Introduction: Population-level substance use research primarily relies on self-reports, which often underestimate actual use. Hair analyses offer a more objective estimate; however, longitudinal studies examining concordance are lacking. Previous studies showed that specific psychological and behavioral characteristics are associated with a higher likelihood of underreporting substance use, but the longitudinal stability of these associations remains unclear.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe examined early adolescent predictors of later distress and adaptive coping in early adulthood, using data from a prospective longitudinal cohort study ( = 786). In early adolescence (age 13), we assessed indicators of mental health (internalizing symptoms), stressor exposure (cumulative stressful life events), and family socialization (supportive parent-child interactions). In early adulthood (age 22), during the first COVID-19-related Swiss national lockdown, we assessed cumulative pandemic-related stressors, distress (poor well-being, hopelessness, and perceived disruptions to life) and adaptive coping.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAdolescent friendships of positive quality promote well-being for decades to come. But what impedes the development of positive friendship quality? The present study examined whether maternal depressive symptoms during early childhood predict children's friendship quality into adolescence, and whether observed negative parenting behavior and children's earlier friendship quality, social skills, and their own depressive symptoms in middle childhood mediate these associations. We used six waves of data from a prospective longitudinal community sample ( = 396).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAssociations among self-control, substance use (e.g., tobacco and cannabis use), and violence perpetration have been documented during the adolescent years, but the direction of these associations is not well understood.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEur Child Adolesc Psychiatry
August 2024
Adolescence is a critical period for early identification and intervention of borderline personality disorder (BPD). Risk-taking and self-harm behaviors (RSB) have been identified as promising early markers of BPD and correlates of depression in school-based samples. The present study aimed, first, to examine the association between RSB and BPD in a clinical sample of adolescents and, second, to examine whether RSB are also linked to depression.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: Epidemiological studies increasingly use hair samples to assess people's cumulative exposure to steroid hormones, but how the use of different psychoactive substances may affect steroid hormone levels in hair is, so far, largely unknown. The current study addresses this gap by establishing the substance exposure correlates of cortisol, cortisone, and testosterone in hair, while also accounting for a number of relevant covariates.
Method: Data came from a large urban community-sample of young adults with a high prevalence of substance use (N = 1002, mean age=20.
Life course epidemiology seeks to understand the intricate relationships between risk factors and health outcomes across different stages of life to inform prevention and intervention strategies to optimize health throughout the lifespan. However, extant evidence has predominantly been based on separate analyses of data from individual birth cohorts or panel studies, which may not be sufficient to unravel the complex interplay of risk and health across different contexts. We highlight the importance of a multi-study perspective that enables researchers to: (a) Compare and contrast findings from different contexts and populations, which can help identify generalizable patterns and context-specific factors; (b) Examine the robustness of associations and the potential for effect modification by factors such as age, sex, and socioeconomic status; and (c) Improve statistical power and precision by pooling data from multiple studies, thereby allowing for the investigation of rare exposures and outcomes.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFUnlabelled: Historic declines in young people's mental health began to emerge before the COVID-19 pandemic. In the face of this youth mental health crisis, the pandemic constituted a naturalistic stressor paradigm that came with the potential to uncover new knowledge for the science of risk and resilience. Surprisingly, approximately 19-35% of people reported better well-being in the first few months of the COVID-19 pandemic than before.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry
July 2023
Objective: Large-scale epidemiological research often uses self-reports to determine the prevalence of illicit substance use. Self-reports may suffer from inaccurate reporting but can be verified with objective measures. This study examined the following: the prevalence of illicit and non-medical substance use with self-reports and hair toxicology, the convergence of self-reported and objectively quantified substance use, and the correlates of under- and overreporting.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: First, to leverage 15 years of longitudinal data, from child ages 2 to 17, to examine whether maternal depressive symptoms in early and middle childhood and in adolescence predict their child's unhealthy behaviors during adolescence. Second, to examine whether the timing of maternal depressive symptoms or specific unhealthy behaviors matter and whether child depressive symptoms and body mass index explain these associations.
Methods: Data came from a prospective-longitudinal community sample with multi-informant data (N = 213) from child ages 2 to17.
Introduction: We investigated the longitudinal course of self-, other-, and dual-harm in adolescents, focusing on the infliction of physical injury on oneself, another person, or both parties, respectively. We examined the within-person transitions between these types of harm and whether relationships with peers and teachers predict individual harm trajectories.
Methods: We used community-representative longitudinal data (N = 1,482; 52% male; 50% both parents born abroad).
Background: Little is known about the childhood antecedents and adult correlates of adolescent dual-harm (i.e. co-occurring self- and other-harm).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPolysubstance use (i.e., simultaneous or sequential use of different psychoactive substances) is associated with increases in the risk of severe health problems and social impairments.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: Debates about the legalization of illegal substances (e.g., cannabis) continue around the globe.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFYoung adults are essential to the effective mitigation of the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19) given their tendency toward greater frequency of social interactions. Little is known about vaccine willingness during pandemics in European populations. This study examined young people's attitudes toward COVID-19 vaccines in Fall 2020.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe pathways through which exposure to maternal depressive symptoms in early childhood are linked to academic performance during adolescence are poorly understood. This study tested pathways from maternal depressive symptoms (age 2-5) to adolescent academic performance (age 15) through cumulative parenting risk (age 7) and subsequent child functioning (age 10), using multi-informant data from a prospective longitudinal community study spanning 13 years (N = 389, 47% male, 68% White). Structural equation models testing indirect effects revealed small associations between maternal depressive symptoms and increased cumulative parenting risk and poorer child functioning, and, via these pathways, with poorer academic performance.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Amidst cannabis legalization efforts and laws, we do not fully understand how the youngest frequent cannabis users fare during young adulthood. This study aims to 1) examine the prevalence of cannabis use during adolescence, and 2) investigate links of frequent (i.e.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe examined the longitudinal course of, and pre- and during-pandemic risk factors for, self-injury and domestic physical violence perpetration in young adults during the COVID-19 pandemic. Data came from a Swiss longitudinal study (N = 786, age ˜22 in 2020), with one prepandemic (2018) and four during-pandemic assessments (2020). The prevalence of self-injury did not change between April (during the first Swiss national lockdown) and September 2020 (postlockdown).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSympathy is regarded as an important precursor to the development of emotional intimacy, including mutual disclosure. In turn, emotional intimacy is assumed to foster the development of sympathy. Yet, research has not examined how sympathy and mutual disclosure in generic friendships are mutually related to one another during mid-adolescence to early adulthood.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFImportance: Opioid use disorder and opioid deaths have increased dramatically in young adults in the US, but the age-related course or precursors to opioid use among young people are not fully understood.
Objective: To document age-related changes in opioid use and study the childhood antecedents of opioid use by age 30 years in 6 domains of childhood risk: sociodemographic characteristics; school or peer problems; parental mental illness, drug problems, or legal involvement; substance use; psychiatric illness; and physical health.
Design, Setting, And Participants: This community-representative prospective longitudinal cohort study assessed 1252 non-Hispanic White individuals and American Indian individuals in rural counties in the central Appalachia region of North Carolina from January 1993 to December 2015.
Self-injury often arises as a maladaptive coping strategy used to alleviate distress. Past research has typically examined how chronic stressors in a specific context are associated with self-injury. Little is known about the unique and cumulative associations between acute stressful life events that occur in different social contexts and self-injury among adolescents.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRationale: Adolescents and young adults were identified internationally as a group with potentially low compliance rates with public health measures aimed at curbing the spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Although non-compliance research during pandemics has typically focused on concurrent correlates, less is known about how prior social and psychological risk factors are associated with non-compliance during pandemics.
Objective: This paper leverages a prospective-longitudinal cohort study with data before and during the pandemic to describe patterns of non-compliance with COVID- 19 related public health measures in young adults and to identify which characteristics increase the risk of non-compliance.
Across the life span, friendship is an important component of people's support networks. This article explores the developmental roots of adult friendship intimacy and satisfaction, taking into consideration the early interplay between sociomoral sensitivity in friendship, insecurity in peer contexts, and peer rejection. Data (N = 176) came from the longitudinal study "Individual Development and Social Structure.
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