The Hierarchical Taxonomy of Psychopathology (HiTOP) is thought to be scientifically and clinically useful because it aligns with the natural structure of psychopathology. However, because HiTOP is based on the analyses of standardized symptom criteria and closed-ended survey items, it may just reflect the structure of available measures. This study tests this possibility by examining whether the structure of similarities in language used by online communities when talking about their mental health corresponds to HiTOP. For our analysis, we obtained 136,667 naturalistic descriptions of mental health from >72,380 unique users on 27 online Reddit communities (i.e., subreddits). We used text embeddings in large language models to represent common themes of posts in the subreddits, each dedicated to a different diagnosis or maladaptive trait. Semantic similarity across subreddit language was quantified with a cosine similarity matrix. We then fit exploratory factor models to this matrix and examined the hierarchical structure with a bass-ackwards approach. Results showed that the structure of psychopathology discourse closely corresponds to the HiTOP model, with factors resembling internalizing, detachment, thought disorder, substance use, antagonism, and somatoform spectra at the lowest level of the hierarchy. The higher order factors diverged from HiTOP, including a general factor of problem construal reflecting variation in attribution of problems to internal versus external sources. Overall, the emergence of HiTOP spectra from natural language offers unique evidence for its generalizability and clinical utility. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).
Although prevailing approaches to well-being often emphasize individual skills and capacities, several psychological theories suggest that experiences of feeling seen, valued, and cared for by others are central to human flourishing. Here, we apply these relational perspectives to adolescence, a developmental period of heightened social development, to examine the role of everyday experiences of connection in adolescents' lives. Using daily diary data from adolescents across 4 weeks (28 days, N = 142, Mage = 15.42), we examined whether day-to-day fluctuations in perceived relatedness-feeling close and cared for by others-were associated with three indicators of flourishing: stress, compassion, and purpose. Results indicated that on days when adolescents reported greater relatedness, they also reported lower stress, greater compassion, and stronger purpose. These findings advance relational theories by demonstrating that close relationships function not only as stable developmental resources but also as everyday experiences associated with adolescent flourishing. In doing so, this study highlights the importance of attending to adolescents' social worlds within human flourishing research and intervention efforts designed for this age group. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).
Refugees face multiple resettlement stressors, yet it remains unclear how discrimination and sociocultural support jointly influence their adjustment and well-being. Drawing on trauma and refugee adjustment frameworks, this study analyzed nationally representative data from 4,513 adult refugees (Mage = 39.3; 41% female; 38% Black, 26% Asian, 20% White, 10% Middle Eastern, 6% Hispanic, 1% other race/ethnicity) surveyed within their first 5 years of U.S. resettlement in 2020-2022. Survey-weighted regression models with robust standard errors were used to examine associations between discrimination, sociocultural connection, and well-being. Results showed that more frequent discrimination was consistently associated with poorer well-being across all domains. Sociocultural connections were positively linked to well-being and could, in some cases, buffer against the effects of discrimination. Specifically, religious participation was associated with fewer depressive feelings but lower self-rated physical health. Socializing with culturally similar neighbors or friends was linked to greater belonging and fewer depressive feelings. Living in a culturally similar neighborhood was associated with better self-rated health, increased safety and belonging, and reduced depressive feelings. Additionally, living in a culturally similar neighborhood weakened the negative association between discrimination and belonging. Experiences of discrimination were more commonly reported by Middle Eastern and Hispanic refugees, those with higher education, and individuals experiencing financial instability. These findings underscore the dual role of risk and resilience factors in shaping refugee adjustment and highlight the importance of community-centered interventions. Reducing discrimination while fostering culturally supportive environments may promote more equitable integration trajectories for refugees in the United States. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).
Despite their ubiquity and promise for improving teacher and student outcomes, classroom observation systems are imperfect tools. Observational methods can be inefficient, costly, subject to bias, insensitive to individual student variation, and marginally related to student learning gains. These shortcomings limit the benefits of observations for students and teachers. The use and refinement of classroom observations are ripe for next-generation innovation and investigation. This article aimed to broaden and shift how observation of teacher-student interaction is conceptualized, operationalized, studied, and applied at scale. To accomplish this aim, the article advances a research agenda leveraging methods from adjacent disciplines in research using classroom observation protocols as a means to refine and improve those protocols. Candidate methods include real-time sensoring of students' and teachers' neurological and physiological activity within multichannel data collection systems. Using advanced data processing, the information collected from these expanded protocols can help address precision and individualization of classroom observation and facilitate efficient use at scale. This agenda accelerates the pace through which scientific work can increase the precision, impact, efficiency, individualization, and feedback capability of observational methods for improving teaching and learning. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).
Children's long-term outcomes correlate with the physical and social features of the homes, schools, and neighborhoods in which they grow up. Yet, current techniques for establishing these correlations are limited. This article (a) presents five main issues linked to the currently used approaches. For example, most research relies on questionnaires or coding brief videoed interactions, which focus on a limited set of dimensions selected by researchers ("top-down" approach). As a result, these methods are limited because they provide only a static snapshot, which often conflates conceptually diverse levels, including the physical (e.g., noise, light) and social environments (e.g., caregiver mood, responsiveness). New technologies offer alternative approaches to these issues. This article (b) highlights how continuous multifeature observations, processed using machine learning tools, can improve our description of early development and inform theorizing of the mechanisms through which environments shape outcomes. Devices worn by children and those around them provide long-form recordings, allowing researchers to track how naturalistic environments vary over time and how children respond to them in real time. This shift supports a more dynamic, bottom-up, data-driven, and potentially culturally neutral approach to characterizing environmental variability. Finally, the article (c) discusses key limitations, notably the need to ensure that machine learning methods used to analyze early environments are trained using culturally diverse data, evaluating remaining risks of bias, and practical and ethical considerations. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).
