Effects of mandatory homeschooling during COVID-19 on conflict in romantic couples.

In early 2020, schools across Canada closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, requiring parents to homeschool their children. We examined the association between homeschooling and romantic conflict among couples during the COVID-19 pandemic. Canadian couples (N = 756) completed online measures, including whether they were homeschooling, hours spent homeschooling, and romantic conflict during the month of April 2020. Two hundred ten couples (27.8%) reported that they were homeschooling their children during this period, with 173 (22.9%) couples homeschooling due to the pandemic. Multilevel regressions were used to examine the association between homeschooling status and romantic conflict, and actor-partner interdependence models (APIMs) were used to examine the association between homeschooling hours and romantic conflict among homeschoolers. In our APIM analyses, significant links between hours spent homeschooling and romantic conflict were observed, even when controlling for demographic variables. We found significant actor effects, where an individual's own homeschooling hours were positively related to the conflict they enacted toward their partner, and significant partner effects, where the partner's homeschooling hours were positively related to conflict received by the individual. Among all couples, we found significant positive associations between homeschooling status (i.e., nonhomeschooler or homeschooler) and both types of romantic conflict. However, these associations were nonsignificant when controlling for demographic variables. Our findings suggest the number of hours spent in homeschooling may be an important contributor to romantic conflict between partners during the pandemic. We discuss implications for schools and governments in providing additional support for families homeschooling children during mandated school closures. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Inhibited personality traits, internalizing symptoms, and drinking to cope during the COVID-19 pandemic among emerging adults.

Emerging adults with high levels of inhibited personality traits may be at-risk for drinking to cope during the COVID-19 pandemic. The current research explored mediational pathways between two inhibited personality traits (anxiety sensitivity (AS) and hopelessness (HOP)), internalizing symptoms (anxiety, depression, and COVID-19 distress), and coping drinking motives (drinking to cope with anxiety and drinking to cope with depression) during the pandemic. Cross-sectional data were collected from 879 undergraduate drinkers (79% female, 83% White, 18-25 years old) at five Canadian universities from January-April 2021. Participants self-reported on their personality, anxiety (GAD-7), depressive symptoms (PHQ-9), COVID-19 distress, and coping drinking motives. Mediational path analyses provided evidence of both specific and non-specific pathways between personality and coping motives via internalizing symptoms. Depressive symptoms partially mediated the link between HOP and drinking to cope with depression motives. While anxiety symptoms did not significantly mediate links between AS and coping with anxiety motives in the full model, evidence of mediation was found in a post-hoc sensitivity analysis. COVID-19 distress served as a non-specific mediator. AS and HOP are critical transdiagnostic risk factors that increase vulnerability for internalizing psychopathology and, in turn, risky drinking motives, in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Clinical validation of the parent-report Toronto Obsessive-Compulsive Scale (TOCS): A pediatric open-source rating scale.

Background: There is a need to develop a multipurpose obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) measure that is useful for cross disorder research and as a reliable clinical rating scale. The current study examined the psychometric properties and established clinical cutoffs for the parent-report version of the Toronto Obsessive-Compulsive Scale (TOCS), a 21-item rating scale of obsessive-compulsive traits. Method: Participants ranged in age from 6 to 21 years old and had a primary diagnosis of OCD (n = 350, 50% female), attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) (n = 820, 25% female), autism spectrum disorder (ASD) (n = 794, 22% female), or were typically developing controls (n = 391, 51% female). Confirmatory factor analyses, internal consistency reliability, and convergent and divergent validity of the TOCS were examined in the OCD group. Using various scoring approaches, receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analyses were used to establish a clinical cut-off by splitting the OCD group into a discovery sample (166 OCD cases, 164 controls) and a validation sample (184 OCD cases, 227 controls). Classification accuracy and TOCS scores were compared across OCD, ADHD, and ASD groups. Results: The psychometric properties of the TOCS were confirmed. ROC analyses across TOCS scoring approaches in the discovery sample indicated excellent diagnostic discrimination (AUC ≥0.95, sensitivity 77%-92%, specificity 92%-98%). Established cutoffs, when applied in the independent validation sample of OCD cases and controls, showed an overall classification accuracy of 85%-90%. The TOCS total score and symptom count showed good discrimination of OCD from ADHD (AUC ≥0.86) and ASD (AUC ≥0.81). The OCD group scored significantly higher on all TOCS dimensions (except Hoarding) than the ADHD and ASD groups. Conclusion: The TOCS is a reliable and valid rating scale with strong sensitivity and specificity in discriminating OCD cases from controls, as well as from ASD and ADHD. It is a quantitative OCD measure with important clinical and research applications, with particular relevance for cross disorder phenotyping and population-based studies.

Peer defending as a multidimensional behavior: Development and validation of the Defending Behaviors Scale.

Defending represents any prosocial behavior taken to assist an individual being victimized. Like other forms of prosocial behavior, defending may be best conceptualized as a multidimensional set of behaviors, including both direct and indirect forms of defending. The objective of the current research was to design and validate the Defending Behaviors Scale (DBS), a multidimensional self-report scale of defending behaviors. Data were collected from 572 early adolescents in Grades 6 to 8. Participants completed the DBS as well as established measures of bullying, victimization, empathy, aggression, social self-efficacy, social support, and prosocial behavior. Data were analyzed using an exploratory structural equation modeling framework. A four-factor model provided the best fit to the data. Direct defending included aggressive and solution-focused behaviors, whereas indirect defending included comforting and reporting to authority. Girls were more likely to defend others by offering comfort and reporting to authority, whereas aggressive defending was more common among boys. Each subscale demonstrated good internal consistency (α's 0.80-0.92) and was uniquely associated with empathy, aggression, and other types of prosocial behavior. The DBS is a new, psychometrically-valid measure that will aid in the assessment of heterogenous defending behaviors.

An examination of the moderating effects of neurophysiology on treatment outcomes from cognitive training in schizophrenia-spectrum disorders.

BACKGROUND: Impairments in neurocognition and community functioning are core features of schizophrenia and cognitive training techniques have been developed with the aim of improving these impairments. While cognitive training has produced reliable improvements in neurocognition and functioning, little is known about factors that moderate treatment response. Electroencephalographic (EEG) measures provide a neurophysiological indicator of cognitive functions that may moderate treatment outcomes from cognitive training. METHODS: Data from a clinical trial comparing two cognitive training approaches in schizophrenia-spectrum disorders were utilized in the current report. Cluster analysis was conducted to identify participant clusters based on baseline P300, mismatch negativity (MMN), and theta power during an n-back task, and the EEG measures were also examined as continuous predictors of treatment response. RESULTS: Three clusters were identified based on the baseline EEG variables; however, there were no significant differences in treatment response across the three clusters. Higher P300 amplitude and theta power during the n-back at baseline were significantly associated with greater improvements in a cognitive composite score post-treatment. None of the EEG measures were significantly associated with treatment outcomes in specific cognitive domains or community functioning. Change in EEG measures from baseline to post-treatment was not significantly associated with durability of cognitive or functional change at 12-week follow-up. CONCLUSIONS: Clusters derived from the EEG measures were not significantly associated with either neurocognitive or functional outcomes. P300 and n-back theta power may be associated with learning-related processes, which are important for acquisition and retention of skills during cognitive training programs. Future research should aim to identify at an individual level who is likely to respond to specific forms of cognitive enhancement.

Blunted Physiological Stress Reactivity among Youth with a History of Bullying and Victimization: Links to Depressive Symptoms.

Bullying and peer victimization are stressful experiences for youth, and are associated with increased risk for psychopathology. Physiological differences in the body's stress response system may help us to understand vulnerability for depressive symptoms among youth involved with bullying. The current study examined both sympathetic and parasympathetic activity using skin conductance (SCL) and respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) at a neutral baseline and during Cyberball, a stressful social exclusion paradigm. Participants consisted of 175 youth in grades 6-11 (mean age 13.6 years, 51% girls). Multilevel modeling was used to examine changes in both positive and negative affect, and physiological stress reactivity over time. Logistic regression was used to examine the associations between bullying, victimization, and RSA on depressive symptoms. Peer victimization was negatively associated with resting RSA. Bullying others was negatively associated with SCL during Cyberball. Additionally, RSA reactivity during acute stress moderated the link between victimization and depressive symptoms. Victimization was more strongly associated with depressive symptoms when youth also demonstrated blunted RSA reactivity. These results suggest that both victimized youth and those who bully others have differences in their autonomic responses to acute stress. Individual differences in stress physiology may help us to understand vulnerability and resilience to depressive symptoms in the context of bullying and victimization.

Bullying involvement and adolescent substance use: A multilevel investigation of individual and neighbourhood risk factors.

BACKGROUND: Youth involved with school bullying are vulnerable to many negative outcomes, including substance use. Research has yet to examine how this vulnerability operates in the context of other individual and neighbourhood differences. The current study aimed to fill this gap by using multilevel modeling to investigate both the individual and neighbourhood risk factors associated with frequent drunkenness and frequent cannabis use among adolescents. METHODS: Data from the 2010 Canadian Health Behaviours in School-Aged Children (HBSC) survey were analyzed. Participants consisted of 8971 students from 173 neighbourhoods across Canada. Multilevel modeling was used to examine both individual (age, gender, bullying, victimization, peer deviancy, negative affect) and neighbourhood (socioeconomic status, crime, physical neighbourhood disorder, residential instability) risk factors. We tested whether the links between bullying involvement and frequent substance use were mediated by other risk factors. RESULTS: Both individual and neighbourhood risk factors were associated with an increased likelihood of frequent substance use. Specifically, bullying served as a unique risk factor for frequent substance use over and above more traditional risk factors. A cross-level interaction was observed between residential instability and peer deviancy, such that the link between peer deviancy and frequent drunkenness was stronger in more residentially-unstable neighbourhoods. Peer deviancy partially mediated the link between bullying and both types of frequent substance use, whereas both peer deviancy and negative affect mediated the link between victimization and both types of frequent substance use. CONCLUSIONS: Youth who bully others are vulnerable to frequent substance use across peer and neighbourhood contexts.

Does defending come with a cost? Examining the psychosocial correlates of defending behaviour among bystanders of bullying in a Canadian sample.

Bullying is a form of interpersonal trauma that impacts all parties involved, including the youth who witness the bullying. Some bystanders choose to intervene and defend the child being bullied. Defending may be positively associated with psychosocial difficulties because youth are becoming more involved in a traumatic event, or because youth may be actively coping with the distress elicited from witnessing bullying; however, the link between defending and psychosocial difficulties has not yet been examined. The current study investigated the age-related differences and psychosocial difficulties associated with defending behaviour in school bullying. Data were collected from 5071 Canadian youth from Grades 4-12. Participants completed an online survey at school, which assessed demographic information, recent defending behaviour, location and frequency of witnessing bullying, and psychosocial difficulties (internalizing, anger, psychosomatic, academic, and relationship difficulties). A subsample of 1443 pure bystanders (no current bullying involvement) was used for regression analyses. Defending behaviour was more common among girls and among younger students. For boys, defending behaviour was associated with more psychosocial difficulties compared to boys who only witnessed the bullying. This relationship was less consistent for girls. Defending behaviour was also associated with more psychosocial difficulties at high levels of bullying exposure. These associations suggest that defending may come at a cost for youth, or that youth are defending their peers to cope with negative emotions associated with witnessing interpersonal trauma. More longitudinal research is needed to clarify these associations.