David C. R. Kerr

Developmental foundations of externalizing problems in young children: the role of effortful control.

Examined associations between effortful control temperament and externalizing problems in 220 3-year-old boys and girls, controlling for co-occurring cognitive and social risk factors. We also considered possible additive and/or interactive contributions of child dispositional anger and psychosocial adversity, and whether relations between effortful control and early externalizing problems were moderated by child gender. Individual differences in childrens effortful control abilities, assessed using behavioral and parent rating measures, were negatively associated with child externalizing problems reported by mothers, fathers, and preschool teachers. These associations were not overshadowed by other cognitive or social risk factors, or by other relevant child temperament traits such as proneness to irritability. Further analyses revealed that associations between externalizing problem behavior and effortful control were specific to components of child problem behavior indexing impulsive-inattentive symptoms. Thus, childrens effortful control skills were important correlates of childrens early disruptive behavior, a finding that may provide insight into the developmental origins of chronic behavioral maladjustment.

Youth-Nominated Support Team for Suicidal Adolescents (Version 1): a randomized controlled trial.

In this study, the authors investigated the efficacy of the Youth-Nominated Support Team-Version 1 (YST-1), a psychoeducational social network intervention, with 289 suicidal, psychiatrically hospitalized adolescents (197 girls, 92 boys). Adolescents were randomly assigned to treatment-as-usual plus YST-1 or treatment-as-usual only. Assessments were completed pre- and postintervention (6 months). There were no main effects for YST-1 on suicide ideation or attempts, internalizing symptoms, or related functional impairment. Relative to other girls, however, those who received YST-1 reported greater decreases in self-reported suicidal ideation (actually treated analytic strategy) and significantly greater decreases in mood-related functional impairment reported by their parents (intent to treat and actually treated analytic strategies). This is the first randomized controlled clinical trial to investigate the efficacy of a social network intervention with suicidal youths.

Infant Pathways to Externalizing Behavior: Evidence of Genotype x Environment Interaction.

To further the understanding of the effects of early experiences, 9-month-old infants were observed during a frustration task. The analytical sample was composed of 348 linked triads of participants (adoptive parents, adopted child, and birth parent[s]) from a prospective adoption study. It was hypothesized that genetic risk for externalizing problems and affect dysregulation in the adoptive parents would independently and interactively predict a known precursor to externalizing problems: heightened infant attention to frustrating events. Results supported the moderation hypotheses involving adoptive mother affect dysregulation: Infants at genetic risk showed heightened attention to frustrating events only when the adoptive mother had higher levels of anxious and depressive symptoms. The Genotype x Environment interaction pattern held when substance use during pregnancy was considered.

Associations of Substance Use Problems with Intimate Partner Violence for At-Risk Men in Long-Term Relationships

Associations of substance use problems in men--defined as a mans meeting at least 1 criterion of dependence on each of a number of substances by his mid-20s--with their perpetration of intimate partner violence (IPV) were examined in an at-risk community sample of 150 men in long-term relationships from their late adolescence to their late 20s. Men who had a problem with substances other than sedatives (especially cannabis and hallucinogens) committed more IPV than did men without such problems. Most of the men who had a problem with marijuana also had an alcohol problem, which explains why alcohol was found to have only an indirect association with IPV. The failure of previous alcohol-use studies to control for co-occurrence of alcohol and marijuana problems may explain the discrepancy with conclusions from past research that alcohol problems contribute directly to the perpetration of IPV.

Theory of Mind and Emotion Understanding Predict Moral Development in Early Childhood

The current study utilized longitudinal data to investigate how theory of mind (ToM) and emotion understanding (EU) concurrently and prospectively predicted young childrens moral reasoning and decision making. One hundred twenty-eight children were assessed on measures of ToM and EU at 3.5 and 5.5 years of age. At 5.5 years, children were also assessed on the quality of moral reasoning and decision making they used to negotiate prosocial moral dilemmas, in which the needs of a story protagonist conflict with the needs of another story character. More sophisticated EU predicted greater use of physical- and material-needs reasoning, and a more advanced ToM predicted greater use of psychological-needs reasoning. Most intriguing, ToM and EU jointly predicted greater use of higher-level acceptance-authority reasoning, which is likely a product of childrens increasing appreciation for the knowledge held by trusted adults and childrens desire to behave in accordance with social expectations.

Associations between vitamin D levels and depressive symptoms in healthy young adult women

There have been few studies of whether vitamin D insufficiency is linked with depression in healthy young women despite women׳s high rates of both problems. Female undergraduates (n=185) living in the Pacific Northwest during fall, winter, and spring academic terms completed the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression (CES-D) scale weekly for 4 weeks (W1-W5). We measured serum levels of vitamin D3 and C (ascorbate; as a control variable) in blood samples collected at W1 and W5. Vitamin D insufficiency (<30ng/mL) was common at W1 (42%) and W5 (46%), and rates of clinically significant depressive symptoms (CES-D≥16) were 34-42% at W1-W5. Lower W1 vitamin D3 predicted clinically significant depressive symptoms across W1-W5 (β=-0.20, p<0.05), controlling for season, BMI, race/ethnicity, diet, exercise, and time outside. There was some evidence that lower levels of depressive symptoms in Fall participants (vs. Winter and Spring) were explained by their higher levels of vitamin D3. W1 depressive symptoms did not predict change in vitamin D3 levels from W1 to W5. Findings are consistent with a temporal association between low levels of vitamin D and clinically meaningful depressive symptoms. The preventive value of supplementation should be tested further.

Prevalence of suicidal ideation among boys and men assessed annually from ages 9 to 29 years.

In a sample of 206 boys (90% Caucasian), self-reported suicidal ideation (SI; ages 12 to 29) and parent-reported youth suicidal talk (ages 9 to 20) were assessed annually by questionnaire. One-week point prevalence of self-reported SI ranged from 2.6% to 16.3%. New cases emerged across adolescence; by age 29, 57.3% self-reported SI at least once. SI was associated with clinically significant elevations on concurrent depressive symptoms. Nearly one quarter (24.8%) of parents reported suicidal talk by their son by age 20. Parent- and self-reports showed low correspondence. SI was more common than retrospective studies suggest. Parent-reports and one-time self-reports are likely to miss large numbers of adolescent boys who may be at risk.

Trajectories of depressive symptoms and externalizing behaviors across adolescence: associations with histories of suicide attempt and ideation in early adulthood

We examined associations between adolescent problem trajectories and suicide risk outcomes in 361 community participants. Depressive symptoms (self-report) and externalizing behaviors (parent report) were assessed six times from grades 5 to 10. Parallel process linear growth curves indicated that lifetime suicide attempt history assessed to age 25 was associated with higher intercept (grade 5) and slope (increases from grades 5 to 10) of depressive symptoms and higher slope of externalizing behaviors. Both problem intercepts predicted suicidal ideation at ages 18 to 25 years. Adolescent depressive and externalizing symptom trajectories showed independent associations with suicide risk. Preventive intervention that occurs prior to the developmental period in which suicidal thoughts and behaviors show peak prevalence is expected to prevent suicide.

Impact of Familial Factors and Psychopathology on Suicidality Among African American Adolescents

Abstract Racial differences in familial factors, psychopathology, perceptions of social support, and socioeconomic status were examined in a matched sample of African American and White suicidal adolescents (N = 90) during a psychiatric hospitalization. Exploratory analyses suggest that significant differences were found in family support and its association with psychopathology, but most noteworthy were the many similarities between the two adolescent groups. The results presented in

Parental Monitoring of Children's Media Consumption The Long-term Influences on Body Mass Index in Children

IMPORTANCE Although childrens media consumption has been one of the most robust risk factors for childhood obesity, effects of specific parenting influences, such as parental media monitoring, have not been effectively investigated. OBJECTIVES To examine the potential influences of maternal and paternal monitoring of child media exposure and childrens general activities on body mass index (BMI) in middle childhood. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS A longitudinal study, taken from a subsample of the Three Generational Study, a predominantly white, Pacific Northwest community sample (overall participation rate, 89.6%), included assessments performed from June 1998 to September 2012. Analyses included 112 mothers, 103 fathers, and their 213 children (55.4% girls) at age 5, 7, and/or 9 years. Participation rates ranged from 66.7% to 72.0% of all eligible Three Generational Study children across the 3 assessments. EXPOSURES Parents reported on their general monitoring of their children (whereabouts and activities), specific monitoring of child media exposure, childrens participation in sports and recreational activities, childrens media time (hours per week), annual income, and educational level. Parental BMI was recorded. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES Predictions to level and change in child BMI z scores were tested. RESULTS Linear mixed-effects modeling indicated that more maternal, but not paternal, monitoring of child media exposure predicted lower child BMI z scores at age 7 years (95% CI, -0.39 to -0.07) and less steeply increasing child BMI z scores from 5 to 9 years (95% CI, -0.11 to -0.01). These effects held when more general parental monitoring, and parent BMI, annual income, and educational level were controlled for. The significant negative effect of maternal media monitoring on childrens BMI z scores at age 7 years was marginally accounted for by the effect of child media time. The maternal media monitoring effect on childrens BMI z score slopes remained significant after adjustment for childrens media time and sports and recreational activity. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE These findings suggest that parental behaviors related to childrens media consumption may have long-term effects on childrens BMI in middle childhood. They underscore the importance of targeting parental media monitoring in efforts to prevent childhood obesity.