relaxation, and suppression differed significantly across age groups. Moreover, results showed that the association between relative use of reappraisal and suppression interacted with age group to predict relationship quality. Relative strategy use and age did not interact significantly to predict anxiety and depressive symptoms. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Prejudice, Integrativeness, and Motivation to Learn a Second Language: A Mediation Analysis

The role of prejudice in second-language acquisition has received little attention but may be related to an individual’s motivation to learn another language. For instance, learners who express high Social Dominance Orientation or Right-Wing Authoritarianism, constructs reflective of prejudice and worldviews that endorse hostility towards or fear of outgroup members, may be less motivated to learn a second language. Moreover, increased Social Dominance Orientation and/or Right-Wing Authoritarianism scores may be associated with reduced motivation to learn a second language due to the impact of prejudice on Integrativeness, which is the extent to which a person has an interest in learning a second language and in interacting with members who speak that second language. The current study sought to test these associations with a sample of 110 college participants learning French as a second language in a bilingual institution. Integrativeness was found to fully mediate the relations between Social Dominance Orientation, Right-Wing Authoritarianism, and Motivation to learn a second language. Results suggest the importance of examining the role of prejudice in second-language acquisition.

Emotion regulation during adolescence: Antecedent or outcome of depressive symptomology?

Consistently, moderate to strong correlations between emotion regulation and depressive symptomology are well documented. This relationship is most often conceptualized as unidirectional, in that poor emotion regulation acts as a pre-existing risk factor for depressive symptomatology. However, explicit examinations of the direction of this relationship have been limited, and support for a directional relation between emotion regulation and psychopathology has been inconsistent. Moreover, the majority of the research exploring these associations relies on adult participants and the studies that have examined emotion regulation and depression in adolescents have relied almost exclusively on cross-sectional data. As a replication and extension of work that has been done by others, the current study assessed Suppression and Reappraisal use and Depressive Symptoms in 1343 adolescents (Mean age = 12.9 years, SD = 0.85) who completed assessments of emotion regulation and depressive symptoms four times over two years. Results indicated that only Suppression but not Reappraisal was concurrently correlated with Depressive Symptoms. Moreover, a correlated slopes analysis showed that within-subject changes in use of Suppression, but not Reappraisal, were associated with within-subject changes in Depressive Symptoms over time. Finally, a cross-lag panel analysis showed that while Depressive Symptoms were predictive of future Suppression use, Suppression use did not predict later Depressive Symptoms. Therefore, while Suppression and Depressive Symptoms seem to be associated during adolescence, associations between reappraisal and depressive symptomology were not present in the current study. Moreover, despite previous evidence supporting emotion regulation as a risk factor for depression, suppression may be the outcome, rather than the antecedent, of depressive symptoms during adolescence.