Positive Youth Development: Parental Warmth, Values, and Prosocial Behavior in 11 Cultural Groups

The current cross-cultural study aimed to extend research on parenting and children’s prosocial behavior by examining relations among parental warmth, values related to family obligations (i.e., children’s support to and respect for their parents, siblings, and extended family), and prosocial behavior during the transition to adolescence (from ages 9 to 12). Mothers, fathers, and their children (N = 1107 families) from 8 countries including 11 cultural groups (Colombia; Rome and Naples, Italy; Jordan; Kenya; the Philippines; Sweden; Thailand; and African Americans, European Americans, and Latin Americans in the United States) provided data over 3 years in 3 waves (Mage of child in wave 1 = 9.34 years, SD = 0.75; 50.5% female). Overall, across all 11 cultural groups, multivariate change score analysis revealed positive associations among the change rates of parental warmth, values related to family obligations, and prosocial behavior during late childhood (from age 9 to 10) and early-adolescence (from age 10 to 12). In most cultural groups, more parental warmth at ages 9 and 10 predicted steeper mean-level increases in prosocial behavior in subsequent years. The findings highlight the prominent role of positive family context, characterized by warm relationships and shared prosocial values, in fostering children’s positive development in the transition to adolescence. The practical implications of these findings are discussed.

Abstract MP63: Childhood-onset Obstructive Sleep Apnea Is Associated With Increased Risk Of Adolescent Hypertension

Introduction: Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is an established risk factor for hypertension in adults. However, the association of childhood OSA with an increased risk of hypertension has remained elusive. Hypothesis: Childhood-onset OSA is longitudinally associated with hypertension in adolescence. Methods: We tested this hypothesis in a population-based sample of 421 children (5-12 years) from the Penn State Child Cohort who were followed-up 6-13 years later as adolescents (12-23 years). In-lab polysomnography, to ascertain the apnea/hypopnea index (AHI), and seated blood pressure were assessed at baseline and at follow-up. The presence of hypertension at follow-up was defined based on pediatric criteria dependent upon the subject’s age (below and above 13 years). Logistic regression analyses adjusted for sex, race/ethnicity, age, body mass index percentile and systolic blood pressure percentile at baseline. Results: Childhood OSA that persisted in the transition to adolescence was associated with 2.9-fold (95%CI=1.1-7.4) higher odds of adolescent hypertension. In contrast, childhood OSA that remitted in the transition to adolescence was not associated with increased odds of adolescent hypertension (OR=0.9, 95%CI=0.3-2.6). Adolescent-onset OSA was associated with 1.7-fold (95%CI=1.1-2.9) increased odds of adolescent hypertension. Conclusions: Childhood-onset persistent OSA is a risk factor for hypertension in adolescence. Remission of childhood OSA during this transitional period, which previous research has shown to be highly determined by weight loss, does not confer a significant risk of adolescent hypertension. Early life chronic adverse sleep exposures predict cardiovascular risk in adolescence, a critical developmental period.

628 Longitudinal Association between NREM Sleep Depth and Arousability with ADHD and Internalizing Disorders in Adolescence

Introduction Sleep depth decreases in the transition from childhood to adolescence, even in typically developing (TD) youth. However, it remains unknown whether this developmental trajectory in NREM sleep depth differs across adolescents with psychiatric/behavioral disorders. Methods We analyzed the sleep EEG of 392 subjects aged 5–12 at baseline and 12–22 at follow-up (45.2% female, 23.2% racial/ethnic minority), of whom 246 were TD adolescents (controls), 62 were diagnosed with a psychiatric/behavioral disorder and were taking stimulant, anti-depressant, anxiolytic, sedative and/or anti-psychotic medications, and 84 were un-medicated. NREM sleep depth was measured at both time points using the odds ratio product (ORP), which provides a standardized continuous EEG measure of NREM sleep depth/arousability (higher ORP reflects lighter NREM sleep). General linear models examined mean differences between groups on the percent change in ORP between baseline and follow-up (ΔORP) while adjusting for sex, race/ethnicity, age, BMI and AHI at follow-up, and PSG system, psychiatric/behavioral disorders, psychoactive medications and ORP at baseline as well as time-to-follow-up. Results Overall, medicated (80.4%, 95%CI=66.2–94.6) and un-medicated (66.1%, 95%CI=53.0–79.1) subjects showed a higher ΔORP compared to controls (52.2%, 95%CI=40.0–64.5, p<0.01 and p<0.05, respectively) but did not differ between each other (p=0.134). Specifically, un-medicated subjects with ADHD (n=56) showed a higher ΔORP (77.3%, 95%CI=62.4–92.1) compared to controls (p<0.01), while subjects with ADHD on stimulant medication (n=36) did not differ (66.1%, 95%CI=48.9–93.2) from controls (p=0.268) or from un-medicated ADHD subjects (p=0.303). Subjects with internalizing disorders on psychoactive medications (n=29) showed a higher ΔORP (104.9%, 95%CI=82.8–127.0) compared to controls (p<0.01) and to un-medicated subjects (n=27) with internalizing disorders (60.1%, 95%CI=36.8–83.3, p<0.01), who did not differ from controls (p=0.772). Conclusion The greater increase in ORP in the transition to adolescence in un-medicated youth with ADHD suggests that decreased NREM sleep depth may be a biomarker of the disorder. In contrast, the greater increase in ORP in medicated youth with internalizing disorders suggests that psychoactive medications impact NREM sleep depth in these children as they transition to adolescence. These data have important implications for sleep EEG studies that include medicated and un-medicated youth with comorbid psychiatric disorders. Support (if any) NIH Awards Number R01MH118308, R01HL136587, R01HL97165, R01HL63772, UL1TR000127

150 Impact of Behavioral Disorders and their Pharmacological Treatment on the Maturational Trajectories of NREM Slow Wave Activity

Introduction Slow wave activity (SWA) in the delta (0.4-4 Hz) frequency range declines in typically developing (TD) children as they transition to adolescence. However, it remains unknown whether the maturational trajectory of NREM delta power differs between TD youth and those with psychiatric/behavioral disorders. Methods We analyzed the sleep EEG of 664 subjects aged 6 to 21 (46.8% female, 24.7% racial/ethnic minority) from the Penn State Child Cohort, of whom 449 were TD, 123 were un-medicated and diagnosed with psychiatric/behavioral disorders, and 92 were medicated with stimulants, anti-depressants, anxiolytics, sedatives and/or anti-psychotics. Multivariable regression models adjusting for sex, race/ethnicity, BMI, AHI and PSG system tested the age-related trajectories of NREM delta power within each diagnostic group. Results Delta power in TD and un-medicated youth showed cubic age-related trajectories (both p-cubic<0.05). In TD youth, delta power was highest at age 6.6 and lowest at age 19.9, while in un-medicated youth it was highest at age 8.9 and lowest at age 18.6. The decreasing slope in delta power was 39.7% steeper in un-medicated youth (-22422 ± 5891/year, p<0.01) than TD youth (-16047 ± 2605/year, p<0.01). Delta power in medicated youth showed a distinct linearly decreasing trajectory (-13518 ± 4597/year, p-linear<0.01) from age 6 (highest) to age 21 (lowest). Conclusion TD and un-medicated youth with psychiatric/behavioral disorders show SWA trajectories typical of brain maturation biomarkers (e.g., gray matter volume), characterized by a decreasing slope at the onset of puberty that reaches its nadir by late adolescence. However, SWA in un-medicated youth peaks two years later and reaches its nadir a year earlier than in TD youth. Thus, while TD children experience a smooth decline in SWA in the transition to adolescence, those with psychiatric/behavioral disorders experience a faster steep decline. In contrast, SWA in medicated youth appears to be dampened in early childhood and its slope linearly decreases with age. These data suggest that these youth may have a more severe disorder requiring pharmacological treatment, that the latter produces greater cortical arousability reflected in lower SWA power, and/or that psychoactive medications directly impact normal neurodevelopmental processes (e.g., synaptic pruning). Support (if any) NIH Awards Number R01MH118308, R01HL136587, R01HL97165, R01HL63772, UL1TR000127

Child Maltreatment and Substance Use in Emerging Adulthood: Internalizing and Externalizing Behaviors at the Transition to Adolescence as Indirect Pathways

One well-established outcome of child maltreatment is an increased likelihood of substance use in emerging adulthood. However, research identifying the indirect pathways that explain this relation is lacking, thereby limiting substance use prevention efforts for the child maltreatment population. The present study helped address this gap by accessing data from The Longitudinal Studies on Child Abuse and Neglect (LONGSCAN; n = 1,136), a prospective cohort study of child maltreatment from birth through age eighteen. Internalizing and externalizing problems at age twelve were examined as indirect effects of the relation between child maltreatment prior to age four and substance use at age eighteen. A multiple mediator model tested the total and specific indirect effects of internalizing and externalizing concerns while controlling for demographic risk factors. Results demonstrated that the total indirect effect for internalizing and externalizing behaviors was statistically significant, Standardized Point Estimate = 0.01, 95% CI: 0.00-0.02. Examination of the specific indirect effects revealed that only externalizing behaviors constituted an indirect pathway, Standardized Point Estimate = 0.01, 95% CI: 0.00-0.03. These results suggest that externalizing behaviors at the transition to adolescence are important intervention targets for reducing the risk for substance use in emerging adulthood in the child maltreatment population.

An RDoC-Based Approach to Adolescent Self-Injurious Thoughts and Behaviors: The Interactive Role of Social Affiliation and Cardiac Arousal

Self-injurious thoughts and behaviors (SITB) increase dramatically across adolescence. Despite the prevalence and severity of these outcomes, remarkably little research has elucidated why adolescence represents a particularly high-risk period for the emergence of SITB. Recent theoretical models have posited that SITB may result from failures in biological stress regulation in the context of social stress. However, there is a lack of data examining these associations during the transition to adolescence, a sensitive period of development that is characterized by changes across socio-affective and psychophysiological domains that may interact to heighten risk for SITB. The present study used a prospective longitudinal design among 147 adolescents. We built on advantages offered by the RDoC framework to test the interaction of experiences of social conflict (i.e., parent and peer conflict) with cardiac arousal (i.e., resting heart rate) to predict adolescent non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) and suicidal ideation (SI) across one year. Longitudinal analyses revealed that while neither greater peer conflict nor higher cardiac arousal at baseline were associated with SITB outcomes at follow-up, adolescents experiencing the combination of greater peer conflict and higher cardiac arousal at baseline showed significant longitudinal increases in NSSI at follow-up. In addition, there were null effects for family conflict and SI outcomes. Findings indicate that youth with greater peer conflict and heightened arousal during the transition to adolescence may be at increased risk for NSSI. Future research should examine these processes at finer timescales in order to elucidate whether these factors are proximal predictors of within-day SITB.