Development Of Psychopathology In Children Research Articles

Regulatory problems and developmental psychopathology within the first 2 years of living—a nested in cohort population-based study

BackgroundInfancy regulatory problems (RP) of sleep, feeding and eating, and excessive crying are thought to play a key role in the development of psychopathology in childhood, but knowledge of the early trajectories is limited.ObjectiveTo explore RP at ages 8–11 months and the associations with mental health problems at 1½ years, and assess the influences of maternal mental health problems and relationship problems.MethodsRP was explored in a nested in-cohort sample (N = 416) drawn from a community-based cohort (N = 2,973). Cohort children were examined by community health nurses, using a mental health screening, which included seven items of RP. Follow-up at 1½ years included diagnostic assessment according to the International Classification of Diseases, ICD-10, and the Diagnostic Classification of Mental Health and Developmental Disorders in Infancy and Early Childhood: Revised edition, DC:0-3R. Data analyses included logistic regression models and analyses of the mediation effect of maternal mental health and relationship problems.ResultsRP of sleep were associated with a 2-fold increased risk of child mental disorder specifically sleep disorders, adjusted odds ratio (OR) 9.3 [95% confidence interval (CI): 2.0–42.9], disorders of behavior and emotions, adjusted OR 2.9 (95% CI: 1.0–8.4), and DC:0-3R regulatory disorders, adjusted OR 2.7 (95% CI: 1.0–7.5). Children with RP of feeding and eating showed an increased risk of overall mental disorder, adjusted OR 1.4 (95% CI: 0.7–2.4), and specifically, feeding and eating disorders, adjusted OR 6.0 (95% CI: 1.6–21.7), disorders of behavior and emotions, adjusted OR 2.2 (95% CI: 0.9–5.8), as well as DC:0-3R regulatory disorders, adjusted OR 1.6 (1.0–7.5). RP of emotional regulation were associated with increased risk of any mental disorder, adjusted OR 1.5 (1.0–2.4), and specifically behavioral and emotional disorders, adjusted OR 2.2 (95% CI: 0.9–5.9) and DC:0-3R relationship disorders, adjusted OR 1.8 (95% CI: 0.9–3.8). The mediation effect of maternal mental health problems and relationship problems ranged between 0% and 48%.ConclusionRP at ages 8–11 months is associated with increased risk of ICD-10 and DC:0-3R disorders at 1½ years. Study findings highlight a group of vulnerable infants in need of preventive intervention to break the early trajectories of psychopathology.

Sleep patterns among preschool offspring of parents with and without psychopathology: Association with the development of psychopathology in childhood.

Disturbed sleep during early childhood predicts social-emotional problems. However, it is not known how various early childhood sleep phenotypes are associated with the development of childhood psychopathology, nor whether these relationships vary as a function of parental psychopathology. We identified sleep phenotypes among preschool youth; examined whether these phenotypes were associated with child and parent factors; and determined if early sleep phenotypes predicted later childhood psychopathology. Using data from the Pittsburgh Bipolar Offspring study, parents with bipolar disorder (BD), non-BD psychopathology, and healthy controls reported about themselves and their offspring (n = 218) when their children were ages 2-5. Offspring and parents were interviewed directly approximately every 2 years from ages 6-18. Latent class analysis (LCA) identified latent sleep classes; we compared these classes on offspring demographics, parental sleep variables, and parental diagnoses. Kaplan-Meier survival models estimated hazard of developing any new-onset Axis-I disorders, as well as BD specifically, for each class. The optimal LCA solution featured four sleep classes, which we characterized as (1) good sleep, (2) wake after sleep onset problems, (3) bedtime problems (e.g., trouble falling asleep, resists going to bed), and (4) poor sleep generally. Good sleepers tended to have significantly less parental psychopathology than the other three classes. Risk of developing new-onset Axis-I disorders was highest among the poor sleep class and lowest among the good sleep class. Preschool sleep phenotypes are an important predictor of the development of psychopathology. Future work is needed to understand the biopsychosocial processes underlying these trajectories.

Intergenerational effects of maternal depression and co-occurring antisocial behaviors: The mediating role of parenting-related processes.

Co-occurring maternal depression and antisocial personality disorder (ASPD) are associated with the development of psychopathology in children, yet little is known about risk mechanisms. In a sample of 122 racially diverse and economically disadvantaged families, we prospectively investigated (a) to what extent child socioemotional problems were related to maternal depression-only, ASPD-only, or the co-occurrence of both and (b) specificity in parenting-related mechanisms linking single-type or comorbid maternal psychopathology to child outcomes at age 3. Compared to mothers without either ASPD or depression, exposure to maternal depression-only and comorbid depression/ASPD predicted child problems as a function of greater parenting stress and lower maternal sensitivity. Mothers with comorbid depression/ASPD uniquely exhibited more negative parenting and had children with more socioemotional problems than mothers with depression-only. Compared to mothers with neither ASPD nor depression, mothers with depression-only uniquely impacted child difficulties via lower maternal efficacy. Study findings suggest areas of parenting intervention. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Uncertain in the face of change: Lack of contingency shift awareness during extinction is associated with higher fear-potentiated startle and PTSD symptoms in children

Intolerance of uncertainty is a transdiagnostic risk factor for fear-related disorders and is associated with higher levels of anxiety in children and adolescents. It is unclear how uncertainty relates to development of psychopathology in children who have experienced trauma in early life. The present study used a fear-potentiated startle paradigm in children to examine associations between uncertainty (assessed as unawareness of a change in reinforcement during fear extinction) and symptoms of anxiety and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), as well as startle potentiation to threat and safety cues. Results showed that unaware children had strong positive associations between trauma exposure and PTSD symptoms, whereas aware children did not. Uncertainty interacted with anxiety in that children who were both unaware and had higher anxiety displayed higher fear-potentiated startle to safety cues and did not show discrimination between threat and safety during fear conditioning. These results suggest that anxious children who persist in associating a threat cue with an aversive event during extinction, after repeated presentations of the no longer reinforced conditioned stimulus, may express psychophysiological phenotypes related to PTSD.

A Systematic Review of Longitudinal Studies Investigating the Association Between Early Life Maternal Depression and Offspring ADHD

Objective: The systematic review sought to understand the relationship between maternal depression and later ADHD in children. Method: Three databases were used to identify the studies (Medline, Web of Science and PsychInfo) resulting in 1,223 studies being screened and 14 articles being included in the review. Results: The majority of studies (N = 11) reported a significant relationship between maternal depression (across both prenatal and postnatal periods) and ADHD symptoms in children. This relationship remained significant when temperament, or past ADHD symptoms were controlled for. Several methodological issues were identified including; overreliance on maternal report and parental ADHD not being accounted for in most studies. Conclusion: The review adds to the literature regarding the temporal relationship between maternal depression and the development of ADHD in children, and thus supports the case for improving access to mental health services for mothers as a preventative strategy in the development of child psychopathology.

Editorial Perspective: How Sir Michael Rutter revolutionised our understanding of human development: An introduction to a systematic Digest of his life's work.

Professor Sir Michael Rutter died on 23 October 2021. He had made an unparalleled and profound contribution to the science underpinning our understanding of the origins and development of psychopathology in children and young people. The unique combination of reforming motivations, intellectual curiosity and commitment to hypothesis-driven science that made this possible are discussed in the editorial for this issue (Sonuga-Barke, Fearon & Scott, 2022). I have recently compiled a systematic and comprehensive Digest of his life's work - 546 journal papers and 52 books published [https://doi.org/10.13056/acamh.13072]. This Editorial Perspective will summarise some highlights of the main areas of his many scientific achievements.

Psychological and social risk factors associated with development of psychopathology, controlling for biological influence.

To evaluate and summarize recent research investigating psychological, social and environmental risk factors for development of psychopathology in childhood, while controlling for biological (genetic) influences by using a matched sibling, twin or adoptee design. Nineteen studies were included, of which eleven were longitudinal and eight were cohort studies. Included studies used adequate designs and statistical methods, controlled for unmeasured confounders and, in many cases, for other measured risk factors. None of the studies used the framework for environmental factors presented in the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF). The outcome variable psychopathology was rarely assessed using a diagnostic standard. The findings were sorted in five themes based on included exposures: 'Social support, social rejection and perceived identity,' 'Early symptoms of psychopathology,' 'Antibiotic exposure,' 'Factors in the family' and 'Nature versus nurture'. Using twin/sibling/adoptee designs, a number of unique predictors of psychopathology were found, even when controlling for familial confounders and other specified risk factors. Future studies of psychopathology development should benefit from longitudinal, genetically sensitive designs and from use of diagnostic standards for psychopathology outcome, and should also incorporate ICF for classification of risk factors.

Absence of Biological Mothers in Infancy in Children and Adolescents on Diagnosis of Mental Disorders at Ikeswar Outpatient Clinic, Prof. Dr. Soerojo Mental Hospital, Magelang

Introduction. Globally, psychopathological problems in children and adolescents will become one of five problems that cause disability, morbidity, and even mortality in the next 20 years. The quality of a child's early attachment relationship is closely related to future brain and personality development. Attachment disorders are associated with the development of psychopathology in childhood and adulthood. This study aims to describe mental disorders in children and adolescents due to mothers who leave their children in infancy on Java, especially around Magelang.
 Methods. The type of this research is cross-sectional, namely descriptive research. The sample in this study were all patients and their parents/guardians who came for a consultation to the Ikeswar Polyclinic, Mental Hospital Prof. Dr.Soerojo Mental Hospital started on February 18, 2019. The examination uses the mental status determined and guided by PPDGJ III (Guidelines for Classifying the Diagnosis of Mental Disorders).
 Results. Most of the research respondents was male, both in children with excellent or poor attachment. As much as 26.1% in the group with suitable attachment. The age of most respondents is ten years old. The fourth axis diagnosis regarding psychosocial and environmental problems that most respondents experienced was primary support group (family) problems
 Conclusion. The attachment of the biological mother to the child at the age of fewer than two years is essential for the emotional mentality of the child at the age afterward and there is no visible picture of the difference in diagnosing mental disorders in children with suitable attachment and poor attachment.

Връзката между родителската рефлексивна функция, привързаността и развитието на психопатология при децата

This article presents a theoretical overview of the relationship between parental reflective function, attachment style and the development of child psychopathology. The concept of parental reflective function was developed by Peter Fonaghi and his colleagues. Reflexive functioning is defined as the ability to imagine our mental states, emotions and desires, as well as those of others. The ability to interpret and integrate past relational experience is seen as a high capacity for parental reflection. Central constructs in the theory of attachment are: the sensitive response of the mother, the internal working models and representations, the quality of attachment and the sense of security. In the process of developing attachment, the child builds Internal working models, which are formed on the basis of real relationships and participate in building representations of relationships. Arieta Slade and her colleagues believe that higher levels of reflective functioning are associated with secure attachment in children and conversely lower levels of reflective functioning are associated with insecure attachment in children, such as mothers of children who resist and are disorganized, they have the lowest levels of reflective functioning. Low levels of reflective functioning allow the baby's adaptive mechanisms to be distorted and to develop the pathological ways of interaction with the parent.

Caregiver depression and child behaviour problems: A longitudinal mixed effects approach

AbstractCaregiver mental health has a powerful influence on child well‐being. Both maternal depression and paternal depression predict behaviour problems in young children. However, little is known about the nature of this link over time. The present study leveraged a large sample of at‐risk families to examine the impact of maternal and paternal depression on trajectories of child behaviour from age 3 to 15. Data came from the At‐Home substudy of the Fragile Families and Child Well‐Being Study, which observed a cohort of children born 1998–2000 in 20 large American cities (N = 1,090). Multiple imputation by chained equations addressed missing data to maximize available information without biasing models. Linear mixed effects models tested the association between caregiver depression and child behaviour over 12 years; interaction models tested whether this association changed as children transitioned into adolescence. Results showed caregiver depression is related with increases in both child internalizing and externalizing problems, and these relationships strengthened over time. Findings inform risk trajectories of distinct behavioural problems, shedding light on the development of child psychopathology and highlighting opportunities for intervention.

Coping in context: The effects of long-term relations between interparental conflict and coping on the development of child psychopathology following parental divorce.

Exposure to high levels of postdivorce interparental conflict is a well-documented risk factor for the development of psychopathology, and there is strong evidence of a subpopulation of families for which conflict persists for many years after divorce. However, existing studies have not elucidated differential trajectories of conflict within families over time, nor have they assessed the risk posed by conflict trajectories for development of psychopathology or evaluated potential protective effects of children's coping to mitigate such risk. We used growth mixture modeling to identify longitudinal trajectories of child-reported conflict over a period of six to eight years following divorce in a sample of 240 children. We related the trajectories to children's mental health problems, substance use, and risky sexual behaviors and assessed how children's coping prospectively predicted psychopathology in the different conflict trajectories. We identified three distinct trajectories of conflict; youth in two high-conflict trajectories showed deleterious effects on measures of psychopathology at baseline and the six-year follow-up. We found both main effects of coping and coping by conflict trajectory interaction effects in predicting problem outcomes at the six-year follow-up. The study supports the notion that improving youth's general capacity to cope adaptively is a potentially modifiable protective factor for all children facing parental divorce and that children in families with high levels of postdivorce conflict are a particularly appropriate group to target for coping-focused preventive interventions.

Cognitive Vulnerability and Stress for Emotional and Behavioral Problems in Children and Adolescents: A Longitudinal Study

The present study investigated Beck's cognitive diathesis-stress theory (1967, 1987) for the prediction of emotional and behavioral problems in childhood. The study included 218 participants aged 10 to 16 years (M = 12.38, SD = 1.16) who underwent two evaluations with an interval of 8.4 months between them. In the first evaluation, sample was divided according to the participants' cognitive vulnerability (vulnerable, moderate, resilient) and in the second, by their experience of stressful events in recent months (low risk, moderate risk, high risk). The groups were compared by variation in the intensity of the symptoms over time. Results showed that high-risk cognitively vulnerable children had increased externalizing symptoms and children with moderate and high cognitive vulnerability had increased internalizing symptoms at Time 2. These results suggest the importance of considering dysfunctional cognitions and the existence of a certain level of stressful events for the development of psychopathology in childhood.

6.24 Development of Psychopathology in Children at Risk for Bipolar Disorder

6.24 Development of Psychopathology in Children at Risk for Bipolar Disorder

Associations between Psychopathology in Mothers, Fathers and Their Children: A Structural Modeling Approach

This study investigated associations between parental and child psychopathology with parenting stress as a possible mediator, in order to get more insight in mothers’ and fathers’ roles in the development of psychopathology in children. Parents of 272 clinically referred (aged 6–20, 66% boys) reported about their own and their child’s behavioral problems, and about parenting stress. Data were analyzed using Structural Equation Modeling. Outcomes of path models demonstrated that mothers’ higher internalizing and externalizing problems were associated with respectively children’s higher internalizing and externalizing problems. Fathers’ higher externalizing problems were associated with both children’s higher internalizing and externalizing problems, but fathers’ internalizing problems were only associated with children’s lower externalizing problems. Parenting stress fully mediated the relation between mothers’ and children’s externalizing problems, and partly mediated the relation between mothers’ and children’s internalizing problems. For fathers, parenting stress partly mediated the relation between fathers’ internalizing problems and children’s externalizing problems. Findings indicate that for mothers, the association between parental and child psychopathology is specific, whereas for fathers it is non-specific. Furthermore, results suggest that reducing parenting stress may decrease child problem behavior. Longitudinal studies are needed in order to gain more insight in the direction and underlying mechanisms of the relation between parental and child psychopathology, including parental stress.

Maternal emotion dysregulation, parenting stress, and child physiological anxiety during dark-enhanced startle.

Maternal emotion dysregulation (ED) plays a crucial role in the development of psychopathology in children. The current study aimed to investigate parenting stress as a mediator of the relationship between maternal emotion dysregulation and child startle potentiation, with child sex as a moderator. Mothers were interviewed to obtain self-report of maternal ED and parenting stress and child's dark-enhanced startle (DES) response was measured using electromyographic recordings of the eye-blink muscle during the delivery of acoustic probes. We found that maternal ED was positively correlated with both her parenting stress and her child's DES. A bootstrap analysis yielded a full mediation of the association between ED and child DES via parenting stress. Child sex was not a significant moderator of these relationships. These results suggest that maternal ED has important consequences for the intergenerational transmission of risk and also highlight the interaction of behavioral and biological mechanisms of risk.

Associations of Parent-Adolescent Discrepancies in Family Cohesion and Conflict with Adolescent Impairment

Family cohesion and family conflict are important protective and risk factors respectively in the development of child psychopathology. Our study examines parent-adolescent discrepancy of the family environment constructs, family cohesion and family conflict, and their associations with adolescent impairment. The sample consists of 141 parent-adolescent dyads evaluated at an outpatient behavioral health clinic. The mean adolescent age is 14.8 (range 11–18) while the mean parent age is 48.9 (range 32–67). Findings show that adolescents report significantly less family cohesion but do not differ significantly in reports of family conflict. Greater family cohesion is associated with less adolescent impairment by multiple reporters. Nonetheless, greater family conflict is associated with more adolescent impairment by the same reporter. The results show that both adolescent and parent reports of family cohesion and conflict are important to consider when integrating information gathered in a clinical assessment.

Developmental delay and emotion dysregulation: Predicting parent-child conflict across early to middle childhood.

Cumulative risk research has increased understanding of how multiple risk factors impact various socioemotional and interpersonal outcomes across the life span. However, little is known about risk factors for parent-child conflict early in development, where identifying predictors of change could be highly salient for intervention. Given their established association with parent-child conflict, child developmental delay (DD) and emotion dysregulation were examined as predictors of change in conflict across early to middle childhood (ages 3 to 7 years). Participants (n = 211) were part of a longitudinal study examining the development of psychopathology in children with or without DD. Level of parent-child conflict was derived from naturalistic home observations, whereas child dysregulation was measured using an adapted CBCL-Emotion Dysregulation Index. PROCESS was used to examine the conditional interactive effects of delay status (typically developing, DD) and dysregulation on change in conflict from child ages 3 to 5 and 5 to 7 years. Across both of these timeframes, parent-child conflict increased only for families of children with both DD and high dysregulation, providing support for an interactive risk model of parent-child conflict. Findings are considered in the context of developmental transitions, and implications for intervention are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record

Temperament Traits and Psychopathology in Young Clinically Referred Children Compared to a General Population Sample

Evidence from general population studies shows the contribution of various temperament traits to the development of child psychopathology. Little is known about which traits are associated with internalizing and externalizing problems in young clinically referred children. The current study assessed temperament and internalizing and externalizing problems in 216 referred children (M = 4.35 years, SD 0.89, 81% boys). A comparison was made with an age and gender matched general population sample. Referred children showed less effortful control than general population children. Less effortful control and more negative affectivity were associated with more internalizing and externalizing problems across groups. Surgency, and specifically temperamental impulsivity, was more strongly associated with externalizing problems in referred children compared to general population. Less soothability, less inhibitory control and more frustration predicted (sub)clinical levels of comborbid internalizing and externalizing problems in referred children. The results can be used in diagnostic and treatment procedures in early childhood.

Effects of Prenatal and Postbirth Intimate Partner Violence on Preschool-Age Children’s Dissociative Symptoms

ABSTRACTStudies on the effects of intimate partner violence (IPV) on children have typically focused on IPV to which children were exposed after their birth. However, research has also demonstrated the effect of prenatal IPV on children’s psychological functioning, although this has not yet been studied with respect to dissociation. In this study, we examined the association between prenatal and postbirth IPV and dissociative symptoms among preschool-age children using a Bayesian approach to multiple regression. Results indicated that prenatal IPV predicts child dissociative symptoms over and above postbirth IPV and other negative life events that the child has experienced. These results provide further evidence for the role prenatal IPV plays in the development of child psychopathology and suggest directions for future research and intervention.

Effect of eye trauma on mental health and quality of life in children and adolescents.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effects of eye traumas on mental health and quality of life of children, adolescents, and their parents. Medical records of 20 children and adolescents presented with blunt and open eye injuries between June 2009 and May 2014 were reviewed. Demographics of patients, timing and type of trauma, findings of initial examination, and medical and surgical interventions applied were recorded. To detect mental health, "Affect disorders and schizophrenia interview chart for school children, now and lifelong" (AFSIC-NL) and "Child Post-Traumatic Stress Reaction Index (CPTSD-RI)" were used. "Pediatric scale of quality of life" (PedsQL) was used to assess quality of life for both parents and children. According to AFSIC-NL, 9 patients were diagnosed with mental disorders including posttraumatic stress disorder (n=3, 15% patients), generalized anxiety disorder (n=3, 15% patients), and major depression (n=3, 15% patients). The PedsQL values of both children's and parents' were at their lowest in school and physical health domains for children and in physical health domain for parents. A reverse correlation was detected between the number of surgeries and PedsQL-child physical functionality, school functionality, psychosocial functionality, and total scale point. There was a statistically significant relationship between initial visual acuity or lens damage and PedsQL-parent emotional functionality scale. Regarding CPTSD-RI, the parents of these patients have a mild posttraumatic stress disorder. Eye injuries can lead development of psychopathology in children. Therefore, psychiatric support must be provided in follow-up period for these patients.