[Epidemiological indicators and correlations of adolescent aggression in an urban student population].

Adolescent aggression has received a wide and longtime attention in scientific research, because of the extent of the phenomenon in this age group and of the negative consequences it inflicts on affected adolescents, and their human environments. The aim of this cross-sectional study was to determine the proportion (of high levels) of aggressive behaviors (physical, verbal, and direct aggression, anger, and hostility) in an urban sample of adolescent students, as well as to investigate associations between the occurrence of these behaviors, and adolescents' characteristics and mental health problems. The sample consisted of 2050 students attending the second grade of 49 random selected High Schools and Senior High Schools of the Regional Unit of the Central Sector of Attica and Piraeus. The Buss- Perry Aggression Questionnaire was administered to measure participants' aggression behaviors, while the Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire was also used to estimate their mental health and behavioral difficulties. Information about adolescents' individual, family, and school characteristics, was also collected. Results of the statistical analysis showed that the occurrence rates of high levels of participants' aggressive behaviors ranged between 2.2 (for total aggression) and 10.5% (for anger). Among individual characteristics, gender (with boys predominating in physical and direct aggression and girls in anger), (older) age, and sports activity (to direct aggression) were related to participants' aggressive behaviors. On the other hand, non-intact family structure and household insecurity food intake were positive correlated with specific aggressive behaviors, while pocket money allowance was positive associated with all of them. Concerning participants' mental health and behavioral issues, conduct problems and hyperactivity/ inattention were positive correlated with all investigated aggressive behaviors. In conclusion, the vast majority of the Central Sector of Attica and Piraeus adolescents did not seem to show high levels of aggressive behaviors (except anger). Nevertheless, considering this study outcomes (such as the "aggressive" burden of older adolescents, the role of family structure and pocket money allowance, as well as the co-occurrence with mental and behavioral problems), further longitudinal study is required to better understand the mechanisms that facilitate adolescent aggression.

Diagnoses in the Psychiatric Hospital of Kerkyra (Corfu) (1838-2000).

The Psychiatric Hospital of Corfu was founded in 1838 by the (British) Ionian State and was joined in Greek territory in 1864. It was the unique psychiatric hospital in Greece, until the establishment of Dromokaition Hospital of Athens, in 1887. In its long history many of the patients' admissions had a local character, mainly from Corfu, the Ionian Islands, and later from Western Greece. Until the 1950s, we can follow efforts to improve buildings and patient care, but we note also long hospitalizations of men and women and high death rates. It had been an isolated institution until it joined the National Health System in 1983. It closed its doors in 2006, after a long reform process started in 1986. In its place today there is a network of community psychiatric care and rehabilitation units. Based on the medical and social hospital's books data, this paper focuses on the time of appearance and eventually withdrawal of the main diagnoses. 15844 admissions were recorded from 1838 to 2000. We note the time of first description of a diagnosis in European and Greek literature. In the 19th century, the wide diagnosis of dementia also included cases of chronic schizophrenia of our days. The diagnoses of lipomania (from 1855 to 1888), monomania (from 1845 to 1885), and degeneration insanity (from 1902 to 1952) depended on the scientific audience of these theories. Schizophrenia, as expected, was the leading one diagnosis, from 1915. Dementia praecox (πρωτογόνος άνοια in Greek) and precocious dementia were present from 1862 to 1945. Throughout the history of this institution, a large number of cases of mania and melancholia were also observed. Since 1859, the intermittent or cyclic nature of these two symptoms has been recorded, as well as since 1916, Kraepelin's manic-depressive insanity. From 1950, with the use of antibiotics, general paralysis (syphilis of the CNS) will disappear. The presence of many other diagnoses is discussed. From the end of the 19th century, the concept of widely used psychosis has gradually replaced insanity and phrenitis. From the 1940's, we also observe the use of "syndrome" in order also to describe clinical pictures of psychosis and affective disorders. This use of syndrome is probably related to the will of the medical directors of a freer use of diagnoses, compared to those included in the known nosography criteria. The homogenization of diagnoses in Greece was essentially accomplished by introducing ICD-10 in 1990s.

Psychophysiological responses to sadness in girls and boys with conduct disorder.

Reduced responsiveness to emotions is hypothesized to contribute to the development of conduct disorder (CD) in children and adolescents. Accordingly, blunted psychophysiological responses to emotions have been observed in boys with CD, but this has never been tested in girls. Therefore, this study compared psychophysiological responses to sadness in girls and boys with and without CD, and different clinical phenotypes of CD: with versus without limited prosocial emotions (LPE), and with versus without comorbid internalizing disorders (INT). Nine-hundred and 27 girls (427 CD, 500 controls) and 519 boys (266 CD, 253 controls) aged 9-18 years participated. Psychophysiological responses were measured while participants watched two validated sad film clips, specifically: heart rate (HR), respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA; indexing parasympathetic activity), preejection period (PEP; indexing sympathetic activity). Girls and boys with CD showed larger HR responses to sadness than controls. This effect was rendered nonsignificant, however, after controlling for covariates. We observed aberrant RSA responses to sadness in CD compared with controls. Similarly, we found a significant positive association between RSA responsivity and antisocial behavior when assessed dimensionally. The effects were very small, though. Results were similar for boys and girls. We found no evidence for emotional underresponsiveness in CD in the largest psychophysiological study to date in this field. More research is needed to explore whether this is specific to sadness or generalizes to other emotions. Furthermore, we recommend that studies on emotion processing in CD assess different physiological measures to help disentangle CD-related effects on sympathetic and parasympathetic activity. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Sex differences in psychiatric comorbidity and clinical presentation in youths with conduct disorder.

BACKGROUND: Conduct disorder (CD) rarely occurs alone but is typically accompanied by comorbid psychiatric disorders, which complicates the clinical presentation and treatment of affected youths. The aim of this study was to investigate sex differences in comorbidity pattern in CD and to systematically explore the 'gender paradox' and 'delayed-onset pathway' hypotheses of female CD. METHODS: As part of the FemNAT-CD multisite study, semistructured clinical interviews and rating scales were used to perform a comprehensive phenotypic characterization of 454 girls and 295 boys with CD (9-18 years), compared to 864 sex- and age-matched typically developing controls. RESULTS: Girls with CD exhibited higher rates of current major depression, anxiety disorders, post-traumatic stress disorder and borderline personality disorder, whereas boys with CD had higher rates of current attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. In line with the 'gender paradox' hypothesis, relative to boys, girls with CD showed significantly more lifetime psychiatric comorbidities (incl. Alcohol Use Disorder), which were accompanied by more severe CD symptoms. Female and male youths with CD also differed significantly in their CD symptom profiles and distribution of age-of-onset subtypes of CD (i.e. fewer girls with childhood-onset CD). In line with the 'delayed-onset pathway' hypothesis, girls with adolescent-onset CD showed similar levels of dimensional psychopathology like boys with childhood-onset CD, while boys with adolescent-onset CD had the lowest levels of internalizing psychopathology. CONCLUSIONS: Within the largest study of CD in girls performed to date, we found compelling evidence for sex differences in comorbidity patterns and clinical presentation of CD. Our findings further support aspects of the 'gender paradox' and 'delayed-onset pathway' hypotheses by showing that girls with CD had higher rates of comorbid lifetime mental disorders and functional impairments, and they usually developed CD during adolescence. These novel data on sex-specific clinical profiles of CD will be critical in informing intervention and prevention programmes.

Prevalence of Bullying and its Co-occurrence with Aggression and Mental Health Problems among Greek Adolescents Attending Urban Schools.

BACKGROUND: Bullying is one widespread violence type that threatens adolescent's well-being in family, school, and neighborhood. This study aimed to estimate the percentages of the last 12 months bullying behaviors- types among Greek adolescents, and to identify the associations between these behaviors and adolescents' aggression and mental health- behavioral problems. STUDY DESIGN: A cross-sectional study. METHODS: The sample consisted of 1934 adolescents, attending the second grade of 45 randomly selected public and private high schools and senior high schools, of the Greater Athens Metropolitan Area. Bullying involvement was examined by four questions, evaluating the occurrence and type of bullying. The Buss and Perry Questionnaire and Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire were administrated in order to estimate adolescents' aggression and mental health-behavioral problems, respectively. Information about adolescents' individual and family characteristics was also collected. RESULTS: Overall, 18.4% of participants reported bullying involvement at school, as a victim (11.0%), a bully (5.0%), or both (2.4%), while verbal bullying was the most common type. Compared to uninvolved participants, victims were significantly more likely to report emotional symptoms and peer problems, bullies were more likely to report physical aggression, and bully-victims physical aggression, hostility, and lower prosocial behavior. CONCLUSIONS: Approximately one out of five adolescents were involved in bullying in the past year at school, reporting aggressive behaviors, emotional problems, and/or social difficulties. Further longitudinal research would increase understanding of the mechanisms of bullying involvement and may lead to preventative interventions promoting positive peer interactions in schools.

Investigating Sex Differences in Emotion Recognition, Learning, and Regulation Among Youths With Conduct Disorder.

OBJECTIVE: Conduct disorder (CD) is a serious neurodevelopmental disorder marked by notably higher prevalence rates for boys than girls. Converging evidence suggests that CD is associated with impairments in emotion recognition, learning, and regulation. However, it is not known whether there are sex differences in the relationship between CD and emotion dysfunction. Prior studies on emotion functioning in CD have so far been underpowered for investigating sex differences. Therefore, our primary aim was to characterize emotion processing skills in a large sample of girls and boys with CD compared to typically developing controls (TDCs) using a comprehensive neuropsychological test battery. METHOD: We included 542 youths with CD (317 girls) and 710 TDCs (479 girls), 9 to 18 years of age, from a European multisite study (FemNAT-CD). Participants completed three experimental tasks assessing emotion recognition, learning, and regulation, respectively. Data were analyzed to test for effects of group and sex, and group-by-sex interactions, while controlling for potentially confounding factors. RESULTS: Relative to TDCs, youths with CD showed impaired emotion recognition (that was related to more physical and proactive aggression, and higher CU traits), emotional learning (specifically from punishment), and emotion regulation. Boys and girls with CD, however, displayed similar impairments in emotion processing. CONCLUSION: This study provides compelling evidence for a relationship between CD and deficient neurocognitive functioning across three emotional domains that have previously been linked to CD etiology. However, there was no support for sex-specific profiles of emotion dysfunction, suggesting that current neurocognitive models of CD apply equally to both sexes.

Community Violence Exposure and Conduct Problems in Children and Adolescents with Conduct Disorder and Healthy Controls.

Exposure to community violence through witnessing or being directly victimized has been associated with conduct problems in a range of studies. However, the relationship between community violence exposure (CVE) and conduct problems has never been studied separately in healthy individuals and individuals with conduct disorder (CD). Therefore, it is not clear whether the association between CVE and conduct problems is due to confounding factors, because those with high conduct problems also tend to live in more violent neighborhoods, i.e., an ecological fallacy. Hence, the aim of the present study was: (1) to investigate whether the association between recent CVE and current conduct problems holds true for healthy controls as well as adolescents with a diagnosis of CD; (2) to examine whether the association is stable in both groups when including effects of aggression subtypes (proactive/reactive aggression), age, gender, site and socioeconomic status (SES); and (3) to test whether proactive or reactive aggression mediate the link between CVE and conduct problems. Data from 1178 children and adolescents (62% female; 44% CD) aged between 9 years and 18 years from seven European countries were analyzed. Conduct problems were assessed using the Kiddie-Schedule of Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia diagnostic interview. Information about CVE and aggression subtypes was obtained using self-report questionnaires (Social and Health Assessment and Reactive-Proactive aggression Questionnaire (RPQ), respectively). The association between witnessing community violence and conduct problems was significant in both groups (adolescents with CD and healthy controls). The association was also stable after examining the mediating effects of aggression subtypes while including moderating effects of age, gender and SES and controlling for effects of site in both groups. There were no clear differences between the groups in the strength of the association between witnessing violence and conduct problems. However, we found evidence for a ceiling effect, i.e., individuals with very high levels of conduct problems could not show a further increase if exposed to CVE and vice versa. Results indicate that there was no evidence for an ecological fallacy being the primary cause of the association, i.e., CVE must be considered a valid risk factor in the etiology of CD.

Socioeconomic crisis and aggressive behaviour of Greek adolescents.

BACKGROUND: Aggressive behaviours are common during adolescence. In Greece, adolescents and their families experience a severe and enduring recession with potentially adverse impact on mental health. AIM: This study aimed to examine the correlation between adolescents' aggressive behaviour and economic factors. METHODS: The Buss-Perry Aggression Questionnaire (AQ) was used to measure aggression. Reduction in pocket money and three items of the Household Food Insecurity Access Scale were used to measure material deprivation as a result of the economic crisis. The questionnaires were administrated to a sample of 2,159 adolescent students of the Greater Athens Metropolitan Area. RESULTS: Students who during the previous 4 weeks had experienced household food insecurity (anxiety/uncertainty about food, insufficient food quality or insufficient food intake) or had their pocket money decreased within the last 6 months scored on average significantly higher in the AQ compared to their counterparts who did not. CONCLUSION: The shortage in basic goods due to the actual Greek economic crisis seems to be related to aggressive behaviours during adolescence and we should take this into account in clinical practice.

Association between gestational diabetes and perinatal depressive symptoms: evidence from a Greek cohort study.

Aim The aim of the present study was to assess the association of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) with prenatal and postnatal depressive symptoms in a sample of pregnant women in Greece. BACKGROUND: Earlier research supports a relationship between depression and diabetes, but only a few studies have examined the relationship between GDM and perinatal depressive symptomatology. METHODS: A total of 117 women in their third trimester of pregnancy participated in the study. Demographic and obstetric history data were recorded during women's third trimester of pregnancy. Depressive symptoms were assessed with the validated Greek version of the Edinburg Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) at two time points: on the third trimester of pregnancy and on the first week postpartum. Findings Prevalence of GDM was 14.5%. Probable diagnosis of depression occurred for 12% of the sample during the antenatal assessment and 15.1% in the postpartum assessment. In the first week postpartum, women with GDM had significantly higher postpartum (but no antenatal) EPDS scores compared with the non-GDM cohort. In conclusion, GDM appears to be associated with depressive symptoms in the first week postpartum. Clinical implications and recommendations for future research are discussed, emphasizing the importance of closely monitoring women with GDM who seem more vulnerable to developing depressive symptomatology during the postnatal period.

Limited Depressive and Anxiety Symptoms Late in Pregnancy Are Not Related to Neonatal Outcomes.

BACKGROUND: Prior studies have reported inconsistent findings regarding the link between antenatal depressive and anxiety symptomatology, with neonatal outcomes. OBJECTIVES: The aim of the present study was to assess the possible association of prenatal depressive and anxiety symptoms, in the third trimester of pregnancy, with perinatal outcomes (birth weight of the newborn, Apgar score and the newborn's admission in neonatal intensive care unit) in a sample of pregnant women, in Greece. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A total of 117 women from Athens, during the 32(nd) to 35(th) week of pregnancy, participated in the study. Demographic and obstetric history data, as well as neonatal outcomes, were recorded. Three self-administered psychometric scales (Beck depression inventory (BDI), Edinburg postnatal depression scale (EPDS) and beck anxiety inventory (BAI)) were used to evaluate in detail the prenatal depressive and anxiety symptoms. Descriptive statistics, Spearman's Rho coefficients, Mann-Whitney U and Kruskal-Wallis testes were applied to analyze the data. RESULTS: On the basis of BDI, 81.1% of the sample showed minimal, 15.4% mild, 2.6% moderate and 0.9% severe depressive symptoms, respectively. Furthermore, 80.3% of the participants, scored on EPDS below the cut-off point for a likely diagnosis of depression. According to BAI scale, 43.6% showed minimal, 42.7% women mild, 10.3% moderate and 3.4% severe anxiety symptoms. No statistically significant correlations were found between depressive and anxiety symptoms and neonatal outcomes (birth weight, Apgar score and admission in neonatal intensive care unit). CONCLUSIONS: Limited levels of prenatal depressive and anxiety symptoms do not seem to be associated with neonatal outcomes. In clinical practice, pregnant women, who suffer from low levels of prenatal depressive and anxiety symptoms, may be reassured, in respect of the adverse outcomes of these mood symptoms on the neonate.