Annual Research Review: interparental conflict and youth psychopathology: an evidence review and practice focused update

The quality of the interparental relationship is recognized as an important influence on child and adolescent psychopathology. Historically, clinically-oriented research on this topic has focused on the impacts of parental divorce and domestic violence as primary interparental relationship influences on child outcomes, to the relative neglect of dimensional or qualitative features of the couple/interparental relationship for youth (child and adolescent) psychopathology. Recent research has highlighted that children are affected by attributes of interparental conflict, specifically how parents express and manage conflicts in their relationship, across a continuum of expressed severity and negativity – ranging from silence to violence. Further, new evidence highlights that children’s emotional, behavioral, social, academic outcomes and future interpersonal relationships are adversely affected by conflict between parents/carers whether adults are living together or not (i.e. married or separated), or where children are or are not genetically related to their rearing parents (e.g. adoption). We review evidence and present an integrated theoretical model, highlighting how children are affected by interparental conflict and what this evidence base means for effective intervention and prevention program development, as well as the development of possible cost-benefit models. Additionally, we review policy implications of this research and highlight some very recent examples of UK-based policy focusing on addressing the interparental relationship and its impact on youth psychopathology

Crucial words for abelian powers

A word is "crucial" with respect to a given set of "prohibited words" (or simply "prohibitions") if it avoids the prohibitions but it cannot be extended to the right by any letter of its alphabet without creating a prohibition. A "minimal crucial word" is a crucial word of the shortest length. A word W contains an "abelian k-th power" if W has a factor of the form X_1X_2...X_k where X_i is a permutation of X_1 for 2<= i <= k. When k=2 or 3, one deals with "abelian squares" and "abelian cubes", respectively. In 2004 (arXiv:math/0205217), Evdokimov and Kitaev showed that a minimal crucial word over an n-letter alphabet A_n = {1,2,..., n} avoiding abelian squares has length 4n-7 for n >= 3. In this paper we show that a minimal crucial word over A_n avoiding abelian cubes has length 9n-13 for n >= 5, and it has length 2, 5, 11, and 20 for n=1, 2, 3, and 4, respectively. Moreover, for n >= 4 and k >= 2, we give a construction of length k^2(n-1)-k-1 of a crucial word over A_n avoiding abelian k-th powers. This construction gives the minimal length for k=2 and k=3. For k >= 4 and n >= 5, we provide a lower bound for the length of crucial words over A_n avoiding abelian k-th powers.Comment: 14 page

Early risk indicators of internalizing problems in late childhood: A 9-year longitudinal study

Background: Longitudinal studies on risk indicators of internalizing problems in childhood are in short supply, but could be valuable to identify target groups for prevention. Methods: Standardized assessments of 294 children’s internalizing problems at the age of 2–3 years (parent report), 4–5 years (parent and teacher report) and 11 years (parent and teacher) were available in addition to risk indicators from the child, family and contextual domain. Results: Low socioeconomic status, family psychopathology at child age 2–3, parenting stress at child age 4–5 years, and parents’ reports of child internalizing problems at age 4–5 years were the strongest predictors of internalizing problems at the age of 11. If these early risk factors were effectively ameliorated through preventive interventions, up to 57% of internalizing cases at age 11 years could be avoided. Conclusions: Predictors from as early as 2–5 years of age are relevant for identifying children at risk of internalizing problems in late childhood. The methodological approach used in this study can help to identify children who are most in need of preventive interventions and help to assess the potential health gain and efficiency of such interventions. Keywords: Internalizing disorder, risk factors, prevention. Abbreviations: AF: attributable fraction; IRR: incidence rate ratio; LEQ: Life Events Questionnaire; NNT: numbers needed to be treated; RD: risk difference

Muon capture by 3He nuclei followed by proton and deuteron production

The paper describes an experiment aimed at studying muon capture by ${}^{3}\mathrm{He}$ nuclei in pure ${}^{3}\mathrm{He}$ and $\mathrm{D}_2 + {}^{3}\mathrm{He}$ mixtures at various densities. Energy distributions of protons and deuterons produced via $\mu^-+{}^{3}\mathrm{He}\to p+n+n + \nu_{\mu }$ and $\mu^-+{}^{3} \mathrm{He} \to d+n + \nu_{\mu}$ are measured for the energy intervals $10 - 49$ MeV and $13 - 31$ MeV, respectively. Muon capture rates, $\lambda_\mathrm{cap}^p (\Delta E_p)$ and $\lambda_\mathrm{cap}^d (\Delta E_d)$ are obtained using two different analysis methods. The least--squares methods gives $\lambda_\mathrm{cap}^p = (36.7\pm 1.2) {s}^{- 1}$, $\lambda_\mathrm{cap}^d = (21.3 \pm 1.6) {s}^{- 1}$. The Bayes theorem gives $\lambda_\mathrm{cap}^p = (36.8 \pm 0.8) {s}^{- 1}$, $\lambda_\mathrm{cap}^d = (21.9 \pm 0.6) {s}^{- 1}$. The experimental differential capture rates, $d\lambda_\mathrm{cap}^p (E_p) / dE_p$ and $d\lambda_\mathrm{cap}^d (E_d) / dE_d$, are compared with theoretical calculations performed using the plane--wave impulse approximation (PWIA) with the realistic NN interaction Bonn B potential. Extrapolation to the full energy range yields total proton and deuteron capture rates in good agreement with former results.Comment: 17 pages, 13 figures, accepted for publication in PR

Configurations of mother-child and father-child attachment as predictors of internalizing and externalizing behavioral problems: An individual participant data (IPD) meta-analysis

An unsettled question in attachment theory and research is the extent to which children's attachment patterns with mothers and fathers jointly predict developmental outcomes. In this study, we used individual participant data (IPD) meta-analysis to assess whether early attachment networks with mothers and fathers are associated with children's internalizing and externalizing behavioral problems. Following a pre-registered protocol, data from 9 studies and 1,097 children (mean age: 28.67 months) with attachment classifications to both mothers and fathers were included in analyses. We used a linear mixed effects analysis to assess differences in children's internalizing and externalizing behavioral problems as assessed via the average of both maternal and paternal reports based on whether children had two, one, or no insecure (or disorganized) attachments. Results indicated that children with an insecure attachment relationship with one or both parents were at higher risk for elevated internalizing behavioral problems compared with children who were securely attached to both parents. Children whose attachment relationships with both parents were classified as disorganized had more externalizing behavioral problems compared to children with either one or no disorganized attachment relationship with their parents. Across attachment classification networks and behavioral problems, findings suggest (a) an increased vulnerability to behavioral problems when children have insecure or disorganized attachment to both parents, and (b) that mother-child and father-child attachment relationships may not differ in the roles they play in children's development of internalizing and externalizing behavioral problems

Towards an Integrative Cognitive-Socio-Technical Approach in Health Informatics: Analyzing Technology-Induced Error Involving Health Information Systems to Improve Patient Safety

The purpose of this paper is to argue for an integration of cognitive and socio-technical approaches to assessing the impact of health information systems. Historically, health informatics research has examined the cognitive and socio-technical aspects of health information systems separately. In this paper we argue that evaluations of health information systems should consider aspects related to cognition as well as socio-technical aspects including impact on workflow (i.e. an integrated view). Using examples from the study of technology-induced error in healthcare, we argue for the use of simulations to evaluate the cognitive-socio-technical impacts of health information technology [36]. Implications of clinical simulations and analysis of cognitive-social-technical impacts are discussed within the context of the system development life cycle to improve health information system design, implementation and evaluation

An Outcome Evaluation of the Implementation of the Triple P – Positive Parenting Program in Hong Kong

The present study evaluated the effectiveness of the Positive Parenting Program (Triple P) with a sample of Chinese parents of children with early onset conduct related problems in Hong Kong. The participants consisted of 91 parents whose children attended maternal and child health centers and child assessment centers for service, and were between three to seven years old. Participants were randomly assigned to the intervention (TP) and a waitlist control group (WL. There was no significant difference in pre-intervention measures between the two groups. However, at post intervention, participants in the TP group reported significantly lower levels of child behavior problems, lower dysfunctional parenting styles, and higher parent sense of competence, compared to the WL group. Implications of these findings for the use of Triple P with families of Chinese descent are discussed