Research on Child and Adolescent Psychopathology最新文献

Children of depressed mothers are at significantly high risk (HR) for developing major depressive disorder (MDD) compared to their low risk (LR) counterparts. Evidence shows that HR youth exhibit a reduced late positive potential (LPP), an electroencephalogram (EEG) marker of emotional reactivity, in response to social-emotional stimuli. However, it remains unknown how emotion regulation (ER) styles may impact LPP responses in HR and LR offspring. The current study sought to examine the interplay of ER strategies (i.e., rumination, cognitive reappraisal, and suppression) and maternal history of MDD in association with LPP responses to emotional stimuli among youth. Participants included 112 mother-child dyads (child age range 9-16 years) participating in a larger study on the intergenerational transmission of depression. Mothers either had a history of MDD (n = 67) or no history of psychopathology (n = 45). Youth completed an emotional face matching task while EEG was recorded to measure the LPP. Participants completed self-report measures of ER strategies and depressive symptoms. Results revealed an interactive effect of maternal MDD history and youth rumination on child's LPP response. Specifically, a more blunted LPP response to emotional faces and shapes was observed among HR youth who engaged in more frequent rumination. Results revealed no main or interactive effects of youth's use of cognitive reappraisal or suppression strategies in shaping youth's LPP response. Findings suggest that certain characteristics among HR offspring (e.g., reporting more frequent use of rumination) may place them at higher risk for exhibiting attenuated emotional reactivity at the neural level.

This 3-wave longitudinal study examined the bidirectional associations between adolescents' and mothers' perceptions of the mother-adolescent relationship quality (i.e., warmth and hostility) and internalizing symptoms (i.e., depressive symptoms and loneliness). The focus was on the direction of effects between internalizing symptoms and both the levels of and discrepancies in mothers' and adolescents' perceptions of mother-adolescent relationship quality and potential differential associations with depressive symptoms and loneliness over time. A total of 622 early adolescents (55% girls, M_{age T1} = 10.77 years, SD_{age T1} = 0.48, 90.3% Belgian nationality) and 489 mothers (M_{age T1} = 40.96, SD_{age T1} = 3.55) participated in the study. Latent Congruence Models (LCMs) revealed that higher levels of perceived parental hostility in the mother-adolescent relationship were a shared risk factor for both depressive symptoms and loneliness over time. Furthermore, both depressive symptoms and loneliness predicted larger discrepancies in reports of parental hostility over time. In contrast, depressive symptoms were linked to lower levels of perceived parental warmth and larger discrepancies in reports of parental warmth over time, whereas no significant associations between loneliness and warmth were found. Overall, these results revealed consistent patterns of findings across both internalizing symptoms for hostility, whereas depressive symptoms were uniquely associated with both levels and discrepancies in warmth.

Despite autism being defined as an exclusion criterion for selective mutism (SM) in the European diagnostic manual, many studies have revealed a significant overlap between these conditions (Keville et al., 2023; Muris & Ollendick, 2021; Sharkey & McNicholas, 2012; Suzuki et al., 2020). The purpose of this study was to examine selective mutism in Norway using data from the Norwegian Patient Register (NPR), with a specific focus on quantifying its co-occurrence with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). We have identified a sample (n = 1,682), aged from 3 years to 18 years in Norway, who during the period from January 1, 2008, to April 30, 2023, have had at least one documented episode where the diagnosis of selective mutism was registered. Many individuals show a clear overlap between selective mutism and autism, at 11.7%. The Norwegian gender ratio in this SM group was 2.13 girls for every boy (M/F 1:2.13). The exclusion of autism as a co-occurring diagnosis with selective mutism in ICD-10/11 may lead to delayed or incorrect diagnoses, preventing early intervention and tailored support. This particularly affects children who experience both conditions but initially present with SM as the dominant clinical feature.

One in seven adolescents has a mental disorder, accounting for 15% of the disease burden in this group. Identifying factors that are associated with adolescent help-seeking is essential for designing effective and sustainable mental healthcare. Family dynamics-particularly parental roles-are key determinants; however, these associations may evolve as adolescents become more independent. The present study aimed to identify family predictors of adolescents' use of specialized mental health services and to examine potential age effects. We addressed these aims by analyzing four waves of biennially collected data (ages 12-18) from two birth cohorts in Trondheim, Norway (n = 822), utilizing clinical interviews and questionnaires, and accounting for potential confounders. The results of an autoregressive cross-lagged panel model revealed that, across ages 12-18, adolescents' use of specialized mental health services at one time point consistently predicted continued use two years later. However, family functioning, parents' perception of social support, and interparental conflict did not predict service use when controlling for multiple potential confounders (including prior service use, gender, parental occupation, cohabitation status, parental depression and anxiety, perceived need for help, indicators of adolescents' emotional and behavioral problems, impairment, and stressful life events). The present findings indicate no evidence of a prospective association between these family factors and adolescents' receipt of mental-health services. Future research should investigate which specific factors drive help-seeking and how these interact within different service systems to support more sustainable and equitable access to mental health care.

Substance use (SU) problems are critical public health concerns. This study investigated how childhood risk factors and cannabis age of onset (CAO) in adolescence predict later SU problems, using data from the two cohorts of the Quebec Longitudinal Study of Child Development (N = 306; 57% female; N = 1489; 54% female), followed from birth to age 23. A direct association between early CAO and increased cannabis use problems was found in males (cohort 1: β = -0.47; cohort 2: β = -0.22), but not in females. In both sexes, CAO was indirectly associated with later cannabis use problems via increased adolescent cannabis use frequency (cohort 1: ab = -0.41; cohort 2: ab = -0.35). Similar indirect associations were observed between CAO and other SU problems (including tobacco and alcohol), via adolescent cannabis use frequency (cohort 1: ab = -2.63). Parental cannabis use, adverse childhood experiences, and childhood externalizing behaviors (i.e., physical aggression and ADHD symptoms) were associated with early CAO and subsequent CU problems. These findings support developmental models linking early risk exposures to maladaptive substance use pathways and underscore the importance of prevention strategies targeting early cannabis initiation and modifiable early-life risk factors to reduce long-term SU-related problems.

Neurodiverse youth face increased mental health risks, which may make them particularly vulnerable to the effects of the pandemic. Given high rates of co-occurrence between autism and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), it is valuable to identify shared risk factors for poor mental health. The present study investigated mental health trajectories among autistic youth and youth with ADHD from Spring 2020-Spring 2023 and explored how parent-reported youth social skills predicted these trajectories. Participants included 272 youth (autism = 143, ADHD = 129) aged 8-18. Social skills were assessed in Spring 2020. Youth- and parent-reported youth anxiety and depressive symptoms were assessed at six timepoints. Results from growth mixture modelling suggest there were different mental health trajectories during the pandemic. Trajectories of increasing, decreasing, and stable scores emerged for youth- and parent-reported youth anxiety, and parent-reported youth depression. For youth-reported depression scores, only an elevated-stable trajectory emerged. Autistic youth with better social skills were more likely to have high and increasing, and medium and stable parent-reported youth anxiety over the pandemic. Additionally, autistic youth with better social skills had lower youth-reported depression scores at the start of the pandemic. For both autistic youth and youth with ADHD, higher levels of social skills were associated with a greater probability of having low and stable parent-reported youth depression scores over the pandemic. Findings provide insight into the mental health trajectories among neurodiverse youth for the entire duration of the pandemic. Results suggest that social skills may be a valuable intervention target, especially for autistic youth.

Evidence of internalizing (INT)-to-externalizing (EXT) directional effects (e.g., acting out/masked depression hypotheses) has been commonly found in older youth. However, this relationship may still be present but fluctuate more dynamically during early development, a period of significant cognitive and self-regulatory changes. Moreover, dynamic codevelopment has not been well studied in samples at elevated risk, including those due to prenatal cocaine exposure. There is some evidence that prenatal cocaine exposure increases risk for EXT, but findings have been mixed. One possible explanation may be that INT may codevelop with EXT in higher-risk contexts, and most studies do not consider codevelopment of these problems. We utilized time-varying effect modeling to investigate the age-varying effect of INT on concurrent EXT across early childhood (1.5-6.5 years) and whether associations varied as a function of sex and prenatal cocaine exposure. The sample was primarily low-income and Black (N = 198; 49% males; 74% Black; 71% receiving federal assistance), oversampled for prenatal cocaine exposure using a case-control design. Results identified the strongest regression effect of INT on EXT during the toddlerhood/preschool period (2.5-4.5 years), especially for male children. No differences were observed by cocaine exposure. Findings suggest that INT problems are most strongly associated with increased EXT difficulties at earlier ages, which may be a sensitive period during which targeting INT may potentially prevent long-term co-occurring problems.

A person-centered approach studying cognitive emotion regulation profiles rather than single strategies can shed light on adaptive and maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation in youths. This study extends previous research by examining self-reported cognitive emotion regulation profiles not only cross-sectionally but also longitudinally, in the transition from childhood to adolescence. To examine the adaptive or maladaptive nature of the profiles, cross-sectional associations with parent-reported internalizing problems were tested in a subsample. Data came from a 3-wave longitudinal project on Dutch youths (Wave 1: N = 526, mean age = 10.1 years). Youths and parents completed questionnaires yearly. Latent Profile Analyses revealed three profiles at each wave: (1) a "Generally low" profile, consisting of little use of all cognitive emotion regulation strategies, (2) a "High adaptive, low maladaptive" profile, and (3) a "Low adaptive, high maladaptive" profile. Latent Profile Transition Analyses showed substantial stability in profiles over time but also transitions; most towards a less adaptive profile, some towards a more adaptive profile. The maladaptive nature of the third profile was confirmed by cross-sectional associations with parent-reported internalizing problems (at Wave 1 and 2 but not Wave 3). The results showing profile transitions in some youths may yield insights into the development of cognitive emotion regulation abilities.

Sibling aggression is the most common form of domestic violence, which can have a negative impact on both child and adolescent mental health. The few previous studies that investigated aggression between siblings, assessed aggression primarily through self- or parent-report, with the limitation of reporter bias. The current study examined whether an interactive Virtual Reality (VR) experiment can provide a valid assessment of adolescents' aggressive responses towards their sibling by testing congruence with other similar measures and by examining associations of known risk factors for sibling aggression with the aggression observed in the VR experiment. Pairs of young adolescent siblings (N = 26; aged 8-15 years) were invited to the lab to complete several questionnaires and participate in a custom-made interactive VR experiment. In the VR experiment, participants interacted with their virtual sibling both verbally and physically. Participants' responses to the virtual sibling's behavior, designed to provoke anger and aggression, were observed during two different VR scenarios. Results showed that observed aggression as measured in the VR experiment was related to self-reported aggression, but not to parent- or sibling-reported aggression. Individual factors (e.g., behavioral problems) or sibling factors (e.g., age difference between siblings) were not related to observed aggression. Of the investigated family factors, only the perceived quality of the father-child relationship was associated with observed aggression. Despite the limited alignment with parent- and sibling-reported aggression, these findings highlight the potential of VR-based assessments to complement self-report methods, emphasizing the need for a multimethod approach to capture the complexities of sibling aggression.