Prevention of psychopathology in children:Interventions for intergenerational transmission

Children of parents with anxiety or mood disorders have an increased risk of developing an anxiety or mood disorder themselves. A qualitative review of different components of well-studied prevention programs shows that all programs use elements of psychoeducation. Programs that primarily target children often use elements of cognitive behavioral therapy. Programs aimed at the whole family contain components focused on communication between family members and parenting skills. In general, these prevention programs are effective in preventing short- and long-term anxiety/mood disorders and reducing existing symptoms in children. Future research should pay more attention to how and for whom the prevention programs are effective. Primary health care plays an important role in identifying children at risk, underscoring the importance of training professionals in early signaling psychopathology in parents and children. Children with mild complaints could be identified earlier, possibly preventing more serious problems and intensive treatment processes.</p

Prevention of psychopathology in children:Interventions for intergenerational transmission

Children of parents with anxiety or mood disorders have an increased risk of developing an anxiety or mood disorder themselves. A qualitative review of different components of well-studied prevention programs shows that all programs use elements of psychoeducation. Programs that primarily target children often use elements of cognitive behavioral therapy. Programs aimed at the whole family contain components focused on communication between family members and parenting skills. In general, these prevention programs are effective in preventing short- and long-term anxiety/mood disorders and reducing existing symptoms in children. Future research should pay more attention to how and for whom the prevention programs are effective. Primary health care plays an important role in identifying children at risk, underscoring the importance of training professionals in early signaling psychopathology in parents and children. Children with mild complaints could be identified earlier, possibly preventing more serious problems and intensive treatment processes.</p

Prevention of psychopathology in children:Interventions for intergenerational transmission

Children of parents with anxiety or mood disorders have an increased risk of developing an anxiety or mood disorder themselves. A qualitative review of different components of well-studied prevention programs shows that all programs use elements of psychoeducation. Programs that primarily target children often use elements of cognitive behavioral therapy. Programs aimed at the whole family contain components focused on communication between family members and parenting skills. In general, these prevention programs are effective in preventing short- and long-term anxiety/mood disorders and reducing existing symptoms in children. Future research should pay more attention to how and for whom the prevention programs are effective. Primary health care plays an important role in identifying children at risk, underscoring the importance of training professionals in early signaling psychopathology in parents and children. Children with mild complaints could be identified earlier, possibly preventing more serious problems and intensive treatment processes.</p

Functional outcomes across development in offspring of parents with bipolar disorder

Objective: Whereas the risk and course of psychopathology in offspring of parents with bipolar disorder (BD) have been the primary focus of high-risk offspring studies to date, functional outcomes have not been given much attention. We present a systematic review of functional outcomes and quality of life (QoL) across development in offspring of parents with BD and aim to explore the role of offspring psychopathology in these outcomes. Method: We searched Embase, MEDLINE, PsycINFO, Web of Science, Cochrane Central, and Google Scholar from inception to June 24, 2022, for studies referring to functional outcomes (global, social, academic or occupational) or QoL in offspring of parents with BD. Results: From the 6470 records identified, 39 studies were retained (global = 17; social = 17; school = 16; occupational = 3; QoL = 5), including 13 studies that examined multiple domains. For all domains, high heterogeneity was found in study methods and quality. Only 56 % of studies adjusted for offspring psychopathology, impeding interpretation. Global and social functioning generally seemed to be impaired among older offspring (&gt;16 years). Academic performance appeared to be unaffected. School behavior, occupational functioning, and QoL showed mixed results. Offspring psychopathology is associated with social functioning, but the relationship of offspring psychopathology with other domains is less clear. Conclusion: Studies on functional outcome in offspring of parents with BD show predominantly mixed results. Inconsistent adjustment of psychopathology and age limits conclusive interpretation. Functional outcomes should be prioritized as research topics in high-risk studies and the potential associations between familial risk status, offspring psychopathology, and age may inform prevention strategies.</p

A Smartphone Serious Game for Adolescents (Grow It! App):Development, Feasibility, and Acceptance Study

BACKGROUND: Anxiety and mood problems in adolescents often go unnoticed and may therefore remain untreated. Identifying and preventing the development of emotional problems requires monitoring and effective tools to strengthen adolescents' resilience, for example, by enhancing coping skills. OBJECTIVE: This study describes the developmental process, feasibility, and acceptance of Grow It!, a multiplayer serious game app for adolescents aged 12-25 years. The app consists of the experience sampling method (ESM) to monitor thoughts, behaviors, and emotions in daily life to enhance self-insight and daily cognitive behavioral therapy–based challenges to promote adaptive coping. METHODS: Our approach entails an iterative game design process combined with an agile method to develop the smartphone app. The incorporated game features (ie, challenges, chat functionality, and visual representation) in the Grow It! app were co-designed with adolescent end users to increase participant engagement and adherence. RESULTS: The Grow It! app was delivered for Android and iOS in May 2020. Grow It! was offered to adolescents during the COVID-19 crisis between May and December 2020. Participants of the Grow It! COVID-19 study (sample 1: N=685; mean age 16.19, SD 3.11 years; 193/685, 28.2% boys; sample 2: N=1035; mean age 18.78, SD 3.51 years; 193/1035, 18.64% boys) completed 31.5% (13.2/42) to 49.5% (10.4/21) of challenges. Compliance of ESM was suboptimal (35.1/210, 16.7% to 32.5/105, 30.9%). Follow-up questionnaires indicated an overall score of the app of 7.1 out of 10. Moreover, 72.6% (278/383) to 75.6% (487/644) would recommend the app to friends. CONCLUSIONS: To our knowledge, Grow It! is the first gamified ESM app that both measures individual differences in emotional dynamics and offers an integrated cognitive behavioral therapy–based intervention. Our findings support the feasibility and acceptance, and therefore applicability, of the Grow It! app in adolescents. Further iterations of this serious game app will focus on the increase of compliance and on providing participants feedback through their personal mood profiles

Child mental health problems as a risk factor for academic underachievement:A multi-informant, population-based study

OBJECTIVE: To investigate whether child mental health problems prospectively associate with IQ‐achievement discrepancy (i.e., academic under‐ and over‐achievement) in emerging adolescence. The secondary aims were to test whether these associations are specific to certain mental health problems, to assess potential sex differences, and to examine whether associations are robustly observed across multiple informants (i.e., maternal and teacher‐reports). METHODS: This study included 1,577 children from the population‐based birth cohort the Generation R Study. Child mental health problems at age 6 were assessed by mothers and teachers using the Child Behavior Checklist and the Teacher's Report Form. The IQ‐achievement discrepancy was quantified as the standardized residuals of academic achievement regressed on IQ, where IQ was measured with four tasks from the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children‐Fifth Edition around age 13 and academic attainment was measured with the Cito test, a national Dutch academic test, at the end of elementary school (12 years of age). RESULTS: Mental health problems at age 6 were associated with IQ‐achievement discrepancy at age 12, with more problems associating with greater academic underachievement. When examining specific mental health problems, we found that attention problems was the only mental health problem to independently associate with the IQ‐achievement discrepancy (adjusted standardized difference per 1‐standard deviation, mother: −0.11, p < 0.001, 95% CI [−0.16, −0.06]; teacher: −0.13, p < 0.001, 95% CI [−0.18, −0.08]). These associations remained after adjusting for co‐occurring mental health problems. The overall pattern of associations was consistent across boys and girls and across informants. CONCLUSION: Mental health problems during the transition from kindergarten to elementary school associate with academic underachievement at the end of elementary school. These associations were primarily driven by attention problems, as rated by both mothers and teachers—suggesting that strategies targeting attention problems may be a particularly promising avenue for improving educational performance irrespective of IQ, although this should be established more thoroughly through further research