Application of Machine Learning Techniques to the Prediction of Onset and Persistence of Binge Eating: A Prospective Study.

Objective: Machine learning (ML) techniques have shown promise for enhancing prediction of clinical outcomes; however, its application to predicting binge eating has been scarcely explored. We applied ML techniques to predict binge eating onset (vs. continued absence) and persistence (vs.

Shame and depressive symptoms in men: The moderating role of environmental mastery and purpose in life.

Background: Feelings of shame are linked to increased risk for depression. Little is known about protective factors that may buffer this effect, particularly in men. Using prospective data from a community sample of Australian men, we examine the extent to which shame is associated with depressive symptoms, and the protective role of psychological wellbeing, specifically environmental mastery and purpose in life.

Comparing the healthy development of youth Australian Rules Footballers across talent development and community settings.

Objectives: This study aimed to compare talent development athletes to community-level athletes in Australian Rules Football across various markers of healthy youth development.

Methods: Survey data were collected from 363 youth athletes (126 women, 232 men, 5 not reported; Mage=18.69 years, SDage=2.

Life course predictors of child emotional distress during the COVID-19 pandemic: Findings from a prospective intergenerational cohort study.

Background: We examine precursors of child emotional distress during the COVID-19 pandemic in a prospective intergenerational Australian cohort study.

Methods: Parents (N = 549, 60% mothers) of 934 1-9-year-old children completed a COVID-19 specific module in 2020 and/or 2021. Decades prior, a broad range of individual, relational and contextual factors were assessed during parents' own childhood, adolescence and young adulthood (7-8 to 27-28 years old; 1990-2010) and again when their children were 1 year old (2012-2019).

Investigating change in network structure of eating disorder symptoms after delivery of a smartphone app-based intervention.

Background: Eating disorder (ED) research has embraced a network perspective of psychopathology, which proposes that psychiatric disorders can be conceptualized as a complex system of interacting symptoms. However, existing intervention studies using the network perspective have failed to find that symptom reductions coincide with reductions in strength of associations among these symptoms. We propose that this may reflect failure of alignment between network theory and study design and analysis.

Enhancing inferences and conclusions in body image focused non-experimental research via a causal modelling approach: A tutorial.

Causal inference is often the goal of psychological research. However, most researchers refrain from drawing causal conclusions based on non-experimental evidence. Despite the challenges associated with producing causal evidence from non-experimental data, it is crucial to address causal questions directly rather than avoiding them.

Exploring perinatal biopsychosocial factors and epigenetic age in 1-year-old offspring.

Little is known about the determinants of epigenetic aging in pediatric populations. Epigenetic age was estimated from 258 1-year-olds, using pediatric buccal epigenetic and Horvath clocks. We explored associations between epigenetic age and maternal indicators of mental and relational health, substance use and general physical health assessed during trimester three.

Profiles of parents' emotion socialization within a multinational sample of parents.

Introduction: Seminal emotion socialization theories classify parents according to two patterns of parent emotion socialization processes: 'emotion coaching' (i.e., parents validate and teach children about emotions) versus 'emotion dismissing' parenting (i.

Infant and preschool attachment, continuity and relationship to caregiving sensitivity: findings from a new population-based Australian cohort.

Background: Here, we report new prevalence and temporal stability data for child attachment and parental caregiving behaviour, from infancy (1 year) to preschool (4 years).

Methods: Attachment (SSP) and caregiving data (MBQS) were from observations of parents and their infants and preschoolers, who represent the third generation of participants within an Australian longitudinal cohort.

Results: At 1 year (n = 314 dyads) and at 4 years (n = 368 dyads), proportions assessed secure were 59% and 71%, respectively.

Father trait anger and associations with father-infant bonding and caregiving: The mediating role of mentalizing.

Trait anger reflects a tendency to feel irritation, annoyance, and rage, and involves a narrowing of cognition and attention. This narrowed scope may impact the capacity to understand the mental states of oneself and others (mentalizing), which for fathers of infants may compromise bonding and caregiving involvement. Here, we investigated the extent to which mentalizing mediated the relationship between father trait anger and both father-infant bonding and father involvement in infant caregiving.

Continuities in maternal substance use from early adolescence to parenthood: findings from the intergenerational cohort consortium.

Background: This study assessed the extent to which women's preconception binge drinking, tobacco use and cannabis use, reported prospectively in adolescence and young adulthood, predicted use of these substances during pregnancy and at 1 year postpartum.

Methods: Data were pooled from two intergenerational cohort studies: the Australian Temperament Project Generation 3 Study (395 mothers, 691 pregnancies) and the Victorian Intergenerational Health Cohort Study (398 mothers, 609 pregnancies). Alcohol, tobacco and cannabis use were assessed in adolescence (13-18 years), young adulthood (19-29 years) and at ages 29-35 years for those transitioning to parenthood.

A brief intervention for improving alcohol literacy and reducing harmful alcohol use by women attending a breast screening service: a randomised controlled trial.

Objectives: To assess the effectiveness of a brief alcohol intervention for improving awareness of alcohol as a breast cancer risk factor, improving alcohol literacy, and reducing alcohol consumption by women attending routine breast screening.

Design: Single-site, double-blinded randomised controlled trial.

Setting: Maroondah BreastScreen (Eastern Health, Melbourne), part of the national breast cancer screening program.

Life course psychosocial precursors of parent mental health resilience during the COVID-19 pandemic: A three-decade prospective cohort study.

Background: There has been widespread interest in the implications of COVID-19 containment measures on the mental health of parents. Most of this research has focused on risk. Much less is known about resilience; yet such studies are key to protecting populations during major crises.

Risky alcohol consumption among women in Australia attending breast screening services: an exploratory cross-sectional study.

Background And Aims: Alcohol is a major modifiable risk factor for female breast cancer, with breast cancer risk now associated with substantially lower consumption levels than those previously deemed safe. This study sought to measure risky drinking among women attending breast screening services in Australia according to new national alcohol guidelines and to compare daily, weekly and recent (past 12 months) consumption to Australian gender and age population norms.

Design, Setting And Participants: This study was a retrospective analysis of cross-sectional data from the Lifepool Project (collected October 2011-January 2016) in Victoria, Australia, comprising a convenience sample of women attending breast screening services aged 40+ years.

A Brief Intervention for Improving Alcohol Literacy and Addressing Harmful Alcohol Use Among Women Attending an Australian Breast Screening Service (Health4her): Protocol for a Hybrid Effectiveness-Implementation Trial.

Background: Alcohol consumption is a major modifiable risk factor for female breast cancer, even in small amounts. However, awareness of this risk remains low. National breast screening programs are uniquely positioned to provide timely and targeted health information and behavior change strategies to improve alcohol literacy and reduce consumption.

Effects of neonatal fentanyl on late adolescent opioid-mediated behavior.

Introduction: Because of the steady increase in the use of synthetic opioids in women of childbearing age, a large number of children are at risk of exposure to these drugs prenatally or postnatally through breast milk. While there is older literature looking at the effects of morphine and heroin, there are relatively few studies looking at the long-term effects of high-potency synthetic opioid compounds like fentanyl. Thus, in the present study, we assessed whether brief exposure to fentanyl in male and female rat pups during a period roughly equivalent to the third trimester of CNS development altered adolescent oral fentanyl self-administration and opioid-mediated thermal antinociception.

Parental personality and early life ecology: a prospective cohort study from preconception to postpartum.

Personality reliably predicts life outcomes ranging from social and material resources to mental health and interpersonal capacities. However, little is known about the potential intergenerational impact of parent personality prior to offspring conception on family resources and child development across the first thousand days of life. We analysed data from the Victorian Intergenerational Health Cohort Study (665 parents, 1030 infants; est.

Alcohol use among Australian parents during the COVID-19 pandemic - April-2020 to May 2021.

Aims: This study examined the trajectory of alcohol use frequency among parents from April-2020 to May-2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic in the state of Victoria, Australia (who experienced one of the longest lockdowns in the world), compared to parents from the other states of Australia (who experienced relatively fewer restrictions). We further examined the extent to which baseline demographic factors were associated with changes in alcohol use trajectories among parents.

Method: Data were from the COVID-19 Pandemic Adjustment Survey (2,261 parents of children 0-18 years).