Mouse models of social dysfunction, designed to investigate the complex genetics of social behaviors, require an objective methodology for scoring social interactions relevant to human disease symptoms. Here we describe an automated, three chambered apparatus designed to monitor social interaction in the mouse. Time spent in each chamber and the number of entries are scored automatically by a system detecting photocell beam breaks. When tested with the automated equipment, juvenile male C57BL/6J mice spent more time in a chamber containing a stranger mouse than in an empty chamber (sociability), similar to results obtained by the observer scored method. In addition, automated scoring detected a preference to spend more time with an unfamiliar stranger than a more familiar conspecific (preference for social novelty), similar to results obtained by the observer scored method. Sniffing directed at the wire cage containing the stranger mouse correlated significantly with time spent in that chamber, indicating that duration in a chamber represents true social approach behavior. Number of entries between chambers did not correlate with duration of time spent in the chambers; entries instead proved a useful control measure of general activity. The most significant social approach behavior took place in the first five minutes of both the sociability and preference for social novelty tests. Application of these methods to C57BL/6J, DBA/ 2J and FVB/NJ adult males revealed that all three strains displayed tendencies for sociability and preference for social novelty. To evaluate the importance of the strain of the stranger mouse on sociability and preference for social novelty, C57BL/6J subject mice were tested either with A/J strangers or with C57BL/6J strangers. Sociability and preference for social novelty were similar with both stranger strains. The automated equipment provides an accurate and objective approach to measuring social tendencies in mice. Its use may allow higher-throughput scoring of mouse social behaviors in mouse models of social dysfunction.Keywords: Autism, automated equipment, C57BL/ 6J, DBA/ 2J, exploratory activity, FVB/ NJ, inbred strains, mice, scoring methods, sociability, social behavior, social preference Many rodent species, including mice, demonstrate strong social communities in the wild, and easily quantitated social behaviors in the laboratory. Methods for evaluating a large number of social behavior parameters have provided an in-depth ethogram of the rich social repertoire of mice. Social preference tests in rodents have been used to investigate social tendencies of mice, rats and voles, including analyses of pair-bonding, dominance hierarchies and social memory (Blanchard et al. 2001;Brodkin et al.

Introduction: Ethnic-racial identity (ERI) is an important developmental process for ethnic-racial minority youth. However, little is known about how adverse life experiences may be related to ERI development. Thus, the current study evaluated prospective associations of emancipated foster youth's histories of childhood maltreatment and foster placement disruption with ERI centrality and ERI private regard, as well as the adaptive implications of ERI. Method: Participants were 144 emancipated foster youth (69.4% female) from ethnic-racial minority backgrounds (27.8% Black, 32.6% Latinx, 39.6% multiracial) who participated in a longitudinal study of youth's adaptation to aging out of the US child welfare system. Youth reported on their childhood maltreatment severity and child welfare placement history at wave 1 (M age_w1 = 19.62, SD = 1.11), and on their ERI centrality, ERI private regard, and socioemotional adjustment (i.e., social support, self-esteem, anxiety and depressive symptoms, and life satisfaction) five years later (M age_w2 = 24.15). Results: Path analyses revealed that childhood maltreatment severity and placement disruption were associated with lower ERI private regard, but not ERI centrality. Moreover, private regard was associated with better socioemotional adjustment (i.e., higher levels of self-esteem and social support), whereas centrality was related to poorer adjustment (i.e., lower levels of self-esteem and life satisfaction, and higher rates of anxiety and depressive symptoms), and these relations varied by ethnicity-race. Conclusions: The current findings suggest that efforts to promote positive feelings toward one's ethnic-racial group membership can support ethnic-racial minority foster youth's capacity to negotiate developmental challenges in and beyond the child welfare system.

Sociocultural factors were examined in relationship to parent–therapist agreement on beliefs about the etiology of mental health problems among a sample of youth receiving outpatient mental health services (n = 277 parents). When examined individually, racial/ethnic match was unrelated, but higher parental affinity to mainstream American culture, higher parent education level, and greater similarity in parent and therapist scores on affinity to mainstream American culture were all significantly associated with greater parent–therapist co-endorsement of etiological explanations, while higher parental affinity to an alternative/indigenous culture was significantly associated with lower co-endorsement. When examined simultaneously in one model, only parent education level remained significantly associated. Findings suggest a complex relationship between sociocultural factors and that attention to parent cultural affinity and parent education level may facilitate parent–therapist agreement on beliefs about child problem causes.

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This longitudinal investigation evaluated parental cultural socialization practices as a central mechanism by which parents' cultural values influence developmental outcomes in ethnic–racial minority children. Drawing on a sample of 129 Latina mothers and their children (48.1% daughters and 51.9% sons), path analyses evaluated hypothesized individual and interactive contributions of mothers' Latina heritage and American mainstream cultural orientations to changes in children's self‐esteem via overt and covert cultural socialization practices. Mothers reported on their cultural orientation and socialization practices when their children were ages 5 and 8, respectively. Children reported their self‐esteem at ages 8 and 10. Controlling for family socioeconomic status, mothers' nativity status, and prior child self‐esteem, path analyses revealed a significant indirect effect from mothers' heritage orientation to increased child self‐esteem via overt cultural socialization practices. Interestingly, a multigroup analysis by gender showed that mothers' heritage orientation was positively related to overt and covert cultural socialization practices toward both daughters and sons, but the indirect paths to child self‐esteem through cultural socialization did not attain significance for daughters. Moreover, among sons, the indirect path through overt cultural socialization predicted increased self‐esteem, whereas the indirect path through covert cultural socialization predicted decreased self‐esteem. These findings show that cultural socialization is a salient process by which parental cultural orientation influences children's self‐esteem while highlighting the specificity of these effects across overt and covert expressions of cultural socialization and child gender. Efforts to promote positive self‐esteem among Latinx children should encourage parental cultural socialization practices, such as teaching, reading, and/or performing activities that celebrate the Latinx culture.