Research indicates that parental factors influence children’s neurodevelopmental outcomes. For example, parental diagnoses of related conditions or parental trauma history may increase the likelihood that a child develops attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Additionally, adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are associated with greater probability of an ADHD diagnosis and may intensify the impact of parental ADHD or trauma history on ADHD risk. This project examines whether parental ADHD diagnosis predicts higher ADHD risk in children, whether parental trauma history is similarly associated with elevated ADHD symptoms or diagnoses, and whether a child’s ACE exposure amplifies the combined effects of parental ADHD and trauma history. Participants (expected N = 100) will be recruited through Texas Christian University’s SONA system and will complete self-report questionnaires assessing parental ADHD history, parental trauma exposure, personal ACE exposure, and the participant’s current ADHD symptoms and diagnoses. We hypothesize that both parental ADHD and parental trauma histories will correspond with increased ADHD symptoms and diagnosis, and that participant exposure to ACEs will strengthen these relationships. Clarifying how vulnerabilities interact with environmental adversity may improve understanding of pathways shaping ADHD risk. The findings carry clinical relevance as identifying individuals at elevated risk can guide prevention, early identification, and intervention strategies that support resilience and adaptive functioning among people with ADHD.

With media consumption constantly evolving, it is crucial to understand how information is perceived based on the medium used to deliver it. The current study surveyed Dallas-Fort Worth community members (N = 40) to determine how textual versus audiovisual news may influence an audience’s perception of crime dangerousness and community safety concerns within their area. Using a randomized, between-subjects design, participants were assigned to one of two conditions - either an audiovisual broadcast about a recent local news clip or a textual transcript of the same news story. Subsequently, participants completed standardized measures assessing perceptions of crime severity, community safety, social media use frequency, and demographic characteristics. We hypothesize that the audiovisual news media format will predict stronger emotions and heightened judgments of crime severity and community safety. Such findings carry important implications for journalism, politics, and criminal justice, as the format through which news is delivered may shape public perception of crime beyond what the facts alone convey. Both media producers and consumers should be aware of these effects to avoid forming distorted or amplified reactions to crime reports, and ensure more accurate evaluations of potential danger. 

Vulnerable populations face elevated risks for diminished well-being, prompting growing interest in interventions as a form of social support. Evaluating the effectiveness of such interventions is critical for understanding their impact on well-being outcomes. The current study utilizes data collected as part of ACTION, a NIDA-funded R01 study examining the feasibility of two interventions: a mobile health unit and a patient navigator. Specifically, the current study investigates changes in well-being scores from baseline to a 6-month follow-up. A moderated regression analysis was conducted to assess whether the number of interventionist visits moderated changes in well-being scores over this period. Results revealed significant main effects for three well-being domains (anxiety, depression, and sociality) while the interaction effect was nonsignificant. These findings indicate that well-being scores changed significantly over the 6-month period. However, the number of interventionist visits did not significantly moderate this change. Future research should explore additional factors that may moderate improvements in well-being among vulnerable populations.

Widespread use of hormonal birth control (HBC) calls for a deeper understanding of its systemic side effects. Emerging research suggests HBC may deplete essential micronutrients (Palmery et al., 2013), including B vitamins, magnesium, and zinc, which serve as critical cofactors for neurotransmitter synthesis and energy regulation (Muscaritoli, 2021). These deficiencies are hypothesized to interfere with physiological systems, leading to mood instability, chronic fatigue, and functional somatic symptoms that can significantly impair daily functioning (Kennedy, 2016). This study addresses a virtual literature gap regarding the efficacy of targeted, non-pharmacological interventions for these issues. Utilizing a longitudinal, double-blind design, we investigated whether taking a daily supplement for 28 days, designed to combat nutritional deficiencies in HBC users, increases happiness levels, decreases mood instability, increases energy, and improves digestive health. By identifying safe interventions to mitigate these symptoms, this research contributes to personalized health strategies and improved well-being for women. Data are forthcoming.

As trauma-informed care continues to flourish, professionals across diverse roles interact with children in different ways that may shape how intervention principles are applied. Trust-Based Relational Intervention is an attachment-based, trauma-informed approach that equips professionals working with children and youth with evidence-based relational strategies through Practitioner Training. Although TBRI is implemented across a range of child-serving contexts, limited research has examined the specific roles individuals report playing in their work with youth and how these roles have evolved over time among TBRI practitioners. This exploratory study examines the expansion of the roles TBRI Practitioners play in working with youths. Data from 2,185 participants from across five years of training sessions (2021-2025) was analyzed to assess trends in role representation across 6 professional categories: (1) I work in leadership, (2) I work directly with youth, (3) I supervise staff, (4) I train clients or staff, (5) I am support staff or direct care or leadership, (6) Other (specific). This study contributes to the understanding of trends in professional roles within TBRI training and elucidates the importance in understanding relational contexts when applying and implementing this training.

The zebra finch (Taeniopygia guttata) is a commonly studied model organism for understanding the neural basis of motor learning due to its ability to learn its characteristic song. Researchers investigating the neuronal mechanisms that produce zebra finch song are often interested in measuring the internal pressure of the zebra finch's air sac, which physiologically produces the observed song. Unfortunately, this is an often difficult and intrusive signal to measure. Previous work has used biophysical modeling to demonstrate that air sac pressure can be reconstructed from a bird's song using a dynamical system with parameters fine tuned to a specific bird. In this project, we aim to develop a machine learning model that can infer internal air sac pressure from acoustic data across multiple birds. Specifically, we train a variational recurrent neural network to translate observed acoustic data into a low-dimensional set of latent variables that can be decoded into air sac pressure.

Caregiver mental health is closely linked to parenting practices, making it crucial to understand how adversity affects parenting. This study examined how daily war-related stress and caregiver mental health relates to parenting quality, among Ukrainian caregivers of children under 18 years of age. Participants (N = 319) were recruited through social media platforms and directed to an online survey hosted on Qualtrics. Measures included the Ukrainian Scale of Daily War Stressors, PHQ-8 (depression), the GAD-7 (anxiety), and the MAPS scale for parental practices. Pearson correlation analyses were conducted to examine the relationships among daily war-related stress, caregiver mental health, and parenting practices. Results indicated that higher levels of daily war-related stress were positively correlated with greater depressive (r = .579) and anxiety (r = .600) symptoms among caregivers. Depression and anxiety were not significantly associated with positive parenting behaviors. However, both depression (r = -.342) and anxiety (r = -.394) were significantly associated with greater harsh parenting behaviors. These results highlight the importance of supporting caregiver mental health, especially in war-affected areas, as caregivers' well-being may influence parenting behaviors and potentially affect child and family outcomes. Future research should consider a longitudinal design and a more diverse caregiver sample to better understand how war-related stress affects parenting and mental health over time.

Introduction: Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder that is characterized by restricted and repetitive patterns of behaviors, interests, and activities and differences in reciprocal social communication abilities (APA, 2013). Children with ASD are more prone to depressive symptoms when compared to TD children (Muscatello et al., 2021). Studies have found that a high RSA reactivity (RSA-R) predicted an increase in externalizing behaviors when moderated by high negative parenting and predicted a decrease in externalizing behaviors when moderated by lower negative parenting (Baker et al., 2019). However, there is a lack of research examining this relationship with internalizing behaviors. McRae et al. (2018) found that warm parenting behaviors were negatively associated with internalizing behaviors in children with ASD, however, there has been no investigation into if RSA reactivity moderates this relationship and if this association remains as autistic children mature into adolescents. Therefore, the current study aimed to examine how RSA reactivity moderates the relationship between parenting behaviors for both mothers and fathers and depressive symptoms in autistic adolescents.

Method: Participants included 117 autistic adolescents aged 10 to 17 years old. Adolescents and both of their parents participated in an in-person lab study at TCU. Questionnaires were completed by adolescents which assessed parenting behaviors (Parental Bonding Instrument–Revised), RSA reactivity (Respiratory Sinus Arrhythmia), and child depression (Child Depression Inventory). RSA is a specific measure of heart rate variability that reflects natural fluctuations in heart rate during breathing (Cacioppo et al., 2007) and was measured while adolescents watched a video of their parents engaging in a conflict discussion.

Results: Several moderation analyses were conducted to examine the effect of parenting behaviors on adolescent depressive symptoms as a function of adolescent RSA reactivity, while controlling for RSA baseline. A two-way moderated regression examined the effect of mother parenting behaviors (centered) on adolescent depressive symptoms as a function of adolescent RSA reactivity (centered). The results indicated that there was a significant main effect for mother warmth on adolescent depressive symptoms, b = -.63 (SE = .29), t = -2.22, p = .029. All other moderations for mother parenting behaviors were non-significant (ps > .05).

A two-way moderated regression examined the effect of father parenting behaviors (centered) on adolescent depressive symptoms as a function of adolescent RSA reactivity (centered). The results indicated non-significant main effects for father firm control, b = .07 (SE = .26), t = .28, p = .78, and adolescent RSA reactivity, b = -.12 (SE = 1.34), t = -.09, p = .93. However, these main effects were qualified by a significant interaction between father firm control and adolescent RSA reactivity, b = 1.01 (SE = .42), t = 2.40, p = .018.

To probe at this interaction further, we conducted simple slope analyses to examine the relationship between father firm control and adolescent depressive symptoms at low (- 1 SD), mean, and high (+1 SD) levels of adolescent RSA reactivity. The results revealed that at low, b = -.51 (SE = .38), t = -1.34, p = .18, and mean, b = .07 (SE = .26), t = .28, p = .78, levels of adolescent RSA reactivity, there was no association between father firm control and adolescent depressive symptoms. The results also revealed that at high adolescent RSA reactivity, b = .65 (SE = .34), t = 1.94, p = .055, such that higher father firm control resulted in higher adolescent depressive symptoms. Overall, adolescent RSA reactivity moderated the association between father firm control and adolescent depressive symptoms, but only at high levels of RSA reactivity. All other moderations for father parenting behaviors were non-significant (ps > .05).

Discussion: The results of the analyses revealed that as mother warmth increased, adolescent depressive symptoms decreased. These results imply that mother’s warm parenting behaviors could be used as an intervention for both autistic adolescents and mothers. Mothers can implement warm parenting behaviors in their parenting style in order to decrease internalizing behaviors in their adolescent with ASD. The analyses also revealed an association between father firm control and adolescent depressive symptoms at high levels of adolescent RSA reactivity. This indicates that if an adolescent has high levels of RSA reactivity, then higher levels of father firm control are associated with higher levels of adolescent depressive symptoms. High levels of RSA reactivity reflect increased PNS activity and have been shown to predict increased observed dysregulation in children with ASD (Baker et al., 2022). These results could suggest that autistic individuals with high levels of RSA reactivity are more easily dysregulated in the presence of high dad firm control, leading to an increase in internalizing behaviors such as depressive symptoms. Future interventions should focus on promoting positive father parenting behaviors, especially in fathers of autistic adolescents with physiological dysregulation.

There is a gap in the literature examining the role of fathers on internalizing behaviors of autistic adolescents. Therefore, it is crucial for research to evaluate how father parenting behavior impacts behavior in children and adolescents with ASD. Given that autistic individuals are at a higher risk for increased internalizing behaviors (Hudson et al., 2019), future research should further examine the moderating role of physiological data in relation to internalizing symptoms in autistic individuals. A better understanding of physiological data in children and adolescents with ASD will allow for more effective interventions.

Stigma toward individuals with substance use disorder (SUD) plays a significant role in treatment engagement, policy creation, and research priorities. Attribution theory posits that stigma results from attempts to understand the causes of behavior, and attributions toward individuals with SUD typically fall along a continuum from personal attributions (e.g., bad character) to biological attributions (e.g., genetic or neurochemical; Henderson & Dressler, 2017). Past research has demonstrated that poor character attributions are strongly associated with SUD stigma, which can lead to reduced pity, support, and tolerance for this population (Röhm et al., 2022). The present study examined whether personal culpability mediates the relationship between stigmatizing language and perceived need of treatment towards individuals with SUD. Community members in Tarrant County were randomly assigned to read a vignette describing an individual with SUD in either person-first or stigmatizing language followed by a brief survey (modeled after Kelly & Westerhoff, 2010). We hypothesize that participants exposed to stigmatized language will report greater personal culpability attributions for the vignette character leading to reduced perceived need for treatment. These findings would suggest that addressing language in media and clinical settings is essential, as reducing stigmatizing language may lower personal culpability attributions and ultimately promote greater support for treatment engagement among individuals with SUD.

Black women have notoriously been mistreated within the medical system, a reality that is heavily documented in the literature and can be traced back to times of slavery. Today, Black women continue to face disproportionately high rates of mistreatment and adverse outcomes during childbirth. Racial bias plays a key role in these inequities, influencing how medical providers perceive and respond to patients’ pain. The current study examined differences in perceptions of Black and White mothers experiencing pain during childbirth. We recruited an equal number of Black (n = 250) and White (n = 250) participants and randomly assigned them to examine real-life photographs of either Black or White mothers’ facial expressions. After viewing the images, participants reported their perceived seriousness of the mother's condition and level of humanity. It is predicted that 1) participants in the White mother condition will report higher perceived pain than those in the Black mother condition, 2) participants will dehumanize Black mothers to a greater extent than White mothers, and 3) these associations will be consistent regardless of the participant’s race. Findings will shed light on racial bias during maternal emergencies and reveal how ingroup bias affects these outcomes.