publications | Toria Herd Phd

recent research

Individual and social risk and protective factors as predictors of trajectories of post-traumatic stress symptoms in adolescents

Posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) are a common result of exposure to trauma (e.g., child abuse). If left untreated, PTSS can lead to depression, suicide attempts, and substance use. This study identified the most common long-term patterns of PTSS among female adolescents who had experienced trauma and then determined important factors (e.g., age, race, religiousness, self-regulation, mental health symptoms, IQ, self-esteem, social support, parent mental health) likely to distinguish teens who experience recovery from PTSS versus chronic PTSS.

Findings

Teens who were most likely to recover from their PTSS over time had not experienced child sexual abuse or physical abuse, were a racial/ethnic minority youth, had higher self-esteem, better emotion regulation skills, less risky peers, and lower levels of parent depression.
These results identify risk factors for chronic PTSS and offer insights into intervention targets to promote more optimal symptom trajectories over time following trauma.

Implications for policy

Cross-system collaboration is critical for optimal trauma-informed care
Policies that create incentives and infrastructure to aid in expansion of evidence-based services and programs and evaluation of these models should be prioritized
Healthcare access may be used to provide comprehensive universal screening for trauma, promote upstream prevention and early intervention, and increase access to treatment for trauma survivors

Implications for practice

Findings support the continued use of clinical interventions and treatments to promote adaptive responses to trauma, such as Trauma-focused Cognitive Behavior Therapy
Interventions that also consider bolstering self-esteem, affective regulation, and peer and family support should also be prioritized for youth exposed to trauma
Trauma responses are markedly inconsistent between white and racial and ethnic minority youth suggesting that clinical interpretations of, and treatments for PTSD would benefit from a more comprehensive integration of the role of culture in recovery

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complete list of publications

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Herd, T., Palmer, L., & Font, S. (2023). Prevalence of mental health diagnoses among early adolescents before and during foster care. Journal of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics, 44, 269-276.

Russotti, J., Herd, T., Handley, E. D., Toth, S. L., & Noll, J. G. (2023). Patterns of mother, father, and peer attachment quality as moderators of child maltreatment risk for depression and PTSD symptoms in adolescent females. Journal of Interpersonal Violence.

Herd, T., Jacques, K., Brieant, A., Noll, J. G., King-Casas, B., & Kim-Spoon, J. (2022). Parenting, emotion regulation, and externalizing symptomatology as adolescent antecedents to young adult health risk behaviors. Journal of Research on Adolescence.

Herd, T., Haag, A., Selin, C., Palmer, L., S. S., Strong-Jones, S., Jackson, Y., Bensman, H. E., & Noll, J. G. (2022). Individual and social risk and protective factors as predictors of trajectories of post-traumatic stress symptoms in adolescents. Research on Child and Adolescent Psychopathology.

Palmer., L. Font., S, Herd, T., Prindle, J. & Putnam-Hornstein, E. (2022). Rates of emotional disturbance among children in foster care: A comparison of federal child welfare data and medical claims records in two states. Child Maltreatment, 0, 1-8.

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, 1798-1814.

Haag, A., Bonanno, G. A., Chen, S., Herd, T., Strong-Jones, S., Spiva, S. & Noll, J. G. (2022). Understanding posttraumatic stress trajectories in adolescent females: a strength-based machine learning approach using offline and online predictors. Development and Psychopathology.

Lindenmuth, M., Herd, T., Brieant, A., Lee, J., Tarnai, K., King-Casas, B., & Kim-Spoon, J. (2022). Neural cognitive control moderates the longitudinal link between hedonia and substance use across adolescence. Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, 55, 101111.

Herd, T., Brieant, A., King-Casas, B., & Kim-Spoon, J. (2022). Associations between developmental patterns of negative parenting and emotion regulation development across adolescence. Emotion, 22, 270-282.

Kim-Spoon, J., Herd, T., Brieant, A., Elder, J., Lee, J., Deater-Deckard, K., & King-Casas, B. (2021). A 4-year longitudinal neuroimaging study of cognitive control using latent variable modeling: Developmental changes and brain-behavior associations. Neuroimage, 237, 118-134.

Kim-Spoon, J., Herd, T., Brieant, A., Peviani, K., Deater-Deckard, K., Lauharatanahirun, N., Lee, J., & King-Casas, B. (2021). Maltreatment and brain development in adolescence: The effects of abuse and neglect on neural risk processing and cognitive control. Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, 48, 100139.

Herd, T. & Kim-Spoon, J. (2021). A systematic review of the impact of adverse peer experiences on adolescent emotion regulation. Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review, 24, 141-163.

Brieant, A., Herd, T., Deater-Deckard, K., Lee, J. E., King-Casas, B., & Kim-Spoon, J. (2021). Processes linking socioeconomic disadvantage and neural underpinnings of cognitive control in adolescence. Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, 48, 100935.

Kim-Spoon, J., Herd, T., Brieant, A., Peviani, K., Lauharatanahirun, N., Lee, J., Deater- Deckard, K., Bickel, W., & King-Casas, B. (2020). Bidirectional links between adolescent brain function and substance use moderated by cognitive control. The Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 62, 427-436.

Herd, T., King-Casas, B., & Kim-Spoon, J. (2020). Developmental changes in emotion regulation during adolescence: Influences of socioeconomic status, parent stress, and family emotional climate. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 49, 1545-1557.

Hardy, S. A., Baldwin, C. R., Herd, T., & Kim-Spoon, J. (2020). Dynamic associations between religiousness and self-regulation across adolescence into young adulthood. Developmental Psychology, 56,180-197.

Herd, T., Li, M. Maciejewski, D., Lee, J., Deater-Deckard, D., King-Casas, B., & Kim-Spoon, J. (2018). Inhibitory control mediates the association between perceived stress and relationship quality. Frontiers in Psychology, 9, 217.

Maciejewski, D., Lauharatanahirun, N., Herd, T., Lee, J., Deater-Deckard, K., King-Casas, B., & Kim-Spoon, J. (2018). Neural cognitive control moderates the association between neural risk processing and adolescent health risk behaviors via perceived stress. Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, 30, 150-158.