Cognitive impairment has been identified as an important aspect of major depressive disorder (MDD). We tested two theories regarding the association between MDD and cognitive functioning using data from longitudinal cohort studies. One theory, the cognitive reserve hypothesis, suggests that higher cognitive ability in childhood decreases risk of later MDD. The second, the scarring hypothesis, instead suggests that MDD leads to persistent cognitive deficits following disorder onset. We tested both theories in the Dunedin Study, a population-representative cohort followed from birth to midlife and assessed repeatedly for both cognitive functioning and psychopathology. We also used data from the Environmental Risk Longitudinal Twin Study to test whether childhood cognitive functioning predicts future MDD risk independent of family-wide and genetic risk using a discordant twin design. Contrary to both hypotheses, we found that childhood cognitive functioning did not predict future risk of MDD, nor did study members with a past history of MDD show evidence of greater cognitive decline unless MDD was accompanied by other comorbid psychiatric conditions. Our results thus suggest that low cognitive functioning is related to comorbidity, but is neither an antecedent nor an enduring consequence of MDD. Future research may benefit from considering cognitive deficits that occur during depressive episodes from a transdiagnostic perspective.

Comorbidity of internalizing and externalizing problems and its risk and protective factors have not been well incorporated into developmental research, especially among racial minority youth from high-poverty neighborhoods. The present study identified a latent comorbid factor as well as specific factors underlying internalizing and externalizing problems among 592 African American adolescents living in economically disadvantaged neighborhoods (291 male; M age = 15.9 years, SD = 1.43 years). Stressful life events and racial discrimination were associated with higher comorbid problems, whereas stressful life events and exposure to violence were associated with higher specific externalizing problems. Collective efficacy was associated with both lower specific externalizing problems and lower comorbid problems. Moreover, high collective efficacy buffered the risk effects of stressful life events and racial discrimination on comorbid problems. Our results demonstrated the advantages of latent variable modeling to understanding comorbidity by articulating impacts of risk factors on comorbid and specific components underlying internalizing and externalizing problems. They also highlighted the protective effect of collective efficacy in mitigating risks for these problems. Broadly, these findings call for more studies on comorbidities in developmental psychopathology among youth from diverse sociocultural backgrounds.

Adolescence and young adulthood are sensitive developmental periods to environmental influences. Investigating pre-emptive measures against stressors, such as those associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, on mental health is crucial. We aimed to synthesize evidence on pre-pandemic resilience factors shaping youth mental health outcomes during this period. For this pre-registered systematic review, we searched seven databases for longitudinal studies of youth populations affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, assessing a priori defined resilience factors at the individual, family, or community level before the pandemic. Studies required validated mental health or wellbeing measures collected both before and during the pandemic. Study quality was assessed using the corresponding NIH Quality Assessment Tool. From 4,419 unique records, 32 studies across 12 countries were included, using 46 distinct resilience measures. Due to the heterogeneity of study designs, we applied a narrative synthesis approach, finding that resilience factors were generally associated with better mental health outcomes both prior to and during the pandemic. However, most factors did not mitigate pandemic-related mental health effects. Nonetheless, family-level resilience factors emerged as promising under specific conditions. Study quality was generally fair, with concerns in resilience assessment and sampling quality. Future research should prioritize rigorous study designs and comprehensive resilience assessments.

The ability to detect and monitor errors enables us to maintain optimal performance across tasks. One neurophysiological index of error monitoring is the error-related negativity (ERN), a fronto-central negative deflection peaking between 0 and 150 ms following an erroneous response. While the developmental literature has illustrated age-related differences in the ERN and its association with anxiety, the literature has mainly focused on the between-person differences of the ERN. Our study examined the within-person variations of the ERN in 115 community-dwelling 9- to 12-year-olds (66 girls; mean age/SD = 11.00/1.16 years). Participants completed an EEG Go/No-Go task and reported their anxiety symptoms. Multilevel growth analyses yielded significant within-person, curvilinear changes in the ERN throughout the task. Youths’ trial-level ERN increased (i.e., became more negative) with early errors, but decreased with subsequent errors. This curvilinear pattern was evident in older, but not younger, youths. Age also interacted with anxiety symptoms: younger youths with higher anxiety showed a continuous increase in the ERN throughout the task, whereas older youths with higher anxiety showed an initial increase followed by a decline in the ERN. Our study contributed novel evidence for the development of the ERN and the underlying mechanisms of the ERN-anxiety relationship that cannot be captured by between-person approaches.

This study investigated the psychometric properties of the Highly Sensitive Child-Rating System (HSC-RS), the existence of sensitivity groups, and the characterization of sensitivity at behavioral, genetic, and physiological levels in 541 preschoolers (M(SD)age = 3.56(0.27); 45%male; 87%Caucasian). Temperament, genetic, cortisol, and electroencephalography asymmetry data were collected in subsamples (n = 94-476). Results showed a reliable observational measure of sensitivity. Confirmatory factor and latent class analysis supported a one-factor solution and three sensitivity groups, that are a low (23.3%), medium (54.2%), and a high (22.5%) sensitivity group. Hierarchical regression analyses showed moderate associations between HSC-RS and observed temperament traits (i.e., behavioral level). In addition, a small negative association between HSC-RS and a genome-wide association study polygenic risk score (GWAS PGS) for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder was found. No relations with candidate genes, other GWAS PGS phenotypes, and physiological measures were found. Implications of our findings and possible explanations for a lack of these associations are discussed.

This study investigates whether lower self-regulation (SR) facets are risk factors for internalizing symptoms (vulnerability models), consequences of these symptoms (scar models), or develop along the same continuum and thus share common causes (spectrum models) during middle childhood. To analyze these models simultaneously, a random intercept cross-lagged panel model was estimated using Mplus. Data were assessed at three measurement time points in a community-based sample of N = 1657 (52.2% female) children in Germany, aged 6–13. Internalizing symptoms were measured via parent report by the emotional problems scale of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire. Seven SR facets were assessed behaviorally, via parent report and teacher report. At the within-person level, internalizing symptoms were concurrently associated with emotional reactivity at all measurement time points, while no cross-lagged paths reached significance. At the between-person level, internalizing symptoms were associated with working memory updating (r = −.29, p < .001), inhibitory control (r = −.29, p < .001), planning behavior (r = −.49, p < .001), and emotional reactivity (r = .59, p < .001). As internalizing symptoms and SR facets were primarily associated at the between-person level, the results lend support to spectrum models suggesting common causes of internalizing symptoms and impaired SR.

The development of inhibitory control (IC) and working memory (WM) in preschool is linked to a multitude of cognitive, emotional, and social outcomes, including elementary school adjustment. Furthermore, there are both cognitive and socioemotional domains of IC and it is unclear if both are related to these outcomes in the same manner. Using a family study design, the present investigation examined preschoolers’ IC, WM and externalizing behavior problems, maternal depression and anxiety measured when the children were in preschool, and elementary school externalizing behaviors and child and family functioning. Families with two children between 2.5 and 5.5 years of age (n = 198; mean age = 3.88, SD = 1.04) completed online surveys and laboratory visits, as well as another online survey after the children entered elementary school. Both cognitive and emotional domains of preschool IC significantly predicted the externalizing and functioning aspects of adjustment in elementary school (but WM did not predict either). In addition, child age predicted functioning in elementary school, and maternal depression predicted externalizing in elementary school. These longitudinal results indicate that supporting both cognitive and emotional aspects of preschool IC can benefit adjustment in elementary school.

Coordination in mothers’ and their infants’ parasympathetic nervous system functioning (i.e., respiratory sinus arrhythmia [RSA] synchrony) specifically during playful interactions may promote resilience against exposure to postpartum depressive symptoms (PPD), for both members of the dyad. To test biobehavioral synchrony theory-derived hypotheses, we evaluated whether positive mother-infant RSA synchrony during play attenuated associations between maternal PPD symptoms and future child behavior problems and maternal depressive symptoms. 322 low-income, Mexican-origin mothers and their children participated in 5-min resting baseline and free play interaction tasks when children were 24 weeks of age; mothers reported on their PPD symptoms and on child behavior problems and maternal depressive symptoms at 12- and 36-months child age. Results of multilevel structural equation models demonstrated that, though the associations between maternal PPD symptoms and future child behavior problems and maternal depressive symptoms differed depending on levels of RSA synchrony during play and non-interactive tasks, the protective benefits of positive RSA synchrony on 12-month maternal depressive symptoms and 36-month child internalizing problems were specific to its assessment during a playful interaction. Results suggest that the dyadic coordination of physiological capacities during playful interactions is an active mechanism that promotes resilience to emotional distress for mothers and their children.

Polygenic scores (PGSs) have garnered increasing attention in the clinical sciences due to their robust prediction signals for psychopathology, including externalizing (EXT) behaviors. However, studies leveraging PGSs have rarely accounted for the phenotypic and developmental heterogeneity in EXT outcomes. We used the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (analytic N = 4,416), spanning ages 13 to 41, to examine associations between EXT PGSs and trajectories of antisocial behaviors (ASB) and substance use behaviors (SUB) identified via growth mixture modeling. Four trajectories of ASB were identified: High Decline (3.6% of the sample), Moderate (18.9%), Adolescence-Peaked (10.6%), and Low (67%), while three were identified for SUB: High Use (35.2%), Typical Use (41.7%), and Low Use (23%). EXT PGSs were consistently associated with persistent trajectories of ASB and SUB (High Decline and High Use, respectively), relative to comparison groups. EXT PGSs were also associated with the Low Use trajectory of SUB, relative to the comparison group. Results suggest PGSs may be sensitive to developmental typologies of EXT, where PGSs are more strongly predictive of chronicity in addition to (or possibly rather than) absolute severity.

Child socioemotional difficulties emerge as early as infancy, increase over time, and place children at risk for future internalizing and externalizing symptoms. The aim of the present study was to investigate pathways that originate within the interparental relationship during pregnancy and unfold during infancy that mitigate risk for toddler socioemotional difficulties and to examine the differential effects of these pathways for children with varying degrees of temperamental fearfulness. Specifically, we examined whether dyadic mutually responsive orientation (MRO; i.e., a system of attunement, reciprocity, cooperation, and warmth) observed in the prenatal interparental relationship and in both mother-infant and father-infant relationships predicted child socioemotional functioning at age 2. Findings revealed a significant direct effect of observed prenatal interparental MRO on mother-infant and father-infant MRO. Results also demonstrated an indirect effect of prenatal interparental MRO on socioemotional functioning via father-infant MRO. Temperamental fearfulness did not interact with interparental MRO, mother-infant MRO, or father-infant MRO to impact socioemotional functioning. Taken together, findings suggest high interparental MRO during pregnancy contributes to similar relational qualities in the parent-infant relationship and mitigates the risk for toddler socioemotional difficulties. Further, results underscore the importance of integrating fathers into prevention and intervention efforts when they are part of the family system.

Young people with childhood adversity (CA) were at increased risk to experience mental health problems during the COVID-19 pandemic. Pre-pandemic research identified high-quality friendship support as a protective factor that can buffer against the emergence of mental health problems in young people with CA. This longitudinal study investigated friendship buffering effects on mental health symptoms before and at three timepoints during the pandemic in 102 young people (aged 16–26) with low to moderate CA. Multilevel analyses revealed a continuous increase in depression symptoms following the outbreak. Friendship quality was perceived as elevated during lockdowns and returned to pre-pandemic baseline levels during reopening. A stress-sensitizing effect of CA on social functioning was evident, as social thinning occurred following the outbreak. Bivariate latent change score modeling revealed that before and during the pandemic, young people with greater friendship quality self-reported lower depression symptoms and vice versa. Furthermore, sequential mediation analysis showed that high-quality friendships before the pandemic buffered depression symptoms during the pandemic through reducing perceived stress. These findings highlight the importance of fostering stable and supportive friendships in young people with CA and suggest that through reducing stress perceptions high-quality friendships can mitigate mental health problems during times of multidimensional stress.

Co-occurring autism and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) have been associated with poorer social skills. Most studies examining the association of ADHD symptoms and social skills in autism employ categorical and cross-sectional designs, which provide a narrow view of the development of ADHD symptoms. Using group-based trajectory modeling, we identified five trajectories of caregiver-reported attention problems in an inception cohort of autistic children (N = 393) followed from age 2–5 years (T1) to age 10.5–11 years (T8): Low-Stable (LS; 15.5% of participants), Low-Decreasing (LD; 25.2%), Low-Increasing (LI; 19.2%), Moderate-Decreasing (MD; 32.9%), and High-Stable (HS; 7.2%). Child FSIQ and caregiver age at baseline were lower and caregiver depression at baseline was higher for participants in the MD group than the LS group. Psychotropic medication use was associated with higher attention problems. The MD and HS groups had similar mean Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales, Second Edition (VABS-II) Socialization standard scores at T8, which were lower than other groups. The LI group had lower Socialization scores than the LS group. Results support that a decline in caregiver-reported attention problems is common but not universal in autistic children and that even moderate/subclinical attention problems may relate to social skills outcomes in autism.

Children and adolescents display varying trajectories of conduct problems (CP), but it is unclear if these CP trajectories can be distinguished by childhood antecedents and adolescent outcomes. Therefore, we tested if child- and environmental-level risk factors predict CP trajectory membership and if CP trajectories are associated with developmental outcomes in adolescence. Six waves of data (teacher-, parent- and child self-reports) were used from 2,045 children. General growth mixture modeling identified four CP trajectories (waves 2–5): childhood-persistent, childhood-limited, adolescent-onset, and low CP. Relative to the adolescent-onset CP trajectory, wave 1 child- and environmental-level risk factors increased the likelihood of being in the childhood-persistent CP trajectory, though all but two (callous-unemotional traits and non-intact family) antecedents lost significance after controlling for wave 1 conduct problems. Few significant differences emerged in risk factors when comparing childhood-persistent and childhood-limited CP trajectories. Individuals identified in the adolescent-onset and childhood-persistent CP trajectories faced a higher risk for later maladjustment than those in the childhood-limited CP trajectory, whereas the adolescent-onset and childhood-persistent CP trajectories only differed in three out of 13 outcomes. Overall, findings indicate that individuals with CP are at risk for later maladjustment, but predicting the childhood-persistent trajectory of CP in young children is difficult.

Childhood maltreatment, a significant distal risk factor for individual development, is potentially linked to maladaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategies (MCERS) and increased internalizing problems (i.e., depression and anxiety). Prior research has widely identified that MCERS mediate the link between childhood maltreatment and internalizing problems. However, this result overlooks the potential bidirectional relationship between MCERS and internalizing problems. In this study, we aim to explore whether childhood maltreatment longitudinally linked to internalizing problems through the mediating role of MCERS, or, conversely, was related to subsequent MCERS through internalizing problems. Gender differences in the associations between these variables were also examined. Participants were 892 adolescents from a longitudinal design with two waves (487 females, 405 males; Mage = 15.36, SDage = 1.43). Our results indicated that childhood maltreatment was longitudinally related to MCERS and internalizing problems. T1 MCERS mediated the relationship between T1 child maltreatment and T2 internalizing problems, while T1 internalizing problems also played a mediating role between T1 child maltreatment and T2 MCERS. These findings were also equivalent across genders. Taken together, childhood maltreatment was longitudinally associated with internalizing problems through MCERS, and also related to subsequent MCERS through internalizing problems.

This paper reports the methods and preliminary findings of Germina, an ongoing cohort study to identify biomarkers and trajectories of executive functions and language development in the first 3 years of life. 557 mother-infant dyads (mean age of mothers 33.7 years, 65.2% white, 48.7% male infants) have undergone baseline and are currently collecting data for other timepoints. A linear regression was used to predict baseline Bayley-III using scores derived from data-driven sparse partial least squares utilizing a multiple holdout framework of 15 domains. Significant associations were found between socioeconomic/demographic characteristics (B = 0.29), epigenetics (B = 0.11), EEG theta (B = 0.14) and beta activity (B = 0.11), and microbiome functional pathways (B = 0.08) domains, and infant development measured by the Bayley-III at T1, suggesting potential interventions to prevent impairments.

Difficulty with emotion regulation is a transdiagnostic problem associated with a variety of psychological disorders. The biosocial model suggests that early biological vulnerability, including impulsivity, may potentiate across development by transacting with environmental risk factors leading to the development of emotional dysregulation. During transition from late childhood to early adolescence, family may be a prominent source of environmental influences. The primary aim of this study was to examine whether trait impulsivity and family conflict influence each other in a transactional fashion over the span of two years (from age 9–10 to 11–12) using data collected from 6112 children and their caregivers through the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development study. In an exploratory manner, the study also aimed to test whether the transactional process was different among children with high, moderate, or low levels of emotion regulation difficulties at age 12–13. Results supported a cross lagged transaction between trait impulsivity and family conflict among this sample of children but a lack of reciprocal paths among those with higher levels of emotion dysregulation. These results provided partial support for the biosocial model.

Childhood obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) stems from a bunch of restricted and repetitive behaviors, which are part of normal behavioral repertoire up to the age of 7. The persistence of compulsive-like behaviors after that age is often associated with unique comorbidity patterns, which are age-at-onset dependent and reflect different developmental stages. In particular, OCD synchronically co-occurs with a broad constellation of neurodevelopmental disorders, whereas diachronically it is related to an increased risk of major adult psychoses. Moreover, OCD is associated with trait-like sensory phenomena, suggesting a common disrupted sensorimotor grounding.

The present study is aimed at exploring the hypothesis that this specific temporal and comorbidity OCD profile may be due to a developmental heterochronic mechanism of delay in attenuation of ontogenetically early behavioral patterns. The developmental shift of highly evolutionarily conserved behavioral phenotypes might be regulated by epigenetic changes induced by different conditions of sensory unbalance. This evolutionary and developmental model allows capturing childhood OCD in light of the ultimate causes of ritual behavior throughout phylogeny, namely its “homeostatic” function over conditions of unpredictability. Moreover, it may have important clinical implications, as OCD symptoms could represent putative biomarkers of early divergent developmental trajectories, with a pathoplastic effect on course and outcome.

Although ample research links social factors and suicidality, there remains a gap in understanding how distinct processes within social communication relate to suicidality. We demonstrate how reciprocity of eye-gaze and facial expressions of happiness differ during parent-adolescent conflict based on adolescents’ future suicidal ideation (SI). Facial affect analyses were based on 103 girls (ages 11–13; M = 12.28; 75% White) and their parents. Eye-gaze analyses were conducted in subset of these dyads (N = 70). Participants completed a conflict discussion during which gaze to their partners’ eyes was assessed using mobile eye-tracking glasses and facial affect was coded using FaceReader Observer XT. Adolescents’ SI was assessed 12-months later. Actor-partner interdependence models tested whether participants’ gaze and affect predicted their own and their partners’ gaze and affect one second later and if these intra and interpersonal dynamics differed based on adolescents’ future levels of SI. Girls from dyads with less parental reciprocity of eye-gaze and happiness reported higher levels of SI 12-months later. During early adolescence, girls whose parents reciprocate their eye-contact or positive affect less during conflict may be at heightened risk for SI. If replicated, social communication could provide a promising intervention target to reduce suicidality prospectively.

This study investigated associations between childhood neighborhood deprivation and adolescent mental health difficulties, and potential protective factors. Data were utilized from the Millennium Cohort Study (MCS) (born in 2000–2002; N = 5,422; 52% female) and the Environmental Risk (E-Risk) Longitudinal Twin Study (born in 1994–1995; N = 1,920; 53% female). Childhood neighborhood deprivation was measured using the Index of Multiple Deprivation between age 9 months and 14 years (MCS) and at age 12 (E-Risk). Adolescent mental health was assessed using the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire at age 17 (MCS) and the Diagnostic Interview Schedule conducted at age 18 with symptoms loading onto general psychopathology, internalizing and externalizing factors (E-Risk). Cross-classified models showed high levels of neighborhood deprivation in childhood were associated with more total problems (estimate = 0.46, 95% CI = 0.04–0.88) and internalizing difficulties (estimate = 0.32, 95% CI = 0.06–0.59) in adolescence within MCS. Being male, having higher self-esteem, greater social support, and a more positive parent-child relationship were associated with fewer total problems (estimates = −0.09–−1.87) and internalizing difficulties (estimates = −0.03–−1.88) at age 17 in the full sample regardless of neighborhood deprivation exposure. However, interactions revealed that higher self-esteem was especially beneficial for children exposed to high neighborhood deprivation (estimate = −0.35, 95% CI = −0.43–−0.27). No significant associations between childhood neighborhood deprivation and adolescent mental health symptoms were found in E-Risk. Interventions focused on improving self-esteem, social support, and parenting may help promote better adolescent mental health in the general population. Those living in the most deprived areas may benefit most from increased self-esteem.