The present study is the first to examine the relations between participation in a public early childhood intervention (the Child-Parent Center (CPC) program) and psychological well-being (or, positive functioning) into early mid-life. Data are drawn from the Chicago Longitudinal Study (CLS), which has followed a cohort of 1,539 individuals who grew up in urban poverty for over four decades. Approximately two-thirds of the original study cohort participated in the CPC program in early childhood; the rest comprise a demographically matched comparison group. Participants’ psychological functioning at age 35–37 was assessed using the Ryff Scales of Psychological Wellbeing. Results support a positive relationship between CPC preschool participation and long-term psychological wellbeing. Moderated mediation (e.g., whether CPC effects on wellbeing differ across subgroups) and potential mechanisms across multiple social-ecological levels (according to the 5-Hypothesis Model of early intervention) are also empirically investigated. Future directions for child development research, early childhood intervention, and public policy are discussed.

Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is a complex mental health condition often associated with previous childhood adversity including maladaptive parenting. When becoming a parent themselves, mothers with BPD have difficulties with various parenting cognitions and practices, but unknown is whether they have appropriate knowledge of sensitive parenting. This study explored whether differences in parenting knowledge or self-efficacy are specific to BPD or also found in mothers with depression, and whether symptom severity or specific diagnosis better explain parenting perceptions. Mothers with BPD (n = 26), depression (n = 25) or HCs (n = 25) completed a Q-sort parenting knowledge task and a parenting self-efficacy questionnaire. Results showed mothers with BPD had the same knowledge of sensitive parenting behaviors as mothers with depression and healthy mothers. Self-reported parenting self-efficacy was lower in mothers with BPD and depression compared with healthy mothers, with symptom severity most strongly associated. A significant but low correlation was found between parenting self-efficacy and knowledge. Findings suggest that mothers with BPD and depression know what good parenting is but think they are not parenting well. Mental health difficulties are not associated with parenting knowledge, but symptom severity appears to be a common pathway to lower parenting self-efficacy. Future interventions should test whether reduction of symptom severity or positive parenting feedback could improve parenting self-efficacy.

This special issue of Development and Psychopathology is devoted to developmental approaches to the study of depression. Because the developmental perspective has only recently begun to be applied to the study of the mood disorders, it is hardly surprising that relatively little work exists that focuses on the relation between developmental processes and the affective disorders.

Early attempts to view depression from a developmental perspective primarily involved targeting a particular psychological or psychobiological mechanism known to occur in adult depression in order to discern the possible operation of this process throughout the course of ontogenesis (Cicchetti & Schneider-Rosen, 1986; Rutter, 1986). Even within the limits of these earlier efforts to consider the implications of the developmental perspective for elucidating the understanding of the affective disorders, it became apparent that there were many domains of development that needed to be taken into account (most notably, socioemotional, cognitive, linguistic, social-cognitive, neurobiological, and neurochemical; see Cicchetti & Schneider-Rosen, 1986; Puig-Antich, 1986; Radke-Yarrow & Zahn-Waxler, 1990; Zahn-Waxler & Kochanska, 1990).

Moreover, from the integrative perspective of developmental psychopathology, it is argued that it is essential to engage in a comprehensive evaluation of those factors (e.g., biological, psychological, environmental, social, intrafamilial; cf. Cicchetti & Aber, 1986) that may influence the nature of individual differences, the continuity of adaptive or maladaptive behavioral patterns, and the different pathways by which the same developmental outcomes may be achieved (Cicchetti & Schneider-Rosen, 1986; Kovacs, 1986; Rutter, 1986; Sroufe & Rutter, 1984). In practice, this entails a comprehension of and appreciation for the developmental transformations and reorganizations that occur over time; an analysis of the risk and protective factors and mechanisms operating in the child and his or her environment; the investigation of how emergent functions, competencies, and developmental tasks modify the expression of a disorder or lead to new symptoms and difficulties; and the recognition that a particular stress or underlying mechanism may result in different behavioral difficulties, at different times in the developmental process and in different contexts (Cicchetti & Aber, 1986; Cicchetti & Schneider-Rosen, 1984; Garber, 1984; Garber & Dodge, 1991; Kovacs, Feinberg, Crouse-Novak, Paulauskas, & Finkelstein, 1984; Kovacs, Feinberg, Crouse-Novak, Paulauskas, Pollack, & Finkelstein, 1984; Nurcombe, in press; Rutter, 1986).

Female adolescents have a greatly increased risk of depression starting at puberty, which continues throughout the reproductive lifespan. Sex hormone fluctuation has been highlighted as a key proximal precipitating factor in the development of mood disorders tied to reproductive events; however, hormone-induced affective state change is poorly understood in the pubertal transition. The present study investigated the impact of recent stressful life events on the relationship between sex hormone change and affective symptoms in peripubertal female participants. Thirty-five peripubertal participants (ages 11–14, premenarchal, or within 1 year of menarche) completed an assessment of stressful life events, and provided weekly salivary hormone collections [estrone, testosterone, dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA)] and mood assessments for 8 weeks. Linear mixed models tested whether stressful life events provided a context in which within-person changes in hormones predicted weekly affective symptoms. Results indicated that exposure to stressful life events proximal to the pubertal transition influenced the directional effects of hormone change on affective symptoms. Specifically, greater affective symptoms were associated with increases in hormones in a high stress context and decreases in hormones in a low stress context. These findings provide support for stress-related hormone sensitivity as a diathesis for precipitating affective symptoms in the presence of pronounced peripubertal hormone flux.

The objective was to determine the longitudinal associations between callous-unemotional (CU) and oppositional defiant (OD) behaviors from the first to fourth grades for Spanish children. Four possible outcomes were evaluated: (a) CU behaviors in the first grade predict increases in OD behaviors in the fourth grade, controlling for OD behaviors in the first grade; (b) OD behaviors in the first grade predict increases in CU behaviors in the fourth grade, controlling for CU behaviors in the first grade; (c) both unique effects are significant; and (d) neither unique effect is significant. A longitudinal panel model with two latent variables (CU and OD behaviors), three sources (mothers, fathers, teachers), and two occasions (spring of the first and fourth grades) was used to evaluate the four possibilities among 758 (54% boys) first grade and 469 (53% boys) fourth grade Spanish children. For mother-, father-, and teacher-reports, OD behaviors in the first grade predicted increases in CU behaviors in the fourth grade, after controlling for CU behaviors in the first grade, whereas CU behaviors in the first grade did not predict increases in OD behaviors in the fourth grade, after controlling for OD behaviors in the first grade. OD behaviors thus conferred independent vulnerability to increases in CU behaviors 3 years later among young children.

Tourette syndrome (TS), a neuropsychiatric disorder that presents in childhood and is characterized by recurrent tics, is often associated with a variety of psychological problems. Most studies of concomitant problems have focused on psychiatric comorbidity, with less attention paid to nonsyndrome-specific or subsyndromal emotional and behavioral difficulties. Moreover, little is known about the factors that influence the specificity or severity of psychological problems. We hypothesized that level and type of psychological problem would be influenced by both severity of illness and developmental period. Children with severe tics were predicted to show increased levels of externalizing (undercontrolled) behavior, whereas adolescents with severe tics were predicted to show increased levels of internalizing (overcontrolled) behavior. Forty-one boys with TS were rated by their parents for tic severity (simple and complex motor tics) and psychological symptoms (Connors Parent Symptom Questionnaire and the Child Behavior Checklist). Results partially confirmed the hypothesis, indicating that greater illness severity was associated with greater psychological disturbance, but only in the younger subjects. Among the adolescents, even those with mild tics demonstrated relatively high levels of psychological symptoms. However, there was no indication that developmental period was related to the specific type of problem manifested. Regardless of age, patients with severe tics domonstrated high levels of externalizing behavior, and relatively high levels of internalizing behavior were also seen. Results are discussed in terms of the developmental factors that might influence the relationship between psychological and physical symptoms in children with TS.

To investigate familial influences on the full range of variability in attention and activity across adolescence, we collected maternal ratings of 339 twin pairs at ages 12, 14, and 16, and estimated the transmitted and new familial influences on attention and activity as measured by the Strengths and Weaknesses of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder Symptoms and Normal Behavior Scale. Familial influences were substantial for both traits across adolescence: genetic influences accounted for 54%–73% (attention) and 31%–73% (activity) of the total variance, and shared environmental influences accounted for 0%–22% of the attention variance and 13%–57% of the activity variance. The longitudinal stability of individual differences in attention and activity was largely accounted for by familial influences transmitted from previous ages. Innovations over adolescence were also partially attributable to familial influences. Studying the full range of variability in attention and activity may facilitate our understanding of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder's etiology and intervention.

Research in postconflict settings indicated that children's exposure to war and natural disaster is a significant predictor of experiencing violence within their families. However, it is unclear if this effect is driven by characteristics of traumatized children or their parents. To disentangle these different factors we conducted a survey in a children's home in Sri Lanka. A total of 146 institutionalized children (aged 8 to 17) were interviewed using standardized questionnaires administered by local senior counselors in order to assess children's exposure to mass trauma, family violence, and violence in the institution as well as their mental health. Linear regression analyses revealed that, controlling for potential confounds, previous exposure to civil war was a significant predictor of violence by guardians in the children's home. In addition, previous exposure to family violence was a significant predictor of violence by peers in the institutions. A mediation analysis showed that children's internalizing and externalizing behavior problems partly mediated the relationship between violence prior to the admission to the children's home and violence in the children's home. The findings of our study provide evidence for the assumption that the transmission of mass trauma into interpersonal violence can occur independently from parents through children's psychopathology.

The aim of this longitudinal study was to examine bidirectional associations of adolescents’ internalizing symptoms with dating violence victimization and perpetration. We conducted secondary analyses of the Québec Longitudinal Study of Child Development data (n = 974). Each adolescent completed items from the Conflict Tactics Scale (at ages 15 and 17 years) to assess psychological, physical, and sexual dating violence victimization and perpetration in the past 12 months. Adolescents’ symptoms of depression and general anxiety in the past 12 months were self-reported (at ages 15 and 17 years) using The Mental Health and Social Inadaptation Assessment for Adolescents. There were concurrent associations of adolescents’ internalizing symptoms with dating violence victimization and perpetration. Internalizing symptoms at age 15 years were positively associated with dating violence victimization and perpetration 2 years later in both males and females, even after adjusting for baseline characteristics. However, neither dating violence victimization nor perpetration at age 15 years was associated with internalizing symptoms 2 years later. For males and females, internalizing symptoms put adolescents at risk for future dating violence victimization and perpetration. Interventions that target internalizing symptoms may have the potential to decrease subsequent dating violence.

It remains unclear how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected the mother–infant relationship and associations between maternal postpartum depression (PPD) and offspring temperament. This study examined the impact of the pandemic on these links and how maternal ratings of the mother–infant relationship mediated associations between PPD and infant temperament in a sample of treatment-seeking mothers in Ontario, Canada before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Mothers with infants <12 months of age and Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale scores ≥10 enrolled in two separate randomized controlled trials of 1-day cognitive behavioral therapy-based workshops for PPD conducted before COVID-19 (n = 392) and during the pandemic (n = 403). Mothers reported on depressive symptomatology, infant temperament, and the mother–infant relationship. Maternal PPD was associated with more infant negative affectivity and mother–infant relationship difficulties. While associations between PPD and infant-focused anxiety were stronger during COVID-19, the pandemic did not otherwise affect associations between PPD and infant temperament. Mediation analyses suggested that aspects of the mother-infant relationship mediated associations between PPD and infant negative affectivity. Findings highlight the importance of detecting PPD and intervening to potentially improve outcomes for mothers and their children.

Peer drinking norms are arguably one of the strongest correlates of adolescent drinking. Prospective studies indicate that adolescents tend to select peers based on drinking (peer selection) and their peers' drinking is associated with changes in adolescent drinking over time (peer socialization). The present study investigated whether the peer selection and socialization processes in adolescent drinking differed as a function of the dopamine receptor D4 (DRD4) variable number tandem repeat genotype in two independent prospective data sets. The first sample was 174 high school students drawn from a two-wave 6-month prospective study. The second sample was 237 college students drawn from a three-wave annual prospective study. Multigroup cross-lagged panel analyses of the high school student sample indicated stronger socialization via peer drinking norms among carriers, whereas analyses of the college student sample indicated stronger drinking-based peer selection in the junior year among carriers, compared to noncarriers. Although replication and meta-analytic synthesis are needed, these findings suggest that in part genetically determined peer selection (carriers of the DRD4 seven-repeat allele tend to associate with peers who have more favorable attitudes toward drinking and greater alcohol use) and peer socialization (carriers' subsequent drinking behaviors are more strongly associated with their peer drinking norms) may differ across adolescent developmental stages.

Despite public sentiment to the contrary, recreational marijuana use is deleterious to adolescent health and development. Prospective studies of marijuana use trajectories and their predictors are needed to differentiate risk profiles and inform intervention strategies. Using data on 15,960 participants in the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health, variable-centered approaches were used to examine the impact of childhood polyvictimization on marijuana onset, marijuana use from age 15 to 24 years, and marijuana dependence symptoms. Zero-Inflated Poisson latent class growth analysis (ZIP-LCGA) was used to identify marijuana use subgroups, and their associations with childhood polyvictimization were tested via multinomial logit regression within ZIP-LCGA. Results showed that the overall probability and frequency of marijuana use increased throughout adolescence, peaked in early adulthood, and diminished gradually thereafter. Polyvictimization was associated with earlier onset and greater overall use, frequency of use, and dependence symptoms. ZIP-LCGA uncovered four subgroups, including non-users and three classes of users: adolescence-limited users, escalators, and chronic users. Polyvictimization distinguished non-users from all classes of marijuana users. The findings underscore the lasting developmental implications of significant childhood trauma. Children who experience polyvictimization represent a group that may benefit from selective interventions aimed at preventing early, frequent, chronic, and dependent marijuana use.

There is evidence for intergenerational transmission of substance use and disorder. However, it is unclear whether separation from a parent with substance use disorder (SUD) moderates intergenerational transmission, and no studies have tested this question across three generations. In a three-generation study of families oversampled for familial SUD, we tested whether separation between father (G1; first generation) and child (G2; second generation) moderated the effect of G1 father SUDs on G2 child SUDs. We also tested whether separation between father (G2) and child (G3; third generation) moderated the effect of G2 SUDs on G3 drinking. Finally, we tested whether G1-G2 or G2-G3 separation moderated the mediated effect of G1 SUDs on G3 drinking through G2 SUDs. G1 father-G2 child separation moderated intergenerational transmission. In families with G1-G2 separation, there were no significant effects of father SUD on G2 SUD or G3 drinking. However, in nonseparated families, greater G1 father SUDs predicted heightened G2 SUDs and G3 grandchild drinking. In nonseparated families, G1 father SUDs significantly predicted G2 SUDs, which predicted G3 drinking. However, G2-G3 separation predicted heightened G3 drinking regardless of G2 and G1 SUDs. Parental separation may introduce risk for SUDs and drinking among youth with lower familial risk.

We investigated (a) whether psychosocial factors (experienced stress, anticipatory worry, social detachment, sleeping disturbances, alcohol use) predict the course of paranoid ideation between the ages of 24 to 50 years and (b) whether the predictive relationships are more likely to proceed from the psychosocial factors to paranoid ideation, or vice versa. The participants (N = 1534–1553) came from the population-based Young Finns study. Paranoid ideation and psychosocial factors were assessed by reliable self-report questionnaires in 2001, 2007, and 2011/2012. The data were analyzed using growth curve and structural equation models. High experienced stress, anticipatory worry, social detachment, frequent sleeping disturbances, and frequent alcohol use predicted more paranoid ideation. More risk factors predicted increasing paranoid ideation. There were bidirectional predictive relationships of paranoid ideation with experienced stress, anticipatory worry, social detachment, and sleeping disturbances. The link between alcohol use and paranoid ideation was only correlative. In conclusion, paranoid ideation increases by reciprocal interactions with stress, worry, social detachment, and sleeping disturbances. The findings support the threat–anticipation model of paranoid ideation, providing important implications for treatment of paranoia.

Intelligence and mental health are the core pillars of individual adaptation, growth, and opportunity. Here, we charted across childhood and adolescence the developmental interplay between the p-factor of psychopathology, which captures the experience of symptoms across the spectrum of psychiatric disorders, and the g-factor of general intelligence that describes the ability to think, reason, and learn.

Our preregistered analyses included 7,433 twin pairs from the Twins Early Development Study (TEDS), who were born 1994 to 1996 in England and Wales. At the ages 7, 9, 12, and 16 years, the twins completed two to four intelligence tests, and multi-informant measures (i.e., self-, parent- and teacher-rated) of psychopathology were collected.

Independent of their cross-sectional correlations, p- and g-factors were linked by consistent, bidirectional, and negative cross-lagged paths across childhood and adolescence (from −.07 to −.13 with 95% CIs from −.03 to −.15). The cross-lagged paths from intelligence to psychopathology were largely due to genetic influences, but the paths from psychopathology to intelligence were driven by environmental factors, and increasingly so with age.

Our findings suggest that intelligence and psychopathology are developmentally intertwined due to fluctuating etiological processes. Understanding the interplay of g- and p-factors is key for improving children’s developmental outcomes.

Resilience research has long sought to understand how factors at the child, family, school, community, and societal levels shape adaptation in the face of adversities such as poverty and war. In this article we reflect on three themes that may prove to be useful for future resilience research. First is the idea that mental and physical health can sometimes diverge, even in response to the same social process. A better understanding of explanations for this divergence will have both theoretical and public health implications when it comes to efforts to promote resilience. Second is that more recent models of stress suggest that stress can accelerate aging. Thus, we suggest that research on resilience may need to also consider how resilience strategies may need to be developed in an accelerated fashion to be effective. Third, we suggest that if psychological resilience interventions can be conducted in conjunction with efforts to enact system-level changes targeted at adversities, this may synergize the impact that any single intervention can have, creating a more coordinated and effective set of approaches for promoting resilience in young people who confront adversity in life.

Adolescent pregnancy (AP) is a significant public health issue. Child maltreatment (CM) represents an established risk factor, yet little is known about the explanatory mechanisms linking the phenomena. Informed by developmental theory, this study prospectively tested seven multi-level, indirect pathways that could plausibly explain the relationship between CM and AP: (1) substance use (polysubstance use and frequency); (2) sexual risk behavior; (3) depressive symptoms; (4) posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms; (5) cognitive dysregulation; (6) pregnancy desire and difficulty expectancies; and (7) age at menarche. Data came from a prospective, longitudinal cohort study of 469 ethnically diverse, nulliparous adolescent females, designed to examine the impact of substantiated CM on reproductive outcomes such as pregnancy and childbirth (265 maltreated and 204 demographically matched comparison adolescents). A multiple-mediator structural equation model was conducted to simultaneously test multiple indirect effects while accounting for confounding variables. Maltreatment had an indirect effect on pregnancy via substance use and higher pregnancy desire/lower perceived difficulty. Findings represent a step towards elucidating pathways linking CM with AP. Recommendations are offered to prevent pregnancy by addressing the pregnancy-specific mechanisms that are part of the maltreatment sequelae.

The present study examined the influence of fathers’ parenting quality during infancy on children’s emotion regulation during toddlerhood and, subsequently, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms in middle childhood. Fathers and their 8-month-old infants (N = 124) were followed over time to obtain home observations of parenting quality at 8 and 24 months, laboratory observations of children’s emotion regulation at 24 months, and teacher reports of children’s ADHD symptoms at 7 years. A path analysis revealed that fathers’ emotional disengagement in infancy and minimizing responses to children’s distress in toddlerhood forecast children’s development of ADHD symptoms in middle childhood. Further, a significant indirect effect was found such that fathers’ parenting at 8 and 24 months predicted subsequent development of ADHD symptoms at age 7 through toddlers’ difficulty regulating emotion. Implications of this study for early intervention and directions for future research are discussed.