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Coping, personality, and identity are three well-known constructs within the field of psychology. Yet, findings regarding how these constructs relate to each other have been inconsistent. The present study employs network analysis to investigate coping, adaptive and maladaptive personality, and identity and how they are related, using data from the Flemish Study on Parenting, Personality, and Development (FSPPD; Prinzie et al., 2003; 1999-current). Young adults ( N = 457; 47% male), aged between 17-23 years old, completed a survey on coping, adaptive and maladaptive personality, and identity. Results indicate clear associations between coping and both adaptive and maladaptive personality within the network, suggesting coping and personality are distinct, yet highly related constructs whereas identity proved largely unrelated. Potential implications and suggestions for future research are discussed.

To investigate the effectiveness of interventions aiming to improve hot and cold executive functions (EFs) in children and adolescents with acquired brain injury (ABI) and to examine whether characteristics of the intervention, participants, etiology of ABI (Traumatic-brain-injury [TBI] or non-TBI), time of assessment, or study quality moderate intervention effects. Whereas cold EFs refer to purely cognitive EFs, hot EFs refer to the affective aspects of these cognitive skills. A total of 970 participants from 23 randomized-controlled-trial studies (112 effect sizes [ES]) were included. A three-level random effects approach (studies, ES, individual participants) was used. Moderation analyses were conducted through meta-regressions. The three-level random effects model showed a better fit than the two-level model. Almost all individual studies showed non-significant ES across outcomes but in combination interventions were effective (Cohen's d = 0.38, CI 0.16 ~ 0.61). Lower methodological quality, inclusion of participants with non-TBI, and parental participation predicted larger ES. Participants' age, time of assessment, number of sessions, and focus on hot or cold EFs were not related to ES. We found no evidence of publication bias. Interventions are effective with small to medium ES according to conventional criteria. Intervention effects do not seem to fade away with time. Parent participation in the intervention is important to improve EFs. The efficacy of interventions seems larger when non-TBI is part of the etiology of ABI. Variation between studies is relevant for tracing the effective intervention characteristics. Most studies are conducted in adolescence, and studies in early childhood are needed.

Purpose: Raising a child with Down syndrome (DS) brings unique challenges to parents' psychological functioning. Extensive quantitative research has shown that these parents tend to experience higher levels of parental stress and lower well-being. However, a more in-depth and balanced insight is essential to fully grasp the complexity of parenting a child with DS. To address this gap, this study uses a qualitative approach to explore the experiences and behaviors of parents raising a child with DS., Design and Methods: By adopting the Self-Determination Theory as a comprehensive theoretical framework, this study attends to both opportunities and challenges for parents' psychological needs of autonomy, relatedness, and competence, and provides insights into how they support the psychological needs of their child with DS. Eleven in-depth interviews were conducted with parents of a child with DS (aged 4 to 23 years)., Results: Through thematic analysis, six themes of parental experiences and three themes of parenting behaviors were distinguished., Conclusions: The findings indicated that parents experience many opportunities for need satisfaction, predominantly in their need for relatedness. However, raising a child with DS also involves challenges for the parents' family relationships, personal freedom, professional ambitions, and feelings of competence. Regarding their parenting behaviors, parents considered stimulating independence, tuning into the child's mental world, and being patient as essential practices when raising a child with DS., Practical Implications: This study provides important clues to promote parents' well-being as well as their engagement in need-supportive parenting practices towards their child with DS., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors have no competing interests to declare., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

In this person-centered study, we identified different profiles of resilience and vulnerability in emerging adulthood in response to previously experienced stressful life events. Additionally, we examined whether mothers' and fathers' parenting and participants' personality traits in adolescence predicted these profiles. Data from the Flemish Study on Parenting, Personality, and Development ( N = 346 families) were used. At T1 (2004; M age = 11 years), T2 (2007), and T3 (2009), mothers and fathers reported on their parenting and their child's personality. At T4 (2018; M age = 25 years), emerging adults retrospectively self-reported the occurrence and impact of 22 stressful life events and rated current behavior problems and subjective well-being. Latent profile analysis revealed three profiles: Competent (71%; low stress, low behavior problems, high subjective well-being), Vulnerable (21%; average stress, high behavior problems, low subjective well-being), and Resilient (9%; high stress, average behavior problems, average subjective well-being). Emerging adults in the Resilient profile had experienced higher levels of maternal positive parenting and were less emotionally stable and conscientious than those in the Competent profile. Furthermore, emerging adults in the Vulnerable profile were less emotionally stable than their peers in the Competent profile. These findings reveal new insights into the heterogeneous patterns of emerging adults' adaptation following stressful life events.

Transactional processes between parental support and adolescents' depressive symptoms might differ in the short term versus long term. Therefore, this multi-sample study tested bidirectional within-family associations between perceived parental support and depressive symptoms in adolescents with datasets with varying measurement intervals: Daily ( N = 244, M age = 13.8 years, 38% male), bi-weekly ( N = 256, M age = 14.4 years, 29% male), three-monthly ( N = 245, M age = 13.9 years, 38% male), annual ( N = 1,664, M age = 11.1 years, 51% male), and biennial ( N = 502, M age = 13.8 years, 48% male). Preregistered random-intercept cross-lagged panel models (RI-CLPMs) showed negative between- and within-family correlations. Moreover, although the preregistered models showed no within-family lagged effect from perceived parental support to adolescent depressive symptoms at any timescale, an exploratory model demonstrated a negative lagged effect at a biennial timescale with the annual dataset. Concerning the reverse within-family lagged effect, increases in adolescent depressive symptoms predicted decreases in perceived parental support 2 weeks and 3 months later (relationship erosion effect). Most cross-lagged effects were not moderated by adolescent sex or neuroticism trait level. Thus, the findings mostly support adolescent-driven effects at understudied timescales and illustrate that within-family lagged effects do not generalize across timescales.

This longitudinal study assessed the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD; n = 62; M age = 13 years) by measuring emotional and behavioral problems before and during the pandemic, and by comparing this change to a matched sample of children without ASD (n = 213; M age = 16 years). Moreover, we examined whether indicators of parental well-being promoted resilience of children with ASD. Results showed that the mean change in problems did not differ between children with and without ASD. Importantly, some children showed an increase in problems, while others showed resilience. Parental well-being indicators were not related to resilience among children with ASD. The interindividual variability in responses, particularly among children with ASD, highlights the need for personalized support., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

Eating problems, such as food selectivity or picky eating, are thought to be an epiphenomenon of autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Yet eating problems are also common in the general pediatric population and overlap with ASD symptoms. However, the temporal association between ASD symptoms and eating problems is poorly understood. This study examines the bidirectional association between ASD symptoms and eating problems across child development, and investigates whether these associations differ by child sex. Participants ( N  = 4,930) were from the population-based Generation R Study. Parents reported their child's ASD symptoms and eating problems using the Child Behavior Checklist at 5 assessments from toddlerhood to adolescence (1.5 to 14 years, 50% girls). A Random Intercept Cross-Lagged Panel Model was used to examine the lagged associations between ASD symptoms and eating problems at the within-person level, controlling for stable, trait-like differences at the between-person level. At the between-person level, there was a strong correlation between ASD symptoms and eating problems (β = .48, 95% CI: 0.38 to 0.57). Controlling for these between-person effects, there was limited evidence for consistent, predictive effects of ASD symptoms and eating problems at the within-person level. Associations did not differ by child sex. Findings suggest that ASD symptoms and eating problems may represent a cluster of traits that are highly stable from early childhood to adolescence, which have a minimal reciprocal effect at the individual-level. Future research could focus on these trait-like qualities to inform the development of supportive, family-focused interventions., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (© 2023 Harris, Derks, Prinzie, Louwerse, Hillegers and Jansen.)

This study aimed to examine Dispositional, Adaptational, and Environmental (DAE) variables at the intersection of adaptive and maladaptive personality development as a conceptual replication of the DAE-model (Asendorpf & Motti-Stefanidi, European Journal of Personality, 32 (3), 167-185, 2018). In a community sample of adolescents ( N = 463; M age = 13.6 years; 51% female) hypotheses-driven cross-lagged panel models were tested. Longitudinal associations between Dispositional (i.e., neuroticism, disagreeableness and unconscientiousness), Adaptational (i.e., social problems), and Environmental (i.e., perceived quality of the parent-child relationship) variables were investigated. The results partially support the DAE hypotheses. High levels of neuroticism, disagreeableness and social problems were found to predict the perceived quality of the parent-child relationship. In turn, the perceived quality of the parent-child relationship was found to predict levels of unconscientiousness and social problems. No mediation effects were found and, in contrast to DAE hypotheses, results did not indicate bidirectional influences between dispositions and adaptations. The results shed light on differential person-environment interactions that shape personality development and the importance of the perceived quality of the parent-child relationship. These findings provide insight in pathways of personality development, that may lead to personality pathology, and demonstrate the value of the DAE model as a structured guideline that provides testable hypotheses.

Caregiving capacities may be an important link between multi-problem circumstances and adverse child development. This study aims to assess caregiving capacities and their correlations in highly vulnerable, multi-problem families in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Caregiving capacity (overall, emotional and instrumental) was prospectively assessed in 83 highly vulnerable women using video-observations of daily caregiving tasks, six week postpartum. Supporting data were collected at three time points: at inclusion, six weeks after inclusion and six weeks postpartum, and these included psychological symptoms, self-sufficiency, problematic life domains, home environment, income, depression, anxiety and stress. Pregnancy- and delivery-related information was collected from obstetric care professionals. Maternal caregiving scores averaged below adequate quality. Mothers living in an unsafe home environment ( B = 0.62) and mothers with more problematic life domains (≤3 domains, B = 0.32) showed significantly higher instrumental caregiving capacities. Other variables were not related to caregiving capacities. Caregiving capacity in this highly vulnerable population was below adequate quality. However, in most cases there was no significant association between caregiving and the variables related to vulnerability. This means that a potential association between vulnerability and caregiving capacities might be driven by the interaction between several problems, rather than the type or number of problems.

Background: Many empirical studies suggest that higher maternal age increases the likelihood of having an autistic child. However, little is known about factors that may explain this relationship or if higher maternal age is related to the number of autistic-like traits in offspring. One possibility is that mothers who have a higher number of autistic-like traits, including greater challenges performing mentalizing skills, are delayed in finding a partner. The goal of our study is to assess the relationship between maternal age, mentalizing skills and autistic-like traits as independent predictors of the number of autistic-like traits in offspring., Methods: In a population-based study in the Netherlands, information on maternal age was collected during pre- and perinatal enrolment. Maternal mentalizing skills and autistic-like traits were assessed using the Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test and the Autism Spectrum Quotient, respectively. Autistic-like traits in children were assessed with the Social Responsiveness Scale. A total of 5718 mother/child dyads had complete data (M agechild  = 13.5 years; 50.2% girls)., Results: The relationship between maternal age and autistic-like traits in offspring best fits a U-shaped curve. Furthermore, higher levels of autistic features in mothers are linked to higher levels of autistic-like traits in their children. Lower mentalizing performance in mothers is linked to higher levels of autistic-like traits in their children., Limitations: We were able to collect data on both autistic-like traits and the mentalizing skills test in a large population of mothers, but we did not collect these data in a large number of the fathers., Conclusions: The relationships between older and younger mothers may have comparable underlying mechanisms, but it is also possible that the tails of the U-shaped curve are influenced by disparate mechanisms., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

This study examined the family emotional climate as assessed by Five Minute Speech Samples and the relation with parenting stress and parenting behaviors among parents of children (6-17 years, 64.7% boys) with autism spectrum disorder, cerebral palsy, Down syndrome, and without any known disability (n = 447). The large majority of parents (79%) showed low levels of Expressed Emotion, an indicator of a positive family climate. In all groups, more Emotional Over-involvement, more Criticism and fewer expressions of Warmth were associated with higher levels of parenting stress. Across groups, Emotional Over-involvement was related to more autonomy-supportive parenting, Criticism to more psychologically controlling and overreactive parenting, and Warmth was associated with more responsive and less psychologically controlling and overreactive parenting., (© 2021. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.)

This two-year longitudinal study addressed the joint contribution of parent-rated parenting behaviors and child personality on psychosocial outcomes in 118 families of children with Cerebral Palsy (M age Time 1 = 10.9 years old, 64.4% boys). Latent change modeling revealed intra-individual changes in children's psychosocial development as internalizing and externalizing behaviors increased from the first to the second assessment and psychosocial strengths increased from the second to the third assessment, whereas externally controlling and autonomy-supportive parenting behavior remained stable over time. Externally controlling parenting related to higher levels of, and increases in behavioral problems, with these associations being most pronounced among children low on Extraversion, Conscientiousness, or Imagination. Autonomy-supportive parenting related to higher levels of psychosocial strengths, with this association being most pronounced among children high on Emotional Stability., (© 2021. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC part of Springer Nature.)

Background: Children with low socioeconomic status (SES) have an increased risk of a suboptimal start in life with ensuing higher healthcare costs. This study aims to investigate the effects of individual- (monthly household income) and contextual-level SES (household income and neighborhood deprivation), and perinatal morbidity (preterm birth and small for gestational age ((<10th percentile), SGA)) on healthcare costs in early life (0-3 years of age)., Methods: Individual-linked data from three national registries (Perinatal Registry Netherlands, Statistics Netherlands, and Healthcare Vektis) were obtained of all children born between 2011 and 2014 (N = 480,471) in the Netherlands. Binomial logistic regression was used to model annual healthcare costs as a function of their household income (per €1000), neighborhood deprivation index (range - 13.26 - 10.70), their perinatal morbidity and demographic characteristics. Annual healthcare cost were dichotomized into low healthcare costs (Q1-Q3 below €1000) and high healthcare costs (Q4 €1000 or higher)., Results: Children had a median of €295 annual healthcare costs, ranging from €72 to €4299 (5-95%). Binomial logistic regression revealed that for every €1000 decrease in monthly household income, the OR for having high healthcare costs is 0.99 (0.99-0.99). Furthermore, for every one-unit increase in neighborhood deprivation the OR for having high healthcare costs increase 1.02 (1.01-1.02). Finally, the model revealed an OR of 2.55 (2.48-2.61) for preterm born children, and an OR of 1.44 (1.41-1.48) for children SGA, to have high healthcare costs compared to their healthy peers., Conclusion: More neighborhood deprivation was directly related to higher healthcare costs in young children. On top of this, lower household income was consistently and independently related to higher healthcare costs. By optimizing conditions for low SES populations, the impact of low SES circumstances on their healthcare costs can be positively influenced. Additionally, policies that influence more timely and appropriate healthcare use in low SES populations can reduce healthcare costs further., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

This preregistered study examined whether child temperament and executive functions moderated the longitudinal association between early life stress (ELS) and behavior problems. In a Dutch population-based cohort (n = 2803), parents reported on multiple stressors (age 0-6 years), child temperament (age 5), and executive functions (age 4), and teachers rated child internalizing and externalizing problems (age 7). Results showed that greater ELS was related to higher levels of internalizing and externalizing problems, with betas reflecting small effects. Lower surgency buffered the positive association of ELS with externalizing problems, while better shifting capacities weakened the positive association between ELS and internalizing problems. Other child characteristics did not act as moderators. Findings underscore the importance of examining multiple protective factors simultaneously., (© 2021 The Authors. Child Development published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of Society for Research in Child Development.)

Background: Children with autism have difficulties in understanding relationships, yet little is known about the levels of autistic traits with regard to peer relationships. This study examined the association between autistic traits and peer relationships. Additionally, we examined whether the expected negative association is more pronounced in children with a lower non-verbal IQ and in those who exhibit more externalizing problems., Method: Data were collected in a large prospective birth cohort of the Generation R Study (Rotterdam, the Netherlands) for which nearly 10,000 pregnant mothers were recruited between 2002 and 2006. Follow up data collection is still currently ongoing. Information on peer relationships was collected with PEERS application, an interactive computerized task (M = 7.8 years). Autistic traits were assessed among general primary school children by using the Social Responsiveness Scale (M = 6.1 years). Information was available for 1580 children., Result: Higher levels of autistic traits predicted lower peer acceptance and higher peer rejection. The interaction of autistic traits with externalizing problems (but not with non-verbal IQ or sex) was significant: only among children with low externalizing problems, a higher level of autistic traits predicted less peer acceptance and more peer rejection. Among children exhibiting high externalizing problems, a poor peer acceptance and high level of rejection is seen independently of the level of autistic traits., Conclusion: We conclude that autistic traits-including traits that do not classify as severe enough for a clinical diagnosis-as well as externalizing problems negatively impact young children's peer relationships. This suggests that children with these traits may benefit from careful monitoring and interventions focused at improving peer relationships., (© 2021. The Author(s).)

Background: Self-efficacy, individuals' beliefs regarding their capacities to perform actions or control (potentially stressful or novel) events, is thought to be important for various life domains. Little however is known about its early precursors. This study examined the predictive effects of childhood personality and parental behaviors (i.e., overreactive discipline and warmth) for general self-efficacy in young adulthood. Furthermore, it was examined whether personality and parenting behaviors interacted and whether these interactions supported the diathesis-stress or differential susceptibility model. These aims were examined in an 11-year prospective study of 336 participants (M age at T1 = 10.83 years, range = 9-12 years, 53.9% girls). Personality and parental behaviors were reported at T1 by both mothers and fathers, whereas self-efficacy was self-reported at T2 11 years later. Hypotheses were tested in Mplus using multilevel structural equation modeling., Results: Results revealed that (only) emotional stability, and not parenting, predicted higher self-efficacy 11 years later. Benevolence functioned as a susceptibility marker in the association between overreactivity and self-efficacy., Conclusions: The results show that childhood emotional stability is an important long-term predictor of self-efficacy, even into emerging adulthood. Moreover, the integration of individual differences in models of parenting effects may further improve our understanding of early adults' adjustment., (© 2021. The Author(s).)

This nine-year longitudinal study addresses the joint contribution of parent-rated negative controlling parenting and child personality on psychosocial outcomes in 141 families of children with autism spectrum disorder (83% boys, mean age Time 1 = 10.1). Latent change modeling revealed substantial variation in within-person change in parenting and psychosocial outcomes across a six- and three-year-interval. Over time, negative controlling parenting and child personality were consistently related to externalizing problems, whereas child personality was differentially related to internalizing problems and psychosocial strengths. Three personality-by-parenting interactions were significant, suggesting that children with less mature personality traits show more externalizing behaviors in the presence of controlling parenting. This study identified both parenting and child personality as important modifiers of developmental outcomes in youth with autism.

Objective: This study aimed to contrast differential susceptibility and diathesis-stress models in examining adolescents' Big Five personality dimensions as moderators of longitudinal associations between interparental stress and (mal)adaptation in emerging adulthood (i.e., self-efficacy, externalizing and internalizing behavior)., Method: Data from the large longitudinal Flemish Study on Parenting, Personality and Development were used (475 families, adolescents' M age  = 15.82, SD age  = 1.15), with both parents reporting on their interparental stress and mothers reporting on the adolescent's personality and in 2009, and emerging adults reporting on their own (mal)adaptive functioning in 2009 and 2015 and their personality in 2015., Results: Multivariate models showed that extraversion, benevolence, emotional stability and imagination were uniquely related to (mal)adaptation across the 6-year interval. In general, our results exhibited no consistent moderating role for adolescents' personality. Only for girls, high levels of extraversion functioned as a "susceptibility maker" in associations between father's interparental stress and self-efficacy, and, low levels of emotional stability functioned as a "vulnerability marker" in associations between parents' interparental stress and self-efficacy., Conclusions: The interaction effects as well as their (restricted) generalizability across gender should be replicated before drawing firm conclusions. Adolescents' personality characteristics were important predictors of (mal)adaptation during the transition into emerging adulthood., (© 2020 The Authors. Journal of Personality published by Wiley Periodicals LLC.)

Background: Home visiting programs are widely endorsed for preventing child maltreatment. Yet, knowledge is lacking on what and how individual program components are related to the effectiveness of these programs., Objective: The aim of this meta-analysis was to increase this knowledge by summarizing findings on effects of home visiting programs on child maltreatment and by examining potential moderators of this effect, including a range of program components and delivery techniques., Methods: A literature search yielded 77 studies (N=48,761) examining the effectiveness of home visiting programs, producing 174 effect sizes. In total, 35 different program components and delivery techniques were coded., Results: A small but significant overall effect was found (d=0.135, 95 % CI (0.084, 0.187), p<0.001). Programs that focused on improving parental expectations of the child or parenthood in general (d = 0.308 for programs with this component versus d = 0.112 for programs without this component), programs targeting parental responsiveness or sensitivity to a child's needs (d = 0.238 versus d = 0.064), and programs using video-based feedback (d = 0.397 versus d = 0.124) yielded relatively larger effects. Providing practical and instrumental assistance was negatively associated with program effectiveness (d=0.044 versus d = 0.168). Further, program effects were larger when percentages of non-Caucasians/non-Whites in samples and follow-up durations increased., Conclusions: In general, home visiting programs can prevent child maltreatment only to a small extent. However, implementing specific components and techniques can improve program effectiveness., (Copyright © 2021 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

The purpose of this study was to advance the current understanding of the daily dynamics that are involved in raising a child with Cerebral Palsy (CP). Specifically, we examined the role of mindful parenting and of day-to-day variation in parents' psychological needs and child behavior in explaining day-to-day variation in parents' autonomy-supportive, psychologically controlling, and responsive parenting behavior. Parents (N = 58) of children with CP (Mage = 12.68 years) participated in a 7-day diary study. Multilevel analyses indicated that parents' autonomy-supportive, psychologically controlling, and responsive behaviors fluctuate considerably between days. Further, daily fluctuations in both child behavior and parents' own psychological needs were found to be associated with this daily variability in parenting. In addition, interindividual differences in mindful parenting were associated positively with parents' responsiveness and negatively with psychologically controlling parenting across the week. These findings point towards the changeability of parenting behavior among parents of a child with CP and suggest that interventions targeting parenting behavior in the context of CP will be most effective when taking into account both the parents' and the child's functioning.

Purpose: A vast amount of studies suggest that internalizing or externalizing problems are related to individual functioning, and often co-occur. Yet, a focus on their additive and interactive effects is scarce. Furthermore, most research has focused on a limited number of developmental domains and mostly on maladaptive functioning. Therefore, the current prospective study examined whether early childhood (ages 4-8) internalizing and externalizing problems and their interaction were related to a broad range of (mal)adaptive functioning outcomes in emerging adulthood (ages 20-24)., Methods: Data from the Flemish Study on Parenting, Personality and Development were used. At Time 1 (1999) mothers of 374 children (45% boys) and fathers of 357 children (46% boys) rated internalizing and externalizing problems through the Child Behavior Checklist. Outcomes in emerging adulthood were measured through self-reports 16 years later across the following domains: psychological functioning, social functioning, work, physical health, and self-concept., Results: Early externalizing problems were related to maladaptive outcomes on the psychological and social domains. With regard to adaptive functioning, externalizing problems were associated with lower satisfaction regarding general health on the physical domain. Early internalizing problems were not associated with any emerging adulthood outcomes. The interaction of (father reported) internalizing and externalizing problems was related to aggressive behavior., Conclusion: Early childhood externalizing problems were associated with maladaptive and adaptive functioning over a time span of 16 years. The results add to studies on the implementation of prevention and intervention programs in early childhood and to the value for developing personalized interventions.

The aim of the current meta-analysis was to aggregate concurrent and longitudinal empirical research on associations between the interparental relationship and both children's maladjustment (i.e., externalizing and internalizing symptoms) and children's responses to interparental conflict (i.e., emotional, behavioral, cognitive, and physiological). Based on major theoretical frameworks, we distinguished between six dimensions of the interparental relationship: relationship quality, conflict frequency, hostile, disengaged, and unconstructive forms of conflict, and child-related conflict. A final selection of 169 studies for child maladjustment and 61 studies for child responses to conflict were included. The findings revealed by the expansive and fine-grained approach of this meta-analysis support and challenge theoretical hypotheses about the relative predictive value of dimensions of the interparental relationship for children's functioning. Although hostility was specifically more strongly associated with children's externalizing behavior and emotional responses to conflict, disengaged and unconstructive conflict behavior posed similar risks for the other domains of child functioning. In addition, relationship quality, conflict frequency, and child-related conflict warrant more attention in theoretical frameworks, as these dimensions posed similar risks to child functioning as the different forms of conflict. Moreover, most associations between the interparental relationship and child functioning endured over time. Also, developmental and gender differences appeared to depend on the specific forms of interparental conflict and the domain of child functioning. In sum, the results support the growing consensus that prevention and intervention programs aimed at children's mental health could benefit from an alternative or additional focus on the interparental relationship. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Background & Aims: Children with cerebral palsy (CP) are at risk for under-nutrition. The European Society for Paediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition (ESPGHAN) guidelines identified anthropometric nutritional red flags for neurologically impaired children: weight for age z-score (WFA) < -2, triceps skinfold (TSF) or arm muscle area (AMA) < 10th centile and faltering weight. This study aimed to (1) evaluate the nutritional status of Flemish children and adolescents with CP using different anthropometric indicators; (2) assess the prevalence of nutritional red flags and (3) identify risk factors for low anthropometric parameters., Methods: This study was a prospective, longitudinal observational study recruiting children and adolescents with CP (2-20 years) in 9 specialized Flemish centres. Measurements were performed at baseline (t 1 , n = 325), after 6 (t 2 , total n = 268) and 12 months (t 3 , total n = 191). WFA z-scores were based on Flemish growth charts; TSF, subscapular skinfolds (SSF) and AMA compared with US reference data. Weight faltering was defined as ≥0.5 decrease in weight SDS at t 2 or t 3 ., Results: At t 1 50 patients (15.4%) were classified as gross motor function classification system (GMFCS) 1, 95 (29.2%) as GMFCS 2, 49 (15.1%) as GMFCS 3, 54 (16.6%) as GMFCS 4, and 77 (23.7%) as GMFCS 5. The overall median (Q1; Q3) age was 11.7 (8.2; 15.9) years; 61.5% were boys and 22 (6.8%) had a gastrostomy (17 (22.1%) of GMFCS 5 group). The median (Q1; Q3) WFA z-score was -1.13 (-2.6; -0.1); 71.4% of the GMFCS 5 children had a WFA z-score < -2. The median (Q1; Q3) MUAC z-score was 0.17 (-0.7; 1.0); 16.9% of the GFMCS 5 children had MUAC z-score < -2. Median (Q1; Q3) TSF and SSF z-scores were respectively -0.01 (-0.8; 0.9) and 0.27 (-0.3; 0.9). All anthropometric indices tended to decrease with increasing GMFCS (p < 0.001). At t 1 42.1% had at least one nutritional red flag, at t 2 40.3% and at t 3 41.4%. Of those with at least one nutritional red flag at t 1 or t 2 , respectively 14.7% and 18.8% suffered weight loss 6 months later. A GMFCS >2 and dysphagia were associated with a higher risk for lower scores of nearly all nutritional indices., Conclusions: Underweight was detected in almost three quarters of CP patients with GMFCS 5 classification, whereas deficits in subcutaneous fat and arm muscle reserve were observed in one fifth. Nutritional red flags, present in about 40% of the Flemish CP children, were apparently not successfully addressed in clinical practice, since up to one-fifth of CP patients with warning signs lost even further weight in the following 6 months. Beside a GMFCS >2, dysphagia was one of the most common conditions influencing the presence of low nutritional indices., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier Ltd and European Society for Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism. All rights reserved.)

The general factor of psychopathology (GP, or p factor) and the Dysregulation Profile (DP) are two conceptually similar, but independently developed approaches to understand psychopathology. GP and DP models and their stability, antecedents and outcomes are studied in a longitudinal sample of 1073 children (49.8% female). GP and DP models were estimated at ages 8 and 14 years using the parent-reported Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) and Youth Self Report (YSR). Early childhood antecedents and adolescent outcomes were derived using a multi-method multi-informant approach. Results showed that the general GP and DP had similar key symptoms and were similarly related to early-childhood antecedents (e.g., lower effortful control, higher maternal depression) and adolescent outcomes (e.g., reduced academic functioning, poorer mental health). This study demonstrates that GP and DP are highly similar constructs in middle childhood and adolescence, both describing a general vulnerability for psychopathology with (emotional) dysregulation at its core. Scientific integration of these approaches could lead to a better understanding of the structure, antecedents and outcomes of psychopathology.

Grounded on Belsky's process model and family systems theories and using an actor-partner interdependency modeling (APIM) approach (Belsky & Jaffee, 2006; Cox & Paley, 2003), the current study was the first to examine whether Big Five personality characteristics and depressive symptoms of parents and their partners are related to adolescent-perceived parenting behavior directly and indirectly via interparental stress experienced by both parents. Longitudinal data (Time 1: 2001; Time 2: 2007; and Time 3: 2009) from a large community sample of Flemish families was used ( N = 455; Time 1 children: M age = 7.10 years). Results revealed that, for both parents, more agreeableness and autonomy predicted more parental warmth, and more depressive symptoms and lower agreeableness predicted more overreactive discipline (i.e., actor effects). Both parents' depressive symptoms predicted their own interparental stress (i.e., actor effects). Regarding partner-effects, paternal overreactive discipline was shaped by mother's extraversion and experienced interparental stress, and paternal warmth was affected by mother's experienced interparental stress in addition to fathers' own psychological resources. In contrast, maternal parenting was affected by their own psychological resources only. Although no consistent mediating role of interparental stress was found, one small dyadic indirect effect indicated that maternal depressive symptoms were related to more paternal overreactive discipline via heightened levels of interparental stress experienced by both parents. These results provide new support for the idea of interdependency between parents and specifically support the fathering vulnerability hypothesis. Tentatively, this study informs clinical practice by showing that family interventions aiming to improve parenting should pay attention to specific personality characteristics affecting parenting behavior and adopt a dyadic approach including both parents, especially when targeting paternal parenting. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Objective: High co-occurrence of externalizing and internalizing problems could underlie inconsistent findings regarding the relation between heart rate (HR) and psychopathology. In this study, HR measures were examined in relation to a general dysregulation profile studied from variable- and person-centered approaches., Method: The sample (N = 182) consisted of 8- to 12-year-old children referred for externalizing behaviors and typically developing children (mean age 9.70, SD 1.26; 75.8% boys). Resting HR (HR rest ) was assessed during a 3-minute resting period. HR reactivity (HR reactivity ) was assessed during an emotionally evoking go/no-go task., Results: From a variable-centered approach, a bifactor model was fitted with a general factor of dysregulation underlying symptoms of anxiety/depression, aggression, and attention problems. HR rest was positively associated with dysregulation and specific aggression. From a person-centered approach, a latent profile analysis was used to identify different psychopathology classes: normative (n = 92), predominantly aggressive (n = 69), and dysregulated (n = 14). The latter was characterized by co-occurring increased levels of anxiety/depression, aggression, and attention problems. HR rest was increased in the predominantly aggressive class and HR reactivity was increased in the dysregulated class., Conclusion: High HR rest , or (trait-like) over-arousal, seems to be associated with dysregulation rather than uniquely associated with low externalizing or high internalizing symptomatology. In addition, HR rest predicted greater aggression and HR rest was increased in the predominantly aggressive class. High HR reactivity , or enhanced emotional reactivity, might be characteristic for a clinically relevant dysregulated subgroup. Assessment of HR could provide additional knowledge on individual differences that can help refine diagnostics and intervention efforts., (Copyright © 2018 American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

This study aimed to gain more insight in the sources of daily parenting among mothers of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Specifically, we examined associations between daily variations in child behavior, mothers' psychological needs, and mothers' controlling and autonomy-supportive parenting. Moreover, the study examined the potential mediating role of daily vitality and stress within these associations. In total 41 mothers (M age = 41.84 years) of children with ASD (M age = 10.92 years, range 7-15) participated in a 7-day diary study. Multilevel structural equation modeling revealed that both daily child behavior (i.e., externalizing problems and prosocial behavior) and mothers' psychological needs relate to day-to-day variation in parenting behavior. Daily stress and vitality played an intervening role in most of these associations.

The Dysregulation Profile (DP) has emerged as a measure of concurrent affective, behavioral and cognitive dysregulation, associated with severe psychopathology, and poor adjustment. While originally developed with the Child Behavior Checklist, more recently the DP has also been defined on the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ), mostly with a 5-item, but also a 15-item, SDQ-DP measure. This study evaluated the SDQ-DP by examining its factor structure, measurement invariance, and construct validity. Different SDQ-DP operationalizations were compared. In a United States longitudinal community sample ( N = 768), a bifactor model consisting of a general Dysregulation factor and three specific factors of Emotional Symptoms, Conduct Problems, and Hyperactivity-Inattention fitted best, across three different developmental periods (early childhood, middle childhood, and adolescence) and across three different reporters (parents, teachers, and youth). Measurement invariance across reporter, gender, and developmental period was demonstrated. These findings indicate that the SDQ-DP, like the CBCL-DP, reflects a broad syndrome of dysregulation that exists in addition to specific syndromes of emotional symptoms, conduct problems, and hyperactivity-inattention. SDQ-DP bifactor scores were strongly related with scores on the 5- and 15-item SDQ-DP measures and similarly concurrently associated with two markers of self-regulation, ego-resiliency and effortful control, and longitudinally with antisocial behavior and disciplinary measures. As reliability, validity, and stability was weaker for the SDQ-DP 5-item measure, use of all 15 items is recommended. Advantages of using a bifactor approach are discussed as well as the potential of the SDQ-DP as an easy screening measure of children at risk for developing serious psychopathology. (PsycINFO Database Record, ((c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).)

Purpose: Research suggests that parenting a child with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) brings about major challenges to parents' own psychological resources. Considered through the lens of Self-Determination Theory (Ryan & Deci, 2017), parents rearing a child with ASD particularly face challenges to their psychological needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness. In turn, these challenges potentially jeopardize parents' capacity to attune to their child. This qualitative study aims to advance insight into (the interplay between) parents' experiences and parenting behaviors when raising a child with ASD, thereby using SDT as a framework to understand how these experiences and behaviors relate to the psychological needs for autonomy, relatedness and competence., Design and Methods: Fifteen parents of children with ASD, aged 6 to 17, participated in an interview concerning their behaviors and experiences in raisin their child with ASD., Results: Four sets of parental behaviors and five sets of parental experiences were identified, with the majority being relevant to the psychological needs postulated by SDT., Conclusions: The findings of this study provide (1) a deeper understanding of the threats and opportunities for the well-being of parents of children with ASD, (2) an in-depth insight into how these parents adjust their parenting behaviors to their child, and (3) an understanding of how parents' need-related experiences and parenting behaviors are dynamically intertwined., Practical Implications: By structuring how parents perceive threats and opportunities when raising a child with ASD within the SDT-framework, important targets for parent-support are identified., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Evidence has been accumulating for the impact of normal variation in caregiving quality on brain morphology in children, but the question remains whether differences in brain volume related to early caregiving translate to behavioral implications. In this longitudinal population-based study (N = 162), moderated mediation was tested for the relation between parental sensitivity and child prosocial behavior via brain volume, in boys and girls. Both maternal and paternal sensitivity were repeatedly observed between 1 and 4 years of age. Brain volume was assessed using magnetic resonance imaging measurements at age 8, and self-reported prosocial behavior of children was assessed at 9 years of age. Parental sensitivity was positively related to child brain volume, and to child prosocial behavior at trend level. Child brain volume was negatively related to child prosocial behavior. A significant gender-by-brain interaction was found, illustrating that daughters of sensitive parents were more prosocial and that less prosocial behavior was reported for girls with a larger total brain volume. Child gender significantly moderated the indirect effect of parental sensitivity on prosocial behavior via total brain volume. A significant indirect pathway was found only in girls. The results warrant replication but indicate the importance of considering gender when studying the behavioral implications of differences in brain volume related to early caregiving experiences.

This study aimed to describe problem behaviors and psychosocial strengths, examine the problem-strength interrelations, and evaluate profiles of problems and strengths in youth with Down syndrome (DS). The community-based sample consisted of 67 parents of children with DS aged between 4 and 19 years. Parents reported about the developmental age (Vineland screener), behavioral problems (Child Behavior Checklist), and psychosocial strengths (Behavioral and Emotional Rating Scale) of their child. Results indicate that attention, social, and thought problems were most prevalent, whereas family involvement and receiving/expressing affection were identified as strengths. A confirmatory factor analysis identified problems and strengths as distinct, yet related, variables. Moreover, a cluster analysis of problems and strengths identified four different profiles. Implications for interventions are discussed.

The Dysregulation Profile (DP) is a broad indicator of concurrent affective, behavioral, and cognitive dysregulation, often measured with the anxious/depressed, aggressive behavior, and attention problems syndrome scales of the Child Behavior Checklist. Despite an expanding body of research on the DP, knowledge of the normative developmental course of the DP from early childhood to adolescence is lacking. Furthermore, although we know that the DP longitudinally predicts personality pathology, no research yet has examined whether next to the DP in early childhood, the rate of change of the DP across development predicts personality pathology. Therefore, using cohort-sequential latent growth modeling in a population-based sample (N = 668), we examined the normative developmental course of mother-reported DP from ages 4 to 17 years and its associations with a wide range of adolescent-reported personality pathology dimensions 3 years later. The results showed that the DP follows a nonlinear developmental course with a peak in early adolescence. The initial level of the DP at age 4 and, to a lesser extent, the rate of change in the DP predicted a range of personality pathology dimensions in late adolescence. The findings suggest that the DP is a broad developmental precursor of personality pathology in late adolescence.

Introduction: Social vulnerability is known to be related to ill health. When a pregnant woman is socially vulnerable, the ill health does not only affect herself, but also the health and development of her (unborn) child. To optimise care for highly vulnerable pregnant women, in Rotterdam, a holistic programme was developed in close collaboration between the university hospital, the local government and a non-profit organisation. This programme aims to organise social and medical care from pregnancy until the second birthday of the child, while targeting adult and child issues simultaneously. In 2014, a pilot in the municipality of Rotterdam demonstrated the significance of this holistic approach for highly vulnerable pregnant women. In the 'Mothers of Rotterdam' study, we aim to prospectively evaluate the effectiveness of the holistic approach, referred to as targeted social care., Methods and Analysis: The Mothers of Rotterdam study is a pragmatic prospective cohort study planning to include 1200 highly vulnerable pregnant women for the comparison between targeted social care and care as usual. Effectiveness will be compared on the following outcomes: (1) child development (does the child show adaptive development at year 1?) and (2) maternal mental health (is maternal distress reduced at the end of the social care programme?). Propensity scores will be used to correct for baseline differences between both social care programmes., Ethics and Dissemination: The prospective cohort study was approved by the Erasmus Medical Centre Ethics Committee (ref. no. MEC-2016-012) and the first results of the study are expected to be available in the second half of 2019 through publication in peer-reviewed international journals., Trial Registration Number: NTR6271; Pre-results., Competing Interests: Competing interests: None declared., (© Article author(s) (or their employer(s) unless otherwise stated in the text of the article) 2018. All rights reserved. No commercial use is permitted unless otherwise expressly granted.)

The current study proposes a flexible approach to studying informant discrepancies: Latent Difference Scores modeling (LDS). The LDS approach is demonstrated using an empirical example in which associations between mother-adolescent and father-adolescent discrepant parenting perceptions, and concurrent and later adolescent externalizing behaviors, were investigated. Early adolescents (N = 477, aged 12-15 years), mothers (N = 470), and fathers (N = 440) filled out questionnaires about mothers' and fathers' parenting. Results using the LDS approach are compared to results obtained by the 2 existing approaches for informant discrepancies: Observed Difference Scores modeling (ODS) and Polynomial Regression Analyses (PRA). Results from the LDS approach show that adolescents perceive their mothers' and fathers' parenting less favorably than mothers and fathers themselves, and that stronger mother-adolescent discrepancies are consistently related to stronger father-adolescent discrepancies. Parent-adolescent discrepancies were concurrently associated with more aggressive and rule-breaking behaviors, but not longitudinally. Results generalized across the 2 discrepancy approaches, but only very few significant associations were found in the PRA. Advantages and limitations of all 3 approaches to studying informant discrepancies are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record, ((c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).)

Context: Optimising student learning and academic performance is a continuous challenge for medical schools. The assessment policy may influence both learning and performance. Previously, the joint contribution of self-regulated learning (SRL) and participation in scheduled learning activities towards academic performance has been reported. However, little is known about the relationships between SRL, participation and academic performance under different assessment policies., Objectives: The goal of this study was to investigate differences in average scores of SRL, participation and academic performance of students under two assessment policies: (i) a conjunctive lower stakes, lower performance standard (old) assessment policy and (ii) a compensatory higher stakes, higher performance standard (new) assessment policy. In addition, this research investigated whether the relationships between academic performance, SRL and participation are similar across both assessment policies., Methods: Year-1 medical students (i) under the old assessment policy (n = 648) and (ii) under the new assessment policy (n = 529) completed the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire on SRL, and additional items on participation. Year-1 performance was operationalised as students' average Year-1 course examination grades. manova and structural equation modelling were used for analyses., Results: Generally, students under the new assessment policy showed significantly higher Year-1 performance, SRL and participation, compared with students under the old assessment policy. The relationships between Year-1 performance, SRL and participation were similar across assessment policies., Conclusions: This study indicates that the higher academic performance under a compensatory higher stakes, higher performance standard assessment policy, results from higher SRL and participation, but not from altered relationships between SRL, participation and performance. In sum, assessment policies have the potential to optimise student learning and performance., (© 2017 The Authors. Medical Education published by Association for the Study of Medical Education and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Research in parents of youngsters with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) increasingly documents associations between children's problem behaviors and symptom severity and more dysfunctional and less adaptive parenting behaviors. However, the mechanisms underlying these associations have not been examined thoroughly. This study examines the mediating role of parental need frustration in the relation between child maladjustment (i.e., problem behavior and autism severity) and parenting behavior (i.e., controlling and autonomy-supportive parenting). The sample included 95 parents of adolescents/emerging adults with ASD (M age =18.8years, SD=2.3). Parents completed questionnaires assessing their parenting strategies and psychological need frustration as well as the internalizing and externalizing problem behaviors and autism severity of their child. Results indicate that the association between externalizing problems and controlling parenting was partially mediated by need frustration. This suggests that externalizing problems go together with lower feelings of parent-child closeness, lower parental competence, and a decreased sense of volitional functioning, feelings that, in turn, relate to more controlling strategies. Symptom severity has a direct negative association with autonomy support, suggesting that parents lower their autonomy support when their child has high levels of autism symptoms, without experiencing these symptoms as a threat to their own psychological needs., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Longitudinal bidirectional effects between parents and children are usually studied in samples of typically developing children, but remain understudied in families with a child with autism spectrum disorder. This three-wave longitudinal study examined how parents and children with autism spectrum disorder influence one another, relying on parent reports of parenting behaviors and children's problem behaviors across 9 years, in a sample of 139 youngsters (M age Time 1 = 10.2 years, 83% boys). Cross-lagged analyses indicated that children's externalizing problems at Time 1 predicted negative controlling parenting 6 years later (Time 2) that in turn predicted externalizing problems 3 years later (Time 3). Negative parental control at Time 1 also increased the risk for internalizing problems at Time 2. It was surprising that externalizing problems at Time 2 also predicted positive parental involvement at Time 3. Thus, although results indicate that externalizing problems generally elicit maladaptive reactions in parents, this study also suggests that parents adjust their way of reacting to externalizing child problems as their child reaches adolescence/emerging adulthood. Implications for future research on parenting dynamics in families with a child with autism spectrum disorder are discussed.

Objective: This study examined long-term developmental changes in mother-rated lower-order facets of children's Big Five dimensions., Method: Two independent community samples covering early childhood (2-4.5 years; N = 365, 39% girls) and middle childhood to the end of middle adolescence (6-17 years; N = 579, 50% girls) were used. All children had the Belgian nationality. Developmental changes were examined using cohort-sequential latent growth modeling on the 18 facets of the Hierarchical Personality Inventory for Children., Results: In early childhood, changes were mostly similar across child gender. Between 2 and 4.5 years, several facets showed mean-level stability; others changed in the direction of less Extraversion and Emotional Stability, and more Benevolence and Imagination. The lower-order facets of Conscientiousness showed opposite changes. Gender differences became more apparent from middle childhood onward for facets of all dimensions except Imagination, for which no gender differences were found. Between 6 and 17 years, same-dimension facets showed different shapes of growth. Facets that changed linearly changed mostly in the direction of less Extraversion, Benevolence, Conscientiousness, Emotional Stability, and Imagination. Changes in facets for which nonlinear growth was found generally moved in direction or magnitude during developmental transitions., Conclusion: This study provides comprehensive, fine-grained knowledge about personality development during the first two decades of life., (© 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)

Individual heterogeneity exists in the onset and development of conduct problems, but theoretical claims about predictors and prognosis are often not consistent with the empirical findings. This study examined shape and outcomes of conduct problem trajectories in a Belgian population-based sample (N = 682; 49.5 % boys). Mothers reported on children's conduct problems across six waves (age 4-17) and emerging adults reported on their behavioral adjustment (age 17-20). Applying mixture modeling, we found four gender-invariant trajectories (labeled life-course-persistent, adolescence-onset, childhood-limited, and low). The life-course-persistent group was least favorably adjusted, but the adolescence-onset group was similarly maladjusted in externalizing problems and may be less normative (15 % of the sample) than previously believed. The childhood-limited group was at heightened risk for specifically internalizing problems, being more worrisome than its label suggests. Interventions should not only be aimed at early detection of conduct problems, but also at adolescents to avoid future maladjustment.

The transition to secondary school is accompanied by the fragmentation of peer groups, while adolescents are also confronted with heightened incidents of bullying and increased levels of internalizing problems. Victimization, peer rejection, and internalizing problems are known to be interrelated, but how they influence each other over time remains unclear. We tested the direction of these associations by applying a cross-lagged path model among a large sample of Finnish adolescents (N = 5645; 49.1 % boys; M age at T1 = 14.0 years) after they transitioned to secondary school (grades 7-9). Self-reported depression, anxiety, and victimization and peer-reported rejection were measured 3 times over the course of 1 year. Results showed that depression was predictive of subsequent victimization for both boys and girls, in line with a symptoms-driven model; for girls, anxiety was reciprocally related to victimization, in line with a transactional model; for boys, victimization was related to subsequent anxiety, in line with an interpersonal risk model. Peer rejection was not directly related to depression or anxiety, but among girls peer rejection was bi-directionally related to victimization. Overall, our results suggest that associations between internalizing problems and peer relations differ between depression and anxiety and between genders. Implications for practice and directions for future research are discussed.

Ecological theories emphasize associations between children and elements within their family system, such as the marital relationship. Within a developmental perspective, we longitudinally examined (a) dynamic associations between marital stress and children's externalizing behavior, (b) mediation of these associations by parental sense of competence, and (c) the extent to which associations are similar for mothers and fathers. The sample consisted of 369 two-parent families (46.1% boys; Mage at Time 1 = 7.70 years; 368 mothers, 355 fathers). Marital stress related to having a child, children's externalizing behavior, and perceived parental competence were assessed three times across 8 years. Multigroup analyses were used to examine models for both parents simultaneously and test for similarity in associations across spouses. A bivariate latent growth model indicated positive associated change between marital stress and externalizing behavior, supporting the idea of codevelopment. The cross-lagged panel model revealed a reciprocal relation between marital stress and perceived parental competence across a time interval of 6 years. Additionally, two elicitation effects appeared during adolescence, showing that parents who reported higher externalizing problems in early adolescence reported more marital stress and a lower sense of competence two years later. Similar associations were found for mothers and fathers. Overall, this study indicates that marital stress and externalizing behavior codevelop over time and supports literature on developmental differences regarding interrelations between subsystems and individuals within the family system. (PsycINFO Database Record, ((c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).)

Negative thinking is seen as an important mediating factor in the development of prolonged grief disorder (PGD), a syndrome encompassing debilitating symptoms of grief. No measure of specific grief related cognitions is available yet. Based on an adult measure of negative thinking in adults we developed a questionnaire for children, the Grief Cognitions Questionnaire for Children (GCQ-C). This study investigated several psychometric properties of the GCQ-C. Both reliability and validity were investigated in this study, in which hundred fifty-one children and adolescents (aged 8-18 years) participated. Findings showed that items of the GCQ-C represented one underlying dimension. Furthermore, the internal consistency and temporal stability were found to be adequate. Third, the findings supported the concurrent validity (e.g., significant positive correlations with self-report indices of PGD, depression and posttraumatic stress disorder), convergent and divergent validity of the GCQ-C. This study provides further evidence for the importance of negative thinking in PGD in children and adolescents.

This study examined trajectories of aggression and rule breaking during the transition from childhood to adolescence (ages 9-15), and determined whether these trajectories were predicted by lower order personality facets, overreactive parenting, and their interaction. At three time points separated by 2-year intervals, mothers and fathers reported on their children's aggression and rule breaking (N = 290, M age = 8.8 years at Time 1). At Time 1, parents reported on their children's personality traits and their own overreactivity. Growth mixture modeling identified three aggression trajectories (low decreasing, high decreasing, and high increasing) and two rule-breaking trajectories (low and high). Lower optimism and compliance and higher energy predicted trajectories for both aggression and rule breaking, whereas higher expressiveness and irritability and lower orderliness and perseverance were unique risk factors for increasing aggression into adolescence. Lower concentration was a unique risk factor for increasing rule breaking. Parental overreactivity predicted higher trajectories of aggression but not rule breaking. Only two Trait × Overreactivity interactions were found. Our results indicate that personality facets could differentiate children at risk for different developmental trajectories of aggression and rule breaking.

Recently, a phenotype of severe dysregulation, the Dysregulation Profile (DP), has been identified. DP consists of elevated scores on the Anxious/Depressed (AD), Aggressive Behavior (AGG) and Attention Problems (AP) scales of the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL), Teacher Report Form (TRF), or Youth Self Report (YSR). A drawback in current research is that DP has been conceptualized and operationalized in different manners and research on the factor structure of DP is lacking. Therefore, we examined the factor structure of DP across multiple reporters, measurement invariance across gender, parents, and time, as well as links between DP and self-harm and suicidal ideation. Data from a large community sample were used (N = 697), covering middle childhood (Mage = 7.90, (SD = 1.16) and adolescence (Mage = 13.93, SD = 1.14). Mothers, fathers, teachers, and youth themselves reported on children's emotional and behavioral problems using the CBCL, TRF, and YSR. Results indicated that in middle childhood and in adolescence, a bifactor model with a general factor of Dysregulation alongside three specific factors of AD, AGG, and AP fitted best, compared to a second-order or one-factor model. The model showed good fit for mother, father, teacher, and youth reports and showed invariance across gender, parents and time. Youth, mother, and father reported Dysregulation was uniquely and positively related to adolescent-reported self-harm and suicidal ideation. The DP is best conceptualized as a broad dysregulation syndrome, which exists over and above anxiety/depression, aggression, and attention problems as specific problems. The bifactor model of DP explains the uniqueness and interrelatedness of these behavioral problems and can help explaining shared and non-shared etiology factors. The exclusive link between the general dysregulation factor and adolescents' self-harm and suicidal ideation further established the clinical relevance of the bifactor model.

To investigate validity of the dimensions that underlie pathological personality in adolescence, we delineated the hierarchical structure of the Dimensional Assessment of Personality Pathology-Short Form-Adolescent version (DAPP-SF-A; Tromp & Koot, 2008) and examined longitudinal associations with Big Five personality dimensions assessed four times from middle childhood to late adolescence. A total of 426 adolescents provided self-reports on the DAPP-SF-A (age M = 18.6, SD = 1.17; 53% female). Mothers provided information on their child's personality eleven, eight, five, and three years earlier. Previous findings on the hierarchical structure of the DAPP-BQ replicated up to the four-component solution (emotional dysregulation, dissocial behavior, inhibition, and compulsivity). In the solution, a thought disturbance component emerged. Interestingly, the five-component solution already showed most differentiated associations with childhood personality in middle childhood. Childhood personality dimensions predicted four out of five adolescent pathological personality traits, indicating continuity of normal and abnormal personality across childhood and adolescence.

Objective: Children with concurrent impairments in regulating affect, behavior, and cognition can be identified with the Anxious/Depressed, Aggressive Behavior, and Attention Problems scales (or AAA scales) of the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL). Jointly, these scales form the Dysregulation Profile (DP). Despite persuasive evidence that DP is a marker for severe developmental problems, no consensus exists on the preferred conceptualization and operationalization of DP in preschool years. We addressed this concern by testing and validating the factor structure of DP in a group of predominantly clinically referred preschool children., Method: Participants were 247 children (195 boys and 52 girls), aged 3.5 to 5.5 years. Children were assessed at baseline and 18 months later, using parent and teacher reports, a clinical interview with parents, behavioral observations, and neuropsychological tasks., Results: Confirmatory factor analysis showed that a bifactor model, with a general DP factor and 3 specific factors representing the AAA scales, fitted the data better than a second-order model and a one-factor model for both parent-reported and teacher-reported child problem behavior. Criterion validity analyses showed that the DP factor was concurrently and longitudinally associated with markers of dysregulation and clinically relevant criteria, whereas the specific factors representing the AAA scales were more differentially related to those criteria., Conclusion: DP is best conceptualized as a broad syndrome of dysregulation that exists in addition to the specific syndromes as represented by the AAA scales. Implications for researchers and clinicians are discussed., (Copyright © 2015 American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

This study examined separate developmental trajectories of anxious and depressive symptoms from childhood to adolescence (9-15 years) in a community-based sample (N = 290). At three measurement points, mothers and fathers reported on their children's anxious and depressive symptoms, and at Time 1 they reported on lower order child personality facets and on their parenting. By means of growth mixture modeling, three developmental trajectories were identified for anxious symptoms: steady low (82%), moderate increasing-decreasing (5.9%), and high declining groups (12.1%). For depressive symptoms, two developmental trajectories were found: steady low (94.1%) and moderate increasing groups (5.9%). Higher shyness, irritability, and altruism predicted membership in more problematic anxious and depressive groups. The personality facets energy, optimism, compliance, and anxiety were unique predictors for class membership for anxious symptoms, and the effects of shyness, irritability, and compliance were moderated by overreactive parenting. Shyness and irritability increased the probability of following the moderate increasing-decreasing anxiety trajectory, but only in the context of high or average levels of overreactive parenting. Compliance increased the probability of following the moderate increasing-decreasing and high decreasing trajectories in the context of high overreactive parenting. Our results indicate that childhood personality facets differentiate trajectories of anxious and depressive symptoms in theoretically compelling ways.

In this study, we investigated mean-level personality development in children from 6 to 20 years of age. Additionally, we investigated longitudinal, bidirectional associations between child personality and maternal overreactive and warm parenting. In this 5-wave study, mothers reported on their child's personality from Time 1 (T1) through Time 4 (T4), and children provided self-reports from Time 2 (T2) through Time 5 (T5). Mothers reported on their levels of overreactive and warm parenting from T2 through T4. Using cohort-sequential latent growth curve modeling, we investigated mother reported child personality from 6 to 17 years of age and child reported personality from 9 to 20 years of age. Extraversion decreased linearly across the entire study. Benevolence and conscientiousness increased from middle to late childhood, temporarily declined from late childhood to mid-adolescence, and increased again thereafter. Imagination decreased from middle childhood to mid-adolescence and also increased thereafter. Mothers reported a temporary decline in emotional stability with an increase thereafter, whereas children did not. Boys and girls differed in mean-levels of the personality dimensions and, to a lesser extent, in the degree and direction of changes. Latent difference score modeling showed that child personality predicted changes in parenting and that, to a lesser extent, parenting predicted changes in child traits. Additionally, changes in child personality were associated with changes in maternal parenting. Results of the present study show that personality change is not directed at increasing maturity from childhood to mid-adolescence and that it elicits and is shaped by both positive and negative parenting., (2014 APA, all rights reserved)