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Open Access Publications from the University of California

Scholarly Works (7 results)

  • Article
  • Peer Reviewed
UCLA Previously Published Works (2014)
We examined infant sleeping arrangements and cultural values of Japanese mothers in 2008 and 2009. Based on Greenfields theory of social change and human development, we predicted that social change in Japan over the last decades (higher economic and education level, urbanization, complex technology, more women in the work force) would lead to a decline in mother-infant co-sleeping, compared with published findings concerning Japanese sleeping arrangements in the 1960s and 1980s. We also predicted that the practice of having babies sleep in their own beds and/or own rooms would be supported by ethnotheories stressing infant independence and other values adaptive in an urban, technologically sophisticated, relatively wealthy, and highly educated populace. Fifty-one Japanese mothers comments posted on Internet parenting forums were analyzed. Contrary to our hypothesis, co-sleeping was as frequent among Japanese mothers in 2008-2009 as it had been in the 1960s and 1980s. However, analysis of the values of co-sleeping mothers revealed frequent discrepancies between values and practices. In contrast, the minority of mothers whose babies slept alone in a separate room all expressed consonant values. Our qualitative analysis indicates that it is not always easy for Japanese mothers to construct values for child rearing and gender roles that integrate traditional infant care practices with current sociodemographic conditions.
    Cover page: Infant sleeping arrangements and cultural values among contemporary Japanese mothers.
    • Thesis
    • Peer Reviewed
    UCLA Electronic Theses and Dissertations (2014)

    Ethnic minorities and members of non-Western societies are considered to hold a strong sense of family obligation, which shapes behaviors and relationship characteristics. Ethnic and national group differences must be reconciled with an understanding of how economically driven transformation of learning ecologies also shape child and adolescent development worldwide. I investigated how diverse socioeconomic characteristics may shape the learning ecology that promotes cultural values (Study 1, 2, 3), daily behaviors (Study 3), and parent-child relationships (Study 3). In Study 1, I interviewed 115 children and mothers in rural Korea, urban Korea, and immigrant communities in Los Angeles, to assess familistic values. European American families from Los Angeles served as a reference group to disentangle the role of heritage culture and learning ecology. Koreans in urban Korea and European Americans in Los Angeles did not differ in familism, suggesting that urbanization may reduce East-West value differences. While the traditional value appears to lose relevance in urban Korea, Korean immigrants were more familistic than European Americans, suggesting promotion of familism in immigrant communities. Furthermore, nuclear family residence and higher education level predicted lower familism. Given that cultural learning begins early on, Study 2 tested whether parental valuation of childrearing goals is predicted by individual and national socioeconomic standing. In this study, data from 227,431 parents from 90 nations were included. Individual socioeconomic status predicted greater likelihood of personal valuation of independence and less valuation of obedience as childrearing goals; national socioeconomic characteristics predicted greater national popularity of independence and lower popularity of obedience at the nation-level. In Study 3, I tested how values shape daily behaviors and family relationship characteristics in 872 Vietnamese adolescents in rural Vietnam, urban Vietnam, and urban U.S. Family obligation values were still reinforced in urban Vietnam compared to rural Vietnam, but the values manifested in academic pursuit in urban Vietnam. Family obligation values shaped parent-child relationship characteristics in urban U.S. immigrant households. Vietnamese American adolescents with higher sense of family obligation reported less conflict with parents. This dissertation contributes to scholarship by unpacking the contributions of heritage culture and socioeconomic development worldwide.

      Cover page: Cultural Values and Family Experiences in Diverse Ecological Contexts: Implications for Social Change
      • Article
      • Peer Reviewed
      UCLA Previously Published Works (2019)

      Objective

      Poor sleep poses negative health consequences for youth, yet few longitudinal actigraphy studies have examined basic developmental trends in sleep across adolescents' transition to young adulthood. In this longitudinal actigraphy study, stability of individual differences and trajectories of sleep during and after high school were examined. The degree to which sleep trajectories differed by college attendance status was also studied.

      Methods

      A total of 343 youth with Asian, Latino, and European American backgrounds completed eight days of wrist actigraphy at two-year intervals in Wave 1 (n = 295, Mage = 16.39), Wave 2 (n = 211 including 34 new participants to refresh the sample, Mage = 18.31), and Wave 3 (n = 144, Mage = 20.29). Sleep duration, efficiency, and latency were estimated for weekdays and weekends. Intra-individual variability in duration across nights was also obtained.

      Results

      Sleep parameters were correlated modestly between Wave 1 and Wave 2, but not correlated between Wave 1 and Wave 3, indicating modest shorter-term and little longer-term stability of individual differences. Multilevel growth models demonstrated declines in weekday sleep duration and efficiency across high school and post-high school years. Intra-individual variability in duration increased over the years. Latency trajectories changed more for non-college attendees compared with college attendees.

      Conclusions

      Overall the findings suggest developmental trends of worsening sleep during adolescents' transition to young adulthood. Interventions to improve sleep may need to target specific issues faced by youth at that particular period in their lives.
        Cover page: Developmental trends in sleep during adolescents' transition to young adulthood
        • Article
        • Peer Reviewed
        UC Berkeley Previously Published Works (2016)

        Objective

        To investigate the associations between objective and subjective dimensions of adolescent sleep and C-reactive protein (CRP), a key biomarker of inflammation that predicts chronic health problems in adulthood, and whether the associations vary as a function of adolescents' age.

        Methods

        A total of 315 adolescents (14.5-18.4 years) wore wrist actigraphs at night to objectively estimate their sleep duration and variability across nights, and completed the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index to assess their subjective sleep quality. CRP levels were assayed from dried blood spots obtained from finger pricks. To control for adiposity, age- and sex-specific body mass index percentiles were obtained from height and weight measurements.

        Results

        Nightly variability in sleep duration was associated with higher levels of CRP (b = 0.13, p = .045). Shorter average sleep duration was associated with higher CRP, but only among younger adolescents (b = -0.11, p = .041). Subjective sleep quality was not associated with CRP.

        Conclusions

        The association of sleep with inflammation during adolescence seems more evident in objective dimensions of sleep duration and variability than in the subjective dimensions of sleep quality. Insufficient sleep may be particularly consequential for younger adolescents.
          Cover page: Sleep and Inflammation During Adolescence
          • Article
          • Peer Reviewed
          UC Berkeley Previously Published Works (2016)
          The present study examined the moderating role of sleep in the association between family demands and conflict and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis functioning in a sample of ethnically diverse adolescents (n=316). Adolescents completed daily diary reports of family demands and conflict for 15 days, and wore actigraph watches during the first 8 nights to assess sleep. Participants also provided five saliva samples for 3 consecutive days to assess diurnal cortisol rhythms. Regression analyses indicated that sleep latency and efficiency moderated the link between family demands and the cortisol awakening response. Specifically, family demands were related to a smaller cortisol awakening response only among adolescents with longer sleep latency and lower sleep efficiency. These results suggest that certain aspects of HPA axis functioning may be sensitive to family demands primarily in the context of longer sleep latency and lower sleep efficiency.
            Cover page: Daily family stress and HPA axis functioning during adolescence: The moderating role of sleep
            • Article
            • Peer Reviewed
            UCLA Previously Published Works (2019)

            Objective

            Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is one of the most prevalent chronic conditions and leading causes of death. Although CVD clinically manifests in adulthood, underlying processes of CVD begin in the earlier decades of life. Inflammation has been shown to play a key role, but relatively little is understood about how inflammation changes over time among young individuals. Additionally, how psychosocial factors like stress may influence changes in inflammation earlier in the lifespan is not entirely clear. Thus, the current three-wave longitudinal study examined the developmental trajectory of CRP, a marker of systemic inflammation, over a 4-year period from mid-adolescence into young adulthood. Between- and within-person differences in stress in relation to changes in CRP were also examined.

            Method

            A sample of 350 individuals was recruited during mid-adolescence and participated in 1 to 3 assessments, 2 years apart. At each assessment, participants provided dried blood spots for the assessment of CRP and reported on recent major life events, perceived stress, and daily interpersonal stress.

            Results

            Multilevel modeling indicated that CRP increased with age, and within-person increases in perceived stress, but not life events or daily stress, were associated with higher CRP. Between-person differences in average levels of stress from mid-adolescence into young adulthood were not associated with changes in CRP.

            Conclusion

            These findings suggest that the link between stress and systemic inflammation between mid-adolescence and young adulthood may be most affected by contemporaneous experiences of perceived stress. There was little evidence to suggest that CRP trajectories varied by between-person differences in overall average levels of perceived stress, life events, and daily stress. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).
              Cover page: Psychosocial Stress and C-Reactive Protein From Mid-Adolescence to Young Adulthood
              • Article
              • Peer Reviewed
              UCLA Previously Published Works (2020)

              Purpose

              This study investigated the extent to which multiple sleep dimensions are associated with inflammation during adolescents' transition to young adulthood, a developmental period when sleep difficulties and systemic inflammation levels are on the rise. Additionally, the moderating roles of socioeconomic status (SES) and ethnicity were explored.

              Methods

              A total of 350 Asian American, Latino, and European American youth participated at two-year intervals in wave 1 (n = 316, Mage = 16.40), wave 2 (n = 248 including 34 new participants to refresh the sample, Mage = 18.31), and wave 3 (n = 180, Mage = 20.29). Sleep duration (weekday and weekend) and variability in duration (nightly and weekday/weekend) were obtained from eight nights of wrist actigraphy. Subjective sleep quality was assessed using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index. Levels of C-reactive protein (CRP), a biomarker of systemic inflammation, were assayed from dried blood spots obtained from finger pricks.

              Results

              Multilevel models demonstrated that greater weekday/weekend sleep variability and worse sleep quality were associated with higher CRP; shorter weekend duration was associated with higher CRP only at younger ages. Shorter weekday duration was associated with higher CRP only among high-SES youth, whereas greater nightly variability was associated with higher CRP only among European American youth.

              Conclusions

              Aspects of poor sleep may contribute to the rise of CRP during adolescents' transition to young adulthood, especially in earlier years. In addition, some sleep-CRP associations may vary as a function of youth's SES and ethnicity.
                Cover page: Sleep and Inflammation During Adolescents' Transition to Young Adulthood
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