The Brown University Child and Adolescent Behavior Letter最新文献

The perinatal period, spanning pregnancy through postpartum, is a time of increased vulnerability to the onset and exacerbation of perinatal obsessive-compulsive disorder (pOCD). POCD is common, with global prevalence rates of up to 9.1% during pregnancy and 6.2% postpartum (Salari et al., 2024). Consequently, even clinicians who do not work directly with perinatal populations may encounter its effects in their work with children and families.

The use of psychedelics for various mental health applications goes back at least to the 1960s. But clinical and research use became a casualty of the war on drugs by criminalizing their use, even in tightly controlled research settings. New thinking in this area has ignited a new era of clinical and research exploration. This paper will focus on the use of ketamine in a complex pediatric patient on an inpatient psychiatric unit.

Even young children know that school shootings happen, and could happen to them.

Children of parents with mental disorders have an increased risk of mortality up to age 51 years, a new study has found. The associations were strongest in the case of “unnatural” (suicide, accident) deaths compared to “natural” (disease), especially when both parents had mental disorders. Researchers urge that support be given to families in which the parents have mental disorders in order to possibly reduce the risk of premature death. However, further research is needed to determine whether such support would, in fact, reduce this risk, the researchers said.

Autism has been in the news — again and again. First, in September 2025 government officials warned that Tylenol (acetaminophen) use in pregnancy was causally linked to autism; the FDA later issued a similar (more tempered) warning. In November, the CDC's website raised eyebrows by stating that “The claim ‘vaccines do not cause autism’ is not an evidence-based claim because studies have not ruled out the possibility that infant vaccines cause autism.”

Calling smartphone ownership a “rite of passage for youths,” researchers wanted to find out more about negative consequences in early adolescence. They found higher rates of depression, obesity, and insufficient sleep.

The refugee community in Rhode Island includes families from all over the world who arrive directly from war and conflict or after years of living in a resettlement camp. All typically arrive in the U.S. with minimal exposure to English language and culture. Refugee youth, in particular, have a diversity of experiences and perspectives, as well as physical and mental health needs. Since less than 1% of refugee families are able to be resettled to a host country, families often come to the United States with considerable levels of resilience and hope for their future. Nonetheless, many refugee youth may experience stress-sensitive outcomes such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, anxiety, adjustment disorders, and substance use disorder related to traumas that occurred during the pre-flight, flight, and during resettlement. Additionally, resettled families often have family members who remain behind and may be in ongoing danger, adding to familial stress levels. Once resettled, refugee families often face “acculturative stress” (d'Abreu et al., 2019), or stress related to adjusting to a new environment and culture. This includes challenges like needing to rapidly learn a new language, obtain employment, and manage the needs of family members in unfamiliar systems.

Though the social distancing guidelines, masking mandates, and distance learning that were hallmarks of the height of the COVID-19 pandemic have mostly become relics of the past, increased attention and conscientiousness about health behaviors provided the perfect opportunity for another condition to pop up and spread — health anxiety. Health anxiety involves excessive worries about one's present or future health, including beliefs that one has or may contract an illness or serious disease. Guidelines that were crucial for mitigating the spread of the COVID-19 virus, like close symptom monitoring, also served to exacerbate worries about illness and health, particularly for children who experienced this during key periods of development.