Publications

2022

Allen, J. P., Loeb, E., Davis, A., Costello, M., & Uchino, B. (2022). Getting under the skin: long-term links of adolescent peer relationship difficulties to adult vagal tone. Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 45(5), 690-701. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10865-022-00334-1

Understanding whether and how the absence of positive relationships may predict longer-term physical health outcomes is central to building a working conceptual model of the interplay of social and physical development across the lifespan. This study sought to examine the extent to which difficulties establishing positive social relationships from adolescence onward serve as long-term predictors of low adult vagal tone, which in turn has been linked to numerous long-term health problems. A diverse community sample of 141 individuals was followed via multiple methods and reporters from age 13 to 29. Across this span, social relationship quality was assessed via close friend and peer reports, observations of romantic interactions, and self-reported romantic relationship satisfaction. A range of potential personality and functional covariates was also considered. Vagal tone while at rest was assessed at age 29. Adult vagal tone was predicted across periods as long as 16 years by: adolescents' difficulty establishing themselves as desirable companions among peers; early adults' inability to establish strong close friendships; and lack of warmth in romantic relationships as an adult. Poor early adult friendship quality statistically mediated the link from adolescent peer difficulties to adult vagal tone. A range of potential confounding factors was examined but was not linked to vagal tone. Within the limits of the correlational design of the study, robust connections between adult vagal tone and social relationship quality from adolescence onward suggest at least a possible mechanism by which relationship difficulties may get 'under the skin' to influence future physiological functioning.

Costello, M. A., Nagel, A. G., Hunt, G. L., Rivens, A. J., Hazelwood, O. A., Pettit, C., & Allen, J. P. (2022). Facilitating connection to enhance college student well-being: Evaluation of an experiential group program. American Journal of Community Psychology, 70(3-4), 314-326. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1002/ajcp.12601 (Original work published 2022)

This randomized controlled trial examined the impact of The Connection Project, an experiential, relationship-focused intervention designed to improve school belongingness and decrease symptoms of depression and loneliness among new college students. Participants were 438 first-year and transfer students (232 treatment, 206 waitlist-control) at a medium-sized, 4years, predominantly White public university in the Southeastern United States. At postintervention, the treatment group reported significant relative increases in school belonging and significant relative reductions in levels of loneliness and depressive symptoms in comparison to waitlist-controls. Program effects were stronger for students from marginalized racial or ethnic backgrounds, students from lower socioeconomic status households, and transfer students. Results are interpreted as suggesting the utility of experiential, peer-support prevention programming to promote college students' well-being, particularly college students who hold identities that are traditionally disadvantaged in this context.

Stuhlman, M., Mikami, A. Y., Hofkens, T., Allen, J., Pianta, R. C., & Smit, S. (2022). Integrating Research-Supported Coaching Practices Into Secondary Teachers’ Team Meetings: Early Indications of Potential to Impact Collaborations, Classroom Interactions, and Student Engagement. Frontiers In Education, 7. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2022.883226 (Original work published 2022)

The My Teaching Partner-Secondary (MTPS) program demonstrated improvements in classroom interactions and student outcomes in secondary schools using one-on-one coaching between study staff and teachers. Despite promising results, the time, cost, and oversight from a university research team may pose barriers to adoption of coaching programs like MTPS at scale. The My Teaching Team (MTT) project sought to translate key ingredients from MTPS into existing professional development contexts that are already built into many middle and high school educators’ weekly schedules: co-planning or professional learning community meetings. Six teams of secondary teachers (N = 30 teachers) participated in a pilot test of the usability of MTT materials across 5 months in one school year. Three teams elected to use MTT materials, and three elected to be a comparison group who continued their typical practices. Teams adopting MTT materials were observed to do so with good implementation integrity, and reported satisfaction with the intervention. Compared to typical practice teams, those using MTT were observed to spend more meeting time discussing teaching practice and less time discussing logistics/mechanics, and engaged in more video sharing and feedback to team members in the MTT sessions that explicitly encouraged this. The number of MTT meetings completed by a team, as well as spending more time discussing teaching practices and video sharing (but not feedback provided) during team meetings, predicted students’ self-reports of greater engagement and observations of higher levels of emotional support provided in the classroom. Implications for translating empirically supported interventions from the lab to real-world school settings are discussed.

Allen, J. P., Danoff, J. S., Costello, M., Loeb, E. L., Davis, A. A., Hunt, G. L., Gregory, S. G., Giamberardino, S. N., & Connelly, J. J. (2022). Adolescent peer struggles predict accelerated epigenetic aging in midlife. Development and Psychopathology, 1-14. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0954579422000153 (Original work published 2022)

This study examined struggles to establish autonomy and relatedness with peers in adolescence and early adulthood as predictors of advanced epigenetic aging assessed at age 30. Participants (N = 154; 67 male and 87 female) were observed repeatedly, along with close friends and romantic partners, from ages 13 through 29. Observed difficulty establishing close friendships characterized by mutual autonomy and relatedness from ages 13 to 18, an interview-assessed attachment state of mind lacking autonomy and valuing of attachment at 24, and self-reported difficulties in social integration across adolescence and adulthood were all linked to greater epigenetic age at 30, after accounting for chronological age, gender, race, and income. Analyses assessing the unique and combined effects of these factors, along with lifetime history of cigarette smoking, indicated that each of these factors, except for adult social integration, contributed uniquely to explaining epigenetic age acceleration. Results are interpreted as evidence that the adolescent preoccupation with peer relationships may be highly functional given the relevance of such relationships to long-term physical outcomes.

Loeb, E. L., Gonzalez, M. Z., Hunt, G. L., Uchino, B. N., de Grey, R. G. K., & Allen, J. P. (2022). Socioeconomic status in early adolescence predicts blunted stress responses in adulthood. Developmental Psychobiology, 64(6). https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1002/dev.22294 (Original work published 2022)

Individuals who grow up in families with lower socioeconomic status (SES) tend to experience disproportionate rates of chronic stress. The “freeze” response, characterized by blunted cardiovascular reactivity and reduced engagement with the environment, is associated with chronic stress and may be utilized when an individual is unable to escape or overcome environmental stressors. Using a diverse community sample of 184 adolescents followed from the age of 13 to 29 years, along with their friends and romantic partners, this study examined links between family SES and stress responses in adulthood. Low family SES at the age of 13 years directly predicted blunted heart rate responding and fewer attempts to answer math problems during a modified version of the Trier Social Stress Task at the age of 29 years. Indirect effects were found from low family SES to blunted respiratory sinus arrhythmia responding and the number of words spoken during a speech task. SES at the age of 29 years mediated many of these relations. Findings held after accounting for a number of potential confounds, including adolescent academic and attachment functioning and body mass index. We interpret these findings as evidence that low familial SES may predict freezing-type responses in adulthood.

 
Gamache, J., Herd, T., Allen, J., King-Casas, B., & Kim-Spoon, J. (2022). Longitudinal Associations between Social Relationships and Alcohol Use from Adolescence into Young Adulthood: The Role of Religiousness. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 51(9), 1798-1814. https://doi.org/ 10.1007/s10964-022-01632-2 (Original work published 2022)

As adolescence is a time characterized by rapid changes in social relationships as well as an increase in risk-taking behaviors, this prospective longitudinal study examined whether social involvement and social alienation are associated with changes in alcohol use from adolescence into young adulthood moderated by organizational and personal religiousness. Participants were 167 adolescents (53% male) assessed five times between ages 14 and 18 years old. Latent change score modeling analyses indicated that social alienation was positively associated with greater increases in alcohol use among those with low organizational religiousness and those with low personal religiousness in early adolescence and during the transition into young adulthood. The findings demonstrate the detrimental effects of social relationship risk factors that promote alcohol use during adolescence into young adulthood. The results further highlight the protective roles of organizational and personal religiousness acting as additional sources of social engagement experiences to modulate the effects of social alienation predicting alcohol use progression and provide evidence for the positive impact religiousness has on healthy adolescent development.

Szwedo, D. E., Stern, J. A., Kansky, J., Lis, E., & Allen, J. P. (2022). Parent and romantic partner behaviors during adolescence as predictors of young adult positive personality, relational competence, and functional independence. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 51, 1926-1943. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-022-01641-1 (Original work published 2022)

Experiences with parents and romantic partners during adolescence are theorized to have long-term effects on youth development. However, little research has empirically examined the relative contributions of experiences in each type of relationship at different points during adolescence to positive development in young adulthood. The goal of the present study was to predict relative changes in youth positive personality characteristics, relational competence, and functional independence during young adulthood from specific behaviors experienced from parents and romantic partners during early and late adolescence. A diverse community sample of 147 individuals (59 males, 88 females) from the southeastern United States was repeatedly assessed across a 14-year period from age 13 to age 27. As hypothesized, parental acceptance and successful parental positive influence behavior toward adolescents at age 13 predicted relative increases in positive personality traits (e.g., agreeableness, conscientiousness, emotional stability) between ages 23 and 27. These same parental behaviors measured at age 18 were less robust predictors of key outcomes relative to similar qualities of romantic relationships. Instead, romantic behaviors of toleration and appreciation at age 18 predicted relative increases in functional independence and relational competence between ages 23 and 27 (e.g., attachment closeness, reliable alliance, nurturance, and functional independence). Results suggest that parents’ successful efforts to positively influence and accept their children during early adolescence may lay a foundation for future positive personality growth, and that similar positive behaviors experienced in late adolescent romantic relationships may help prepare youth to develop broader supportive social relationships and independence skills in young adulthood.

Allen, J. P., Danoff, J. S., Costello, M. A., Hunt, G. L., Hellwig, A. F., Krol, K. M., Gregory, S. G., Giamberardino, S. N., Sugden, K., & Connelly, J. J. (2022). Lifetime marijuana use and epigenetic age acceleration: A 17-year prospective examination. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 233. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2022.109363 (Original work published 2022)

Aims

This study was designed to assess links between lifetime levels of marijuana use and accelerated epigenetic aging.

Design

Prospective longitudinal study, following participants annually from age 13 to age 30.

Setting and participants

A community sample of 154 participants recruited from a small city in the Southeastern United States.

Measurements

Participants completed annual assessments of marijuana use from age 13 to age 29 and provided blood samples that yielded two indices of epigenetic aging (DNAmGrimAge and DunedinPoAm) at age 30. Additional covariates examined included history of cigarette smoking, anxiety and depressive symptoms, childhood illness, gender, adolescent-era family income, and racial/ethnic minority status.

Findings

Lifetime marijuana use predicted accelerated epigenetic aging, with effects remaining even after covarying cell counts, demographic factors and chronological age (β’s = 0.32 & 0.27, p’s < 0.001, 95% CI’s = 0.21–0.43 & 0.16–0.39 for DNAmGrimAge and DunedinPoAm, respectively). Predictions remained after accounting for cigarette smoking (β’s = 0.25 & 0.21, respectively, p’s < 0.001, 95% CI’s = 0.14–0.37 & 0.09–0.32 for DNAmGrimAge and DunedinPoAm, respectively). A dose-response effect was observed and there was also evidence that effects were dependent upon recency of use. Effects of marijuana use appeared to be fully mediated by hypomethylation of a site linked to effects of hydrocarbon inhalation (cg05575921).

Conclusions

Marijuana use predicted epigenetic changes linked to accelerated aging, with evidence suggesting that effects may be primarily due to hydrocarbon inhalation among marijuana smokers. Further research is warranted to explore mechanisms underlying this linkage.

Costello, M. A., Nagel, A. G., Hunt, G. L., & Allen, J. P. (2022). Randomized Evaluation of an Intervention to Enhance a Sense of Belongingness among Entering College Students. College Student Affairs Journal, 40(1), 66-76. https://doi.org/10.1353/csj.2022.0002

This study examined an intervention designed to improve sense of belongingness for new
students at a medium-sized, four-year, public university in the Eastern United States. A
randomized controlled trial was used to assess the impact of The Connection Project, a novel, 9-
session intervention in a sample of 128 first-year students (77 treatment, 48 waitlist control).
Given the onset of COVID-19, students received a hybrid in-person/online intervention. At post-
intervention, the intervention group reported a significantly higher sense of school
belongingness, after accounting for baseline levels, than control group students. Post-hoc
analyses of moderation by demographic variables indicate that the intervention functioned
similarly for students from a variety of backgrounds in this sample. These results are interpreted
as suggesting the potential value of this intervention to promote a sense of community and
connection among new students in college, whether delivered in-person or online.

2021

Allen, J. P. (2021). Assessing Attachment in Adolescence. In E. Waters, B. E. Vaughn, & H. S. Waters (Eds.), Handbook of Assessment of Attachment (1–, pp. 241-265). New York: Guilford. . (Original work published 2021)