Journal of Child and Adolescent Mental Health最新文献

Background: Although numerous studies have reported an association between sleep quality and mental health, few have focused on this association exclusively in early adolescence. Targeting this age group is vital as many mental illnesses first emerge during adolescence and remain a significant burden throughout life. Method: In the current study n = 60 participants aged 12 years completed the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K10). Results: Consistent with previous findings, bivariate correlations revealed significant positive linear relationships between K10 total score and (i) PSQI total score; (ii) sleep quality; (iii) daytime dysfunction; and (iv) sleep disturbance. However, contrary to previous findings, there was no significant correlation between K10 scores and sleep duration. Conclusion: The association between sleep quality and psychological distress in early adolescents provides some important clues about the role that sleep may play in predicting the onset of anxiety and depressive disorders. Longitudinal studies should be undertaken to investigate age-related changes in sleep and psychological distress.

Objectives: Studies suggest that females with ADHD display more symptoms of anxiety and depression than their male counterparts. This study attempted to determine comorbid anxiety and depression in children with ADHD. Further, we aimed to establish whether there are sex and age differences in the expression of comorbid symptoms. Method: The Beck Anxiety Inventory and Beck Depression scale from the Beck Youth Inventory were administered to 216 participants (108 with ADHD and 108 matched controls without ADHD symptoms). Participants included children aged 6 to 15 years, resident in the Limpopo Province of South Africa. The groups were compared for comorbid anxiety and depression symptoms and analysed as a function of sex and age. Results: The ADHD group showed significantly more symptoms of anxiety and depression than the neurotypical control group. However, no sex differences were observed in the expression of anxiety symptoms. Nonetheless, girls did show significantly higher levels of depression than boys. No age differences were detected in respect of anxiety symptoms. Conclusion: Children with ADHD displayed more symptoms of anxiety and depression compared to controls without ADHD. Age and sex did not affect anxiety symptoms, however girls showed more symptoms of depression than boys.

Objective: This study sought to assess the prevalence and correlates of loneliness among in-school adolescents in Ghana using data obtained from the 2012 Global School-based Health Survey conducted in Ghana. Results: A total of 1 266 in-school adolescents participated in the study. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were used to examine the prevalence and correlates of loneliness. The prevalence of loneliness was 18.4%. Adolescents who felt hungry in-school (AOR = 0.43), those who used tobacco (AOR = 2.31), those who used alcohol (AOR = 1.71), those who felt anxious (AOR = 2.44), those who were bullied (AOR = 1.55), and those who sustained an injury (AOR = 1.33) were more likely to feel lonely than those who did not go hungry in-school, those who did not feel anxious, those who did not use alcohol, and those who did not experience bullying. Adolescents in Senior High School 4, those who were connected (AOR = 0.33), and bonded (AOR = 0.21) to their parents had lower odds of being lonely compared to those in Senior High School 1, those not connected, and those not bonded to their parents. Conclusion: There is a need for loneliness prevention programs targeting improvement in parental support skills, helping adolescents develop friendship skills, counselling uptake, and prevent bullying victimisation in senior high schools in Ghana.

Objective: This research was conducted to support the hypothesis that boys and girls have different brain types that affect their empathy and systemising quotients. Method: This was a cross-sectional study using an online survey. The Indonesian version of the Empathy/Systemising Quotient for Children (EQ/SQ-C) questionnaire was used to identify the brain type and empathy and systemising quotients. Participants were 620 parents who had primary school children and having minimal junior high school background. The data analysis used chi-square test and Mann-Whitney U-test on SPSS program for Mac version 20. Results: Boys and girls had different brain types (p < 0.05). The extreme-empathising brain type consisted of 1.9% girls and 0.5% boys; the empathising brain type was 15.8% in girls and 9.0% in boys. Further, 0.8% of girls and 2.6% of boys had the extreme-systemising brain type. Although the empathy quotient average mean score of the boys was significantly lower than the girls (p < 0.05), the systemising quotient average mean score was slightly higher than that of the girls. Conclusion: This study found that gender plays an important role in empathy and systemising skills. Therefore, creating a stimulating program that supports empathy and systemising quotients in primary school students should be developed according to gender.

Objective: Mental health professionals frequently classify children's attachment style using a combination of the parent/caregiver interview, an interview with the child, the interviewer's clinical impressions, and at times, the child's responses to projective tests not aimed at eliciting attachment specific information. However, no studies have been conducted on the validity or reliability of attachment classifications based on developmental histories. This study aimed to investigate the accuracy of history-based attachment classifications. Method: Attachment classifications based on intake interviews, administered to 35 eight to twelve-year- old children and their caregivers attending an outpatient mental clinic service in a government hospital in Johannesburg, were compared to classifications obtained through the Attachment Story Completion Test (ASCT). The level of agreement between rates and across assessment measures was analysed. Results: The association between ASCT and history-based attachment classifications was poor. Conclusion: The possible misclassification of children's attachment styles according to histories has implications for both diagnosis and treatment.

Objective: The aim of this study was to conduct a situational analysis as part of formative work to inform the development of community-based mental health services for children and adolescents at a district level. The purpose of the situational analysis was to determine the current state of child and adolescent mental health (CAMH), the available resources for CAMH, the range of services provided, and the existing pathways to CAMH care in a low-resource district with a view to developing a district mental health plan to improve access to CAMH services. Methods: Data for this situational analysis was collected from a rural district in the KwaZulu-Natal province using mixed methods. The qualitative component explored various stakeholders' (n = 26) perspectives using semi-structured interviews. The quantitative data for the study was collected using an adaptation of the situation analysis tool developed by the PRIME consortium. Results: The findings revealed the need to strengthen all the basic building blocks of the health system due to the weaknesses identified in the current CAMH care system in the district. The result of the situational analysis revealed that the provision of CAMH services in the district is sparse, uncoordinated, and not prioritised. Discussion: The findings of the study highlighted a severe shortage of specialised CAMH services in the district, poor integration of CAMH services into primary health care, and at the community platform there are deficits in the integrated school health programme. Further, the lack of a coordinated intersectoral collaborative system and well-defined referral pathways were revealed. Conclusion: The study highlights various challenges facing CAMH services at the Amajuba district. While these are not new, the study contributes to our understanding of the district level factors that may hinder the development of a district CAMH plan.

Objective: Self-esteem has been identified as a strong predictor of depression and maladaptive behaviours in adolescents. Two relational models (A and B) were tested on the antecedent and consequent variables of self-esteem. Methods: A representative sample of 610 Spanish adolescents (52% boys) ranging in age from 11 to 16 years of age (mean age = 13.38 years, SD = 1.70 years) was used. The participants completed a battery of instruments measuring self-esteem, self-concept, importance of self-concept domains, depression symptoms, and problem behaviour. Covariance structure analysis (path analysis) from LISREL 8.54 was employed. Results: Model B presented a better fit (χ² _{difference (A-B)} = 160.29, p < 0.001). Perceived social support (parents and classmates), and perceptions of competence in domains deemed important were positively related to self-esteem. While both self-esteem and social support (parents and classmates) were negatively related to depression symptoms, only social support (parents and teacher) appeared negatively related to behavioural problems. Conclusions: While self-esteem constitutes a strong correlate of affective symptoms in Spanish adolescents, it is unrelated to maladaptive behaviour. Social support emerged as an important protective factor. Concrete proposals for future research and prevention are discussed.

Objective: Leftward cradling bias is thought to facilitate optimal interaction between mother and infant. There is mixed evidence indicating this bias may be disrupted by depression. This study investigated the relationship between depressive symptoms and preferred cradling side (i.e., cradling bias) in nulliparous women. Method: Six hundred and nineteen females, aged 18 to 25 years, were asked to imagine cradling an infant to soothe it. This instruction was given on four separate occasions. Participants also completed the Beck Depression Inventory-II. All data were collected via an online survey. Results: As the number of depressive symptoms increased, leftward cradling decreased. Although this relationship was not statistically significant, a pattern emerged: As depressive symptoms increased, so too did the likelihood of cradling to the right. Furthermore, those scoring highest on depressive symptoms were more likely to cradle inconsistently to the left, consistently to the right, or show no bias, when compared to those scoring lower on depressive symptoms. Conclusions: Theory suggests that leftward cradling is facilitated by right hemisphere processes involved in relating to others. A relationship between affective symptoms such as depressive symptoms and reduced leftward cradling bias supports this argument. It is argued that leftward cradling facilitates optimal interactions between cradler and infant. Consequently, disruptions of leftward cradling have implications for child development.

Background: Youth often experience stressors leading to negative long-term outcomes. Enhancing social-emotional attributes is important to foster resiliency to face these challenges. Yoga may enhance social-emotional resiliency among youth. However, research replicating such results in school-settings is limited. This research details an investigation of the effects of the Kripalu Yoga in the Schools (KYIS) intervention integrated into a physical education class among a racially/ethnically diverse student population. Method: Middle school sixth grade students (n = 23 students; 52% female; mean age = 12.1 years) were either enrolled in physical education class that included KYIS (n = 9), or were enrolled in art and music (control condition; n = 14). To evaluate effects on student characteristics, self-report questionnaires of social-emotional competence and problem behaviour were administered pre- and post-delivery of the curriculum. Results: Students receiving the intervention increased in social-emotional competence over time relative to the control condition. Although promising, results should be interpreted with caution, as students who received the yoga intervention scored significantly lower on social-emotional competence than students in the control group at pre-intervention measurement time point. Conclusions: Yoga may improve social-emotional competence among youth and future research should explore the utility of yoga curricula in school settings.