Mechanisms of change in external implementation support: A conceptual model and case examples to guide research and practice.

Background: External implementation support (EIS) is a well-recognized feature of implementation science and practice, often under related terms such as technical assistance and implementation facilitation. Existing models of EIS have gaps related to addressing practice outcomes at both individual and organizational levels, connecting practice activities to intended outcomes, or grounding in well-established theories of behavior and organization change. Moreover, there have been calls to clarify the mechanisms of change through which EIS influences related outcomes.

Trajectory of external implementation support activities across two states in the United States: A descriptive study.

Background: Reporting on strategies to advance implementation outcomes is imperative. The current study reports descriptive information about external implementation support (EIS) provided over 5 years to 13 regions in North Carolina and South Carolina scaling an evidence-based system of parenting and family supports. Regional support teams operating through the Implementation Capacity for Triple P (ICTP) projects employed core practice components (CPCs) for EIS as proposed by Aldridge et al.

Parent and Therapist Perceptions of the Feasibility, Acceptability, and Benefits of a Weekly Therapist-Led Massage Program for Extremely Preterm Infants in Neonatal Intensive Care.

Mothers of extremely preterm infants experience high rates of mental health disorders that impair maternal-infant interaction and lead to worse infant developmental outcomes. Therapist Education and Massage for Parent-Infant Outcomes (TEMPO) is a therapist-led program that standardizes the nature and frequency of parent education through weekly scheduled therapy sessions. Using a family-centered approach, the therapist facilitates positive maternal-infant interactions and massage interventions from birth throughout hospitalization with the goal of improving maternal mental health.

Youth Dually-Involved in the Child Welfare and Juvenile Justice Systems: Varying Definitions and Their Associations with Trauma Exposure, Posttraumatic Stress, & Offending.

Recently, scholars have placed increasing effort on better understanding the unique needs of youth involved in both the child welfare and juvenile justice systems. This study drew from the Developmental Cascade of Multisystem Involvement Framework to examine group differences in trauma exposure, posttraumatic stress symptoms, and offending among youth solely involved in the juvenile justice system and youth with varying degrees of dual-system involvement, including crossover youth (i.e.

Building an ecological momentary assessment smartphone app for 4- to 10-year-old children: A pilot study.

Objective: Ecological momentary assessment (EMA) minimizes recall burden and maximizes ecological validity and has emerged as a valuable tool to characterize individual differences, assess contextual associations, and document temporal associations. However, EMA has yet to be reliably utilized in young children, in part due to concerns about responder reliability and limited compliance. The present study addressed these concerns by building a developmentally appropriate EMA smartphone app and testing the app for feasibility and usability with young children ages 4-10 (N = 20; m age = 7.

Differential processing of risk and reward in delinquent and non-delinquent youth.

The present study examined the behavioral and neural differences in risky decision-making between delinquent (n = 23) and non-delinquent (n = 27) youth ages 13-17 years (M = 16, SD = 0.97) in relation to reward processing. While undergoing functional neuroimaging, participants completed an experimental risk task wherein they received feedback about the riskiness of their behavior in the form of facial expressions that morphed from happy to angry.

Identifying structural brain markers of resilience to adversity in young people using voxel-based morphometry.

There is increasing evidence that resilience in youth may have a neurobiological basis. However, the existing literature lacks a consistent way of operationalizing resilience, often relying on arbitrary judgments or narrow definitions (e.g.

Reflecting on Infant/Toddler Mental Health and the Early Care and Education Workforce in North Carolina.

COVID-19 has led to a child care workforce and mental health crisis for staff, families, and children under age three (infants and toddlers). The current level of stress for chil-dren, families, and infant-toddler early care and education professionals and its impact on infant and toddler well-being needs our attention.

Leveraging North Carolina's Assets to Prevent Child Trauma.

Adverse childhood experiences increase risk for a range of health problems. A statewide summit, "Leveraging North Carolina's Assets to Prevent Child Trauma," convened researchers, practitioners, educators, government officials, policymakers, and community stakeholders to identify common goals and determine next steps in a statewide plan to prevent and heal child trauma.

Practitioner and Director Perceptions, Beliefs, and Practices Related to STEM and Inclusion in Early Childhood.

Unlabelled: The importance of early science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) learning opportunities for all young children has become increasingly documented by research and recommended practices. In addition, high quality inclusive settings where all children can access and benefit from learning activities continues to demonstrate optimal outcomes for all children. This manuscript reports findings from a survey broadly disseminated related to early childhood practitioners' and directors' perceptions related to STEM and inclusion and explores what practices related to STEM and inclusion are currently being used by early childhood practitioners and directors.

Mindful Coping Power Effects on Children's Autonomic Nervous System Functioning and Long-Term Behavioral Outcomes.

Mindful Coping Power (MCP) was developed to enhance the effects of the Coping Power (CP) preventive intervention on children's reactive aggression by integrating mindfulness training into CP. In prior pre-post analyses in a randomized trial of 102 children, MCP improved children's self-reported anger modulation, self-regulation, and embodied awareness relative to CP but had fewer comparative effects on parent- and teacher-reported observable behavioral outcomes, including reactive aggression. It was hypothesized that MCP-produced improvements in children's internal awareness and self-regulation, if maintained or strengthened over time with ongoing mindfulness practice, would yield improvements in children's observable prosocial and reactive aggressive behavior at later time points.

Comparing a modified simple-conditional with the conditional-only methods in teaching Chinese children with autism.

Instruction in auditory-visual conditional discriminations for young children with autism spectrum disorder is typically based on either a conditional-only or a simple-conditional method. In this study, we evaluated a modified simple-conditional method in which we removed the steps for which visual comparisons were presented in isolation. We compared this modified simple-conditional method with the conditional-only method when teaching auditory-visual conditional discriminations to six young Chinese children with autism spectrum disorder.

Prospective, longitudinal study to isolate the impacts of marijuana use on neurocognitive functioning in adolescents.

Introduction: Policies to legalize possession and use of marijuana have been increasingly supported across the United States. Although there are restrictions on use in minors, many substance abuse scientists anticipate that these policy changes may alter use patterns among adolescents due to its wider availability and a softening of beliefs about its potentially harmful consequences. Despite the possibility that these policies may increase the prevalence of use among adolescents, the effects of marijuana on neurodevelopment remain unclear, clouding arguments in favor of or opposition to these policies.

Characteristics of pediatric recurrent acute mastoiditis: A case-control study.

Background: Data on pediatric recurrent acute mastoiditis are lacking, despite its morbidity and clinical significance. Our aim was to describe the incidence, characteristics, and associated factors of recurrent mastoiditis in hospitalized children.

Methods: Using a case-control design, analyzing electronic data of hospitalized children with acute mastoiditis between June 2011 and December 2018, children with recurrent mastoiditis were compared to children with a single episode at the time of hospitalization.

Mixed-method evaluation of fidelity of motivational interviewing-based coaching in Program for caregivers of children with autism.

Objective: This mixed method analysis examined fidelity of the motivational interviewing (MI) delivered during the wellness program for caregivers of children with Autism Spectrum Disorders.

Methods: Coaches used a manualized MI-approach to collaboratively design participants' individualized wellness programs, and then used it in monthly coaching sessions to support goal pursuit. Audio-recorded consultations and post-participation focus groups were transcribed verbatim.

Normalization of Prevention Principles and Practices to Reduce Substance Use Disorders Through an Integrated Dissemination and Implementation Framework.

Major research breakthroughs over the past 30 years in the field of substance use prevention have served to: (1) enhance understanding of pharmacological effects on the central and peripheral nervous systems and the health and social consequences of use of psychoactive substances, particularly for children and adolescents; (2) delineate the processes that increase vulnerability to or protect from initiation of substance use and progression to substance use disorders (SUDs) and, based on this understanding, (3) develop effective strategies and practices to prevent the initiation and escalation of substance use. The challenge we now face as a field is to "normalize" what we have learned from this research so that it is incorporated into the work of those involved in supporting, planning, and delivering prevention programming to populations around the world, is integrated into health and social service systems, and helps to shape public policies. But we wish to go further, to incorporate these effective prevention practices into everyday life and the mind-sets of the public, particularly parents and educators.

Gender differences in the association of polygenic risk and divergent depression trajectories from mid to late life: a national longitudinal study.

Our research fills a critical gap in the depression literature by utilizing a life course perspective to examine gender-gene interactions in association with depression trajectories over time. Using data from the Health and Retirement Study, we estimated multi-level negative binomial and logistic mixed models to analyze gender-specific trajectories of depressive symptoms (CESD-8) and potential clinical depression risk from middle to late adulthood in relation to gender-by-polygenic-risk (PRS) interactions. We found increasingly greater female-male gaps in the CESD-8 scale and a higher probability of clinical depression risk with increasing polygenic risk scores.

Racial differences in the associations between adiposity, placental growth hormone and inflammatory cytokines in pregnant women.

Background: The prevalence of obesity among women of child-bearing age has contributed to an increased risk of pregnancy complications with a disproportional impact on women of lower socioeconomic status and among certain racial groups. In particular, socio-demographic and historical factors have resulted in higher rates of premature births and small-for-gestational age infants among Black women, which may be associated with placental function during pregnancy. The current study investigated the influence of maternal pre-pregnancy adiposity and race on the associations between inflammatory proteins, placental growth hormone (PGH), and infant birthweight.

Science for policy to protect children in cyberspace.

Cross-disciplinary partnerships are needed to formulate policies that account for developmental vulnerabilities.

The Use of the Alberta Infant Motor Scale (AIMS) as a Diagnostic Scale for Infants with Autism.

Unlabelled: Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a group of developmental disabilities presenting difficulties in social interaction and language and an increased occurrence of cognitive, sensory, and motor gaps. Early intervention has been reported to improve the function of children with ASD. However, motor screening for children with ASD is difficult, as there are no specific tools for identifying this specific population.

The mediating role of self-regulation on the link between child maltreatment and later substance use among Latinx youth.

Background: Children who experience maltreatment are at heightened risk for substance use initiation and mental health disorders later in life. Few studies have assessed the relationship between child maltreatment and substance use among Latinx youth.

Objective: The current study assessed the potential mediating effect of three aspects of self-regulation (emotional, behavioral, and cognitive) on the association between child maltreatment and substance use and examined whether effects varied depending on maltreatment type and severity.

Testing the Ecophenotype Model: Cortical Structure Alterations in Conduct Disorder With Versus Without Childhood Maltreatment.

Background: Childhood maltreatment is common in youths with conduct disorder (CD), and both CD and maltreatment have been linked to neuroanatomical alterations. Nonetheless, our understanding of the contribution of maltreatment to the neuroanatomical alterations observed in CD remains limited. We tested the applicability of the ecophenotype model to CD, which holds that maltreatment-related psychopathology is (neurobiologically) distinct from psychopathology without maltreatment.

Cost-benefit analyses of developmental crime prevention programmes.

Background: Children and youth who are at risk of becoming early-onset life-course-persistent offenders often slip through the cracks of other systems in society (e.g., health, education, child welfare, substance use and mental health).

Environmental Toxicants and the Developing Brain.

Early life represents the most rapid and foundational period of brain development and a time of vulnerability to environmental insults. Evidence indicates that greater exposure to ubiquitous toxicants like fine particulate matter (PM), manganese, and many phthalates is associated with altered developmental, physical health, and mental health trajectories across the lifespan. Whereas animal models offer evidence of their mechanistic effects on neurological development, there is little research that evaluates how these environmental toxicants are associated with human neurodevelopment using neuroimaging measures in infant and pediatric populations.

Adolescents' Perceptions of Social Risk and Prosocial Tendencies: Developmental Change and Individual Differences.

Many prosocial behaviors involve social risks such as speaking out against a popular opinion, bias, group norm, or authority. However, little is known about whether adolescents' prosocial tendencies develop over time with their perceptions of social risks. This accelerated longitudinal study used within-subject growth-curve analyses to test the link between prosocial tendencies and social risk perceptions, in a sample of adolescents who completed self-reports annually for three years (N = 893; = 12.