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Objective: A measure was recently developed which assesses self-efficacy to resist NSSI across differing contexts. The aim of this study was to examine how self-efficacy to resist NSSI across contexts interacts with NSSI-related outcome expectancies when differentiating NSSI history. Participant: 501 Australian college students aged 17-40 years (M = 21.21, SD = 2.36). Method: Participants completed online questionnaires. Results: Self-efficacy to resist NSSI when in contexts considered to be protective or of high risk moderated the relationships between NSSI-related outcome expectancies and recent engagement in NSSI. Participants who expected NSSI to result in communication were more likely to have recently engaged in NSSI if they held weak self-efficacy to resist NSSI in protective contexts. Expecting NSSI to result in diminished self-worth was protective against weak self-efficacy to resist NSSI. Conclusion: Results support the application of Social Cognitive Theory to NSSI and provide future avenues for exploring NSSI-specific cognitions.

Children with dyslexia are at elevated risk of internalizing (emotional) and externalizing (behavioural) problems. Clever Kids is a nine-week socioemotional well-being programme developed specifically for upper primary school children with dyslexia. In a small randomized-controlled trial, we tested the feasibility, efficacy, and acceptability of the Clever Kids programme. 'Forty children (M[subscript age] = 10.45 years, 65% male) with clinically diagnosed dyslexia too part in the study. Children were randomized to either attend Clever Kids (n = 20) or to a wait-list control condition (n = 20). Coping skills, self-esteem, resilience, emotion regulation, and internalizing and externalizing symptoms were measured at pre-programme, post-programme, and at three-month follow-up. Recruitment and retention rates indicate high feasibility for further evaluation of the programme. There was a significant interaction between intervention condition and time for non-productive coping [F(2, 76) = 4.29, p = 0.017, f[superscript 2] = 0.11]. Children who attended Clever Kids significantly reduced their use of non-productive coping strategies, and this was maintained at three-month follow-up assessment. For all other outcomes, the interactions between intervention condition and time were non-significant. The programme appears acceptable to children with dyslexia and their families, but may be improved by further reducing the number of activities involving reading and writing. Clever Kids improved the coping skills of children with dyslexia; however, a larger trial is needed to replicate this finding and investigate whether programme attendance is associated with additional improvements in children's socioemotional well-being.

Objectives: According to Social Cognitive Theory, the anticipated consequences of a behavior (outcome expectancies), coupled with our belief in our ability to successfully perform the behavior (self-efficacy), determine the likelihood of engagement in a behavior. We explored whether the relationship between nonsuicidal self-injury outcome expectancies and self-injury was moderated by self-efficacy to resist nonsuicidal self-injury. Participants: Five hundred and sixteen college students aged 18-26 years (M=20.60, SD=1.86). Methods: Self-report measures were completed online. Results: The relationship between expecting self-injury would result in pain or emotion regulation and engaging in self-injury was moderated by a belief in the ability to resist self-injury. People who had never self-injured were more likely to believe that self-injury would cause physical pain and believe they could resist self-injury. A belief in the ability to resist self-injury countered expectations that self-injury would result in emotion regulation. Conclusion: Results may inform college-based prevention and intervention efforts.

Background: Suicidal behaviors are prevalent among college students; however, students remain reluctant to seek support. We developed a predictive algorithm to identify students at risk of suicidal behavior and used telehealth to reduce subsequent risk. Methods: Data come from s everal waves of a prospective cohort study (2016–2022) of college students (n = 5454). All first-year students were invited to participate as volunteers. (Response rates range: 16.00–19.93%). A stepped-care approach was implemented: (i) all students received a comprehensive list of services; (ii) those reporting past 12-month suicidal ideation were directed to a safety planning application; (iii) those identified as high risk of suicidal behavior by the algorithm or reporting 12-month suicide attempt were contacted via telephone within 24-h of survey completion. Intervention focused on support/safety-planning, and referral to services for this high-risk group. Results: 5454 students ranging in age from 17–36 (s.d. = 5.346) participated; 65% female. The algorithm identified 77% of students reporting subsequent suicidal behavior in the top 15% of predicted probabilities (Sensitivity = 26.26 [95% CI 17.93–36.07]; Specificity = 97.46 [95% CI 96.21–98.38], PPV = 53.06 [95% CI 40.16–65.56]; AUC range: 0.895 [95% CIs 0.872–0.917] to 0.966 [95% CIs 0.939–0.994]). High-risk students in the Intervention Cohort showed a 41.7% reduction in probability of suicidal behavior at 12-month follow-up compared to high-risk students in the Control Cohort. Conclusions: Predictive risk algorithms embedded into universal screening, coupled with telehealth intervention, offer significant potential as a suicide prevention approach for students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: By 2008, 12 million children in sub-Saharan Africa were orphaned by AIDS. Cross-sectional studies show psychological problems for AIDS-orphaned children, but until now no longitudinal study has explored enduring psychological effects of AIDS-orphanhood in the developing world. Methods: A 4-year longitudinal follow-up of AIDS-orphaned children with control groups of other-orphans and non-orphans. 1021 children (M = 13.4 years, 50% female, 98% isiXhosa-speaking) were interviewed in 2005 and followed up in 2009 with 71% retention (49% female, M = 16.9 years), in poor urban South African settlements. Children were interviewed using sociodemographic questionnaires and well-validated standardised scales for assessing depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress. Data were analysed using mixed-design ANOVA and backward-stepping regression. Results: AIDS-orphaned children showed higher depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) scores in both 2005 and 2009 when compared with other-orphans and non-orphans. Backward-stepping regression, controlling for baseline mental health, and sociodemographic cofactors such as age, gender, and type of bereavement, revealed that being AIDS-orphaned in 2005 was associated with depression, anxiety, and PTSD scores in 2009. This was not the case for other-orphaned or non-orphaned children. Age interacted with orphan status, such that there was a steep rise in psychological distress in the AIDS-orphaned group, but no rise with age amongst other-orphans and non-orphans. Conclusions: Negative mental health outcomes amongst AIDS-orphaned children are maintained and worsen over a 4-year period. It is important that psychosocial support programmes are sustained, and focus on youth as well as young children.

Objective: This study examined the overlap between considering oneself to have stopped nonsuicidal self‐injury (NSSI) and the actual cessation of the behavior in terms of days self‐injured in the last month and last year, and how these operationalizations are associated with constructs related to NSSI recovery. Methods: A cross‐sectional survey including measures of coping, emotion dysregulation, psychological distress, general self‐efficacy, and self‐efficacy in resisting NSSI was answered by 144 adults aged 17–81 years (Mage [SD] = 21.43 [7.32]). Results: Having self‐injured for ≥5 days in the last year was overly inclusive of individuals who currently considered themselves as having stopped NSSI (39.02%). Considering oneself to have stopped NSSI was associated with better emotion regulation (Cohen's d = 0.45), and higher general self‐efficacy and higher self‐efficacy to resist NSSI (d = 0.59‒0.64) than behavioral cessation. Not actually engaging in NSSI was only associated with self‐efficacy to resist NSSI in risk contexts, such that fewer days self‐injured in the last year increased confidence (partial η2 = 0.085). Conclusion: Accounting for whether an individual considers themselves as having stopped NSSI or not may complement estimates of behavioral cessation, and strengthen outcomes associated with NSSI recovery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective A measure was recently developed which assesses self-efficacy to resist NSSI across differing contexts. The aim of this study was to examine how self-efficacy to resist NSSI across contexts interacts with NSSI-related outcome expectancies when differentiating NSSI history. Participant: 501 Australian college students aged 17–40 years (M = 21.21, SD = 2.36). Method: Participants completed online questionnaires. Results: Self-efficacy to resist NSSI when in contexts considered to be protective or of high risk moderated the relationships between NSSI-related outcome expectancies and recent engagement in NSSI. Participants who expected NSSI to result in communication were more likely to have recently engaged in NSSI if they held weak self-efficacy to resist NSSI in protective contexts. Expecting NSSI to result in diminished self-worth was protective against weak self-efficacy to resist NSSI. Conclusion: Results support the application of Social Cognitive Theory to NSSI and provide future avenues for exploring NSSI-specific cognitions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]