Research on Child and Adolescent Psychopathology最新文献

Parental rules have been curiously neglected from a conceptual and measurement perspective. The first half of this paper reviews the literature to show that there is no commonly used, standardized measure of rules. Rules are typically measured either with ad hoc unvalidated items or incidentally measured with 1-2 items on multi-item scales assessing a broader parenting construct (e.g., discipline). Construct definitions are rarely stated, often circular, and inconsistent between authors. As a result, the empirical literature on parental rules is difficult to appraise and synthesize. The second half of this paper proposes a new framework for conceptualizing parental rules that includes an explicit, non-circular construct definition and delineates 7 distinct dimensions along which a parental rule can vary. The framework is designed to be universally applicable across youth behaviors and scientific fields and enable a more rigorous empirical science of parental rules.

To improve assessment in forensic youth care, a virtual reality (VR) task was developed to assess behavior without the limitations associated with traditional self-report instruments. The aim of the current study was to examine the potential of this task to assess aggression and its origins, with a focus on hostile intent attribution and low self-control, and its predictive validity in explaining violent infractions during the stay in a juvenile detention facility. Participants were juveniles (N = 84; aged 15-23) residing at two all-boys Juvenile Detention Centers in the Netherlands. Responses to four social VR scenarios were observed and, to assess the role of hostile intent attribution (HIA) and low self-control in aggressive responses in these scenarios, participants answered scenario-specific questions about their emotions, thoughts, and motives immediately after each scenario. In addition, self-report questionnaires were used to assess aggression, HIA and self-control. Two months after participation, violent institutional infractions were retrieved from casefiles. Results showed that particularly the more provocative and emotionally engaging scenarios have the potential to elicit aggressive responses. Overall, VR responses and self-report questionnaires showed little convergence, which could not be explained by social desirability nor variation in VR engagement and immersion. Violent institutional infractions were predicted by reactive aggression and low self-control in one of the four scenarios. Concluding, despite little convergence between VR and self-report questionnaires, VR assessment provides potential important information about future violence, which makes it worthwhile to further experiment with and study VR assessment in forensic youth care.

Parental factors have a profound implication on adolescents' depressive symptoms. Parents' adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) shape their parenting, thus predicting the next generation's mental health. This study explored the mediating role of parenting stress and parent-child attachment in the correlation between both paternal and maternal ACEs and adolescents' depressive symptoms. Additionally, the study aimed to explore whether parental ACEs influence both one's own and the partner's parenting stress and attachment, ultimately predicting adolescent depressive symptoms. We recruited 533 Chinese families for this study. Fathers and mothers completed questionnaires assessing ACEs and parenting stress at Time 1. Adolescents (59.8% girls, M_age = 13.45 ± 0.78) completed a questionnaire on parent-child attachment at Time 2 and the questionnaire on depressive symptoms at both Time 2 and Time 3. We did not find the direct relationship between parental ACEs and adolescent depressive symptoms. However, both paternal and maternal ACEs were found to influence mother-child attachment through maternal, but not paternal, parenting stress and subsequently led to depressive symptoms in adolescents. Moreover, some specific pathways exhibited variations between genders. These findings highlight the vital influence of parenting stress and mother-child attachment in breaking the prediction of parental ACEs on adolescents' depressive symptoms and underscore the importance of promoting positive mother-child interactions.

The present study was embedded in an Asian birth cohort to (a) investigate the trajectories of specific anxiety subtypes from middle childhood to early adolescence, (b) compare developmental trajectories by child sex, and (c) examine their associations with caregiving factors including parenting practices and maternal distress. Data from the Growing Up in Singapore Towards healthy Outcomes (GUSTO) cohort were analyzed (N = 547; 52.8% boys; 57.3% Chinese, 27.8% Malay, 14.7% Indian, 0.2% other ethnicities). Subtype-specific anxiety symptoms were repeatedly assessed via child-report at ages 8.5, 10, and 13 years. Parenting behaviors and maternal distress levels were measured via observed measures and parental report at age 6 years. We found subtype and sex-specific changes in anxiety symptoms across multiple timepoints using linear mixed effects models. Social anxiety symptoms increased with age, with a greater rate of increase in girls. Obsessive-compulsive and harm avoidance symptoms declined with age, with a slower rate of decrease in girls. Furthermore, parental autonomy support was associated with lower rates of increase in children's social anxiety symptoms while maternal anxiety and stress levels were linked to greater increase in generalized anxiety, physical, and obsessive-compulsive symptoms. Our findings identify the transition from childhood to adolescence as a vulnerable period for the escalation of social anxiety symptoms, particularly for girls. Additionally, we underscore the significant role of early caregiving practices and maternal mental health for the development of anxiety symptoms into adolescence, identifying focal targets for family-centered intervention programs.

Suicidal ideation is a critical public health concern, particularly during the transition from adolescence to young adulthood. This study examined longitudinal trajectories of suicidal ideation and their psychosocial and demographic predictors. Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (n = 6,490), we applied latent growth curve modeling to assess overall trends and latent class growth analysis to identify distinct subgroups. The results showed a quadratic decline in suicidal ideation over time and identified four distinct trajectory classes: (1) Stable Low Ideation; (2) Moderate Decline Ideation; (3) High Decline, Ideation; and (4) Severe Decline Ideation. Several predictors-including life satisfaction, school belonging, depression, parental relationships, sex, immigrant status, and socioeconomic status-were significantly associated with both the level and trajectory of suicidal ideation, as well as class membership. These findings underscore the importance of early, targeted interventions tailored to both shared and subgroup-specific risk factors to effectively reduce suicidal ideation across developmental stages.

Anhedonia is a hallmark symptom of major depressive disorder (MDD) characterized by diminished ability to experience pleasure, motivation, or interest in usual activities. Anhedonia also is recognized as a transdiagnostic symptom dimension, but its links to other symptom dimensions are not fully elucidated. Given the high rates of depression and anxiety comorbidity in adolescence, we assessed concurrent and longitudinal associations between anhedonia and anxiety symptoms in adolescents diagnosed with MDD. The sample consisted of 157 adolescents with MDD (M_age = 15.54, 71.34% female) who were followed for several years in a research context involving longitudinal observation and, for a portion of the sample, treatment. Participants regularly completed self-report measures of anhedonia and anxiety symptoms across time. Data were analyzed using multilevel modeling to examine within-person concurrent and temporally lagged effects. Findings indicated that anhedonia was concurrently associated with both social anxiety and generalized anxiety symptoms. Additionally, anhedonia predicted only social anxiety symptoms over time-such that anhedonia at the previous time point predicted subsequent social anxiety but not generalized anxiety. However, neither social anxiety nor generalized anxiety predicted anhedonia temporally. These results suggest that anhedonia may be one driver of comorbid social anxiety symptoms in adolescents with MDD. Putative mechanistic links warrant further investigation, including during transdiagnostic treatments for emotional disorders in adolescents. We highlight avenues for future research and intervention in adolescent MDD.

Self-injurious thoughts and behaviors (SITBs), encompassing both nonsuicidal self-injury and suicidality, are a growing public health concern in youth. Although maternal depression is a well-established risk factor for psychopathology in offspring, less is known about protective factors that may mitigate this risk. Peer social support, particularly during the transition to adolescence, may play a critical role in reducing risk for SITBs, yet limited research has examined the potential impact of different domains of peer influence (e.g., close friends versus classmates) as specific and distinct facets of the peer environment. In a two-year longitudinal study, we assessed SITBs in 215 children (ages 8-14), half of whom had mothers with a history of major depressive disorder (MDD) during their child's life. We hypothesized that maternal MDD would predict increased risk of SITBs in children but that higher levels of peer social support would buffer this effect. Survival analyses confirmed that children of mothers with MDD were over twice as likely to develop SITBs during the follow-up. Importantly, higher levels of social support from classmates uniquely predicted reduced risk for SITBs in children, even after accounting for the influence of maternal MDD history. Our findings highlight the role of broad peer environments in protecting against SITBs in youth. These results underscore the importance of school-based interventions that foster social inclusion as potential preventive measures for SITBs.

Life history framework underscores the importance of time perspective in studies on dark personality development and its outcomes. This study aims to examine the potential role of future negative insight between Dark Triad and antisocial attitudes through a temporal process. Data were collected from 245 participants (120 boys, 125 girls; mean age = 15.58, SD = 1.76) across three time points in a longitudinal design. Study 1 used structural equation modeling (SEM) with baseline data (T1) to examine the mediating role of future negative insight in the relationship between Dark Triad traits and antisocial attitudes. Study 2 employed a three-wave Random-Intercept Cross-Lagged Panel Model (RI-CLPM) to investigate the dynamic relationships among them. Study 1's SEM analysis demonstrated that future negative insight significantly mediated the relationship between Dark Triad traits and antisocial attitudes. Study 2's RI-CLPM revealed intricate cross-lagged associations among Dark Triad traits, future negative insight, and antisocial attitudes, underscoring their temporal dynamics and longitudinal interdependence. These findings highlight the motivational process and psychological developmental mechanisms underlying the link between dark personality traits and antisocial outcomes from a temporal perspective.

The codevelopment of positive and negative coping styles and adolescent depression and their relationships at both the between-person and within-person levels remain poorly understood, particularly among adolescents in East Asia. This large-sample Chinese cohort study seeks to address these gaps through a three-wave design. A total of 4,548 Chinese high school students (50.70% female; M_age = 16.87, SD = 0.81) were surveyed at baseline. This study employed latent growth curve modeling (LGCM) and the random intercept cross-lagged panel model (RI-CLPM). Univariate LGCMs revealed, on average, a decline in both positive and negative coping styles and an increase in depressive symptoms. Parallel LGCMs demonstrated that, relative to other adolescents, adolescents reporting steeper decreases in positive coping styles and less steep decreases in negative coping styles reported steeper increases in depressive symptoms (between-person effects). In the RI-CLPM, which affords clearer temporal order and within-person causal inference, we found that (1) adolescents reporting more negative coping relative to their own average in a given wave reported more depressive symptoms in the next wave (unidirectional within-person effect) and (2) adolescents reporting more positive coping relative to their own average at T2 reported fewer depressive symptoms at T3, and vice versa (bidirectional within-person effects). These within-person lagged effects are generalizable across genders, having siblings or not, and being from rural areas vs. urban areas. In conclusion, this study underscores the nuanced and largely convergent relationships between coping styles and adolescent depressive symptoms across levels of analysis.