Anxiety, Family Functioning and Neuroendocrine Biomarkers in Obese Children

Introduction: This observational study explores potential links between obese children’s cortisol, and parental mental state, family functioning, and the children’s symptoms of anxiety and depression.Material and Methods: A non-random sample of 104 obese children (55 boys), mean age 10.9 years (standard deviation 1.76), was recruited from a childhood obesity clinic. Obesity was defined as body mass index above the 95th age- and gender-specific percentiles. Neuroendocrine biomarkers were measured. Symptoms of anxiety and depression were assessed with self and parent-reported questionnaires (Anxiety, Depression and Stress Scales; Child Behaviour Checklist). Family functioning was assessed with parent-reported questionnaires (Family Adaptation and Cohesion Scales-III).Results: A significant, negative correlation (rs = -0.779; p = 0.003) between girls’ cortisol and their parents’ anxiety symptoms was found, limited to high functioning families. Boys scored significantly higher than girls on parent-reported internalizing symptoms but not on self-report. No association was found between cortisol in children and parental depressive symptoms.Discussion: Whether the association between cortisol levels in obese children and parental mental health is effectively restricted to girls from high functioning families or is due to study limitations, requires further research. The lack of associations between cortisol in children and parental depressive symptoms, suggests a specific association between cortisol and parental anxiety symptoms.Conclusion: These results highlight the importance of taking into account family functioning, parental mental state and gender, when investigating neuroendocrine biomarkers in obese children associated with symptoms of anxiety and depression.

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Prevalence and Gender Differences of ODD, Anxiety, and Depression in a Sample of Children With ADHD

Journal of Attention Disorders ◽

10.1177/1087054715608442 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 23 (11) ◽

pp. 1339-1345 ◽

Cited By ~ 14

Author(s):

Gudlaug Marion Mitchison ◽

Urdur Njardvik

Keyword(s):

Gender Differences ◽

Internalizing Symptoms ◽

Rating Scale ◽

Self Report ◽

Anxiety And Depression ◽

Children With Adhd ◽

Behavior Rating Scale ◽

Oppositional Defiant ◽

And Gender ◽

Reported Data

Objective: Studies on comorbidity in children diagnosed with ADHD have relied more on parent/teacher reports instead of self-reported data and have focused on the frequency of comorbid symptoms instead of scores above clinical cutoffs. The purpose of this study was to examine the prevalence of oppositional defiant disorder (ODD), anxiety, and depression in children with ADHD, using self-report measures for internalizing symptoms and parent-reported measures for externalizing symptoms for increased accuracy. Gender differences were also assessed. Method: Parents of 197 children diagnosed with ADHD answered the Disruptive Behavior Rating Scale, and 112 of the children filled out the Multidimensional Anxiety Scale for Children and the Children’s Depression Inventory. Results: Results revealed that 19.28% of the children met cut-off criteria for ODD, 41.96% for anxiety, and 21.43% for depression. Conclusion: Our findings indicate a relatively lower prevalence of ODD and a slightly higher prevalence of anxiety symptoms than previously reported. Possible explanations and future directions are discussed.

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The Friendship Questionnaire, autism, and gender differences: a study revisited

Molecular Autism ◽

10.1186/s13229-019-0295-z ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 10 (1) ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Felicity Sedgewick ◽

Jenni Leppanen ◽

Kate Tchanturia

Keyword(s):

Gender Differences ◽

Negative Correlation ◽

Significant Negative Correlation ◽

Romantic Partners ◽

Self Report ◽

Online Study ◽

Relationship Closeness ◽

Autistic People ◽

Close Relationship ◽

And Gender

Abstract Background The Friendship Questionnaire (FQ) is a widely used measure of friendships in autism research and beyond. This study sought to revisit the original paper where the measure was presented, using a larger sample of both autistic and non-autistic participants to examine gender differences in scoring. It also sought to expand upon the original paper by comparing FQ results to those of the Unidimensional Relationship Closeness Scale (URCS), to examine whether there are differences in how autistic people report on their general friendships in contrast to their most significant relationships. Methods Participants were recruited for an online study, and 949 people (532 autistic, 417 non-autistic) aged between 18 and 81 took part. Participants completed a demographic questionnaire, the Autism Quotient-28, the Friendship Questionnaire, and the Unidimensional Relationship Closeness Scale. Results We used robust regressions and Pearson’s correlational analyses, conducted in R. Autistic people scored lower than non-autistic people on the FQ, and similar gender differences in the pattern of FQ scores were seen in both groups. There was a significant negative correlation between AQ and FQ scores in both groups. On the URCS, we took the data from those who rated specific close relationships and found that autistic people scored this relationship more highly than non-autistic adults did. There was a significant negative correlation between AQ and URCS scores in both groups. Also, in both groups, there was a significant positive correlation between FQ and URCS scores. Limitations The data is entirely self-report, and diagnoses could not be verified with a clinician, although AQ scores support self-identification as autistic. Also, the groups were not evenly matched on age and other demographic variables, although this was controlled for in analyses. It is also the case that more autistic than non-autistic people were unable to specify a close relationship to score on the URCS, meaning that a certain set of experiences are not represented in this data. Conclusions We conclude that our data replicates the core finding of the original FQ paper that autistic people score lower on the FQ. In contrast to that paper, however, we found that there were gender differences among the autistic population. Also, our inclusion of the URCS suggests that the intimate romantic relationships and best-friendships of autistic people can be of similar quality to those of non-autistic people, suggesting that there may be important differences in autistic people’s relations with friends in general versus close friends and romantic partners.

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CAT-Q MSCS BASC2 Pre-Print

10.31234/osf.io/s93c4 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Hilary Aime ◽

Nichole Scheerer ◽

Troy Boucher ◽

Grace Iarocci

Keyword(s):

Young Adults ◽

Social Competence ◽

Autistic Traits ◽

Self Report ◽

Anxiety And Depression ◽

Autistic People ◽

Competence Scale ◽

And Gender ◽

The Relationship

Background: Camouflaging, defined as the use of strategies to compensate for or hide autistic traits, is associated with internalizing behaviour (i.e., anxiety and depression) in both autistic and non-autistic people. Non-autistic adults who have poorer social competence tend to engage in more camouflaging, thus it’s unclear whether the increase in internalizing behaviour associated with camouflaging may be explained by poor social competence, rather than camouflaging itself. The purpose of this study was to extend previous research on camouflaging and internalizing behaviour among non-autistic people through examination of the role of social competence. Methods: In this study, 315 non-autistic young adults completed the Multidimensional Social Competence Scale (MSCS) to assess their social competence, the Camouflaging of Autistic Traits Questionnaire (CAT-Q) to assess their use of camouflaging strategies, and the Behaviour Assessment Scale for Children 2 – Self-Report of Personality, College Version (BASC-2 SRP-COL) to assess their internalizing behaviour. Results: We found that camouflaging predicted internalizing behaviour among non-autistic young adults after controlling for social competence, autistic traits, age, IQ, and gender. Camouflaging partially mediated the relationship between social competence and internalizing behaviours. Conclusions: These results suggest that the use of camouflaging strategies is uniquely associated with internalizing behaviour over and above social competence and may, in part, contribute to the increased internalizing behaviours observed in individuals with poorer social competence.

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Religiosity and mental health of pre-adolescents with psychiatric problems and their parents: The TRAILS study

European Psychiatry ◽

10.1016/j.eurpsy.2015.07.006 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 30 (7) ◽

pp. 845-851 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

W. van der Jagt-Jelsma ◽

M.R. de Vries-Schot ◽

Rint de Jong ◽

C.A. Hartman ◽

F.C. Verhulst ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Internalizing Problems ◽

Externalizing Problems ◽

Internalizing Symptoms ◽

Child Behavior Checklist ◽

Mental Health Problems ◽

Self Report ◽

Adolescent Religiosity ◽

And Gender ◽

Psychiatric Problems

AbstractBackground:This study investigated the association between the religiosity of parents and pre-adolescents, and pre-adolescents’ psychiatric problems.Method:In a clinic-referred cohort of 543 pre-adolescents at least once referred to a mental health outpatient clinic mental health problems were assessed using self-reports (Youth Self-Report; YSR), parent reports (Child Behavior Checklist; CBCL), and teacher reports (Teacher's Report Form; TRF) of child behavioral and emotional problems. Paternal, maternal, and pre-adolescent religiosity were assessed by self-report. MANCOVAs were performed for internalizing and externalizing problems as dependent variables, with maternal religiosity, paternal religiosity, pre-adolescent religiosity, parental religious harmony, and gender as independent variables, and socioeconomic status and divorce as covariates.Results:Internalizing problems. Pre-adolescents of actively religious mothers had more internalizing symptoms than pre-adolescents of nonreligious mothers. Harmony and gender did not significantly affect the association between maternal religiosity and internalizing problems. Externalizing problems. No associations between religiosity of pre-adolescents, religiosity of mothers, religiosity of fathers and/or harmony of parents and externalizing problem behavior have been found.Discussion and conclusions:Overall, associations between mental health and religiosity were modest to absent. Results are discussed in the context of a clinic-referred cohort, the quest phase of internalizing religious beliefs and role modeling of parents.

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The Interplay between Irritability and Ego-Resilience and their Links to Symptoms of Anxiety and Depression During Childhood

10.31234/osf.io/emgk7 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Julian Busch ◽

Lisa Schettgen ◽

Eva Krey ◽

Clara Bleckmann ◽

Rainer Georg Siefen

Keyword(s):

Internalizing Symptoms ◽

Systems Approach ◽

Protective Role ◽

Self Report ◽

Anxiety And Depression ◽

Hierarchical Regression ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Symptoms Of Depression ◽

Ego Resilience

Anxiety and depression are among the disorders with highest prevalence during childhood. Previous research has substantiated that individual’s high irritability promotes the occurrence of associated symptoms while high ego-resilience protects against them. So far, little is known about how ego-resilience could engage with irritability for symptom development. We investigated interactional effects of irritability with ego-resilience on symptoms of anxiety and depression. Overall, 228 children from a combined clinical and nonclinical sample aged 7 to 18 years participated in a cross-sectional self-report survey. They reported on internalizing symptoms, ego-resilience, and irritability. A moderated hierarchical regression analysis showed that ego-resilience was negatively associated with symptoms of anxiety and depression, and that irritability was positively related to heightened symptom levels. Ego-resilience and irritability were overall stronger associated with symptoms of depression than anxiety. Irritability moderated the association between ego-resilience and depression such that effects of ego-resilience were stronger among highly irritable participants. Our results suggest that highly irritable children could benefit to a larger extent from ego-resilience capacities, possibly yielding a protective role of irritability for buffering internalizing symptoms. Our findings highlight differential psychopathological mechanisms that underlie depression and anxiety. They also pinpoint to a dynamic systems approach when assessing determinants of psychopathology which are traditionally interpreted as either risk-increasing or protective. Furthering research that considers irritability within environmental/biological sensitivity frameworks could help better understanding our findings.

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Determining Emotional Tone and Verbal Behavior in Patients With Tinnitus and Hyperacusis: An Exploratory Mixed-Methods Study

American Journal of Audiology ◽

10.1044/2019_aja-18-0136 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 28 (3) ◽

pp. 660-672

Author(s):

Suzanne H. Kimball ◽

Toby Hamilton ◽

Erin Benear ◽

Jonathan Baldwin

Keyword(s):

Mixed Methods ◽

Verbal Behavior ◽

Coping Strategies ◽

Mixed Methods Study ◽

Self Report ◽

Anxiety And Depression ◽

Negative Consequences ◽

Emotional Tone ◽

Explanatory Mixed Methods ◽

Quantitative Results

Purpose The purpose of this study was to evaluate the emotional tone and verbal behavior of social media users who self-identified as having tinnitus and/or hyperacusis that caused self-described negative consequences on daily life or health. Research Design and Method An explanatory mixed-methods design was utilized. Two hundred “initial” and 200 “reply” Facebook posts were collected from members of a tinnitus group and a hyperacusis group. Data were analyzed via the LIWC 2015 software program and compared to typical bloggers. As this was an explanatory mixed-methods study, we used qualitative thematic analyses to explain, interpret, and illustrate the quantitative results. Results Overall, quantitative results indicated lower overall emotional tone for all categories (tinnitus and hyperacusis, initial and reply), which was mostly influenced by higher negative emotion. Higher levels of authenticity or truth were found in the hyperacusis sample but not in the tinnitus sample. Lower levels of clout (social standing) were indicated in all groups, and a lower level of analytical thinking style (concepts and complex categories rather than narratives) was found in the hyperacusis sample. Additional analysis of the language indicated higher levels of sadness and anxiety in all groups and lower levels of anger, particularly for initial replies. These data support prior findings indicating higher levels of anxiety and depression in this patient population based on the actual words in blog posts and not from self-report questionnaires. Qualitative results identified 3 major themes from both the tinnitus and hyperacusis texts: suffering, negative emotional tone, and coping strategies. Conclusions Results from this study suggest support for the predominant clinical view that patients with tinnitus and hyperacusis have higher levels of anxiety and depression than the general population. The extent of the suffering described and patterns of coping strategies suggest clinical practice patterns and the need for research in implementing improved practice plans.

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Race, Gender, and Perceived Employment Discrimination

Journal of Black Studies ◽

10.1177/00219347211006486 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 52 (5) ◽

pp. 509-527

Author(s):

Philip Q. Yang

Keyword(s):

Black Women ◽

White Women ◽

Social Inequalities ◽

Employment Discrimination ◽

General Social Survey ◽

Self Report ◽

Independent Effect ◽

Race And Gender ◽

Job Discrimination ◽

And Gender

This study investigates the effects of race and gender on perceived employment discrimination using the 2016 General Social Survey that provides new data on perceived employment discrimination that aligns more closely with the legal definition of employment discrimination. It is found that 19% of the American adults self-reported the experience of employment discrimination in job application, pay increase, or promotion in the past 5 years. The results of logistic regression analysis show that either controlling or not controlling for other factors, Blacks were much more likely to perceive being discriminated in employment than Whites, but other races were not significantly different from Whites in perceived employment discrimination after holding other variables constant. While gender did not have a significant independent effect on perceived job discrimination, it did interact with race to influence perceived job discrimination. Regardless of race, women were somewhat less likely than men to perceive job discrimination, but Black women were significantly even less likely than White women to self-report job discrimination, and Black men were much more likely to self-report employment discrimination than White men. These findings have implications for combating employment discrimination and addressing social inequalities.

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Cross-Study, Cross-Method Associations Between Negative Urgency and Internalizing Symptoms

Assessment ◽

10.1177/1073191120983889 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 107319112098388

Author(s):

Kevin M. King ◽

Max A. Halvorson ◽

Kevin S. Kuehn ◽

Madison C. Feil ◽

Liliana J. Lengua

Keyword(s):

Depressive Symptoms ◽

Ecological Momentary Assessment ◽

Internalizing Symptoms ◽

Negative Emotions ◽

Anxiety Symptoms ◽

Negative Emotionality ◽

Self Report ◽

Negative Urgency ◽

Ecological Momentary ◽

Momentary Assessment

There is a small body of research that has connected individual differences in negative urgency, the tendency to report rash actions in response to negative emotions, with self-report depressive and anxiety symptoms. Despite the conceptual overlap of negative urgency with negative emotionality, the tendency to experience frequent and intense negative emotions, even fewer studies have examined whether the association of negative urgency with internalizing symptoms hold when controlling for negative emotionality. In the current study, we estimated the bivariate association between negative urgency and internalizing symptoms, tested whether they remained significant after partialling out negative emotionality, and tested whether these effects generalized to real-time experiences of negative emotions. We used data from five independent samples of high school and college students, assessed with global self-report ( n = 1,297) and ecological momentary assessment ( n = 195). Results indicated that in global self-report data, negative urgency was moderately and positively associated with depressive and anxiety symptoms, and the partial association with depressive symptoms (but not anxiety symptoms) controlling for negative emotionality remained significant and moderate in magnitude. This pattern was replicated in ecological momentary assessment data. Negative urgency may convey risk for depressive symptoms, independent of the effects of negative emotionality.

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Who should we ask about mental health symptoms in adolescents with CFS/ME? Parent-child agreement on the revised children’s anxiety and depression scale

Clinical Child Psychology and Psychiatry ◽

10.1177/1359104521994880 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 26 (2) ◽

pp. 367-380

Author(s):

Teona Serafimova ◽

Maria Loades ◽

Daisy Gaunt ◽

Esther Crawley

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Depression Scale ◽

Parent Report ◽

Self Report ◽

Anxiety And Depression ◽

Mental Health Symptoms ◽

Child Report ◽

Health Symptoms ◽

Children’S Anxiety ◽

Parent Child

Background: One in three adolescents with chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalomyelitis (CFS/ME) have mental health problems. Multi-informant perspectives are key to psychological assessment. Understanding parent-child agreement is crucial to accurate diagnosis, particularly where severe fatigue limits self-report. Methods: Agreement on the revised children’s anxiety and depression scale (RCADs) was assessed between parents and children with CFS/ME ( n = 93) using Bland-Altman plots, cross tabulations and regression analyses. Results: Diagnostic thresholds were met more frequently based on child-report. Parent- and child-report had similar sensitivity and specificity on RCADS compared to gold-standard diagnostic interviews. Regression analysis found similar accuracy between both reports. For anxiety diagnoses, odds ratio (OR) for child-report was 1.10 (CI = 1.06–1.14), and 1.10 (CI = 1.05–1.14) for parent-report. For depression, OR for child report was 1.26 (CI = 1.11–1.43), while for parent-report is was 1.25 (CI = 1.10–1.41). For total score, OR for child-report was 1.10 (CI = 1.05–1.13) while OR for parent-report was 1.09 (CI = 1.05–1.13). Conclusions: Reasonable agreement was observed between parent- and child-report of mental health symptoms in paediatric CFS/ME. While parent-report can facilitate psychological evaluation in CFS/ME, this is not a substitute for a child’s own report.

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The Development of Preliminary HiTOP Internalizing Spectrum Scales

Assessment ◽

10.1177/10731911211003976 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 107319112110039

Author(s):

David Watson ◽

Miriam K. Forbes ◽

Holly F. Levin-Aspenson ◽

Camilo J. Ruggero ◽

Yuliya Kotelnikova ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Internalizing Symptoms ◽

Self Report ◽

General Factor ◽

Item Pool ◽

Factor Analyses ◽

Item Level ◽

Formal Definitions ◽

Body Dysmorphia ◽

Item Writing ◽

Report Measure

As part of a broader project to create a comprehensive self-report measure for the Hierarchical Taxonomy of Psychopathology consortium, we developed preliminary scales to assess internalizing symptoms. The item pool was created in four steps: (a) clarifying the range of content to be assessed, (b) identifying target constructs to guide item writing, (c) developing formal definitions for each construct, and (d) writing multiple items for each construct. This yielded 430 items assessing 57 target constructs. Responses from a heterogeneous scale development sample ( N = 1,870) were subjected to item-level factor analyses based on polychoric correlations. This resulted in 39 scales representing a total of 213 items. The psychometric properties of these scales replicated well across the development sample and an independent validation sample ( N = 496 adults). Internal consistency analyses established that most scales assess relatively narrow forms of psychopathology. Structural analyses demonstrated the presence of a strong general factor. Additional analyses of the 35 nonsexual dysfunction scales revealed a replicable four-factor structure with dimensions we labeled Distress, Fear, Body Dysmorphia, and Mania. A final set of analyses established that the internalizing scales varied widely—and consistently—in the strength of their associations with neuroticism and extraversion.

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