Migrant students' self-reported executive function skills in relation to mental health, postmigration stress, and positive appraisals of self and the social context.

Refugee and non-refugee migrant youths may carry a double burden of past adversities and post-migration stress while trying to continue schooling and adapt to their new social and cultural environment. Executive functioning skills are central to learning and navigating in the new context. Knowledge of how young migrants' executive functioning is associated with stressful factors and positive or potentially protective factors, could contribute to understanding and possibly finding ways to support these young learners.

Mental health in genocide: Balancing between posttraumatic distress and growth among displaced Yazidi mothers.

Background: The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) committed genocide of the Yazidis in Sinjar 2014, resulting in dispersion and enslavement. Research shows severe mental health problems, such as posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among survivors, but less is known about their resources and strengths, conceptualized as posttraumatic growth (PTG).

Aims: are to examine the balance between symptoms and strengths among Yazidi women caring for their infants by identifying groups differing in PTSD and PTG, and analyze how demographic, obstetric, and infant-related factors associate with the groups.

The role of acoustic features of maternal infant-directed singing in enhancing infant sensorimotor, language and socioemotional development.

The quality of infant-directed speech (IDS) and infant-directed singing (IDSi) are considered vital to children, but empirical studies on protomusical qualities of the IDSi influencing infant development are rare. The current prospective study examines the role of IDSi acoustic features, such as pitch variability, shape and movement, and vocal amplitude vibration, timbre, and resonance, in associating with infant sensorimotor, language, and socioemotional development at six and 18 months. The sample consists of 236 Palestinian mothers from Gaza Strip singing to their six-month-olds a song by their own choice.

Is it time to revise the SDQ? The psychometric evaluation of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire.

Despite the wide use of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) to assess adolescent mental health, its psychometric functionality is still under debate. This study investigated the structural validity and reliability of the SDQ scores, and the resemblance of the SDQ sum scores and factor scores. Factor one-dimensionality and competing multifactor structures were tested against data.

Early life stress is associated with the default mode and fronto-limbic network connectivity among young adults.

Exposure to early life stress (ELS) is associated with a variety of detrimental psychological and neurodevelopmental effects. Importantly, ELS has been associated with regional alterations and aberrant connectivity in the structure and functioning of brain regions involved in emotion processing and self-regulation, creating vulnerability to mental health problems. However, longitudinal research regarding the impact of ELS on functional connectivity between brain regions in the default mode network (DMN) and fronto-limbic network (FLN), both implicated in emotion-related processes, is relatively scarce.

Prenatal Reflective Functioning as a Predictor of Substance-Using Mothers' Treatment Outcome: Comparing Results From Two Different RF Measures.

Mothers with prenatal substance use disorder (SUD) often show broad deficits in their reflective functioning (RF), implying severe risk for the relationship with their baby. Two different types of prenatal maternal RF may be important for parenting: adult attachment-focused-RF (AAI-RF), regarding parent's own childhood experiences, and parenting-focused RF (PRF) regarding their own current process of becoming a parent. However, their inter-relations and potentially different roles for parenting intervention outcomes are not clear.

Effectiveness of Promotive and Preventive Psychosocial Interventions on Improving the Mental Health of Finnish-Born and Immigrant Adolescents.

Background: Schools are considered natural environments in which to enhance students' social-emotional skills and mental health in general, but they can be especially important for students with refugee and immigrant backgrounds. The current study tested the effectiveness of two school-based interventions in enhancing the mental health and wellbeing of adolescents of native, refugee, and immigrant backgrounds. It further analyzed the role of age, gender, daily stressors, and discrimination in affecting the interventions' effectiveness.

Effectiveness of psychosocial school interventions in Finnish schools for refugee and immigrant children, "Refugees Well School" in Finland (RWS-FI): a protocol for a cluster randomized controlled trial.

Background: Schools are natural environments in which to enhance young people's social and emotional skills, mental health, and contact between diverse groups, including students from refugee and immigrant backgrounds. A layered or tiered provision of services is recommended as it can be effective to meet the needs of war-affected adolescents who variably show mental health problems (such as posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD)). The current protocol describes the study design for a multi-layered intervention model.

Adolescent Attachment Profiles Are Associated With Mental Health and Risk-Taking Behavior.

This person-oriented study aimed to identify adolescents' hierarchical attachment profiles with parents and peers, and to analyze associations between the profiles and adolescent psychosocial adjustment. Participants were 449 Finnish 17-19-year-olds reporting their attachments to mother, father, best friend, and romantic partner and details on mental health (internalizing symptoms, inattention/hyperactivity, and anger control problems) and risk-taking behavior (substance use and sexual risk-taking). Attachment was measured with Experiences in Close Relationships - Relationship Structures (ECR-RS); internalizing, inattention/hyperactivity, and anger control problems with Self-Report of Personality - Adolescent (SRP-A) of the Behavior Assessment System for Children, third edition (BASC-3); substance use with the Consumption scale of the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT-C) and items from the Finnish School Health Promotion Study; and sexual risk-taking behavior with the Cognitive Appraisal of Risky Events (CARE).

Developmental Stage-Specific Effects of Parenting on Adolescents' Emotion Regulation: A Longitudinal Study From Infancy to Late Adolescence.

The quality of parenting shapes the development of children's emotion regulation. However, the relative importance of parenting in different developmental stages, indicative of sensitive periods, has rarely been studied. Therefore, we formulated four hypothetical developmental timing models to test the stage-specific effects of mothering and fathering in terms of parental autonomy and intimacy in infancy, middle childhood, and late adolescence on adolescents' emotion regulation.

War trauma and infant motor, cognitive, and socioemotional development: Maternal mental health and dyadic interaction as explanatory processes.

Background: Taking care of infants in conditions of war is highly demanding and a few studies reveal the negative impact of war trauma on maternal and infant well-being. Yet, little is known regarding the influence of trauma on infant development and the potential explanatory mechanisms. First, the present study examines how mothers' prenatal exposure to traumatic war events is associated with infant cognitive, motor, and socioemotional development.

Evaluation of a school-based intervention to promote mental health of refugee youth in Sweden (The RefugeesWellSchool Trial): study protocol for a cluster randomized controlled trial.

Background: Sweden is home to a large and growing population of refugee youths who may be at risk of mental health problems such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Thus, there is a need for interventions that address mental health problems in these populations. Schools have been identified as an ideal setting for delivering such interventions as they offer a non-stigmatizing space and are often central to young refugees' social networks.

It Takes Time to Unravel the Ecology of War in Gaza, Palestine: Long-Term Changes in Maternal, Newborn and Toddlers' Heavy Metal Loads, and Infant and Toddler Developmental Milestones in the Aftermath of the 2014 Military Attacks.

Toxicant, teratogen and carcinogen metal war remnants negatively affect human health. The current study analyzes, first, the persistence of heavy metal contamination in newborn hair in four cohorts across time in Gaza Palestine; second, the change in mothers' and infants' heavy metal contamination from birth to toddlerhood; and third, the impact of heavy metal contamination on infants' and toddlers' growth and development. The hair of newborns was analyzed for twelve heavy metals by Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP/MS) in cohorts recruited at delivery in 2011, 2015, 2016, and 2018-2019.

Emotional intelligence and cognitive skills protecting mental health from stress and violence among Ghanaian youth.

This study investigates the protective mental health function of high emotional intelligence (EI), and cognitive skills (CS) among Ghanaian adolescents when exposed to stressful life-events and violence. It examines, first, how exposure to stressful life-events and violent experiences is associated with mental health, indicated by depressive and psychological distress symptoms, and, second, whether EI and CS could serve as possible moderators between stress, violence and mental health problems. Participants were 415 Ghanaian secondary education students.

The content and meaning of war experiences: A qualitative study of trauma and resilience among Liberian young refugees in Ghana.

Abundant research has shown that traumatic war experiences can interfere with the mental health and wellbeing of children and adolescents, but less is known about the subjective experiences and views of war survivors. The present study identified and described the different types of war experiences of young refugees in an African context and analyzed how they perceived the meanings and impact of war on their lives. The participants were 13 Liberian 25-35-year-old male and female refugees living in Ghana who agreed to take part in semi-structured interviews based on the life history approach.

Caregiving representations in war conditions: Associations with maternal trauma, mental health, and mother-infant interaction.

Risk features in mothers' caregiving representations remain understudied in dangerous environments where infants most urgently need protective parenting. This pilot study examines the feasibility of a novel coding system for the Parent Development Interview (PDI) interview (ARR, Assessment of Representational Risk) in assessing 50 war-exposed Palestinian mothers' caregiving representations. First, we explored the content and structure of risks in the representations.

Future orientation of youth with a history of war trauma: a qualitative study in the African context.

Adolescence is an important developmental period for social relationships, identity formation and future planning. Traumatic experiences, such as war and persecution, may interfere with optimal development, including the future orientation of adolescents. The present study examines how young adult war survivors construct, make sense of, and narrate their future goals, plans, and expectations.

The role of maternal attachment in mental health and dyadic relationships in war trauma.

Background: Infant care is a demanding task in dangerous war conditions, but research on the wellbeing of mother-infant dyads is mainly available in peaceful conditions. Knowledge on protective versus risking processes is especially vital for tailoring effective help, and the present study proposes the maternal attachment style to play an important role in dangerous war conditions.

Objective: The study analyses, first, how various traumatic war events, such as losses, horrors and life-threat, are associated with maternal mental health and dyadic mother-infant interaction quality, indicated by maternal emotional availability (EA).

Mediators of focused psychosocial support interventions for children in low-resource humanitarian settings: analysis from an Individual Participant Dataset with 3,143 participants.

Background: Research on psychosocial interventions has been focused on the effectiveness of psychosocial interventions on mental health outcomes, without exploring how interventions achieve beneficial effects. Identifying the potential pathways through which interventions work would potentially allow further strengthening of interventions by emphasizing specific components connected with such pathways.

Methods: We conducted a preplanned mediation analysis using individual participant data from a dataset of 11 randomized controlled trials (RCTs) which compared focused psychosocial support interventions versus control conditions for children living in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) affected by humanitarian crises.

Dysfunctional posttraumatic cognitions, posttraumatic stress and depression in children and adolescents exposed to trauma: a network analysis.

Background: The latest version of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11) proposes a posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) diagnosis reduced to its core symptoms within the symptom clusters re-experiencing, avoidance and hyperarousal. Since children and adolescents often show a variety of internalizing and externalizing symptoms in the aftermath of traumatic events, the question arises whether such a conceptualization of the PTSD diagnosis is supported in children and adolescents. Furthermore, although dysfunctional posttraumatic cognitions (PTCs) appear to play an important role in the development and persistence of PTSD in children and adolescents, their function within diagnostic frameworks requires clarification.

Type of Traumatic Events, Mental Health Problems, and Posttraumatic Cognitions Among Eastern Anatolian Women.

Both severity and type of trauma play a role in mental health consequences. Interpersonal trauma, especially sexual abuse and intentional assaultive violence, form a risk for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). However, few studies have factually compared the impact of trauma types on mental health.

Correction to: Impacts of early marriage and adolescent pregnancy on mental and somatic health: the role of partner violence.

The published version of the article contains an error in the author name and in the affiliation.

Impacts of early marriage and adolescent pregnancy on mental and somatic health: the role of partner violence.

Researchers agree that early marriage (EM) and adolescent pregnancy (AP) can form severe risks for women's somatic, mental, and reproductive health, as well as on educational and social status. Yet, less is known about factors that may moderate or mediate these associations. This study examined, first, retrospectively the impacts of EM and AP on self-reported mental and somatic health among multicultural group of women living in Eastern Anatolia, Turkey.

Toxic Environment of war: Maternal prenatal heavy metal load predicts infant emotional development.

Background: People in war zones are exposed to heavy metal contamination deriving from new-generation weapons, in addition to exposure to psychologically traumatizing war events. Pregnant women and their children-to-be are particularly vulnerable to both biological and psychological war effects.

Objective: The aim of the current study was to analyse the impact of maternal prenatal heavy metal contamination on infant emotional development and to examine the potential moderating role of maternal symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in the association between heavy metal load and infant emotional development.