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Friendships and peer relationships have an important role in the experience of self-harm ideation and behaviour in young people, yet they typically remain overlooked. This systematic review and narrative synthesis explores the extant literature on this topic to identify important relationships between these constructs. We did a keyword search of peer-reviewed empirical articles relating to friendships and peer relationships and self-harm ideation and behaviour in young people (aged 11-25 years). We identified 90 articles with evidence primarily from adolescents aged 11-18 years, including mixed genders and a majority of White individuals. Findings highlight substantive relationships between the key constructs, showing that: characteristics of friends and peers, including their self-harm ideation and behaviour, relate to and predict ego self-harm ideation and behaviour; friends and peers are important sources of support; and evidence on causal mechanisms is scarce but highlights potential peer selection and influence processes. Studies of the friends and peers of young people with self-harm ideation and behaviour highlight that: friends' attitudes to self-harm and suicide influence their responses to peers with self-harm ideation and behaviour; and friends who are bereaved and friend supporters experience negative outcomes such as symptoms of depression, anxiety, PTSD, and grief, alongside difficult emotions. Despite substantial heterogeneity across samples, study designs, and definition or measurement of the primary constructs, this work presents an initial step in organising a complex literature on a crucially important topic, which can help to inform future research and evidence-based interventions., Competing Interests: Declaration of interests We declare no competing interests., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved, including those for text and data mining, AI training, and similar technologies.)

Introduction: Self-harm amongst young people is becoming increasingly prevalent. Understanding, responding to, and supporting young people who self-harm is vital. Friends are typically the first and sometimes the only source of support sought by adolescents who self-harm. Despite their important role as confidants, friends' perspectives and experiences remain poorly understood., Methods: We conducted retrospective qualitative semi-structured interviews, prompted by an adapted version of the Card Sort Task for Self-Harm (CaTS-FF), about the experiences of nine female young adults (18-20 years old) who supported a friend who self-harmed during adolescence. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis., Results: Four themes were developed: (1) "I did not realize my friend was on the road to self-harm": Friends' reactions to self-harm; (2) "That's what friends do": the role of friends; (3) The impact of supporting a friend who self-harms; and (4) "They were quite formative years": reflecting on growth through the experience., Discussion: The present findings highlight the complex experiences of young people supporting a friend who self-harms. Despite being willing to take on the role of a supporter, participants experienced a range of difficult emotions and consequences. The temporal transition running through the four themes reflects the evolving nature of participants' attitudes, knowledge, and friendships. Overall, results highlight the unmet needs of adolescents supporting young people who self-harm, as well as identifying potential pathways to "support the supporters" toward resilience., 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., (Copyright © 2024 Bilello, Townsend, Broome and Burnett Heyes.)

Background: Very preterm (VP) infants (born 28 to <32 weeks of gestation) are at risk of cognitive delays and lower educational attainments. These risks are linked to anomalies in attention and information processing that emerge in the first years of life. Early interventions targeting attention functioning may equip VP infants with key building blocks for later attainments., Methods: We tested the feasibility of a randomised trial where VP infants took part in a computerised cognitive procedure to train attention control. Ten healthy VP infants aged approximately 12 months (corrected age) and randomly allocated with 1:1 ratio to the training (interactive computerised presentations) or an active control procedure completed the study. Before and after the training programme, participating infants completed a battery of screen-based attention tests, naturalistic attention and communication tasks, and temperament assessments. In a previous study we analysed the data concerning feasibility (e.g. recruitment and retention). In the paper presented here we considered the infants' performance and used Bayesian regression in order to provide credible treatment estimates considering the data collected., Results: Estimates indicate moderate treatment effects in visual memory: compared to controls, trained infants displayed improvements equivalent to 0.59 SD units. Trained infants also improved in their abilities to attend to less salient stimuli presentations by 0.82 SD units, compared to controls. However, results did not indicate relevant gains in attention habituation or disengagement. We also reported moderate improvements in focused attention during naturalistic tasks, and in directing other people's attention to shared objects., Discussion: The results warrant further investigation concerning the effectiveness of training attention control in VP infants, extending this line of research beyond our small and homogeneous sample of healthy VP infants. This study also emphasises the utility of Bayesian approaches in estimating potentially relevant effects in small samples or exploratory studies. The scope for further research on early attention control training is discussed in light of studies indicating VP children's susceptibility to positive environmental inputs., Trial Registration: Registration ID: NCT03896490. Retrospectively registered at Clinical Trials Protocol Registration and Results System (clinicaltrials.gov)., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Background: Very premature birth (gestational age between 28 and 31 + 6 weeks) is associated with increased risk of cognitive delay and attention deficit disorder, which have been linked to anomalies in the development of executive functions (EFs) and their precursors. In particular, very preterm (VP) infants display anomalies in controlling attention and gathering task-relevant information. Early interventions that support attention control may be pivotal in providing a secure base for VP children's later attainments. The Attention Control Training (ACT) is a cognitive training intervention that targets infants' abilities to select visual information according to varying task demands but had not been tested in VP infants. We conducted a feasibility study to test the processes we intend to use in a trial delivering the ACT to VP infants., Methods and Design: We tested recruitment and retention of VP infants and their families in a randomised trial, as well as acceptability and completion of baseline and outcome measures. To evaluate these aims, we used descriptive quantitative statistics and qualitative methods to analyse feedback from infants' caregivers. We also investigated the quality of eye-tracking data collected and indicators of infants' engagement in the training, using descriptive statistics., Results: Twelve VP infants were recruited, and 10 (83%) completed the study. Participants' parents had high education attainment. The rate of completion of baseline and outcome measures was optimal. VP infants demonstrated engagement in the training, completing on average 84 min of training over three visits, and displaying improved performance during this training. Eye-tracking data quality was moderate, but this did not interfere with infants' engagement in the training., Discussion: The results suggest the ACT can be delivered to VP infants. However, challenges remain in recruitment of numerous and diverse samples. We discuss strategies to overcome these challenges informed by results of this study., Trial Registration: Registered Registration ID: NCT03896490 . Retrospectively registered at Clinical Trials Protocol Registration and Results System ( clinicaltrials.gov ).

Background: Children born preterm may display cognitive, learning, and behaviour difficulties as they grow up. In particular, very premature birth (gestation age between 28 and less than 32 weeks) may put infants at increased risk of intellectual deficits and attention deficit disorder. Evidence suggests that the basis of these problems may lie in difficulties in the development of executive functions. One of the earliest executive functions to emerge around 1 year of age is the ability to control attention. An eye-tracking-based cognitive training programme to support this emerging ability, the Attention Control Training (ACT), has been developed and tested with typically developing infants. The aim of this study is to investigate the feasibility of using the ACT with healthy very preterm (VP) infants when they are 12 months of age (corrected age). The ACT has the potential to address the need for supporting emerging cognitive abilities of VP infants with an early intervention, which may capitalise on infants' neural plasticity., Methods/design: The feasibility study is designed to investigate whether it is possible to recruit and retain VP infants and their families in a randomised trial that compares attention and social attention of trained infants against those that are exposed to a control procedure. Feasibility issues include the referral/recruitment pathway, attendance, and engagement with testing and training sessions, completion of tasks, retention in the study, acceptability of outcome measures, quality of data collected (particularly, eye-tracking data). The results of the study will inform the development of a larger randomised trial., Discussion: Several lines of evidence emphasise the need to support emerging cognitive and learning abilities of preterm infants using early interventions. However, early interventions with preterm infants, and particularly very preterm ones, face difficulties in recruiting and retaining participants. These problems are also augmented by the health vulnerability of this population. This feasibility study will provide the basis for informing the implementation of an early cognitive intervention for very preterm infants., Trial Registration: Registered Registration ID: NCT03896490. Retrospectively registered at Clinical Trials Protocol Registration and Results System (clinicaltrials.gov)., Competing Interests: Competing interestsThe authors declare that they have no competing interests., (© The Author(s). 2020.)

Objective: We employed the network methodology to explore the connections between the Dark Triad (DT) traits with Mental Toughness (MT) and the degree to which they account for perceived stress beyond the Big Five (B5)., Method: Network analyses were undertaken to explore connections between the DT, MT, and perceived stress, independently in two samples, and in the combined dataset; and whether B5 factors are responsible for the connections that emerged in the original network., Results: DT and MT traits improved the prediction of perceived stress above the B5. Furthermore, narcissism occupied a strategic position in the network acting as a bridge between prosocial and "dark" sides of personality. The pattern of network connections could not be explained by B5 traits alone., Conclusions: The results suggest that there is more to personality than what can be captured by the B5 and that broadening the domain of personality beyond the B5 can improve the prediction of important outcomes, such as perceived stress. Narcissism is a unique trait and studying its connection with MT may be the key to moving forward from a dichotomous way of perceiving personality traits, as beneficial or malevolent, to focusing on a dynamic continuum of personality., (© 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)

Prior experience influences visual perception. For example, extended viewing of a moving stimulus results in the misperception of a subsequent stimulus's motion direction-the direction after-effect (DAE). There has been an ongoing debate regarding the locus of the neural mechanisms underlying the DAE. We know the mechanisms are cortical, but there is uncertainty about where in the visual cortex they are located-at relatively early local motion processing stages, or at later global motion stages. We used a unikinetic plaid as an adapting stimulus, then measured the DAE experienced with a drifting random dot test stimulus. A unikinetic plaid comprises a static grating superimposed on a drifting grating of a different orientation. Observers cannot see the true motion direction of the moving component; instead they see pattern motion running parallel to the static component. The pattern motion of unikinetic plaids is encoded at the global processing level-specifically, in cortical areas MT and MST-and the local motion component is encoded earlier. We measured the direction after-effect as a function of the plaid's local and pattern motion directions. The DAE was induced by the plaid's pattern motion, but not by its component motion. This points to the neural mechanisms underlying the DAE being located at the global motion processing level, and no earlier than area MT., Competing Interests: We declare we have no competing interests.