Measurement invariance of the Coparenting Relationship Scale (CRS) across 10 countries.

The purpose of this study was to assess the factor structure and the measurement invariance of the Coparenting Relationship Scale (CRS) across 10 countries based on the seven-factor coparenting model (i.e., Coparenting Agreement, Coparenting Closeness, Exposure to Conflict, Coparenting Support, Endorsement of Partner's Parenting; Division of Labor) proposed by Feinberg (2003). The results of research on coparenting from numerous countries have documented its foundational importance for parent mental health, family relationship quality, child development, and psychopathology. Yet, a cross-country perspective is still lacking. Such a perspective can provide insight into which dimensions of coparenting are universally recognized and which are especially prone to variation. A unique multinational data set, comprised of 15 individual studies collected across 10 countries (Belgium, Brazil, China, Israel, Italy, Japan, Portugal, Switzerland, Turkey, USA) in nine languages was established (N = 9,292; 51.1% mothers). Measurement invariance analyses were conducted. A six-factor structure (original seven factors minus Division of Labor) of the measure was consistent across the different contexts and measurement invariance was achieved at the configural level. There was no support for metric or scalar invariance. These findings provide a basis for the CRS to be used across countries and should inspire future quantitative and qualitative research in cross-country coparenting research to understand what aspects are universal and what aspects of coparenting are linked to specific material, relational, or ideational conditions that underlie high-quality coparenting. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

The Effectivity of a School-Based Early Intervention Targeting Psychological Complaints and Non-Suicidal Self-Injury in Adolescents.

Background: Recent research suggests a concerning trend of non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) and suicidal behaviors emerging at younger ages (as early as age 12). Early onset of NSSI is linked to more severe outcomes. While universal school-based prevention programs have shown promise in addressing suicidal behaviors, there is limited research on their effectiveness in preventing NSSI onset among adolescents. This study aims to evaluate the efficacy of a universal prevention program in schools for NSSI and mental complaints while enhancing resilience and mental health in 11-14-year-old adolescents. Methods: In total, 329 Flemish secondary school students (55.6% female), aged 11 to 14 years, participated in a 4 h classroom universal prevention, with a focus on emotion regulation, mental health, and specific strategies to prevent NSSI and reduce stigma. For both the intervention and control group (N = 124), a pre-, post-, and one-month follow-up questionnaire was administered, containing reliable and valid measures for NSSI and suicidality, emotion regulation, help-seeking behaviors, well-being, and psychological distress. Results: The prevention program effectively reduced NSSI and psychological distress, particularly for adolescents with a history of NSSI. Conclusions: These findings support previous research on the effectiveness of school-based programs in reducing mental complaints and suggest promising outcomes for NSSI prevention.

Promoting mental health in esports.

There is growing recognition of the demands and health challenges experienced by esports athletes. The purpose of this perspective paper is to draw specific attention to the mental health of competitive gamers and spur on both future research and applied initiatives focussing on this important but under-addressed topic. We will briefly discuss the prevalence of mental health concerns, domain-specific stressors, and the need for comprehensive mental health support systems tailored to the esports context. It is our hope that, with this perspective paper, we can help set a new research agenda addressing mental health in esports.

A Comparative Analysis of Emotional Regulation and Maladaptive Symptoms in Adolescents: Insights from Iran and Belgium.

(1) Background: Emotional regulation is a critical determinant of adaptive functioning during adolescence, exerting a profound influence on psychological well-being. This study seeks to deepen our understanding of the intricate interplay between emotional regulation and maladaptive psychological symptoms, examining these dynamics through a cross-country comparison. (2) Methods: A total of 224 adolescents, aged 13 to 21 years, from both Iran and Belgium, participated in a cross-sectional comparative study. The study aimed to elucidate the relationship between emotional regulation and mental health functioning, assessing internalizing symptoms, externalizing symptoms, and self-injury. A demographic questionnaire, the Emotion Regulation Inventory, the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire, and the Self-Harm Inventory, were administered. Data analysis incorporated correlation assessments, multivariate analysis of variance, and structured equation modeling. (3) Results: The findings revealed a positive association between emotional dysregulation and psychological symptoms across the entire sample. Conversely, emotional suppression, more prevalent in Iran, showed no significant link with maladaptive symptoms but was associated with self-harm in the Belgian sample. Cultural disparities were evident, with internalizing problems more prevalent in Iran and externalizing issues more common in Belgium. (4) Conclusions: Emotional dysregulation emerged as a common factor compromising mental health. It emphasizes the necessity of considering cultural nuances when developing interventional and preventative programs and calls for further research in this field.

Strengthening Mental Health and Resilience Through Schools: Protocol for a Participatory Design Project.

BACKGROUND: Mental health problems are a main contributor to the global burden of disease in children and young people within urban environments. In response, the potential of both school- and sport-based mental health promotion interventions has been advocated. However, there exists limited insights into how sport-based interventions can be integrated within school environment. Moreover, there is a need to consider children and young people's specific needs, challenges, and motivations when designing novel mental health promotion interventions. OBJECTIVE: The Strengthening Mental Health and Resilience Through Schools (SMARTS) project aims to co-design an evidence-informed school-sport-based mental health promotion program. Specific objectives include (1) co-designing a multicomponent program, integrating sport sessions with class-based sessions, and complementing with educational modules for teachers and parents; (2) exploring how the mental health program can be implemented most effectively within the Brussels school system; and (3) conducting preliminary process and outcome testing of the program. METHODS: A participatory design framework will be adopted to develop the program. This framework involves end users throughout the entire study process, from problem identification to intervention delivery and evaluation, while at the same time ensuring program development remains directly informed by the available scientific evidence. RESULTS: Participant recruitment will commence in September 2023. The full project will be completed by March 2027. CONCLUSIONS: With this intervention, we aim to provide a direct contribution to the promotion of children and young people's mental health within the Brussels school context. At a broader level, conducting and documenting this large participatory design project can, hopefully, inspire other researchers to tailor their mental health programs to specific populations. INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT IDENTIFIER (IRRID): PRR1-10.2196/49670.

Comparing attachment across cultures, child gender, age, and parental gender: Vietnamese versus Belgian adolescents' self-reported attachment anxiety and avoidance.

The short form of the Experiences in Close Relationships Scale-Revised Child version (ECR-RC) is a promising self-report measure of anxious and avoidant attachment in Western adolescents, yet little is known about its psychometric properties across cultures. More importantly, little is known about attachment styles across cultures, child gender, and parental gender. The present study aims to address these limitations by studying the psychometric properties and measurement invariance of the ECR-RC in a sample of 1,232 Belgian and Vietnamese adolescents (45.9% boys, Mage = 12.3, SD = 1.20, range = 9.0-15.0; 61.36% Vietnamese adolescents). Results indicated that the factor structure of the mother-oriented ECR-RC was replicated across a Belgian and a Vietnamese sample and that the scale was invariant across both cultures and across gender and age. Vietnamese adolescents were more avoidantly and anxiously attached to their mothers compared to their Belgian counterparts. Boys were more avoidantly and anxiously attached compared to girls for the total sample. Considering two countries separately, boys were found to be more avoidantly attached, not anxiously attached compared to girls. Furthermore, with increasing age, more anxious and avoidant attachment was reported, except in Belgian adolescents where anxious and avoidant attachment did not differ over age. Focusing solely on the Vietnamese data, results revealed that the ECR-RC is a reliable measure to assess Vietnamese adolescents' anxious and avoidant attachment to both parents. Vietnamese adolescents did not differ in their levels of anxious attachment toward both parents but showed higher avoidant attachment to fathers compared to mothers. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Perspective taking, empathic concern, agreeableness, and parental support: Transactional associations across adolescence.

INTRODUCTION: Empathy consists of a cognitive and an affective component, of which it is thought that there are gender differences. Previous studies also suggest that maternal and paternal support play a more prominent role in the development of an adolescent's affective and cognitive empathy, respectively. Besides the environmental factor, that is parenting, adolescent personality, and more specifically, agreeableness, is closely linked to both empathy and support, but this interplay was not extensively investigated longitudinally. The present study investigated the transactional associations among parental support, adolescent agreeableness, and adolescent empathy. More specifically, we examined (a) whether maternal/paternal support is differentially associated with cognitive/affective empathy, while taking into account adolescent agreeableness and (b) whether adolescent agreeableness still predicts empathy, while taking into account parental support. METHODS: Data from 993 Belgian adolescents (MageT1 = 13.96 years; [12.6-18.4]) and their parents across four time points were used in a random intercept cross-lagged panel model. RESULTS: At the between-person level, maternal support was associated with affective, but not cognitive empathy, whereas agreeableness was associated with maternal and paternal support as well as with both types of empathy. At the within-person level, affective empathy predicted cognitive empathy one wave later. CONCLUSIONS: At a population level, agreeableness and support are both important in adolescent empathy development with limited evidence for the differential roles of mothers and fathers. Within participants, affective empathy, and not parental support or agreeableness, predicted cognitive empathy.

Mentalizing Based on External Features in Borderline Personality Disorder Compared With Healthy Controls: The Role of Attachment Dimensions and Childhood Trauma.

Extant research suggests that borderline personality disorder (BPD) is associated with impairments in mentalizing, that is, comprehending behavior in terms of underlying mental states. However, the precise nature of these impairments remains unclear. The literature is mixed concerning mental-izing based on external features of others, and specifically facial emotion recognition (FER) in BPD patients. This study investigated FER differences in 79 BPD patients and 79 matched healthy controls using the Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test (RMET). The authors also investigated attachment dimensions and childhood trauma in relation to mentalizing based on external features. Results showed that BPD patients performed worse on positive and negative emotions. Furthermore, avoidant attachment was negatively related to FER for neutral emotions, particularly in the control group. Trauma was negatively related to FER at trend level, particularly in BPD patients. The implications for this understanding of mentalizing based on external features in BPD are discussed.

Measuring Parenting Throughout Adolescence: Measurement Invariance Across Informants, Mean Level, and Differential Continuity.

This study examined the structural validity of the parenting concept throughout adolescence. First, we examined whether an established five-dimension parenting model including support, proactive control, punitive control, harsh punitive control, and psychological control, showed longitudinal invariance across time (i.e., early, middle, and late adolescence) and measurement invariance across informants (i.e., mothers, fathers, and adolescents). Second, patterns of continuity and discontinuity in these dimensions were examined from the perspective of the different informants. In a four-wave accelerated longitudinal study with 1,111 adolescents and their parents, a multigroup structural equation modelling showed partial scalar invariance across adolescence and across informants. Subsequent growth modelling indicated that parenting was relatively stable over time and that similar patterns were present for mother, father, and adolescent ratings of parenting. Future research on associations between parenting and adolescent development can build on the findings of this study, given that comparing perspectives on parenting by different informants and over time seems to be valid.

Parenting and externalizing problem behavior in adolescence: Combining the strengths of variable-centered and person-centered approaches.

Previous studies often assumed that parenting practices are similar across families. This assumption is difficult to hold, especially throughout adolescence, a period of major change for both adolescents and their parents. By combining a person-centered and a variable-centered approach, the present study adds to the literature by identifying trajectory classes in parenting behaviors and assessing their associations with externalizing problem behavior. The study aimed (a) to examine the existence of subgroups with different trajectories for five parenting dimensions (i.e., support, proactive control, punitive control, harsh punitive control, psychological control) in mothers and fathers separately, and (b) to assess whether membership of a subgroup is associated with the development of rule-breaking and aggressive behavior, respectively. The current study used four waves of data, with adolescents' age ranging from 12 to 18 years. Mothers (N = 747) and fathers (N = 645) reported on their own parenting behavior, whereas adolescent (N = 1,116) reported on externalizing problem behavior. Latent class growth analyses per parenting dimension showed that trajectory classes could be distinguished for support, proactive, punitive, and psychological control, but not harsh punitive control, and this for both mother and father. Conditional growth models per parenting dimension and per parent did not show different trajectories for aggressive and rule-breaking behavior across adolescence for the distinct parenting trajectories. However, analyses indicated that depending on the parenting trajectory, there was a difference in initial (Age 12) levels of problem behavior. Suggestions for additional research on longitudinal heterogeneity of parenting among mothers and fathers of adolescents are outlined. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Adolescent externalizing behaviour, psychological control, and peer rejection: Transactional links and dopaminergic moderation.

This study investigated (1) reciprocal links among parental psychological control, peer rejection, and adolescent externalizing (aggressive and rule-breaking behaviour), and (2) the moderating effect of an adolescent genetic factor (biologically informed polygenic score for dopamine signalling). Three-year longitudinal data from 1,116 adolescents (51% boys; M age = 13.79) and their parents included psychological measures (adolescent-reported psychological control, peer-reported rejection, and parent-reported aggressive and rule-breaking behaviour). Cross-lagged analyses showed bidirectional effects between psychological control and both aggressive and rule-breaking behaviour and a unidirectional effect of peer rejection on both forms of problem behaviour over time. Multigroup structural equation modelling revealed genetic moderation only for rule-breaking behaviour: for adolescents with intermediate levels of dopamine signalling significant environmental effects were present, whereas adolescent effects of rule-breaking behaviour on psychological control were significant for adolescents with both intermediate and high profiles and effects on peer rejection only for adolescents with high dopamine profiles. Statement of contribution What is already known on this subject? Parental psychological control is related to adolescent externalizing problems. Experiencing peer rejection reinforces aggressive and rule-breaking behaviour. Single-gene studies show that dopaminergic genes influence externalizing problems directly or in interaction with the environment. What does this study add? Parental psychological control and adolescent aggressive and rule-breaking behaviour exacerbate one another longitudinally. Longitudinal associations between peer rejection and both subtypes of externalizing behaviour are unidirectional. With a polygenic approach, dopaminergic moderation is present for rule-breaking behaviour only.

The Importance of Conditioned Stimuli in Cigarette and E-Cigarette Craving Reduction by E-Cigarettes.

This study examined the impact of four variables pertaining to the use of e-cigarettes (e-cigs) on cravings for tobacco cigarettes and for e-cigs after an overnight abstinence period. The four variables were the nicotine level, the sensorimotor component, the visual aspect, and the aroma of the e-cig. In an experimental study, 81 participants without prior vaping experience first got acquainted with using e-cigs in a one-week tryout period, after which they participated in a lab session assessing the effect of five minutes of vaping following an abstinence period of 12 h. A mixed-effects model clearly showed the importance of nicotine in craving reduction. However, also non-nicotine factors, in particular the sensorimotor component, were shown to contribute to craving reduction. Handling cues interacted with the level (presence/absence) of nicotine: it was only when the standard hand-to-mouth action cues were omitted that the craving reducing effects of nicotine were observed. Effects of aroma or visual cues were not observed, or weak and difficult to interpret, respectively.