Skin Conductance Responses to a Discrete Threat in Virtual Reality: Associations with Psychopathy and Anxiety

People with high levels of psychopathic traits are often described as fearless and lacking in emotional depth, particularly when evaluating threats in their environments. Skin conductance responsivity (SCR) to negative emotional stimuli represents a robust autonomic correlate of conduct problem behavior in children (Fanti et al., in Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, 100, 98–107, 2019). However, studies that have examined threat-related processing in youth with conduct problems have tended to use a variety of negative stimuli that might induce various and unspecific negative emotions. Few studies have taken in to account the moderating effects of anxiety on the relationship of distinct psychopathic traits (e.g., narcissism, callousness, impulsivity) with SCR to a fear inducing stimulus. In this study, we examined SCR to a virtual reality rollercoaster drop – that is, a discrete fear inducing event – in a sample of 75 youths (61 males; M = 14 years, SD = 1.4) enrolled in a non-mainstream school. The rollercoaster drop was used to more clearly examine an event-related response to a discrete threat, rather than examining SCR throughout the rollercoaster ride. We used the teacher-reported Antisocial Process Screening Device (Frick & Hare, in Antisocial process screening device: APSD. Toronto: Multi-Health Systems, 2001) to examine the relations of distinct psychopathic traits with SCR and self-reported anxiety. Lower anxiety was associated with higher callousness, but only in youths with low SCR to discrete threat. These findings suggest that fear and anxiety show complex and interactive relations with distinct psychopathic traits.

Alcohol Misuse among English Youth, Are Harms Attributable to Alcohol or to Underlying Disinhibitory Characteristics?

Introduction Alcohol use by young people is associated with a range of psychological and physical harms. However, similar harms are also reported with disinhibitory conditions such as conduct problems that are said to precede and predispose to alcohol misuse. We explored whether alcohol use or indicators of underlying disinhibition predict psychological and physical harms in a cohort of young people. Methods We used data from a randomised controlled intervention trial that identified young people who consumed alcohol (n = 756), mean age = 15.6 years, attending emergency departments (EDs) in England. Disinhibition was measured by the self-report Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire hyperactivity and conduct problem items, and alcohol-related harms by questions from the ESPAD, a major European school survey. We conducted a mediation analysis with a primary outcome of frequency of engaging in alcohol-related harms 12 months after screening in ED, exploring for the mediating influence of alcohol consumed at six months. We included age, gender, allocated group and baseline consumption as covariates and adjusted for the multi-level nature of the study, where young people were nested within EDs. Results Conduct problems and to a lesser extent hyperactivity predicted harms at twelve months. This effect was not mediated by alcohol consumed at 6 months. Conclusions Among young drinkers underlying behavioural attributes predict harm independently of alcohol use. This suggests that the harms associated with alcohol use are attributable more to underlying disinhibitory characteristics than the quantity of alcohol consumed.

Comparing styles of parent-child conversation: The influence on children's conduct problems and emotion knowledge

<p>This preliminary study conducted across Canberra and Wellington was the first to compare the effectiveness of two styles of maternal-reminiscing as an adjunct to Parent Management Training (PMT) for mothers of children ranging from four to eight-years-old (M = 63.1, SD = 14.4 months) with conduct problems. This was a manualised six session intervention. Parents in both conditions received PMT. Parents were asked to reminisce with their child about shared events using their allocated style of maternal reminiscing. The W-D-E condition drew on research by Van Bergen, Salmon, Dadds, and Allen (2009) which encouraged mothers to use 'wh' questions and detailed descriptive information about the even. The R-U-S style extended on the research by Ensor and Hughes (2008) in which mothers were encouraged to be responsive and allow their child to lead the conversation. Both conditions placed a direct focus on discussing emotion, including labels, behaviours, causes and consequences of emotion. As expected, both condition showed a significant decrease in conduct problem severity and a significant increase in aspects of children‟s emotion knowledge between pre- and immediately post-intervention. However, there were no significant differences between conditions with respect to children‟s conduct problems severity and emotion knowledge. Given that the literature supports a link between deficits in emotion knowledge and children‟s conduct problems, and that parental discussion of emotion supports children‟s developing socioemotional development, the current preliminary study extends on the work by Salmon, Dadds, Allen, and Hawes (2009) in which efforts are being made to integrate emotion components with PMT.</p>

Comparing styles of parent-child conversation: The influence on children's conduct problems and emotion knowledge

<p>This preliminary study conducted across Canberra and Wellington was the first to compare the effectiveness of two styles of maternal-reminiscing as an adjunct to Parent Management Training (PMT) for mothers of children ranging from four to eight-years-old (M = 63.1, SD = 14.4 months) with conduct problems. This was a manualised six session intervention. Parents in both conditions received PMT. Parents were asked to reminisce with their child about shared events using their allocated style of maternal reminiscing. The W-D-E condition drew on research by Van Bergen, Salmon, Dadds, and Allen (2009) which encouraged mothers to use 'wh' questions and detailed descriptive information about the even. The R-U-S style extended on the research by Ensor and Hughes (2008) in which mothers were encouraged to be responsive and allow their child to lead the conversation. Both conditions placed a direct focus on discussing emotion, including labels, behaviours, causes and consequences of emotion. As expected, both condition showed a significant decrease in conduct problem severity and a significant increase in aspects of children‟s emotion knowledge between pre- and immediately post-intervention. However, there were no significant differences between conditions with respect to children‟s conduct problems severity and emotion knowledge. Given that the literature supports a link between deficits in emotion knowledge and children‟s conduct problems, and that parental discussion of emotion supports children‟s developing socioemotional development, the current preliminary study extends on the work by Salmon, Dadds, Allen, and Hawes (2009) in which efforts are being made to integrate emotion components with PMT.</p>

The Role of Physical Environmental Characteristics and Intellectual Disability in Conduct Problem Trajectories Across Childhood: A Population-Based Cohort Study

Background: The paucity of research investigating the role of the physical environment in the developmental progression of conduct problems and the potential moderating effects of intellectual disability (ID) is surprising, given the clinical relevance of elucidating environmental determinants of disruptive behaviours. Aims: To use data from a large UK cohort study to assess associations between physical environmental exposures, ID, and conduct problem trajectories. Method: The sample included 8,168 Millennium Cohort Study children (1.9% with ID). Multilevel growth curve modelling was used to examine the role of physical environment characteristics in the developmental trajectories of conduct problems after adjustments for ID status. Results: Exposure to external environmental domains was not associated with differences in child conduct problems across development. Alternatively, internal aspects of the household environment: spatial density (b = 0.40, p<.001) and damp problems (b = 0.14, p<.001) were both significantly associated with increased trajectories. Various individual and familial covariates were positively associated with conduct problems over time, including: presence of ID (b = 0.96, p<.001), autism spectrum disorder (b = 1.18, p<.001), male sex (b = 0.26, p<.001), poverty (b = 0.19, p<.001), maternal depression (b = 0.65, p<.001), and non-nuclear family structure (b = 0.35, p<.001). Positive ID status appeared to moderate the effects of internal household spatial density, reporting a non-linear negative association with spatial density and conduct problems across development (b = -1.08, p<.01). Conclusions: Our findings highlight the potential harmful consequences of poor internal residential conditions on child development of disruptive behaviours.

Multivariate Analysis of Psychosomatic Complaints as Predictors of Conduct Problems in Swedish Adolescents

Background: Conduct disorders may be linked to common physical conditions in childhood and adolescence, and are often under reported during mainstream school years, which may lead to more serious mental health concerns in adulthood. The aim of the study was to examine the link between specific psychosomatic complaints and adolescent conduct problems. Methods: 3,132 Swedish adolescents (age range 15-18 years, 47% boys) completed the Uppsala Life and Health Cross-Sectional Survey (LHS) at school. LHS question scores were grouped in alliance with DSM-5 conduct disorder criteria and psychosomatic complaints (PSC). Multivariate analyses assessed the effects of PSC, age, and gender on conduct problem scores.Results: Main effects of gender; age; and PSC were observed. Adolescents with higher PSC scores had higher conduct problem scores. In reference to DSM-5 conduct disorder sub-categories, gender, age, and self-reported PSC were associated with increased conduct problems across all domains. Specifically, boys had higher serious violation of rules scores than girls, particularly older boys with higher PSC scores. Conclusions: These findings suggest that measures of psychosomatic complaints can be used to identify children at risk of developing conduct disorders in the future, to help raise the likelihood of a healthy life into adulthood.

Hypomethylation in FASTKD1 detected in the association between in utero tobacco exposure and conduct problem in a New Zealand longitudinal study

Despite the known adverse effects of in utero tobacco exposure on offspring health, maternal tobacco use during pregnancy remains prevalent and is a major driver of health inequalities. One such health inequality is the development of conduct problem (CP) in exposed offspring which may be mediated by methylation changes that persist into adulthood. Here we apply a genome-wide approach to probe the association between maternal tobacco use during pregnancy and CP outcomes in exposed offspring. We examined maternal tobacco use during pregnancy (in utero exposure) in the Christchurch Health and Development Study, a longitudinal birth cohort studied for over 40 years. We then evaluated the interaction between methylation effects of in utero exposure and CP score. When modelling this interaction between in utero exposure and CP score we detected nominal DNA methylation differences, at FASTKD1 which has roles in early development. Our observations are consistent with DNA methylation mediating the development of CP following in utero tobacco exposure. In addition, we detected nominal significance in FRMDA4 and MYO1G between individuals exposed to tobacco in utero and those that were unexposed, however these did not reach significance after adjustment for multiple testing. However due to limited power in our analysis, further studies are needed to investigate the interaction between in utero tobacco exposure and high CP health outcomes.

Associations between developmental timing of child abuse and conduct problem trajectories in a UK birth cohort

Background Although there is strong evidence for a relationship between child abuse and neglect and conduct problems, associations between child abuse experienced at different developmental stages and developmental trajectories of conduct problems have not been examined. We sought to investigate effects of timing of child abuse on conduct problem trajectories in a large UK birth cohort study. Methods We applied latent class growth analysis to identify conduct problem trajectories in the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children, using parent-rated conduct problems from ages 4–17 years (N = 10,648). Childhood-only and adolescence-only abuse, in addition to abuse in both developmental periods (‘persistent’ abuse), were assessed by retrospective self-report at age 22 years (N = 3172). Results We identified four developmental trajectories: early-onset persistent (4.8%), adolescence-onset (4.5%), childhood-limited (15.4%), and low (75.3%) conduct problems. Childhood-only abuse and ‘persistent’ abuse were associated with increased odds of being on the early-onset persistent and adolescence-onset conduct problem trajectories compared to the low conduct problems trajectory. Adolescence-only abuse was not predictive of trajectory membership. There were no associations between abuse and childhood-limited trajectory membership. Conclusions Early-onset persistent and adolescence-onset conduct problems showed similar patterns of association with abuse exposure, challenging developmental theories that propose qualitative, as opposed to quantitative, differences in environmental risk factors between these trajectories. The results also highlight that childhood-only and ‘persistent’ abuse were more strongly linked to elevated conduct problem trajectories than adolescence-only abuse, and that ‘persistent’ abuse is particularly detrimental.

Mental Health Problems and the Associated Family and School Factors in Adolescents: A Multilevel Analysis

Objective: Mental health is one of the most important issues in adolescents’ life. Adolescents’ health is highly important, because of their role in the future. This study was conducted using multilevel analysis to investigate the risk factors at student and school levels. Method: This was a cross sectional study for which 1740 students and 53 schools were selected between February and March 2018 in Qazvin, Iran. Multistage stratified cluster sampling was used for data collection. Mental health problems were measured by the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ). Emotional symptom, conduct problem, hyperactivity, peer relationship problem, and prosocial behavior were the subscales. This study used multilevel analysis to determine the association between each of the questionnaire scales and students and schools variables. Results: The prevalence of the mental health problems was 16.2%. Conduct problem was more prevalent than others (21.1%). Overall, the score of mental health problems was significantly lower in boys’ schools, in adolescents with physical activity, and in families with high socioeconomic status. Hyperactivity and emotional symptoms were significantly higher in girls’ schools. While prosocial behavior and peer relationship problems were significantly higher in boys’ schools. The association between variables and the scales of mental health problems was different. Conclusion: Results indicated desirable physical activity and socioeconomic status are effective components in the adolescents’ mental health, and, mostly girls’ schools were more vulnerable than boys’ schools. Therefore, the educational authorities and health policymakers should consider this diversity to design interventional programs and pay more attention to the high-risk adolescents in different schools.

Perception of Students and Faculty on Problem Based Learning in Proficiency Certificate Level Nursing Program

Background: Patan Academy of Health Sciences intended to implement problem based learning in proficiency certificate level nursing program who have just completed grade 10. Presently in Nepal, the available literature on use of problem based learning as teaching learning methods is limited to undergraduate medicine who have passed 10+2 or equivalent. It was conducted to measure the perception of students and faculty on problem based learning in nursing program.Methods: Nursing faculty who have been involved in teaching learning of nursing curriculum were trained to conduct problem based learning and write problem based learning case. Prior to run problem based learning case, students were also oriented for the problem based learning process. A 44 students and seven faculty returned the filled data collection tool. Results: Both the students and tutors perceived that the problem based learning is an effective teaching learning method. They also found that the attributes of problem based learning such as self-directed learning, collaborative learning, team work and fun learning. Students were eager to have more problem based learning session in their curriculum. Faculty also perceived that problem based learning can be a better teaching learning methods and it can be implemented in proficiency certificate level nursing.Conclusions: This study shows the acceptance of problem based learning as a teaching learning methods in proficiency certificate level nursing program by both the students and faculty.Keywords: Nursing curriculum; PBL; perception.