Peer victimization in childhood and internalizing problems in adolescence : a prospective longitudinal study

Traumatic childhood experiences have been found to predict later internalizing problems. This prospective longitudinal study investigated whether repeated and intentional harm doing by peers (peer victimization) in childhood predicts internalizing symptoms in early adolescence. 3,692 children from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC), as well as their mothers and teachers, reported on bullying in childhood (7–10 years) and internalizing problems in early adolescence (11–14 years). Controlling for prior psychopathology, family adversity, gender and IQ, being a victim of bullying was associated with higher overall scores, as well as increased odds of scoring in the severe range (>90th percentile) for emotional and depression symptoms. Victims were also more likely to show persistent depression symptoms over a 2-year period. These associations were found independent of whether mothers, teachers or the children reported on bullying. It is concluded that peer victimization in childhood is a precursor of both short-lived and persistent internalizing symptoms, underlining the importance of environmental factors such as peer relationships in the etiology of internalizing problems

Predictors of mental health difficulties and subjective wellbeing in adolescents: A longitudinal study

BACKGROUND: Mental health and subjective well-being are of great interest in both health policy and research. There has been considerable debate regarding whether mental health difficulties and subjective wellbeing are two distinct domains or different ends of a single mental health spectrum. This study investigates if predictors of mental health difficulties and subjective wellbeing are the same or different in a large-scale community-based sample in the United Kingdom. METHODS: 13,500 adolescents in year 7 (aged 11-12) and again in year 8 (aged 12-13) completed surveys on emotional strengths and skills, support networks, mental health difficulties and wellbeing. Socio-demographic factors were gathered from the National Pupil Database. Mental health difficulties and wellbeing scores were standardized to allow comparisons. RESULTS: The correlation between mental health difficulties and subjective wellbeing was -0.48, indicating a moderate overlap between the two domains. Some of the predictors (e.g., gender, ethnicity, problem solving, emotion regulation) in year 7 predicted both mental health difficulties and subjective wellbeing in year 8. However, some of the predictors in year 7 only predicted mental health difficulties (e.g., special education needs, empathy) and some only subjective wellbeing (e.g., prosocial behaviour, peer support) in year 8. CONCLUSION: This study provides further evidence for differences in what predicts adolescents' mental health difficulties and subjective wellbeing. It highlights the importance of not only focusing on preventing or treating symptoms of mental illness but also focusing on improving children's wellbeing

Sleep problems in childhood and borderline personality disorder symptoms in early adolescence

Sleep disorders, such as insomnia and nightmares, are commonly associated with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) in adulthood. Whether nightmares and sleep-onset and maintenance problems predate BPD symptoms earlier in development is unknown. We addressed this gap in the literature using data from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC). Participants included 6,050 adolescents (51.4% female) who completed the UK Childhood Interview for DSM-IV BPD at 11 to 12 years of age. Nightmares and sleep onset and maintenance problems were prospectively assessed via mother report when children were 2.5, 3.5, 4.8 and 6.8 years of age. Psychopathological (i.e., emotional temperament; psychiatric diagnoses; and emotional and behavioural problems) and psychosocial (i.e., abuse, maladaptive parenting, and family adversity) confounders were assessed via mother report. In logistic regressions, persistent nightmares (i.e., regular nightmares at three or more time-points) were significantly associated with BPD symptoms following adjustment for sleep onset and maintenance problems and all confounders (Adjusted Odds Ratio=1.67; 95% Confidence Interval=1.18, 2.38). Persistent sleep onset and maintenance problems were not significantly associated with BPD symptoms. In path analysis controlling for all associations between confounders, persistent nightmares independently predicted BPD symptoms (Probit co-efficient [β] = 0.08, p = 0.013). Emotional and behavioural problems significantly mediated the association between nightmares and BPD (β =0.016, p<0.001), while nightmares significantly mediated associations between emotional temperament (β=0.001, p=0.018), abuse (β=0.015, p=0.018), maladaptive parenting (β=0.002, p=0.021) and subsequent BPD. These findings tentatively support that childhood nightmares may potentially increase the risk of BPD symptoms in early adolescence via a number of aetiological pathways. If replicated, the current findings could have important implications for early intervention, and assist clinicians in the identification of children at risk of developing BPD

The impact of area level mental health interventions on outcomes for secondary school pupils: Evidence from the HeadStart programme in England

In light of the dramatic rise in mental health disorders amongst adolescents seen in the past decade across the world, there is an urgent need for robust evidence on what works to combat this trend. This paper provides the first robust evaluation of the impacts on school outcomes of 6-year funding programme (HeadStart) for area-level mental health interventions for adolescents. Exploiting educational administrative data on ten cohorts of state-educated secondary school students, we use the synthetic control method to construct counterfactual outcomes for areas that received the funding. We show that the funding did not affect students’ absenteeism or academic attainment, but it prevented around 800 students (c. 10% of students typically excluded yearly) from being excluded in its first year. The transient nature of this effect suggests that sustained funding for intervention may be a necessary but not sufficient condition to maintain programme effectiveness over time

How does the association between special education need and absence vary overtime and across special education need types?

School absenteeism is a significant social and public health problem, and it has considerable negative consequences on the development of children and adolescents not only in the short term but also in the long term. We investigated special education needs (SEN) as a risk factor for absenteeism. For 418,455 mainstream secondary school students from 151 local authorities in England, multilevel linear regression models were run to investigate the association between SEN, SEN types and absenteeism during their secondary school period from year 7 to year 11. Local authority level variation was also investigated. Adolescents with SEN were more likely to be absent than their peers without SEN. Of adolescents with SEN, those with physical disability, followed by those with behavioural, emotional and social difficulties had the highest rates of absenteeism. Absenteeism rates increased as adolescents grew older. The association between absenteeism and having any SEN varied substantially across Local authorities. The results suggest that early interventions/preventative measures could mitigate loss of schooling due to absence. Moreover, the substantial variation in attendance for children across different local authorities suggest that there may be scope for local authorities to influence absence rates among adolescents

Survey of schools’ work with child and adolescent mental health across England:A system in need of support

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Wiley via the DOI in this record.Background: With evidence of rising need around mental health in young people, cuts in specialist health provision and increasing recognition of the central role of schools in supporting young people with mental health problems, it is important to understand the provision of mental health support currently available in schools, the nature of the relationship with health and other providers of child and adolescent mental health (CAMH) services, and what are the key barriers to accessing support. Method: The study was a convenience sample survey of 577 school staff from 341 schools in England. Participants completed an online survey about the provision of specialist mental health support in their school, including what support is available, who provides it, and perceived barriers to supporting the mental health of young people. Data were linked to publicly available data on school characteristics. Results: Over two thirds of schools reported having some specialist support available, with specialist provision more common in secondary schools. Staff training and whole-school approaches were the most frequently employed specific approaches. Support was most often provided by educational psychologists, followed by counsellors. School staff particularly valued support and feedback within the schools context. The most frequently cited barrier to mental health support was the limited capacity of specialist CAMH services. Conclusions: The results suggest a need to enhance the availability of specialist support for mental health both within schools and in CAMH services.No funding was received for this work

The sleep phenotype of Borderline Personality Disorder : a systematic review and meta-analysis

Aim: To delineate the sleep profile of Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD). Method: A meta-analysis to synthesise findings on the objective and subjective sleep characteristics of BPD. Results: We identified 32 studies published between 1980 and December 2015. Meta-analysis indicated significant differences between BPD and healthy control groups across objective sleep continuity (sleep onset latency, total sleep time, sleep efficiency) and architecture (rapid eye movement latency/density, slow wave sleep) measures, and self-reported sleep problems (nightmares, sleep quality). Findings were independent of depression (in clinical and community populations), and concomitant psychotropic medication use. There were few significant differences between BPD and clinical (majority depressed) control groups. Conclusion: BPD is associated with comparable sleep disturbances to those observed in depression. These disturbances are not solely attributable to comorbid depression. Given growing evidence that sleep disturbance may exacerbate emotional dysregulation and suicide risk, treatments for BPD should explicitly address sleep problems. Future studies should utilise prospective designs to ascertain whether (and in which circumstances) sleep problems predate or follow the onset of the disorder

Gender, marginalised groups, and young people’s mental health: a longitudinal analysis of trajectories

Background Individuals from marginalised groups experience higher levels of mental health difficulties and lower levels of wellbeing which may be due to the exposure to stress and adversity. This study explores trajectories of mental health over time for young women and girls and young people with other marginalised identities.Methods We conducted a secondary analysis on N=14,215 children and young people (7,501 or 52.8% female, 6,571 or 46.2% male, and 81 or 0.6% non-binary or questioning) who completed a survey at age 11 to 12 years and at least one other annual survey aged 12 to 13 years and/or aged 13 to 14 years. We used group-based trajectory models to examine mental health difficulties.Results Except for behavioural difficulties, young women’s and girls’ trajectories showed that they consistently had higher levels of mental health difficulties compared to young men and boys. A similar pattern was shown for nonbinary and questioning children and young people. Children and young people with economic disadvantage and/or special education needs, and/or for whom there were welfare concerns, were generally more likely to experience higher levels of mental health difficulties.Conclusions This information could inform public policy, guidance and interventions

Parenting behavior and the risk of becoming a victim and a bully/victim : a meta-analysis study

Objective: Being bullied has adverse effects on children's health. Children's family experiences and parenting behavior before entering school help shape their capacity to adapt and cope at school and have an impact on children's peer relationship, hence it is important to identify how parenting styles and parent–child relationship are related to victimization in order to develop intervention programs to prevent or mitigate victimization in childhood and adolescence. Methods: We conducted a systematic review of the published literature on parenting behavior and peer victimization using MEDLINE, PsychINFO, Eric and EMBASE from 1970 through the end of December 2012. We included prospective cohort studies and cross-sectional studies that investigated the association between parenting behavior and peer victimization. Results: Both victims and those who both bully and are victims (bully/victims) were more likely to be exposed to negative parenting behavior including abuse and neglect and maladaptive parenting. The effects were generally small to moderate for victims (Hedge's g range: 0.10–0.31) but moderate for bully/victims (0.13–0.68). Positive parenting behavior including good communication of parents with the child, warm and affectionate relationship, parental involvement and support, and parental supervision were protective against peer victimization. The protective effects were generally small to moderate for both victims (Hedge's g: range: −0.12 to −0.22) and bully/victims (−0.17 to −0.42). Conclusions: Negative parenting behavior is related to a moderate increase of risk for becoming a bully/victim and small to moderate effects on victim status at school. Intervention programs against bullying should extend their focus beyond schools to include families and start before children enter school