Reward Responsiveness in the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study: African Americans’ Diminished Returns of Parental Education

Abstract

(1) Background: Reward responsiveness (RR) is a risk factor for high-risk behaviors such as aggressive behaviors and early sexual initiation, which are all reported to be higher in African American and low socioeconomic status adolescents. At the same time, parental education is one of the main drivers of reward responsiveness among adolescents. It is still unknown if some of this racial and economic gap is attributed to weaker effects of parental education for African Americans, a pattern also called minorities’ diminished returns (MDRs). (2) Aim: We compared non-Hispanic White and African American adolescents for the effects of parent education on adolescents RR, a psychological and cognitive construct that is closely associated with high-risk behaviors such as the use of drugs, alcohol, and tobacco. (3) Methods: This was a cross-sectional analysis that included 7072 adolescents from the adolescent brain cognitive development (ABCD) study. The independent variable was parent education. The main outcome as adolescents’ RR measured by the behavioral inhibition system (BIS) and behavioral activation system (BAS) measure. (4) Results: In the overall sample, high parent education was associated with lower levels of RR. In the overall sample, we found a statistically significant interaction between race and parent education on adolescents’ RR. The observed statistical interaction term suggested that high parent education is associated with a weaker effect on RR for African American than non-Hispanic White adolescents. In race-stratified models, high parent education was only associated with lower RR for non-Hispanic White but not African American adolescents. (5) Conclusion: Parent education reduces RR for non-Hispanic White but not African American adolescents. To minimize the racial gap in brain development and risk-taking behaviors, we need to address societal barriers that diminish the returns of parent education and resources in African American families. We need public and social policies that target structural and societal barriers, such as the unequal distribution of opportunities and resources. To meet such an aim, we need to reduce the negative effects of social stratification, segregation, racism, and discrimination in the daily lives of African American parents and families. Through an approach like this, African American families and parents can effectively mobilize their resources and utilize their human capital to secure the best possible tangible outcomes for their adolescents.

Maternal Education at Birth and Youth Breakfast Consumption at Age 15: Blacks’ Diminished Returns

“…Not only eating breakfast (this study) but also self-rated health [19], obesity [15], ADHD [16], impulsivity [18,45], and school performance [12,46] stay poor in high SES Black families. These FFCWS results are also in line with what is known from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) [47][48][49], National Survey of Children's Health (NSCH) [23], Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health (PATH) [50], Flint Adolescent Study (FAS) [20], Education Longitudinal Study (ELS) [51], and Monitoring the Future (MTF) [52] studies, all showing poor health and health behaviors of high SES Black children. We are interested in comparing our results to other FFCWS studies, and our imputation and lack of imputation in other related studies may generate bias.…”

Diminished Returns of Parental Education in Terms of Youth School Performance: Ruling out Regression toward the Mean

“…While genes and IQ may also play a role, our focus is on sociological mechanisms [63,[67][68][69]. We argue that contextual factors such as neighborhood stress and concentrated poverty may reduce the academic success of high SES youth [64][65][66]70].…”

“…MDRs conceptualize ethnicity as a social rather than a biological construct [63]. Thus, MDRs-related differences in school performance are due to social processes such as segregation and stratification, as opposed to genetics or IQ [64][65][66]. Ethnicity in the US is a proxy of living conditions, history, and inequality in daily life, as well as racism, discrimination, a legacy of slavery, oppression, and Jim Crow policies [63,[67][68][69].…”

American Children’s Screen Time: Diminished Returns of Household Income in Black Families

“…In other ABCD studies, high-SES black children remained at risk of reward dependence. However, white high-SES children had low reward dependencies [ 42 , 67 ]. In other studies, high-SES black children remained at risk of social, emotional, and behavioral problems.…”