Development and Psychopathology最新文献

Frameworks are widespread in developmental psychology. They provide general ideas about what to study in human development: which concepts to focus on (e.g., systems, timescales), which processes to test (e.g., micro-macro, bidirectional), and which methods to use (e.g., interview, dynamical equations). However, despite their prominence, there exists very little consensus or guidance on how to use frameworks in research. As such, they have an obscure role, influencing our research questions, methods, and theory, but often in ways we cannot articulate for ourselves, let alone for others. This Views paper presents our perspective on how different frameworks can inform the assumptions, targets, goals, context, timing, and methods of a research project. As an illustrative example, we use Bronfenbrenner's bioecological framework to inform research investigating how parent-child relationships shape the development of executive self-regulation. We also show how different frameworks relevant to developmental psychopathology can inform a research project in distinct ways. Thus, this Views paper provides a practical guide for developmental researchers to more explicitly use and benefit from frameworks in their research.

This study examined longitudinal associations between maternal mindful parenting and child social-emotional, behavioral, and language development. Maternal mindful parenting at 18 months was tested for associations with concurrent observed maternal responsivity and lack of punishment toward the child and as a predictor of child internalizing symptoms, externalizing symptoms, social competence and productive language 6 months later, independent of maternal depressive symptoms (a known predictor of both parenting and child outcomes). We also tested whether child negative emotionality (NE) moderated associations between mindful parenting and child outcomes. Participants (N = 316 mothers) were low-income (mean annual income = $19,024), racially and ethnically diverse mothers (48.4% Black; 43.0% Latinx) recruited from Pittsburgh, PA and New York City, NY. Higher mindful parenting was concurrently associated with higher observed maternal responsiveness toward the child and longitudinally associated with all four child outcomes in expected directions; maternal depression was a significant predictor of child internalizing and externalizing symptoms. Contrary to hypotheses, at moderately high levels of child NE, the positive effects of mindful parenting on child outcomes were attenuated. Results provide preliminary evidence that mindful parenting is meaningfully associated with parenting behaviors and early childhood developmental outcomes above and beyond symptoms of maternal depression.

Guided by steeling and hormesis models, this paper examined parenting adversity as a quadratic predictor of children's emotion knowledge and effortful control and, in turn, their internalizing and externalizing symptoms. Participants were 238 mothers, partners, and their preschool children (M_age = 4.38 years; 52% female). Multiple methods (i.e., observations, interviews, surveys, q-sorts) and informants (i.e., trained observers, experimenters, mothers, children, teachers) were used in a longitudinal design with three annual measurement occasions. Supporting the first link in the mediational cascade, lagged, autoregressive analyses indicated that a quadratic composite of parenting adversity derived from trained observer ratings of parenting at Wave 1 was a significant predictor of children's emotion knowledge and effortful control at Wave 2. In the second part of the proposed cascade, children's Wave 2 emotion knowledge predicted lower levels of their Wave 3 internalizing symptoms, while their Wave 2 effortful control predicted lower levels of their Wave 3 externalizing symptoms. Consistent with steeling effects, curvilinear findings in the first part of the cascade indicated that moderate levels of exposure to parenting adversity predicted the highest levels of children's subsequent emotion knowledge and effortful control. Children also exhibited substantially diminished emotion knowledge and effortful control as their exposure to family adversity increased from moderate to high levels.

Research suggests considerable developmental catch-up among adopted children who experienced early adversity across various domains, yet a substantial subgroup continues to exhibit elevated socio-emotional difficulties. Longitudinal studies can provide critical insights into the mechanisms underlying this ongoing vulnerability, yet no systematic review has been conducted to synthesize these findings. This systematic review identified 16 longitudinal studies (N = 3,073 adoptees) through searches in PsycINFO, PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science, all of which followed children adopted before the age of six into adolescence or adulthood, with an average follow-up period of 10 years. Due to significant heterogeneity across study designs, samples, and measures, a meta-analysis was not feasible; therefore, adoptees' outcomes and developmental pathways are synthesized narratively. Early adversity and developmental difficulties most frequently predicted later socio-emotional and behavioral outcomes, with some evidence pointing to genetic, epigenetic, and gene-environment interaction effects. Early difficulties may have cascading consequences across multiple developmental domains. Yet, the small number of longitudinal studies and their heterogeneity limits conclusive understanding of developmental pathways. Recommendations are made to inform and strengthen future research efforts.

This study examined whether mothers with schizophrenia spectrum disorder (SZSD) or mothers with bipolar disorder express less warmth, and more criticism compared to controls and whether mothers' expressed warmth and criticism are associated with child self-esteem and mental health outcomes. Sixty mothers with SZSD, 60 mothers with bipolar disorder, and 60 control mothers, and their 7-year-old children were included from The Danish High Risk and Resilience Study VIA 7. Expressed warmth and criticism were evaluated by coding Five Minute Speech Samples using the Family Affective Attitudes Rating Scale. Child self-esteem was assessed with the "I Think I Am." Child global functioning was assessed with the Children's Global Assessment Scale, mental health with the Child Behavior Checklist School-age version, and KIDSCREEN-10 captured quality of life. Results showed that mothers with SZSD and mothers with bipolar disorder did not differ from controls on expressed warmth or criticism. Across groups, expressed criticism showed robust associations with poorer child mental health outcomes also when controlling for child sex and maternal functioning. Diagnostic status did not affect maternal expressed warmth or criticism toward their child. However, because more expressed criticism can be associated with adverse child outcomes, interventions promoting more positive interpretations may aid child mental health.

Alterations in hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis function may underlie the relation between childhood maltreatment and nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) behaviors. This study examined how co-occurring patterns of maltreatment types influenced adolescent NSSI behaviors and the mediating role of diurnal cortisol, using a longitudinal design. The sample included 295 Chinese adolescents (M _age = 10.79 years, SD = 0.84 years; 67.1% boys). The study employed latent profile analysis to identify childhood maltreatment patterns and conducted path analysis to examine the mediating mechanism. Four maltreatment patterns were identified: Low Maltreatment (67.8%), High Neglect (15.6%), Moderate Maltreatment (10.2%), and High Abuse with Moderate Neglect (6.4%). Furthermore, compared to the Low Maltreatment profile, adolescents in the High Neglect profile were at increased risk for later NSSI behaviors through higher waking cortisol levels, while those in the High Abuse with Moderate Neglect profile were at increased risk through a steeper diurnal slope. Disturbances in diurnal cortisol rhythm serve as a pathway through which childhood maltreatment "gets under the skin" to lead to adolescent NSSI behaviors. These findings offer promise for identifying maltreated youth at risk for NSSI behaviors and informing targeted prevention strategies.

Purpose: This study employed a cross-lagged panel network model to examine the longitudinal relationships between problems of sleep, internalizing and externalizing problems in adolescents.

Methods: This study gathered data at four different time points (T1, T2, T3, and T4) for students enrolled in Grades 7 and 8, with an interval of approximately six months between each time point. The present sample comprised 1,281 Chinese adolescents, including 636 girls, with a mean age of 12.73 years (SD = 0.68) at baseline. Cross-lagged panel network modeling was used to estimate longitudinal relationships between symptoms at adjacent time points. Network replicability was assessed by comparing the T1→T2 network with the T2→T3 network and the T2→T3 network with the T3→T4 network.

Results: The anxious/depressed symptom emerged as the most predictive of other symptoms and were also the most prospectively influenced by other symptoms. Cross-cluster edges predominantly flowed from internalizing and externalizing symptoms to sleep problems. Additionally, externalizing symptoms exhibited distinct patterns: aggression predicted more sleep and internalizing symptoms, whereas delinquent behavior predicted fewer of these issues.

Conclusions: These findings suggest that mental health problems contribute to later sleep disturbances, with internalizing symptoms playing a central role in adolescent psychopathology.

Maternal affect contributes to children's psychosocial adjustment. How maternal daily affect intensity and dynamics (i.e., inertia and variability) are associated with adolescents' psychopathological symptoms, however, remains unclear. This preregistered study examined (1) associations of maternal day-to-day positive and negative affect intensity, inertia, and variability with psychopathological symptoms in adolescence and young adulthood, and (2) how mother-adolescent affect congruency moderates these associations. Mother-adolescent dyads (N = 488) reported positive and negative affect in 75 daily assessments across ages 13 - 17 years. Adolescents rated their psychopathological symptoms at ages 14 - 18, 20, and 27 years. Maternal affect intensity was associated with adolescent psychopathological symptoms, while maternal affect dynamics were inconsistently associated with symptoms in young adulthood. Mother-adolescent affect congruency only moderated the effects of positive affect intensity and variability, in that high-congruent adolescents reported lower internalizing symptoms at age 20 than low-congruent adolescents. No other interaction effects were found. While maternal affect intensity and dynamics seem to contribute to youth psychopathology, evidence for the role of mother-adolescent affect congruency remained limited.

Contingent responses in which caregiver and child build on each other's positive behavior may attenuate the deleterious effects of early adversity on youth mental health and neuroendocrine functioning. 159 caregiver-child dyads (child age: 6-16 years; 50.9% male; 44.6% adversity-exposed in stable arrangements with adoptive caregivers) participated in a 6-min conflict resolution task, which was coded for second-by-second changes in caregivers' and children's behavior (κ's >0.78). Caregivers reported on their child's mental health problems; youth hair cortisol concentration was obtained. Caregiver contingent responses to their children (i.e., responding to their partner's positive social communication with active efforts to facilitate emotion regulation and/or problem-solving) attenuated the effects of adversity on child anxiety and conduct disorder symptoms. Stronger positive child contingent responses to their caregivers attenuated the effects of adversity on child depressive, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder symptoms, and oppositional defiant symptoms. Positive contingent transactions are health-promotive interaction sequences that could be targeted in transdiagnostic intervention programs.

Background: Exposure to adverse life events (ALE) during the prenatal and early postnatal period has been linked to social cognition impairments in offspring, but whether effects differ by developmental stage and domain of social cognition remains unclear. This study examined the role of maternal ALE exposure from early pregnancy to 8 weeks postpartum in offspring social communication and emotion recognition from childhood to adolescence.

Methods: Data from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) were used. Social cognition was assessed using the Social Communication Disorders Checklist (SCDC) at ages 8, 11, 14, and 17, alongside emotion recognition tasks: the Diagnostic Analysis of Non-Verbal Accuracy (DANVA) (age 8) and Emotional Triangles (age 14). Growth curve modeling and regression analyses examined associations between maternal ALE and child social cognition, adjusting for key demographic and maternal factors.

Results: Greater ALE exposure was associated with poorer social communication (b = 0.013, SE = 0.005, p < .05) and a slower rate of improvement (b = 0.001, SE = 0.000, p < .001). ALE exposure was unrelated to DANVA but predicted better Emotional Triangles performance (b = 0.015, SE = 0.007, p < .05).

Conclusions: Prenatal adversity has lasting effects on offspring social communication, while its influence on emotion recognition appears weaker and less consistent.