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Abstract Introduction Practical experience in the care of women with female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) is uncommon in Austria. However, affected women require specialized gynecological and obstetric care. In our region, there is currently neither an official counseling center nor specially trained medical personnel to address the special needs of women after FGM/C. The aim of this study was to determine the potential need for obstetric care for women who have undergone FGM/C in our region. Methods We retrospectively reviewed women presenting for delivery at the LKH University Hospital Graz from 1.1.2010 until 31.12.2020 regarding the place of birth and/or the nationality of the mother to filter out women from a country with known FGM/C prevalence according to the UNICEF Global Database. Data on the documentation of FGM/C as well as demographic maternal data and peripartal parameters were gathered. Periods before and after the European refugee crisis in 2015 were compared. Results During the study period, a total of 35,628 deliveries took place at our hospital. 856 (2.4%) deliveries of 539 women were included due to nationality or birthplace in a country with known FGM/C prevalence. We found only 17/539 (3.2%) documented FGM/C cases. The estimated FGM/C prevalence among those patients was, however, 208/539 (38,6%). Women affected by FGM/C in our collective were most frequently from Nigeria, Egypt, Iraq, Ghana, and Somalia. No statistically significant increase in deliveries during the study period in the overall study cohort was observed, with the exception of deliveries of Somali women (p = 0.000). Discussion The discrepancy between documented and expected FGM/C rates (3,2% vs. 38,6%) in our collective suggests that most cases of FGM/C go undetected among women delivering in Austria. These data show the great need for special training for obstetricians and targeted contact points for affected women.

Background Dehydroepiandrosterone-sulfate is the most abundant circulating androgen in humans and other catarrhines. It is involved in several biological functions, such as testosterone production, glucocorticoid antagonist actions, neurogenesis and neuroplasticty. Although the role of dehydroepiandrosterone-sulfate (DHEAS) in cognition remains elusive, the DHEAS/cortisol ratio has been positively associated with a slower cognitive age-decline and improved mood in humans. Whether this relationship is found in nonhuman primates remains unknown. Methods We measured DHEAS and cortisol levels in serum of 107 adult chimpanzees to investigate the relationship between DHEAS levels and age. A subset of 21 chimpanzees was used to test the potential associations between DHEAS, cortisol, and DHEAS/cortisol ratio in cognitive function, taking into account age, sex, and their interactions. We tested for cognitive function using the primate cognitive test battery (PCTB) and principal component analyses to categorize cognition into three components: spatial relationship tasks, tool use and social communication tasks, and auditory-visual sensory perception tasks. Results DHEAS levels, but not the DHEAS/cortisol ratio, declined with age in chimpanzees. Our analyses for spatial relationships tasks revealed a significant, positive correlation with the DHEAS/cortisol ratio. Tool use and social communication had a negative relationship with age. Our data show that the DHEAS/cortisol ratio, but not DHEAS individually, is a promising predictor of spatial cognition in chimpanzees.

This longitudinal study aimed to examine the long-term effects of Reminiscing and Emotion Training (RET), child maltreatment, and the COVID-19 pandemic on maternal elaboration and sensitive guidance during reminiscing. RET was developed to improve maternal elaborative and emotionally sensitive reminiscing among maltreating mothers of preschool-aged children. Of the original 248 mothers and their preschool-aged children who participated in the trial of RET, which included 165 families with maltreatment who were randomized to receive RET ( n = 83) or a case management community standard condition (CS, n = 82), and a group of demographically similar families with no history of child maltreatment, nonmaltreatment comparison (NC, n = 83), 166 families participated in an assessment 5 years postintervention (Time 5; T5) at which children were aged 8-12 years. The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic occurred midway through the collection of T5. Results of piecewise growth models including five waves of data indicated that mothers in the RET group on average remained higher in sensitive guidance and elaboration at T5 than mothers in the CS group. Mothers in the CS group on average remained lower in sensitive guidance and elaboration than the NC group at T5. Following intervention-related change between T1 and T2, all three groups demonstrated stability in mothers' trajectories of reminiscing from T2 to T5. The pandemic onset did not significantly affect maternal reminiscing at T5 or change in reminiscing from T2 to T5. The implications of the sustained benefits of RET on maternal reminiscing over two developmental periods are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).

Longitudinal study of associations between family-level emotion socialization and adolescent adjustment is limited. When American children (53.5% girls) were in second grade (N = 213; M age  = 7.98; data collected 2002-2003), mothers and fathers (79.8% of mothers and 74.2% of fathers were White) reported on their reactions to children's emotions; in seventh, eighth, and ninth grade (M age  = 13.03, 14.17, 15.29, respectively; data collected 2007-2010), adolescents, mothers, and fathers reported on adolescent internalizing and externalizing symptoms. Four family-level profiles of reactions were identified. Profile differences emerged, suggesting that the emotion dismissing profile was longitudinally associated with elevated adolescent internalizing and externalizing symptoms and that fathering may especially foster child adjustment for families in a divergence profile., (© 2024 The Author(s). Child Development © 2024 Society for Research in Child Development.)

The current Special Issue marks a major milestone in the history of developmental psychopathology; as the final issue edited by Cicchetti, we have an opportunity to reflect on the remarkable progress of the discipline across the last four decades, as well as challenges and future directions for the field. With contemporary issues in mind, including rising rates of psychopathology, health disparities, and international conflict, as well as rapid growth and accessibility of digital and mobile technologies, the discipline of developmental psychopathology is poised to advance multidisciplinary, developmentally- and contextually- informed research, and to make substantial progress in supporting the healthy development of individuals around the world. We highlight key future directions and challenges for the next generation of developmental psychopathology research including further investigation of culture at multiple levels of analysis, incorporation of macro-level influences into developmental psychopathology research, methods advances to address heterogeneity in translational research, precision mental health, and the extension of developmental psychopathology research across the lifespan.

Parent report is frequently used to assess children's psychopathology, however, researchers have expressed concerns about the validity of parent reports. Some parental characteristics, attitudes, or beliefs may systematically bias a parent's report of their child's behaviors and functioning. Informed by social information processing models of parenting risk, parents with more difficulties reflecting on and interpreting their children's behavior may be at risk for less accurate reports. The present study conducted two regularized moderated non-linear factor analyses with LONGSCAN data to examine how parents' self-reported negative parenting cognitions were associated with structural parameters of parent-reported child aggression and attention problems. While differential item functioning (DIF) was present on the aggression and attention problems subscales as a function of negative parenting cognitions, the DIF was small in magnitude, inconsistent in directionality and did not significantly alter factor-level parameters. Negative parenting cognitions did demonstrate a small but significant negative impact on all latent externalizing factors (aggression and attention problems), such that caregivers with fewer negative parenting cognitions endorsed fewer items, and this was associated with a lower mean of each latent variable. Given that accounting for DIF did not contribute to meaningful differences in impact parameters or improve criterion validity, findings suggest that the aggression and attention subscales are functionally invariant to negative parenting cognitions, suggesting that externalizing symptoms can be reliability compared across parents of varying parenting cognitions., Competing Interests: Compliance with Ethical Standards Funding Funding for the project was provided by the Office on Child Abuse and Neglect, Children's Bureau, Administration for Children and Families, Dept. of Health and Human Services. The National Center on Child Abuse and Neglect, under the Office of Human Services funded this consortium of studies during the early years of data collection from 04/01/1991 until 1998. The collector of the original data, the funder, NDACAN, Cornell University and their agents or employees bear no responsibility for the analyses or interpretations presented here. Competing interests The authors have no relevant financial or non-financial interests to disclose., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Parental emotion-related socialization behaviors (ERSBs)-including reactions to emotions, emotional expressiveness, and emotion-related discussion-can foster or hinder children and adolescents' self-regulation development. Toward a goal of identifying specific mechanisms by which children and adolescents develop skillful, adaptive self-regulation or, conversely, self-regulation difficulties and psychopathology, it is crucial to identify processes that shape and maintain parental engagement in ERSBs. This present study is a systematic review of the associations between parental self-regulation and three different ERSBs (reactions to emotions, emotional expressiveness, and emotion-related discussion), building upon research that posits parental top-down self-regulation (i.e., emotion regulation, executive function, and effortful control) is critical for parenting behavior. Fifty-three studies were identified for inclusion. All but four of these studies were cross-sectional, limiting conclusions that could be drawn regarding whether parental self-regulation is associated with ERSBs over time. Studies used a wide range of methods (e.g., self-report, physiological assessment, observer ratings) to assess both parental self-regulation and ERSBs, rendering a meta-analysis premature. Across studies included in the review, parental self-regulation was positively associated with supportive ERSBs and negatively associated with unsupportive ERSBs. Future directions for research and implications for translational efforts are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Objective: The Reminiscing and Emotion Training (RET) intervention targets and improves maltreating mothers' elaboration and sensitivity in reminiscing (conversations about past emotional events), as well as children's emotion knowledge. However, in previous studies of RET, improvements in mothers' elaborative and sensitive reminiscing did not explain improvements in children's emotion knowledge. Thus, we evaluated whether RET is associated with improved maternal autonomy support during reminiscing and whether improved autonomy support is associated with enhanced child emotion knowledge after RET., Methods: The sample included 248 mothers (165 maltreating and 83 nonmaltreating) and their 3- to 6-year-old children involved in a randomized controlled trial of RET. At baseline, we assessed maternal and child receptive language, dyadic reminiscing, and children's emotion knowledge. Then, maltreating mothers were randomized either to receive RET or participate in an active control condition including case management and written parenting materials. Nonmaltreating mothers did not receive intervention and participated as an additional control group. Families then completed an eight-week follow-up assessment., Results: Maltreating mothers displayed significantly less baseline autonomy support during reminiscing than nonmaltreating mothers (partial eta squared = .028). Contrary to hypotheses, RET did not significantly improve autonomy support. However, baseline autonomy support was significantly and positively correlated with children's emotion knowledge at baseline ( r = .20) and follow-up ( r = .18)., Conclusion: Autonomy support during reminiscing may play a role in the development of emotion knowledge. Implications for developmental theory and clinical practice are discussed.

Overgeneral memory (OGM), or difficulty recalling specific memories when recounting autobiographical events, is associated with psychopathology. According to functional avoidance theory, OGM-or reduced autobiographical memory specificity (AMS)-may serve as an emotion regulation strategy that aids in the avoidance of painful, negative memories (Sumner, 2012; Williams et al., 2007). Some researchers argue that there may be a valence effect for OGM, such that there is a higher frequency of overgenerality when recalling negative memories compared to positive memories. Although not supported among adults, valence effects may be present among children and adolescents if OGM initially develops in response to negative cues and then generalizes to all memory recall over time. This meta-analysis examined differences in child and adolescent OGM and AMS based on cue valance; standardized mean differences between negative and positive valence cues for OGM and AMS indices were calculated. Following PRISMA guidelines, a systematic literature search resulted in 26 studies assessing OGM and 30 assessing AMS. There was a significant effect of valence on OGM (d = 0.17, p = 0.01) and AMS (d = -0.20, p = 0.01). There was a higher frequency of overgeneral responses to negative cue words than positive cue words. Similarly, there was a higher frequency of specific responses for positive cue words than negative cue words. Subgroup analyses considering differences in valence effects by participant age (childhood vs. adolescence), sample type (clinical vs. community), and task instructions (verbal vs. written) were not significant. Theoretical advancements for our understanding of OGM and AMS and clinical implications are discussed., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.)

Child maltreatment is a pathogenic relational experience that creates risk for physical and psychological health difficulties throughout the lifespan. The Reminiscing and Emotion Training intervention (RET) was developed to support maltreated children's healthy development by improving parenting behavior among maltreating mothers. Here, we evaluated whether RET was associated with reductions in child welfare reinvolvement over the course of two years. The sample included 165 maltreating and 83 nonmaltreating mothers and their 3- to 6-year-old children who were enrolled in a longitudinal randomized controlled trial of RET. Maltreating mother-child dyads were randomly assigned to receive RET or an active control condition (community standard [CS]). Nonmaltreating dyads were a separate control group (nonmaltreating control). Comparing CS and RET dyads, there was a significant effect of RET on frequency of child welfare reinvolvement (substantiations and unsubstantiated assessments) during the two years following dyads' enrollment in the intervention, t (163) = 2.02, p < .05, Cohen's d = 0.32. There was a significant indirect effect of RET on child welfare reinvolvement through maternal sensitive guidance during reminiscing [95% CI -0.093, -0.007]. Results provide support for the efficacy of RET in preventing child welfare reinvolvement.

The Parental Reflective Functioning Questionnaire (PRFQ; Luyten et al., 2017) is a central measure of parental reflective functioning (i.e., the tendency to consider children's mental experiences); still, little is known about the psychometric properties of the PRFQ among maltreating and nonmaltreating mothers. Maltreating mothers may have difficulties with parental reflective functioning given their risk for biased child-related cognitions and difficulties with sensitive emotion socialization. The present study investigated measurement invariance and the concurrent validity of the PRFQ in a sample of racially diverse, low-income maltreating ( n = 165) and nonmaltreating ( n = 83) mothers of preschoolers. Mothers were enrolled in a randomized controlled trial of a brief intervention (Valentino et al., 2019). A three-factor model emerged, representing the subscales (prementalization, certainty about mental states, and interest and curiosity) identified in a previous validation study of the PRFQ (Luyten et al., 2017); however, three items were excluded due to low factor loadings. Scalar group-based (maltreating vs. nonmaltreating) and longitudinal measurement invariance was found. Maternal prementalization and interest and curiosity were associated with emotion socialization behavior. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Lignin is the second most abundant natural polymer after cellulose, and valorisation of lignin-rich streams has attracted increasing attention recently. This paper presents a novel and sustainable method to recover lignin from Cocoa Bean Shells (CBS) using Deep Eutectic Solvents (DES) and microwaves. A DES containing p-toluenesulfonic acid, choline chloride and glycerol (2:1:1 M ratio) was selected based on its dielectric properties. Under 200 W microwave power, the optimum yield of 95.5 % lignin was achieved at 130 °C and 30 min. DES-extracted lignin exhibited unique structural characteristics including larger particle sizes (242.5 µm D50 size), structural diversity (410.4 µm D90-D10 size) and H/G sub-unit ratio (71.9 %) compared with commercial Kraft lignin (77.2 µm, 157.9 µm and 0.1 % respectively), indicating the potential of DES in the modification and upgrading of lignin for novel value-added products., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests: Yujie Mao reports financial support was provided by British Petroleum, UK., (Copyright © 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

Background: The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on child functioning have been especially pronounced among low-income families. Protective factors, including sensitive reminiscing and sufficient family resources, may reduce the negative effects of the pandemic on child adjustment., Objective: The current study investigated how family resources during the pandemic, race, maltreatment, and pre-pandemic involvement in an emotion socialization intervention (M years ago  = 4.37, SD = 1.36) were associated with child internalizing symptoms during the pandemic., Participants and Setting: The study utilized longitudinal data following 137 maltreating and low-income nonmaltreating mother-child dyads (M age  = 9.08, SD = 1.88; 54.7% Male)., Methods: Mother-child dyads engaged in a randomized controlled trial of the Reminiscing and Emotion Training (RET; Valentino et al., 2019) intervention prior to the pandemic. Dyads discussed shared, past emotional experiences, and during the pandemic, mothers reported on their family resources and their child's internalizing symptoms. A path analysis examined the effects of family resources, race, maltreatment, and the RET intervention on child internalizing symptoms., Results: Family resources during the pandemic were significantly and inversely associated with child internalizing symptoms, b = -0.07, SE = 0.02, p < .01. There was a significant indirect effect of RET on child internalizing symptoms through sensitive reminiscing and a prior assessment of child maladjustment (95% CI [-0.294, -0.001])., Conclusions: These findings suggest adequate family resources and sensitive maternal emotion socialization may be protective against child internalizing symptoms during the pandemic., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Exposure to child maltreatment and maternal depression are significant risk factors for the development of psychopathology. Difficulties in caregiving, including poor emotion socialization behavior, may mediate these associations. Thus, enhancing supportive parent emotion socialization may be a key transdiagnostic target for preventive interventions designed for these families. Reminiscing and Emotion Training (RET) is a brief relational intervention designed to improve maternal emotion socialization behavior by enhancing maltreating mothers' sensitive guidance during reminiscing with their young children. This study evaluated associations between maltreatment, maternal depressive symptoms, and the RET intervention with changes in children's maladjustment across one year following the intervention, and examined the extent to which intervention-related improvement in maternal emotion socialization mediated change in children's maladjustment. Participants were 242 children (aged 36 to 86 months) and their mothers from maltreating (66%) and nonmaltreating (34%) families. Results indicated that RET intervention-related improvement in maternal sensitive guidance mediated the effects of RET on reduced child maladjustment among maltreated children one year later. By comparison, poor sensitive guidance mediated the effects of maltreatment on higher child maladjustment among families that did not receive the RET intervention. Direct effects of maternal depressive symptoms on child maladjustment were also observed. This suggests RET is effective in facilitating emotional and behavioral adjustment in maltreated children by improving maltreating mothers' emotional socialization behaviors., (© 2021. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC part of Springer Nature.)