AbstractBackgroundMajor depressive disorder (MDD) in adolescence is a risk factor for poor physical and psychiatric outcomes in adulthood, with earlier age of onset associated with poorer outcomes. Identifying Depression Early in Adolescence Risk Score (IDEA‐RS) is a model for predicting MDD in youth aged >15 years, but replication in younger samples (<15 years) is lacking. Here, we tested IDEA‐RS in a younger sample (9–11 years) to assess whether IDEA‐RS could be applied to earlier onset depression.MethodsWe applied IDEA‐RS predictor weights to 9854 adolescents (9–11 years) from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study, United States. We derived incident depression outcomes from self‐reported data at 2‐year follow‐up (11–13 years): incident MDD and increase in depression symptoms (DS). Sensitivity analyses were conducted using parent‐reported data. We assessed accuracy and calibration in predicting self‐reported incident depression and compared this to a refitted model with predictor weights derived in ABCD. Lastly, we tested associations between IDEA‐RS predictors and self‐reported incident depression.ResultsExternal replication yielded better‐than‐chance discriminative capacity for self‐reported incident depression (MDD: AUC = 61.4%, 95% CI = 53.5%–69.4%; DS: AUC = 57.9%, 95% CI = 54.6%–61.3%) but showed poor calibration with overly extreme risk estimates. Re‐estimating predictor weights improved discriminative capacity (MDD: AUC = 75.9%, 95% CI = 70.3%–81.4%; DS: AUC = 64.8%, 95% CI = 61.9%–67.7%) and calibration. IDEA‐RS predictors ‘poorest level of relationship with the primary caregiver’ (OR = 4.25, 95% CI = 1.73–10.41) and ‘high/highest levels of family conflict’ (OR = 3.36 [95% CI = 1.34–8.43] and OR = 3.76 [95% CI = 1.50–9.38], respectively) showed greatest associations with self‐reported incident MDD.ConclusionsWhile IDEA‐RS yields better‐than‐chance predictions on external replication, accuracy is improved when differences between samples, such as case‐control mix, are adjusted for. IDEA‐RS may be more suited to research settings with sufficient data for refitting. Altogether, we find that IDEA‐RS can be generalisable to early adolescents after refitting and that family dysfunction may be especially impactful for this period of development.

AbstractTo increase the number of pre‐registered observational studies, Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry (JCPP) Advances is delighted to now invite Registered Reports. Registered Reports are a format of article in which the study protocol is pre‐registered and peer‐reviewed before the research is conducted. If the protocol is of high quality and the proposed research topic is important, JCPP Advances will commit to publishing the study regardless of the results. This article format crucially addresses publication bias, as decisions on publication are entirely independent of the results.

AbstractDespite success of pharmacologic and psychosocial treatments, attention‐deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) frequently results in significant personal impairment and socioeconomic burden. A challenge for the development of effective treatments targeting functional deficits in ADHD is the substantial heterogeneity in clinical features such as comorbidity, executive dysfunction, and cognitive disengagement. In this editorial perspective, we consider circadian dysfunction as a potentially critical mechanism underlying clinical heterogeneity and discuss current barriers to identifying and treating circadian dysfunction in pediatric ADHD. Recent advances in wearable sensors may offer new opportunities to elucidate the underlying role of circadian dysfunction in ADHD heterogeneity and support the development of personalized sleep treatments with the power to improve long‐term educational, interpersonal, and occupational outcomes for children with ADHD.

AbstractBackgroundLower parental nurturance is consistently associated with higher levels of youth antisocial behavior (ASB), but the etiology of this association remains unclear. To fill this gap, we employed a twin differences approach to illuminate the environmental and genetic origins of the association between parental nurturance and children's ASB.MethodsParticipants were 2060 twins (49% female) ages 6–10 from the Michigan State University Twin Registry. Parental nurturance and youth ASB were assessed using multiple measures (e.g., questionnaires, interviews) and informant reports (e.g., twins, parents, teachers). Co‐twin difference‐score correlations were analyzed separately by zygosity using specification curve analysis, an exhaustive modeling approach that examined associations across all possible specifications of the nurturance and ASB data.ResultsParental nurturance demonstrated clear, negatively signed associations with youth ASB at the individual level. However, these associations generally did not persist within twin pairs. We observed no significant twin difference correlations within monozygotic (MZ) pairs and only a handful of significant twin difference correlations among dizygotic (DZ) pairs, in which the DZ co‐twin who experienced more nurturance exhibited less ASB. Post‐hoc analyses in these data revealed that these associations differed markedly from those with harsh parenting that suggested environmental influences on youth ASB.ConclusionsThese results strongly argue against a causal influence of low parental nurturance on youth ASB, and instead suggest that genetic influences and shared environmental confounds underlie their association. Further, findings strongly suggest that different parenting behaviors are associated with child ASB via different etiologic mechanisms.