Common infectious morbidity and white blood cell count in middle childhood predict behavior problems in adolescence

We examined the associations of middle childhood infectious morbidity and inflammatory biomarkers with adolescent internalizing and externalizing behavior problems. We recruited 1018 Colombian schoolchildren aged 5–12 years into a cohort. We quantified white blood cell (WBC) counts and C-reactive protein at enrollment and prospectively recorded incidence of gastrointestinal, respiratory, and fever-associated morbidity during the first follow-up year. After a median 6 years, we assessed adolescent internalizing and externalizing behavior problems using child behavior checklist (CBCL) and youth self-report (YSR) questionnaires. Behavior problem scores were compared over biomarker and morbidity categories using mean differences and 95% confidence intervals (CI) from multivariable linear regression. Compared with children without symptoms, CBCL internalizing problem scores were an adjusted 2.5 (95% CI: 0.1, 4.9; p = .04) and 3.1 (95% CI: 1.1, 5.2; p = .003) units higher among children with moderate diarrhea with vomiting and high cough with fever rates, respectively. High cough with fever and high fever rates were associated with increased CBCL somatic complaints and anxious/depressed scores, respectively. WBC >10,000/mm3 was associated with both internalizing problem and YSR withdrawn/depressed scores. There were no associations with externalizing behavior problems. Whether or not decreasing the burden of common infections results in improved neurobehavioral outcomes warrants further investigation.

Does emotion dysregulation mediate the association between ADHD symptoms and internalizing problems? A longitudinal within-person analysis in a large population-representative study

Background: Previous research has suggested that children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms commonly show emotion dysregulation difficulties. It has been suggested that these difficulties may partly explain the substantial co-occurrence of internalizing problems such as anxiety and depression with ADHD symptoms. However, no study has yet provided a longitudinal analysis of the within-person links between ADHD symptoms, emotion dysregulation, and internalizing problems necessary to determine if emotion dysregulation mediates the links between ADHD symptoms and internalizing problems. Methods: We used data from three waves (age 3,5, and 7) of the large UK population-representative Millennium Cohort Study (n = 9619, 4885 males) and fit an autoregressive latent trajectory model with structured residuals (ALT-SR) to disaggregate within- and between-person relations between ADHD, emotion dysregulation, and internalizing problem symptoms. Results: Consistent with our hypothesis, we found that emotion dysregulation significantly mediated the longitudinal within-person association between ADHD symptoms and internalizing problems. Conclusions: Results underline the promise of targeting emotion dysregulation as a means of preventing internalizing problems co-occurring with ADHD symptoms.

The effect of parenting pressure on children’s internalizing problem behaviors and its mechanism

BACKGROUND: in the process of raising children, parents will inevitably have inappropriate measures and behaviors, which will bring greater pressure on the children’s psychology and physiology. OBJECTIVE: in the field of children’s development, parenting pressure has always been one of the hotspots of worldwide scholars. In order to further understand the causes of children’s psychological problems, the effect of parenting pressure on children’s internalizing problem behaviors and its mechanism are explored. METHODS: based on previous literature, the parenting pressure and children’s internalizing related problems in China are investigated. Based on the characteristic discussion of parenting styles in China, the parenting pressure and internalizing problems of children is deeply analyzed. The sample survey is used to sample the parents of kindergarten children, and a total of 679 children’s parents are selected. RESULTS: the results show that the parents of boys have more serious parenting pressure than the parents of girls. In the process of raising children, the mother bears more pressure than the father. For the internalizing problems of children, the psychological aggression behavior of parents shows a relatively serious effect. There is a certain causal relationship between parenting pressure and parents’ strict discipline behavior. Therefore, parenting pressure is used as an intermediary variable to affect children’s internalizing behavior. Parenting pressure does not show a significant correlation with children’s internalizing problems, but indirectly affects the generation of children’s internalizing behaviors by affecting parents’ strict discipline behaviors. CONCLUSION: it enriches the investigations on parenting pressure and children’s education in China, and provides a certain theoretical basis for the development of children’s mental health.

Gender and Racial/Ethnic Disparities in Undergraduate and Graduate Students’ Mental Health and Treatment Use amid the COVID-19 Pandemic

Objective: To investigate gender and racial/ethnic disparities in mental health and treatment use in college and graduate students amid the COVID-19 pandemic.Method: Based on a large-scale online survey (N = 1,415) administered during the weeks following a pandemic-related university-wide campus closure in March 2020, we examined gender and racial disparities in current internalizing severity and treatment use with t-tests and logistic regression models.Results: Specifically, we found that students with marginalized gender (e.g., woman [p < .001], non-binary gender [p < .001]) or Hispanic/Latinx identity (p = .002) reported higher levels of internalizing problem severity compared to their privileged counterparts (e.g., man, non- Hispanic/Latinx White). Regarding treatment use, Asian (p < .001) and multiracial students (p = .002) reported lower treatment use after controlling for internalizing problem severity. Internalizing severity was generally associated with higher treatment use (logit = 0.53, p = .001), indicating a match of objective needs with service use. However, this relationship was offset by a negative interaction between internalizing problem severity and Asian (logit = -0.49, p < .001) or Black identity (logit = -0.57, p = .03) in predicting treatment use.Conclusion: The findings revealed unique mental health challenges faced by different demographic groups and served as a call that specific actions to enhance mental health equity, such as continued mental health support for students with marginalized gender identities, additional COVID-related mental and practical support for Hispanic/Latinx students, and promotion of mental health awareness and trust in Asian/Black students, are desperately needed.

Cumulative Ecological Risk and Problem Behaviors Among Adolescents in Secondary Vocational Schools: The Mediating Roles of Core Self-Evaluation and Basic Psychological Need Satisfaction

Based on the Cumulative Risk Model, a single risk factor cannot play a decisive role, but the cumulative ecological risks may have complex superposition effects on adolescents' problem behaviors. However, although many studies have investigated the specific influences of single external risk factors on problem behaviors, the effect of cumulative ecological risk on problem behaviors and especially the underlying mechanisms therein have been under-investigated. Therefore, this study aimed to explore the effect of cumulative ecological risk on adolescents' problem behaviors, and the mediating effects of core self-evaluation and basic psychological needs satisfaction therein. To achieve this, 1,080 adolescents in secondary vocational schools were surveyed with the questionnaires of cumulative ecological risk, basic psychological need satisfaction, core self-evaluation, externalizing and internalizing problem behaviors. Results showed that: (a) cumulative ecological risk was positively related with both internalizing problem behavior and externalizing problem behavior; (b) core self-evaluation and basic psychological need satisfaction not only respectively but also sequentially mediated the relationship between cumulative ecological risk and two sorts of problem behaviors. These results provide some pivotal implications for the precaution and intervention of the adolescent problem behaviors.

Relations between Sensory Responsiveness and Features of Autism in Children

Autism is a neurodevelopmental condition defined by differences in social communication and by the presence of restricted and repetitive patterns of behavior, interests, and activities (RRBs). Individuals with autism also commonly present with atypical patterns of sensory responsiveness (i.e., hyporesponsiveness, hyperresponsiveness, and sensory seeking), which are theorized to produce cascading effects across other domains of development. The purpose of this study was to examine differences in sensory responsiveness in children with and without autism (ages 8–18 years), as well as relations between patterns of sensory responsiveness and core and related features of autism. Participants were 50 children with autism and 50 non-autistic peers matched on age and sex. A comprehensive clinical battery included multiple measures of sensory responsiveness, core features of autism, adaptive behavior, internalizing behaviors, cognitive ability, and language ability. Groups significantly differed on all three patterns of sensory responsiveness. Some indices of core and related autism features were robustly associated with all three patterns of sensory responsiveness (e.g., RRBs), while others were more strongly associated with discrete patterns of sensory responsiveness (i.e., internalizing problem behaviors and hyperresponsiveness, language and sensory seeking). This study extends prior work to show that differences in sensory responsiveness that are linked with core and related features of autism persist in older children and adolescents on the spectrum.