Longitudinal associations between autistic children's anxiety and social communication differences: The moderating role of executive function behaviours.

Anxiety is a mental health concern affecting many autistic children, and has been linked to greater differences in social communication and interaction style. Executive functioning (i.e.

Early-Onset Trajectories of Emotional Dysregulation in Autistic Children.

Objective: Emotional dysregulation (ED) is a common and debilitating problem for autistic children and their families. However, little is known about early-onset patterns of dysregulation, associated risk factors, and child and family outcomes. This study aimed to characterize trajectories of ED in an inception cohort of autistic preschoolers.

Epidemiology of Mental Health Challenges in Children and Adolescents.

In this narrative review, we will discuss current understandings and evidence on child and adolescent mental health including epidemiologic research methods, prevalence rates of mental health difficulties before the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic, changes in mental health challenges after the pandemic onset, and clinical implications.

Zero-covid advocacy during the COVID-19 pandemic: a case study of views on Twitter/X.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, many advocacy groups and individuals criticized governments on social media for doing either too much or too little to mitigate the pandemic. In this article, we review advocacy for COVID-19 elimination or "zero-covid" on the social media platform X (Twitter). We present a thematic analysis of tweets by 20 influential co-signatories of the World Health Network letter on ten themes, covering six topics of science and mitigation (zero-covid, epidemiological data on variants, long-term post-acute sequelae (Long COVID), vaccines, schools and children, views on monkeypox/Mpox) and four advocacy methods (personal advice and promoting remedies, use of anecdotes, criticism of other scientists, and of authorities).

Brief report: Social comparison, hypercompetitiveness, and indirect aggression: Associations with loneliness and mental health.

Indirect aggression is commonly used in adulthood, but most researchers have focused on this behavior in romantic relationships or from an intrasexual competition perspective. Therefore, we aimed to understand the social characteristics and mental health correlates of indirect aggression by combining perspectives from developmental psychopathology and evolutionary psychology. We examined: (1) whether social characteristics (social comparison, hypercompetitiveness) contributed to indirect aggression (perpetration, victimization) and (2) whether there were indirect effects from indirect aggression (perpetration, victimization) to mental health difficulties through loneliness.

Behavioral and neural responses to social exclusion in women: the role of facial attractiveness and friendliness.

The behavioral and neural responses to social exclusion were examined in women randomized to four conditions, varying in levels of attractiveness and friendliness. Informed by evolutionary theory, we predicted that being socially excluded by attractive unfriendly women would be more distressing than being excluded by unattractive women, irrespective of their friendliness level. Our results contradicted most of our predictions but provide important insights into women's responses to interpersonal conflict.

A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis: Child and Adolescent Healthcare Utilization for Eating Disorders During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Objective: To conduct a meta-analysis documenting healthcare service utilization rates for pediatric (age <19 years) eating disorders during compared to before the COVID-19 pandemic.

Method: PsycINFO, MEDLINE, Embase, and Web of Science Core Collection were searched for studies published up to May 19, 2023. Studies with pediatric visits to primary care, inpatient, outpatient, and emergency department for eating disorders before and during the pandemic were included.

Social Media Friendship Jealousy.

A new measure to assess friendship jealousy in the context of social media was developed. This one-factor, seven-item measure was psychometrically sound, showing evidence of validity and reliability in three samples of North American adults (Study 1, = 491; Study 2, = 494; Study 3, = 415) and one-, two-, and three-year stability (Study 3). Women reported more social media friendship jealousy than men (Studies 2 and 3) and younger women had the highest levels of social media friendship jealousy (compared with younger men and older men and women; Study 2).

Stress-related cellular pathophysiology as a crosstalk risk factor for neurocognitive and psychiatric disorders.

In this narrative review, we examine biological processes linking psychological stress and cognition, with a focus on how psychological stress can activate multiple neurobiological mechanisms that drive cognitive decline and behavioral change. First, we describe the general neurobiology of the stress response to define neurocognitive stress reactivity. Second, we review aspects of epigenetic regulation, synaptic transmission, sex hormones, photoperiodic plasticity, and psychoneuroimmunological processes that can contribute to cognitive decline and neuropsychiatric conditions.

Anxiety symptoms before and during the COVID-19 pandemic: A longitudinal examination of Canadian young adults.

The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in many changes that may impact anxiety symptoms (i.e., general anxiety and somatization), particularly for young adults who were at higher risk for anxiety than older adults.

Bullying before and during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The rates of bullying during the COVID-19 pandemic, a time of unprecedented public health and social restrictions, were compared to earlier times when students attended school in person. Several studies indicated a notable decrease in the prevalence of bullying victimization and perpetration during the pandemic, particularly when online learning was implemented. But studies from countries with fewer social restrictions indicated increases in rates of bullying during the pandemic.

Trajectories, comorbidity, and risk factors for adolescent disordered eating and borderline personality disorder features.

Purpose: Borderline personality disorder (BPD) and eating disorders are highly comorbid, but the shared course of symptoms and associated risks remain poorly understood. The aim of this study was to examine joint symptom trajectories, temporal precedence, risk factors, and population attributable fractions (PAFs) in a community sample of adolescents, using a developmental psychopathology and psychosocial framework.

Methods: Across five years (age 14-18 years), adolescents ( = 544, 56% girls) reported on BPD features and disordered eating behavior.

Love withdrawal use by toddlers: Multi-informant associations with aggression and parents' use of love withdrawal.

Love withdrawal is a form of interpersonal manipulation that shares many features with relational aggression; its use by children has not been examined. Guided by social learning theory, we sought to investigate the prevalence of toddlers' use of love withdrawal toward caregivers (parents and teachers) and further investigate how this behavior was associated with relational and physical aggression and parents' use of love withdrawal. These aims were examined using parent and teacher reports in a sample of 198 toddlers (M  = 33.

A longitudinal comparison of emotional, behavioral and attention problems in autistic and typically developing children.

Background: Mental health problems are elevated in autistic individuals but there is limited evidence on the developmental course of problems across childhood. We compare the level and growth of anxious-depressed, behavioral and attention problems in an autistic and typically developing (TD) cohort.

Methods: Latent growth curve models were applied to repeated parent-report Child Behavior Checklist data from age 2-10 years in an inception cohort of autistic children (Pathways, = 397; 84% boys) and a general population TD cohort (Wirral Child Health and Development Study; WCHADS; = 884, 49% boys).

Experiences of racial microaggression among immigrant and Canadian-born young adults: Effects of double stigma on mental health and service use.

Background: Significant disparities in utilization of mental health services exist among immigrant and Canadian-born populations. These gaps may be associated with a 'double stigma' - stigma related to being from a racialized background exacerbated by mental health stigma. Immigrant young adults may be particularly susceptible to this phenomenon, given developmental and social transitions from adolescence to adulthood.

Changes in Depression and Anxiety Among Children and Adolescents From Before to During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.

Importance: There is a growing body of high-quality cohort-based research that has examined changes in child and adolescent mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic vs before the pandemic. Some studies have found that child and adolescent depression and anxiety symptoms have increased, while others have found these symptoms to have remained stable or decreased.

Objective: To synthesize the available longitudinal cohort-based research evidence to estimate the direction and magnitude of changes in depression and anxiety symptoms in children and adolescents assessed before and during the pandemic.

Longitudinal associations between academic achievement and depressive symptoms in adolescence: Methodological considerations and analytical approaches for identifying temporal priority.

Failure to meet educational expectations in adolescence can derail an individual's potential, leading to hardship in adulthood. Lower academic achievement is also associated with poorer mental health, and both share common pathways to adult functional outcomes like employment status and economic security. Although linked in adolescence, and predictive of similar outcomes in adulthood, methodological and analytical limitations of the literature do not permit the assessment of the temporal priority between academic achievement and mental health.

Bullying involvement and the transition to high school: A brief report.

School transitions are common educational experiences for children and adolescents and many of them worry about being bullied during this type of major life-changing point. In a sample of 701 Canadians assessed yearly from grade 5 (age 10) to grade 12 (age 18), we examined heterogeneous patterns of bullying involvement while statistically accounting for the transition into high school. Gender differences were also examined.

Variable patterns of daily activity participation across settings in autistic youth: A latent profile transition analysis.

What people do or engage in in their daily lives, or daily life participation, is often linked to their state of being happy and healthy, as well as potential for living independently. To date, little research has been conducted on daily activity participation by autistic youth at home, at school or in the community. Learning more about individual differences in participation levels and what might influence them can help to create custom supports for autistic youth and their families.

Loneliness and Well-Being in Children and Adolescents during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Systematic Review.

Concerns have been raised about the loneliness and well-being of children and adolescents during the COVID-19 pandemic. The extent to which the ongoing pandemic has impacted loneliness and the association between loneliness and well-being is unclear. Therefore, a systematic review of empirical studies on the COVID-19 pandemic was conducted to examine the (1) prevalence of loneliness in children and adolescents, (2) associations between loneliness and indicators of well-being, and (3) moderators of these associations.

Longitudinal associations between early childhood irritability and adolescent depression symptoms in autistic children are mediated by peer relationships but not educational engagement.

In the general population, irritability is associated with later depression. Despite irritability being more prevalent in autistic children, the long-term sequelae are not well explored. We tested whether irritability in early childhood predicted depression symptoms in autistic adolescents, and whether associations could be explained by difficulties in peer relationships and lower educational engagement.