Genome-wide association studies (GWASs) have focused primarily on populations of European descent, but it is essential that diverse populations become better represented. Increasing diversity among study participants will advance our understanding of genetic architecture in all populations and ensure that genetic research is broadly applicable. To facilitate and promote research in multiancestry and admixed cohorts, we outline key methodological considerations and highlight opportunities, challenges, solutions, and areas in need of development. Despite the perception that analyzing genetic data from diverse populations is difficult, it is scientifically and ethically imperative, and there is an expanding analytical toolbox to do it well.

Pathways by which maternal physiological arousal (skin conductance level [SCL]) and regulation (Respiratory Sinus Arrhythmia [RSA] withdrawal) while parenting are linked with concurrent and subsequent maternal sensitivity were examined. Mothers’ (N = 259) SCL and RSA were measured during a resting baseline and while interacting with their 6 month old infants during tasks designed to elicit infant distress. Then, mothers were interviewed about their emotional and cognitive responses to infant cues (i.e., cry processing) while caregiving using a video recall procedure. Maternal sensitivity was observed during the distressing tasks at 6 months and again when children were 1 year old. Mothers who were well-regulated (higher RSA suppression from baseline to parenting tasks) engaged in less negative and self-focused cry processing while interacting with their infants, which in turn predicted higher maternal sensitivity at both time points. In addition, SCL arousal and RSA regulation interacted such that maternal arousal was associated with more empathic/infant focused cry processing among mothers who were simultaneously well-regulated, which in turn predicted maternal sensitivity, albeit only at 6 months. These effects were independent of a number of covariates demonstrating the unique role of mothers’ physiological regulation while caregiving on sensitivity. Implications for intervention are discussed.

Abstract:This study evaluated the factor structure of the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES) with a diverse sample of 1,248 European American, Latino, Armenian, and Iranian adolescents. Adolescents completed the 10-item RSES during school as part of a larger study on parental influences and academic outcomes. Findings suggested that method effects in the RSES are more strongly associated with negatively worded items across three diverse groups but also more pronounced among ethnic minority adolescents. Findings also suggested that accounting for method effects is necessary to avoid biased conclusions regarding cultural differences in selfesteem and how predictors are related to the RSES. Moreover, the two RSES factors (positive self-esteem and negative self-esteem) were differentially predicted by parenting behaviors and academic motivation. Substantive and methodological implications of these findings for crosscultural research on adolescent self-esteem are discussed.Keywords: bidimensional | Rosenberg | self-esteem | two-factor | construct validity | crosscultural validity | Adolescents Article:The purpose of this study is to evaluate the factor structure and cross-cultural validity of the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES; Rosenberg, 1989). Numerous studies employ the RSES to examine the etiology of self-esteem and how self-esteem relates to a variety of mental health, academic, or social outcomes (Farruggia, Chen, Greenberger, Demitrieva, & Macek, 2004). Despite evidence from factor analysis studies suggesting that the RSES is bidimensional (i.e., having two factors), researchers continue to treat the RSES as a unidimensional scale. A current debate centers on whether or not bidimensional findings demonstrate that the RSES assesses two substantively distinct elements related to self-esteem or result from method effects that occur due to the inclusion of positively and negatively worded items in the same scale. Furthermore, while the RSES is commonly used in studies of adolescents from diverse cultural and ethnic groups, few studies have evaluated the cross-cultural construct validity of the RSES.For cross-cultural researchers, the issue of possible method effects-particularly those that vary across cultural groups-has the potential to create bias when assessing self-esteem. That is, some cross-cultural comparisons of mean levels of self-esteem may be biased if the RSES produces different scores across groups due to method effects and not due to culturally meaningful differences in self-esteem (van de Vijer & Tanzer, 2004). Moreover, to the extent that two RSES-related subdimensions may have substantive meaning across cultures, the use of the full RSES unidimensional scale may lead to concluding that differences exist in predictors of selfesteem across cultures that are due to measurement artifacts and not cultural differences. Factor Structure and Dimensionality of the RSESA number of factor analysis studies have suggested that, rather than simply assessing a unidimensional positive self-evaluation construct...

Based on data from a sample of 120 first-generation Mexican immigrant couples collected at the start of the Great Recession in the United States, this study tested an actor-partner interdependence mediation model (APIMeM) in which spouses' perceptions of stress related to economic pressure and cultural adaptation were linked to their own and their partners' reports of marital satisfaction through spouses' depressive symptoms and marital negativity. As hypothesized, results supported indirect links between economic and cultural adaptation stressors and spouses' marital negativity and satisfaction: (1) contextual stress was associated with depressive symptoms, (2) depressive symptoms were positively associated with marital negativity for both husbands and wives and negatively associated with marital satisfaction for wives only, and (3) marital negativity was inversely associated with marital satisfaction for both spouses. Two partner effects emerged: (a) husbands' depressive symptoms were positively associated with wives' reports of marital negativity and (b) husbands' marital negativity was inversely related to wives' marital satisfaction. From these findings, we can infer that the psychological distress that arises for Mexican-origin spouses as they respond to the challenges of making ends meet during difficult economic times while they simultaneously navigate adapting to life in a new country is evidenced in their marital quality. Specifically, this study found that contextual stress external to the marital relationship was transmitted via spouses' psychological distress and negative marital exchanges to spouses' marital satisfaction. Wives' marital satisfaction was shown to be uniquely vulnerable to their own and their husbands' depressive symptoms and marital negativity.

A multistage model of drug addiction in which individuals' motivations for use change as they develop problems is widely accepted; however, the evidence for this model comes mostly from animal work and cross-sectional studies. We used longitudinal data to test whether positive and negative reinforcement associated with alcohol consumption differed as a function of alcohol dependence (AD). Specifically, we tested whether (a) positive reinforcement is more strongly associated with alcohol consumption than is negative reinforcement among individuals without AD, (b) negative reinforcement is more strongly associated with AD than is positive reinforcement, and (c) in the presence of AD, the association between positive reinforcement and alcohol consumption becomes weaker, whereas the association with negative reinforcement becomes stronger. We included assessments between Ages 18 and 30 years from partic