Objective Linguistic Markers Associated with Callous-Unemotional Traits in Early Childhood.

BACKGROUND: Callous-unemotional (CU) traits are associated with interpersonal difficulties and risk for severe conduct problems (CP). The ability to communicate thoughts and feelings is critical to social success, with language a promising treatment target. However, no prior studies have examined objective linguistic correlates of childhood CU traits in early childhood, which could give insight into underlying risk mechanisms and novel target treatments. METHODS: We computed lexical (positive emotion, sad, and anger words) and conversational (interruptions and speech rate) markers produced by 131 children aged 5-6 years (M = 5.98; SD = 0.54, 58.8% female) and their parents while narrating wordless storybooks during two online visits separated by 6-8 weeks (M = 6.56, SD = 1.11; two books, order counterbalanced). Audio recordings were diarized, time-aligned, and orthographically transcribed using WebTrans. Conversational markers were calculated using R and word frequencies were calculated using Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC) software. We examined links between child CU traits and linguistic markers, and explored whether relationships were moderated by child sex. RESULTS: Higher CU traits were associated with fewer positive emotion words produced by parents and children. Higher CU traits were also associated with greater concordance in the degree of interruptions and expression of anger emotion words by parents and children. CONCLUSIONS: Results suggest that objective linguistic correlates of CU traits are detectable during early childhood, which could inform adjunctive treatment modules that improve outcomes by precisely tracking and targeting subtle communication patterns.

Dimensions of Parenting and Children's Conduct Problems: The Importance of Considering Children's Callous-Unemotional Traits.

Research has clearly indicated that the development of serious behavioral problems in children and adolescents is influenced by parenting. However, recent research has refined the role of parenting by showing the importance of distinguishing between different types of parenting and in considering the role of callous-unemotional traits (CU traits) and conduct problems (CP) of the children. In the current study, we advance this research by distinguishing between emotional (e.g., parental warmth; parental hostility) and behavioral (e.g., use of positive reinforcement; inconsistent discipline/harsh discipline) aspects of parenting and by considering the way parents respond to children's emotions (i.e., coaching and dismissing). The sample consisted of 136 mothers (M = 38.09 years, SD = 4.51 years, 45.41% high school degree) with a child (age range 3-5 years) enrolled in kindergarten in central Italy. Multiple regression analyses indicated that, after controlling for level of CP, use of positive reinforcement (ß = -0.31, p < 0.001) and warm feelings (ß = -0.22, p < 0.05), remained associated with CU traits and punitive parenting was no longer significant. Consistent with predictions, use of positive reinforcement was no longer associated with conduct problems when controlling for CU traits and the positive associations with punitive parenting (ß = 0.24, p < 0.05) and negativity (ß = 0.36, p < 0.001) remained significant. These findings support the need for continued research that considers both the emotional and behavioral aspects of parenting and disentangles their associations with conduct problems and CU traits. Such research could not only advance causal theories for children with conduct problems but also help to guide more effective treatments, especially for those with elevated CU traits who often leave treatment with significant conduct problems remaining.

Involving Parents in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Children and Adolescents with Conduct Problems: Goals, Outcome Expectations, and Normative Beliefs About Aggression are Targeted in Sessions with Parents and Their Child.

Children and adolescents with conduct problems participate in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), either in individual or group format, in view of learning social problem-solving skills that enable them to behave in more independent and situation-appropriate ways. Parents must support their child's learning processes in everyday life and therefore these processes need attention in CBT sessions in which parents and their child participate. The social problem-solving model of CBT previously described (Matthys & Schutter, Clin Child Fam Psychol Rev 25:552-572, 2022; Matthys & Schutter, Clin Child Fam Psychol Rev 26:401-415, 2023) consists of nine psychological skills. In this narrative review we propose that instead of addressing each skill separately in sessions with both parents and their child, therapists work on three schemas (latent mental structures): (1) goals, (2) outcome expectations, and (3) normative beliefs about aggression. Based on social-cognitive and cognitive neuroscience studies we argue that these three schemas affect five core social problem-solving skills: (1) interpretation, (2) clarification of goals, (3) generations of solutions, (4) evaluation of solutions, and (5) decision-making. In view of tailoring CBT to the individual child's characteristic schemas and associated social problem-solving skills, we suggest that children and adolescents participate in individual sessions with their parents. The therapist uses Socratic questioning in order to find out characteristic schemas of the child, encourage reflection on these schemas, and explore alternative schemas that had previously been outside the child's attention. The therapist functions as a model for parents to ask their child questions about the relevant schemas with a view of achieving changes in the schemas.

Sexting and Mental Health in Adolescence: A Longitudinal Study.

PURPOSE: Research has shown that sexting-the practice of sending, receiving, and forwarding sexual messages on digital media services-is associated with poor mental health. However, few studies have moved beyond cross-sectional designs, demonstrating that individuals who engage in sexting differ in mental health from those who do not. The purpose of our study was to investigate whether sexting was associated with increases in depression symptoms and conduct problems over time. METHODS: We analyzed data from three rounds of the longitudinal MyLife study among Norwegian adolescents (n = 3,000). The participants completed e-questionnaires containing instruments on sexting and mental health at three annual assessments. Random intercept cross-lagged panel models were estimated to examine the effect of sexting on within-person changes in mental health, measured one year later. We also examined the potential reverse order of the effects. RESULTS: In accordance with findings from cross-sectional research, the analyses showed that boys who frequently engaged in sexting also reported more depression symptoms and conduct problems. For girls, we found only a significant between-person association for sexting and depression symptoms. However, sexting was not predictive of changes in depression symptoms or conduct problems over time. On the contrary, conduct problems predicted increased sexting scores but only for girls. DISCUSSION: Our results suggest that efforts to reduce sexting may not prevent mental health problems among young people. Intervention efforts should thus redirect attention from sexting as a driver of individual mental health problems to educating adolescents on how to perform safe and responsible sexting.

Callous-unemotional behaviors and conduct problems in Chinese preschoolers: the moderating roles of surgency and gender.

Introduction: Conduct problems in children are related to callous-unemotional (CU) behaviors. However, results of the relationships between CU behaviors and conduct problems among preschoolers mainly focused on Western countries, no studies have examined whether CU behaviors predict conduct problem in Chinese preschoolers. The primary objective of the current study therefore was to examine the associations between CU behaviors and conduct problems as well as the moderating effects of surgency and child gender in Chinese preschool children. Methods: The present study randomly selected 2,154 children (1,043 boys, Mage = 56 months, SD = 10.47) from six kindergartens in Shanghai, People's Republic of China. Mothers rated children's surgency and teachers reported children's CU behaviors and conduct problems. Results: Results demonstrated that CU behaviors were positively associated with conduct problems. Surgency and child gender significantly moderated these associations. Specifically, CU behaviors were positively associated with conduct problems, with a stronger effect found for high levels of surgency. CU behaviors had a positive association with conduct problems, with a stronger effect found for boys. Discussion: This study indicate that temperament and gender characteristics influence conduct problems in preschoolers who exhibit high levels of CU behaviors. As well, the findings emphasize the significance of considering the meaning and implication of CU behaviors in Chinese culture.

Fearlessness as an Underlying Mechanism Leading to Conduct Problems: Testing the INTERFEAR Model in a Community Sample in Spain.

Conduct problems (CP) in childhood and adolescence have a significant impact on the individual, family, and community. To improve treatment for CP, there is a need to improve the understanding of the developmental pathways leading to CP in boys and girls. Prior research has linked the child's fearlessness and callous-unemotional (CU) traits, as well as experiences of parental warmth and punitive parenting, to CP. However, few studies have tested the interplay of these factors in contributing to future CP development. The present study aimed to test the InterFear model, which suggests that fearlessness in early childhood leads to CP through an indirect pathway involving low positive parenting, high negative/punitive parenting, and callous-unemotional (CU) traits. The sample included 2467 Spanish children (48.1% girls; Mage = 4.25; SD = 0.91), followed up across a five-year period. Besides a direct association between fearlessness in early childhood and future CP, the results found an indirect pathway whereby fearlessness reduces positive parenting and increases punitive parenting, which contributes to the development of CU traits and sets the stage for CP in later childhood. The specific indirect effect from fearlessness to CP via CU traits accounted for most of the variance, suggesting the existence of a temperamental pathway independent of parental variables. Further, two additional indirect pathways, exclusive of fearlessness, were identified, which started with low parental warmth and positive parenting, leading to CP via CU traits. These findings support the InterFear model, demonstrating multiple pathways to CP with the involvement of fearlessness, parenting practices, and CU traits. This model might play a pivotal role in the development of targeted prevention and intervention strategies for CP.

Early-life family and school impacts on adolescent conduct problems: A path analysis.

Limited research has been conducted to examine the factors during early childhood that may contribute to conduct problems in later stages of life. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between family and school environments during early childhood and conduct problems in adolescence. In Wave 1 (W1), the study recruited 502 participants, aged 5-6 years, from Hong Kong local kindergartens, with 51.4% boys. One of their parents provided information about family socioeconomic status (SES), parent-child recreational activities, and child screen time, whereas the class teacher rated their school readiness using the Chinese version of the Early Development Instrument. Data on the number of special facilities were obtained from the kindergartens. In Wave 2 (W2), the same parents of 395 participants were asked about their involvement in their children's education. Finally, in Wave 3 (W3), the parents of 206 participants completed the Conduct Problem scale of the Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire to evaluate the level of conduct problems in the participants. The results of the path analysis revealed that higher W1 family SES was associated with fewer W3 conduct problems through an increase in W1 and W2 parental involvement in children's learning and play activities. Findings have implications for understanding the impact of early-life family and school environments on adolescent conduct problems. Early childhood interventions that promote family resources and positive parent-child interactions have the potential to reduce adolescent conduct problems.

Conduct problems, hyperactivity, and screen time among community youth: can mindfulness help? an exploratory study.

Background: The influence of mindfulness-based intervention (MBI) programs on behavioural problems among community youth is largely understudied. While technology continues to evolve and the prevalence of screen-based activities is rising, limited studies have accounted for screen time when examining the efficacy of an MBI. Accordingly, this study investigated the impact of MBI on conduct problems and hyperactivity among community youth, accounting for sociodemographic characteristics and four types of screen time. Method: Linear regression models were used to investigate 1) the association between four types of screen time and behavioural problems (i.e., conduct problems and hyperactivity) and 2) the efficacy of online mindfulness programs in reducing behavioural problems among community youth. The data were collected at baseline, intervention completion and 1-month follow-up (Spring 2021 to Spring 2022) in Ontario, Canada (n=117, mean age=16.82, male=22%, non-White=21%). Results: The average score for conduct problems was within the normal range, while the average score for hyperactivity was considered borderline at baseline. Accounting for other types of screen time, time spent playing video games was significantly associated with increased conduct problems (ß= 1.75, p=.03), albeit rendering non-significant after correcting for multiple comparisons. The online mindfulness program was significantly associated with reduced hyperactivity, controlling for baseline mental health, age, sex and screen time. Conclusion: The current findings suggest a 12-week online mindfulness program may play a positive role in reducing hyperactivity even when accounting for screen time. Our findings advocate the evidence base on the efficacy of MBI in managing hyperactivity.

Callous-Unemotional Traits and Emotion Perception Accuracy and Bias in Youths.

This study investigated the associations among conduct problems, callous-unemotional (CU) traits, and indices of emotion recognition accuracy and emotion recognition bias obtained from human faces. Impairments in emotion recognition were considered within broader, impaired emotional and social functioning. The sample consisted of 293 middle-school students (51.19% girls; M age = 12.97 years, SD = 0.88 years). In general, CU traits were associated with less accuracy in recognizing emotions, especially fearful and angry faces, and such deficits in emotional recognition were not associated with conduct problems independent of CU traits. These results support the importance of studying potential deficits in the recognition of emotions other than fear. Furthermore, our results support the importance of considering the role of CU traits when studying emotional correlates of conduct problems. For children scoring high on CU traits, the emotion recognition accuracy of anger was low irrespective of the level of conduct problems, whereas in children scoring low on CU traits, less accuracy in recognizing emotions was related to increases in conduct problems. Finally, our results support the need for research to not only focus on accuracy of emotional recognition but also test whether there are specific biases leading to these inaccuracies. Specifically, CU traits were associated not only with lower accuracy in recognizing fearful faces but also with a tendency to interpret fearful faces as angry. This suggests that the emotional deficit associated with CU traits is not just a deficit in empathic concern toward others distress but also includes a tendency to overinterpret emotions as potential threats to oneself.

Why Should I? Examining How Childhood Callous-Unemotional Traits Relate to Prosocial and Affiliative Behaviors and Motivations.

Childhood callous-unemotional (CU) traits are characterized by low empathy, limited prosocial behavior, and restricted social affiliation. However, few studies have investigated whether CU traits are associated with different subtypes of prosocial and affiliative behavior or the specific motivational difficulties underlying these behaviors. We addressed these questions using data from 135 young children (M = 5.48 years old; 58% female) who viewed depictions of adults or children in instrumental need, emotional need, or neutral situations. We assessed recognition, suggested initiation of, and motivation for prosocial or affiliative behavior in response to each depiction. We distinguished between subtypes of prosocial (instrumental and emotional) and affiliative (parallel, cooperative, associative) behavior, as well as self- versus other-orientated motivations. Parents reported on child CU traits and conduct problems. Overall, children accurately recognized prosocial and neutral situations, offered help, and expressed other-orientated motivations for prosocial behavior and social motivations for affiliative behavior. Higher CU traits were related to lower overall recognition accuracy, which was more pronounced for emotional need. Higher CU traits were also related to fewer offers of help and more denial of prosocial behavior, particularly for instrumental need. Finally, CU traits were related to lower probability of initiating affiliative behavior. CU traits were not differentially related to self- versus other-orientated motivations for prosocial or affiliative behavior. Findings demonstrate difficulties of children with CU traits in recognizing need and offering help. Interventions for CU traits could include modules that explicitly scaffold and shape prosociality and social affiliation.

Developmental trajectories of conduct problems and time-varying peer problems: the Bergen child study.

BACKGROUND: While it is increasingly acknowledged that conduct problems and peer problems often co-occur in development, less is known about the ways in which peer problems may alter the developmental course of conduct problems for distinct subgroups. METHODS: Using data from a large population-based study in Norway (the Bergen Child Study/youth@hordaland; 47.4% males), we estimated group-based trajectories of conduct problems and the presence of time-varying peer problems on the developmental progression of conduct problems between seven and 19 years of age. Risk factors for group membership were also examined. RESULTS: A 3-group model of conduct problems best fit the data (non-engagers, low-engagers, moderate-stable). The presence of peer problems increased the estimated level of conduct problems for both the low-engagers and moderate-stable groups across adolescence. No differences in conduct problems were observed when peer problems were present in childhood or preadolescence for these two groups, nor for the non-engagers group at any point. Being male, having lower perceived economic wellbeing, and lower levels of parental education predicted group membership for the moderate-stable group, whilst lower paternal education predicted membership for the low-engagers group. CONCLUSIONS: Support for developmental 'turning points' was found, suggesting that adolescence is a particularly salient time for those with conduct problems. In particular, the presence of peer problems can increase observed conduct problems at this stage in development.

Evaluating the sensitivity to threat and affiliative reward (STAR) model in relation to the development of conduct problems and callous-unemotional traits across early adolescence.

BACKGROUND: The Sensitivity to Threat and Affiliative Reward (STAR) model proposes low threat sensitivity and low affiliation as risk factors for callous-unemotional (CU) traits. Preliminary evidence for the STAR model comes from work in early childhood. However, studies are needed that explore the STAR dimensions in late childhood and adolescence when severe conduct problems (CP) emerge. Moreover, it is unclear how variability across the full spectrum of threat sensitivity and affiliation gives rise to different forms of psychopathology beyond CU traits. METHODS: The current study addressed these gaps using parent- and child-reported data from three waves and a sub-study of the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study® of 11,878 youth (48% female; ages 9-12). RESULTS: Consistent with the STAR model, low threat sensitivity and low affiliation were independently related to CU traits across informants and time. Moreover, there was significant interaction between the STAR dimensions, such that children with lower sensitivity to threat and lower affiliation had higher parent-reported CU traits. Unlike CU traits, children with higher threat sensitivity had higher parent-reported CP and anxiety. Finally, children with lower affiliation had higher parent-reported CP, anxiety, and depression. Results largely replicated across informants and time, and sensitivity analysis revealed similar findings in children with and without DSM-5 defined CP. CONCLUSIONS: Results support the STAR model hypotheses as they pertain to CU traits and delineate threat sensitivity and affiliation as independent transdiagnostic risk factors for different types of psychopathology. Future research is needed to develop fuller and more reliable and valid measures of affiliation and threat sensitivity across multiple assessment modalities.

Creating A child-friendly social environment for fewer conduct problems and more prosocial behaviors among children: A LASSO regression approach.

BACKGROUND: Creating a child-friendly social environment is an important component of promoting child-friendly city development. This study aims to explore the key indicators of friendly family, school and community social environments from the perspective of children's conduct problems and prosocial behaviors. METHOD: The sample included grade 3-5 students from one public elementary school in the urban areas and another public elementary school in the rural areas of a Chinese city pursuing a child-friendly philosophy. A total of 418 participants were included in this study. Data on conduct problems, prosocial behaviors and the social environment were collected. To effectively select important variables and eliminate estimation bias, this study used LASSO regression to identify key indicators predicting children's conduct problems and prosocial behavior, followed by linear regression coefficient estimation and significance testing. RESULTS: Creating a friendly family environment (ensuring family members' assistance with academic problems) and school environment (reducing cheating, fighting, and unfriendly teacher language) was associated with reduced conduct problems in children. Creating a positive family atmosphere (enhancing children's trust in family members), school environment (increasing parents' awareness of school affairs, reinforcing students' prosocial behavior, increasing extracurricular activity programs, and encouraging student engagement in academics) and community environment (respecting all children in the community) was associated with improving children's prosocial behavior. CONCLUSIONS: This study transforms the multidimensional, complex child-friendly social environment evaluation indicator system into concise and specific measurement indicators, which can provide theoretical and practical implications for government decision-making in child-friendly city development through empirical research.

Deficits in emotion recognition and processing in children with high callous-unemotional traits: the role of the MAOA gene.

Children with high Callous-Unemotional (CU) traits show deficits in recognizing and processing facial expressions. Alterations in emotion recognition have been linked to a higher synaptic concentration of monoaminergic neurotransmitters. The current study investigated the relationship between the MAOA-Low-activity alleles and the ability to recognize and process facial expressions in 97 male children (8-12 years old) diagnosed with disruptive behavior disorder. Participants completed a computerized emotion-recognition task while an eye-tracking system recorded the number (Fixation Count, FC) and length (Fixation Duration, FD) of fixations to the eye region of the emotional stimuli. Children with high CU traits exhibited lower scores in recognition of sadness and anger, and lower FC and FD for sadness and fear than children with low CU traits. Children carrying the MAOA-Low-activity alleles displayed lower FD for sadness, and FD and FC for fear than those carrying the MAOA-High-activity alleles. These genetic effects appeared even stronger in children with CU traits. Moderation analysis revealed that CU traits were associated with lower FC and FD for fear, and lower FD for sadness, probably due to the MAOA-Low-activity alleles. Our findings, although to be replicated, suggest MAOA-Low-activity alleles as potential genetic biomarkers to identify CU children in need of training focused on emotion processing.

The Swedish version of the Alabama parenting questionnaire: Psychometric evaluation and norm data.

The Alabama parenting questionnaire (APQ) is a commonly used instrument for assessing parenting practices and evaluating treatment outcomes of parent-training interventions targeting child conduct problems. In the present study we translated and developed a Swedish version of the APQ parent version and tested it on a community sample of 799 parents of children between 6 and 15 years with diverse socioeconomic backgrounds. Data were collected through an online survey distributed through school newsletters and social media. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) suggested a five-factor model with 23 items. Four of these factors correspond to the subscales suggested in the original version of the APQ: inconsistent discipline, poor monitoring, involvement, and positive parenting. The fifth subscale from the original APQ, corporal punishment, did not show up as a factor in our data sample. Instead, a new factor, which we refer to as contingency management, was revealed. A confirmatory factor analysis further suggested some misalignment between the original APQ subscale structure and our sample, which we interpret as a signal that the instrument may need refinement to better reflect contemporary parenting methods in diverse cultural contexts. Despite this limitation, and with the exclusion of the corporal punishment subscale, which should be employed judiciously, our results suggest that the Swedish version of the APQ can be a useful instrument in measuring parenting practices in Sweden. We present norm data stratified by child age, which practitioners and researchers can use as a reference for assessment of parenting practices in the Swedish population.

Primary and Secondary Variants of Callous-Unemotional Traits in Children with Conduct Problems: A Longitudinal Follow-up During Adolescence.

Recent empirical work has suggested that youths with conduct problems and presenting high levels of callous-unemotional (CU) traits can be divided in two variants (i.e., primary, secondary) presenting specific characteristics and needs, but studies examining outcomes associated longitudinally with variants memberships remain scarce. Building on a previous investigation in which we identified variants of CU traits among children with conduct problems, we examined differences between groups on a wide range of behavioral/psychological, relational/social, and educational outcomes assessed during adolescence (n = 309, mean age = 17.4, SD = 0.96). When compared to those from the primary variant, youths from the secondary variant reported higher levels of conduct, opposition, attention deficit/hyperactivity and anxiety problems, had lower teacher-reported academic performance, experienced more conflictual relationships with their teachers, and were at higher risk of being victimized by their intimate partner. These results shed light on the specific clinical characteristics of children from the secondary variant that are likely to persist until adolescence. Providing these children with intensive preventive interventions targeting these long-term consequences could be particularly beneficial.

Reduced prosocial motivation and effort in adolescents with conduct problems and callous-unemotional traits.

BACKGROUND: Prosocial behaviours - acts that benefit others - are of crucial importance for many species including humans. However, adolescents with conduct problems (CP), unlike their typically developing (TD) peers, demonstrate markedly reduced engagement in prosocial behaviours. This pattern is particularly pronounced in adolescents with CP and high levels of callous-unemotional traits (CP/HCU) who are at increased risk of developing psychopathy in adulthood. While a substantial amount of research has investigated the cognitive-affective mechanisms thought to underlie antisocial behaviour, much less is known about the mechanisms that could explain reduced prosocial behaviours in adolescents with CP. METHODS: Here we examined the willingness to exert effort to benefit oneself (self) and another person (other, prosocial condition) in children with CP/HCU, CP and lower levels of CU traits (CP/LCU) and their TD peers. The task captured both prosocial choices, and actual effort exerted following prosocial choices, in adolescent boys aged 11-16 (27 CP/HCU; 34 CP/LCU; 33 TD). We used computational modelling to reveal the mechanistic processes involved when choosing prosocial acts. RESULTS: We found that both CP/HCU and CP/LCU groups were more averse to initiating effortful prosocial acts than TD adolescents - both at a cognitive and at a behavioural level. Strikingly, even if they chose to initiate a prosocial act, the CP/HCU group exerted less effort following this prosocial choice than other groups. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings indicate that reduced exertion of effort to benefit others may be an important factor that differentiates adolescents with CP/HCU from their peers with CP/LCU. They offer new insights into what might drive low prosocial behaviour in adolescents with CP, including vulnerabilities that may particularly characterise those with high levels of CU traits.

In Search of Conceptual Clarity About the Structure of Psychopathic Traits in Children: A Network-Based Proposal.

Psychopathic traits in childhood have been revealed as potential identifiers of risk, being predictive of later forms of behavioral maladjustment. Yet, it is still under debate how psychopathic traits in children should be best conceptualized and which are the core dimensions for construct definition and prediction. The present study aims to examine the structure of psychopathic traits in childhood, and its predictive value, by using a combination of traditional factor analysis and more recent network-based methods. Data on psychopathic traits, as measured by the Child Problematic Traits Inventory (CPTI), were collected in a large sample of children (n = 2454; 48.2% girls), aged 3 to 6 at the onset of the study (Mage = 4.26; SD = 0.91), who were followed-up one and two years later using parent- and teacher-reports. Results showed that psychopathic traits measured via CPTI are best conceptualized as five latent factors encompassing grandiosity, deceitfulness, callousness, impulsivity and need of stimulation, a result that converged across informants and time. Callousness and grandiosity emerged as central traits using network analysis of parent-reports, while deceitfulness was most central using teacher-reports. Finally, callousness, impulsivity and deceitfulness emerged as the best predictors of concurrent, prospective and stable conduct problems. These results provide a refined structure of psychopathic traits in children that better accounts for the core elements of the construct. Additional theoretical and practical implications will be discussed in terms of assessment, diagnostic classification and tailored prevention/intervention.

Pathways to substance use: Examining conduct problems and parenting behaviors from preschool to adolescence.

While many studies have identified risk and protective factors of substance use (SU), few have assessed the reciprocal associations of child conduct problems (CP) and parenting practices and behaviors in the prediction of SU across development. A greater understanding of how these factors relate over time is needed to improve the timing of targeted prevention efforts. This study examined how child CP, parenting behaviors, and parents' own antisocial behavior relate from preschool to adolescence and eventuate in SU. Participants included 706 youth (70.6% male; 89.7% white) enrolled in the Michigan Longitudinal Study. Data from waves 1 (ages 3-5), 2 (ages 6-8), 3 (ages 9-11), 4 (ages 12-14), and 5 (ages 15-17) were included. A random intercept cross-lagged panel model (RI-CLPM) examined reciprocal associations between parenting practices, parents' antisocial behavior, and child CP over time (waves 1-4) and how these factors contribute to adolescent alcohol, cigarette, and marijuana use (wave 5). At the within-person level, negative parenting and parents' own antisocial behavior had a strong influence in late childhood/early adolescence. Only child CP emerged as a significant predictor of SU. Results highlight the importance of early intervention and the potential influence of parenting and child factors throughout development in the prevention of SU.

The bidirectional relationship between head injuries and conduct problems: longitudinal modelling of a population-based birth cohort study.

Childhood head injuries and conduct problems increase the risk of aggression and criminality and are well-known correlates. However, the direction and timing of their association and the role of their demographic risk factors remain unclear. This study investigates the bidirectional links between both from 3 to 17 years while revealing common and unique demographic risks. A total of 8,603 participants (50.2% female; 83% White ethnicity) from the Millennium Cohort Study were analysed at 6 timepoints from age 3 to 17. Conduct problems were parent-reported for ages 3 to 17 using the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) and head injuries at ages 3 to 14. A cross-lagged path model estimated the longitudinal bidirectional effects between the two whilst salient demographic risks were modelled cumulatively at three ecological levels (child, mother, and household). Conduct problems at age 5 promoted head injuries between 5 and 7 (Z = 0.07; SE = 0.03; 95% CI, 0.02-0.13), and head injuries at ages 7 to 11 promoted conduct problems at age 14 (ß = .0.06; SE = .0.03; 95% CI, 0.01-0.12). Head injuries were associated with direct child-level risk at age 3, whereas conduct problems were associated with direct risks from all ecological levels until 17 years. The findings suggest a sensitive period at 5-11 years for the bidirectional relationship shared between head injuries and conduct problems. They suggest that demographic risks for increased head injuries play an earlier role than they do for conduct problems. Both findings have implications for intervention timing.