Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry最新文献

This editorial introduces the Journal's 2026 Annual Research Review (ARR). Three themes emerged in this year's ARR. The first revisits and expands our understanding of four longstanding mental health disorders - non-fatal self-harm, early conduct problems, eating, disorders and developmental language disorders. A second theme focuses on intervention development and efficacy by reviewing research on modifying school climates and behavioural treatments to address young children's exposure to trauma. A final paper provides a systematic review of meta-analyses on the predictive validity of caregiver sensitivity. Cumulatively, this set of review papers provides important updates on a wide range of prevalent and meaningful disorders, expanding our understanding of aetiology, developmental course, and in many cases, success (or lack thereof) to assess and treat these conditions.

In a contribution to this year's Annual Research Review, Graham Moore (Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 2026) presents a thought-provoking consideration of school climate. Highlighting the contestations in this concept, he describes how school climate might (or might not) impact child and adolescent mental health; how interventions to improve school climate might (or might not) improve child and adolescent mental health; and how school climate, and interventions to improve school climate, relate to health inequalities in young people. Moore's review generates several possibilities and opportunities, several of which are discussed below.

Background: Child internalizing and externalizing behavioral problems are highly prevalent psychiatric symptoms worldwide, for which maternal prenatal stress is a known risk factor. However, underlying neuroendocrine mechanisms remain largely unclear. We investigated whether maternal hair cortisol (HCC) and cortisone concentration (HCNC) are associated with offspring's internalizing and externalizing behavior problems in a prospective pre-birth cohort study from Perú.

Methods: N = 271 mother-child dyads were included in this analysis. Recruitment and data collection took place at the Instituto Nacional Materno Perinatal in Lima, Perú. HCC and HCHC were obtained from hair segments representing up to 3 months pre-pregnancy and first trimester, respectively, and were quantified via liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry. The Child Behavior Checklist was used to assess internalizing and externalizing behavioral problems of children (mean age at follow-up = 6.98 years (SD = 1.05)). Marginal structural models estimated population average associations between HCC, HCNC, and internalizing and externalizing problems, adjusting for established covariates.

Results: At pre-pregnancy, logHCNC was positively associated with offspring internalizing (β = 2.21, 95% CI: 0.46; 3.96, p = .013) and externalizing problems (β = 1.87, 95% CI: 0.34; 3.40, p = .016). At the first trimester, logHCNC was negatively associated with internalizing (β = -2.51, 95%CI: -4.37; -0.64, p = .008), and externalizing problems (β = -2.73, 95% CI: -4.18; -1.28, p < .001). Associations were stronger for females and not apparent for logHCC.

Conclusions: We found time-dependent associations between stress-related prenatal hair glucocorticoid concentration and offspring behavioral problems. Modeling biomarker data time-dependently may prove critical to identifying the underlying mechanisms of transgenerational stress transmission.

Attachment theory, with its core concepts, perspectives, and insights developed over the past five decades, is influential for professionals working with young children. However, practitioners face challenges translating attachment theory and research into practical applications. This manifests in attachment myths, theoretical misinterpretations, and inconsistency of application. This state-of-the-art review is authored by 47 attachment researchers and practitioners and examines key insights from attachment theory to facilitate attachment-aware practice for professionals working with children and their caregivers. Following the ongoing debate on practical relevance in attachment theory, we present both 'strict' and 'expansive' translational perspectives on applications for addressing preventative or clinical attachment concerns. We first review core attachment propositions, based on replicated research of attachment and caregiving. We next address common misconceptions that hinder adequate practical applications. We present measures of attachment and sensitive parenting that might be helpful for practitioners. We also review evidence-based and promising attachment interventions, discussing core components of (preventative) support for parents or caregivers and the children in their care. We emphasize that attachment theory's clinical value lies not in assigning attachment classifications, but rather in understanding crucial insights into caregiving and early socioemotional development (e.g., secure base phenomena; the value of safe, stable, and shared good-enough care), developed in attachment research over the past 50 years, that may inform policy and clinical reasoning and areas for prevention and intervention.

Background: Providing accessible CBT for young children identified as at risk for anxiety disorders through screening in schools could reduce later problems. This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of parent-led CBT delivered via online and telephone call support alongside usual school provision, compared to usual school provision only for young children identified through screening as having at least one risk.

Methods: We conducted a pragmatic, parallel group, superiority cluster randomised controlled trial in 95 primary/infant schools in England. Parents of children (aged 4-7) in sampled classes completed screening, and children who screened positive for one or more risks (anxiety symptoms/inhibition/parent anxiety) were eligible for the trial. Schools (clusters) were randomised (1:1) to intervention or usual school practice, stratified by school-level deprivation. Schools in both arms continued with usual provision, and parents in intervention schools were offered parent-led CBT via online and telephone support. The primary outcome was the presence of an anxiety disorder diagnosis at 12 months, assessed via the ADIS-P administered by independent assessors. Secondary clinical outcomes included parent-reported child anxiety symptoms, related interference, externalising symptoms, additional risks and intervention targets at 12 weeks and 12 months. Primary analyses were conducted on the full intention-to-treat population. The trial was prospectively registered with ISRCTN 82398107.

Results: In total, 2,328 children were screened; 1,172 were eligible; 865 enrolled. Forty-eight schools (434 children) were assigned to intervention and 47 schools (431 children) to usual school practice. At 12 months, the overall frequency of anxiety disorders was low, 6.8% (21/310) of children in the intervention arm compared to 11.5% (36/312) in the usual school practice arm; this difference was not statistically significant (adjusted odds ratio 0.67 [0.37 to 1.21], p = .19). However, the intervention was superior to usual school practice across all secondary outcomes (standardised mean difference: 0.15 to 0.47 at 12 weeks; 0.19 to 0.41 at 12 months). No serious adverse events were reported.

Conclusions: Although the intervention did not significantly reduce anxiety disorders at 12 months, improvements across all other assessed outcomes indicate this approach brings wider immediate benefits and reduces known risks for future anxiety disorders. Future research needs to consider longer-term preventative effects.

Eating disorders (EDs) are among the most severe psychiatric conditions emerging in adolescence, yet they remain markedly underrepresented within neuroscience and developmental psychopathology research. Building on the review by Hagan et al., this commentary proposes four key expansions to advance neurobiological research in youth with EDs: adoption of transdiagnostic approaches, inclusion of broader developmental and longitudinal time frames, implementation of more rigorous and replicable methodological frameworks, and deeper interdisciplinary integration. Together, these directions aim to more fully capture neurobiological mechanisms underlying ED onset, maintenance, and recovery across development, with the goal of anchoring this research more firmly within child and adolescent psychiatry. Taken together, the work by Hagan et al. serves as both a synthesis of the field and a call to action toward a more integrated and developmentally informed understanding of eating disorders.

In their review article, Developmental Language Disorders: A Hidden Condition with Lifelong Impact, Iverson and Williams (2026) cover all the ground from the importance of language and its infusion across daily tasks to the characteristics, assessment and management of a neurodevelopmental condition known as Developmental Language Disorder (DLD). The former is an important inclusion to understanding the impact of the latter, and so my commentary discusses both components. The article concludes with major challenges to investigations and support of DLD, which I add to and join in the call to raise awareness of this hidden and lifelong condition.