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Existing and emerging evidence indicates that perinatal depression is a key contributor to preventable morbidity and mortality during and after childbearing. Despite this, there are few effective options for prevention and treatment that are readily accessible for and appealing to pregnant people. Aspects of routine health care systems contribute to this situation. Furthermore, societal and health care systems factors create additional barriers for people of color, people living in rural regions, and people living in poverty. Our interprofessional team of perinatal care providers, mental health providers, community partners, health services scientists, health equity scientists, and business leaders developed and are piloting a perinatal mental health preventive intervention designed to increase access and appeal of a program incorporating mindfulness cognitive behavioral therapy with proven efficacy in preventing perinatal depression. In this article, we briefly summarize key systems barriers to delivering preventive care for perinatal depression in standard prenatal care clinics. We then describe Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy for Perinatal Depression and outline our adaptation of this intervention, Center M. Finally, we identify next steps, challenges, and opportunities for this recent innovation.

Parents of young children were a subgroup of the population identified early in the pandemic as experiencing significant mental-health symptoms. Using a longitudinal sample of 3,085 parents from across the United States who had a child or children age 0 to 5, in the present study, we identified parental mental-health trajectories from April to November 2020 predicted by pre–COVID-19 cumulative risk and COVID-19-specific risk factors. Both growth-mixture modeling and latent-growth-curve modeling were used to test the relationship between risk factors and parent mental health. Pre–COVID-19 cumulative risk and COVID-19-specific risks of financial strain, decreased employment, and increased family conflict were salient risk factors predicting poor mental-health trajectories across both modeling approaches. These finding have public-health implications because prolonged exposure to mental-health symptoms in parents constitutes a risk factor for child development.

Informed by the National Institute of Mental Health's Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) and developmental psychopathology frameworks, the current study used cortisol area under the curve with respect to ground (AUCg) as an index of differential sensitivity to context, which was expected to predispose young children with elevated vulnerability to adverse caregiving experiences and adaptive sensitivity to intervention effects. Particularly, the study aimed to determine whether improving caregivers’ responsive parenting through the Filming Interactions to Nurture Development (FIND) intervention would buffer children's biologically embedded vulnerability to caregivers’ depressive symptoms. Data were derived from a randomized controlled trial using pretest–posttest design with low-income families of children aged 4 to 36 months (N = 91). Young children's differential sensitivity was measured using cortisol AUCg during a structured stress paradigm. As hypothesized, children whose cortisol AUCg indicated greater sensitivity to social context exhibited more internalizing and externalizing behaviors in relation to caregivers’ elevated depressive symptoms. Critically, the intervention program was effective in attenuating psychopathology symptoms among the more biologically sensitive children. As proven by rigorous statistical tests, the findings of this study partially supported the differential susceptibility hypotheses, indicating both greater vulnerability to adverse conditions and responsiveness to intervention among children with high levels of cortisol AUCg.

In this article, we review the field of early childhood prevention and intervention science, describe noteworthy achievements over the past half-century by researchers in this area, and comment on current issues in need of ongoing attention. Although there have been many successes and noteworthy achievements in the field, in recent decades there has been little progress toward population-level impacts of early intervention. As such, novel empirical methods and revised standards of evidence are needed to complement (rather than replace) existing best practices for the development, implementation, evaluation, and scaling of effective programs.

Although the Children's Behavior Questionnaire (CBQ; Rothbart, Ahadi, Hershey, & Fisher, 2001) is the most popular assessment for childhood temperament, its psychometric qualities have yet to be examined using Item Response Theory (IRT) methods. These methods highlight in detail the specific contributions of individual items for measuring different facets of temperament. Importantly, with 16 scales for tapping distinct aspects of child functioning (195 items total), the CBQ's length can be prohibitive in many contexts. The detailed information about item functioning provided by IRT methods is therefore especially useful. The current study used IRT methods to analyze the CBQ's 16 temperament scales and identify potentially redundant items. An abbreviated "IRT form" was generated based on these results and evaluated across four independent validation samples. The IRT form was compared to the original and short CBQ forms (Putnam & Rothbart, 2006). Results provide fine-grained detail on the CBQ's psychometric functioning and suggest it is possible to remove up to 39% of the original form's items while largely preserving the measurement precision and content coverage of each scale. This study provides considerable psychometric information about the CBQ's items and scales and highlights future avenues for creating even more efficient high-quality temperament assessments. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

This study examined how individual differences in expectations of social consequences relate to individuals’ expected involvement in health-risk behaviors (HRBs). A total of 122 adolescents (aged 11–17) reported their expected involvement in a number of risk behaviors and whether or not they expect to be liked more or less by engaging in the behavior: the expected social benefit. Higher perceived social benefit was associated with higher anticipated involvement in said behavior. This relationship was stronger for adolescents who reported a higher degree of peer victimization, supporting the hypothesis that experiencing victimization increases the social value of peer interactions. Findings suggest that adolescents incorporate expectations of social consequences when making decisions regarding their involvement in HRBs.

A growing number of early childhood (EC) parenting programs target adult executive function (EF) to build responsive parenting behaviors and to promote positive child development. Although measurement of EF is well understood in academic research, little work has examined EF measurement in community settings. The present study examined psychometric properties of the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function-Adult Version among 203 parents whose children were enrolled in EC programs serving under-resourced communities. We calculated Cronbach's α and mean-item correlations to test internal consistency reliability. To test factor structure, we conducted exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analyses. Results suggest adequate internal consistency and that factor structures, beyond the original proposed, are appropriate for our community sample. Together, findings indicate that self-report measures of adult EF may perform differently for families experiencing adversity, raising questions about the acceptability of clinical EF tools in in underserved communities.

Social belonging is an important human drive that influences mood and behavior. Neural responses to social exclusion are well-characterized, but the specificity of these responses to processing rejection-related affective distress is unknown. The present study compares neural responses to exclusion and over-inclusion, a condition that similarly violates fairness expectations but does not involve rejection, with a focus on implications for models of dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) and anterior insula (AI) function. In an fMRI adaptation of the Cyberball paradigm with adolescents 11.1-17.7 years of age (N=69), we employed parametric modulators to examine scaling of neural signal with cumulative exclusion and inclusion events, an approach that overcomes arbitrary definitions of condition onsets/offsets imposed on fluid, continuous gameplay. We identified positive scaling of dACC and posterior insula response with cumulative exclusion events, but these same regions exhibited trending signal decreases with cumulative inclusion events. Furthermore, areas within the dACC and insula also responded to context incongruency (throws to the participant in the exclusion run; throws between computer players in the over-inclusion run). Taken together, these findings caution against interpretations that responses in these regions uniquely reflect aspects of affective distress within social rejection paradigms. We further identified that the left ventrolateral PFC, rostromedial PFC, and left intraparietal sulcus responded similarly to cumulative exclusion and inclusion. These findings shed light on which neural regions exhibit patterns of differential sensitivity to exclusion or over-inclusion, as well as those that are more broadly engaged by both types of social interaction.

Neuroscientific tools and approaches such as neuroimaging, measures of neuroendocrine and psychoneuroimmune activity, and peripheral physiology are increasingly used in clinical science and health psychology research. We define translational neuroscience (TN) as a systematic, theory-driven approach that aims to develop and leverage basic and clinical neuroscientific knowledge to aid the development and optimization of clinical and public health interventions. There is considerable potential across basic and clinical science fields for this approach to provide insights into mental and physical health pathology that had previously been inaccessible. For example, TN might hold the potential to enhance diagnostic specificity, better recognize increased vulnerability in at-risk populations, and augment intervention efficacy. Despite this potential, there has been limited consideration of the advantages and limitations of such an approach. In this article, we articulate extant challenges in defining TN and propose a unifying conceptualization. We illustrate how TN can inform the application of neuroscientific tools to realistically guide clinical research and inform intervention design. We outline specific leverage points of the TN approach and barriers to progress. Ten principles of TN are presented to guide and shape the emerging field. We close by articulating ongoing issues facing TN research. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Adolescents in foster care may exhibit differential patterns of brain functioning that contribute to their pervasive socioemotional challenges. However, there has been limited investigation of implicated neural processes, particularly in the social domain. Thus, the current study investigated neural responses to exclusionary and inclusionary peer interactions in adolescents in foster-care.Participants comprised adolescents aged 11-18 years in foster care (N = 69) and a community sample (N = 69). They completed an fMRI adaptation of Cyberball, a virtual ball-throwing paradigm, that included periods of exclusion and over-inclusion. To investigate neural sensitivity to peer social experiences, we quantified neural responses that scaled with consecutive inclusionary and exclusionary interactions (using parametric modulators).Relative to the community sample, adolescents in foster care exhibited increasing response to consecutive exclusionary events in lateral prefrontal regions and decreasing response to consecutive inclusionary events in the intraparietal sulcus and temporo-occipital cortex. Further, exploratory analyses revealed that dorsolateral prefrontal activation to exclusion was related to externalizing problems, particularly in the foster care sample.Findings highlight greater neural sensitivity to exclusionary, and lesser sensitivity to inclusionary, peer interactions in adolescents in foster care. Engagement of prefrontal clusters may reflect greater salience and emotion regulatory processes during exclusion, while parietal and temporal clusters may reflect reduced attention and behavioural engagement during inclusion. Thus foster care involvement is associated with broad changes in neural responses during peer interactions, and further these potentially relate to externalizing problems that have been identified in this vulnerable population.

The COVID-19 pandemic has been recognized to provide rare insight to advance the scientific understanding of early life adversity, such as material hardship. During the COVID-19 pandemic, material hardship (i.e., difficulty paying for basic needs) in families of young children has had detrimental effects on caregivers' and children's well-being. In addition to the degree of material hardship, the week-to-week and month-to-month unpredictability of hardship status may add to families' stress and worsen well-being. This study examined the magnitude of and mechanisms underlying the effects of material hardship level and unpredictability on the well-being of U.S. households with young children during the pandemic.Data were drawn from the RAPID project, a large ongoing national study that used weekly/biweekly online surveys to investigate the pandemic impact on U.S. households with young children. The current study leveraged data from 4621 families who provided at least three responses between April 2020 and October 2021.Findings indicated that racial/ethnic minorities and lower-income households experienced higher levels of material hardship and unpredictability during the pandemic, compared to their White or higher-income counterparts. Levels of pandemic-related material hardship and hardship unpredictability were both significantly associated with worsened well-being among caregivers and children. Finally, the effects of hardship level and unpredictability on well-being outcomes were partially mediated through disrupted family routines.The findings from this study highlight that ensuring equal and adequate access to financial resources, as well as promoting financial stability for households with young children are both critical for maintaining functional family dynamics and promoting caregivers' and children's optimal well-being.

Objective This study examined how the COVID-19 pandemic differently affected households of children with versus without special healthcare needs. We compared caregivers’ and children’s emotional well-being (Aim 1), the utilization of preventive healthcare services for young children (Aim 2), and the promotive effects of social support on well-being outcomes (Aim 3) during the pandemic between the two groups. Methods Data were drawn from an ongoing, large, longitudinal, and national survey that assessed the pandemic impact on households of young children (0–5). Analyses for Aims 1 and 2 were based on 10,572 households, among which 10.96% had children with special healthcare needs. Analyses for Aim 3 were based on a subsample of 821 families, among which 12.54% had children with special healthcare needs. Results Caregivers of children with special healthcare needs exhibited more emotional distress and reported higher levels of household children’s behavioral problems during the pandemic. The percentages of missed preventive healthcare visits and vaccinations were also higher in families of children with special healthcare needs due to structural barriers. Lastly, emotional social support was indirectly related to children’s decreased behavioral problems through caregivers’ reduced emotional distress, only among households of children without special healthcare needs. In other words, social support alone was not sufficient in promoting caregivers’ and children’s better well-being outcomes among households of children with special healthcare needs. Conclusions The pandemic has caused extensive burdens on families of children with special healthcare needs. Actions from policymakers and early intervention service providers are urgently needed to mitigate these impacts.

This preprint is a 1000-word Viewpoint that explores methodological considerations of the COVID-19 pandemic for immunopsychiatry. It has been accepted for publication in Brain, Behavior, and Immunity for a special issue on Immunopsychiatry and COVID-19. Specifically, we discuss the treatment of COVID-19 as a confounding versus mediating variable in immunopsychiatric research. We leverage simulated data varied in sample and effect size to illustrate key considerations. Further, we highlight the statistical implications of each of these scenarios. Recommendations and key considerations for the field are briefly discussed.

Despite evidence that acute stress impairs attention in adults, there has been minimal research in children. Here, the effects of acute stress on Go/No-go performance were examined in young children (M age = 5.41 years). Given the critical role of the parent-child relationship to children's self-regulatory development, the extent to which parenting stress predicts children's cognitive vulnerability to acute stress and autonomic reactivity was also investigated. A between-groups design (n = 58 stress, n = 26 control) was used with oversampling of the stressor-exposed children to examine individual differences. The Parenting Stress Index and subscales were employed as a measure of parenting stress. Acute stress impaired children's sustained attention, but not inhibitory control. Higher parenting stress was associated with vulnerability to attentional impairment. Parenting distress was also positively associated with sympathetic reactivity to acute stress, but neither sympathetic nor parasympathetic reactivity was associated with attentional impairment. A conceptual model of pathways through which repetitive acute stress may contribute to self-regulatory difficulties is presented, including the potential buffering role of caregivers.

Research on the effects of early life adversity, and in particular on the absence of responsive caregiving, has shown long-term impacts on well-being and development. These investigations have been conducted both in human populations and in animal models. The work has demonstrated that neglect experienced in the early years can affect not only behavior but also neurobiological functioning. In particular, studies of children in the foster care system show convergence with research on children adopted following institutional rearing in terms of dysregulation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, which produces the neuroendocrine hormone cortisol. The characteristic pattern that has been most commonly observed involves diminished diurnal cortisol production, particularly in terms of low levels of cortisol upon awakening. Notably, however, a number of evidence-based interventions for infant, toddler, and preschool-aged foster children have been shown to produce more typical patterns of cortisol production, in combination with improved behavioral, socioemotional, and foster care placement outcomes. In this paper, we review the literature on the effects of early disruptions in care on biobehavioral development, and summarize the results of the interventions for young foster children.

The present study examined the psychometric properties of a brief parent-report daily checklist of toddler behavior (Parent Daily Report—Toddler Version; PDR-T). Data were collected from three groups of 18–36 month-olds who were followed longitudinally for approximately one year: (a) internationally adopted children ( N = 156); (b) children placed in foster care due to child maltreatment ( N = 79); and (c) community comparison children raised by their biological families ( N = 80). An exploratory factor analysis of this measure resulted in three factors, measuring aggressive/noncompliant, positive, and distress behaviors. While there were estimation issues with the positive and distress factors, the aggressive/noncompliant factor exhibited invariance across time and groups, and partial invariance between genders. Significant correlations were observed between this factor and measures of externalizing behavior and inhibitory control ( r = 0.26–0.56), but not shyness, fearfulness, or negative affect. This provides support for both convergent and discriminant validity. Reliability of this factor was adequate to good across time and group. Results provide preliminary support for the utility, reliability, and consistency of one factor of the PDR-T as an easy parent-report tool to assess daily patterns and changes in child aggressive/noncompliant behavior over time.

OBJECTIVE: Children who have experienced maltreatment and subsequent placement in foster care are at increased risk for problem behavior. Increased knowledge of the development of problem behavior in this population, particularly during toddlerhood, can greatly inform preventive intervention efforts. This study examined variability in problem behavior among toddlers entering new foster care placements and identified related child and parenting characteristics. METHOD: Ninety-one toddlers in foster care (M = 2.26 years) and their caregivers completed an initial assessment and were reassessed six months later. Child general cognitive ability was assessed via performance on a standardized developmental measure, and child problem behavior, parenting stress, frequency of family routines, and harsh discipline were assessed via caregiver report. RESULTS: Upon entering a new foster care placement and six months post-placement, respectively, 38% and 25% of the toddlers were within the borderline clinical or clinical range in terms of problem behavior when assessed using the Child Behavior Checklist. There was not a significant difference in problem behavior over this 6-month period, suggesting that problem behavior was quite stable among the toddlers as a group. However, general cognitive ability was a significant predictor of individual differences in change in problem behavior, with toddlers with lower general cognitive ability displaying increased problem behavior over this period. CONCLUSION: An elevated number of toddlers in foster care displayed clinically significant levels of problem behavior, further demonstrating that these children are an extremely high-risk group. The association between general cognitive ability and change in problem behavior highlights the importance of early developmental screenings, which may help to identify the children at greatest risk for problem behavior and most in need of preventive intervention efforts.

• After decades of program implementation and evaluation, the early childhood education (ECE) field needs to move towards more effective and efficient strategies. One tool that has been developed to support this shift is theory of change (TOC). Though TOCs have been widely recognized for their potential utility, the extent to which they have been employed consistently in ECE research is unclear. In this paper, we draw upon a comprehensive, systematically developed archival database of high-quality ECE evaluations (N = 277) conducted over nearly five decades (1960–2007) to explore how the field has historically described and measured TOCs. We find that some components of TOCs have been used widely, and also that evaluators have increasingly measured implementation fidelity and standardization of program strategies over time. However, we additionally find that most ECE research has yet to move beyond the investigation of overall impacts towards more precise explanations of causal pathways. Instead, it remains common to focus on understanding whether a program is “effective” but relatively rare to explore how, why, for whom, and under what conditions an ECE program does or does not work.

This document outlines how the four categories– cost, usability, cultural relevance (CR), and technical merit (TM)— assessment scores were calculated for the IMPACT Measures Tool. In our ongoing refinement of the IMPACT scoring system, we are continuously researching the information provided by measure developers so as to incorporate these details into how a measure is scored by our system.

Many existing preventive intervention programs focus on promoting responsive parenting practices. However, these parenting programs are often long in duration and expensive, and meta-analytic evidence indicates that families facing high levels of adversity typically benefit less. Moreover, due to a lack of specification and evaluation of conceptual models, the mechanisms underlying program-related changes in caregivers and their children often remain unclear. The current study aimed to test the effectiveness of a video feedback parenting intervention program, Filming Interactions to Nurture Development (FIND), in improving caregivers' self-efficacy and reducing children's behavioral problems. Data derived from a randomized controlled trial using pretest-posttest design with low-income families reporting high levels of stress (N = 91, children aged 4 to 36 months old, 41.8% female). Families were randomly assigned to an active control or FIND intervention group. Results indicated that caregivers in the FIND group exhibited significant improvement in self-report sense of parenting competence and self-efficacy in teaching tasks. These program impacts were particularly pronounced among caregivers who experience high levels of childhood adversity. Findings provide preliminary support for the FIND conceptual model. Specifically, caregivers' improved self-efficacy in teaching tasks was linked to children's reduced internalizing and externalizing problems (notably, direct FIND intervention effects on children's behavioral outcomes were not observed). Overall, results support the effectiveness of FIND in enhancing caregivers' sense of parenting competence and potentially promoting optimal child development.

Characterizing typologies of childhood adversity may inform the development of risk profiles and corresponding interventions aimed at mitigating its lifelong consequences. A neurobiological grounding of these typologies requires systematic comparisons of neural structure and function among individuals with different exposure histories. Using seed-to-whole brain analyses, this study examined associations between childhood adversity and amygdala resting-state functional connectivity (rs-fc) in adolescents aged 11–19 years across three independent studies (N = 223; 127 adversity group) in both general and dimensional models of adversity (comparing abuse and neglect). In a general model, adversity was associated with altered amygdala rs-fc with clusters within the left anterior lateral prefrontal cortex. In a dimensional model, abuse was associated with altered amygdala rs-fc within the orbitofrontal cortex, dorsal precuneus, posterior cingulate cortex, and dorsal anterior cingulate cortex/anterior mid-cingulate cortex, as well as within the dorsal attention, visual, and somatomotor networks. Neglect was associated with altered amygdala rs-fc with the hippocampus, supplementary motor cortex, temporoparietal junction, and regions within the dorsal attention network. Both general and dimensional models revealed unique regions, potentially reflecting pathways by which distinct histories of adversity may influence adolescent behavior, cognition, and psychopathology.

The majority of children living in foster care in the United States have a history of maltreatment and/or disrupted caregiving. Maltreatment in early childhood adversely affects development at many levels, including neurobiology and behavior. One neurobiological measure associated with maltreatment is alpha electroencephalogram (EEG) asymmetry. Prior research has found greater right frontal asymmetry among children with a history of maltreatment. However, little research has been extended developmentally downward to examine alpha asymmetry and its behavioral correlates among toddlers in foster care; this was the purpose of the present study. Differences in EEG asymmetry were examined between a sample of foster toddlers (mean age = 3.21 years, n = 38) and a community comparison, low-income sample without a history of foster care (mean age = 3.04 years, n = 16). The toddlers in the foster care group exhibited greater right alpha asymmetry, primarily driven by differences in parietal asymmetry. Neither frontal nor parietal asymmetry were clearly related to internalizing or externalizing behaviors, measured concurrently or at previous time points. These findings reveal differences in alpha EEG asymmetry among toddlers in foster care, and highlight the need to better understand associations between neurobiological and behavioral functioning following early adversity.

This study examined the impact of a school readiness intervention on external response monitoring in children in foster care. Behavioral and event-related potential (ERP) data were collected during a flanker task from children who received the Kids In Transition to School (KITS) Program (n = 26) and children who received services as usual (n = 19) before and after the intervention. While there were no significant group differences on the behavioral data, the ERP data for the two groups of children significantly differed. Specifically, in contrast to the children who received services as usual, the children who received the KITS Program displayed greater amplitude differences between positive and negative performance feedback over time for the N1, which reflects early attention processes, and feedback-related negativity, which reflects evaluation processes. In addition, although the two groups did not differ on amplitude differences between positive and negative performance feedback for these ERP components before the intervention, the children who received the KITS Program displayed greater amplitude differences than the children who received services as usual after the intervention. These results suggest that the KITS Program had an effect on responsivity to external performance feedback, which may be beneficial during the transition into kindergarten.

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: This review examines how research focused on treatment for opioid use in perinatal populations and preventive interventions for postpartum psychopathology have remained separate, despite significant overlap. RECENT FINDINGS: Guidelines for best practice in caring for pregnant women with opioid use disorder suggest the use of medication-assisted treatment with additional comprehensive care, including behavioral and mental health interventions. However, intervention research often mutually excludes these two populations, with studies of behavioral interventions for opioid use excluding women with psychopathology and research on preventive interventions for postpartum psychopathology excluding women who are substance using. SUMMARY: There is a limited evidence-base to inform the selection of appropriate preventive interventions for pregnant women with opioid use disorder that can address opioid use and/or treatment adherence and concurrent mental health risks. We argue it is critical to integrate research on pregnant women who are opioid using and preventive perinatal mental health interventions to catalyze pivotal change in how we address the opioid epidemic within this growing population.

Substance use and addiction are disproportionately experienced by individuals with a history of exposure to early life stress (ELS), such as maltreatment, domestic violence and parent psychopathology. Unfortunately, extant interventions have mixed effectiveness at improving outcome trajectories for ELS-exposed children, who are often underserved by evidenced-based programs. Here, we employ a translational neuroscience framework to delineate how neuroscience can deepen our understanding of ELS-linked alterations in children's function to inform the development of more targeted, effective early intervention and addiction prevention programs. Candidate neural pathways altered by ELS and linked to addiction are described across sensory, affective, motivational, and executive function domains. Next, we provide an example of the application of translational neuroscience principles in a family of early interventions (i.e. Multidimensional Treatment Foster Care – Preschool, Kids in Transition to School) focused on improving self-regulation in ELS-exposed children. Future directions and areas of unmet need in intervention research detail the significant potential of translational neuroscience to advance interventionists' ability to support positive adjustment in ELS-exposed children and prevent harmful addiction outcomes. Keywords: Translational neuroscience, Prevention, Intervention, Adversity, Early life stress, Addiction

One of the most common inflammatory markers examined in depression is C-reactive protein (CRP). However, the magnitude of the association between CRP and depression when controlling for potentially confounding factors such as age, sex, socio-economic status, body mass index, medication and other substance use, and medical illness, is unclear. Inconsistencies in other methodological practices, such as sample collection, assaying, and data cleaning and transformation, may contribute to variations in results. We aggregate studies that examined the association between CRP and depression in two ways. First, a systematic review summarizes how studies of CRP and depression have reported on methodological issues. Second, a tiered meta-analysis aggregates studies that have adhered to various levels of methodological rigor. Findings from the systematic review indicate a lack of protocol detail provided. The effect between depression and CRP was small, but highly significant across all stages of the meta-analysis (p < 0.01). The effect size in the most methodologically rigorous stage of the meta-analysis, which included studies controlling for age, sex, obesity, medical conditions and substance, medication, or psychosocial factors, was small (r = 0.05). There were also only 26 articles in this stage (13% of studies from the systematic review), suggesting that more studies that consistently account for these confounding factors are needed. Additionally, an a priori quality score of methodological rigor was a significant moderator in this stage of the meta-analysis. The effect size was strikingly attenuated (r = 0.005) and non-significant in studies with higher quality scores. We describe a set of recommended guidelines for future research to consider, including sample collection and assaying procedures, data cleaning and statistical methods, and control variables to assess.

Adolescence is a time of heightened neural plasticity. Many brain networks show protracted development through this period, such as those underlying inhibitory control (IC), a neurocognitive skill implicated in risk-taking and therefore relevant to public health. Although IC appears to be trainable in adults and young children, whether and how IC may be malleable during adolescence is not fully understood. In this pilot RCT, we tested the effects of a school-based IC training paradigm (versus active control) on IC performance and neural function in adolescents (N = 19) aged 15 to 17 recruited from a low-income school district. We also examined the extent to which training effects transferred to a non-trained IC task and real-world risk behavior, as well as potential moderation effects by early adversity exposure. Training altered brain function related to attention during IC preparation and implementation, though it did not alter IC performance in the training group compared to the control group. There was limited evidence of training transfer. Results have implications for translational neuroscience research in adolescents.

Although prior research has characterized stress system reactivity (i.e. hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, HPAA; autonomic nervous system, ANS) in children, it has yet to examine the extent to which biological reactivity predicts concurrent goal-directed behavior. Here, we employed a stressor paradigm that allowed concurrent assessment of both stress system reactivity and performance on a speeded-response task to investigate the links between biological reactivity and cognitive function under stress. We further investigated gender as a moderator given previous research suggesting that the ANS may be particularly predictive of behavior in males due to gender differences in socialization. In a sociodemographically diverse sample of young children (N = 58, M age = 5.38 yrs; 44% male), individual differences in sociodemographic covariates (age, household income), HPAA (i.e. cortisol), and ANS (i.e. respiratory sinus arrhythmia, RSA, indexing the parasympathetic branch; pre-ejection period, PEP, indexing the sympathetic branch) function were assessed as predictors of cognitive performance under stress. We hypothesized that higher income, older age, and greater cortisol reactivity would be associated with better performance overall, and flexible ANS responsivity (i.e. RSA withdrawal, PEP shortening) would be predictive of performance for males. Overall, females performed better than males. Two-group SEM analyses suggest that, for males, greater RSA withdrawal to the stressor was associated with better performance, while for females, older age, higher income, and greater cortisol reactivity were associated with better performance. Results highlight the relevance of stress system reactivity to cognitive performance under stress. Future research is needed to further elucidate for whom and in what situations biological reactivity predicts goal-directed behavior.