Differential Susceptibility to Parenting in Adolescent Girls: Moderation by Neural Sensitivity to Social Cues

This research examined whether heightened neural activation to social cues confers adjustment advantages in supportive social contexts but adjustment disadvantages in stressful social contexts. Forty‐five adolescent girls were exposed to social exclusion during an fMRI scan and reported on parent–child relationship quality and depressive symptoms. Stressful parent–child relationships predicted subsequent depressive symptoms in girls with high and moderate but not low dorsal anterior cingulate cortex, subgenual anterior cingulate cortex, and anterior insula activation during exclusion. In the context of supportive parent–child relationships, however, neural activation to exclusion predicted particularly low levels of depressive symptoms. This support for a biological sensitivity to context model suggests the possibility of redirecting adolescent girls’ neural sensitivity to social cues toward more positive adaptation.     

Maternal Buffering of Adolescent Dysregulation in Socially Appetitive Contexts: From Behavior to the Brain

Adolescents are more susceptible to dysregulation in positive social contexts, compared to children. We investigated whether maternal presence would buffer these effects in adolescence. Fifty‐four adolescents and children (age range = 8–17 years, M_age = 13.38 years) completed a social go‐nogo task during an fMRI scan alone and in the presence of their mother. We found age‐related patterns, such that older relative to younger youth displayed more disinhibition toward socially appetitive than socially aversive stimuli, which was buffered by maternal presence. Furthermore, with age, maternal buffering in socially appetitive contexts elicited heightened activation in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex and amygdala–medial prefrontal cortex connectivity. Findings underscore the importance of caregivers in promoting the neural regulation of their offspring during adolescence.     

Differential Behavioral and Neural Profiles in Youth With Conduct Problems During Risky Decision‐Making

Neuroimaging work has examined neural processes underlying risk taking in adolescence, yet predominantly in low‐risk youth. To determine whether we can extrapolate from current neurobiological models, this functional magnetic resonance imaging study investigated risk taking and peer effects in youth with conduct problems (CP; N = 19) and typically developing youth (TD; N = 25). Results revealed higher real‐life risk taking, lower risky decisions, and no peer effects on a risk‐taking task in CP youth. CP youth showed greater ventral striatum (VS) activity during safe than risky decisions, whereas TD youth showed greater VS activation during risky decisions. Differential VS activity explained higher real‐life risk taking in CP youth. Findings provide preliminary evidence that risk‐taking behavior in youth with CD problems is characterized by differential neural patterns.     

How does discharge status impact suicide risk in military veterans?

Little is known about over 125,000 veterans who received non-honorable military discharges since 2001, even though these veterans face substantial barriers to obtaining services and are likely to be at high risk for negative mental and behavioral health outcomes including suicide. Seven-hundred twenty-two veterans living the in the San Francisco Bay Area participated in the study. The sample comprised honorably discharged (n = 508) and non-honorably discharged veterans (n = 214). T-tests were used to compare means on predictors of suicide risk including Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), depression, alcohol use, somatic symptoms, and physical disability. A series of regression models tested relationships between predictors, discharge status, and suicide risk. Non-honorably discharged veterans demonstrated higher mean scores than honorably discharged veterans on all predictors. In regression models, somatic symptoms (β = 0.22, p < 0.001), physical disability (β = 0.16, p < 0.05), and discharge status (β = 0.33, p < 0.001) were associated with suicide risk. The final model showed an interaction effect for discharge status on the relationship between somatic symptoms and suicide risk (β = 0.16, p < 0.05). Non-honorably discharged veterans showed higher rates of mental and physical health problems and suicide risk compared to honorably discharged veterans. The magnitude of the relationship between somatic symptoms and suicide risk was significantly greater in non-honorably discharged veterans.     

The Gap Between Lifetime Fertility Intentions and Completed Fertility in Europe and the United States: A Cohort Approach

Population Research and Policy Review - We study the aggregate gap between intended and actual fertility in 19 European countries and the US based on a cohort approach. This complements prior...     

The role of marriage in immigrants’ human capital investment under liquidity constraints

This paper presents a two-period human capital investment model, which is used to study the optimal investment decisions of credit-constrained married immigrants relative to single immigrants and native couples facing a perfect capital market. The model predicts that: (1) The comparative advantage in investment in local skills of one of the spouses may emerge from his/her higher growth rate of imported human capital. (2) The optimal investment of each spouse is non-increasing in the level of imported human capital of the spouse with the comparative advantage in investment, while it is non-decreasing in the level of imported human capital of the other spouse. (3) When two immigrants get married, the spouse with the comparative advantage in investment invests more than when he/she was single whereas the other spouse invests less.

Using Link Resolver Reports for Collection Management

In 2007–2008, the University of Nevada, Las Vegas Libraries conducted a large collection assessment project. The Collection Assessment Committee identified several possible ways to conduct the review, one of which was using reports from the link resolver SFX. The committee used several link resolver reports in conjunction with statistics from the Libraries' document delivery department to identify trends in journal usage among disciplines. The link resolver reports can help identify new journals for purchase and are useful for providing information on user behavior.     

Projection error term in Gower's interpolation

New points can be superimposed on a Euclidean configuration obtained as a result of a metric multidimensional scaling at coordinates given by Gower's interpolation formula. The procedure amounts to discarding a, possibly nonnull, coordinate along an additional dimension. We derive an analytical formula for this projection error term and, for real data problems, we describe a statistical method for testing its significance, as a cautionary device prior to further distance-based predictions.