Trajectories of Prosociality from Early to Middle Childhood in Children at Risk of Developmental Language Disorder

Longitudinal research into the development of prosociality during childhood contributes to our understanding of individual differences in social and emotional outcomes. There is a dearth of literature on the development of prosociality in children with Developmental Language Disorder (DLD). Data from the UK based Millennium Cohort Study was used to investigate prosociality from age 5 to 11 years in 738 children at risk of Developmental Language Disorder (r-DLD) and 12,972 children in a general population (GP) comparison group. Multilevel mixed effects regression models were run to investigate the mean change in prosociality and latent class growth analysis was used to identify heterogeneous groups of children who shared similar patterns of development. Overall, children at risk of DLD were less prosocial at age 5 and, although they did become more prosocial by the age of 11, they did not reach the same levels of prosociality as those in the GP group. Subsequent sub group analysis revealed four distinct developmental trajectories: stable high (19%), stable slightly low (36%), decreasing to slightly low (5%), and increasing to high (40%). Children at risk of DLD were less likely than those in the GP group to be in the stable high class and more likely to be in the stable slightly low class. For children at risk of DLD, being prosocial was protective against concurrent social and emotional difficulties. But being prosocial in early childhood was not protective against later social and emotional difficulties nor did the absence of prosociality in early childhood make social and emotional difficulties in middle childhood inevitable. Rather, the presence of prosociality in middle childhood was the key protective factor, regardless of prosociality in early childhood. Prosociality is not a key area of concern for children at risk of DLD. Instead, it is an area of relative strength, which can be nurtured to mitigate social and emotional difficulties in children at risk of DLD, particularly in middle childhood

Social Cognition in Adolescents with Developmental Language Disorder (DLD): Evidence from the Social Attribution Task

Social cognition impairments may explain social, emotional and behavioural difficulties (SEBD) in individuals with Developmental Language Disorder (DLD). In a novel approach, the Social Attribution Task (SAT) was used to examine this association. SAT narratives were coded from 53 participants [n = 26 DLD; n = 27 typical language development (TLD)] matched on age (Mage = 13;6) and gender (35.9% female). Parents reported SEBD. Adolescents with DLD performed worse than their TLD peers on the majority of SAT indices and had higher peer (d = 1.09) and emotional problems (d = .75). There was no association between social cognition abilities and SEBD. These exploratory findings suggest social cognition should be further examined in this population

Adolescents leaving mental health or social care services: predictors of mental health and psychosocial outcomes one year later.

BACKGROUND: UK service structure necessitates a transition out of youth services at a time of increased risk for the development and onset of mental disorders. Little is currently known about the mental health and psychosocial outcomes of leaving services at this time. The aim of this study was to determine predictors of mental health and social adjustment in adolescents leaving mental health or social care services. METHODS: A cohort (n = 53) of 17 year olds were interviewed and assessed when preparing to leave adolescent services and again 12 months later. Their mental health and psychosocial characteristics were compared to a same-age community sample group (n = 1074). RESULTS: At discharge 34 (64%) met DSM IV criteria for a current psychiatric diagnosis and only 3 (6%) participants met operational criteria for successful outcomes at follow-up. Impairments in mental health, lack of employment, education or training and low preparedness were associated with poor outcomes. CONCLUSIONS: The findings suggest the current organisation of mental health and care services may not be fit for purpose and even unwittingly contribute to persistent mental illness and poor psychosocial outcomes. A redesign of services should consider a model where the timing of transition does not fall at the most hazardous time for young people, but is sufficiently flexible to allow young people to move on when they are personally, socially and psychologically most able to succeed. Assessment of a young person's readiness to transition might also be useful. A youth focused service across the adolescent and early adult years may be better placed to avoid young people falling through the service gap created by poor transitional management.This work was completed within the NIHR Collaborations for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care (CLAHRC) for Cambridgeshire and Peterborough (now CLAHRC East of England). The CLAHRC is hosted by the University of Cambridge and the Cambridge and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust. This work was partially supported by a Wellcome Trust programme grant (grant no. 74296) for the ROOTS data collection awarded to Ian Goodyer.This is the final version of the article. It first appeared from BioMed Central via http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12913-015-0853-

Expressive vocabulary predicts non-verbal executive function: a 2-year longitudinal study of deaf and hearing children

Numerous studies suggest an association between language and executive function (EF), but evidence of a developmental relationship remains inconclusive. Data were collected from 75 deaf/hard-of-hearing (DHH) children and 82 hearing age-matched controls. Children were 6-11 years old at first time of testing, and completed a battery of nonverbal EF tasks and a test of expressive vocabulary. These tasks were completed again two years later. Both groups improved their scores on all tasks over this period. DHH children performed significantly less well than hearing peers on some EF tasks and the vocabulary test at both time points. Cross-lagged panel models showed that vocabulary at Time 1 predicted change in EF scores for both DHH and hearing children but not the reverse

The influence of early familial adversity on adolescent risk behaviours and mental health: stability and transition in family adversity profiles in a cohort sample : Stability and transition in family adversity profiles in a cohort sample

Although familial adversity is associated with poorer outcomes in childhood and adulthood, little research has looked at the influence of stability or transition between distinct familial adversity subgroups or the impact in adolescence. Using data from the 9-month, 3-, 5-, and 14-year time waves of the Millennium Cohort Study (n > 18,000), we used latent class analysis to identify distinct classes of early familial adversity (marital instability/conflict, "suboptimal" parenting, economic disadvantage, and parental mental health problems) and the impact of these adversity classes on adolescent (a) mental health (including self-harm), (b) risk taking, (c) criminality, and (d) victimization. Four profiles were identified largely differing on economic hardship, family composition, and parental conflict. Across the first three time points, 72% of the sample remained stable, with the remainder transitioning between classes. Adolescents in the higher risk groups (particularly categorized by economic hardship or high parental conflict) had poorer outcomes in adolescence. Transitioning to a higher adversity group at any time in the first 5 years was associated with poorer outcomes but was particularly pronounced when the transition occurred when the child was under 3 years. These findings demonstrate the broad consequences of early familial adversity and the need for targeted early support for at-risk families

Childhood adversity subtypes and depressive symptoms in early and late adolescence.

This is the final version of the article. It first appeared from Cambridge University Press via http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0954579414000625Within a longitudinal study of 1,005 adolescents, we investigated how exposure to childhood psychosocial adversities was associated with the emergence of depressive symptoms between 14 and 17 years of age. The cohort was classified into four empirically determined adversity subtypes for two age periods in childhood (0-5 and 6-11 years). One subtype reflects normative/optimal family environments (n = 692, 69%), while the other three subtypes reflect differential suboptimal family environments (aberrant parenting: n = 71, 7%; discordant: n = 185, 18%; and hazardous: n = 57, 6%). Parent-rated child temperament at 14 years and adolescent self-reported recent negative life events in early and late adolescence were included in models implementing path analysis. There were gender-differentiated associations between childhood adversity subtypes and adolescent depressive symptoms. The discordant and hazardous subtypes were associated with elevated depressive symptoms in both genders but the aberrant parenting subtype only so in girls. Across adolescence the associations between early childhood adversity and depressive symptoms diminished for boys but remained for girls. Emotional temperament was also associated with depressive symptoms in both genders, while proximal negative life events related to depressive symptoms in girls only. There may be neurodevelopmental factors that emerge in adolescence that reduce depressogenic symptoms in boys but increase such formation in girls.This work was supported by a Wellcome Trust programme grant (Grant 74296) for the ROOTS data collection, and the NIHR Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care (CLAHRC; Grant RNAG/186) for Cambridgeshire and Peterborough for data analysis and manuscript preparation. The second author's (T.C.) contribution was partially supported by a Department of Health Career Scientist Award (Public Mental Health). We thank Matthew Owens, Rosie Abbott, Paul Wilkinson, and Jenny Gibson for informative discussions and suggestions throughout manuscript preparation

Stronger Associations Between Sleep and Mental Health in Adults with Autism: A UK Biobank Study

This study examined sleep and its cognitive and affective correlates in adults with and without autism spectrum disorder (ASD), utilizing UK Biobank data. There were no group differences in subjective sleep duration [n = 220 ASD; n = 2200 general population (GP)]. Accelerometer measures of sleep duration or nighttime activity did not differ by group, but sleep efficiency was marginally lower in ASD (n = 83 ASD; n = 824 GP). Sleep efficiency was associated with wellbeing and mental health, and pathways between accelerometer sleep measures and wellbeing and mental health were significantly stronger for adults with ASD (who also reported substantially poorer wellbeing and > 5 × likelihood of experiencing mental distress). These findings highlight the need to monitor sleep to maintain good mental health in adult ASD

Promoting Policy and Environmental Change in Faith-Based Organizations: Organizational Level Findings From a Mini Grants Program

Background: High rates of heart disease, cancer, and stroke exist in rural South Georgia, where Emory’s Cancer Prevention and Control Research Network provided mini-grants and technical assistance to six faith-based organizations to implement policy and environmental changes to promote healthy eating (HE), physical activity (PA), and tobacco use prevention (TUP). Drawing from a Social Ecological Framework, we hypothesized that church members would perceive an increase in messages, programs, and the availability of facilities to support HE, PA, and TUP over a 1-year period. Methods: Members (N=258) completed self-administered questionnaires that assessed perceptions of the existing church health promotion environment relative to HE, PA, and TUP policies, as well as their eating behavior and intention to use PA facilities at church at baseline and 1-year follow-up. Results:Members at three of the six churches perceived increases in delivery of HE messages via sermons, church bulletins, and food labels, and increased availability of programs that support HE (p Conclusions: Community mini-grants may be a viable mechanism for promoting environmental change supporting HE, PA, and TUP policies in church environments