Life satisfaction for adolescents with developmental and behavioral disabilities during the COVID-19 pandemic.

BACKGROUND: This study aimed to identify contextual factors associated with life satisfaction during the COVID-19 pandemic for adolescents with mental, emotional, behavioral, and developmental (MEBD) disabilities. METHODS: Data were collected from a sample of 1084 adolescents aged 11-21 years from April 2020 to August 2021. This cross-sectional study used a sequential machine learning workflow, consisting of random forest regression and evolutionary tree regression, to identify subgroups of adolescents in the Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) consortium who demonstrated enhanced vulnerability to lower life satisfaction as described by intersecting risk factors, protective factors, and MEBD disabilities. RESULTS: Adolescents with a history of depression, anxiety, autism, and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder were particularly susceptible to decreased life satisfaction in response to unique combinations of stressors experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic. These stressors included decreased social connectedness, decreased family engagement, stress related to medical care access, pandemic-related traumatic stress, and single-caregiver households. CONCLUSION: Findings from this study highlight the importance of interventions aimed specifically at increasing adolescent social connectedness, family engagement, and access to medical support for adolescents with MEBD disabilities, particularly in the face of stressors, such as a global pandemic. IMPACT: Through a machine learning process, we identified contextualized risks associated with life satisfaction among adolescents with neurodevelopmental disabilities during the COVID-19 pandemic. The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in large-scale social disruptions for children and families. Such disruptions were associated with worse mental health outcomes in the general pediatric population, but few studies have examined specific subgroups who may be at heightened risk. We endeavored to close that gap in knowledge. This study highlights the importance of social connectedness, family engagement, and access to medical support as contributing factors to life satisfaction during the COVID-19 pandemic for adolescents with neurodevelopmental disabilities.

Impact of sedentary behavior and emotional support on prenatal psychological distress and birth outcomes during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Abstract. BACKGROUND: Studies have reported mixed findings regarding the impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic on pregnant women and birth outcomes. This study used a quasi-experimental design to account for potential confounding by sociodemographic characteristics. METHODS: Data were drawn from 16 prenatal cohorts participating in the Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) program. Women exposed to the pandemic (delivered between 12 March 2020 and 30 May 2021) (n = 501) were propensity-score matched on maternal age, race and ethnicity, and child assigned sex at birth with 501 women who delivered before 11 March 2020. Participants reported on perceived stress, depressive symptoms, sedentary behavior, and emotional support during pregnancy. Infant gestational age (GA) at birth and birthweight were gathered from medical record abstraction or maternal report. RESULTS: After adjusting for propensity matching and covariates (maternal education, public assistance, employment status, prepregnancy body mass index), results showed a small effect of pandemic exposure on shorter GA at birth, but no effect on birthweight adjusted for GA. Women who were pregnant during the pandemic reported higher levels of prenatal stress and depressive symptoms, but neither mediated the association between pandemic exposure and GA. Sedentary behavior and emotional support were each associated with prenatal stress and depressive symptoms in opposite directions, but no moderation effects were revealed. CONCLUSIONS: There was no strong evidence for an association between pandemic exposure and adverse birth outcomes. Furthermore, results highlight the importance of reducing maternal sedentary behavior and encouraging emotional support for optimizing maternal health regardless of pandemic conditions.

A short form of the Crisis in Family Systems (CRISYS) in a racially diverse sample of pregnant women.

Assessing stressful life events in large-scale epidemiologic studies is challenged by the need to measure potential stressful events in a reasonably comprehensible manner balanced with burden on participants and research staff. The aim of this paper was to create a short form of the Crisis in Family Systems-Revised (CRISYS-R) plus 17 acculturation items, a measure that captures contemporary life stressors across 11 domains. Latent class analysis (LCA) was used to segment the sample of 884 women from the PRogramming of Intergenerational Stress Mechanisms (PRISM) study experiencing different patterns of exposure to stressful events and identify items from each domain that best discriminate between individuals with different patterns of stressful-event exposures (high vs. low stress exposure). The results from the LCA, in conjunction with the expert opinions provided by the original developers of the CRISYS, yielded a 24-item item short form (CRISYS-SF) with at least one question from each of the original domains. Scores on the 24-item CRISYS-SF had high correlations with scores on the 80-item CRISYS. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12144-021-02335-w.

Measuring PROMIS® Emotional Distress in Early Childhood.

OBJECTIVE: Create and validate developmentally sensitive parent-report measures of emotional distress for children ages 1-5 years that conceptually align with the Patient-Reported Outcome Measurement Information System (PROMIS®) pediatric measures. METHODS: Initial items were generated based on expert and parent input regarding core components of emotional distress in early childhood and review of theoretical and empirical work in this domain. Items were psychometrically tested using data from two waves of panel surveys. Item response theory (IRT) was applied to develop item calibration parameters (Wave 1), and scores were centered on a general U.S. population sample (Wave 2). Final PROMIS early childhood (EC) instruments were compared with existing measures of related constructs to establish construct validity. RESULTS: Experts and parents confirmed the content validity of the existing PROMIS Pediatric emotional distress domains (i.e., anger, anxiety, and depressive symptoms) as developmentally salient for young children. Existing items were adapted and expanded for early childhood by employing best practices from developmental measurement science. Item banks as well as 4- and 8-item short forms, free from differential item functioning across sex and age, were constructed for the three domains based on rigorous IRT analyses. Correlations with subscales from previously validated measures provided further evidence of construct validity. CONCLUSIONS: The PROMIS EC Anger/Irritability, Anxiety, and Depressive Symptoms measures demonstrated good reliability and initial evidence of validity for use in early childhood. This is an important contribution to advancing brief, efficient measurement of emotional distress in young children, closing a developmental gap in PROMIS pediatric emotional distress assessment.

The impact of COVID-19 school disruptions on children's learning.

Introduction: National health policies to stop the spread of the COVID-19 virus in the US resulted in widespread school closures and disrupted learning in Spring 2020. Methods: This study draws on unique individual-level data from n = 282 5-12 year olds enrolled in the NIH Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) Research Program to investigate associations between caregiver-reported duration of Spring 2020 learning disruptions and academic achievement. Results: Linear regression analyses estimated that children who experienced more than 4 weeks of instruction disruptions in Spring 2020 scored 4.5 points [95% CI: -8.77, -0.22] lower on age-normed math assessments compared to peers who had four or fewer weeks of disruption, adjusting for sociodemographic variables, pre-pandemic vocabulary, and COVID-19 family hardships and stress. No differences were found for reading. Children whose caregivers had higher levels of pandemic-related traumatic stress and lower educational attainment also had lower math scores, adjusting for all other covariates. Discussion: Results suggest educators and schools focus additional attention on supporting math instruction for children who experienced extended learning disruptions.

Modeling the normal:abnormal spectrum of early childhood internalizing behaviors: A clinical-developmental approach for the Multidimensional Assessment Profiles Internalizing Dimensions.

BACKGROUND: We expanded the Multidimensional Assessment Profiles (MAPS) Scales developmental specification model to characterize the normal:abnormal spectrum of internalizing (anxious and depressive) behaviors in early childhood via the MAPS-Internalizing (MAPS-INT) scale. METHODS: The MAPS-INT item pool was generated based on clinical expertise and prior research. Analyses were conducted on a sub-sample of families (n = 183) from the diverse When to Worry early childhood sample. RESULTS: Normal:abnormal descriptive patterns for both anxious and depressive behaviors were consistent with prior work: (1) extremes of normative variation are abnormal when very frequent; and (2) pathognomonic indicators that most children do not engage in and are abnormal, even if infrequent. Factor analysis revealed a two-factor MAPS-INT Anxious Behaviors structure (Fearful-Worried and Separation Distress) and a unidimensional MAPS-INT Depressive Behaviors factor with good fit and good-to-excellent test-retest reliability and validity. CONCLUSIONS: We characterized the normal:abnormal spectrum of internalizing behaviors in early childhood via the MAPS-INT. Future research in larger representative samples can replicate and extend findings, including clinical thresholds and predictive utility. The MAPS-INT helps lay the groundwork for dimensional characterization of the internalizing spectrum to advance neurodevelopmental approaches to emergent psychopathology and its earlier identification.

Caregiver Perceived Stress and Child Sleep Health: An Item-Level Individual Participant Data Meta-Analysis.

Up to 50% of children and adolescents in the United States (U.S.) experience sleep problems. While existing research suggests that perceived stress in caregivers is associated with poorer sleep outcomes in children, research on this relationship is often limited to infant and early childhood populations; therefore, we investigated this association in school-age children and adolescents. We used cross-sectional caregiver-reported surveys and applied item response theory (IRT) followed by meta-analysis to assess the relationship between caregiver perceived stress and child sleep disturbance, and moderation of this relationship by child age and the presence of a child mental or physical health condition. We analyzed data from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) Program, a collaboration of existing pediatric longitudinal cohort studies that collectively contribute a diverse and large sample size ideal for addressing questions related to children's health and consolidating results across population studies. Participants included caregivers of children ages 8 to 16 years from four ECHO cohorts. Caregiver perceived stress was measured using the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), and child sleep disturbance was assessed using five sleep-related items from the School-Age version of the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL). Increases in caregiver perceived stress and child mental or physical health condition were independently associated with greater sleep disturbance among children. The findings reinforce the importance of accounting for, and potentially intervening on, the broader family context and children's mental and physical health in the interest of improving sleep health.

Development and psychometric validation of the Pandemic-Related Traumatic Stress Scale for children and adults.

To assess the public health impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health, investigators from the National Institutes of Health Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) research program developed the Pandemic-Related Traumatic Stress Scale (PTSS). Based on the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th Edition (DSM-5) acute stress disorder symptom criteria, the PTSS is designed for adolescent (13-21 years) and adult self-report and caregiver-report on 3-12-year-olds. To evaluate psychometric properties, we used PTSS data collected between April 2020 and August 2021 from non-pregnant adult caregivers (n = 11,483), pregnant/postpartum individuals (n = 1,656), adolescents (n = 1,795), and caregivers reporting on 3-12-year-olds (n = 2,896). We used Mokken scale analysis to examine unidimensionality and reliability, Pearson correlations to evaluate relationships with other relevant variables, and analyses of variance to identify regional, age, and sex differences. Mokken analysis resulted in a moderately strong, unidimensional scale that retained nine of the original 10 items. We detected small to moderate positive associations with depression, anxiety, and general stress, and negative associations with life satisfaction. Adult caregivers had the highest PTSS scores, followed by adolescents, pregnant/postpartum individuals, and children. Caregivers of younger children, females, and older youth had higher PTSS scores compared to caregivers of older children, males, and younger youth, respectively. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Influences of Chronic Physical and Mental Health Conditions on Child and Adolescent Positive Health.

OBJECTIVE: Pediatric positive health refers to children's assessments of their well-being. The purpose of this study was to contrast positive health for children aged 8 to 17 years with and without chronic physical and mental health conditions. METHODS: Data were drawn from the National Institutes of Health Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) research program. Participants included 1764 children ages 8 to 17 years from 13 ECHO cohorts. We measured positive health using the Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS) Pediatric Global Health and Life Satisfaction patient-reported outcome (PRO) measures. We used multiple regression to examine cross-sectional associations between the PROs and parent-reported health conditions and sociodemographic variables. We defined a meaningful difference in average scores as a PROMIS T-score difference of >3. RESULTS: The sample included 45% 13 to 17-year-olds, 50% females, 8% Latinx, and 23% Black/African-American. Fifty-four percent had a chronic health condition. Of the 16 chronic conditions included in the study, only chronic pain (ß = -3.5; 95% CI: -5.2 to -1.9) and depression (ß = -6.6; 95% CI: -8.5 to -4.6) were associated with scoring >3 points lower on global health. Only depression was associated with >3 points lower on life satisfaction (ß = -6.2; 95% CI: -8.1 to -4.3). Among those with depression, 95% also had another chronic condition. CONCLUSIONS: Many children with chronic conditions have similar levels of positive health as counterparts without chronic conditions. The study results suggest that negative associations between chronic conditions and positive health may be primarily attributable to presence or co-occurrence of depression.

Youth Well-being During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

OBJECTIVES: The family stress model proposes economic hardship results in caregiver distress and relational problems, which negatively impact youth outcomes. We extend this model to evaluate the impact of coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic-related family hardships on caregiver and youth stress, and, in turn, youth's psychological well-being. We also investigate how social supports moderate this relationship. METHODS: We used 2 samples of cross-sectional survey data collected between May 2020 and May 2021: children aged 2 to 12 years (n = 977) and adolescents aged 11 to 17 years (n = 669). Variables included pandemic-related family hardships, stress, social support, and youth life satisfaction. Data were analyzed using structural equation modeling. RESULTS: Experiencing more pandemic-related family hardships was associated with increased caregiver and youth stress (b = 0.04 to 0.21, SE = 0.01-0.02) and, in turn, decreased youth life satisfaction (b = -0.36 to -0.38, SE = 0.04-0.07). Social connectedness (b^ = 0.11-0.17, SE = 0.04) and family engagement (b^ = 0.12-0.18, SE = 0.05-0.06) had direct positive associations with life satisfaction; for children aged 2 to 12 years, greater family engagement was associated with decreased effect of child stress on life satisfaction (b^ = 0.15, SE = 0.05). For adolescents, females had higher levels of stress compared with males (b^ = 0.40, SE = 0.6), and having anxiety and/or depression was associated with decreased life satisfaction (b^ = -0.24, SE = 0.11). CONCLUSIONS: Caregivers and youth who experienced more coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic hardships had higher levels of stress, particularly adolescent females. Although stress negatively impacted life satisfaction across all ages, family engagement was a protective factor for children aged 2 to 12 years, whereas having anxiety and/or depression was a risk factor for adolescents. For all youth, however, being more socially connected and engaged with family promoted life satisfaction.

An evaluation of the agreement between the conservative dual-criterion method and expert visual analysis.

The conservative dual-criterion (CDC) method was developed to standardize the analysis of single-subject experimental designs data, but to date its accuracy has been evaluated only by comparing results to the statistical parameters of graphs. Our study investigated agreement between expert visual analysts and the CDC method on 66 AB tiers from published multiple baseline graphs. We found strong agreement between the two methods for certain types of graphs and discuss implications of the findings and areas for future research.