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This study aimed to investigate alternative approaches to a cumulative risk score in the relationship between adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and crime. Using data from the 1993 Pelotas (Brazil) Birth Cohort (n = 3236), we measured 12 ACEs up to 15 years, and past-year violent and non-violent crime at 22 years. We used four analytical approaches: single adversities, cumulative risk, latent class analysis, and network analysis. When examined individually, physical abuse, emotional abuse, and domestic violence were associated with both crime outcomes, whereas maternal mental illness and discrimination were associated with violent crime only, and parental divorce and poverty with non-violent crime only. There was a cumulative effect of ACEs on crime. The class with child maltreatment and household challenges was associated with both crime outcomes; exposure to household challenges and social risks was associated with violent crime only. In network models, crime showed conditional associations with physical abuse, maternal mental illness, and parental divorce. Although cumulative ACEs did associate with crime, some individual and combinations of ACEs showed particularly strong and robust effects, which were not captured by the cumulative score. Many ACEs are closely connected and/or cluster together, and the usefulness of the ACE score needs to be further evaluated., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest None., (Copyright © 2024. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

Adolescent offspring of depressed parents are at particularly heightened risk of developing early onset Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) yet are unlikely to access services. We therefore aimed to identify a parsimonious combination of parent-reported symptoms that accurately detected offspring MDD. We used a multi-sample study comprising a development sample of 335 offspring of adults with recurrent MDD assessed on three occasions (mean age 12.4-14.8 years) and an independent validation sub-sample of 807 adolescents from a general population cohort (mean age 13.1 years). Parent ratings of psychiatric symptoms in adolescent offspring were assessed using established questionnaires. The best performing four-item combination of symptoms was identified. Accuracy in detecting concurrent DSM-IV MDD diagnosis, assessed by direct adolescent and parent interviews, was compared to the well-established 13-item short Moods and Feelings Questionnaire (sMFQ) using ROC curve analysis. The combination identified (concentration problems, anhedonia, worrying excessively and feeling unloved) performed equivalently to the sMFQ both in the development dataset and in the validation dataset. We concluded that a combination of four parent-reported mental health items performs equivalently to an established, longer depression questionnaire measure in detecting a diagnosis of adolescent major depressive disorder among offspring of parents with recurrent MDD and needs further evaluation., (Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.)

The Mood and Feelings Questionnaire (MFQ) is widely used for the assessment of depression in adolescents. The main aim of this study was to examine the concurrent and predictive validity of a composite of four MFQ items related to suicidal ideation using an interview measure of suicidal ideation. A prospective 3-wave high-risk study of offspring of parents with recurrent depression was used including 294 families where children were initially aged 9-17 years. Measures included four parent and child rated MFQ items assessing suicide-related ideation (referred to here as the "MFQ-SI") and a clinically-defined interview measure of suicidal ideation. A parent-child combined MFQ-SI subscale performed well as a screening tool against the interview measure of suicidal ideation (baseline area under the curve (AUC) (95% CI):0.92 (0.85-1.00)). Longitudinally, this measure showed reasonable predictive validity against future suicidal ideation (AUC (95% CI):0.73 (0.58-0.88)). Lastly, there was evidence that a child-rated MFQ-SI scale performed better than a parent-rated one in detecting concurrent suicidal ideation. Longitudinally, both parent and child scales showed reasonable predictive validity against future suicidal ideation. In summary, a brief screen using four MFQ items related to suicidal ideation performs well in identifying concurrent and future suicidal ideation in high-risk adolescents., (Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.)