Development and Psychopathology最新文献

Moral emotions such as shame, guilt and pride are crucial to young children's social-emotional development. Due to the restrictions caused by hearing loss in accessing the social world, deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) children may encounter extra difficulties in their development of moral emotions. However, little research so far has investigated the development trajectory of moral emotions during preschool years in DHH children. The present study used a longitudinal design to explore the development trajectories of shame, guilt, and pride, in a sample of 259 Chinese DHH and typically hearing (TH) preschoolers aged 2 to 6 years old. The results indicated that according to parent reports, DHH children manifested lower levels of guilt and pride compared to their TH peers, yet the manifested levels of shame, guilt, and pride increased throughout the preschool time at a similar pace in all children. Moreover, whilst guilt and pride contributed to increasing levels of psychosocial functioning over the preschool years, shame contributed to lower social competence and more externalizing behaviors in DHH and TH preschoolers. The outcomes imply that early interventions and adjustment to hearing loss could be useful to safeguard the social development of children with severe hearing loss, and cultural variances shall be taken into consideration when studying moral emotions in a Chinese cultural background.

Early life adversity (ELA) and youth chronic health conditions have been examined as separate contributors to psychopathology. However, little work has specifically examined early life health adversity (ELHA) and its association with risk for internalizing disorders. This study seeks to examine the relationship between ELHA and internalizing disorders across adolescence. A sample of 705 Australian mother-youth dyads participated in a prospective longitudinal study. Mothers reported child health indicators at youth ages three-to-four days, six months, and five years and completed a psychiatric interview at 15 years. Youth completed a psychiatric interview, as well as measures of current health status, at age 20. ELHA was positively associated with both youth anxiety and depressive disorders from ages 15 to 20. When independently accounting for the role of (a) current health status and (b) exposure to traditionally conceptualized forms of ELA, these findings remained statistically significant for anxiety but not depressive disorders. ELHA interacted with maternal depression, such that ELHA was only associated with youth depressive disorders in cases where mothers themselves had experienced depression. Routine mental health screenings may be warranted for youth who experience ELHA and their mothers. Pediatric primary care may be an ideal setting for implementing prevention and intervention efforts.

This study examined the predictors and sequelae of exposure to peer pressure from close friends in adolescence. Adolescents (99 female; 85 male) were followed from age 13 to 24 utilizing peer, parent, and romantic partner reports and observational data. Participants who were exposed to high levels of peer pressure as teens were more likely to experience higher levels of coercive behavior from romantic partners (as reported by those partners), as well as lower levels of parent-reported functional independence. All findings held even after accounting for baseline levels of teen assertiveness. Adolescents at risk for increasing exposure to peer pressure were characterized by poor-quality parent and peer relationships, as well as baseline deficits in ability to assert autonomy. Results suggest that exposure to peer pressure, aside from its potential effects on deviant or risky behavior, may reflect a powerful threat to the autonomy development process as adolescents transition from parents to peers as primary sources of support and interaction.

Child maltreatment impacts approximately one in seven children in the United States, leading to adverse outcomes throughout life. Adolescence is a time period critical for the development of executive function, but there is little research examining how abuse and neglect may differently affect the developmental trajectories of executive function throughout adolescence and into young adulthood. In the current study, 167 adolescents participated at six time points from ages 14 to 20. At each time point, adolescents completed behavioral tasks measuring the three dimensions of executive function (working memory, inhibitory control, and cognitive flexibility). Neglect and abuse in early life (ages 1-13) were reported at ages 18-19. Unconditional growth curve models revealed age-related improvement in all three executive function dimensions. Conditional growth curve models tested the prospective effects of recalled neglect and abuse on the developmental trajectories of executive function. The results revealed that neglect was associated with developmental changes in working memory abilities, such that greater levels of neglect during ages 1-13 were associated with slower increases in working memory abilities across ages 14-20. These findings highlight the adverse consequences of early neglect experiences shown by delayed working memory development during adolescence into young adulthood.

Rates of youth suicidal thoughts and behaviors (STBs) are rising, and younger age at onset increases vulnerability to negative outcomes. However, few studies have investigated STBs in early adolescence (ages 10-13), and accurate prediction of youth STBs remains poor. Network analyses that can examine pairwise associations between many theoretically relevant variables may identify complex pathways of risk for early adolescent STBs. The present study applied longitudinal network analysis to examine interrelations between STBs and several previously identified risk and protective factors. Data came from 9,854 youth in the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study cohort (M_age = 9.90 ± .62 years, 63% white, 53% female at baseline). Youth and their caregivers completed an annual measurement battery between ages 9-10 through 11-12 years. Panel Graphical Vector Autoregressive models evaluated associations between STBs and several mental health symptoms, socioenvironmental factors, life stressors, and substance use. In the contemporaneous and between-subjects networks, direct associations were observed between STBs and internalizing symptoms, substance use, family conflict, lower parental monitoring, and lower school protective factors. Potential indirect pathways of risk for STBs were also observed. Age-specific interventions may benefit from prioritizing internalizing symptoms and early substance use, as well as promoting positive school and family support.

The increased risk for psychopathology associated with interpersonal violence exposure (IPV, e.g., physical abuse, sexual assault) is partially mediated by neurobiological alterations in threat-related processes. Evidence supports parsing neural circuitry related to transient and sustained threat, as they appear to be separable processes with distinct neurobiological underpinnings. Although childhood is a sensitive period for neurodevelopment, most prior work has been conducted in adult samples. Further, it is unknown how IPV exposure may impact transient-sustained threat neural interactions. The current study tested the moderating role of IPV exposure on sustained vmPFC-transient amygdala co-activation during an fMRI task during which threat and neutral cues were predictably or unpredictably presented. Analyses were conducted in a sample of 212 community-recruited youth (M/SD_age = 11.77/2.44 years old; 51.9% male; 56.1% White/Caucasian). IPV-exposed youth evidenced a positive sustained vmPFC-transient amygdala co-activation, while youth with no IPV exposure did not show this association. Consistent with theoretical models, effects were specific to unpredictable, negative trials and to exposure to IPV (i.e., unrelated to non-IPV traumatic experiences). Although preliminary, these findings provide novel insight into how childhood IPV exposure may alter neural circuity involved in specific facets of threat processing.

Dimensional models of early life adversity highlight the distinct roles of deprivation and threat in shaping neurocognitive development and mental health. However, relatively little is known about the role of unpredictability within each dimension. We estimated both the average levels of, and the temporal unpredictability of deprivation and threat exposure during adolescence in a high-risk, longitudinal sample of 1354 youth (Pathways to Desistance study). We then related these estimates to later life psychological distress, and Antisocial and Borderline personality traits, and tested whether any effects are mediated by future orientation. High average levels of both deprivation and threat exposure were found to be associated with worse mental health on all three outcomes, but only the effects on Antisocial and Borderline personality traits were mediated by decreased future orientation, a pattern consistent with evolutionary models of psychopathology. Unpredictability in deprivation exposure proved to be associated with increased psychological distress and a higher number of Borderline traits, but with increased future orientation. There was some evidence of unpredictability in threat exposure buffering against the detrimental developmental effects of average threat levels. Our results suggest that the effects of unpredictability are distinct within different dimensions of early life adversity.

Building on the sensitization hypothesis, the present work aimed to examine how parent-adolescent conflict might be associated with heightened emotional reactivity to peer conflicts, which in turn shape the development of adolescent internalizing psychopathology. Participants were 108 Taiwanese adolescents between the ages of 18 and 19 (M_age = 18.53, SD_age = 0.39; 64% female) who completed baseline assessments, 14-day daily surveys, and 6-month follow-up assessments. Emotional reactivity was measured by calculating the daily association between peer conflict and positive and negative emotions. Results indicated that greater baseline parent-adolescent conflict was associated with higher negative emotional reactivity to peer conflicts, which then predicted increased depressive symptoms and anxiety symptoms 6 months later. Moreover, greater positive emotional reactivity to peer conflicts (i.e., more declines in positive emotions in response to peer conflicts) predicted increased depressive symptoms. Thus, the findings of the current study support and extend the sensitization hypothesis and suggest that parent-adolescent conflict may contribute to family-of-origin sensitization in non-familial, interpersonal contexts. The results have key implications for understanding adolescent developmental psychopathology associated with family conflicts and emotional reactivity.

The rates of anxiety and depression increase across adolescence, many experience recurrence after treatment, yet longitudinal studies examining promotive factors are scarce. We prospectively examined the role of the promotive factors structured style, personal and social competencies, family functioning, and social resources in homotypic and heterotypic continuity and discontinuity of anxiety and depression across three years in a clinical sample. Participants were adolescents with anxiety or depressive disorders aged 13-18 years at T1 (N = 717, 44% initial participation rate) and aged 16-21 years at T2 (N = 549, 80% follow-up participation rate). At T1, diagnoses were collected from medical records and participants responded to questionnaires. At T2, semi-structured diagnostic interviews were conducted. Higher levels of all promotive factors were associated with reduced probability of anxiety or depression three years later. The promotive factors were not associated with homotypic continuity of anxiety, whereas personal competence beliefs, social competence, and, less strongly, family functioning were associated with reduced homotypic continuity of depression and heterotypic continuity from depression to anxiety. Analyses with interaction terms did not indicate moderation by the promotive factors. Our findings suggest that bolstering promotive factors may be vital for increasing treatment success and preventing recurrence of anxiety and depression in the transition toward adulthood.