Journal of Pediatric Psychology最新文献

Objective: Psychosocial competencies encompass adaptive affect, behavior, and attention regulation across social-behavioral demands. Despite said competencies in childhood uniquely predicting developmental trajectories, there are few pragmatic, validated measures assessing these competencies. One exception is the Psychosocial Strengths Inventory for Children and Adolescents-Short Form (PSICA-SF), a free caregiver-report measure supported by past psychometric research. However, this study is the first to assess its measurement invariance across caregiver genders, child genders, and age-bands.

Method: An online-recruited sample of 865 caregivers (women 62.5%, men 37.5%) of youth aged 2-10 years (boys 54.7%, girls 45.3%) completed the PSICA-SF. Ratings were compared for boys and girls, maternal and paternal ratings, and early and middle childhood. Multigroup confirmatory factor analyses examined configural invariance across the PSICA-SF's 3-factors (i.e., prosociality, compliance, attention regulation) tested by subsample via fit indices (i.e., CFI, TLI, RMSEA, SRMR) and metric and scalar invariance via changes in indices across nested models.

Results: Results supported the PSICA-SF's configural, metric, and scalar invariance across variables of interest. Further, scalar invariance of models allowed for meaningful examination of latent mean differences across-groups. Specifically, per PSICA-SF scores, girls and youth in middle childhood typically had higher overall and domain-specific competencies (ds = 0.23-0.30 and 0.14-0.41), and maternal caregivers generally reported greater prosociality (d = 0.28).

Conclusions: Results further validate the PSICA-SF as a brief, multi-informant measure of youth psychosocial competencies across tested caregiver and child genders and age-bands-helping bridge a key instrument gap in pediatric research and clinical practice.

Objective: Sexual and gender minority youth (SGMY) face significant health disparities, partly explained by minority stress exposure. SGMY may benefit from clinical interventions that boost resilience, a measurable, dynamic process characterized by successful coping with stressors such as minority stress. This scoping review aimed to identify existing literature that describes clinical interventions that promote resilience among SGMY, including studies that support the implementation of interventions, map key concepts related to resilience in clinical settings, highlight existing research gaps, and inform future practice.

Methods: PubMed, EMBASE, CINAHL, APA PsycInfo, Social Services Abstracts, Social Work Abstracts, and ProQuest Dissertations and Theses Global were searched in February of 2024. Studies published since 2010 were included if they assessed resilience or resilience-promoting clinical interventions among SGMY.

Results: Of the 5,520 studies retrieved, six met the inclusion criteria. Interventions included screeners, single-session interventions, and the First Assessment Single-Session Triage model, a nurse-led clinical resilience intervention. Resilience was measured via mental health outcomes and qualities such as self-perception, outlook, and connection. Key resilience-promoting factors included caregiver support, mental health care access, and social and medical transition. Studies highlighted positive impacts on SGMY well-being but also revealed limitations in diversity and generalizability.

Conclusions: Despite the growing interest in supporting SGMY, few clinical interventions explicitly target resilience building. Primary care providers and specialists working in primary care settings are well positioned to screen for and support resilience using validated tools, brief interventions, and caregiver engagement. Future research should develop and test inclusive, scalable interventions that address intrapersonal, interpersonal, and environmental resilience factors.

Family mealtimes play an important role in children's social and emotional learning. Parents who use controlling feeding practices, such as feeding pressure, are more likely to have children who struggle to self-regulate their food intake. Little research has examined the connections between global parenting sensitivity and the use of feeding pressure. The current study aimed to investigate whether global parental sensitivity in mothers and fathers was related to the frequency of parental feeding pressure and examined day-to-day variability in the associations of these constructs. We recorded videos of a week of mealtime interactions in 100 families with a 3- to 5-year-old child and coded observed parental sensitivity and feeding pressure used at each meal. We used multilevel modeling to test for (a) variability in mothers' and fathers' mealtime sensitivity at the within-person level and (b) the relationship between mothers' and fathers' sensitivity and pressuring feeding practices each day. We found that mother and father sensitivity varied day-to-day. This variability was related to daily fluctuations in feeding pressure. This result was also seen between families, such that families with more sensitive mothers and fathers showed less feeding pressure with their children than in families with less sensitive parents. These results have implications for the importance of parental sensitivity for children's mealtime experience.

Objective: We identified and evaluated measures of identity used with adolescents/young adults aged 16-24 years living with long-term physical health conditions (LTC-P), focusing on the conceptualization, development, and psychometric properties of measures. Review funded by Sir Halley Stewart Trust and the University of Bath. Review protocol: https://osf.io/bhkze.

Method: Five databases (APA PsychNET, PubMed, Web of Science, SCOPUS, and CINAHL) were searched. Studies were included if they were peer-reviewed, reported participants aged 16-24 years with LTC-P, and used a quantitative identity measure. Psychometric properties and risk of bias were evaluated using Consensus-Based Standards for the Selection of Health Measurement Instruments V1 (COSMIN) quality criteria, and content validity was reviewed narratively. Data analysis and synthesis followed COSMIN methodology for reviews.

Results: Thirty-seven papers met inclusion criteria, involving 9,486 participants and 16 identity measures. Across the papers, identity was defined and conceptualized in varied ways. Only three measures, the Illness Identity Questionnaire (IIQ), Dimensions of Identity Development Scale (DIDS), and Identity Motives Scale (IMS), were used in multiple studies and assessed for psychometric quality. Evaluated properties included structural validity, internal consistency, measurement invariance, and construct validity. The IIQ and DIDS were tentatively recommended for use. The IMS was rated as needing further validation due to limited content validity.

Conclusions: The IIQ and DIDS may be appropriate when their conceptual focus aligns with research objectives. Remaining measures should be used cautiously; many lack developmental or condition-specific relevance. Future identity measure development should integrate lived experience, expert input, and rigorous psychometric testing to ensure tools are both meaningful and fit for purpose in target populations.

Objective: Children with critical congenital heart defects (cCHD) have an increased risk of neurodevelopmental impairment. Deficits in executive functioning (EF) and social-affective abilities may co-occur, undermining peer relationships. Social difficulties faced by children with cCHD have not yet been described in detail nor linked to specific cognitive or social-affective skills. This study compares children with cCHD and healthy classmates on these outcomes and examines whether social-affective deficits predict peer relationship difficulties independently of impairment in EF.

Methods: Children with cCHD (N = 134; Mage =10.2) were compared to healthy comparison classmates (CC; N = 92, Mage =10.0) recruited through schools. Social-affective abilities, EF, peer interactions, and social adjustment were measured using multiple methods, including child, caregiver, and peer reports in school and home settings.

Results: Children with cCHD had more peer relationship difficulties and deficits in both social-affective skills and EF than CC. Social-affective skills accounted for some, but not all, peer relationship difficulties for children with cCHD. Group differences in social-affective skills, and indirect effects involving those skills, often remained significant when taking EF into account.

Conclusions: Peer relationship difficulties associated with cCHD likely result from an array of social-affective deficits and neurocognitive deficits. Clinicians might consider screening beyond traditional neurocognitive deficits and refer for early intervention of social and emotional skills. Longitudinal research is needed to clarify causal pathways and identify protective factors that could be targeted by tailored interventions.

Objective: Pediatric brain tumor survivors (PBTS) experience social difficulties, including fewer friendships. The presence or absence of a best friend may meaningfully reflect broader functioning. This study compared the psychosocial functioning of PBTS with and without best friends.

Methods: PBTS (N = 65; 55.4% female; 84.2% White; Mage= 10.12 ± 1.32; range 8-12) completed measures of psychosocial functioning. Parents completed measures of parenting practices. PBTS were asked to identify a best friend and describe their friendship. Survivor-reported best friends were contacted and reported on dyadic friendship quality. Analyses compared survivors' functioning based on the presence of a best friend and evaluated friendship quality ratings between survivors and their best friend.

Results: Twelve PBTS (18%) could not identify a best friend. PBTS without a best friend were more years off-treatment (p =.029), engaged in less prosocial behaviors (p =.007, d = 0.86), and indicated worse peer relations (p =.025, d = 1.00). Parents of PBTS without a best friend reported lower parental warmth behaviors (p =.035, d = 0.98). Of PBTS with a best friend, 43.4% reported their friendship developed after diagnosis and 61% identified meeting in school. Friendship quality only differed for PBTS and their best friend for companionship and recreation (p =.010, d = -0.63).

Conclusions: PBTS with a best friend have high-quality friendships and differ in psychosocial functioning from those without a best friend. Targeting facilitative parenting behaviors, school engagement, and friendship could improve PBTS functioning. Emphasizing friendship in research and clinical care may ensure PBTS have the psychosocial support and skills needed to develop these relationships.

Objective: Insufficient sleep duration and poor sleep quality are common in adolescence. Poor sleep health can negatively impact cardiometabolic outcomes (e.g., obesity, insulin resistance), but specific psychosocial factors shaping sleep in adolescents with or at risk for type 2 diabetes (T2D) are unknown.

Methods: Twenty-one adolescents with T2D and/or obesity were recruited from a weight management clinic and completed 1 week of at-home actigraph sleep monitoring. Semi-structured qualitative interviews were conducted with adolescents and their parents separately to generate information about adolescents' sleep characteristics, perceived barriers and facilitators of sleep, and parents' roles in sleep health. The data were coded by two coders and analyzed thematically.

Results: Actigraphy results revealed an average low sleep duration (6.6 hr/night). Nearly all participants endorsed a preference for late bed and wake times, yet actigraphy showed low social jetlag (average 0.6 hr). Participants acknowledged the connection between sleep and mental health but rarely discussed the relationship between sleep and cardiometabolic health. Technology use and anxiety were commonly reported barriers to sleep health, whereas facilitators included calming behaviors and an established sleep/wake schedule. Parents expressed ambivalence about their involvement in teens' sleep health. They shared desire to instill healthy sleep habits without creating household conflict.

Conclusions: Findings revealed barriers and facilitators to healthy sleep that represent opportunities for intervention, such as educating adolescents on the connection between sleep and cardiometabolic health and supporting parents to establish and enforce sleep rules. Future research should develop and test adolescent-informed interventions for healthy sleep and evaluate related cardiometabolic health outcomes.

Objective: Chronic headaches are one of the most prevalent health complaints in children and are associated with substantial impairments in daily life. Given the scarcity of specialized pediatric chronic pain treatment, educational websites delivering evidence-based information in a comprehensible, child-friendly way offer a promising alternative. In this pilot study, a single-arm intervention was conducted to investigate changes in headache outcomes following a guided, website-based pain education (Los Cabezudos) for Spanish schoolchildren and to explore associations with age.

Methods: From eight school classes, all children who consented were eligible to participate. N = 210 schoolchildren (10-14 years; M = 11.8, SD = 1.2) participated in two guided website-based headache education sessions at school. Headache knowledge, pain self-efficacy, pain intensity, and pain interference were measured before the intervention and at 1- and 2-month follow-up. Linear mixed multilevel models were used to detect the effects of time.

Results: Significant improvements were observed across all outcomes. Headache knowledge (b = 0.20, p < .001), pain self-efficacy (b = 0.22, p < .001), pain intensity (maximum: b = -0.27, p = .002; average: b = -0.27, p = .001), and pain interference (b = -0.30, p = .002) all improved significantly over time in children with recurrent headaches (n = 26). No significant interactions with age were found.

Conclusions: The results support the potential of a website-based educational intervention to improve key headache-related outcomes: knowledge, self-efficacy, intensity, and interference. Future randomized controlled trials are warranted to investigate the long-term effectiveness of pediatric website-based pain education.