European American Young Adults Research Articles

Ethnic differences and heritability of blood pressure circadian rhythm in African and European American youth and young adults.

The aim of this study was to investigate whether blood pressure (BP) circadian rhythm in African Americans differed from that in European Americans. We further examined the genetic and/or environmental sources of variances of the BP circadian rhythm parameters and the extent to which they depend on ethnicity or sex. Quantification of BP circadian rhythm was obtained using Fourier transformation from the ambulatory BP monitoring data of 760 individuals (mean age, 17.2 ± 3.3; 322 twin pairs and 116 singletons; 351 African Americans). BP circadian rhythm showed a clear difference by ethnic group with African Americans having a lower amplitude (P = 1.5e-08), a lower percentage rhythm (P = 2.8e-11), a higher MESOR (P = 2.5e-05) and being more likely not to display circadian rhythm (P = 0.002) or not in phase (P = 0.003). Familial aggregation was identified for amplitude, percentage rhythm and acrophase with genetic factors and common environmental factors together accounting for 23 to 33% of the total variance of these BP circadian rhythm parameters. Unique environmental factors were the largest contributor explaining up to 67--77% of the total variance of these parameters. No sex or ethnicity difference in the variance components of BP circadian rhythm was observed. This study suggests that ethnic differences in BP circadian rhythm already exist in youth with African Americans having a dampened circadian rhythm and better BP circadian rhythm may be achieved by changes in environmental factors.

Considering Cultural Factors in Emerging Adult Use of Communication Technologies

Focus groups with young adult college students (N = 13, 8 females, 5 males, Mage = 20.46, SD = 1.27) from different ethnic and generational backgrounds were conducted to examine how Asian American and European American young adults may use digital media for social support and how they may interact with specific social partners (family members, romantic partners and friends). Findings suggest that participants, regardless of cultural background, feel greater ease with disclosing to family members and romantic partners. Intimacy in friendships varied greatly, required more impression management, and, therefore, was often facilitated by digital media. Individual and cultural differences may also explain differences in communication patterns with friends. Future directions and practical implications are discussed.

CYP2A6 metabolism in the development of smoking behaviors in young adults.

Cytochrome P450 2A6 (CYP2A6) encodes the enzyme responsible for the majority of nicotine metabolism. Previous studies support that slow metabolizers smoke fewer cigarettes once nicotine dependent but provide conflicting results on the role of CYP2A6 in the development of dependence. By focusing on the critical period of young adulthood, this study examines the relationship of CYP2A6 variation and smoking milestones. A total of 1209 European American young adults enrolled in the Collaborative Study on the Genetics of Alcoholism were genotyped for CYP2A6 variants to calculate a previously well-validated metric that estimates nicotine metabolism. This metric was not associated with the transition from never smoking to smoking initiation nor with the transition from initiation to daily smoking (P > 0.4). But among young adults who had become daily smokers (n = 506), decreased metabolism was associated with increased risk of nicotine dependence (P = 0.03) (defined as Fagerström Test for Nicotine Dependence score ≥4). This finding was replicated in the Collaborative Genetic Study of Nicotine Dependence with 335 young adult daily smokers (P = 0.02). Secondary meta-analysis indicated that slow metabolizers had a 53 percent increased odds (OR = 1.53, 95 percent CI 1.11-2.11, P = 0.009) of developing nicotine dependence compared with normal metabolizers. Furthermore, secondary analyses examining four-level response of time to first cigarette after waking (>60, 31-60, 6-30, ≤5 minutes) demonstrated a robust effect of the metabolism metric in Collaborative Study on the Genetics of Alcoholism (P = 0.03) and Collaborative Genetic Study of Nicotine Dependence (P = 0.004), illustrating the important role of this measure of dependence. These findings highlight the complex role of CYP2A6 variation across different developmental stages of smoking behaviors.

Evidence for Association between SH2B1 Gene Variants and Glycated Hemoglobin in Nondiabetic European American Young Adults: The Add Health Study.

Glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) is used to classify glycaemia and type 2 diabetes (T2D). Body mass index (BMI) is a predictor of HbA1c levels and T2D. We tested 43 established BMI and obesity loci for association with HbA1c in a nationally representative multiethnic sample of young adults from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health [Add Health: age 24-34 years; n = 5641 European Americans (EA); 1740 African Americans (AA); 1444 Hispanic Americans (HA)] without T2D, using two levels of covariate adjustment (Model 1: age, sex, smoking, and geographic region; Model 2: Model 1 covariates plus BMI). Bonferroni adjustment was made for 43 SNPs and we considered P < 0.0011 statistically significant. Means (SD) for HbA1c were 5.4% (0.3) in EA, 5.7% (0.4) in AA, and 5.5% (0.3) in HA. We observed significant evidence for association with HbA1c for two variants near SH2B1 in EA (rs4788102, P = 2.2 × 10(-4) ; rs7359397, P = 9.8 × 10(-4) ) for Model 1. Both results were attenuated after adjustment for BMI (rs4788102, P = 1.7 × 10(-3) ; rs7359397, P = 4.6 × 10(-3) ). No variant reached Bonferroni-corrected significance in AA or HA. These results suggest that SH2B1 polymorphisms are associated with HbA1c, largely independent of BMI, in EA young adults.

Evidence for Association between SH2B1 Gene Variants and Glycated Hemoglobin in Nondiabetic European American Young Adults: The Add Health Study

Evidence for Association between SH2B1 Gene Variants and Glycated Hemoglobin in Nondiabetic European American Young Adults: The Add Health Study

Cross-Cultural and Gender Differences in ADHD Among Young Adults

Objective: This study explored the effect of cultural and gender differences in ADHD among Spanish, African American, Hispanic American, and European American young adults. Method: Structural equivalence between the four groups was examined by Tucker’s phi coefficient. A MANCOVA was carried out with cultural groups and gender as factors and age as covariate. Results: Structural equivalence was observed across all groups, and no differential item functioning was found. No significant effect was found for gender, although, with the exception of the Hispanic group, males scored higher than females. Furthermore, small, though significant, cultural differences were found. The lowest levels of ADHD were observed in the European American group and the highest in the Hispanic American group. ADHD symptoms, notably inattention, showed some decline with age. Conclusion: Findings extend existing data and suggest a relationship between culture and the development of ADHD, which might be mediated by parenting style.

Brain and psychological mediators of imitation: sociocultural versus physical traits.

The acquisition of cultural beliefs and practices is fundamental to human societies. The psychological and neural mechanisms underlying cultural acquisition, however, are not well understood. Here we used brain imaging to investigate how others' physical and sociocultural attributes may influence imitative learning, a critical component of cultural acquisition. While undergoing fMRI, 17 European American young adults imitated models from three different racial groups performing novel hand gestures. Participants learned that half the models shared their political ideology and half did not. We found that the model's political ideology-a sociocultural characteristic devoid of any physical correlates-was sufficient to influence imitative accuracy, and that this effect was mediated by changes in feelings of similarity to the model. Furthermore, the relationship between the imitative model's political ideology and imitation accuracy was mediated by brain regions associated with imitation and its control, as well as mentalizing. Finally, comparing these new data with those from one of our previous studies revealed that knowledge of a model's political ideology reduces the influence of the model's race on feelings of similarity to the model and imitation accuracy, as well as activity in brain regions typically activated during imitation. Taken together, these findings suggest that (1) others' sociocultural characteristics influence imitative biases more so than their physical attributes, and (2) that neural systems associated with imitation, imitation control, and mentalizing contribute to this cultural learning process.

Culturally non-preferred cognitive tasks require compensatory attention: a functional near infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) investigation

Previous work shows that as compared to European Americans, Asians are more holistic (or less focused) in perceptual processing. Drawing on this evidence, we expected that extra attention control would be recruited to perform focused processing for Asians and holistic processing for European Americans. Eight Asian American and 13 European American young adults judged whether a given framed-line was the same in length as the framed-line shown on the previous trial on the basis of either an absolute or relative criterion. Their brain activities were monitored with functional near infrared spectroscopy. As predicted, Asian Americans showed an increased activation in the parietal regions during the absolute (vs. relative) task, whereas European Americans showed an increased activation in the same regions during the relative (vs. absolute) task. No comparable pattern was observed for performance. The current work provides further evidence for compensatory attention that is engaged during culturally non-preferred tasks.

Listen to your heart: the cultural shaping of interoceptive awareness and accuracy.

West African cultural contexts foster higher levels of attention to the bodily signals compared with the European American contexts. Interoception, or the processing of signals from the body, is a key component of emotional reactivity. Interoceptive awareness (i.e., the self-reported tendency to attend to physiological changes) and accuracy (i.e., the ability to accurately detect physiological changes) are distinct aspects of interoception. Does the West African cultural emphasis on interoceptive awareness affect individuals' abilities to accurately perceive physiological changes in response to emotional stimuli? West African and European American young adults watched a fear-inducing film clip and continuously rated their perception of heart rate changes in response to the clip. Actual heart rates were also recorded continuously. Cross-correlations were calculated between measures of perceived and actual heart rate. Although average levels of coherence between these measures were low across groups, West Africans showed higher levels of interoceptive awareness, but lower levels of interoceptive accuracy than European Americans. These results suggest that cultural scripts of attending to the body may affect coupling between actual and perceived physiological reactivity in the context of emotions. These results have implications for studying cultural shaping of somatic presentation of mood and anxiety disorders.

Abstract P262: Evidence for association between SH2B1 gene variants and glycated hemoglobin in non-diabetic European American young adults: The Add Health study

Introduction: Glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) is a marker of long-term glycemic control, and elevated HbA1c is a risk factor for type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Few genome-wide association studies(GWAS) have been performed for HbA1c, although very large scale GWAS for obesity, a related trait, have identified multiple loci that have been widely replicated. We tested 43 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) from 41 well-established obesity susceptibility gene regions for association with HbA1c in a nationally representative sample of European American (EA), African American (AA) and Hispanic American (HA) young adults. Methods: We performed association analysis in race-stratified models using data from participants (age 24-34 years, median age=28 years) from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health) Study (n = 5641 EA; n = 1740 AA; n = 1444 HA) without type 2 diabetes. We tested for additive genotype effects at each locus using linear mixed models, including a random intercept for school and family clusters, and two levels of covariate adjustment (model 1: age, sex, smoking, and geographic region; model 2: model 1 covariates plus BMI). We used Bonferroni adjustment for 43 SNPs and considered P &lt; 0.0011 to be statistically significant. Results: Means (SD) for HbA1c % across the sample were 5.4(0.3) in EA, 5.7(0.4) in AA, and 5.5(0.3) in HA. We observed significant evidence for association with HbA1c for two SNPs near SH2B1 in EAs (rs4788102, P = 2.2x10-4; rs7359397, P = 9.8x10-4) for the model 1 adjustment, although both results were slightly attenuated after additional adjustment for BMI (rs4788102, P = 1.7x10-3; rs7359397, P = 4.6x10-3). No SNPs reached statistical significance after multiple test correction in either AAs or HAs. SH2B1 rs4788102 was nominally significant in AAs for the BMI-adjusted model (P = 0.02), although the estimated direction of effect was in the opposite direction as that observed in EAs. Conclusions: These results suggest that polymorphisms in the obesity gene SH2B1 , for which rare deletions and mutations have been observed in obese individuals with extremely high insulin resistance, are associated with HbA1c in EA young adults. Our findings further suggest these associations are largely independent of BMI.

Neural processing of race during imitation: Self-Similarity Versus Social Status

People preferentially imitate others who are similar to them or have high social status. Such imitative biases are thought to have evolved because they increase the efficiency of cultural acquisition. Here we focused on distinguishing between self-similarity and social status as two candidate mechanisms underlying neural responses to a person's race during imitation. We used fMRI to measure neural responses when 20 African American (AA) and 20 European American (EA) young adults imitated AA, EA and Chinese American (CA) models and also passively observed their gestures and faces. We found that both AA and EA participants exhibited more activity in lateral frontoparietal and visual regions when imitating AAs compared with EAs or CAs. These results suggest that racial self-similarity is not likely to modulate neural responses to race during imitation, in contrast with findings from previous neuroimaging studies of face perception and action observation. Furthermore, AA and EA participants associated AAs with lower social status than EAs or CAs, suggesting that the social status associated with different racial groups may instead modulate neural activity during imitation of individuals from those groups. Taken together, these findings suggest that neural responses to race during imitation are driven by socially learned associations rather than self-similarity. This may reflect the adaptive role of imitation in social learning, where learning from higher status models can be more beneficial. This study provides neural evidence consistent with evolutionary theories of cultural acquisition.

Implementing Self-Collection of Biological Specimens with a Diverse Sample

Collecting saliva is the most noninvasive way to detect changing levels of cortisol (Adam & Kumari, 2009; Soo-Quee Koh & Choon-Huat Koh, 2007), a stress hormone of interest to behavioral and health scientists, where there are benefits from multiple samples taken over a period of days. Various self-collection strategies have been employed, ranging from treated cards to cotton swabs and passive drool methods. The current study investigates the effectiveness of a variety of reminder techniques in encouraging adherence with procedures requiring 4 samples per day on 3 separate days of passive drool collection among African American and European American young adults. The findings suggest that direct texts were associated with the greatest level of adherence, while phone reminders were most effective when controlling for total number of contacts. Results indicate that both traditional and novel reminder methods can positively influence adherence, even with challenging populations.

Ethnic differences in the soft tissue profiles of Turkish and European-American young adults with normal occlusions and well-balanced faces

The aim of this study was to evaluate soft tissue differences between Turkish and North American adults by comparing two sample populations with ideal occlusion and well-balanced faces. Lateral cephalometric radiographs of 117 Anatolian Turkish adults (65 female and 52 male, mean age: 23.9 ± 2.8 years) were compared with a sample of 116 adults of European-American ancestry (64 female and 52 male, mean age: 25.0 ± 6.8 years). The cephalometric analyses of Holdaway, Epker, and Legan and Burstone were performed using Dolphin Image Software 9.0. Thirty-two measurements (27 linear and 5 angular) were analysed. For statistical evaluation, independent samples t-tests were performed. Distinct differences were found between the two samples in facial convexity, upper lip position and length, lower lip position, chin prominence, and chin thickness. Vertical proportional findings were similar between groups. Ethnic differences were found between Turkish and North American adults in the soft tissue profile. It is appropriate to consider these differences during routine diagnosis and treatment planning of a Turkish patient or an American patient of European ancestry.

Travelling backwards and forwards in time: Culture and gender in the episodic specificity of past and future events

There is considerable evidence that, when recalling past events, Westerners exhibit greater episodic specificity than East Asians and women exhibit greater episodic specificity than men. Yet it is unknown whether the same cultural and gender differences are true for future events. In the present study 209 European American and Chinese young adults were asked to recall past personal events and imagine future personal events occurring in varied time periods (i.e., 1 week, 1 year, 10–15 years). Regardless of time period, European Americans consistently produced more specific details than Chinese for future events than they did for past events, and women produced more specific details than men for both past and future events. These findings provide additional support for the constructive-episodic-simulation hypothesis, and shed new light on the influence of culture and gender on episodic thinking.

Maternal Socialization Goals, Parenting Styles, and Social-Emotional Adjustment Among Chinese and European American Young Adults: Testing a Mediation Model

ABSTRACT The authors compared the associations among perceived maternal socialization goals (self-development, filial piety, and collectivism), perceived maternal parenting styles (authoritative, authoritarian, and training), and the social-emotional adjustment (self-esteem, academic self-efficacy, and depression) between Chinese and European American young adults. The mediation processes in which socialization goals relate to young adults’ adjustment outcomes through parenting styles were examined. Results showed that European American participants perceived higher maternal self-development socialization goals, whereas Chinese participants perceived higher maternal collectivism socialization goals as well as more authoritarian parenting. Cross-cultural similarities were found in the associations between perceived maternal authoritative parenting and socioemotional adjustment (e.g., higher self-esteem and higher academic self-efficacy) across the two cultural groups. However, perceived maternal authoritarian and training parenting styles were found only to be related to Chinese participants’ adjustment (e.g., higher academic self-efficacy and lower depression). The mediation analyses showed that authoritative parenting significantly mediated the positive associations between the self-development and collectivism goal and socioemotional adjustment for both cultural groups. Additionally, training parenting significantly mediated the positive association between the filial piety goal and young adults’ academic self-efficacy for the Chinese group only. Findings of this study highlight the importance of examining parental socialization goals in cross-cultural parenting research.

Teaching &amp; Learning Guide for: Once Upon a Time: Explaining Cultural Differences in Episodic Specificity

Teaching &amp; Learning Guide for: Once Upon a Time: Explaining Cultural Differences in Episodic Specificity

Why I remember that: The influence of contextual factors on beliefs about everyday memory

In the present study, we examined the role of contextual factors in beliefs about remembering personal experiences. Specifically, we examined why individuals think that they remember experiences in everyday life and whether the reasons for remembering varied as a function of recall context, memory theme, and culture. In Experiment 1, we examined young adults' reported memories in two hypothetical contexts. In Experiment 2, memories were reported in response to cue words in European American and Chinese young adults. The results indicated that social sharing contexts appeared to favor social functions, whereas private reminiscence contexts tended to favor nonfunctional reasons for remembering and, to a lesser extent, directive functions. The European Americans reported more functional reasons for remembering, whereas the Chinese were more likely to report external cues as a reason for remembering. Finally, self functions were rarely reported. The results are interpreted in light of theories of memory functions and the role of contextual factors on remembering.

The impact of family functioning on anxiety symptoms in African American and European American young adults

The current study aimed to investigate reported family functioning and its impact on anxiety symptoms in a sample of African American and European American young adults. One hundred African American and one hundred twenty one European American young adults completed the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI), the State Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), and a retrospective version of the McMaster Family Assessment Device (FAD). Results indicated that the African Americans reported significantly less anxiety as measured by the BAI and the STAI Trait subscale. Significant differences did not exist on the FAD subscales. A structural equation model was posed to test measurement model invariance and subsequent prediction of anxiety from a latent factor of family functioning created from the FAD subscales. Results indicated that the family functioning factor loadings were significantly different between African Americans and European Americans. Further analyses revealed that family functioning significantly predicted anxiety symptoms in the European American sample, but not the African American sample. Implications of familial functioning, anxiety, and ethnicity are discussed.

A confirmatory factor analysis of the Beck Anxiety Inventory in African American and European American young adults

The anxiety literature is particularly sparse as it relates to African Americans, and there are few studies to date that have examined the factor structure of anxiety assessment tools within this population. The current study investigated the original two-factor structure of the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI) in addition to two extant factor structures of the BAI in a non-clinical sample of African American and European American young adults. One hundred twenty one European American and 100 African American young adults completed the BAI. Results of a confirmatory factor analysis indicated that the previous factor structures of the Beck Anxiety Inventory do not provide the best fit for either the African American or the European American sample. An exploratory factor analysis revealed that an alternative, two-factor model provided the best fit for the sample, particularly for the African American sample. Implications and suggestions for future research are discussed.

Race and religion: differential prediction of anxiety symptoms by religious coping in African American and European American young adults

Psychosocial factors, including religious coping, consistently have been implicated in the expression of anxiety disorders. This study sought to investigate the relationship between religious coping on anxiety symptoms among a nonclinical sample of African American and European American young adults. One hundred twenty-one European American and 100 African American young adults completed measures of anxiety and religious coping. As predicted, results differed according to race. African Americans reported significantly more positive religious coping, less negative religious coping, and experienced fewer anxiety symptoms than European Americans. European Americans demonstrated a significant, positive relationship between negative religious coping and anxiety symptoms, and an opposite trend related to anxiety and positive religious coping. However, no such relationships emerged among the African American sample. Implications and suggestions for future research are discussed.