Measuring autism with the ADOS-2 using a bifactor model.

The measurement of autism characteristics can be challenging due to variability of social impairments and restricted and repetitive behaviors or interests (RRBs). Psychometrically strong measures such as the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule, Second Edition (ADOS-2) can improve our capacity for thorough autism assessment. The conceptualization of the ADOS-2 has been shaped by research exploring the structure of its items, which evaluate autism traits associated with social affect and RRBs.

Negative mood induction in children: An examination across mood, physiological, and cognitive variables.

Experimental mood induction procedures are commonly used in studies of children's emotions, although research on their effectiveness is lacking. Studies that support their effectiveness report sample-level changes in self-reported affect from pre- to post-induction, and a subset of children who do not self-report expected changes in affect (i.e.

Activity increases in empathy-related brain regions when children contribute to peers' sadness and happiness.

Responding empathically when causing peers' emotions is critical to children's interpersonal functioning, yet there are surprising gaps in the literature. Previous research has focused on empathy when witnessing others' emotions instead of causing others' emotions, on negative emotions instead of positive emotions, and on behavioral correlates instead of neural correlates. In this study, children (N = 38; M = 9.

Emerging harmful algal blooms caused by distinct seasonal assemblages of a toxic diatom.

Diatoms in the genus produce the neurotoxin domoic acid. Domoic acid bioaccumulates in shellfish, causing illness in humans and marine animals upon ingestion. In 2017, high domoic acid levels in shellfish meat closed shellfish harvest in Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island for the first and only time in history, although abundant have been observed for over 60 years To investigate whether an environmental factor altered endemic physiology or new domoic acid-producing strain(s) were introduced to Narragansett Bay, we conducted weekly sampling from 2017 to 2019 and compared closure samples.

South-Asian women's experiences of earlier additional, fetal monitoring to reduce stillbirth: An exploratory qualitative study.

Background: In an attempt to reduce the rates of stillbirth at term among South-Asian born women, Victoria's largest maternity service, Monash Health, implemented a new clinical guideline in 2017 that recommended additional earlier, twice weekly monitoring to assess fetal wellbeing from 39 weeks for South-Asian women. In acknowledging the importance of woman centred, culturally responsive care, this study aimed to understand South-Asian women's, experiences, of the additional earlier fetal monitoring.

Methods: An exploratory qualitative study was conducted using semi-structured phone interviews six weeks postpartum, across June and July 2021, with South-Asian born women who underwent the earlier monitoring from 39 weeks.

The current state of adult metabolic medicine in the United States: Results of a nationwide survey.

Purpose: Patients with inherited metabolic disorders (IMDs) now have improved health outcomes and increased survival into adulthood. There is scant evidence on managing adults with IMDs. We present an analysis of current care practices for adults with IMDs in the United States.

Sex differences in social communication behaviors in toddlers with suspected autism spectrum disorder as assessed by the ADOS-2 toddler module.

When toddlers are suspected of autism spectrum disorder (ASD), the gold-standard assessment technique is with the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule, 2nd edition (ADOS-2) Toddler Module, a behavioral observation system. ASD is a neurodevelopmental condition more frequently diagnosed in toddler boys than in toddler girls. There is some evidence that the ADOS-2 assesses behaviors that are more characteristic of boys with ASD than girls.

Emotional Contexts Influence Toddlers' Prosocial Strategies.

Prosocial behavior is a highly heterogeneous construct, and young children use distinct prosocial actions in response to differing emotional needs of another person. This study examined whether toddlers' prosocial responses differed in response to two understudied emotional contexts-whether or not children caused a victim's distress, and the specific emotion expressed by the victim. Toddlers ( = 86; =35 months) and their parent participated in two separate mishap paradigms in which parents feigned pain and sadness, respectively.

Children's recognition of happy, sad, and angry facial expressions across emotive intensities.

Sharing emotional experiences is a key task that requires accurate recognition of peers' emotions during middle childhood. Existing research suggests that children are proficient at discerning emotion from facial expressions during middle childhood, but this research has focused on recognition of adults' intense emotional expressions. In this study, facial emotion recognition for children's happy, sad, and angry expressions across low, medium, and high intensities was measured in a sample of 7- to 10-year-old children (N = 80; 53% female) to quantify overall accurate recognition as well as inaccuracies, including identifying an emotion as present when it is not (false alarms) and failing to identify an emotion when present (miss rate).

Cognitive reappraisal moderates the quadratic association between heart rate variability and negative affectivity.

There is uncertainty as to how high-frequency heart rate variability (HF-HRV), a marker of an individual's capacity for flexible physiological reactivity, relates to an individual's tendency to experience negative emotions. We propose that both excessively high and excessively low HF-HRV may reflect maladaptive physiological reactivity tendencies associated with high negative affectivity and that this association may be influenced by the use of emotion regulation strategies, such as cognitively reappraising negative environmental stimuli to downregulate the experience of negative emotions. The purpose of the current study was to examine the moderating role of cognitive reappraisal in the quadratic association between HF-HRV and negative affectivity.

Toddlers imitate prosocial demonstrations in bystander but not transgressor contexts.

Although prosocial abilities are associated with a wide range of healthy outcomes, few studies have experimentally examined socialization practices that may cause increased prosocial responding. The purpose of this study was to investigate conditions under which 2- and 3-year-old children can acquire prosocial behaviors through imitation. In Study 1 (N = 53), toddlers in the experimental condition watched a video of an adult comfort a woman in distress by performing a novel prosocial action without depicting how the woman was hurt.

Reparative prosocial behaviors alleviate children's guilt.

Guilt theoretically functions to motivate reparative behaviors, which, in turn, theoretically alleviate guilt and prevent depression. Although empirical research supports these theories in adults, studies have not investigated causal relations between guilt and reparative behaviors in children. Thus, this study examined whether guilt motivates children's reparative behaviors, and whether their reparative behaviors successfully alleviate guilty feelings.

Understanding associations between negatively biased attention and depression and social anxiety: positively biased attention is key.

Although research supports the premise that depressed and socially anxious individuals direct attention preferentially toward negative emotional cues, little is known about how attention to positive emotional cues might modulate this negative attention bias risk process. The purpose of this study was to determine if associations between attention biases to sad and angry faces and depression and social anxiety symptoms, respectively, would be strongest in individuals who also show biased attention away from happy faces. Young adults ( = 151; 79% female;  = 19.

Cognitive Predictors of Parental Rescue Behavior and Malleability of Behavior Using a Brief Psychoeducation Intervention.

Cognitive factors, such as beliefs that anxiety is harmful, may lead parents to engage excessively in over-controlling parenting practices, such as "rescuing" children from distress. The present study examined whether parental rescue behavior, or the speed at which parents intervened to rescue an increasingly distressed child during an audio paradigm, was associated with beliefs about child anxiety. We also evaluated the impact of psychoeducation on rescue behavior during the audio paradigm.

Nonlinear Associations Between Co-Rumination and Both Social Support and Depression Symptoms.

Co-ruminating about one's problems appears to involve both beneficial self-disclosure and harmful rumination, suggesting that moderate levels may be the most adaptive. This study used nonlinear regression to determine whether moderate levels of self-reported co-rumination in relationships with a sibling, parent, friend, and romantic partner are linked to the highest levels of self-perceived social support and lowest levels of self-reported depression symptoms in 175 emerging adults (77% female; M = 19.66 years).

Positively Biased Processing of Mother's Emotions Predicts Children's Social and Emotional Functioning.

Risk for internalizing problems and social skills deficits likely emerges in early childhood when emotion processing and social competencies are developing. Positively biased processing of social information is typical during early childhood and may be protective against poorer psychosocial outcomes. We tested the hypothesis that young children with relatively less positively biased attention to, interpretations of, and attributions for their mother's emotions would exhibit poorer prosocial skills and more internalizing problems.

Parenting and youth sexual risk in context: The role of community factors.

Black South African youth are disproportionately affected by HIV, and risky sexual behaviors increase youths' vulnerability to infection. U.S.

The role of parental marital discord in the etiology of externalizing problems during childhood and adolescence.

Previous research has established that parental marital discord is associated with higher levels of offspring externalizing behaviors, but it is unclear how parental relationship functioning is associated with the genetic and environmental variance on a factor of externalizing problems. Thus, the current study assessed how parental marital discord moderates genetic and environmental variance on offspring externalizing problems at two different ages: childhood and late adolescence. That is, the magnitude of genetic and environmental influences on offspring externalizing at ages 11 and 17 was examined as a function of parental marital discord.

A Case Series on the Effects of Kripalu Yoga for Generalized Anxiety Disorder.

Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) is a prevalent psychiatric disorder associated with substantial impairment and poor treatment response. Yoga influences processes that are linked to the maintenance of GAD including mindfulness, anxiety, and heart rate variability, but has yet to be evaluated among people with the disorder. The present study is a first step toward documenting the efficacy of yoga for reducing worry among people with GAD using a single-subject AB design case series and daily ratings of worry.

Empathic Responses to Mother's Emotions Predict Internalizing Problems in Children of Depressed Mothers.

Recent theories posit that empathy, typically an adaptive characteristic, may be associated with internalizing problems when children are chronically exposed to mother's depression. We tested this postulation in a sample of children (N = 82, M  = 5 years). Children witnessed their mothers express sadness, anger, and happiness during a simulated phone conversation, and researchers rated children's negative affective empathy, positive affective empathy, and information-seeking (cognitive empathy) in response to their mother's emotions.

Evaluating changes in judgmental biases as mechanisms of cognitive-behavioral therapy for social anxiety disorder.

Reductions in judgmental biases concerning the cost and probability of negative social events are presumed to be mechanisms of treatment for SAD. Methodological limitations of extant studies, however, leave open the possibility that, instead of causing symptom relief, reductions in judgmental biases are correlates or consequences of it. The present study evaluated changes in judgmental biases as mechanisms explaining the efficacy of CBT for SAD.

Quadratic Associations Between Empathy and Depression as Moderated by Emotion Dysregulation.

Empathic tendencies have been associated with interpersonal and psychological benefits, but empathy at extreme levels or in combination with certain personal characteristics may contribute to risk for depression. This study tested the moderating role of cognitive emotion regulation in depression's association with empathy using nonlinear models. Young adults (N = 304; 77% female; M = 19 years) completed measures of cognitive emotion regulation strategies, depression, and affective and cognitive empathy.

Empathy as a "risky strength": a multilevel examination of empathy and risk for internalizing disorders.

Learning to respond to others' distress with well-regulated empathy is an important developmental task linked to positive health outcomes and moral achievements. However, this important interpersonal skill set may also confer risk for depression and anxiety when present at extreme levels and in combination with certain individual characteristics or within particular contexts. The purpose of this review is to describe an empirically grounded theoretical rationale for the hypothesis that empathic tendencies can be "risky strengths.