Children Behavioral Functioning Research Articles

The potential of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation for addressing sleep difficulties in children with autism – A brief communication

Sleep difficulties can co-occur with autistic traits and have been frequently reported in children diagnosed with autism. Thus, sleep difficulties may impact neural development, cognition, and behavioural functioning in children with autism. Interventions, such as repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS), that target aberrant neural structures underpinning autistic traits and sleep difficulties in children could have beneficial effects. The rTMS effects on the pathophysiological pathways hypothesised to underpin autism and sleep difficulties are well-established in the literature; however, clinical evidence of its potential to improve sleep difficulties in children with autism is limited. While the preliminary data is promising, further robust rTMS studies are warranted to encourage its use in clinical practices.

Parent‐child interaction is related to emotional and behavioral problems in pediatric intestinal failure

AbstractObjectivesParent‐child interaction in pediatric intestinal failure (IF) and in parenteral nutrition (PN) graduates can be disturbed due to parental responsibilities related to the condition, and could affect the child's emotional and behavioral functioning (EBF). The aim was to assess parent‐child interaction, to examine associations with clinical features, and to relate parent‐child interaction to EBF.MethodsA cross‐sectional study of IF patients and PN graduates aged 1.5−18 years and one primary caregiver was performed in two Dutch multidisciplinary pediatric IF teams. Parent‐child interaction was observed using the Emotional Availability Scales (EAS), reported with the Parent Child Interaction Questionnaire (PACHIQ) and compared to normvalues when available. Associations between parent‐child interaction and clinical factors and EBF were examined. EBF was assessed using the Child Behavior Checklist. All measures are validated.ResultsA total of 41 parent‐child dyads were included, 17 (41.4%) received PN at time of assessment and median age was 8.9 [IQR 5.8−11.9] years. No significant differences in parent‐reported interaction compared to normative values or between PN‐receiving and weaned children were found. Exploratory multivariable regression indicated that only the child's female sex was significantly positively related to parent‐child interaction. Parent‐child interaction was negatively related to EBF for nonhostility, conflict resolution, and acceptance.ConclusionOur findings suggest that (self‐reported) parent‐child interaction in IF patients and PN graduates is not significantly different as compared to healthy peers, and unrelated to clinical characteristics. However, aspects of parent‐child interaction were correlated to EBF, potentially being a target for prevention or intervention in children with diminished EBF.

Advanced Maternal Age: A Scoping Review about the Psychological Impact on Mothers, Infants, and Their Relationship.

The mean age at childbirth in Europe has gradually increased, and it is now around 29 years of age. It has been shown that older maternal age is associated with problems of fertility; in fact, with increasing age, the chance of conceiving diminishes, and fetal and obstetric complications grow. Research has focused particularly on the biological risks associated with late pregnancy, both for the child and the woman. Less space has been dedicated to the potential psychological and relational benefits of motherhood at an advanced age. The aim of this review was to summarize the existing literature on this issue. Qualitative and quantitative studies were sourced from Pubmed, Science Direct, PsycINFO, and SciELO. The selected works highlight that advanced maternal age can be associated with some advantages for both mothers and their offspring in terms of physical healthcare, parenting styles, and child developmental outcomes. Specifically, the review suggests that older mothers have greater emotional maturity and feel more prepared for motherhood; also, advanced maternal age appears to exert a protective influence on children's behavioral, social, and emotional functioning, compensating for the biological risks.

Promoting Safe and Supportive Health Care Spaces for Youth Experiencing Racism

ObjectiveThis qualitative study applies a community-based participatory research approach to elicit formative data on pediatric patient experiences of racism in the health care setting and to explore clinic-based opportunities for supporting pediatric patients experiencing racism. MethodsThe study is situated within the outpatient practice of a large tertiary academic medical center in a midsize Midwestern city. Community partners were involved in all aspects of the research, including research protocol design, recruitment, data analysis, community dissemination, and manuscript preparation. Participants were youth between 11 and 18 years, in middle or high school, self-identifying as a person of color, Latinx or Indigenous who answered yes to the question “have you ever experienced race-related prejudice and discrimination?” Parent/guardians of youth meeting inclusion criteria participated in separate focus groups. Data were analyzed using an interpretative phenomenological analysis approach. ResultsMajor findings were divided into 2 categories: 1) racism-related experiences in the health care setting; and 2) patient and parent/guardian recommendations to support pediatric patients experiencing racism. Among health care setting experiences, primary emerging themes included racism experienced in the health care setting, patient-clinician communication around racism, patient-clinician concordance, and high-quality clinical care. Recommendations were presented within the 4 domains of racism: intrapersonal, interpersonal, structural, and institutional. ConclusionsRacism experiences worsen child biological, psychological, and behavioral functioning, yet research is lacking on how health care professionals may best support pediatric patients experiencing racism. Study findings suggest opportunities for providing safer and more supportive health care spaces for youth experiencing racism.

84 Parent Ratings of Everyday Social, Emotional, and Behavioral Functioning in Children with Unilateral versus Bilateral Hearing Loss

Objective:Reduced hearing is associated with increased risk for social, emotional, and behavioral difficulties. Studies to date have typically compared DHH children with their hearing peers without regard for unilateral hearing loss (UHL) versus bilateral hearing loss (BHL). Children with UHL are often perceived as more like their typically hearing peers than their peers with BHL. Children with UHL typically access sound and spoken language which facilitates their functioning with fewer supports (e.g., interpreters, captioning). These children, however, show cognitive, academic, and communication profiles more similar to children with BHL than typically hearing peers. They may also experience similar social, emotional, and behavioral challenges as their BHL peers. We examined social, emotional, and behavioral functioning in a clinically referred sample of children with UHL versus BHL.Participants and Methods:Parents of 100 children aged 2 to 17 years (M=7.12) with either UHL (n=30) or BHL (n=70) completed the Behavioral Assessment System for Children, Third Edition (BASC-3) as part of neuropsychological evaluation in a Deaf and Hard of Hearing Program within a tertiary pediatric hospital. BASC-3 scores based on General Combined norms were compared to an expected distribution of typically developing hearing children using non-parametric one-sample tests. Profiles of scores for children with UHL and BHL were examined in a repeated measures MANOVA.Results:The groups of children with UHL and BHL showed similar age, gender, race, ethnicity, and Area Deprivation Index compositions. Eighty four percent of BHL children communicated with spoken language, and 100% of UHL children communicated with spoken language (p=.02). There were similar rates of comorbid diagnoses for ADHD (20%), Anxiety/Depression (18%), Autism Spectrum Disorder (8%), and Intellectual Disability/Global Developmental Delay (9%). However, children with BHL tended to be at greater risk for Language Disorders (50%) than those with UHL (30%, = 3.41 p=.065). Together, children with hearing loss showed significantly higher scores on the BASC-3 Hyperactivity, Aggression, Attention Problems, Atypicality, and Withdrawal clinical scales than expected (One-Sample Kolmogorov-Smirnov Test; p<.01). Profile analysis showed that children with any type of hearing loss had a varied pattern of scores across scales (F(7,686)=4.33, p<.01), with highest scores on Hyperactivity and Attention Problems scales and lowest scores on Somatization. Scale profiles did not differ, however, between UHL and BHLgroups (p=.127).Conclusions:Children with UHL have access to auditory input, typically enabling early language development more like their hearing peers compared to children with BHL. In turn, these children may be overlooked more so than their BHL peers. However, the likelihood of social, emotional, and behavioral difficulties is similar between the two groups of children with hearing loss, whether that is unilateral or bilateral. Our study showed both groups of children had similar profiles across BASC-3 scales with elevations relative to norms. Measuring these everyday functions in children with hearing loss is important for early detection of risks to promote early intervention.

True prevalence of long COVID in children: a narrative review.

Contrary to what is true for adults, little is known about pediatric long COVID (LC). Studies enrolling children are relatively few and extremely heterogeneous. This does not allow to draw definitive conclusions on the frequency and pathogenesis of pediatric LC and limits the development of appropriate and effective measures to contain the clinical, social and economic impact of this condition on the pediatric population. Depending on the methods used to collect and analyze data, studies have found that the incidence rate of pediatric LC may vary from about 25% to less than 5%. However, despite true prevalence of pediatric LC cannot be exactly defined, studies comparing children with previous COVID-19 and uninfected controls have shown that most of the clinical manifestations detected in infected children, mainly mood symptoms, mental health disorders and heart abnormalities could be diagnosed with similar frequency and severity in uninfected subjects also. This seems to indicate that SARS-CoV-2 is the cause of pediatric LC only in a part of children and other factors play a relevant role in this regard. Pandemic itself with the persistent disruption of child lives may have caused persistent stress in all the pediatric population causing mood symptoms, mental health disorders or several organ and body system functional alterations, regardless SARS-CoV-2 infection. These suppositions suggest the need for long-term physical control of all the children after COVID-19 especially when they were already suffering from an underlying disease or have had a severe disease. Moreover, attention should be paid to the assessment of change in children's emotional and behavioral functioning in order to assure adequate interventions for the best emotional and behavioral well being. However, whatever its origin, it seems highly likely that the prevalence of the pediatric LC is set to decline in the future. Preliminary observations seem to suggest that recently developed SARS-CoV-2 variants are associated with less severe COVID-19. This suggests that, as already seen in adults, a lower number of pediatric virus-associated LC cases should occur. Furthermore, the use of COVID-19 vaccines, reducing incidence and severity of SARS-CoV-2 infection, may reduce risk of LC development. Finally, elimination of restrictive measures should significantly reduce mood symptoms and mental health disorders.

Change in health-related quality of life and functional disability over time post-concussion in youth.

Concussions can have detrimental on children's cognitive, emotional, behavioral, and/or social functioning. We sought to examine changes in health-related quality of life (HRQOL) and functional disability from pre-injury to 1-week post-concussion, and to symptom resolution among youth ages 11-17 with a concussion. In this prospective, longitudinal cohort study, 83 concussed youth, ages 11-17, self-reported post-concussion symptoms daily as well as HRQOL and functional disability at baseline (pre-injury, retrospective), 1-week post-concussion, and symptom resolution. We modeled changes in overall and sub-scale HRQOL and functional disability scores over time from pre-injury to 1-week post-concussion and from 1-week post-concussion to symptom resolution using a piecewise linear mixed model, adjusting for potential covariables. Estimated fixed effects with a corresponding adjusted coefficient (beta), along with their 95% confidence intervals are presented. Overall HRQOL worsened from pre-injury to 1-week post-injury (β = -5.40, 95%CI -9.22, -1.58) but did not change from 1-week post-injury to symptom resolution. Physical HRQOL worsened from pre-injury to 1-week post-injury (β = -9.90, 95%CI -14.65, -5.14) but improved from 1-week post-injury to symptom resolution (β = 1.64, 95%CI 0.50, 2.78), while psychosocial HRQOL showed no change over time. Functional disability worsened from pre-injury to 1-week post-injury (β = 8.36, 95%CI 5.93, 10.79) but with no change from 1-week post-injury to symptom resolution. Youth with symptom duration > 14days reported worse HRQOL and functional disability than those who recovered in ≤ 14days and greater daily post-concussion symptom scores were associated with worse HRQOL and functional disability. Concussions have a negative impact on overall and physical HRQOL and functional disability in youth acutely post-injury. Ratings of HRQOL could be used to inform clinical treatment decisions to assist with the recovery process.

Generating Actionable Evidence for School-Based Mental Health Service Delivery: Public-Academic Partnership Based Evaluations.

Public-academic partnership-based program evaluations can generate actionable evidence for policymaking, program design and implementation in improving school-based mental health service delivery. The University of Pennsylvania Center for Mental Health and public behavioral health care agencies in Philadelphia in the United States have evaluated Philadelphia's school mental health programs reimbursable through Medicaid billing since 2008. The variety of evaluations include (1) examining acute mental health service use of children receiving school-based mental health care and Medicaid expenditure, (2) examining children's externalizing and internalizing behaviors to measure school mental health providers' performance, and (3) examining effects of different types of school mental health programs on children's behavioral health functioning, school outcomes, and other out-of-school service use. This paper reports key findings of these evaluations, discusses how programs have been refined based on evaluation results, and shares lessons learned for successful public-academic partnership-based evaluations to promote use of actionable evidence.

Mind-mindedness in a high-risk sample: Differential benefits for developmental outcomes based on child maltreatment.

Mind-mindedness is associated with positive developmental outcomes. However, much of the literature uses mostly White, middle to high socioeconomic status (SES) samples despite evidence that the benefits of mind-mindedness may vary based on degree of social risk. Additionally, few studies have examined relations between mind-mindedness and language development. The current study investigates whether mind-mindedness predicts children's language development and behavioral functioning and if family history of childhood maltreatment moderates the relation of mind-mindedness to these outcomes. Participants were 98 mothers (49.0% Black, 24.5% White, 13.3% Latina, 7.2% multiracial; 81.6% low SES per Hollingshead classifications) and their children (49 boys, 49 girls) from the Rochester, New York area recruited at Time 1 (Mage = 13.34 months) and followed up twice (Mages = 27.51 [Time 2] and 39.31 months [Time 3]). Mother-child dyads participated in videotaped free play interactions at Times 1 and 2. Using transcripts of these interactions, we coded mind-mindedness at Times 1 and 2 and children's internal state language at Time 2. Mothers reported on children's behavioral functioning at Time 3. Findings revealed that Time 2 mind-mindedness predicted fewer Time 3 behavioral difficulties in children from maltreating families but did not predict behavioral difficulties in children from nonmaltreating families. Additionally, Time 1 mind-mindedness predicted children's Time 2 use of decontextualized internal state language. Findings highlight the importance of examining mind-mindedness in higher risk populations and how mind-mindedness can be leveraged as a protective factor to prevent future maladjustment in children at risk for adverse outcomes. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

26. The Association of Age at Surgery and Behavioral Functioning in Children with Surgically Corrected Metopic Craniosynostosis

26. The Association of Age at Surgery and Behavioral Functioning in Children with Surgically Corrected Metopic Craniosynostosis

The Healing through Arts (HeARTS) program for children bereaved by cancer: Pilot study findings from Singapore.

The article aims to investigate the feasibility, acceptability, and initial efficacy of a short-term 3-day art therapy group for children who have experienced parental death to cancer. The study utilized a pretest-posttest design and included children (n=20) aged 7-12years. The feasibility of the intervention was measured by recruitment ability, study compliance, and intervention adherence, while acceptability was assessed using a child-reported satisfaction survey. Efficacy was examined using the child-reported Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory (PedsQL), while the emotional, social, and behavioral functioning of children was measured using the parent-reported Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire. Paired sample t-tests were used for analyses. The intervention was found to be feasible (80% recruitment rate and 100% session adherence). Acceptability was high, and all participants were satisfied and found the intervention to be helpful. While results did not reach statistical significance, improvements in psychosocial and physical quality of life were reported by all the children post-intervention and at the 3-month follow-up. Parent-reported a decrease in behavioral difficulties scores and an increase in prosocial behavior scores at post-intervention and at the 3-month follow-up. The 3-day art therapy group intervention was shown to be feasible to conduct and acceptable to the recipients. The intervention shows promise in improving post-death adjustment and quality of life outcomes of children bereaved by parental death due to cancer that were maintained after 3months. The use of art therapy groups to ameliorate difficulties associated with parental loss and to assist children in coping day-to-day difficulties should be further investigated.

Early childhood teachers' sense of community and work engagement: Associations with children's social, emotional, and behavioral functioning

Teachers' capacity to cultivate children's social, emotional, and behavioral functioning in early childhood settings could depend on how connected they feel to their workplace as well as to their work. However, the role of teachers' perceptions of their workplace in their work engagement, as well as children’s functioning (i.e., anger-aggression, anxiety-withdrawal, social competence, behavioral self-regulation), remains to be understood. Within this interdisciplinary study, we used self-determination theory and the Job Demands-Resources Model of Burnout, which propose that when teachers perceive a supportive workplace that enables them to feel capable of handling their responsibilities, they perform better in their role, and thus, could more positively contribute to children's development. The present study utilized a sample of 329 preschoolers and their 53 teachers. Using hierarchical linear modeling, we examined associations between teachers' sense of community (as measured by collegiality and involvement-influence), their work engagement as a moderator, and children's social, emotional, and behavioral functioning in early care and education (ECE) settings. As expected, we found that collegiality was negatively associated with children's anger aggression (β = −1.79, SE = 0.86). Also, work engagement was negatively associated with children's anxiety-withdrawal (β = −0.29, SE = 0.07). Unexpectedly, involvement-influence was positively associated with children's anger-aggression (β = 1.78, SE = 0.67). Relationships in the workplace are valuable to teachers, including how they engage with their work duties and children. However, more responsibilities in the workplace may present challenges that contribute to a less positive response to children or a less positive classroom environment. We discuss implications and potential workplace interventions for ECE educators.

EFFECT OF SCREEN TIME ON PHYSICAL, EMOTIONAL AND BEHAVIORAL FUNCTIONING OF CHILDREN DURING THE TIME OF LOCKDOWN

Background & Objective: Screen time has now become a most concerned issue around the world due its negative effects on children' health. COVID-19 was declared as a pandemic by World Health Organization (WHO) during March 2022 and lockdown was one of the strategy to control disease transmission. This study aims to investigate whether this lockdown caused an increase in screen time and what are its effects on physical, emotional, and behavioral functioning of children.
 Methods: It was a cross-sectional study including a sample of 260 mothers of children aged 5–13 years from Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad, during March to June 2021. A google survey form was developed and participants were invited using a google link on social media, parents' groups, Whats app groups and school facebook pages. Screen time was measured in number of screen hours per day. Physical health was evaluated through body mass index (BMI) reports. Children's Emotional Adjustment Scale (CEAS) and Strengths & Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) were used for behavioral and emotional problems. Coefficient of correlation and t-test was used for examining the difference of means.
 Results: About 244 (94%) mothers reported that screen time of their children is significantly increased during COVID-19 lockdown. There was a negative relationship observed between screen time with temper and anxiety control (r= -0.13; p= 0.04). However, a positive relationship was found for hyperactivity (r= 0.74; p<0.001) and conduct problems (r= 0.18; p= 0.003). We found a gender difference for screen time (t= 4.39; p=0.001) and hyperactivity (t= 2.35; p= 0.02), where boys were more hyperactive than girls. No significant difference was obsereved for BMI and pro-social behavior.
 Conclusion: Screen time among children is considerably increased during lockdown and this is associated with low temper control, anxiety, hyperactivity, and conduct problems. Remedial strategies are required at national level; media and school authorities can play a vital role in this regard.

Maternal Prenatal Distress, Maternal Pre- and Postnatal Bonding and Behavioral and Emotional Problems in Toddlers. A Secondary Analysis of the IRIS Study

Maternal prenatal distress (i.e., anxiety and depressive symptoms) increases the risk for childhood behavioral and emotional problems. So far, the potential role of maternal bonding in this association still needs further study. Maternal prenatal distress can affect the development of maternal bonding from pregnancy onwards. Maternal prenatal and postnatal bonding in turn have been shown to predict child behavioral functioning. We aimed to investigate whether maternal prenatal and postnatal bonding mediate the association between maternal prenatal distress and toddlers’ internalizing and externalizing problems. Data from a Dutch prospective longitudinal sample (N = 666) were used to conduct single and multiple mediation models. Mothers reported prenatal anxiety (State Anxiety Inventory) and prenatal depressive symptoms (Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale) at 24 weeks’ gestation and maternal prenatal bonding (Maternal Antenatal Attachment Scale) at 32 weeks’ gestation. At 6 weeks and 6 months postpartum mothers completed questionnaires to assess maternal postnatal bonding (Maternal Postnatal Attachment Scale). Mothers reported child internalizing and externalizing problems (Child Behavior Checklist) at 28 months postpartum. Maternal prenatal and postnatal bonding mediated the link between maternal prenatal anxiety and child externalizing problems but not internalizing problems. Only maternal bonding 6 months postpartum mediated the link between maternal prenatal depressive symptoms and child internalizing problems but not externalizing problems. Our study showed that maternal postnatal bonding more consistently mediated links between measures of maternal prenatal distress and child behavioral and emotional problems than maternal prenatal bonding. Interventions reducing maternal prenatal distress and promoting maternal bonding should be developed.

Engagement in a brief preventive parenting intervention during the transition to kindergarten: Effects of parent stress and child behavior concerns

Although school-based preventive parenting interventions have been found to promote children's social-emotional skill development and behavioral functioning, it is important to understand potential barriers to engagement in such programs to ensure that intervention access is equitable and likely to reach those who could most benefit. In the present study, we tested independent and interactive associations between parents' concerns about their child's hyperactivity behavior and their perceived stress in relation to their participation in a preventive parenting intervention, the Family Check-Up (FCU), delivered when children were in kindergarten. Participants were parents of 164 children who were randomized to the intervention group of a randomized controlled trial that took place at five elementary schools. Results indicated that parents who reported higher levels of hyperactivity in their children and high levels of perceived stress were less likely to initially engage in the FCU, but if they did engage, they were more likely to participate more intensively as measured by total treatment time. Parents' motivation to change mediated the association between high parent stress and child hyperactivity in relation to total treatment time. This study has important implications for the use of motivational interviewing strategies to engage parents in school-based, family-centered interventions.

Like your students, like their families? Teacher perceptions and children's socio-emotional-behavioral functioning

To explore family engagement and children's social, emotional, and behavioral functioning, we compare two competing multilevel path models that use structural and relational measures of family engagement. The first examines the association between family engagement (teacher-perceived support from families and director-reported involvement offerings) and children's outcomes (anger-aggression, anxiety-withdrawal, social competence, and behavioral self-regulation) via the child–teacher relationship. The second examines the association between the child–teacher relationship and children's outcomes via family engagement. Results were similar for both models, though Model 1 was a better fit, suggesting that teachers' perceptions may “flow” from families to children. In both models, the relational component of family engagement had more associations than the structural component. We discuss implications regarding family engagement supports.

Examining the relationship between discrimination, access to material resources, and black children's behavioral functioning during COVID-19

Systemic racism and discriminatory practices continue to disproportionally expose Black children and families to less than optimal health and economic resources. COVID-19 sheds existing light on how longstanding systemic inequalities affecting Black children and families create racial disparities in accessing material resources. The purpose of this study (N = 704 Black caregivers) is to better understand the relationship between experiences of racial discrimination, access to material resources (i.e., health-promoting resources and economic resources), and Black children's behavioral functioning during the pandemic. Through the application of ordinary least squares regression analysis, we find that inadequate material resources (both health-related risks and economic hardship) during the pandemic were associated with heightened caregiver report that their child was frequently fussy or defiant (externalizing) and frequently anxious or fearful (internalizing). The study found no significant links between caregivers’ experiences of discrimination during the pandemic and children's behavioral functioning. However, the study found a significant link between caregivers’ concern for their children's experiences of discrimination and their children's externalizing behaviors. Findings from this study offer an important contribution to understanding how factors rooted in systemic racism—access to material resources—and experiences of discrimination affect Black children's well-being during COVID-19.

The impact of prefrontal transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) on theory of mind, emotion regulation and emotional-behavioral functions in children with autism disorder: A randomized, sham-controlled, and parallel-group study.

Advances in our knowledge about the neuropsychological mechanisms underlying core deficits in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have produced several novel treatment modalities. One of these approaches is modulation of activity of the brain regions involved in ASD symptoms. This study examined the effects of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) over the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) on autism symptom severity, theory of mind, emotion regulation strategies, and emotional-behavioral functions in children with ASD. Thirty-two children (Mage =10.16, SD=1.93, range 7-12 years) diagnosed with ASD were randomly assigned to active (N=17) or sham stimulation (N=15) groups in a randomized, sham-controlled, parallel-group design. Participants underwent 10 sessions of active (1.5mA, 15 min, bilateral left anodal/right cathodal DLPFC, 2 sessions per week) or sham tDCS. Autism symptom severity, theory of mind, emotion regulation strategies, and emotional-behavioral functioning of the patients were assessed at baseline, immediately after the intervention, and 1 month after the intervention. A significant improvement of autism symptom severity (i.e., communication), theory of mind (i.e., ToM 3), and emotion regulation strategies was observed for the active as compared to the sham stimulation group at the end of the intervention, and these effects were maintained at the one-month follow-up. The results suggest that repeated tDCS with anodal stimulation of left and cathodal stimulation of right DLPFC improves autism symptom severity as well as social cognition and emotion regulation in ASD. LAY SUMMARY: Previous research has suggested that targeting core mechanisms underlying cognitive-emotional and behavioral deficits of autistic children might improve symptoms of ASD. Deficient social and behavioral functioning, impaired theory of mind, and emotional regulation deficits have been identified as core treatment targets for this group. Specific subregions of the prefrontal cortex are involved in these deficits, including hypoactivity of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC). Upregulation of this area with non-invasive brain stimulation, namely anodal transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), results in improved social and behavioral functioning in children with ASD. Very few studies have however examined the effects of this intervention on theory of mind, emotional regulation, and emotional-behavioral problems. We examined the effects of anodal tDCS over the left DLPFC (F3), combined with cathodal tDCS over the right DLPFC (F4) on autism symptom severity as well as theory of mind, emotional regulation, and emotional-behavioral problems of children with ASD. This intervention improved autism symptom severity, specific domains of theory of mind, and emotion regulation. These findings have clinical implications for the treatment of ASD and suggest that targeting core mechanisms underlying socio-cognitive-emotional deficits of autistic children using tDCS might improve symptoms of ASD.

Characteristics of maternal depression and children's functioning: A meta-analytic review.

Maternal depression is associated with cognitive, emotional, and behavioral problems in offspring, but the substantial heterogeneity of depression precludes a full understanding of these associations. Variation in course of depression, characterized by severity or chronicity, may be related differentially to children's development. The current meta-analytic review examined the relations of these characteristics of maternal depression to children's developmental outcomes. Twenty-nine studies were identified and reviewed; the majority (93%) of studies reported a negative association between some aspect of maternal depression and children's adjustment. Separate meta-analyses revealed significant effect sizes for severity (Fisher's z = -.243) and chronicity (adjusted Fisher's z = -.337) of maternal depression and children's cognitive or behavioral functioning. Findings are synthesized across features of maternal depression; methodological limitations within the empirical literature are discussed; and recommendations for future research are suggested. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Efficacy of a peer-based in-home education program in improving social-emotional outcomes of parents and children.

Significant disparities in education and social-emotional outcomes exist between racial/ethnic groups, particularly impacting children growing up in impoverished environments. Home visitation intervention programs, such as the Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters (HIPPY), have been used for decades to improve academic readiness in these vulnerable preschool-aged children. Although the benefits of HIPPY on academic readiness and performance are well-documented, there has been no examination of social-emotional benefits to participating parent-child dyads. This study followed a HIPPY cohort over the course of 1year to evaluate change in maternal and child social-emotional and behavioral functioning. Program participants demonstrated reduced parental stress and depression and increased parental social connection as well as reduced child externalizing behaviors and improved child adaptive functioning over the course of the program, even in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic and associated lockdown. These data highlight the additional benefits of early home-based academic intervention programs.