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Few studies have focused on off‐reserve Indigenous children and families. This nationally representative, cross‐sectional study (data collected from 2006 to 2007) examined Indigenous‐ and non‐Indigenous‐specific determinants associated with positive socioemotional and behavioral well‐being among First Nations children living off‐reserve in Canada. The parents or other caregivers of 2990 two‐to‐five‐year‐old children (M = 3.65; 50.6% male) reported on their children's socioemotional and behavioral well‐being and a range of child, parent, and housing characteristics. Being taught an Indigenous culture, greater community cohesion, caregiver nurturance, good parental/other caregiver health, and fewer household members were associated with better socioemotional and behavioral well‐being. These results highlight the importance of leveraging Indigenous‐specific determinants and acknowledging non‐Indigenous‐specific factors, to promote the well‐being of First Nations children living off‐reserve. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Postpartum depression (PPD) affects up to one in five mothers and birthing parents, yet just 10% receive evidence‐based care. This randomized controlled trial aimed to determine if a synchronous online 9‐week group cognitive‐behavioral therapy (CBT) intervention delivered by mothers who have recovered from postpartum depression (i.e., peers) could effectively improve PPD and its comorbidities. Methods: Participants (n = 183) in this study lived in Ontario, Canada, were ≥18 years‐old, had an infant <12 months, were fluent in English, and scored ≥10 on the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS). They were randomized to experimental (received intervention plus treatment as usual (TAU)) or waitlist control (TAU plus the intervention after a 9‐week wait) groups. Depression, anxiety, social support, mother‐infant bonding, and infant temperament were assessed at baseline and 9 weeks later. Outcomes were assessed in the experimental group 3 months post‐intervention to assess stability. Results: Statistically significant reductions were observed in EPDS (B = 5.99; p < 0.001; d = 1.32) and Generalized Anxiety Disorder Questionnaire‐7 scores (B = 5.94; p < 0.001; d = 1.22), improvements that remained stable 3 months post‐intervention in the experimental group. Maternal social support (p = 0.02; d = 0.40), infant‐focused anxiety (p = 0.02; d = 0.54), and infant negative emotionality (p < 0.01; d = 0.23) also improved post‐intervention and remained stable 3 months later. Conclusion: Online peer‐delivered group CBT for PPD can effectively treat PPD and anxiety, and improve social support, infant‐focused anxiety, and negative emotionality in infants. This intervention could provide the means to increase access to treatment for those experiencing PPD and improve outcomes for mothers, birthing parents, and families. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The prospect of surgery is a unique psychologically threatening context for children, often leading to experiences of preoperative anxiety. Recent research suggests that individual differences in children's temperament may influence responses to the surgical setting. In the present study, we examined whether individual differences in shyness were related to differences in frontal electroencephalogram (EEG) delta–beta correlation, a proposed neural correlate of emotion regulation and dysregulation, among children anticipating surgery. Seventy‐one children (36 boys, Mage = 10.3 years, SDage = 1.7 years) undergoing elective surgery self‐reported on their own shyness, and their parents also reported on their child's shyness. Using a mobile, dry sensor EEG headband, frontal EEG measures were collected and self‐ and observer‐reported measures of state anxiety were obtained at the children's preoperative visit (Time 1) and on the day of surgery (Time 2). A latent cluster analysis derived classes of low shy (n = 37) and high shy (n = 34) children using the child‐ and parent‐reported shyness measures. We then compared the two classes on frontal EEG delta–beta correlation using between‐ and within‐subjects analyses. Although children classified as high versus low in shyness had higher self‐ and observer‐reported state anxiety across both time periods, frontal EEG delta–beta correlation increased from T1 to T2 only among low shy children using a between‐subjects delta–beta correlation measure. We discuss the interpretation of a relatively higher delta–beta correlation as a correlate of emotion regulatory versus dysregulatory strategies for some children in a "real‐world," surgical context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The idea that individual differences in resting frontal EEG alpha activity have “traitlike” features that are associated with stress vulnerabilities presumes that these physiological patterns should be stable across time. We know, however, relatively little regarding the very long-term (i.e., ≥10 years) stability of resting frontal EEG alpha power and asymmetry in typically or atypically developing populations. Here, we examined the long-term stability of regional electroencephalogram (EEG) alpha (8–13 Hz) power and asymmetry at rest across a decade in the oldest known prospectively followed cohort of extremely low birth weight (ELBW; <1000 g) adult survivors and normal birth weight (NBW; >2500 g) controls. Regional EEG was collected at rest from the left and right frontal (F3, F4) and parietal (P3, P4) scalp sites using a stretchable cap during baseline eyes-open and eyes-closed conditions in young adulthood (ages 21–25 years) and again in adulthood (ages 30–35 years). We found moderate stability in regional EEG absolute alpha spectral power measures across all scalp sites for each birth weight group between the young adulthood and adulthood assessments. As well, we found the frontal alpha asymmetry measure was stable, albeit weakly, between the two assessment periods only in the NBW group. However, parietal alpha asymmetry was weak-to-moderately stable for each birth weight group across the 10-year period. Findings are discussed in terms of their implications for understanding associations between individual differences in frontal and parietal brain activity at rest and longterm stress vulnerability in typical and atypical development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Long‐term sequelae of extremely low birth weight (ELBW; ≤1000 g) may contribute to accelerated biological aging. This hypothesis was examined by analyzing a range of risk factors with a molecular age marker in adults born at ELBW or normal birth weight (NBW; ≥2500 g). DNAm age—the weighted average of DNA methylation at 353 cytosine–phosphate–guanine (CpG) sites from across the genome—was derived from a sample of 45 ELBW (Mage = 32.35 years) and 47 NBW control (Mage = 32.44 years) adults, using the Illumina 850k BeadChip Array. At two assessments undertaken 9 years apart (at 23 and 32 years), cumulative risks were summed from six domains with potential to affect physiological and psychological health: resting respiratory sinus arrhythmia, blood pressure, basal cortisol, grip strength, body mass index, and self‐esteem. At age 32 years, cumulative risks were differentially associated with epigenetic age in ELBW survivors (interaction, p < 0.01). For each additional risk factor they possessed, ELBW survivors (B = 1.43) were biologically 2.16 years older than NBW adults (B = –0.73), by the fourth decade of life. Developmental change, epigenetic maintenance, and intervention targets are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Exposure to maternal postpartum depression (PPD) increases the risk for emotion regulatory and psychiatric problems in offspring. This study aimed to determine if maternal cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for PPD improves infant emotion regulatory capacity. Methods: Participants were 40 infants of mothers with a primary diagnosis of major depressive disorder matched 1:1-40 healthy control infants of nondepressed mothers on infant age, sex, and socioeconomic status. Mothers with PPD received nine weeks of group CBT. Dyads were tested at two time points. Visit 1 occurred following the first CBT session (baseline visit for control infants). Visit 2 took place after CBT (nine weeks post-baseline for controls). At both visits, infant emotion regulation was assessed using resting-state frontal electroencephalography alpha asymmetry (FAA), heart rate variability (HRV), and maternal and partner ratings of orientation or regulation behaviors (infant behavior questionnaire-revised [short form]). Changes in maternal characteristics (depression, bonding, and emotion regulation) from pretreatment to posttreatment were examined to determine if they explained infant changes. Results: At Visit 1, infants of women with PPD exhibited poorer emotion regulation relative to the healthy control infants. At Visit 2, following maternal PPD treatment, infants exhibited improved emotion regulation (shifted from right to left FAA [p = .01, d = 0.60], increased HRV [p = .003, d = 0.56], mother [p = .015, d = 0.29] and partner [p = .049, d = 0.35] reported orientation or regulation behaviors) such that they no longer differed from the healthy control infants. Changes in maternal characteristics did not appear to account for these changes. Conclusion: Treating PPD may promote adaptive changes in physiological and behavioral systems underlying infant emotion regulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Public Health Nurses (PHNs) often provide support to women with postpartum depression (PPD) in the absence of specialized training. The objective of this study was to explore the experiences of six PHNs who were trained to deliver a group cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) intervention for PPD in the public health setting, and to describe how learning and delivering this intervention affected their professional roles and personal lives. Design: This qualitative study employed a phenomenological approach. Sample: Six PHNs who completed the CBT training program and delivered at least one CBT group in their community. Measurements: Individual in‐depth interviews were conducted and transcribed verbatim. Transcripts were analyzed according to thematic derivation procedures. Results: The themes that emerged from the interviews with the PHNs included: (a) components of the CBT training program that nurses most valued, (b) benefits of training for their professional role as a PHN, (c) implications for practice, and (d) using CBT skills in their personal lives. Conclusions: The provision of CBT training to PHNs may not only positively impact their work with clients with mental illness, but may also have the potential to provide broader clinical and professional benefits for these skilled professionals and their other clients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Being born at extremely low birth weight (ELBW; ≤1,000 g) is associated with enduring visual impairments. We tested for long‐term, higher order visual processing problems in the oldest known prospectively followed cohort of ELBW survivors. Configural processing (spacing among features of an object) was examined in 62 adults born at ELBW (Mage = 31.9 years) and 82 adults born at normal birth weight (NBW; ≥2,500 g: Mage = 32.5 years). Pairs of human faces, monkey faces, or houses were presented in a delayed match‐to‐sample task, where non‐matching stimuli differed only in the spacing of their features. Discrimination accuracy for each stimulus type was compared between birth weight groups, adjusting for neurosensory impairment, visual acuity, binocular fusion ability, IQ, and sex. Both groups were better able to discriminate human faces than monkey faces (p <.001). However, the ELBW group discriminated between human faces (p <.001), between monkey faces (p <.001), and to some degree, between houses (p <.06), more poorly than NBW control participants, suggesting a general deficit in perceptual processing. Human face discrimination was related to performance IQ (PIQ) across groups, but especially among ELBW survivors. Coding (a PIQ subtest) also predicted human face discrimination in ELBW survivors, consistent with previously reported links between visuo‐perceptive difficulties and regional slowing of cortical activity in individuals born preterm. Correlations with Coding suggested ELBW survivors may have used a feature‐matching approach to processing human faces. Future studies could examine brain‐based anatomical and functional evidence for altered face processing, as well as the social and memory consequences of face‐processing deficits in ELBW survivors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Although postpartum depression (PPD) affects 1 in 5 women, just 15% receive treatment. Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) is a first‐line treatment for PPD. The objective of this pilot study was to determine the feasibility and acceptability of public health nurse (PHN)‐delivered group CBT for PPD and to determine preliminary estimates of effect. Design: A pre–posttest design was used. Participants provided data before and after the CBT groups. Sample: Seven women who were over the age of 18 and had given birth in the past year participated. Measurements: Feasibility and acceptability focused on PHN training, recruitment, retention, and adherence to the intervention. Participants provided data on depression, worry, health care utilization and mother‐infant relations. Women and their partners reported on infant temperament. Intervention: Participants attended a 9‐week CBT group delivered by two PHNs. Results: The PHN training, CBT intervention and our study protocol were found to be feasible and acceptable to participants. Reductions were seen in depression and worry. The number of health care visits decreased; mother‐infant relations improved. Conclusions: These findings highlight the feasibility of PHN‐delivered group CBT for PPD and suggest that it could reduce the burden of PPD on women and their children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Maternal biological systems impact infant temperament as early as the prenatal period, though the mechanisms of this association are unknown. Using a prospective, longitudinal design, we found that maternal (N = 89) amplitudes of the late positive potential (LPP) in response to negative stimuli during the second, but not the third, trimester of pregnancy predicted observed and physiological indices of temperamental reactivity in infants at age 4 months. Maternal LPP was positively associated with observed infant fear and negatively associated with frontal EEG asymmetry and cortisol reactivity in infants at age 4 months. Results identify a putative mechanism, early in pregnancy, for the intergenerational transmission of emotional reactivity from mother to infant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: Individuals born at extremely low birthweight (ELBW; <1000 g) are exposed to early adversities that increase the risk of mental health problems in later life. Caring parenting has been shown to offset the negative effects of early adversity in general population samples. However, the long-term impact of caring parenting on the mental health of preterm survivors in adulthood is not known.Methods: Using data from the world's oldest longitudinally followed cohort of ELBW survivors (n = 179) and matched normal birthweight (NBW) control participants (n = 145), we examined if caring parenting moderated the link between preterm birth and mental health at 30-35 years of age. Participants reported on the parenting they received from their mothers using the parental bonding instrument. Self-esteem and internalising problems (i.e. depression, anxiety) were self-reported at 30-35 years of age using the Coopersmith Self-Esteem Inventory and Young Adult Self-Report questionnaire, respectively.Results: A statistically significant interaction was found between birthweight status and caring maternal parenting on self-esteem and internalising psychopathology in adulthood. Stratified analyses demonstrated that caring parenting was associated with better self-esteem (P < 0.001) and lower levels of internalising symptoms (P = 0.001), but in NBW participants only.Conclusions: While the receipt of caring maternal parenting promoted mental health in adults born at NBW, it did not have the same protective effect on ELBW survivors. More research is needed to elucidate the aspects of parenting and the family environment that promote the long-term mental health of preterm survivors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: We examined differences between the oldest known longitudinally followed cohort of extremely low birth weight survivors (ELBW; < 1,000 grams) and normal birth weight (NBW; > 2,500 grams) control participants on shyness and sociability, as well as conflicted shyness in adulthood across nearly a decade from their 20s to 30s.Method: 100 ELBW survivors and 88 NBW control participants self-reported on shyness and sociability using the Cheek and Buss (1981; Cheek, 1983) shyness and sociability scale. Participants also self-reported on their relationship status. A composite measure of conflicted shyness was also computed (i.e., the product of shyness and sociability).Results: We found that, in their 30s, ELBW survivors reported higher shyness, but similar levels of sociability and conflicted shyness compared to controls. However, the ELBW group exhibited a greater decrease in conflicted shyness than NBW controls from their 20s to their 30s. Greater decreases in conflicted shyness in both groups were associated with being male, as well as with changes in relationship status such as finding a partner or getting married.Conclusions: Relatively higher shyness among ELBW survivors in adulthood suggests that stressful pre- and early postnatal environments may have lasting effects on personality development. However, later social influences such as relationship status may attenuate some types of shyness in adulthood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Individuals born extremely preterm are exposed to significant perinatal stresses that are associated with an increased risk of psychopathology. However, a paucity of longitudinal studies has prevented the empirical examination of long‐term, dynamic effects of perinatal adversity on mental health. Here, internalizing and externalizing problems from adolescence through adulthood were compared in individuals born at extremely low birth weight (ELBW; <1,000 g) and normal birth weight (NBW; >2,500 g). Methods: Internalizing and externalizing data were collected over 20 years in three waves, during adolescence, young adulthood, and adulthood. Growth models were used to compare longitudinal trajectories in a geographically based sample of 151 ELBW survivors and 137 NBW control participants born between 1977 and 1982 matched for age, sex, and socioeconomic status at age 8. Results: After adjusting for sex, socioeconomic and immigrant status, and family functioning, ELBW survivors failed to show the normative, age‐related decline in internalizing problems over time relative to their NBW peers (β = .21; p < .01). Both groups exhibited small declines in externalizing problems over the same period. Self‐esteem (but not physical health, IQ, or maternal mood) partially mediated the association between ELBW status and internalizing problems. Conclusions: Extremely low birth weight survivors experienced a blunting of the expected improvement in depression and anxiety from adolescence to adulthood. These findings suggest that altered physiological regulatory systems supporting emotional and cognitive processing may contribute to the maintenance of internalizing problems in this population. Read the full article at doi: 10.1111/jcpp.12971 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although inhibitory control (IC) is associated with children's positive adjustment, we know relatively little about factors underlying its development. We examined whether baseline and on‐task respiratory sinus arrhythmia [(RSA); a physiological measure of self‐regulation] and private speech (a behavioral measure of self‐regulation) interacted to confer differences on directly observed IC in 52 typically developing 4‐year olds. We found that baseline RSA moderated the association between private speech and IC, such that private speech positively predicted IC in children with relatively higher baseline RSA, but was unrelated to IC in children with relatively lower RSA. We also found that children with a concordant physiological‐behavioral pattern (i.e., high RSA and high private speech; low RSA and low private speech) had higher IC, higher effortful control, and lower negative emotionality than those with a discordant physiological‐behavioral pattern (i.e., high RSA and low private speech; low RSA and high private speech). Individual differences in physiological and behavioral self‐regulation indices may represent distinct regulation pathways that interact to confer differences in IC during the preschool years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Preterm birth is associated with an increased risk of depression and anxiety, but it is not known if this is due to greater exposure to risk, or if perinatal adversity amplifies the impact of traditional risk factors. This study sought to determine if exposure to perinatal adversity modifies associations between traditional risk and resilience factors and depression and anxiety in adulthood. Methods: A sample of 142 extremely low‐birth‐weight (ELBW < 1,000 g) survivors and 133 sociodemographically matched normal birth weight (NBW) control participants was followed longitudinally to 22–26 years of age. Separate postnatal risk and resilience scales were created using eight risk and seven resilience factors, respectively. Depression and anxiety were assessed using the internalizing scale of the Young Adult Self‐Report (YASR). This scale was also dichotomized at the 90th percentile to define clinically significant psychopathology. Results: While the average number of risk exposures did not differ between groups, ELBW survivors were more susceptible to risk than NBW control participants. For the ELBW group, each additional risk factor resulted in a 2‐point increase in internalizing scores, and two and a half times the odds of clinically significant internalizing symptoms (OR = 2.47, 95% CI = 1.63, 3.76). The protective effect of resiliency factors was also blunted among ELBW survivors. Conclusions: Extremely low‐birth‐weight survivors may be more sensitive to traditional risk factors for psychopathology and less protected by resiliency factors. Intervention strategies aimed at preventing or reducing exposure to traditional childhood risk factors for psychopathology may reduce the burden of mental illness in adult survivors of prematurity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Child maltreatment is linked to distinct neurophysiological patterns and social-emotional vulnerability. Relations among maltreatment, relative resting frontal alpha asymmetry, shyness, and psychopathology were examined prospectively. Adolescent girls (age 14-16) who experienced child maltreatment (N = 55) were compared to nonmaltreated controls (N = 25), and returned for 6- and 12-month follow-ups. Among participants exhibiting relative right frontal asymmetry, maltreated adolescents reported higher shyness than controls at Time 1. Low-stable and high-stable shyness trajectories were observed for maltreated participants. Compared to low shy, participants in high-shy trajectory reported at Time 3: higher neuroticism and generalized anxiety; and lower extraversion if they also exhibited relative right frontal asymmetry. Thus, right frontal brain activity and shyness are involved in social-emotional vulnerability of adolescents who experienced child maltreatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Asymmetric frontal brain activity is thought to reflect individual differences in approach‐ and avoidance‐oriented motivation and emotional experience. Using a prospective longitudinal design, the authors investigated whether trajectories of frontal electroencephalogram (EEG) asymmetry in children (Mage = 6.39 years at enrollment) predicted subjective, behavioral, and autonomic indices of socioemotional processes. Resting frontal EEG activity was measured across four separate repeated assessments spanning approximately 2 years. Children's EEG asymmetry across assessments was best characterized by two trajectories: a stable right frontal asymmetry class (48.65%), and a stable left frontal asymmetry class (51.35%). At visit 4, children in the stable right frontal asymmetry displayed more avoidance‐related tendencies and children in the stable left frontal asymmetry class exhibited more approach‐related tendencies across social, emotional, and autonomic measures. These findings suggest that developmental patterns of resting frontal brain activity across the early school years may underlie approach‐ and avoidance‐related motivation and predict socio‐emotional processes in some children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Resting frontal electroencephalogram (EEG) alpha asymmetry patterns reflecting different affective and motivational tendencies have been proposed as a putative mechanism underlying resilience among maltreated youth. This 2-year prospective study examined whether developmental stability of resting frontal alpha asymmetry moderated the relation between child maltreatment severity and psychopathology in female adolescents ( n = 43; ages 12-16) recruited from child protection agencies. Results identified two trajectories of resting frontal asymmetry: 60.5% displayed stable right and 39.5% displayed stable left frontal alpha asymmetry. Although individuals with these alpha asymmetry profiles experienced comparable childhood trauma severity, adolescents with stable left alpha asymmetry and lower levels of trauma were less likely to present symptoms or an episode of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression over 2 years than those with stable right alpha asymmetry and lower levels of trauma. These findings suggest that developmental patterns of resting left frontal brain activity may buffer against psychopathology in maltreated female youth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current study investigated the impact of birth weight on the ability to recognize facial expressions in adulthood among the longest known prospectively followed cohort of extremely low birth weight survivors (ELBW; <1,000 g). We measured perceptual threshold to detect subtle facial expressions and confusion among different emotion categories in order to disentangle visual perceptual ability from emotional processing. ELBW adults ( N = 64, Mage = 31.9 years) were more likely than normal birth weight (NBW) controls ( N = 82, Mage = 32.5 years) to see fear in angry faces. This finding was not a result of increased perceptual efficiency in processing fearful expressions in the ELBW adults, since the two groups did not differ on their threshold to detect emotion in low intensity facial expressions. These findings suggest that a processing bias toward fear may reflect long-term developmental effects from being born at ELBW that may portend socioemotional problems that characterize ELBW survivors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the need for research on the psychometric adequacy of self-completed problem checklists to classify child and adolescent psychiatric disorder based on proxy assessments by parents and self-assessments by adolescents. We put forward six theoretical arguments for expecting checklists to achieve comparable levels of reliability and validity with standardized diagnostic interviews for identifying child psychiatric disorder in epidemiological studies and clinical research. Empirically, the modest levels of test-retest reliability exhibited by standardized diagnostic interviews - 0.40 to 0.60 based on kappa - should be achievable by checklists when thresholds or cut-points are applied to scale scores to identify a child with disorder. The few studies to conduct head-to-head comparisons of checklists and interviews in the 1990s concurred that no construct validity differences existed between checklist and interview classifications of disorder, even though the classifications of youth with psychiatric disorder only partially overlapped across instruments. Demonstrating that self-completed problem checklists can classify disorder with similar reliability and validity as standardized diagnostic interviews would provide a simple, brief, flexible way to measuring psychiatric disorder as both a categorical or dimensional phenomenon as well as dramatically lowering the burden and cost of assessments in epidemiological studies and clinical research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Exposure to early adversity is known to have deleterious effects on brain-behaviour relations across the lifespan and across a range of domains. Here, we tested a cumulative risk hypothesis of adult social functioning and health outcomes in the fourth decade of life, using the oldest known longitudinally followed cohort of survivors of extremely low birthweight ( ELBW; <1,000 g). We investigated the additional impact of peer victimization in youth on social outcomes at age 29-36 years in ELBW survivors and matched normal birthweight ( NBW; >2,500 g) participants. In the combined sample, peer victimization was associated with lower likelihood of having children and household income, poorer family functioning and self-esteem, more loneliness and chronic health conditions, less social support, and increased likelihood for contact with police. Moderation analyses indicated that among ELBW survivors, compared to their NBW counterparts, victimization was more strongly associated with being convicted of a crime and with having chronic health conditions. These findings highlight the negative long-term impact of peer victimization on all children and that some outcomes may be differentially affected by prenatal and early post-natal environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction The long allele of the DRD4 gene can confer different behavioral and emotional phenotypes depending upon environmental exposure, although the physiological changes underlying these phenotypes are not fully known. We sought to extend this work by assessing the interaction of the DRD4 gene and exposure to perinatal adversity (indexed by extremely low birth weight [ELBW]) on resting respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA), a neurophysiological measure of emotion regulation, in adulthood. Methods We examined the interaction between the DRD4 gene and perinatal adversity on RSA at age 30-35 in a longitudinal cohort of ELBW survivors ( n = 49) and NBW controls ( n = 63). Buccal DNA samples were genotyped for short and long carriers of the exon III DRD4 VNTR gene. Resting RSA was assessed by electrocardiogram. Results We report an interaction between birth weight status and DRD4 gene ( F = 9.42, p = 0.003) in predicting RSA, such that DRD4 long carriers had the highest and lowest resting RSA depending on whether they were born NBW or ELBW, respectively. DRD4 short carriers were less sensitive to birth weight. Additionally, reduced RSA was correlated with a history of major depressive disorder, suggesting it was a reliable index of emotion dysregulation. Discussion These results suggest that the perinatal environment influences autonomic nervous system functioning in individuals with genotypes that confer additional sensitivity. Whether the long-term autonomic outcomes of this environmental sensitivity are beneficial or detrimental appears to depend on the quality of the early life environment, and may influence the development of emotion regulatory and psychiatric problems in adulthood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Being born at an extremely low birth weight (ELBW; <1,000 grams) is presumed to reflect a suboptimal intrauterine environment and thus presents an opportunity for examining developmental programming hypotheses. Interfacing prenatal programming and differential susceptibility hypotheses, we tested whether individuals with ELBW in different childhood rearing environments showed different attention biases to positive and negative facial emotions in adulthood. Using the oldest known, prospectively followed cohort of ELBW survivors, we found that relative to normal birth weight controls (NBW; >2,500 grams), ELBW survivors displayed the highest and lowest attention bias to happy faces at age 30-35, depending on whether their total family income at age 8 was relatively low (environmental match) or high (environmental mismatch), respectively. This bias to happy faces was associated with a reduced likelihood of emotional problems. Findings suggest that differential susceptibility to positive emotions may be prenatally programmed, with effects lasting into adulthood. We discuss implications for integrating prenatal programming and differential susceptibility hypotheses, and the developmental origins of postnatal plasticity and resilience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The prevalence of suicidal ideation/behavior in 1983 or 1987 and its association with future mental health in 2001 were evaluated in a provincially representative sample of Canadian adolescents ( n = 1,248) aged 12 to 16 years. Approximately 13.3% (95% CI = 11.5-15.3) of adolescents self-reported suicidal ideation/behavior. Adolescent agreement with parent (κ = .07) and teacher (κ = .05) reports at baseline was low because adults identified so few subjects. In adulthood, the associations between adolescent self-reports of suicidal behavior/ideation and major depression and other mental health indicators were explained by respondent sex and adolescent emotional problems reported in 1983/1987. Adolescents with suicidal behavior/ideation often are not recognized by their parents and teachers and may be at risk for persistent psychiatric problems attributable to coexisting mental health problems early-on. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ability to regulate emotion is a crucial process that humans utilize in order to adapt to the demands of environmental constraints. Individuals exposed to early adverse life events such as being born at an extremely low birth weight (ELBW, 501-1000 g) are known to have problems regulating emotion which have been linked to the development of psychopathology in this population. Recent studies have used psychophysiological measures, such as electroencephalogram (EEG) and cardiac vagal tone, to index emotion regulatory processes. The purpose of this paper was three-fold: (1) to investigate the relation between ELBW and emotion regulation issues (pathway 1), (2) to review studies investigating the relation between early emotion regulation and later internalizing problems (pathway 2); and (3) to provide amodel in which two psychophysiological measures (i.e., frontal EEG asymmetry and cardiac vagal tone) are suggested to understand the proposed conceptual pathways in the relation between ELBW and psychopathology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]