Policy Implications of Present Knowledge on the Development and Prevention of Physical Aggression

Research indicates that children are born with aggressive tendencies which they learn to control through early socialization. A small group, however, shows high aggression levels early on which remain stable throughout their life. Physical aggression is an epiphenomenon in a wide variety of antisocial behaviour, which wrecks the life of the individual as well as having large and negative consequences on society. The premise of this article is that physical aggression can be successfully influenced, but that there is a small window of opportunity in which to do this. Five rules about interventions which are more likely to be successful are presented: 1) the need for adequate evaluation, 2) the increased benefits of early prevention rather than later intervention, 3) intervention in multiple domains of the child’s life, 4) the importance of paying attention to treatment fidelity and professional execution, and 5) The current lack of substantive guidelines for specific interventions types. Within this context we review seven types of interventions to prevent physical aggression including: (1) promotion of physical health of mother and child, (2) increase family income, (3) increase access to existing services, (4) home visiting, (5) childcare, (6) preschool programs and (7) improving parenting. We conclude that promoting the physical health of mother and child should be more actively pursued, though additional experimental evidence is needed to clarify the relationship between health and social behaviour. An increase in family income, however, was not found by itself to help prevent the occurrence of physical aggression. An increase in access to existing services does not seem to reduce physical aggression, possibly because of the variable quality of these services. There is strong evidence that nurse home visitation programs, like the Nurse-Family Partnership, as well as some of the more rigorous preschool programs like the High/Scope Perry Preschool program, can be effective in deterring a child’s trajectory into violence, though more research in both these areas is needed and this research should be done by those who are not connected to these programs or past evaluations. Finally, we find that improving parenting through programmes like the Parent-Child Interaction Therapy programme can reduce the likelihood of violent behaviour, though, again, more experimental evidence is necessary. Overall, we argue that more experimental studies are necessary to better guide polic

Psychometric properties of the Social Behavior Questionnaire (SBQ) in a longitudinal population-based sample

We assessed the psychometric properties of the Social Behavior Questionnaire (SBQ), a 30-item questionnaire evaluating social (e.g., disruptive behaviors, bullying) and emotional problems (e.g., anxiety, depression) among children aged 3.5-12 years. Children (n = 1,950, 50.21% boys) were drawn from the Quebec Longitudinal Study of Child Development. Mothers reported the frequency with which children presented social and emotional behaviors from 3.5 to 8 years of age, and teachers from 6 to 12 years. We assessed internal structure using Confirmatory Factor Analysis, reliability using Cronbach's alpha, and convergent and discriminant validity using a multitrait-multimethod (MTMM) approach. The six-factor (emotional distress, withdrawal, impulsive/hyperactive/inattentive, disruptive behaviors, prosocial behaviors, and peer relationships difficulties) structure of the SBQ showed good fit from ages 3.5 to 12 years. Reliability estimates were good to excellent (alphas > .7), and MTMM showed good convergent and discriminant validity. Overall, the SBQ presented good psychometric properties with a large population-based sample aged 3.5-12 years. Further studies should assess its screening potential by investigating its convergent validity with diagnostic information

PLoS One

Background Maternal depressive symptoms (MDS) have been associated with poorer child cognitive development. Some studies have shown that childcare attendance moderates associations between MDS and child behavior problems, but we do not know if this is the case for children’s cognitive development. Furthermore, few studies have evaluated whether associations between MDS and child cognitive development differ for boys and girls at school entry. Methods This study used data from a population-based cohort study (n = 1364) comprising well-validated measures of children’s cognitive development including academic readiness and language development in kindergarten and reading and mathematics achievement in first grade. Information on MDS was collected repeatedly from the child's age of 5 months to 5 years and on childcare from 5 months to 4.5 years. Moderation analyses were conducted to evaluate the differential associations of MDS with children’s outcomes depending on the type of childcare attended and the child’s sex. Results Childcare type or child’s sex did not moderate associations between MDS and children’s cognitive outcomes except for MDS being associated with lower scores on reading achievement in first grade for girls with a very small effect size (sr2 = .003). Childcare attendance was associated with higher scores for children’s cognitive development, however these associations disappeared after adjusting for covariates including child, mother and family characteristics. Regardless of MDS and childcare type, boys had, even after adjusting for covariates, lower scores on academic readiness (sr2 = .029) and higher scores on mathematics achievement (sr2 = .004). Conclusions Children’s cognitive development at school entry was more strongly associated with maternal education, children’s age in kindergarten and number of months of schooling in first grade than MDS. Contrary to associations between MDS and child behavior problems, childcare attendance did not moderate associations between MDS and children’s cognitive development at school entry

A machine learning approach for predicting suicidal thoughts and behaviours among college students

Suicidal thoughts and behaviours are prevalent among college students. Yet little is known about screening tools to identify students at higher risk. We aimed to develop a risk algorithm to identify the main predictors of suicidal thoughts and behaviours among college students within one-year of baseline assessment. We used data collected in 2013-2019 from the French i-Share cohort, a longitudinal population-based study including 5066 volunteer students. To predict suicidal thoughts and behaviours at follow-up, we used random forests models with 70 potential predictors measured at baseline, including sociodemographic and familial characteristics, mental health and substance use. Model performance was measured using the area under the receiver operating curve (AUC), sensitivity, and positive predictive value. At follow-up, 17.4% of girls and 16.8% of boys reported suicidal thoughts and behaviours. The models achieved good predictive performance: AUC, 0.8; sensitivity, 79% for girls, 81% for boys; and positive predictive value, 40% for girls and 36% for boys. Among the 70 potential predictors, four showed the highest predictive power: 12-month suicidal thoughts, trait anxiety, depression symptoms, and self-esteem. We identified a parsimonious set of mental health indicators that accurately predicted one-year suicidal thoughts and behaviours in a community sample of college students.Program Initiative d’Excellenc

Arch Womens Ment Health

Despite the abundance of research investigating the associations between maternal depressive symptoms (MDS) and children's cognitive development, little is known about the putative mechanisms through which depressive symptoms are associated with children's cognitive development. The aim of this review was to summarize the literature on family mediators (i.e., maternal parenting behaviors, mother-child interactions, and family stress) involved in this association in early childhood. The review includes seven studies, five longitudinal and two cross-sectional, which tested putative mediators of the association between MDS and children's cognitive development. Studies were selected from online databases (PubMed, PsycNet) and manual searches. Only studies which quantitatively assessed associations between MDS in the postnatal period and child cognitive development in early childhood (i.e., 0-5 years) and included mediator variables were included in the review. Six out of seven studies identified mediating variables. The mediators included maternal responsiveness, parenting style, family dysfunction, the quality of the home environment, and maternal caregiving practices. Different mediators were identified across the reviewed studies. Maternal depressive symptoms are partly associated with child cognitive development via family processes and parenting practices. Various mediating processes are at play. Further research is needed on the role of maternal and paternal mental health and gene-environment correlations in this association. A better understanding of the mediating pathways is needed for the design of preventative intervention targeting specific family processes

J Affect Disord

Background Negative events in childhood are associated with increased risk of mental health problems, and evaluation could help identify students at high risk of mental health disorder. However, childhood adversity measures are difficult to implement in routine care. Perceived parental support in childhood and adolescence may be more easily assessed, as it is a rather neutral and non-intrusive question. Methods We retrieved students’ health data collected from the French i-Share cohort, in a longitudinal population-based study including 4463 students of 18–24 years of age. Students in this cohort completed a self-reported questionnaire about major psychiatric problems at one-year follow-up. Results Among 4463 participants, 26% reported a major mental health problem—including suicidal behavior (17%), major depression (7%), and severe generalized anxiety disorder (15%). Adjusted logistic regression revealed that a lower level of perceived parental support was significantly associated with higher risk of any mental health problem. Compared to students who reported extremely strong perceived parental support, students who perceived no support had a nearly 4-fold higher risk of mental health problems (aOR 3.80, CI 2.81–5.13). Lower levels of perceived parental support were dose-dependently associated with higher incidences of suicidal behavior, major depression, and severe generalized anxiety disorder. Limitations Study limitations included a moderate follow-up response rate, and retrospective self-report questionnaires. Conclusion Perceived parental support was strongly associated with the incidence of mental health problems among college students. If validated, these results suggest that health professionals should consider using this simple marker to improve mental health risk assessment and screening

Childhood out-of-home placement and pathways to adult socioeconomic outcomes

Background We aimed to first, estimate the association of early childhood out-of-home placement with adult income and reliance on social welfare, and second, to test whether, and to what extent, mental health problems in adolescence/young adulthood and primary school grade point average (GPA) explain these associations. Method We used linked registers of all 59,476 births in Finland in 1987. Children who were first placed between the ages 2–6 years were selected as our exposure-group. Outcomes measured in adulthood (26–28 years) were low income (i.e. 3 months of annual social welfare during ≥2 of 3 years). Putative mediators were mental health problems (i.e., psychiatric diagnoses from inpatient/outpatient visits) at ages 18–25 years, and Grade Point Average (GPA). To account for background differences, we matched placed to non-placed children using propensity score matching on parental (e.g., psychiatric diagnoses, education) and child characteristics (e.g., neurodevelopmental problems, prematurity). Results Of 54,814 children with complete data, 386 (0.71%) experienced placement (384 were matched). At ages 26–28, placed children had greater odds than never-placed children of low income (OR, 1.74; CI, 1.31–2.32) and social welfare (OR, 2.09; CI, 1.34–3.04). We found significant indirect effects of out-of-home placement on social welfare use via mental health problems (proportion mediated, 22%) and GPA (proportion mediated 11%), and on low income via mental health problems only (proportion mediated, 34%). Conclusions Prevention of mental health problems and increased school support for children who experienced out-of-home placement may effectively reduce poor adult socioeconomic outcomes associated with placement

Sex differences in the association between maternal depression and child and adolescent cognitive development: a systematic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND: Maternal depression is negatively associated with cognitive development across childhood and adolescence, with mixed evidence on whether this association differs in boys and girls. Herein, we performed a systematic review and meta-analysis of sex-specific estimates of the association between maternal depression and offspring cognitive outcomes. METHOD: Seven databases (PubMed, EMBASE, PsycINFO, ERIC, CINAHL, Scopus, ProQuest) were searched for studies examining the longitudinal association between maternal depression and offspring (up to 18 years) cognitive outcomes. Studies were screened and included based on predetermined criteria by two independent reviewers (Cohen's κ = 0.76). We used random-effects models to conduct a meta-analysis and used meta-regression for subgroup analyses. The PROSPERO record for the study is CRD42020161001. RESULTS: Twelve studies met inclusion criteria. Maternal depression was associated with poorer cognitive outcomes in boys [Hedges' g = -0.36 (95% CI -0.60 to -0.11)], but not in girls [-0.17 (-0.41 to 0.07)]. The association in boys varied as a function of the measure of depression used (b = -0.70, p = 0.005): when maternal depression was assessed via a diagnostic interview, boys [-0.84 (-1.23 to -0.44)] had poorer cognitive outcomes than when a rating scale was used [-0.16 (-0.36 to 0.04)]. CONCLUSIONS: This review and meta-analysis indicates that maternal depression is only significantly associated with cognitive outcomes in boys. Understanding the role of sex differences in the underlying mechanisms of this association can inform the development of targeted interventions to mitigate the negative effects of maternal depression on offspring cognitive outcomes

Pediatrics

OBJECTIVES: To investigate the developmental impact of a prenatal-to-age-5 multicomponent early intervention program targeting families living in low socioeconomic conditions. METHODS: Pregnant women from a disadvantaged Irish community were randomly assigned into a treatment group (home visits, baby massage, and parenting program; n = 115) or control group (n = 118). Children's behavioral problems (externalizing, internalizing), cognitive skills (general, vocabulary), and health service use (number of health clinic visits), were regularly assessed (6 months to 4 years of age). Children's developmental trajectories were modeled by using latent class growth analyses to test whether certain subgroups benefited more than others. RESULTS: High and low developmental trajectories were identified for each outcome. Treated children were more likely to follow the high-level trajectory for cognition (odds ratio = 2.89; 95% confidence interval = 1.55-5.50) and vocabulary skills (odds ratio = 2.02; 95% confidence interval = 1.08-3.82). There were no differences by treatment condition in the risk of belonging to a high externalizing or high health clinic visit trajectory. However, within the high externalizing trajectory, treated children had lower scores than controls (Hedges' g range (2-4 years) = 0.45-0.58; P < .05) and, within the high health clinic visit trajectory, only children in the control group experienced an increasing number of visits. CONCLUSIONS: This program revealed moderate positive impacts on trajectories of cognitive development and number of health clinic visits for all children, whereas positive impacts on externalizing behavior problems were restricted to children with the most severe problems