Nicole Elise Lorenzo

American University Washington D.C. | AU

Background ADHD commonly co-occurs in children and parents. When ADHD is untreated in parents, it contributes to negative child developmental and treatment outcomes. Screening for parent and child ADHD co-occurrence in pediatric primary care may be an effective strategy for early identification and treatment. There is no data on whether this screen...

The COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent social restrictions created an unprecedented context for families raising young children. Although studies have documented detrimental effects of the pandemic on maternal well-being, less is known about how the pandemic specifically impacted low-income mothers. We examined depression, anxiety, and sleep quality...

Externalizing behavior problems are among the top mental health concerns in early childhood, and many parenting interventions have been developed to address this issue. To better understand predictors of parenting intervention outcomes in high-risk families, this secondary data analysis evaluated the moderating effect of cumulative risk on child ex...

Despite extensive evidence showing that Latinx caregivers' language preference and level of acculturation influence parenting practices and treatment acceptability, there is a paucity of studies examining how these individuals acquire skills taught in behavioral parenting interventions such as parent-child interaction therapy (PCIT). Previous studi...

Background: Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a common neurodevelopmental disorder with onset as early as preschool and impairment across the lifespan. Temperament factors, specifically those that theoretically map onto ADHD symptoms, may be early markers of risk for developing later childhood ADHD that could be identifiable in in...

Supportive parent emotion socialization has been associated with greater child emotion understanding and expression and lower levels of externalizing behavior problems, with limited understanding on parent emotion socialization in toddlerhood. The current study examined the developmental trajectory of emotion socialization via emotion talk in mothe...

More than half of mothers of children with ADHD have a lifetime history of major depressive disorder. Prior research has thus examined treatments integrating behavioral parent training (BPT) and cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) to target parent depressive symptoms that may contribute to negative parent/child behaviors. However, little is known ab...

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a highly prevalent disorder commonly identified in childhood. Affective and cognitive characteristics that are identifiable as early as infancy could be signals of risk for developing ADHD. Specifically, the interplay between emotionality and cognition may be important in predicting early symptoms...

Research has demonstrated the effect of parent emotion socialization on later child emotion development and behavior. Given these findings, the goal of the present study was to examine the effect of an early parenting intervention on a component of emotion socialization: parent emotion talk. We also examined the indirect effect of behaviorally-base...

Objective: The COVID-19 pandemic has brought unprecedented changes to young adults' lives, resulting in mental health difficulties for many; however, some individuals are particularly prone to heightened anxiety. Little is known about the early life predictors of anxiety during the pandemic. We examined a developmental pathway from behavioral inhi...

Symptoms of ADHD and anxiety often co-occur, yet we are limited in our understanding of which children with ADHD symptoms are more likely to develop anxiety symptoms in adolescence. This longitudinal study examined the role of behavioral inhibition (BI) and peer relationships (i.e., peer support and peer victimization) in relation to childhood ADHD...

Although the COVID-19 pandemic caused significant stress and anxiety among many people, individuals’ experiences varied. We examined whether specific forms of anxiety predicted distinct trajectories of anxiety, perceived stress, and COVID-related worries during 3 early months of the pandemic. In a longitudinal study ( N = 291), adolescents’ ( n = 1...

Introduction Research suggests that certain parenting behaviors are best suited to promote optimal child development, depending on a child's distinctive temperamental presentation. This multimethod, longitudinal study examines the interactive effect of parenting and temperament in early childhood on the developmental trajectory of social anxiety in...

This special issue consists of 23 articles focusing on parent socialization of emotion in children and adolescents as a transdiagnostic factor for the development of psychopathology. The papers in this special issue span various emotion socialization domains, methodologies, ages, and clinical and non-clinical populations, highlighting the promise,...

The COVID-19 pandemic and its associated restrictions caused significant stress and anxiety among many, but individual effects of the pandemic vary widely. We examine if specific forms of anxiety (generalized vs. social) predict distinct trajectories of anxiety, perceived stress, and COVID-related worries during three early months of the pandemic....

Objective: This study examined the feasibility and initial outcome of a time-limited and intensive format of Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT) for families of young children who have sustained a traumatic brain injury (TBI). Methods: The nonrandomized open trial included 15 families with a child aged 2-5 years who had sustained a TBI and d...

Extensive research has demonstrated the transactional nature of parent-child psychopathology, with limited studies examining these effects during late adolescence and none, to our knowledge, longitudinally during the COVID-19 pandemic. The current study examined the cross-lagged effects of parent and adolescent internalizing symptoms during the COV...

Objective The COVID-19 pandemic has brought unprecedented changes to young adults’ lives, resulting in mental health difficulties for many; however, some individuals are particularly prone to heightened anxiety. Little is known about the early life predictors of anxiety during the pandemic. We examined a developmental pathway from behavioral inhibi...

Objective: To develop and implement a universal screening protocol for depression and anxiety in adolescents serviced in an otology and audiology practice and to estimate the prevalence of depression and anxiety in adolescents with hearing loss, while also comparing rates by degree of hearing loss and type of hearing device used. Study design: C...

The vast individual differences in the developmental origins of risk and resilience pathways combined with sophisticated capabilities of big data science increasingly point to the imperative of large, neurodevelopmental consortia to capture population heterogeneity and key variations in developmental trajectories. At the same time, such large-scale...

Children with selective mutism (SM) experience significant challenges in a variety of social situations, leading to difficulties with academics, peers, and family functioning. Despite the extensive evidence base for cognitive-behavioral interventions for youth anxiety, the literature has seen relatively limited advancement in specialized treatment...

Mental health interventions for infants typically target high-risk groups and can prevent long-term negative outcomes. Despite federal initiatives promoting early intervention, minimal research has examined usual care services for infants, which is important to improve routine care. The current study characterized usual care practices in infant men...

The current study examined the indirect effect of the use of behavioral parenting skills following the Infant Behavior Program, a brief, home-based adaptation of the child-directed interaction phase of parent–child interaction therapy, on infant language production. Participants were 60 infants (55% male, mean age 13.47 ± 1.31 months) and their car...

In the U.S., there is a growing Latino population, in which parents primarily speak Spanish to their children. Despite the evidence that language preference is associated with level of acculturation and influences parenting practices in these families, no study has compared how Spanish- and English-speaking Latino families acquire and utilize the s...

Research has demonstrated an association between parenting stress and child behavior problems, and suggested levels of parenting stress are higher among parents of children at risk for behavior problems, such as those with autism and developmental delay (ASD/DD). The goal of the present study was to conduct a systematic review of parenting stress a...

Behavioral parent training (BPT) and attachment interventions have demonstrated efficacy in improving outcomes for young children. Despite theoretical overlap in these approaches, the literature has evolved separately, particularly with respect to outcome measurement in BPT. We examined the impact of the Infant Behavior Program (IBP), a brief home-...

Parent-child interaction therapy (PCIT) is a behavioral parent training intervention for the treatment of externalizing behavior problems in young children aged two to seven. PCIT draws on both attachment and social learning theories in order to improve the quality of the parent-child relationship. Treatment is divided into two distinct phases, chi...

Objective: To present a case study examining the use of Parent-Child Interaction Therapy for a 5-year-old African American female from an economically disadvantaged background who sustained a moderate traumatic brain injury. Methods: “Victoria’s” pre-injury history, family environment, and injury characteristics are detailed along with the results...

The goal of the present study was to evaluate the psychometric properties of the English and Spanish versions of the Parenting Stress Index-Short Form (PSI-SF) with mothers of 12- to 15-month-old infants with elevated levels of behavior problems and from predominately Hispanic, low-income backgrounds. Mothers of 58 infants were assessed as part of...

To meet the mental health needs of infants from high-risk families, we examined the effect of a brief home-based adaptation of Parent-child Interaction Therapy (PCIT) on improvements in infant and parent behaviors and reductions in parenting stress. Participants included 60 infants (55 % male; average age of 13.5 ± 1.31 months) who were recruited a...

Background Although a number of studies have examined the factor structure of the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) in predominately White or African American samples, no published research has reported on the factor structure among Hispanic women who reside in the United States.Objective The current study examined the factor structure of...

Background Although a number of studies have examined the factor structure of the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) in predominately White or African American samples, no published research has reported on the factor structure among Hispanic women who reside in the United States. Objective The current study examined the factor structure...