Scandinavian Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychology最新文献

Background: Proxy ratings of young children's curiosity has the potential to be useful for research in Sweden. One such proxy rating is the parent-rating Interest/Deprivation Young Children scale. This scale has previously only been validated in Dutch samples, where it differentiated curiosity dimensions of interest (joyful exploration) and deprivation (reduction of aversive feelings of not knowing).

Objective: The objective of this study was to investigate internal and construct validity of the Swedish version of the Interest/Deprivation Young Children scale.

Method: A translation of the Interest/Deprivation Young Children scale was conducted and then administered to 266 parents in Sweden, who rated their children (4-6-years old) on 10 items, with 5 items each for subscales of interest and deprivation dimensions of epistemic curiosity. Responses were analyzed using confirmatory factor analysis.

Results: Results indicate acceptable internal reliability for deprivation-curiosity items (α = 0.78) and for interest-curiosity items (α = 0.79). For the combined scale score alpha was found good (α = 0.84). However, confirmatory factor analysis failed to differentiate interest and deprivation dimensions of curiosity.

Conclusions: Item revisions are suggested which could be implemented for further investigations. Also, the possibility of using the I/D-YC total score as a more general measure of child curiosity is argued for. An open question is how other dimensions of curiosity might be more viable for proxy ratings of child curiosity.

Introduction: Paediatric and adult psychiatric emergency department (ED) visits decreased during the initial COVID-19 outbreak. Long-term consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic will include increases in mental healthcare needs, especially among vulnerable groups such as children and adolescents.

Aim: This study examined changes in the number of overall and diagnosis-specific mental health ED visits among patients aged <18 years following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in Madrid, Spain.

Methods: Using clinical records from all psychiatric ED visits at a major teaching hospital between October 2018 and April 2021, we conducted interrupted time-series analyses and compared trends before and after the day of the first ED COVID-19 case (1st March 2020).

Results: A total of 663 patients were included. In March 2020, there was a marked initial decrease of -12.8 (95% CI -21.9, - 7.9) less monthly mental health ED visits. After April 2020, there was a subsequent increasing trend of 3.4 (95% CI 2.6, 4.2) additional monthly mental health ED visits.

Conclusion: After the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, there was an increase in paediatric psychiatric ED visits, especially due to suicide-related reasons. These data reinforce the crucial role of the ED in the management of acute mental health problems among youth and highlight the need for renovated efforts to enhance access to care outside of and during acute crises during the pandemic and its aftermath.

Background: Several authors have pointed out that the use of smartphones might have an impact on mental health in general. Most of the evidences are focused on the incorrect or overblown use of smartphones, videogame or Internet, particularly focusing on related addiction problems among adolescents.

Objective: The present study, although preliminary, aims to report the first evidence in Paraguay regarding the association between anxiety and addiction to social networks/internet as well as the use of smartphones among adolescents.

Method: Participants (100 adolescents, aged 12- 17 years old) were assessed in a school setting with the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI) and the Scale of risk of Addiction to Social Networks and Internet for adolescents (ERA-RSI). Categorical variables and associations were statistically assessed.

Results: The average smartphone use in boys rated 8.06 ±3.81 hours and in girls 9.46 ±4.4 hours. The BAI mean score was 20.71 ± 13.2. Of the participants, 27% reported moderate anxiety, and 36% severe anxiety and scores on this scale were not associated with hours of smartphone use. The ERA-RSI mean score was 1.94 ± 0.46 and anxiety was related to the symptoms-addiction, social-use, and nomophobia dimensions of the scale.

Conclusion: The misuse of smartphones in the Paraguayan pediatric population has been reported to be closely related to anxious symptoms. Our results suggest further research with an impact on possible public health policies aimed at preserving the mental health of children and adolescents exposed to internet and electronic devices.

Background: This study explored the metacognitive awareness and emotional resilience levels of children suffering from attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) (n=60) with typically developing children (n=30).

Methods: Measures included Metacognitive Awareness Inventory and Resiliency Scales for Children and Adolescents filled out by participants, the List of Adverse Life Events, Turgay DSM-IV-Based Disruptive Behavior Disorders Scale, and Revised Child Anxiety and Depression Scale-Parent Form filled out by parents.

Results: Metacognitive awareness and emotional resilience were found to be low in the children with ADHD. Emotional resilience increases as metacognitive awareness increases. Metacognitive awareness decreased in the presence of heightened ADHD, anxiety, and/or depression symptoms expressed by the parents' questionnaires (p < 0.001, r = -0.438; p < 0.001, r = -0.403; and p < 0.001, r = -0.421).

Conclusions: Findings identified that metacognitive skills and emotional resilience are affected in ADHD.

Background: A warm, sensitive, and responsive relationship to a caregiver is essential for healthy child development.

Objective: This paper examines the effects of the Incredible Years Parents and Babies (IYPB) program on the parent-child relationship at post-intervention when offered as a universal parenting intervention to parents with newborn infants.

Method: We conducted a pragmatic, two-arm, parallel pilot randomized controlled trial; 112 families with newborns were randomized to IYPB intervention (76) or usual care (36). The IYPB program is a group intervention with eight two-hour sessions. In addition to parent-reported questionnaires, we collected a six-minute-long video at post-intervention from 97 families to assess the parent-child relationship, which was then coded with the Coding Interactive Behavior system.

Results: There were no significant intervention effects on either the total score or any of the seven subscales at post-intervention when the children were around 5.5 months old. For parental sensitivity, results were significant at the 10% level, favoring the IYPB group. When examining the lowest-functioning mothers in moderator analyses, we also found no significant differences between the two groups.

Conclusion: In line with parent-report outcomes, we did not find any statistically significant differences between the IYPB program and usual care on parent-child relationship when offered as a universal intervention for a relatively well-functioning group of parents with infants in a setting with a high standard of usual care. However, there was a positive trend for the total score, parental sensitivity and reciprocity with effect sizes in the range of .41-.51. It is possible that a larger sample would have resulted in significant differences for these outcomes.

Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT01931917 (registration date August 27, 2013).

Background: No clinician-oriented scale exists to assess irritability in Turkey. This pilot study aimed to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Turkish version of The Clinician Affective Reactivity Index (CL-ARI).

Method: A total of 116 children and adolescents aged between 10 to 17 years (14.1 ± 2.1 years) were recruited from the psychiatric outpatient clinics. The participants completed a set of scales (Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire [SDQ], Affective Reactivity Index [ARI], Revised Child Anxiety and Depression Scale, Swanson, Nolan, and Pelham, Version IV Scale). Diagnostic interviews were administered to confirm psychiatric diagnoses. Cronbach's alpha was calculated to assess internal consistency. Discriminant validity was further tested using independent sample t-test and Receiver Operating Characteristic curves. Interrater reliability was tested using intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC). Convergent validity was also tested using Pearson's correlation.

Results: Cronbach's alpha values of CL-ARI were 0.919 total score, 0.842 for the temper outbursts score, 0.861 for the irritable mood score, and 0.840 for the impairment score. ICC values for interrater reliability were high for the temper outbursts (r = 0.993), the irritable mood (r = 0.993), the impairment (r = 0.917), and the total score (r = 0.991). In the sample, there was a high level of correlation between the self-report ARI-child/parent form and the CL-ARI total and subscale scores. Likewise, moderate-high level of correlations were found between the behavioral SDQ child/parent forms and the CL-ARI total and subscale scores.

Conclusions: This is the Turkish validation of the CL-ARI, a dedicated interview and rating scale to assess irritability in the clinical sample. The results of this study suggest that the Turkish version of CL-ARI has adequate internal consistency and interrater reliability, and sufficient convergent and discriminant validity to be used in research settings.

Background: Facing multiple risk factors, relative to single risk factor exposure early in life can have great implications for negative child development.

Objective: We aim to examine whether the prevalence of early risk factors is higher among children with familial high risk for schizophrenia or bipolar disorder compared to controls. Further, to investigate the association between number of early risk factors and level of functioning at age seven, and whether this possible association is different in children with familial high risk compared to controls.

Method: The Danish High Risk and Resilience Study VIA 7 is a population-based cohort study of children of parents diagnosed with schizophrenia (N = 202), bipolar disorder (N = 120) and controls (N = 200). We conducted a semi-structured anamnestic interview with the child's primary caregiver to assess early risk factors from pregnancy to age four. We used the Children's Global Assessment Scale to measure level of functioning at age seven.

Results: 13 out of 17 risk factors were more prevalent in children at familial high risk for schizophrenia and 7 out of 17 risk factors were more prevalent in children at familial high risk for bipolar disorder compared to controls. Level of functioning decreased 2.7 (95% CI, 2.2; 3.3)-points per risk factor, but the association was not significantly different across the three groups (p = 0.09).

Conclusions: Our results showed that children at age seven with familial high risk for schizophrenia or bipolar disorder experience a greater number of early risk factors. A higher number of early risk factors were associated with lower level of functioning at age seven. However, the association is not different for children with familial high risk or controls.

Background and objectives: Studies have shown that COVID-19 school closures negatively impacted children's well-being. We assessed the impact of school closures on children in Japan. We postulated that screen time and sleep habits during school closure would be associated with children's mental health status.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted with 959 children in four public elementary schools. Parents completed an original questionnaire in which we enquired about children's behavioral problems, screen time (duration of watching TV/videos and duration of playing video games), sleep habits, and bodyweight change during school closure. Logistic regression analyses were performed to investigate the relationships between behavioral problems, bodyweight gain, and screen time.

Results: It was found that 50.3% of children exhibited some behavioral problems during school closure; fewer children exhibited such problems after schools reopened. Moreover, children's behavioral problems during school closure were associated with longer total screen time (odds ratio [OR]: 1.2, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.14-1.28, p < .001). Sleep habits were not different between children with behavioral problems and those without. Of the children, 16.7% experienced bodyweight gain during school closure, which was associated with behavioral problems (OR: 2.0, 95% CI: 1.43-2.92, p < .001) and time spent watching TV/videos (OR: 1.2, 95% CI: 1.08-1.28, p < .001) during closure.

Conclusions: COVID-19 school closure negatively impacted school children physically and psychologically. Screen time was associated with both physical and mental health status. Therefore, children should not engage in arbitrary screen time during school closures and should be supported in their daily routines.

Background: This study aimed to examine the psychometric properties of reliability and validity of OCI-CV in a non-clinical sample of Malaysian children and adolescents.

Method: Participants of school-age and adolescent students from Klang Valley School completed the 21-item Malay OCI-CV using Google Form. OCI-CV English version was translated backward and forward to the Malay language. Face validity was conducted first before distributing the questionnaire to the participants. Exploratory Factor analysis (EFA) and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) was conducted to evaluate the psychometric properties of OCI-CV.

Results: A total of 102 school-age children and adolescents with a mean age of 15.96 years (male: 41.2%, female: 58.8%) participated in the study. The Malay OCI-CV showed high internal consistency, with Cronbach Alpha values of 0.90 for the whole scale. EFA showed multifactorial components. Five factors were labelled as "Washing / Ordering, Doubting, Obsessions, Checking, and Hoarding,". In the CFA, the five-factor model indicates adequate fit indices of (χ2/df = 1.51, RMSEA = .071, GFI = .824, AGFI = .769, NFI = .724, CFI = .880).

Conclusion: The Malay OCI-CV has good psychometric properties and is suitable for use in the Malaysian context. Further validation studies should be conducted among a clinical population to enhance the generalization of this finding.