Parental Behaviors During Family Interactions Predict Changes in Depression and Anxiety Symptoms During Adolescence

Language sentiment predicts changes in depressive symptoms

The prevalence of depression is a major societal health concern, and there is an ongoing need to develop tools that predict who will become depressed. Past research suggests that depression changes the language we use, but it is unclear whether language is predictive of worsening symptoms. Here, we test whether the sentiment of brief written linguistic responses predicts changes in depression. Across two studies (N = 467), participants provided responses to neutral open-ended questions, narrating aspects of their lives relevant to depression (e.g., mood, motivation, sleep). Participants also completed the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) to assess depressive symptoms and a risky decision-making task with periodic measurements of momentary happiness to quantify mood dynamics. The sentiment of written responses was evaluated by human raters (N = 470), Large Language Models (LLMs; ChatGPT 3.5 and 4.0), and the Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC) tool. We found that language sentiment evaluated by human raters and LLMs, but not LIWC, predicted changes in depressive symptoms at a three-week follow-up. Using computational modeling, we found that language sentiment was associated with current mood, but language sentiment predicted symptom changes even after controlling for current mood. In summary, we demonstrate a scalable tool that combines brief written responses with sentiment analysis by AI tools that matches human performance in the prediction of future psychiatric symptoms.

Family Environmental Risk and Perceived Stress in Adolescent Depressive Symptoms: A Network Analysis

This study, grounded in the Process-Person-Context-Time framework, investigates the complex interplay of family environmental factors and their influence on adolescent depressive symptoms, focusing on the role of 'perceived stress'. Using network analysis, we examined data from 735 junior high students (52.1% female adolescents) from three provinces in China (Jiangsu, Shandong, and Henan), with an average age of 13.81 ± 0.92 years, ranging from 12 to 16 years, exploring the relationships between depressive symptoms, perceived stress, and seven family risk factors. The analysis identified three distinct communities. The incorporation of perceived stress led to its integration into a community that included depressive symptoms, parental restrictive monitoring, and family economic strain. Perceived stress emerged as the strongest predictor of depressive symptoms, surpassing parental restrictive monitoring. Furthermore, it overtook depressive symptoms as the node with the strongest bridging connection within its community. These findings underscore the importance of interventions targeting both family conditions and the internal processing of these stressors by adolescents, especially in challenging family environments, to mitigate the risk of depression and promote resilience.

Current maternal depression associated with worsened children's social outcomes during middle childhood: Exploring the role of positive affect socialization

BACKGROUND

Maternal depression negatively predicts aspects of the mother-child relationship and social functioning in offspring. This study evaluated interrelations between mothers' depression history and current severity with dynamic indices of positive affect socialization and indices of offspring' social outcomes.

METHODS

N = 66 mother-child dyads in which approximately 50 % of mothers had a history of maternal depression were recruited. Children were 6-8 years old and 47.7 % male. Dyads completed a positive interaction task, which was coded for mother and child positive affect. Mothers and children reported on peer functioning and social problems and children reported on the quality of their best friendships at 1-year follow-up.

RESULTS

Current level of maternal depression, but not depression history, was related to more social problems and lower best friend relationship quality. Indices of positive affect socialization were not related to history or current levels of maternal depression, or social outcomes, with the exception of maternal depression history predicting greater likelihood of mothers joining their children in expressing positive affect. Exploratory, supplementary analysis revealed that this may be due to treatment history among these mothers.

LIMITATIONS

Conclusions should be tempered by the small sample size, which limited the types of analyses that were conducted.

CONCLUSION

Results suggest that the effect of maternal depression on aspects of child social outcomes could be specific to current levels. Our data also did not support previously found associations between maternal depression and positive affect socialization. Results suggest positive implications for the effect of treatment for maternal depression for mother-child dynamics.

Negative parenting style and depression in adolescents: A moderated mediation of self-esteem and perceived social support

BACKGROUND

Negative parenting style as a risk factors of depression has been defined in the previous researches. However, the underlying mechanism between negative parenting style and depression was still unclear. This study aimed to investigate the mediating role of self-esteem and the moderating role of perceived social support in the association between negative parenting style and depression among adolescents.

METHODS

A total of 14,724 Chinese adolescents were asked to complete the questionnaires including Parenting Style scale, Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support, Self-esteem scale, and Patient Health Questionnaire 9-item scale. Mediation and moderation analyses were carried out in SPSS 25.0 macro PROCESS.

RESULTS

Self-esteem mediated the relationship between negative parenting styles and adolescent depression (β = 0.113, SE = 0.004, p < 0.001). Perceived social support moderated the direct effect of negative parenting style on depression (β = -0.076, SE = 0.009, p < 0.001). Moreover, perceived social support moderated the indirect effect of negative parenting style on self-esteem (β = -0.023, SE = 0.007, p < 0.001) and the indirect effect of self-esteem on depression (β = 0.070, SE = 0.009, p < 0.001) in the moderated mediation model.

LIMITATIONS

Cross-sectional research design was used in the study. All measures were based on participant self-report.

CONCLUSION

This study reveals the underlying mechanism with regard to the influence of negative parenting style on depression through self-esteem and perceived social support. Findings provide a theoretical basis and practical implications for prevention and intervention programs to protect adolescents' mental health.

Anxiety and COVID-19 Anxiety in Positive Youth Development: A Latent Profile Analysis Study

The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated anxiety and triggered a new and specific COVID-19 anxiety in all age groups, especially in adolescence. The aim of the present study was to identify differences between anxiety and COVID-19 anxiety in profiles of positive outcomes by using the Positive Youth Development (PYD) framework (i.e., the Five Cs of competence, confidence, character, caring, and connection) on a sample of 1,977 adolescents from Slovenia (57.4% females; Mage = 15.34 years) from lower- and upper-secondary schools. Latent profile analysis revealed four distinctive profiles: High PYD, Self-efficacious, Socio-emotional, and Low PYD. The High PYD profile reported lower anxiety and moderate COVID-19 anxiety; the Self-efficacious profile reported lower anxiety and the lowest COVID-19 anxiety; the Socio-emotional profile reported moderate anxiety and the highest COVID-19 anxiety; and the Low PYD profile reported higher anxiety and moderate COVID-19 anxiety. The study findings suggest that higher levels of competence, confidence, and connection can mitigate anxiety, while higher levels of caring are associated with COVID-19 anxiety. Nonetheless, the study supports the promotion of all Five Cs of the PYD framework to prevent anxiety, COVID-19 anxiety, and maladaptive developmental outcomes. The study provides important insights into profiling responses to extreme situations, such as the COVID-19 pandemic.

SHAP-based Prediction of Mother's History of Depression to Understand the Influence on Child Behavior

Depression strongly impacts parents' behavior. Does parents' depression strongly afect the behavior of their children as well? To investigate this question, we compared dyadic interactions between 73 depressed and 75 non-depressed mothers and their adolescent child. Families were of low income and 84% were white. Child behavior was measured from audio-video recordings using manual annotation of verbal and nonverbal behavior by expert coders and by multimodal computational measures of facial expression, face and head dynamics, prosody, speech behavior, and linguistics. For both sets of measures, we used Support Vector Machines. For computational measures, we investigated the relative contribution of single versus multiple modalities using a novel approach to SHapley Additive exPlanations (SHAP). Computational measures outperformed manual ratings by human experts. Among individual computational measures, prosody was the most informative. SHAP reduction resulted in a four-fold decrease in the number of features and highest performance (77% accuracy; positive and negative agreements at 75% and 76%, respectively). These fndings suggest that maternal depression strongly impacts the behavior of adolescent children; diferences are most revealed in prosody; multimodal features together with SHAP reduction are most powerful.

Observed Parenting and Adolescent Brain Structure

Parent-youth relationships and parenting are critically important to adolescents' development. The present study examined associations between parenting behaviors (which included observed parent emotion expression and negative and positive parenting behaviors during a parent-adolescent interaction) and adolescent brain structure, and sex differences in associations, in 66 12-14 year-olds. The study found that 1) among all adolescents in the sample, greater parent negative emotion expression in parent-youth interactions was associated with greater adolescent gray matter volume (GMV) in the left hippocampus, 2) parent positive emotion expression was not associated with adolescent GMV, 3) several associations differed by sex. These findings suggest that parenting is important for adolescent brain structure and future work should consider this by sex.

Eye movement desensitization and processing for adolescents with major depressive disorder: study protocol for a multi-site randomized controlled trial

BACKGROUND

Major depressive disorder (MDD) is one of the most common mental disorders in adolescence carrying a serious risk of adverse development later in life. Extant treatments are limited in effectiveness and have high drop-out and relapse rates. A body of literature has been published on the association between distressing/ traumatic experiences and development and maintenance of MDD, but the effectiveness of a trauma-focused treatment approach for MDD has hardly been studied. This study aims to determine the effectiveness of eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) therapy as stand-alone intervention in adolescents diagnosed with MDD.

METHODS

This study will be a randomized controlled trial with two conditions: (1) EMDR treatment (6 sessions) and (2) waiting list condition (WL: 6 weeks, followed by EMDR treatment). First, participants receive a baseline measure after which they will be randomized. Participants will be assessed post-intervention after which the WL participants will also receive six EMDR sessions. Follow-up assessments will be conducted at 3 and 6 months follow-up.

STUDY POPULATION

In total, 64 adolescents (aged 12-18) diagnosed with a major depressive disorder (DSM-5) and identified memories of at least one distressing or traumatic event related to the depressive symptomatology will be included. Main study parameters/endpoints: Primary outcome variables will be the percentage of patients meeting criteria for MDD classification, and level of depressive symptoms. Secondary outcome measures include symptoms of PTSD, anxiety, and general social-emotional problems. At baseline, family functioning and having experienced emotional abuse or neglect will be assessed to explore whether these factors predict post-treatment outcome.

DISCUSSION

With the present study, we aim to investigate whether EMDR as a trauma-focussed brief intervention may be effective for adolescents with a primary diagnosis of MDD. EMDR has been proven an effective treatment for traumatic memories in other disorders. It is hypothesized that traumatic memories play a role in the onset and maintenance of depressive disorders. Particularly in adolescence, early treatment of these traumatic memories is warranted to prevent a more chronic or recurrent course of the disorder.

TRIAL REGISTRATION

International Clinical Trial Registry Platform (ICTRP): NL9008 (30-10-2020).

Examining the Directionality of the Relationship Between Maternal Warmth and Early School-Age Anxiety

Maternal warmth has been identified as a contributing factor to the development of child anxiety; however, no studies to date have examined observed maternal warmth longitudinally in this relationship. The present study addressed this knowledge gap by examining the simultaneous development of maternal warmth and child anxiety over time (between-person effects using latent growth curve modeling) and the directionality of associations (within-person effects using autoregressive latent trajectory modeling). Participants included 753 mothers and children. Between-person effects indicated that lower initial levels of anxiety were related to greater levels of maternal warmth over time. Within-person effects showed that maternal warmth in grade 1 predicted subsequent decreases in child anxiety in grade 2 (i.e., a parent effect). Present findings demonstrate the importance of maternal warmth in the early school-age years for decreasing subsequent child anxiety.

Investigating the feasibility and effectiveness of a modular treatment program for children and adolescents with depression and interpersonal problems: study protocol of a quasi-experimental pilot feasibility trial (CBASP@YoungAge)

BACKGROUND

Depression is a serious disorder in childhood and adolescence. Affected children and adolescents show significant impairments in various aspects of life. Studies on the effectiveness or efficacy of psychotherapy in depressed children and adolescents are qualitatively very heterogeneous and reveal small effect sizes. There is thus a need to better tailor psychotherapy approaches to these age groups to improve outcomes like parent-child relationship, symptomatology, or quality of life. To address this gap, we designed a modular, individualized treatment program for children and adolescents based on the Cognitive Behavioral Analysis System of Psychotherapy (CBASP) including caregiver involvement.

METHOD

This quasi-experimental pilot feasibility trial is a phase 1 to phase 2 study investigating the feasibility and effectiveness of CBASP@YoungAge by including an intervention group (CBASP@YoungAge) and a treatment-as-usual control group. The treatment of depressive symptoms as well as interpersonal problems with primary caregivers are the main targets of CBASP@YoungAge. Personalization is ensured concerning the treatment course, caregivers' involvement, and the patient's age. The primary outcome relates to two areas: the feasibility of the CBASP@YoungAge treatment program in an outpatient context and a change in patients' depressive symptomatology from before to after treatment. We conduct a brief process evaluation after each session in the intervention group to closely monitor the treatment process and examine feasibility from the therapists' and patients' perspectives and mechanisms of symptom change. In addition, we consider interpersonal behavior between children and caregivers, parenting behavior, and monitor the global-health-index in children and parents as secondary outcomes. Pre-, post-, and follow-up data are evaluated.

DISCUSSION

This is the first study of a modular-based intervention program for children and adolescents with depression and a clear focus on the interpersonal problems between the depressed young patient and her/his caregiver. It will provide important knowledge on the feasibility and effectiveness of the program and potential benefits of including caregivers in psychotherapy. Based on this study's results, we plan a multicenter, randomized, controlled trial whose long-term aim is to improve the psychotherapeutic care of young patients with depression while preventing persistent courses of depressive disorders.

TRIAL REGISTRATION

German Clinical Trials Register, DRKS (identifier DRKS00023281 ). Registered 17 November 2020-Retrospectively registered.

Parent-adolescent emotion-related behavior during conflict in a clinical sample

INTRODUCTION

Parents and adolescents often have conflict. Previous research has been inconsistent regarding the association between some parent behaviors during this conflict and adolescent symptoms. This study examines parents' behaviors during a conflict resolution discussion in a clinical sample, and the relationship between parents' behaviors and adolescents' depression and anxiety symptoms.

METHODS

Depression and anxiety symptoms were self-reported by 22 adolescents of ages 13-17 who were diagnosed with depression. They also participated in an observed conflict resolution task with one parent. Using observationally coded data, we utilized two linear multiple regressions to assess how parent and adolescent emotion-related behaviors related to adolescents' depression and anxiety symptoms.

RESULTS

Adolescents' conflict behaviors were not associated with their psychopathology symptoms. Parent conflict behaviors of support and withdrawal were both negatively associated with adolescent depression and anxiety, with parent contempt marginally associated with adolescent depression.

CONCLUSIONS

In this clinical sample, parents of adolescents with low mood or anxiety demonstrated some reduced negative parenting behaviors (i.e., contempt and withdrawal), but also reduced positive parenting behavior (i.e., support). The results suggest that when some negative parenting behaviors are reduced, this may inadvertently reinforce depressive behaviors. The results also indicate the importance of increasing supportive parent behaviors.

Bidirectional Effects Between Parental Care and Depression Among Adolescent Boys: Results From the Chinese Family Panel Studies

Background

Research has consistently shown the adverse effects of inappropriate parenting on adolescent depression. Meanwhile, interpersonal theories of depression suggest that depressed individuals elicit frustration and rejection from their relational partners.

Method

Using two-wave data from the Chinese Family Panel Studies (CFPS), the present study examined the prospective relationships between parental care and adolescent depression. Participant were 426 adolescents (54.9% male) born in 1999 (ages at T1 and T2 were 11 and 13).

Results

Results from the structural equation model showed that parental care prospectively and negatively predicted depression among both adolescent boys and girls. Inversely, adolescent boys’ depression, but not girls’ depression, negatively predicted subsequent parental care.

Conclusion

The results suggest the interactive dynamic between parental care and adolescent depression as well as parents’ gendered responses to adolescent depression.

Psychopathology in Children and Adolescents in Lebanon Study (PALS): a national household survey

INTRODUCTION

Psychiatric disorders are among the leading causes of disability in children and adolescents globally. In Lebanon, a country that has endured a prolonged history of conflict and economic and political uncertainty, mental health surveys in children and adolescents have been limited to specific disorders or specific settings or cities. PALS (Psychopathology in Children and Adolescents in Lebanon Study) is the first study to screen a nationally representative sample of children and adolescents for psychiatric disorders and estimate the national prevalence of children and adolescents at risk of having a psychiatric disorder.

METHODS

A nationally representative household sample of 1517 children and adolescents (aged 5 years 0 months to 17 years 11 months) was recruited through a multi-stage stratified proportionate sampling technique between February 2018 and November 2018. Parents and adolescents completed a battery of self-reported scales including the Strengths and Feelings Questionnaire (SDQ), Mood and Feelings Questionnaire (MFQ), Screen for Child Anxiety and Emotional Related Disorders (SCARED), the Peer Relations Questionnaire (PRQ), General Health Questionnaire (GHQ), and Conflict Behavior Questionnaire (CBQ), Child Revised Impact of Events Scale (CRIES), and a demographic/clinical information questionnaire. Logistic regression models were used to examine the correlates of screening positive for psychiatric disorders.

RESULTS

About a third of children and adolescents (32.7%, n = 497) screened positive for at least one psychiatric disorder, of whom only 5% (n = 25) reported ever seeking professional mental health help. Academic performance, having a chronic physical illness, higher parental GHQ scores, and involvement in bullying were associated with a higher odds of screening positive for a psychiatric disorder. Higher family income was negatively associated with screening positive for a psychiatric disorder.

CONCLUSION

This first national study shows a high prevalence of psychiatric symptoms in Lebanese children and adolescents and an alarming treatment gap. School-based primary prevention programs or screening in primary care settings are key for early detection and management of psychiatric symptoms, and prevention of psychiatric disorders.

Testing a Developmental Model of Positive Parenting, Amygdala–Subgenual Anterior Cingulate Cortex Connectivity, and Depressive Symptoms in Adolescents Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Background

Neurobiological measures may inform our understanding of individual differences in adolescents’ general risk for and resilience to depressive symptoms, including during the COVID-19 pandemic. We tested a developmental model linking variation in amygdala–subgenual anterior cingulate cortex (sgACC) resting-state connectivity to perceived parenting experiences earlier in adolescence, to concurrent depressive symptoms before the pandemic, and to subsequent depressive symptoms during the pandemic.

Methods

We used data from a longitudinal study that included three waves (N = 214 adolescents; ages 9–15 years at time 1 [T1], 11–17 years at T2, and 12–19 years during the pandemic at T3). We assessed positive parenting (warm and supportive) (T1), depressive symptoms (T1 to T3), and functional connectivity between the sgACC and basolateral (BLA) and centromedial amygdala (T1 and T2). We modeled associations among earlier positive parenting, amygdala–sgACC connectivity, and depressive symptoms before and during the pandemic.

Results

Less positive parenting at T1 was associated prospectively with stronger BLA–sgACC connectivity at T2 (β = −0.22) over and above the effect of BLA–sgACC connectivity at T1. Stronger BLA–sgACC connectivity, in turn, was associated with heightened depressive symptoms, both before the pandemic (r = 0.21) and during the pandemic (β = 0.19; independent of the effect of pre-pandemic symptoms).

Conclusions

Adolescents who experience less positive parenting may develop a pattern of BLA–sgACC connectivity that increases their risk for mental health problems. BLA–sgACC connectivity may be associated with depressive symptoms in general, including during periods of heightened risk for adolescents, such as the pandemic.

Connections during crisis: Adolescents' social dynamics and mental health during COVID-19

Adolescence is a critical period for social development, which COVID-19 has dramatically altered. Quarantined youths had limited in-person interactions with peers. The present study used an intensive longitudinal design to investigate changes in interpersonal dynamics and mental health during COVID-19. Specifically, we investigated whether the associations between different social contexts-that is, "spillover"-changed during COVID-19 and whether changes in social interactions during COVID-19 was associated with changes in depressive symptoms. Approximately 1 year prior to the onset of COVID-19, 139 youths reported depressive symptoms and daily interactions with parents, siblings, and friends, every day for 21 days via online questionnaires. Shortly after schools closed due to COVID-19, 115 of these youths completed a similar 28-day diary. Analyses included 112 youths (62 girls; 73% Caucasian; Mage = 11.77, range = 8 to 15 in Wave 1) who completed at least 13 diary days in each data wave. Our results show that younger adolescents experienced significant decreases in negative and positive interactions with friends, whereas older adolescents showed significant decreases in negative interactions with friends and significant increases in positive interactions with siblings. As predicted, within-day spillover of positive interactions and person-level association of negative interactions increased within the family during COVID-19, whereas within-day spillover of positive interactions between family and friends decreased. We also found a dramatic increase in depressive symptoms. More negative interactions and fewer positive interactions with family members were associated with changes in depressive symptoms. Our study sheds light on how youths' social development may be impacted by COVID-19. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Three-way interaction effects of early life stress, positive parenting and FKBP5 in the development of depressive symptoms in a general population

FKBP5 gene–environment interaction (cG × E) studies have shown diverse results, some indicating significant interaction effects between the gene and environmental stressors on depression, while others lack such results. Moreover, FKBP5 has a potential role in the diathesis stress and differential susceptibility theorem. The aim of the present study was to evaluate whether a cG × E interaction effect of FKBP5 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) or haplotype and early life stress (ELS) on depressive symptoms among young adults was moderated by a positive parenting style (PASCQ^pos), through the frameworks of the diathesis stress and differential susceptibility theorem. Data were obtained from the Survey of Adolescent Life in Västmanland Cohort Study, including 1006 participants and their guardians. Data were collected during 2012, when the participants were 13 and 15 years old (Wave I: DNA), 2015, when participants were 16 and 18 years old (Wave II: PASCQ^pos, depressive symptomology and ELS) and 2018, when participants were 19 and 21 years old (Wave III: depressive symptomology). Significant three-way interactions were found for the FKBP5 SNPs rs1360780, rs4713916, rs7748266 and rs9394309, moderated by ELS and PASCQ^pos, on depressive symptoms among young adults. Diathesis stress patterns of interaction were observed for the FKBP5 SNPs rs1360780, rs4713916 and rs9394309, and differential susceptibility patterns of interaction were observed for the FKBP5 SNP rs7748266. Findings emphasize the possible role of FKBP5 in the development of depressive symptoms among young adults and contribute to the understanding of possible differential susceptibility effects of FKBP5.

Vicarious praise and pain: parental neural responses to social feedback about their adolescent child

Social feedback, such as praise or critique, profoundly impacts our mood and social interactions. It is unknown, however, how parents experience praise and critique about their child and whether their mood and neural responses to such ‘vicarious’ social feedback are modulated by parents’ perceptions of their child. Parents (n = 60) received positive, intermediate and negative feedback words (i.e. personality characteristics) about their adolescent child during a magnetic resonance imaging scan. After each word, parents indicated their mood. After positive feedback their mood improved and activity in ventromedial prefrontal cortex and posterior cingulate cortex/precuneus increased. Negative feedback worsened parents’ mood, especially when perceived as inapplicable to their child, and increased activity in anterior cingulate cortex, anterior insula, dorsomedial prefrontal cortex and precuneus. Parents who generally viewed their child more positively showed amplified mood responses to both positive and negative feedback and increased activity in dorsal striatum, inferior frontal gyrus and insula in response to negative feedback. These findings suggest that vicarious feedback has similar effects and engages similar brain regions as observed during feedback about the self and illustrates this is dependent on parents’ beliefs of their child’s qualities and flaws. Potential implications for parent–child dynamics and children’s own self-views are discussed.

Systematically Defined Informative Priors in Bayesian Estimation: An Empirical Application on the Transmission of Internalizing Symptoms Through Mother-Adolescent Interaction Behavior

BACKGROUND

Bayesian estimation with informative priors permits updating previous findings with new data, thus generating cumulative knowledge. To reduce subjectivity in the process, the present study emphasizes how to systematically weigh and specify informative priors and highlights the use of different aggregation methods using an empirical example that examined whether observed mother-adolescent positive and negative interaction behavior mediate the associations between maternal and adolescent internalizing symptoms across early to mid-adolescence in a 3-year longitudinal multi-method design.

METHODS

The sample consisted of 102 mother-adolescent dyads (39.2% girls, M age T1 = 13.0). Mothers and adolescents reported on their internalizing symptoms and their interaction behaviors were observed during a conflict task. We systematically searched for previous studies and used an expert-informed weighting system to account for their relevance. Subsequently, we aggregated the (power) priors using three methods: linear pooling, logarithmic pooling, and fitting a normal distribution to the linear pool by means of maximum likelihood estimation. We compared the impact of the three differently specified informative priors and default priors on the prior predictive distribution, shrinkage, and the posterior estimates.

RESULTS

The prior predictive distributions for the three informative priors were quite similar and centered around the observed data mean. The shrinkage results showed that the logarithmic pooled priors were least affected by the data. Most posterior estimates were similar across the different priors. Some previous studies contained extremely specific information, resulting in bimodal posterior distributions for the analyses with linear pooled prior distributions. The posteriors following the fitted normal priors and default priors were very similar. Overall, we found that maternal, but not adolescent, internalizing symptoms predicted subsequent mother-adolescent interaction behavior, whereas negative interaction behavior seemed to predict subsequent internalizing symptoms. Evidence regarding mediation effects remained limited.

CONCLUSION

A systematic search for previous information and an expert-built weighting system contribute to a clear specification of power priors. How information from multiple previous studies should be included in the prior depends on theoretical considerations (e.g., the prior is an updated Bayesian distribution), and may also be affected by pragmatic considerations regarding the impact of the previous results at hand (e.g., extremely specific previous results).

Negative Parenting Affects Adolescent Internalizing Symptoms Through Alterations in Amygdala-Prefrontal Circuitry: A Longitudinal Twin Study

BACKGROUND

The synergic interaction of risk genes and environmental factors has been thought to play a critical role in mediating emotion-related brain circuitry function and dysfunction in depression and anxiety disorders. Little, however, is known regarding neurodevelopmental bases underlying how maternal negative parenting affects emotion-related brain circuitry linking to adolescent internalizing symptoms and whether this neurobehavioral association is heritable during adolescence.

METHODS

The effects of maternal parenting on amygdala-based emotional circuitry and internalizing symptoms were examined by using longitudinal functional magnetic resonance imaging among 100 monozygotic twins and 78 dizygotic twins from early adolescence (age 13 years) to mid-adolescence (age 16 years). The mediation effects among variables of interest and their heritability were assessed by structural equation modeling and quantitative genetic analysis, respectively.

RESULTS

Exposure to maternal negative parenting was positively predictive of stronger functional connectivity of the amygdala with the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex. This neural pathway mediated the association between negative parenting and adolescent depressive symptoms and exhibited moderate heritability (21%).

CONCLUSIONS

These findings highlight that maternal negative parenting in early adolescence is associated with the development of atypical amygdala-prefrontal connectivity in relation to internalizing depressive symptoms in mid-adolescence. Such abnormality of emotion-related brain circuitry is heritable to a moderate degree.

A Multi-Method, Multi-Informant Test of Maternal Emotion Socialization in Relation to Adolescent Fears of Social Evaluation

Fears of negative and positive social evaluation are considered potential transdiagnostic mechanisms underpinning multiple internalizing disorders and impairments in adolescence. Although emotion socialization processes have been associated with adolescents' internalizing symptoms, the socialization of distinct fears of social evaluation has not been studied. Thus, the goal of the current study was to test whether mother's emotion expression, direct messages, responses to emotions, and parenting behaviors interact with adolescents' gender and temperamental shyness in relation to fears of negative and positive evaluation. A community sample of 107 adolescents ages 11 to 14 (M = 12.39; Girls = 45.8%) and their mothers completed survey measures of emotion socialization, temperament, and fears of social evaluation, in addition to participating in a speech preparation task used to code observed behaviors. For shy adolescents, adolescent-reported maternal cautious messages about social evaluation were associated with greater fears of positive evaluation, while encouraging messages were linked to less fears of positive evaluation. Further, maternal self-reported warmth was associated with fewer fears of negative and positive for shy adolescents, while supportive responses to emotions were linked to higher fears of positive evaluation for boys. Among girls, maternal ratings of encouraging messages were associated with higher fears of social evaluation, while cautious messages were linked to lower fears of negative evaluation. These findings are the first to consider several features of emotion socialization in relation to two distinct valences of adolescents' socio-evaluative fear, and highlight the importance of assessing emotion socialization behaviors via multiple informants and methods.

Depression Moderates Maternal Response to Preschoolers' Positive Affect

Maternal depression is associated with disrupted responsiveness during mother-infant dyadic interactions. Less research has evaluated whether responsivity between mother and offspring is altered in interactions during the preschool years, a period of vast socio-emotional development. In the current study, 72 mothers and preschoolers engaged in a positive emotion-eliciting task, in which they drew and talked about a recent fun experience, and independent coders separately rated mother and child emotion in 10-second intervals. Lagged multilevel models demonstrated that for dyads with currently depressed mothers, but not for healthy mothers or mothers with a past history of depression, greater child positive affect was associated with lower frequency and intensity of mother positive affect 10 seconds later. The effect of mother positive affect on child response was not significant. Findings suggest that the ability to acknowledge, imitate, and elaborate children's positive emotion during early childhood is altered in the context of depression, but that this altered responsiveness may improve with recovery from depression.

Parenting and Youth Onset of Depression Across Three Years: Examining the Influence of Observed Parenting on Child and Adolescent Depressive Outcomes

Concurrent associations between parenting behaviors and youth depression are well established. A smaller body of work has demonstrated longitudinal associations between aspects of parenting and youth risk for depression; however, this limited longitudinal work has predominantly relied upon self- and parent-report questionnaire measures and is thus affected by biases related to retrospective recall and common method variance. The present study used behavioral observation measures of parenting and clinical interview measures of youth depression to examine prospective relationships between observed parental support, responsiveness, criticism, and conflict and youths' onset of a depressive episode in a 3-year longitudinal design. Participants included 585 community youth age 8-16 (M = 11.92, SD = 2.39, 56.6% female) and a participating caregiver. Parental behavior was coded by trained observers in the context of a 5-min conflict resolution discussion at the baseline assessment. Youth onset of depression was subsequently assessed every 6 months for a period of 3 years using the Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia for School Aged Children (KSADS) to ascertain whether youth experienced onset of depressive episode over the follow-up. Logistic regression analyses indicated that greater parental conflict at baseline predicted higher odds of youth experiencing a depressive onset across the 3-year follow up period, even after controlling for youth and caregiver history of depression at baseline. Findings suggest that parental conflict is particularly influential in youth vulnerability to depression.

Depression and Anxiety Symptoms in Female Adolescents: Relations with Parental Psychopathology and Parenting Behavior

Parental psychopathology and parenting behavior are known to be related to adolescents depression and anxiety, but unique roles of mothers and fathers are not clear. Our aim was to examine the relation of maternal and paternal psychopathology, emotional support, and respect for autonomy, and their interaction to depression and anxiety symptoms in adolescents. In total, 142 female adolescents participated, together with 138 mothers and 113 fathers. Data were analyzed using latent growth curve modeling. Paternal emotional support was negatively related to adolescent baseline level of depression and anxiety symptoms. Further, we found that there was a positive association between respect for autonomy and depression symptoms in adolescents for higher levels of paternal symptoms of psychological problems.

Parent-Adolescent Dyads as Temporal Interpersonal Emotion Systems

Research on the role of parent-adolescent relationships in psychosocial adjustment needs a conceptual approach that specifies the processes by which development is nested in the relationship. I forward a new approach and emphasize the need to consider the unique elements that individuals bring to the dyadic system. I also emphasize the need to examine processes at multiple time scales. I highlight the complexity of dyadic system dynamics: Biological predispositions set the foundation for the parent-adolescent relationship and the emotion dynamics that emerge during interactions. As the system gets entrained through repeated interactions over longer time scales, real-time dynamics coalesce into psychosocial adjustment, which in turn constrains real-time dynamics. I review the evidence for each of these processes and discuss the implications.

Effect of Parenting and Peer Stressors on Cognitive Vulnerability and Risk for Depression among Youth

Parenting behaviors influence clinical depression among youth, but little is known about the developmental processes that may account for this association. This study investigated whether parenting is associated with the onset of clinical depression and depressive symptoms through negative cognitive style, particularly under conditions of high exposure to stressors, in a community sample of children and adolescents (N = 275; 59% girls). Observational methods were used to assess positive and negative parenting during a laboratory social-evaluative stressor task. Depressive symptoms and clinical depressive episodes were repeatedly assessed over an 18-month prospective follow-up period. Results supported a conditional indirect effect in which low levels of observed positive parenting during a youth stressor task were indirectly associated with an increased likelihood of experiencing an episode of depression and worsening depressive symptoms over the course of the study through youth negative cognitive style, but only for youth who also experienced a high number of peer stressors. These findings elucidate mechanisms through which problematic parenting may contribute to risk for the development of clinical depression during the transition into and across adolescence. Implications for depression interventions are discussed.

Parental threats and adolescent depression: The role of emotion dysregulation

Childhood exposure to parental threatening behaviors places adolescents at greater risk for depression. However, the association between parental threatening behaviors and depressive symptoms among trauma-exposed inpatient youth, and potential factors that exacerbate the harmful effects of such parenting, have remained unexplored. One factor that may contribute to depression is low emotional clarity, which is characterized by difficulties recognizing and understanding one's emotions. The current investigation examined the interactive effects of childhood exposure to maternal threatening behaviors and emotional clarity deficits in relation to depressive symptoms among inpatient psychiatric youth who had been exposed to a potentially traumatic event (i.e., exposure to actual or threatened death, serious injury, or sexual violence). Participants (N = 50, M_age = 15.1 years, SD = 0.51, range 12-17) completed measures of emotion dysregulation, childhood exposure to maternal threatening behavior, and depressive symptoms. A significant interaction was found between exposure to maternal threatening behaviors and deficits in emotional clarity in relation to depressive symptom severity. Greater exposure to maternal threatening behaviors was related to more severe depressive symptoms, yet only among children with greater deficits in emotional clarity. Findings underscore the need for interventions that target emotional clarity among trauma-exposed youth who have experienced parental threats.

Family environment moderates the relation of sluggish cognitive tempo to attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder inattention and depression

OBJECTIVES

The current study investigated whether a maladaptive family environment would moderate the strength of the relations of sluggish cognitive tempo (SCT) to attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder inattention (ADHD-IN) and to depressive symptoms in a large sample of college students.

METHODS

Participants (n = 3,172), between the ages of 18-29 (M ± SD_age  = 19.24 ± 1.52; 69.8% women; 80.4% White) and enrolled in five universities in the United States completed self-report measures of symptomatology, interparental conflict, and family expressiveness of emotions.

RESULTS

A negative emotional climate strengthened relations of SCT with ADHD-IN and depressive symptoms. Moreover, the lack of a positive emotional climate strengthened the co-occurrence of SCT with depressive symptoms, though not with ADHD-IN.

CONCLUSIONS

The current study is the first to demonstrate that the family environment moderates the association between SCT and co-occurring symptomatology in young adults.

Online parenting guidelines to prevent adolescent depression and anxiety: Evaluating user characteristics and usefulness

AIM

The aims of this study were to evaluate user characteristics and the perceived usefulness of a set of online parenting guidelines to prevent adolescent depression and anxiety.

METHODS

Upon downloading the online guidelines, users were invited to complete a brief demographic survey assessing user characteristics (Survey 1). Consenting respondents were emailed an evaluation survey 1 month later, which assessed perceived usefulness of the guidelines (Survey 2).

RESULTS

Over 22 months, 2631 users completed Survey 1 and 233 completed Survey 2. Most users endorsed the usefulness of the guidelines, and most parent users reported at least a little improvement on their parenting. Users were favourable towards a web-based parenting program as one way to improve the guidelines.

CONCLUSIONS

Findings suggest that the online guidelines may be a useful and sustainable universal prevention strategy for parents of adolescents.

Exploratory Factor Analysis of Observational Parent-Child Interaction Data

The majority of studies using observational coding systems for family interaction data derive scales describing family members' behaviors based on rational/theoretical approaches. This study explored an empirical approach to identifying the component structure of parent-child observational data that incorporated the affective context of the interaction. Dyads of 155 typically developing 8-year-olds and their mothers completed questionnaires and two interaction tasks, one each designed to illicit positive and negative interactions. Behaviors were coded based on a modified version of the Family Interaction Macro-coding System. Multiple factor analysis identified four-component solutions for the maternal and child data. For both, two of the components included negative behaviors, one positive behavior, and one communicative behavior. Evidence for the validity of the maternal and child components was demonstrated by associations with child depression and anxiety symptoms and behavioral problems. Preliminary evidence supports an empirical approach to identify context-specific components in parent-child observational data.

Grandchildren's Depressive Symptoms and Perceptions of Family Functioning: Protective and Influencing Factors

A recent increase in children living with grandparents places more children at increased risk for emotional, psychological, or behavioral problems. This study used the Resiliency Model of Family Stress, Adjustment, and Adaptation to examine how children's living situation, parental monitoring, child's resourcefulness, and perceived support affect depressive symptoms and perceived family functioning. Of participants, 36% ( n = 56) lived with their parents only, 44% ( n = 69) lived with a grandmother as their primary caregiver, and 20% ( n = 31) lived in a multigenerational household. Results indicate parental monitoring and support affected perceptions of family functioning. Subjective support and resourcefulness affected depressive symptoms. No effects were found from living situation and demographic factors. Resourcefulness had the strongest effect on depressive symptoms, with a 3-point decrease in symptoms for each incremental increase in resourcefulness. This study provides insight into factors influencing children's depressive symptoms and perceived family functioning, and provides direction for the development of future interventions.

Maternal Affective Expression and Adolescents' Subjective Experience of Positive Affect in Natural Settings

This study investigated the association between maternal affective expression during laboratory-based interaction tasks and adolescents' experience of positive affect (PA) in natural settings. Participants were 80 healthy adolescents and their mothers. Durations of maternal positive (PA) and negative affective (NA) expressions were observed during a conflict resolution task and a positive event planning interaction task. Ecological momentary assessment (EMA) procedures were employed to assess adolescents' momentary and peak experience of PA in daily life. Results indicated that maternal NA, but not maternal PA, was related to adolescents' EMA-reported PA. Adolescents whose mothers expressed more NA experienced less PA in daily environments. Results suggest that adolescents' exposure to maternal negative affective behavior is associated with adolescents' subjective daily well-being.

Effects of Physical and Emotional Maternal Hostility on Adolescents' Depression and Reoffending

This study examines whether (1) mothers vary in the way they express hostility toward their delinquent adolescent offspring, (2) different types of maternal hostility differentially affect adolescents' depression and recidivism, and (3) adolescent depression serves as a mechanism through which maternal hostility predicts later reoffending. The sample consists of 1,216 male first-time offenders, aged 13-17 years (M = 15.80, SD = 1.29). Confirmatory factor analysis supported the premise that maternal hostility could be distinguished into two subtypes: emotional and physical hostility. Adolescent offenders who experienced emotional or physical hostility by their mothers reported greater depressive symptoms and reoffending 6 months later. Further, the relation between maternal hostility (of each type) and adolescent reoffending was partially explained by depressive symptomology.

A Single-Session, Web-Based Parenting Intervention to Prevent Adolescent Depression and Anxiety Disorders: Randomized Controlled Trial

BACKGROUND

Depression and anxiety disorders are significant contributors to burden of disease in young people, highlighting the need to focus preventive efforts early in life. Despite substantial evidence for the role of parents in the prevention of adolescent depression and anxiety disorders, there remains a need for translation of this evidence into preventive parenting interventions. To address this gap, we developed a single-session, Web-based, tailored psychoeducation intervention that aims to improve parenting practices known to influence the development of adolescent depression and anxiety disorders.

OBJECTIVE

The aim of this study was to evaluate the short-term effects of the intervention on parenting risk and protective factors and symptoms of depression and anxiety in adolescent participants.

METHODS

We conducted a single-blind, parallel group, superiority randomized controlled trial comparing the intervention with a 3-month waitlist control. The intervention is fully automated and consists of two components: (1) completion of an online self-assessment of current parenting practices against evidence-based parenting recommendations for the prevention of adolescent depression and anxiety disorders and (2) an individually tailored feedback report highlighting each parent’s strengths and areas for improvement based on responses to the self-assessment. A community sample of 349 parents, together with 327 adolescents (aged 12-15 years), were randomized to either the intervention or waitlist control condition. Parents and adolescents completed online self-reported assessments of parenting and adolescent symptoms of depression and anxiety at baseline, 1-month (parent-report of parenting only), and 3-month follow-up.

RESULTS

Compared with controls, intervention group parents showed significantly greater improvement in parenting risk and protective factors from baseline to 1-month and 3-month follow-up (F_2,331.22=16.36, P<.001), with a small to medium effect size at 3-month follow-up (d=0.33). There were no significant effects of the intervention on adolescent-report of parenting or symptoms of depression or anxiety in the adolescents (all P>.05).

CONCLUSIONS

Findings suggest that a single-session, individually tailored, Web-based parenting intervention can improve parenting factors that are known to influence the development of depression and anxiety in adolescents. However, our results do not support the effectiveness of the intervention in improving adolescent depression or anxiety symptoms in the short-term. Long-term studies are required to adequately assess the relationship between improving parenting factors and adolescent depression and anxiety outcomes. Nonetheless, this is a promising avenue for the translation of research into a low-cost, sustainable, universal prevention approach.

TRIAL REGISTRATION

Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry: ACTRN12615000247572; https://www.anzctr.org.au/Trial/Registration/TrialReview.aspx?ACTRN=12615000247572 (Archived by WebCite at http://www.webcitation.org/6v1ha19XG)

Duration of Breastfeeding and Subsequent Adolescent Obesity: Effects of Maternal Behavior and Socioeconomic Status

PURPOSE

Previous research has shown that longer duration of breastfeeding is associated with less risk of obesity in childhood and adolescence. However, although putative physiological mechanisms have been proposed, less work has focused on psychosocial or environmental factors, including socioeconomic status (SES) and stressful family environments.

METHODS

The current study examined the role of observed maternal emotional behavior and SES (parental education) in the association between duration of breastfeeding and adolescent body mass index (BMI). One hundred fifteen mothers and adolescents participated in interaction tasks when adolescents were approximately 12 years of age. We measured adolescent BMI at approximately 15 years of age and, at one point over the course of the study, mothers retrospectively reported on duration of breastfeeding.

RESULTS

Controlling for adolescent gender, age, physical activity, number of perinatal complications, SES, birth weight, and mother's depressive symptoms, longer duration of breastfeeding was associated with lower adolescent BMI (p = .019), and this association was moderated by the mother's observed behavior during interactions with her adolescent, such that greater frequency of dysphoric behavior was associated with a stronger association between breastfeeding and adolescent BMI (p = .002). Longer duration of breastfeeding mediated the association between higher family SES and lower adolescent BMI.

CONCLUSIONS

This study is the first to show that observed parental behavior during adolescence may be an important moderator of the association between breastfeeding and obesity. The findings provide justification for future intervention research examining family environment factors in improving adolescent health.

Parenting mediates the impact of maternal depression on child internalizing symptoms

BACKGROUND

To examine the potential mediating role of parenting behaviors in the longitudinal, bidirectional relationships between maternal depression and child internalizing symptoms (i.e. depression and anxiety).

METHODS

We analyzed data from 4,581 mother-child dyads from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, assessed when the child was 3, 5, and 9 years old. Data included maternal depression diagnosis, child internalizing symptoms, and parenting behaviors (i.e. psychological aggression, nonviolent discipline, and physical assault). Data were analyzed using cross-lagged panel models.

RESULTS

Results indicated bidirectional relationships between maternal depression and child internalizing symptoms over childhood. Mediation analyses suggested that maternal depression led to subsequent increased psychological aggression toward their child, which in turn led to increased child internalizing symptoms. Nonviolent discipline and physical assault did not mediate this relationship. However, greater use of nonviolent discipline at age 5 among all parents predicted higher child internalizing symptoms at age 9. No parenting behaviors were both predicted by earlier child internalizing symptoms and predictive of subsequent maternal depression.

CONCLUSIONS

Our results suggest a bidirectional relationship between child and maternal internalizing psychopathology that is partially explained by depressed mothers' greater use of psychological aggression toward their children. It is important to note that the size of these effects were small, suggesting that the relationship between parent and child psychopathology is likely additionally explained by factors not assessed in the current study. Nonetheless, these results have implications for prevention and intervention strategies targeting child anxiety and depression.

Partners in Parenting: A Multi-Level Web-Based Approach to Support Parents in Prevention and Early Intervention for Adolescent Depression and Anxiety

Depression and anxiety disorders in young people are a global health concern. Various risk and protective factors for these disorders are potentially modifiable by parents, underscoring the important role parents play in reducing the risk and impact of these disorders in their adolescent children. However, cost-effective, evidence-based interventions for parents that can be widely disseminated are lacking. In this paper, we propose a multi-level public health approach involving a Web-based parenting intervention, Partners in Parenting (PIP). We describe the components of the Web-based intervention and how each component was developed. Development of the intervention was guided by principles of the persuasive systems design model to maximize parental engagement and adherence. A consumer-engagement approach was used, including consultation with parents and adolescents about the content and presentation of the intervention. The PIP intervention can be used at varying levels of intensity to tailor to the different needs of parents across the population. Challenges and opportunities for the use of the intervention are discussed. The PIP Web-based intervention was developed to address the dearth of evidence-based resources to support parents in their important role in their adolescents' mental health. The proposed public health approach utilizes this intervention at varying levels of intensity based on parents' needs. Evaluation of each separate level of the model is ongoing. Further evaluation of the whole approach is required to assess the utility of the intervention as a public health approach, as well as its broader effects on adolescent functioning and socioeconomic outcomes.

Linking Maternal Socialization of Emotion Regulation to Adolescents' Co-rumination With Peers

Mounting research supports that co-rumination, the tendency to seek peer support by engaging in extensive negatively focused discussion, is a risk factor for adolescent psychopathology. It is unclear, though, how this interpersonal tendency develops. Parental responses to adolescents' negative affect likely shape how youth utilize peer relationships to regulate distress, as they shift to reliance on peer support during this developmental stage. For example, nonsupportive parental responses may fail to instill healthy regulation strategies, resulting in ineffective forms of peer support, such as co-rumination. Conversely, high levels of supportive parental responses to adolescents' negative affect may motivate youth to also express more negative affect with peers, leading to co-rumination. Eighty-nine healthy adolescents (9-17) and their mothers completed surveys and a support-seeking interaction. Only supportive maternal responses, including maternal affection, were associated with adolescents' co-rumination. These analyses indicate that some forms of parental support are associated with adolescents' tendency to co-ruminate.

Amygdala Resting Connectivity Mediates Association Between Maternal Aggression and Adolescent Major Depression: A 7-Year Longitudinal Study

OBJECTIVE

The parent-adolescent relationship is an important predictor of adolescent mental health, especially depressive disorders. This relationship is constructed in the context of maturing emotion neurobiology and could help shape such neurobiology in ways that are important for current and future mental health. Amygdala resting-state functional networks have been linked to depression, but whether such resting connectivity is associated with parent affective behaviors or acts as a salient mediator between parenting and risk for depressive disorder is unknown.

METHOD

In the present study of 128 individuals, a 7-year longitudinal design was used to examine how observed maternal aggressive behavior during mother-adolescent interactions in early adolescence (12 years) predicted amygdala (whole and subregion)-based resting connectivity in mid adolescence (16 years). In 101 of those participants, whether altered amygdala resting-state connectivity mediated the association between maternal aggressive behavior and the first onset of major depressive disorder (MDD) in late adolescence (19 years) was analyzed.

RESULTS

Maternal aggression was related to resting-state functional connectivity between the amygdala and right superior temporal-posterior insula-Heschl gyri, bilateral visual cortex, and left temporal and insula cortices (the latter being driven by the centromedial amygdala subregion; p < .001). Further, amygdala and centromedial amygdala connectivity with the temporal and insula cortices mediated the association between maternal aggression and late adolescent-onset MDD (CI 0.20 to 2.87; CI 0.13 to 2.40, respectively).

CONCLUSION

These findings are consistent with previous literature documenting the importance of amygdala resting networks for adolescent depression but further suggest the importance of parental affective (particularly aggressive) behavior in the development of such functional connectivity patterns during this period of peak onset for mental health disorders.

The Mediating Effect of Self-Efficacy in the Connections between Strength-Based Parenting, Happiness and Psychological Distress in Teens

Preliminary studies of strength-based parenting (SBP), a style of parenting that seeks to build strengths knowledge and strengths use in one’s child, have reported benefits such as higher life satisfaction, subjective wellbeing, and positive emotions together with lower stress in children and teens. Two proximal mediators conveying these effects have been identified: teen’s own use of strengths and strength-based coping, along with a small moderating effect of growth mindsets relating to strengths. The current study tests the potential mediating effect of self-efficacy, a sense of agency in life, in the relationship between SBP and mental health (wellbeing and illbeing) in teens. Self efficacy has been linked to wellbeing and strengths processes in past studies and is classed as a basic human need and form of eudaimonic happiness. This study reconfirmed the adaptive benefits of SBP in a large sample of Australian adolescents (N = 11,368; 59% male; M_age = 14.04, SD_age = 1.99) sourced from 28 schools. Using structural equation modeling, SBP significantly and directly predicted higher happiness and lower depression, with direct effects falling into the 85th and 95th percentile of meta-analytically derived individual differences effect sizes. In addition, self-efficacy was a significant partial mediator, accounting for 40.0% of the total effect on happiness and 52.7% of the total effect on distress. Self-efficacy was also a full mediator in the case of anxiety, with a strong indirect effect. Results suggest that building strengths in teens can also build self-efficacy, and given the large effect sizes, that SBP is a promising leverage point for increasing teen wellbeing.

Study protocol: families and childhood transitions study (FACTS) - a longitudinal investigation of the role of the family environment in brain development and risk for mental health disorders in community based children

Background

Extant research has demonstrated that parenting behaviour can be a significant contributor to the development of brain structure and mental health during adolescence. Nonetheless, there is limited research examining these relationships during late childhood, and particularly in the critical period of brain development occurring between 8 and 10 years of age. The effects of the family environment on the brain during late childhood may have significant implications for later functioning, and particularly mental health. The Families and Childhood Transitions Study (FACTS) is a multidisciplinary longitudinal cohort study of brain development and mental health, with two waves of data collection currently funded, occurring 18-months apart, when child participants are aged approximately 8- and 10-years old.

Methods/design

Participants are 163 children (M age [SD] = 8.44 [0.34] years, 76 males) and their mothers (M age [SD] = 40.34 [5.43] years). Of the 163 families who consented to participate, 156 completed a video-recorded and observer-coded dyadic interaction task and 153 completed a child magnetic resonance imaging brain scan at baseline. Families were recruited from lower socioeconomic status (SES) areas to maximise rates of social disadvantage and variation in parenting behaviours. All experimental measures and tasks completed at baseline are repeated at an 18-month follow-up, excluding the observer coded family interaction tasks. The baseline assessment was completed in October 2015, and the 18-month follow up will be completed May 2017.

Discussion

This study, by examining the neurobiological and mental health consequences of variations in parenting, has the potential to significantly advance our understanding of child development and risk processes. Recruitment of lower SES families will also allow assessment of resilience factors given the poorer outcomes often associated with this population.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12887-017-0905-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

A Multi-Family Group Intervention for Adolescent Depression: The BEST MOOD Program

Depression is the most common mental disorder for young people, and it is associated with educational underachievement, self-harm, and suicidality. Current psychological therapies for adolescent depression are usually focused only on individual-level change and often neglect family or contextual influences. The efficacy of interventions may be enhanced with a broader therapeutic focus on family factors such as communication, conflict, support, and cohesion. This article describes a structured multi-family group approach to the treatment of adolescent depression: Behaviour Exchange Systems Therapy for adolescent depression (BEST MOOD). BEST MOOD is a manualized intervention that is designed to address both individual and family factors in the treatment of adolescent depression. BEST MOOD adopts a family systems approach that also incorporates psychoeducation and elements of attachment theories. The program consists of eight multifamily group therapy sessions delivered over 2 hours per week, where parents attend the first four sessions and young people and siblings join from week 5. The program design is specifically aimed to engage youth who are initially resistant to treatment and to optimize youth and family mental health outcomes. This article presents an overview of the theoretical model, session content, and evaluations to date, and provides a case study to illustrate the approach.

Coparental Affect, Children's Emotion Dysregulation, and Parent and Child Depressive Symptoms

Children's emotion dysregulation and depressive symptoms are known to be affected by a range of individual (parent, child) and systemic (parent-child, marital, and family) characteristics. The current study builds on this literature by examining the unique role of coparental affect in children's emotion dysregulation, and whether this association mediates the link between parent and child depressive symptoms. Participants were 51 mother-father-child triads with children aged 7 to 12 (M age = 9.24 years). Triads discussed a time when the child felt sad and a time when the child felt happy. Maternal and paternal displays of positive affect were coded, and sequential analyses examined the extent to which parents were congruent in their displays of positive affect during the emotion discussions. Results indicated that interparental positive affect congruity (IPAC) during the sadness discussion, but not the happiness discussion, uniquely predicted parent-reported child emotion dysregulation, above and beyond the contributions of child negative affect and parental punitive reactions. The degree of IPAC during the sadness discussion and child emotion dysregulation mediated the association between maternal, but not paternal, depressive symptoms and child depressive symptoms. Findings highlight the unique role of coparental affect in the socialization of sadness in youth and offer initial support for low levels of IPAC as a risk factor for the transmission of depressive symptoms in youth.