The limited inclusion of racial/ethnic minorities in the development and validation of parenting measures limits our understanding of whether parenting constructs are valid in racial and ethnic minorities. Tests of measurement invariance/equivalence (MI/E) of parenting measures can help evaluate the validity of parenting constructs among racial/ethnic minorities. This systematic review summarized studies on MI/E of parenting constructs by race/ethnicity and evaluated the strength of the evidence. A literature search was conducted using various databases and references to retrieve studies from the United States. Indeed, 10 studies were identified that tested for MI/E of eight parenting scales by race/ethnicity. Only one scale showed moderate evidence of MI/E, five showed weak evidence of MI/E, and two showed no evidence of MI/E. Most studies (80%) used factor analytic methods to test for MI/E, but only two studies (20%) examined all levels of invariance. These findings show that differences exist in how racial/ethnic minorities perceive parenting constructs. Further research is needed to develop more inclusive parenting measures, to protect against the ways in which biased measures may pathologize or misrepresent parenting practices among racial/ethnic minorities.

Puberty represents a critical period in maturation during which major changes in neural architecture emerge; these changes are shaped, in part, by environmental experiences, including exposure to psychological trauma. However, little is known about how trauma exposure affects white matter microstructure across pubertal stages. This was the goal of the present cross-sectional study. Forty-one male and female African-American children between ages 8-13 were recruited as part of a study of developmental trauma and received assessments of trauma exposure, including violence, and pubertal development as well as diffusion tensor imaging (DTI). Significant interactions of pubertal stage and violent trauma exposure were observed in association with a marker of white matter integrity (mean diffusivity, MD) in the corpus callosum, cingulum bundle and uncinate fasciculus. Greater violent trauma exposure was associated with lower MD in the hippocampal cingulum and uncinate fasciculus in girls, but not boys. These data from a sample of trauma-exposed children may reflect a pattern of accelerated maturation in pathways that are critical for emotion regulation as well as attention and memory processes. It appears that fronto-limbic and callosal connections are particularly sensitive to the effects of violent trauma, revealing a potential pathway through which trauma creates vulnerability for later psychiatric and neurological disorders.

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Introduction: Screening for developmental delays during critical periods of infant development is essential for early detection and intervention. Among high-risk infants in resource-limited settings, including those who are HIV exposed, there is a greater need for screening. This study expanded on previous analyses of the Bayley Infant Neurodevelopmental Screener (BINS) by providing psychometric properties to evaluate the appropriateness of using the BINS in a sample of HIV-exposed infants in rural South Africa. Method: A total of 160 mothers with HIV, their infants, and their male partners were recruited. The BINS was administered to the infants, and their weights were recorded. Mothers completed measures of depression, intimate partner violence, male involvement, and adherence. Male partners reported their own involvement in perinatal care. Results: Results demonstrated support for a 5-factor structure consistent with previous transcultural adaptations of the BINS, demonstrating construct validity, and adequate reliability. Convergent validity was partially supported, as shown by associations with intimate partner violence and male involvement as reported by men and women and maternal adherence, although not with birth weight or maternal depression. The BINS showed adequate discriminating power, with only a few low-performing items. Conclusion: In rural South Africa, a resource-limited setting, the BINS seems to be an adequate screening tool for developmental delays in children that may be used to identify those in need of intervention. Considering the high prevalence of delays identified in this study, antiretroviral therapy–exposed and HIV-exposed infants may benefit from further assessment to determine a need for intervention in community-based clinics.