Polygenic Risk for Major Depression Interacts with Parental Criticism in Predicting Adolescent Depressive Symptom Development

Research has focused more and more on the interplay between genetics and environment in predicting different forms of psychopathology, including depressive symptoms. While the polygenic nature of depressive symptoms is increasingly recognized, only few studies have applied a polygenic approach in gene-by-environment interaction (G × E) studies. Furthermore, longitudinal G × E studies on developmental psychopathological properties of depression are scarce. Therefore, this 6-year longitudinal community study examined the interaction between genetic risk for major depression and a multi-informant longitudinal index of critical parenting in relation to depressive symptom development from early to late adolescence. The sample consisted of 327 Dutch adolescents of European descent (56% boys; Mage T1 = 13.00, SDage T1 = 0.44). Polygenic risk for major depression was based on the Hyde et al. (Nature Genetics, 48, 1031–1036, 2016) meta-analysis and genetic sensitivity analyses were based on the 23andMe discovery dataset. Latent Growth Models suggested that polygenic risk score for major depression was associated with higher depressive symptoms across adolescence (significant main effect), particularly for those experiencing elevated levels of critical parenting (significant G × E). These findings highlight how polygenic risk for major depression in combination with a general environmental factor impacts depressive symptom development from early to late adolescence

What should I do and who’s to blame?:A cross-national study on youth’s attitudes and beliefs in times of COVID-19

The COVID-19 crisis has had a major impact on youth. This study examined factors associated with youth's attitudes towards their government's response to the pandemic and their blaming of individuals from certain risk groups, ethnic backgrounds, and countries or regions. In a sample of 5,682 young adults (Mage = 22) from 14 countries, lower perceived burden due to COVID-19, more collectivistic and less individualistic values, and more empathy were associated with more positive attitudes towards the government and less blaming of individuals of certain groups. Youth's social identification with others in the pandemic mediated these associations in the same direction, apart from the COVID-19 burden on attitudes, which had a positive indirect effect. No evidence of country-level moderation was found

The future is present in the past: A meta‐analysis on the longitudinal associations of parent–adolescent relationships with peer and romantic relationships

Positive peer and romantic relationships are crucial for adolescents' positive adjustment and relationships with parents lay the foundation for these relationships. This longitudinal meta-analysis examined how parent–adolescent relationships continue into later peer and romantic relationships. Included longitudinal studies (k = 54 involving peer relationships, k = 38 involving romantic relationships) contained demographically diverse samples from predominantly Western cultural contexts. Multilevel meta-regressions indicated that supportive and negative parent–adolescent relationships were associated with supportive and negative future peer and romantic relationships. Meta-analytic structural equation modeling (k = 54) indicated that supportive parent–adolescent relationships unidirectionally predicted supportive and negative peer relationships, while negative parent–adolescent relationships were bidirectionally associated with supportive and negative peer relationships. Maintaining mutually supportive relationships with parents may help adolescents to develop positive social relationships

Parental Age in Relation to Offspring's Neurodevelopment

Objective: Advanced parenthood increases the risk of severe neurodevelopmental disorders like autism, Down syndrome and schizophrenia. Does advanced parenthood also negatively impact offspring’s general neurodevelopment? Method: We analyzed child-, father-, mother- and teacher-rated attention-problems (N = 38,024), and standardized measures of intelligence (N = 10,273) and educational achievement (N = 17,522) of children from four Dutch population-based cohorts. The mean age over cohorts varied from 9.73–13.03. Most participants were of Dutch origin, ranging from 58.7%-96.7% over cohorts. We analyzed 50% of the data to generate hypotheses and the other 50% to evaluate support for these hypotheses. We aggregated the results over cohorts with Bayesian research synthesis. Results: We mostly found negative linear relations between parental age and attention-problems, meaning that offspring of younger parents tended to have more attention problems. Maternal age was positively and linearly related to offspring’s IQ and educational achievement. Paternal age showed an attenuating positive relation with educational achievement and an inverted U-shape relation with IQ, with offspring of younger and older fathers at a disadvantage. Only the associations with maternal age remained after including SES. The inclusion of child gender in the model did not affect the relation between parental age and the study outcomes. Conclusions: Effects were small but significant, with better outcomes for children born to older parents. Older parents tended to be of higher SES. Indeed, the positive relation between parenta

Why employees and managers engage in unethical practices

The scope of this paper is to investigate the reasons as to why employees and managers in the workplace engage willingly in unethical practices. The paper begins by exploring the concept of ethics in the corporate world. It further highlights the different forms of unethical practices in the various companies in the contemporary world. The various theories that explore the issue of unethical practices in the workplace are highlighted and how they relate to the occurrence of unethical demeanor. The social contract theory and the psychological theories are highlighted in the paper. The study further delves in exploring the various types of reasons as depicted in different forms of literature in the world. The reasons include the pressure for performance at work, the effect of groupthink in the workplace, pressure from management, management control, demographic factors, and psychological traps, broken window theory. The paper also recommends the executive techniques that can be used to curb the psychological traps in the corporations. The paper also explores the broken window theory as a cause for unethical practices in the workplace. In conclusion, the paper comes up with recommendations for corporations

Longitudinal associations between structural prefrontal cortex and nucleus accumbens development and daily identity formation processes across adolescence

We tested whether adolescents with daily high identity uncertainty showed differential structural brain development across adolescence and young adulthood. Participants (N = 150, MageT1 15.92 years) were followed across three waves, covering 4 years. Self-reported daily educational identity and structural brain data of lateral prefrontal cortex (lPFC)/anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), medial PFC, and nucleus accumbens (NAcc) was collected across three waves. All hypotheses were pre-registered. Latent class growth analyses confirmed 2 identity subgroups: an identity synthesis class (characterized by strong commitments, and low uncertainty), and an identity moratorium class (high daily identity uncertainty). Latent growth curve models revealed, on average, delayed maturation of the lateral PFC/ACC and medial PFC and stable NAcc. Yet, adolescents in identity moratorium showed lower levels and less decline in NAcc gray matter volume. Lateral PFC/ACC and medial PFC trajectories did not differ between identity subgroups. Exploratory analyses revealed that adolescents with higher baseline levels and delayed maturation of lateral PFC/ACC and medial PFC gray matter volume, surface area, and cortical thickness reported higher baseline levels and stronger increases of in-depth exploration. These results provide insight into how individual differences in brain develop

Genome-wide association study of lifetime cannabis use based on a large meta-analytic sample of 32330 subjects from the International Cannabis Consortium

Cannabis is the most widely produced and consumed illicit psychoactive substance worldwide. Occasional cannabis use can progress to frequent use, abuse and dependence with all known adverse physical, psychological and social consequences. Individual differences in cannabis initiation are heritable (40-48%). The International Cannabis Consortium was established with the aim to identify genetic risk variants of cannabis use. We conducted a meta-analysis of genome-wide association data of 13 cohorts (N=32 330) and four replication samples (N=5627). In addition, we performed a gene-based test of association, estimated single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP)-based heritability and explored the genetic correlation between lifetime cannabis use and cigarette use using LD score regression. No individual SNPs reached genome-wide significance. Nonetheless, gene-based tests identified four genes significantly associated with lifetime cannabis use: NCAM1, CADM2, SCOC and KCNT2. Previous studies reported associations of NCAM1 with cigarette smoking and other substance use, and those of CADM2 with body mass index, processing speed and autism disorders, which are phenotypes previously reported to be associated with cannabis use. Furthermore, we showed that, combined across the genome, all common SNPs explained 13-20% (P&lt;0.001) of the liability of lifetime cannabis use. Finally, there was a strong genetic correlation (rg=0.83; P=1.85 × 10(-8)) between lifetime cannabis use and lifetime cigarette smoking implying that the SNP effect sizes of the two traits are highly correlated. This is the largest meta-analysis of cannabis GWA studies to date, revealing important new insights into the genetic pathways of lifetime cannabis use. Future functional studies should explore the impact of the identified genes on the biological mechanisms of cannabis use.</p

Why do young people become Jihadists? A theoretical account on radical identity development

Identity status theory and Lofland and Starks' (1965, Becoming a world-saver: A theory of conversion to a deviant perspective, American Sociological Review, 30, 862–875) model of religious conversion were used to explain why young people become jihad fighters. Both theories maintain that young people with unclear commitments are vulnerable for radical identity change. A religious problem-solving perspective, along with a self-definition as religious seeker, steers this potential identity change into the direction of religious conversion. This may lead young Muslims or young people with an uncertain identity and a religious orientation to move closer to radical Islam and jihad. Also, research from both traditions found that absence of positive affective bonds with relevant others go together with unstable identity. A new group with a clear defined mission may therefore be able to solve their problems in two ways: it offers warm interpersonal bonds, as well as potential new personal goals and commitments. Groups of jihadists are perfectly fit to serve this twofold purpose

An experimental investigation of the influence of deviant peers on own deviancy: A replication study

Objectives This study is a replication of a study examining the causal impact of a brief exposure to deviant peers on own deviant behavior, i.e., Paternoster et al. (Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 50:476–503, 2013). This study retested this design using different monetary incentives and a female deviant peer. Methods A total of 69 university students (61% female) from the Netherlands participated in this laboratory-based study (Mage = 20.64; SD = 2.00) under the façade of a study on individual differences predicting memory recall. Participants could earn up to 10 euros. All participants had the opportunity to cheat to illegitimately earn more money (deviancy). Participants in the experimental condition were exposed to a deviant peer who verbalized her intention to cheat, justified this behavior, and then visibly cheated on the memory recall task. Results Although participants in both conditions engaged in some deviancy, the brief exposure to a deviant peer significantly increased the amount of deviancy compared to participants who were not exposed to a deviant peer. These results were consistent after controlling for different demographic and theoretical control variables that predict deviancy. Conclusions Although not identical in magnitude, our results echo those found by Paternoster et al. (2013): Even a brief exposure to a previously unknown deviant peer increases the amount of deviant behavior in young adults. Future research should examine factors predicting the susceptibility to (different types and thresholds of) deviant peer influence

Political attitudes in adolescence and emerging adulthood: Developmental changes in mean level, polarization, rank-order stability, and correlates

This three-wave cohort-sequential longitudinal study (N=1302) examined the development of two core political attitudes, economic egalitarianism and ethnocentrism, among Dutch youths between age 12 and 31. Longitudinal regression analyses revealed a curvilinear mean level development for both attitudes, reflecting an increased disagreement with economic redistribution and multiculturalism around late adolescence. Furthermore, attitudes became decreasingly polarized (i.e., less extreme) and increasingly stable with age. Finally, several effects of attitudes' correlates gradually changed: The effect of educational level on ethnocentrism increased with age, whereas the effect of gender diminished. Regional effects on ethnocentrism developed as youths resided in a new area. No age-related change was found in the effect of parental SES. Overall, these findings support the idea that attitudes mature during the formative phase of adolescence and that this process slows down during emerging adulthood. Furthermore, these results support developmental explanations for the association between attitudes and their correlates