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The Penn State Worry Questionnaire for Children (PSWQ-C; Chorpita, Tracey, Brown, Collica, & Barlow, 1997) is a 14-item self-report measure of worry in children and adolescents. Although the PSWQ-C has demonstrated favorable psychometric properties in small clinical and large community samples, this study represents the first psychometric evaluation of the PSWQ-C in a large clinical sample (N = 491). Factor analysis indicated a two-factor structure, in contrast to all previously published findings on the measure. The PSWQ-C demonstrated favorable psychometric properties in this sample, including high internal consistency, high convergent validity with related constructs, and acceptable discriminative validity between diagnostic categories. The performance of the 3 reverse-scored items was closely examined, and results indicated retaining all 14 items. (Contains 6 tables.)

This study investigated the influence of age of alcohol initiation on current alcohol use and alcohol-related problems in a diverse college student sample. Participants (N = 214) completed a questionnaire assessing attitudes, beliefs, and behavioral habits regarding alcohol and other drugs. Early alcohol initiation (alcohol use before age 15) was more strongly associated with frequent binge drinking in college and positive alcohol perceptions than later initiation. Early initiators used other drugs at earlier ages and were more likely to have used marijuana in the past month than either middle (ages 15-17) or late (ages 18 or older) initiators. Ethnic differences, but no gender differences, were observed. Implications for prevention, intervention, and education are discussed.

The current study evaluated the effectiveness of a modularized treatment of a specific fear of water for a 14-year-old youth with childhood onset schizophrenia using a multiple-baseline across behaviors design. Treatment included gradual exposure to a hierarchy of feared water-related situations with rewards for successful approximations ranging from looking at water to swimming in a pool. Both parent and youth fear ratings, as well as behavioral observation, were used to monitor treatment progress over the course of 22 weeks. Consistent and repeated exposure successfully reduced fear and avoidance of the swimming pool over time.

This study examined the degree to which a literature review of evidence-based services identified services appropriate for the actual problems of youth involved in intensive public mental health services. The diagnostic profiles and specific intervention targets reported by treatment providers were coded to determine whether a relevant empirically supported treatment was identified in the literature by the Hawaii Evidence-Based Services Committee for each problem. Of the 2,197 youth with diagnostic information available, 721 youth (33%) had a pure diagnosis for which an evidence-based service was identified in the literature, and 1,953 youth (89%) had a primary diagnosis with a relevant evidence-based service. Of the 1,220 youth with treatment target information, 1,094 (90%) had 1 or more problem areas targeted for intervention with an identified evidence-based service; thus, the vast majority of youth receiving intensive public mental services experienced a mental health difficulty for which an evidence-based service was identified through a review of the empirical literature. Nevertheless, many youth had additional problems for which evidence-based services have not yet been identified through research.

Background: Population and service characteristics were compared for youth (age 0-18 years) with and without schizophrenia-spectrum disorders, who received public mental health services in Hawaii's comprehensive system of care between July 1, 2000 and June 30, 2001. Methods: Electronic records of youth with a diagnosis in the schizophrenia-spectrum (n = 71) were compared to all other youth (n = 13,904) who received services with respect to age, gender, ethnicity, comorbidity, type of service, and service cost. Results: The schizophrenia-spectrum group had higher Asian representation, greater comorbidity, and was more likely to receive restrictive services for a higher average annual expense. When restrictive services were provided, they were of similar duration and intensity across groups. Almost all youth received less intensive services, but the schizophrenia-spectrum group received a higher frequency or longer duration of such services. Conclusions: Although youth with schizophrenia-spectrum disorders were uncommon, collectively they represented a distinct population with above average service consumption. Future monitoring of interventions and outcomes may help develop systematic and effective treatment strategies for youth with schizophrenia-spectrum disorders.

Background and Hypotheses Psychosis-risk inventories, like the Structured Interview for Psychosis-Risk Syndromes (SIPS), utilize symptom components and coalesce the information into a single-severity rating. These components include frequency, duration, in-the-moment conviction, retrospective insight, distress, and effect on social/role functioning. While combining components distills a great deal of important information into one practical symptom rating, this approach may mask important details of the greater clinical picture. Study Design Individuals at clinical high risk for psychosis (n = 115) were assessed with the SIPS Score Separable Components (SSSC) scale, created to accompany the SIPS positive items by dividing each item into the 7 components identified above. The latent structure of the SSSC was identified with an exploratory factor analysis (EFA). The factors were followed up with validation analyses including hypothesized cognitive, functioning, and symptom measures. Finally, clinical utility analyses were conducted to understand relationships between psychosis risk and common comorbidities. Study Results EFA revealed that the SSSC had 3 interpretable factors with the appropriate fit (rmsr = 0.018, TLI = 0.921): Conviction (in-the-moment conviction, retrospective insight), Distress-Impairment (distress, social/role functioning), and Frequency/Duration (frequency, duration). Conviction was minimally valid, Distress-Impairment had excellent validity, and Frequency/Duration was not related to any of the candidate validators. Conviction significantly predicted elevated psychosis risk. Distress-Impairment was related to common comorbid symptoms. Notably, the factors associated more strongly with clinical features than the traditional SIPS scores. Conclusions The SSSC offers a supplemental approach to single-severity ratings, providing useful clinical insight, mechanistic understanding, and the potential for better capturing heterogeneity in this population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: The suicide rate among college students is particularly high, with evidence that psychosis‐like experiences (PLEs) put these individuals at greater risk. The current study explored whether there are differential relations between four subtypes of PLEs and three suicide outcomes. Methods: We analysed a large sample of college students from the Fall semester cohort of the 2020 Healthy Minds Study (HMS) (weighted N = 36727). PLEs and suicide outcomes were assessed using binary variables from the World Health Organization Composite International Diagnostic Interview. Results: Findings revealed that reporting any of the subtypes of PLEs was associated with greater odds of suicidal ideation (SI), a suicide plan (SP) and a suicide attempt (SA) (signficant a ORs ranging from 1.30 to 3.30). For college students who endorsed SI or a SP in the past year, experiencing delusional mood (aOR [95% CI] = 1.30 [1.02–1.65]), suspiciousness (aOR [95% CI] = 1.31 [1.00–1.71]) and hallucinatory experiences (aOR [95% CI] = 2.76 [2.05–3.71]) in their lifetime increased their odds of reporting a SA in the past year. There was also evidence of a dose‐dependent relation between the number of PLEs endorsed and all three suicide outcomes. Conclusions: Certain subtypes of PLEs including delusional mood, suspiciousness and hallucinatory experiences may contribute to an elevated risk of suicide outcomes in college students. Moreover, the odds of reporting suicide outcomes were greater for individuals who endorsed a greater number of PLEs. It may be helpful to assess for indicated subtypes when determining suicide risk among college students and to be particularly mindful of those who report three or more PLEs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Hypothesis Children who endorse psychotic-like experiences (PLEs) appear to be at a greater risk for suicidal ideation and behavior (SI/SB) compared to their peers who do not endorse PLEs. Despite evidence of differential relations among subtypes of PLEs and SI/SB, the research on which PLE subtypes produce the strongest associations remains mixed. Further, though there is evidence that general psychological distress may help explain the relation between PLEs and SI/SB, no research has investigated the role of distress specific to PLEs in this association. Study Design The present study sought to assess the associations among individual Prodromal Questionnaire-Brief Child Version (PQ-BC) items and SI/SB, as well as to explore the role of distress associated with PLEs as a mediator and/or moderator in a demographically diverse sample of children across the United States (N = 11 875). Study Results Results revealed that individual items of the PQ-BC may be differentially predictive of lifetime SI (ßs = 0.000–0.098) and SB (ßs=0.002–0.059), even when controlling for sociodemographic variables, internalizing symptoms, and traumatic experiences, with particularly strong associations observed among items indexing thought control, auditory hallucinations, suspiciousness, and nihilistic thinking/dissociative experiences. Item 13, nihilistic thinking/dissociative experiences, displayed the strongest effect sizes. Findings from moderation and mediation models provided evidence consistent with distress as both a partial mediator and moderator of the relation between total PLEs and individual PQ-BC items with SI and SB. Conclusions Distress specific to PLEs may be an important modifiable risk factor to target in suicide assessment, prevention, and intervention efforts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]