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Scholarly Works (5 results)

  • Thesis
  • Peer Reviewed
UCLA Electronic Theses and Dissertations (2014)

One of the fundamental developmental tasks that adolescents face is how to negotiate their individual autonomy and connectedness to the family. This dissertation includes two studies that employed the daily diary approach to examine how adolescents maintain the important sense of connectedness to their families in their every day lives. The goal of Study 1 was to examine how adolescents (N = 297; Mage = 16.39 years; 43% males) from diverse ethnic backgrounds (44% Latino; 25% Asian; 41% European) balanced their leisure time with family in conjunction with time commitments with friends and schoolwork on the same day. In general, adolescents' time with friends impinged upon their leisure time with family, whereas more time spent on schoolwork went hand in hand with greater family leisure. Whereas females experienced difficulty negotiating time with family and friends on the same day, males and adolescents from Latino families were better able to maintain time with family, friends and schoolwork all on the same day. Spending time with family reinforced adolescents' daily sense of family membership; however, competing demands between family and friends on the same day were linked to feelings of distress especially for females. Overall, Study 1 demonstrates the daily behavioral processes that adolescents undertake to stay connected to their families, yet also meet their needs for autonomy and independence. The goal of Study 2 was to understand how familial conditions at home promote adolescents' family connectedness by way of adolescents' provision of emotional support to their families. In the two-year longitudinal study, participants included 421 Mexican-American parent-adolescent dyads (adolescents: Mage = 15 years, 50% males; parents: Mage = 42 years, 83% mothers). Although adolescents provide emotional support to parents and other family members at similar rates, parents' daily familial stressors encouraged adolescents to provide emotional caregiving to other family members, rather than to their parents. This daily contingency between parental stressors and adolescents' emotional caregiving was especially pronounced among parents with poor physical health. Furthermore, adolescents who endorsed strong family obligation values displayed the greatest inclinations to provide emotional support to their families on days marked by parental need. And on days when adolescents provided support to their family, they experienced elevated feelings of family membership. Provision of emotional support was not concurrently or longitudinally linked to adverse psychological well-being. Overall, Study 2 demonstrates that adolescents' provision of emotional support is a culturally relevant and meaningful activity for Mexican-American youth.

    Cover page: Adolescents' Maintenance of Family Connectedness in Their Everyday Lives
    • Article
    • Peer Reviewed
    UCLA Previously Published Works (2015)

    Purpose

    To assess the daily concordance between parent and adolescent daily sleep habits, how that concordance compares to other predictors of sleep, and whether the degree of concordance varies across families.

    Methods

    A total of 421 adolescents (Mage = 15.03 years) and their primary caregivers (Mage = 41.93 years) reported their sleep, bed, and wake times on a daily basis for a 2-week period. Approximately 80% of the sample repeated the same protocol 1 year later.

    Results

    Multilevel modeling indicated a significant concordance between parent and adolescent sleep, bed, and wake times on a daily basis. Concordance existed independent of other predictors of sleep such as day of the week and adolescent study time. Larger families and those with higher levels of parent-adolescent support exhibited greater concordance.

    Conclusions

    Adolescent sleep is connected to the sleep habits of their parents, above and beyond commonly known structural and experiential factors that can shape teenage sleep. Efforts to improve teenage sleep should pay greater attention to the sleep patterns of parents and potentially other family members.
      Cover page: Daily Concordance Between Parent and Adolescent Sleep Habits
      • 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
          UC Berkeley Previously Published Works (2018)
          The current study examines the association between parental support and adolescent sleep under varying levels of family stress. Participants included 316 adolescents (Mage  = 16.40 years, 43% male) and their parents (Mage  = 45.67 years, 91% mothers) from diverse ethnic backgrounds. Both adolescents and parents completed questionnaires and adolescents wore wrist actigraphs and completed self-reports on their sleep for 7 consecutive days. Results indicated that under contexts of family stress, more parental support was linked to longer sleep duration, less sleep variability, and less time spent awake during the night. Findings suggest that under contexts of family stress, cohesive family relationships may provide a sense of stability and security that is necessary for healthful sleep.
            Cover page: The Roles of Parental Support and Family Stress in Adolescent Sleep
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