JOURNAL OF ABNORMAL CHILD PSYCHOLOGY

Developmental Trajectories of Adolescent Girls' Borderline Personality Symptoms and Sexual Risk Behaviors
Choukas-Bradley S, Hipwell AE, Roberts SR, Maheux AJ and Stepp SD
Adolescence is a developmental period during which youth tend to initiate sexual behavior, which may include sexual risk behavior. Symptoms of borderline personality disorder (BPD) are associated with increased rates of risky behaviors. However, little is known about longitudinal associations between BPD symptoms and sexual risk behaviors during adolescence. This study examines developmental trajectories of adolescent girls' BPD symptoms and sexual risk behaviors in a community sample of Black and White girls from the Pittsburgh Girls Study (n = 1620). Dual trajectory modeling provided insights into the temporal precedence and co-development of BPD symptoms and sexual risk behaviors from ages 14 to 18. In order to examine the unique association between BPD symptoms and sexual risk behaviors, analyses controlled for symptoms of depression and conduct disorder, as well as race, sexual orientation, and pubertal development. Girls with more BPD symptoms at age 14 showed steeper growth over time in sexual risk behaviors from ages 14 to 18. Additionally, adolescents who showed steeper increases in BPD symptoms over time also showed steeper increases in sexual risk behaviors across adolescence. Notably, however, sexual risk behavior at age 14 was not significantly associated with longitudinal trajectories of BPD symptoms. Results suggest that adolescent girls with early symptoms of BPD are at heightened risk for the development of sexual risk behaviors during adolescence, while the reverse association does not hold. Implications for adolescent development and sexual risk behavior are discussed.
Early Parenting Characteristics Associated with Internalizing Symptoms Across Seven Waves of the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children
Kemmis-Riggs J, Grove R, McAloon J and Berle D
The aim of this study was to identify whether parenting style during a child's toddler years predicts the course of the child's internalising symptoms throughout early to middle childhood. The current study uses data from waves 1 to 7 (acquired biennially) of the infant cohort (N = 4494) of Growing up in Australia: the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC), a population-based longitudinal study. Latent class growth analysis identified four distinct longitudinal trajectories of internalizing symptoms: Low stable (66% of the children), High increasing (7%), Low increasing (17%) and High decreasing (10%). Multinomial logistic regression indicated that low self-efficacy and socioeconomic disadvantage during the toddler years were significant predictors of unfavourable (i.e., increasing) trajectories of internalizing symptoms across later childhood. Parenting hostility was a significant predictor of the low increasing trajectory. Additionally, male children were more likely than females to follow unfavourable trajectories. However, low parenting warmth was not predictive of increasing symptoms across time. Our findings highlight the importance of parenting factors in a child's early years, particularly the potentially detrimental outcomes associated with parental hostility and low self-efficacy.
Anxiety and Depressive Symptom Trajectories in Adolescence and the Co-Occurring Development of Cognitive Biases: Evidence from the CogBIAS Longitudinal Study
Songco A, Booth C, Spiegler O, Parsons S and Fox E
The development of negative cognitive biases, together with symptoms of anxiety and depression, has yet to be investigated longitudinally. Using a three-wave design, the present study examined developmental trajectories of anxiety and depressive symptoms and the co-occurrence of cognitive biases, in a large normative sample of adolescents (N = 504). Data was drawn from the CogBIAS Longitudinal Study (CogBIAS-L-S), which assessed a wide range of psychological variables, including cognitive biases and self-reported anxiety and depressive symptoms, when adolescents were approximately 13, 14.5, and 16 years of age. The results showed that overall levels of anxiety were low and stable, while levels of depression were low but increased slightly at each wave. Growth mixture modeling identified four distinct developmental classes with regard to anxiety and depressive symptoms. Multiple group analysis further showed that class membership was related to the development of cognitive biases. The majority of the sample (75%) was characterised by 'Low symptoms' of anxiety and depression and showed low interpretation and memory biases for negative stimuli at each wave. A second class (11%) displayed 'Decreasing anxiety symptoms' and showed decreasing interpretation bias, but increasing memory bias. A third class (8%) displayed 'Comorbid increasing symptoms' and showed increasing interpretation and memory biases. While the fourth class (6%) displayed 'Comorbid decreasing symptoms' and showed decreasing interpretation and memory biases. This longitudinal study sheds light on healthy and psychopathological emotional development in adolescence and highlights cognitive mechanisms that may be useful targets for prevention and early interventions.
Unpacking Associations between Mood Symptoms and Screen Time in Preadolescents: a Network Analysis
Lin SY, Eaton NR and Schleider JL
Mounting evidence highlights the link between screen time and adolescent mood problems. However, there are several shortcomings to the extant literature: (1) this link is underexplored in preadolescents, (2) most existing studies look at mood problems using categorical diagnoses rather than from a symptom-level perspective, despite the heterogeneity within mood disorders, (3) few studies have simultaneously examined the links of mood symptoms with different types of screen time, and (4) family/child-level factors that have shown links to youth psychopathology are not typically considered. This study, for the first time, examined the relationships of mood symptoms with different types of screen time, while accounting for theoretically important factors-parental monitoring and the behavioral inhibition/activation systems (BIS/BAS)-in preadolescents aged 9 to 10 from 9986 families participating in the Adolescent Brain and Cognitive Development Study. Using mixed graphical models, we found that screen time involving age-inappropriate content was stably and significantly associated with various elevated mood symptoms, independent from other types of screen time, BIS/BAS, and parental monitoring. Additionally, age-inappropriate screen time was associated with increased overall symptom connectivity. Further, preadolescents engaged in high levels of age-inappropriate screen time reported different symptom profiles (i.e., differences in symptom centralities) from common pediatric mood problems. Our findings underline the multifaceted role (i.e., direct associations with symptoms, a moderator for symptom relationships, associations with distinct symptom profiles) of age-inappropriate screen time in preadolescent mood problems. These findings serve as foundations for future research that may facilitate early detection of preadolescents at risk of mood problems.
Longitudinal Associations Linking Elementary and Middle School Contexts with Student Aggression in Early Adolescence
Sanders MT, Bierman KL and Heinrichs BS
Growing up in poverty increases youth risk for developing aggressive behavior problems, which, in turn, are associated with a host of problematic outcomes, including school drop-out, substance use, mental health problems, and delinquency. In part, this may be due to exposure to adverse school contexts that create socialization influences supporting aggression. In the current study, 356 children from low-income families (58% White, 17% Latinx, 25% Black; 54% girls) were followed from preschool through seventh grade. Longitudinal data included measures of the school-level contexts experienced by study participants during their elementary and middle school years, including school levels of poverty (percentage of students receiving free or reduced-price lunch) and academic achievement (percentage of students scoring below the basic proficiency level on state achievement tests). Regression analyses suggested little impact of these school-level contexts on teacher or parent ratings of aggression in fifth grade, controlling for child baseline aggression and demographics. In contrast, school-level contexts had significant effects on child aggression in seventh grade with unique contributions by school-level achievement, controlling for child fifth grade aggression and elementary school contexts along with baseline covariates. These effects were robust across teacher and parent ratings. Findings are discussed in terms of understanding the school-based socialization of aggressive behavior and implications for educational policy and prevention programming.
Sluggish Cognitive Tempo and Depressive Symptoms in Children and Adolescents Predict Adulthood Psychopathology
Smith ZR, Zald DH and Lahey BB
Sluggish cognitive tempo (SCT) is characterized by behavioral symptoms reflecting slowness and lethargy (e.g., sluggishness, appearing sleepy) and inconsistent alertness/mental confusion (e.g., daydreaming, fogginess). SCT is substantially correlated with the inattentive symptoms of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and may be part of that domain, but in cross-sectional data, SCT is also strongly associated with both inattention and depression. To date, no study has examined the prospective associations of SCT symptoms in childhood/adolescence with symptoms of ADHD and internalizing problems in adulthood. Using a sample of 449 twin children and adolescent pairs, prospective multiple regression analyses examined whether self- and parent-reported SCT, depression, and parent-reported symptoms of ADHD predicted symptoms in adulthood 12 years later. SCT and depression at time one were strongly correlated (self-reported SCT and depression r = 0.84; parent-reported SCT and depression r = 0.78). When adult outcomes were separately regressed on each youth symptom dimension, self-reported SCT (β = 0.26, p < 0.0001) and depression (β = 0.13, p < 0.0001) each predicted adult symptoms of depression and self-reported SCT predicted inattention (β = 0.12, p = 0.0026). Parent-reported depression, but not parent-reported SCT, predicted self-reported adult depression symptoms (β = 0.17, p = 0.0003). In contrast, when each adult outcome was regressed simultaneously on youth self-reported SCT and depression, neither predicted adulthood inattention or depression. These findings indicate that SCT in childhood and adolescence is strongly associated concurrently and predictively with both inattention and depression. Theoretical and clinical applications of the construct of SCT must take its robust association with both inattention and depression into account.
Longitudinal Trajectories of Sustained Attention Development in Children and Adolescents with ADHD
Thomson P, Vijayakumar N, Johnson KA, Malpas CB, Sciberras E, Efron D, Hazell P and Silk TJ
The present study characterizes changes in sustained attention ability over ages 9-14, and whether longitudinal trajectories of attention development differ between persistent ADHD, remitted ADHD and control groups. The Sustained Attention to Response Task (SART) was administered to 120 children with ADHD and 123 controls on three occasions between ages 9 and 14. Trajectories of sustained attention development, indicated by changes in SART performance (standard deviation of response time [SDRT], omission errors, and ex-Gaussian parameters sigma and tau), were examined using generalized additive mixed models. For all measures there was a significant main effect of age; response time variability and number of omission errors improved linearly as children aged. However, children with ADHD had significantly greater SDRT, tau and omission errors than controls across waves. There were no significant group differences in sigma, indicating that the greater overall response time variability (SDRT) observed in ADHD was likely driven by more intermittent long responses (larger tau). Trajectories of sustained attention performance did not differ between children with persistent ADHD or ADHD in remission. Longitudinal trajectories of sustained attention development are comparable between ADHD and controls, however children with ADHD (regardless of remission status) display a performance deficit equivalent to typical controls 1-3 years younger. Findings highlight the need for continued clinical support for children in remission from ADHD and provide support for tau as an endophenotype of ADHD.
A Prospective Study of Rumination and Irritability in Youth
Leigh E, Lee A, Brown HM, Pisano S and Stringaris A
Although youth irritability is linked with substantial psychiatric morbidity and impairment, little is known about how personal characteristics influence its course. In this study we examined the prospective associations between angry and depressive rumination and irritability. A sample of 165 school pupils aged 12-14 years were assessed at two time points six months apart. They completed measures of irritability at Times 1 and 2 and depressive and angry rumination at Time 1. In line with our hypotheses, we found that angry rumination is significantly associated with irritability six months later, over and above baseline irritability and depressive rumination. The present findings suggest angry rumination is relevant to the genesis of irritability in adolescents, and point to possible routes for prevention and early intervention.
Trajectories of Overprotective Parenting and Hyperactivity-Impulsivity and Inattention Among Moderate-Late Preterm Children: A Population-Based Study
Faleschini S, Matte-Gagné C, Luu TM, Côté S, Tremblay RE and Boivin M
Parents of preterm children are more likely to adopt non-optimal parenting behaviors than parents of full-term (FT) children. However, there is a lack of studies on parents of children born moderate to late preterm (MLP; 32-36 gestational weeks). In this study, we aimed to examine: (1) the association between MLP birth status and the trajectory of parental overprotection throughout preschool years, and (2) the role of parental overprotection, MLP birth status, and their interaction in the prediction of the trajectories of hyperactivity-impulsivity and inattention throughout childhood. Data comes from a Canadian representative population-based cohort including 2028 FT, 100 MLP children, and their parents. Overprotective parenting was measured when children were 5, 17, and 29 months old. Hyperactivity-impulsivity and inattention symptoms were measured repeatedly from 4 to 8 years of age. Trajectories of parents' overprotectiveness and children's hyperactivity-impulsivity and inattention were modeled. MLP birth status was associated with an increase in parental overprotectiveness across the preschool period. MLP birth status and parental overprotection were both found to be associated with higher levels of hyperactivity-impulsivity symptoms across childhood. No interaction was found between birth status and parental overprotection. The results suggest that parents of MLP children become more overprotective across time compared to parents of FT children and that children born MLP and/or exposed to higher levels of parental overprotection demonstrated higher levels of hyperactivity-impulsivity symptoms across childhood.
Real-World Changes in Adolescents' ADHD Symptoms within the Day and across School and Non-school Days
Pedersen SL, Kennedy TM, Joseph HM, Riston SJ, Kipp HL and Molina BSG
Research on attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) points to the possibility that contextual factors (e.g., time of day, school vs. home) may be related to symptoms and impairment. This prior research has relied on laboratory-based or retrospective, global approaches which has limited ecological validity. The present study substantively contributes to the extant literature by examining adolescents' ADHD symptoms in the real world across the day on both school and non-school days to test whether symptoms worsened throughout the day and were higher on school days relative to non-school days. As part of a larger study, 83 adolescents taking stimulant medication for ADHD (M = 14.7, 66% identified as boys/men, 78% White) completed a 17-day ecological momentary assessment protocol that included wake-up and bedtime reports and two reports in the afternoon and evening. These assessments asked about ADHD symptoms and stimulant medication usage since the last report. Hypotheses were tested using multilevel modeling. Accounting for demographic covariates and medication usage, ADHD symptoms worsened quadratically, peaking by the afternoon report and subsequently declining, across school days but not non-school days. Mean-level ADHD symptoms were also worse on school days relative to non-school days. Results did not differ across gender. In conclusion, our study is the first to examine important environmental factors (school, time of day) in real time in relation to level of naturalistically occurring ADHD symptoms. Our findings highlight the importance of advancing treatments to support adolescents with ADHD on school days and in the afternoon.
Community Violence Exposure and Youth Aggression: The Moderating Role of Working Memory
Jakubovic RJ and Drabick DAG
Community violence exposure (CVE) is associated with aggression among youth, particularly those who reside in low-income, urban neighborhoods. However, not all youth who experience CVE exhibit aggression. Working memory (WM) difficulties may interfere with attributions or retrieval of nonaggressive responses, suggesting that individual differences in WM may contribute to proactive and/or reactive aggression among youth who experience CVE. Participants were 104 low-income, urban youth (M = 9.92 ± 1.22 years old; 50.5% male; 95% African American). Youth reported on frequency of direct victimization and witnessing of violence in the community and completed two WM tasks. Teachers reported on youth proactive and reactive aggression. WM moderated the relation between direct victimization and proactive and reactive aggression, and between witnessing violence and reactive aggression. Among youth reporting less frequent victimization and witnessing, lower WM was associated with higher levels of proactive and reactive aggression. Among youth reporting more frequent direct victimization, lower WM was associated with higher levels of proactive aggression. Proactive and reactive aggression levels were similar among youth reporting more frequent witnessing regardless of WM levels. WM represents a potential target for early identification and intervention efforts to reduce reactive and proactive aggression among low-income, urban youth who are at elevated risk for CVE.
Structure and Psychometric Properties of the Penn State Worry Questionnaire for Children in Chinese Adolescents
Liu Y and Zhong J
The present research introduced the Penn State Worry Questionnaire for Children (PSWQ-C) to China and evaluated its structure and psychometric properties in Chinese adolescent samples. The PSWQ-C is a 14-item self-report questionnaire designed to measure the generality, excessiveness, and uncontrollability aspects of pathological worries in children and adolescents. Factor analysis results suggested that the three reverse-scored items represented one or more unknown factors rather than worry; thus, they were discarded and the remaining 11 positively worded items formed the Chinese version of the PSWQ-C (CH-PSWQ-C). The CH-PSWQ-C was found to have acceptable internal consistency reliability and favorable convergent and divergent validity by examining its correlations with measures of anxiety, depression, and some personality characteristics. To illustrate the utility of the CH-PSWQ-C in Chinese adolescent samples, we used the CH-PSWQ-C to explore the moderating effect of neuroticism on the relationship between earthquake experiences and worry; the results suggested that adolescents with high neuroticism were more vulnerable to worry after experiencing serious disasters.
The Structure of Psychopathology in a Sample of Clinically Referred, Emotionally Dysregulated Early Adolescents
Vine V, Byrd AL, Mohr H, Scott LN, Beeney JE and Stepp SD
This investigation answers and amplifies calls to model the transdiagnostic structure of psychopathology in clinical samples of early adolescents and using stringent psychometric criteria. In 162 clinically referred, clinically evaluated 11-13-year-olds, we compared a correlated two-factor model, containing latent internalizing and externalizing factors, to a bifactor model, which added a transdiagnostic general factor. We also evaluated the bifactor model psychometrically, including criterion validity with broad indicators of psychosocial functioning. In doing so, we compared alternative approaches to defining and interpreting criterion validity: a recently proposed incremental definition based on amounts of variance in criterion factors explained, and the more typical definition based on the presence of conceptually meaningful relationships. While traditional fit statistics favored the bifactor model as expected, psychometric analyses added important nuance. Despite moderate reliability, the general factor was not fully transdiagnostic (i.e., was not informed by several externalizing scores), and was partially redundant with internalizing scores. Approaches to criterion validity yielded opposing results. Compared to the correlated two-factor model, the bifactor model redistributed, without incrementally increasing, the total variance explained in criterion indicators of psychosocial functioning. Yet, the bifactor model did improve the precision of clinically important relationships to psychosocial functioning, raising questions about meaningful tests of bifactor psychopathology models.
Integrating Tobacco Prevention Skills into an Evidence-Based Intervention for Adolescents with ADHD: Results from a Pilot Efficacy Randomized Controlled Trial
Corona R, Dvorsky MR, Romo S, Parks AM, Bourchtein E, Smith ZR, Avila M and Langberg J
Adolescents with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are at high risk for tobacco use, but tobacco use prevention strategies are not regularly incorporated into evidence-based ADHD interventions. We conducted a pilot randomized-controlled trial to determine the feasibility of integrating tobacco use prevention skills into a behavioral treatment for ADHD and to provide preliminary efficacy data comparing a combined (ADHD + tobacco) intervention (N = 40) to an ADHD only intervention (N = 23) on tobacco risk outcomes. Sixty-three adolescents (72% male; 13-17 years) with ADHD and their caregivers were randomly assigned to condition and families were masked to condition. Parent and adolescent ratings were collected at baseline, immediate post-intervention, and at 3- and 9-month follow-up assessments. The combined intervention was (1) implemented with high fidelity (94%), (2) well received by parents and adolescents as evidenced by high levels of treatment attendance (82%) and satisfaction with the intervention, and (3) associated with parent- and adolescent-reported reductions in tobacco use risk. Relative to the ADHD intervention, the combined intervention buffered against increases in tobacco risk, including reduced intentions to smoke and maladaptive social normative beliefs, and increased parental control, family cohesion, and family communication about substance use. Effect sizes at post-treatment were in the small to moderate range. Overall, this study provides preliminary support for a parent-adolescent behavioral treatment supplemented with family-based tobacco prevention strategies. This approach targets families already in treatment for ADHD, reducing barriers that occur when families attend multi-session prevention programs in addition to ADHD treatment.
Accidental and Ambiguous Situations Reveal Specific Social Information Processing Biases and Deficits in Adolescents with Low Intellectual Level and Clinical Levels of Externalizing Behavior
Van Rest MM, Van Nieuwenhuijzen M, Kupersmidt JB, Vriens A, Schuengel C and Matthys W
Addressing aggression in youth requires understanding of the range of social problem situations that may lead to biased social information processing (SIP). The present study investigated situation-specificity of SIP and analyzed whether SIP deficits and biases are found in ambiguous as well as clearly accidental situations in adolescents with clinical levels of externalizing behavior or with low intellectual level, congruent with mild intellectual disability. Adolescents (N = 220, M = 15.21) completed a SIP test on a mobile app with six videos with ambiguous, hostile, and accidental social problems. Caretakers, teachers, and adolescents themselves reported on youth externalizing behavior problems. In accidental situations specifically, adolescents with low IQ scores more often attributed purposeful intent to perpetrators than peers with borderline or average IQ scores. In accidental situations, adolescents with clinical levels of externalizing behavior generated and selected more aggressive responses than nonclinical adolescents, regardless of their cognitive level. In line with previous literature, the ambiguous situations also brought out SIP differences between IQ groups. These results suggest that not only ambiguous situations should be considered informative for understanding SIP biases, but situations in which adolescents are clearly accidentally disadvantaged bring out SIP biases as well, that may lead to conflicts with others.
Why Family Communication Matters: the Role of Co-rumination and Topic Avoidance in Understanding Post-Disaster Mental Health
Felix ED, Afifi TD, Horan SM, Meskunas H and Garber A
Although families can be a source of support post-disaster, depending on how they communicate about their stress, their attempts at support can be helpful or harmful. This study explored the moderating role of topic avoidance and co-rumination on post-disaster mental health (MH) in a sample of 485 parent-child dyads following severe floods affecting Texas. Parents (69.0% female) and their oldest child between the ages of 10-19 years (M = 13.75 years, SD = 2.56) completed online surveys approximately one-year post-flooding. Participants reported their flood exposure, life stressors since the disaster, topic avoidance, co-rumination, and MH symptoms (posttraumatic stress symptoms [PTSS], depression, anxiety). Structural equation models tested a moderated-mediation model of whether communication processes moderated the associations of flood exposure and life stressors on MH. They did not moderate the association of flood exposure to PTSS, but did have a moderating role for depression and anxiety. At low levels of topic avoidance, there was no association between flood exposure and child anxiety or depression. However, at mean and high levels of topic avoidance, there was a significant, positive association between flood exposure and child anxiety and depression. Co-rumination impacted both parents and children. For parents, there was no association between flood exposure and depression or anxiety when co-rumination was low or mean-level. However, flood exposure increased risk for depression and anxiety at high levels of co-rumination. A similar pattern emerged for children. Results for life stressors were nuanced. Overall, this suggests that communication can influence post-disaster MH.
Longitudinal Relations among Adolescent Risk Behavior, Family Cohesion, Violence Exposure, and Mental Health in a National Sample
Goodrum NM, Smith DW, Hanson RF, Moreland AD, Saunders BE and Kilpatrick DG
Violence is a public health concern linked with mental health problems among adolescents, and risk behavior increases the likelihood of violence exposure. Family cohesion may attenuate the negative effects of risk behavior. The purpose of this study was to examine family cohesion as a moderator in the relation between risk behavior (substance use and delinquency) and violence exposure, and to explore longitudinal associations among cohesion, violence exposure, and subsequent mental health outcomes (PTSD and depression). Data were drawn from the National Survey of Adolescents-Replication, a nationally representative sample of 3604 adolescents, with data collected via structured phone interviews at three waves spanning a two-year period. Hypotheses were tested using longitudinal structural equation modeling. Findings revealed that high family cohesion attenuated the relation between risk behavior and subsequent violence exposure. Wave 2 violence exposure was associated with more Wave 3 mental health problems, but high family cohesion was related to fewer subsequent symptoms. Follow-up analyses revealed that family cohesion moderated the relation between risk behavior and experiencing, but not witnessing, violence. Several demographic associations were observed. Although risk behavior increases exposure to violence, and in turn, mental health problems, family cohesion may serve as a protective factor, attenuating the link between risk behavior and subsequent negative consequences. This effect emerged even when accounting for demographic and socioeconomic covariates. Interventions with adolescents should target family relationships as a protective factor to reduce risk of violence exposure and mental health problems, particularly for adolescents who are engaging in high-risk behaviors.
Proximal Interpersonal Processes in Early Childhood, Socioemotional Capacities in Middle Childhood, and Behavioral and Social Adaptation in Early Adolescence: A Process Model toward Greater Specificity
Cao H, Liang Y and Zhou N
Early proximal interpersonal processes in central microsystems have been widely linked to child subsequent adaptation. What remains sparse is research spanning multiple developmental stages and examining unique, relative implications of distinct early proximal interpersonal processes for child later adjustment in various domains and the cognitive, emotional, and behavioral mechanisms underlying such associations. Using NICHD SECCYD data, a process model was tested in which negativities and positivities in three early proximal interpersonal processes (i.e., mother-child, child care provider-child, and child care peer interactions at 6-36 months) were simultaneously linked to child internalizing problems, externalizing problems, and social relationship quality in early adolescence (6th grade) via child hostile attribution bias, emotion reactivity, and social skills in middle childhood (3rd grade). Social skills mediated the associations between positivities/negativities in early mother-child and peer interactions and later behavioral and social adaptation. Emotion reactivity was identified as a process via which negativities in early peer interactions predicted later behavioral problems. Maternal negativities were positively associated with hostile attribution biases, but such biases did not relate to later adaptation. We also identified a negative direct link between maternal positivities and later externalizing problems and a positive direct link between maternal positivities and later social relationship quality. No effects emerged for child care providers-child interactions. Improving early mother-child and peer interactions may promote adaptation in early adolescence. For children with poor early mother-child and peer interactions, training socioemotional capacities may be a way to diminish consequences of early negative interpersonal processes.
Relations Among Anxious Solitude, Peer Exclusion, and Maternal Overcontrol from 3rd Through 7th Grade: Peer Effects on Youth, Youth Evocative Effects on Mothering, and the Indirect Effect of Peers on Mothering via Youth
Gazelle H and Cui M
This study evaluated a transactional model of youth anxious solitude and peer and maternal relations from 3rd through 7th grade. Participants were 230 American youth (57% girls) selected for longitudinal study from a screening sample recruited from public schools (N = 688). Peers reported on anxious solitude and peer exclusion and youth reported on their mother's overcontrol annually. In an autoregressive cross-lagged panel analytic model peer exclusion predicted incremental increases in anxious solitude during elementary school and after the middle school transition. Additionally, anxious solitude evoked incremental increases in maternal overcontrol during elementary school. Finally, anxious solitude in 4th grade mediated the positive indirect relation between peer exclusion in 3rd grade and maternal overcontrol in 5th grade. These results suggests that peer relations can indirectly effect mothering via increased youth anxious solitude over time. Taken together, evidence supports a Transactional Model of anxious solitude development. Additionally, consistent with previous evidence, elevated youth anxious solitude at the end of elementary school in 5th grade predicted decreased peer exclusion after the middle school transition in 6th grade when youth experience a fresh start with peer relations. Nonetheless, youth (especially girls) demonstrated greater year-to-year stability in anxious solitude across the first two years of middle school than in the last three years of elementary school.
Correction to: Promises and Pitfalls of Latent Variable Approaches to Understanding Psychopathology: Reply to Burke and Johnston, Eid, Junghänel and Colleagues, and Willoughby
Burns GL, Geiser C, Servera M, Becker SP and Beauchaine TP
The original version of this article unfortunately contained a mistake. The supplementary material was not captured to our commentary article.
Correction to: Heterogeneous Trajectories of Problematic Alcohol Use, Depressive Symptoms, and their Co-Occurrence in Young Adults with and without Childhood ADHD
Wang FL, Pedersen SL, Devlin B, Gnagy EM, Pelham WE and Molina BSG
The original version of this article unfortunately contained a mistake.
Do Parents' ADHD Symptoms Affect Treatment for their Children? The Impact of Parental ADHD on Adherence to Behavioral Parent Training for Childhood ADHD
Friedman LM, Dvorsky MR, McBurnett K and Pfiffner LJ
Nearly half of all youth with Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) have at least one parent who also meets criteria for the disorder, and intergenerational ADHD is a significant risk factor for poor outcomes following evidence-based behavioral parent training (BPT) programs. Given that BPT is predicated on consistent parental involvement, symptoms of ADHD in parents may be a significant barrier to effective engagement with BPT treatment. In the present investigation, we examine the effect of parental ADHD symptoms on BPT treatment engagement for children with ADHD-predominantly inattentive presentation (N = 148, ages 7-11). We examine the following parent- and clinician-rated treatment engagement domains: between-session skill adherence, in-session participation, perceived skill understanding, treatment-engagement attitudes, and session attendance. Parent- and clinician-rated between-session adherence was the only treatment engagement domain related significantly to parental ADHD symptoms. This finding was robust and remained even after accounting for symptoms of parental anxiety and depression, child ADHD symptom severity, and various sociodemographic factors (parental education level, household income, employment status, and being a single parent). These findings suggest that targeting parental ADHD symptoms in the context of parenting interventions may be a promising approach for improving adherence and treatment outcomes for BPT interventions.
Heterogeneous Trajectories of Problematic Alcohol Use, Depressive Symptoms, and their Co-Occurrence in Young Adults with and without Childhood ADHD
Wang FL, Pedersen SL, Devlin B, Gnagy EM, Pelham WE and Molina BSG
The literature is inconsistent regarding whether childhood ADHD confers risk for adulthood problematic alcohol use, depressive symptoms, and their co-occurrence. These inconsistencies could be due to meaningful heterogeneity in the adulthood outcomes of children with ADHD that were obscured in traditional group-based analyses. The current study tested this possibility, as well as the contribution of adulthood ADHD symptom persistence, in order to clarify long-term risk in this population. Children diagnosed with ADHD and demographically-similar children without ADHD were followed longitudinally into adulthood and repeatedly assessed on heavy drinking, alcohol problems, and depressive symptoms from ages 21-29 (84.1% White (not Hispanic); 86.9% male; 51.2% childhood ADHD; 14.7% adulthood-persistent ADHD; N = 320). Group-based multi-trajectory modeling identified six groups with different combinations of trajectories across these variables. Heterogeneous longitudinal outcomes for those with ADHD were found. Some children with ADHD showed increased risk as typically predicted, with a higher likelihood of membership in a group with stable-moderate alcohol outcomes and stable-severe depression (adulthood persistent ADHD also predicted this group), whereas some children with ADHD were more likely to belong to a group with virtually no alcohol outcomes and low depression. Additionally, adulthood persistent ADHD predicted membership in a group with stable-severe alcohol outcomes and stable-moderate depression. Given the severity associated with co-occurring alcohol and depressive disorders, studies of early risk and protective factors and long-term outcomes for these disparate trajectory patterns are needed, particularly for those with childhood and persisting ADHD.
Subgroups of Childhood ADHD Based on Temperament Traits and Cognition: Concurrent and Predictive Validity
Goh PK, Lee CA, Martel MM, Karalunas SL and Nigg JT
Efforts to parse ADHD's heterogeneity in the DSM system has generally relied on subtypes, or presentations, based on different symptom combinations. Promising recent work has suggested that biologically-relevant and clinically predictive subgroups may be identified via an alternative feature set based on either a) temperament traits or b) executive function measures. Yet, the potential additive ability of these domains for specifying ADHD sub-phenotypes remains unknown. We thus sought to determine whether temperament traits and executive function, together, could facilitate a more nuanced and clinically meaningful subgrouping of children with ADHD. Participants included 828 children aged 7-11 years (62% with ADHD, 38% female). Latent profile and community detection analyses using both temperament and cognitive input features provided support for a primarily temperament-based three-subgroup solution (i.e., "Mild," "Irritable," and "Surgent"), although the distinction between Surgent and Mild subgroups may have been better explained as an ADHD symptom severity effect. There was also evidence of a five-subgroup solution, in which cognitive measures differentiated the Surgent subgroup into those with and without cognitive impairment. Cognitive measures also appeared to differentiate the Irritable subgroup based on severity, although differences in resulting subgroups appeared better explained via differences in negative affect and shyness. Subgroups within the five-subgroup solution meaningfully differed with respect to concurrent comorbidity. The utility of the five-subgroup solution for predicting comorbid diagnoses 2 years later was more limited. Additional work is needed to fully characterize the integration of cognitive and affective functioning in ADHD and their overlapping or additive value for clinical prediction.
"I Am a Total…Loser" - The Role of Interpretation Biases in Youth Depression
Sfärlea A, Buhl C, Loechner J, Neumüller J, Asperud Thomsen L, Starman K, Salemink E, Schulte-Körne G and Platt B
Negative interpretation biases have been found to characterize adults with depression and to be involved in the development and maintenance of the disorder. However, less is known about their role in youth depression. The present study investigated i) whether negative interpretation biases characterize children and adolescents with depression and ii) to what extent these biases are more pronounced in currently depressed youth compared to youth at risk for depression (as some negative interpretation biases have been found already in high-risk youth before disorder onset). After a negative mood induction interpretation biases were assessed with two experimental tasks: Ambiguous Scenarios Task (AST) and Scrambled Sentences Task (SST) in three groups of 9-14-year-olds: children and adolescents with a diagnosis of major depression (n = 32), children and adolescents with a high risk for depression (children of depressed parents; n = 48), as well as low-risk children and adolescents (n = 42). Depressed youth exhibited substantially more negative interpretation biases than both high-risk and low-risk groups (as assessed with both tasks), while the high-risk group showed more negative interpretation biases than the low-risk group only as assessed via the SST. The results indicate that the negative interpretation biases that are to some extent already present in high-risk populations before disorder onset are strongly amplified in currently depressed youth. The different findings for the two tasks suggest that more implicit interpretation biases (assessed with the SST) might represent cognitive vulnerabilities for depression whereas more explicit interpretation biases (assessed with the AST) may arise as a consequence of depressive symptomatology.
Sustained Attention and Individual Differences in Adolescents' Mood and Physiological Reactivity to Stress
Feurer C, James KM, Foster CE and Gibb BE
Biased attention to sad faces is associated with depression in adults and is hypothesized to increase depression risk specifically in the presence, but not absence, of stress by modulating stress reactivity. However, few studies have tested this hypothesis, and no studies have examined the relation between attentional biases and stress reactivity during adolescence, despite evidence that this developmental window is marked by changes in depression risk, stress, and the function of attention. Seeking to address these limitations, the current study examined the impact of adolescents' sustained attention to facial displays of emotion on individual differences in both mood reactivity to real-world stress and physiological (i.e., respiratory sinus arrhythmia [RSA]) reactivity to a laboratory-based stressor. Consistent with vulnerability-stress models of attention, greater sustained attention to sad faces was associated with greater depressive reactions to real-world stress. In addition, there was preliminary evidence from exploratory analyses that the impact of sustained attention on mood and/or physiological reactivity may be moderated by adolescents' age and sex such that relations are stronger for older adolescents and girls. The results of this study contribute to the current body of research on the role of attention in stress reactivity and depression risk and highlight the importance of considering age differences when examining these relations.
The Role of Paternal Accommodation of Paediatric OCD Symptoms: Patterns and Implications for Treatment Outcomes
Monzani B, Vidal-Ribas P, Turner C, Krebs G, Stokes C, Heyman I, Mataix-Cols D and Stringaris A
Family accommodation (FA) refers to the participation of family members in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) rituals. Most studies have focused on maternal accommodation; consequently, little is known about fathers' accommodation of OCD. The current study aims to extend the existing literature by examining maternal versus paternal accommodation of OCD symptoms.The sample consisted of 209 children with OCD (Mean [M] age = 14.1 years) and their parents (N = 209, N = 209) who had completed the Family Accommodation Scale- Parent Report (FAS-PR). Paired t-test and chi-square analyses were used to compare FA of OCD symptoms between mothers and fathers. Linear regression was used to examine correlates of maternal and paternal FA and its impact on treatment outcomes.Mothers reported significantly higher levels of daily FA than fathers. Correlates of maternal and paternal accommodation included OCD symptom severity, emotional and behavioral difficulties, and parent psychopathology. Both maternal and paternal FA significantly predicted worse treatment outcomes.Both mothers and fathers accommodate child OCD symptoms with high frequency, and in similar ways. Although mothers accommodate to a greater extent than fathers, both maternal and paternal involvement in rituals are a significant predictor of the child's treatment response. Results emphasise the need to consider the whole family system, including fathers, in understanding and treating OCD in children.
An Item-Based Analysis of PTSD Emotional Numbing Symptoms in Disaster-Exposed Children and Adolescents
Li G, Wang L, Cao C, Fang R, Chen C, Qiao X, Yang H, Hall BJ and Elhai JD
This study was designed to investigate the roles of numbing of positive and negative emotions in PTSD symptomology and related functional impairments. 14,465 Chinese children and adolescents who personally experienced the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake (in Sichuan province, China) took part in the study. Emotional numbing and other PTSD symptoms were assessed by the University of California-Los Angeles PTSD Reaction Index for Children. Functional impairment was measured by the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory 4.0 Generic Core Scales. Item response theory (IRT) analysis showed that both numbing of positive and negative emotions demonstrated acceptable item response characteristics; numbing of positive emotions had better discrimination. Group comparisons revealed that participants who reported numbing of both positive and negative emotions had the highest risk of developing PTSD, most severe PTSD symptoms and functional impairments, with large effect sizes when compared with participants with no emotional numbing symptoms. Reporting only numbing of positive emotions had moderate effects, and reporting only numbing of negative emotions had smaller effects. The results revealed associations between emotional numbing patterns, posttraumatic stress symptoms and impairments in quality of life, and suggests that additional research is needed to explore generalized emotional numbing in children and adolescents in future PTSD research.
The Moderating Role of Child Maltreatment in Treatment Efficacy for Adolescent Depression
Toth SL, Handley ED, Manly JT, Sturm R, Adams TR, Demeusy EM and Cicchetti D
Adolescent girls are at heightened risk of depression, and because adolescent depression may initiate a negative developmental cascade, intervention early in adolescence has potential for altering a negative developmental trajectory. Identifying risk factors that impact response to intervention may inform decisions about the type of treatment to provide for adolescent girls with depression. Understanding moderators of outcomes in evidence-based treatment is critical to the delivery of timely and effective interventions. Matching patients effectively with optimal intervention will not only expedite the alleviation of patients' distress, but will also reduce unnecessary time and resources spent on less advantageous interventions. The current investigation examines the efficacy of Interpersonal Psychotherapy for Depressed Adolescents (IPT-A) in a racially and ethnically diverse sample of 120 low-income adolescent girls age 13-15 with and without histories of child maltreatment. Adolescent and parent report of depressive symptoms were assessed at the beginning and end of treatment and a diagnosis of subsyndromal symptoms of depression or depression were required for purposes of inclusion. Results indicated that among adolescent girls who had experienced two or more subtypes of maltreatment, IPT-A was found to be more efficacious than Enhanced Community Standard (ECS) treatment. Importantly, when the subtype of maltreatment experienced was further probed, among girls with a history of sexual abuse, we found preliminary evidence that IPT-A was significantly more effective than ECS in reducing depressive symptoms, and the effect size was large. Thus, if a history of maltreatment is present, especially including sexual abuse, specifically addressing the interpersonal context associated with depressive symptoms may be necessary.
Gender-Specific Trajectories of Depressive Symptoms in Chinese Children: Relations with Basic Psychological Needs Satisfaction at School
Zhong M, Huebner ES and Tian L
This longitudinal study identified gender-specific developmental trajectories of depressive symptoms in Chinese children and their relations with basic psychological needs satisfaction at school (satisfaction of autonomy needs at school, relatedness needs at school, and competence needs at school). A total of 692 Chinese elementary school students in grades 3 and 4 (M = 8.96 years; SD = 0.76; 53.6% boys) comprised the sample. Assessments were conducted every 6 months on six occasions over 30 months. Growth mixture modeling (GMM) was used to explore the depressive symptom trajectories for boys and girls separately. Four trajectories were identified for girls: low (60.3%), high (12.4%), increasing (9.8%), and high-start (17.5%). Two trajectories were identified for boys: low (86.5%) and high (13.5%). After controlling for anxiety, the results showed that compared to the low trajectory of depressive symptoms, lower satisfaction of relatedness needs at school predicted the high and high-start trajectories for girls, and lower satisfaction of competence needs at school predicted the high trajectory for boys. The findings of the varying developmental patterns of depressive symptoms and their relations with basic psychological needs satisfaction at school inform strategies for monitoring depressive symptoms among children as well as effective strategies for prevention and intervention.