Teenage Health and Wellness Study

HRV is a biomarker of neural regulation of the autonomic nervous system (ANS) and reflects activity in the parasympathetic (PNS) division. HRV is perturbed by stress and can be altered long-term when adversity is prevalent. As such, it has been associated with symptoms of affective and traumatic stress disorders and externalizing behaviors. We will non-invasively monitor the reactivity of HRV using an earlobe sensor to index the PNS. Participants will complete the Trier Social Stress Task (TSST), which is a standard protocol for inducing moderate psychosocial stress in laboratory settings, and has been widely used with preadolescents and adolescents (Gunnar, Wewerka, Frenn, Long, & Griggs, 2009; Kirschbaum, Pirke, & Hellhammer, 1993). The protocol involves preparing and delivering a speech by the participant in the presence of an adult experimenter and while being videotaped. The trained research assistant is instructed to be as non-responsive as possible during the task.

CBCL/4-18 has strong internal consistency and reliability. Considered the standard in field of child psychopathology.

A 31-item teacher-rated measure assessing aspects of students' social-emotional functioning. We will administer scales for dysregulation and social-emotional competence (13 items total).

PROMIS is well established and widely used. Includes Depression, Anxiety, Emotional and Behavioral Dyscontrol, Sleep Disturbance, Well Being and Cognitive Function Scales for pediatric samples, from 8-17.

The CPSS (Foa et al., 2001), which is a 25-item measure of trauma symptoms that has been shown to have good reliability and validity in Baltimore City youth, and has been used in prior studies conducted in Baltimore City public schools.

ERQ has 10 items rated on 7-point scale tap individual differences in habitual use of 2 emotion regulation strategies: cognitive reappraisal & expressive suppression (α = .69)

Gender, household income, ethnicity/race, mental health treatment received, coping, diet, sleep patterns, etc.

The YRBS (CDC 2015) includes substance use items, which includes 4 items measuring lifetime use of alcohol, tobacco, and marijuana.

Brief COPE (Carver, 1997), a 28-item measure of various coping skills, including both adaptive and maladaptive coping strategies.

Perceived Stress Scale: 12 items modified from NIH toolbox (e.g. felt nervous and stressed; able to control irritations). α = 0.89

Child and Adolescent Mindfulness Measure (CAMM) (Greco et al., 2011), a brief (10-item) measure of mindfulness that has been found to be reliable and valid in a sample of Baltimore City adolescents. This measure would be given at baseline and post-program, as well as the midpoint of the intervention.

Adverse Childhood Experiences Checklist (ACEs) (Felitti et al., 1998), a brief (8-item) checklist of trauma exposures adapted from a longer version to exclude items that would require reporting.