Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review最新文献

Although anxiety sensitivity (AS), or the fear of anxiety-related symptoms, has been identified as a risk factor for the development of anxiety psychopathology, the pathways through which this fear is learned have not been fully elucidated. In the current review and meta-analysis, we aimed to systematically examine the association between parent-to-child fear learning pathways (vicarious learning, negative information, reinforcement, and punishment) and AS. A comprehensive search of literature was conducted in PsychINFO, PubMed, Embase, and Web of Science databases, using search terms combining categories related to fear learning pathways, anxiety-related symptoms, parents, children, and adolescents. Based on this search strategy, 28 studies were identified as relevant, of which 11 were included in the systematic review and 10 in the meta-analysis. The overall findings indicated that parent-to-child fear learning pathways are significantly associated with AS. The meta-analysis demonstrated a small but significant association between fear learning pathways and AS, although the type of fear learning pathway did not significantly moderate this relationship. However, age emerged as a significant moderator, suggesting a stronger association in children and adolescents compared to adults. Given that these findings are primarily based on cross-sectional studies, this review underscores the need for longitudinal and experimental research to further clarify the role of parent-to-child fear learning pathways in anxiety sensitivity. Additionally, a better understanding of these pathways may help inform existing interventions and fear prevention strategies, such as those aimed at reducing parental modeling of fearful behaviors or promoting positive verbal messages about anxiety symptoms.

Systematic and meta-analytic reviews provide gold-standard evidence but are static and outdate quickly. Here we provide performance data on a new software platform, LitQuest, that uses artificial intelligence technologies to (1) accelerate screening of titles and abstracts from library literature searches, and (2) provide a software solution for enabling living systematic reviews by maintaining a saved AI algorithm for updated searches. Performance testing was based on LitQuest data from seven systematic reviews. LitQuest efficiency was estimated as the proportion (%) of the total yield of an initial literature search (titles/abstracts) that needed human screening prior to reaching the in-built stop threshold. LitQuest algorithm performance was measured as work saved over sampling (WSS) for a certain recall. LitQuest accuracy was estimated as the proportion of incorrectly classified papers in the rejected pool, as determined by two independent human raters. On average, around 36% of the total yield of a literature search needed to be human screened prior to reaching the stop-point. However, this ranged from 22 to 53% depending on the complexity of language structure across papers included in specific reviews. Accuracy was 99% at an interrater reliability of 95%, and 0% of titles/abstracts were incorrectly assigned. Findings suggest that LitQuest can be a cost-effective and time-efficient solution to supporting living systematic reviews, particularly for rapidly developing areas of science. Further development of LitQuest is planned, including facilitated full-text data extraction and community-of-practice access to living systematic review findings.

Early life adversity (ELA) describes stressful experiences that may increase risk for psychopathology and impact emotion regulation and executive functioning systems. The influence of ELA on the development of empathy—the ability to understand and resonate with others’ thoughts and emotions—remains understudied, despite the fact that empathy development relies on cognitive and emotional abilities often affected by ELA. This scoping review summarized 43 empirical articles on ELA and empathy to clarify the muddled literature and address limitations to inform future research. Across various operationalizations of ELA and empathy, 15 articles suggested that ELA was associated with increased empathy, 19 that ELA was associated with decreased empathy, and 12 pointed to a null association. ELA and empathy showed differing associations across developmental periods, with ELA being more related to higher affective empathy and lower cognitive empathy in youth and higher personal distress in adulthood. Categorization by type of adversity revealed a lack of studies on deprivation and environmental adversity, while examination of empathy operationalization revealed a need for the assessment of empathy components among youth and more task-based measures of empathy. Recommendations for future research include the need to (a) clarify operationalizations of ELA, (b) explore empathy components and naturalistic measures, and (c) focus on outcomes in adolescence. Continued efforts to understand the connection between ELA and empathy will provide valuable insight into the impact of adversity on socioemotional development and guide psychosocial interventions for individuals at risk for maladaptive outcomes following adverse childhood experiences.

The current meta-analysis aims to investigate the relationship between parental stress and well-being, by focusing on the positive dimensions of parental well-being, such as happiness and life satisfaction, which are often overlooked in favor of negative outcomes like depression. It also extends the scope beyond specific populations, such as parents of children with special needs, to include parents of typically developing children. This meta-analysis included evidence from cross-sectional, longitudinal, daily diary, and intervention studies. By examining various moderators related to parent and child variables (such as gender, age, job status) and study characteristics, this analysis aims to inform more effective, targeted interventions to enhance parental well-being. Systematic searches of the Web of Science, PubMed, APA PsychNet, Scopus, ProQuest, and Google Scholar databases yielded 86 studies, involving 22,108 parents of children aged 0 to 18 years. The PROSPERO registration number for this study is CRD42023428750. Elected outcomes were continuous self-report measures to assess stress and well-being of parents. Our findings indicated a significant negative medium-sized association between parental stress and well-being (r = − .40), i.e., greater parental stress was robustly linked to reduced well-being. Higher-quality studies reported stronger stress-well-being associations, underscoring the role of methodological rigor in producing reliable estimates. Additionally, studies utilizing the Parental Stress Index (PSI) demonstrated stronger associations, highlighting its utility as a validated measure for capturing parental stress. Overall, these findings emphasize the need for evidence-based prevention and intervention programs to address parental stress and improve well-being.

As attachment-based interventions can improve caregiver-infant relationships and their subsequent psychological outcomes, the identification of relevant and effective interventions can facilitate their implementation into clinical practice. This systematic review aimed to a) provide an overview of manualised attachment-based interventions, without video-feedback as the main component, for caregivers and infants from conception to two years, and b) determine which of these interventions were effective in demonstrating improvements in caregiver-infant relational outcomes. To identify eligible interventions and their empirical evidence base, two search stages were conducted for 1) relevant interventions and 2) studies of interventions identified in the first stage that focussed on caregiver-infant relational outcomes. All studies included in Stage 2 were quality assessed and findings analysed. Twenty-six interventions were eligible for inclusion at Stage 1 but studies reporting on relational outcomes were identified for 16 interventions only. Forty studies reporting on those 16 interventions met inclusion criteria and were synthesised at Stage 2. Most studies were of good quality. Observer-rated measures were used in 90% of studies. There was evidence for these interventions in relation to improving caregiver-infant relational outcomes: 80% of studies reported a statistically significant positive change in a relational outcome for the intervention compared to pre-intervention or control group. The most promising evidence was identified for Attachment and Biobehavioral Catch-Up (ABC), Minding the Baby (MTB) and Circle of Security (COS). This systematic review offers guidance to healthcare professionals, commissioners and policymakers within perinatal sectors in relation to the training, delivery and implementation of evidenced manualised attachment-based interventions.

Parental bipolar disorder (BD) is associated with an increased risk of mental health problems in children. Despite the urgent need for clear guidance on how best to support parents with BD, current research lacks a unified analysis of the challenges and needs faced by these parents and their children. This review aims to explore the impact of BD on experiences of parent-child interactions or relationships to inform effective policies and interventions. Following a preregistered PROSPERO protocol, we searched Medline, Embase, PsycINFO, SCOPUS, and CINAHL for qualitative studies on parents with BD and their children (under 19 years) published since 1994. Each study was independently screened and jointly assessed for quality using the Critical Appraisal Skills Program. Our thematic synthesis entailed coding in NVivo, followed by collaborative theme generation on the Miro platform. We reviewed 19 studies, of which 9 studies reported on parents, 8 on children, and 2 on both parents and children. Our analysis generated four themes: (1) "The multifaceted landscape of parenting with BD," which outlines how mood swings affect parenting in diverse ways; (2) "The evolving dynamic of child-parent relationship amidst parental BD," including how children adapt and grow in understanding and responsibility in response to their parent's BD; (3) "The dual nature of childcare for parents with BD," which explores how childcare impacts parents' emotions and motivations, bringing both uplifting and challenging effects; (4) "Navigating parental challenges in the context of BD," highlighting the importance of open communication, self-reflection, and timely, unbiased support to mitigate challenges associated with parental BD. This qualitative synthesis focuses specifically on the parenting experiences of families affected by parental BD. It highlights the complex, dynamic impact of BD on parenting behaviors and children's coping mechanisms, calling for tailored therapeutic interventions that benefit both parents and children. The scope of our study is limited by factors such as a predominance of Western perspectives and an underrepresentation of fathers' experiences, highlighting the need for more diverse research in this area.

Video-aided feedback (VF) is a well-evidenced intervention technique to enhance the relationship between a parent and their young child. While parental acceptability is foundational to engagement and intervention efficacy, the parent’s perspective is only now emerging as a valued consideration when evaluating VF-based interventions. This systematic review metasynthesised qualitative research on the experiences of primary caregivers with a young child (primarily 0–30 months) of participating in a VF parenting intervention. A search of nine databases yielded 17 studies (10 published since 2020) involving parents who had participated in range of VF-focussed programmes. Thematic synthesis identified six themes: (1) Getting past the fear and discomfort: Being ‘good enough’ and ‘doing the right thing’; (2) The power of video: “I had never really noticed that before‟ (with two subthemes: video as validation and for seeing child behavioural intentionality; video as an agent for change); (3) The practitioner’s skill and role in creating a safe space; (4) The approach was too intangible, inflexible, positive, unclear; (5) When the intervention is over: Positive change and generalisation; (6) Parental engagement and involvement: Barriers and enhancements. While most parents reported experiencing a range of interpersonal and intrapersonal benefits from taking part in a VF parenting intervention, having to overcome initial strong negative and uncomfortable feelings were an important part of the journey. Some parents could not see the value of the approach or did not perceive the intervention to meet their needs. Insights into parental experience are complementary to outcome-based evaluations. However, biased design (e.g., only one study included intervention non-completers) and variable study quality need addressing in future studies. Implications for practice are discussed.

Self-harm in young people is associated with increased risk of suicide and other negative long-term outcomes. Understanding the motivations driving self-harm behaviours among young people can help to inform the development of preventative and treatment interventions. Self-harm rates have been rising, but reviews of the recent quantitative literature have not been undertaken. PsycInfo, Embase and Medline were systematically searched in September 2024 for studies published in the past ten years. Quantitative studies that examined motivations for self-harm (including prevalence and/or correlates) among young people (aged 10 to 24 years) with a history of self-harm were included in the review. The review was conducted in accordance with PRISMA guidelines and registered with PROSPERO (CRD42023429568). One hundred and seventeen studies met inclusion criteria. Intrapersonal motivations for self-harm (particularly emotion regulation, anti-dissociation and self-punishment) were more common than interpersonal motivations (e.g. peer bonding, communication). Intrapersonal motivations correlated with female gender, higher self-harm severity, current, repetitive and persistent self-harm, suicidality, poorer mental health and poorer emotion regulation. There was evidence to suggest that interpersonal motives are associated with younger age and some mental health difficulties (e.g. anxiety). Young people predominantly self-harm for intrapersonal reasons. Given that self-harm for intrapersonal reasons is associated with greater self-harm severity, suicidality and poor mental health, steps should be taken to prevent and reduce self-harm. Interventions for self-harm require a multifaceted approach that not only provides young people with alternate ways of regulating their emotions, but also targets risk factors that contribute to self-harm.

This meta-analytic review examined irritability across childhood and adolescence as it relates to symptoms of common mental health disorders in these periods. Of key interest was whether the relationship between irritability and symptom severity varies according to symptom domain. This was tested at the level of broad symptom dimensions (internalizing versus externalizing problems) as well as discrete diagnostic domains (e.g., anxiety, depression, oppositional defiant disorder, conduct disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder; autism spectrum disorder). Following PRISMA guidelines, a systematic search of five databases was conducted to identify studies reporting on associations between irritability and mental health symptoms in samples of children aged 2–18 years. Meta-analytic tests based on random effects models examined concurrent and longitudinal associations between irritability and symptom severity. Meta-regression tested potential moderators including symptom domain, child age, sex, informant type, and study quality. 119 studies met inclusion criteria with a total of 122,456 participants. A significant and positive association was found between irritability and severity of concurrent overall psychopathology in the order of a moderate effect size, while small to moderate effect sizes characterized the association between irritability and later mental health outcomes in prospective data. Further variation in this association was seen across specific diagnostic domains and methodological moderators. Findings support the conceptualization of irritability as a transdiagnostic construct reflecting emotion dysregulation across diverse forms of psychopathology in childhood and adolescence. Further research into the risk mechanisms underlying irritability is needed, in addition to translational approaches to early intervention.