Exploring the role of OXTR gene methylation in attachment development: A longitudinal study.

The current study explored longitudinally whether oxytocin receptor gene methylation (OXTRm) changes moderated the association between parental sensitivity changes and children's attachment changes over three waves. Six hundred six Flemish children (10-12 years, 42.8%-44.8% boys) completed attachment measures and provided salivary OXTRm data on seven CpG sites. Their parents reported their sensitive parenting. Results suggest that OXTRm changes hardly link to attachment (in)security changes after the age of 10. Some support was found for interaction effects between parental sensitivity changes and OXTRm changes on attachment changes over time. Effects suggest that for children with increased OXTRm in the promotor region and decreased methylation in the inhibitor region over time, increased parental sensitivity was associated with increased secure attachment and decreased insecure attachment over time.

Cumulative family stress and externalizing problems: Secure base script knowledge as a protective factor.

The current study examined whether secure base script knowledge can buffer against higher concurrent externalizing problems and against relative increases in externalizing problems associated with cumulative family stress. We conducted a one-year longitudinal study with two waves between 2017 and 2019 in which 272 Dutch-speaking Western European children from Flanders (47.8% boys, M age = 10.20 , SD age = 0.60 ) participated. Secure base script knowledge was associated with lower concurrent externalizing problems (f2  = 0.03). High levels of secure base script knowledge also buffered against relative increases in externalizing problems associated with cumulative family risk (f2  = 0.02). These findings suggest that secure base script knowledge can mitigate the negative effects of a stressful family environment on externalizing problems.

Pathways to Depressive Symptoms in a Digital Environment: The Role of Trait Affectivity and Mediation of Media Response Styles in Adolescence.

Trait negative affectivity and trait extraversion/positive affectivity are predictive of both responses to affect and depressive symptoms in adolescence. Furthermore, differences in the use of responses to affect are associated with different levels of depressive symptoms. Despite the central role of media content in adolescents' daily lives, responses to affect have not yet been extended to affect in this media content. It is thus unclear whether trait affectivity is predictive of responses to affective media content, and whether such media response styles are predictive of depressive symptoms. A 3-wave longitudinal panel study with 3-month intervals among 318 adolescents (Mage = 16.5 years, SDage = 1.11, 72.5% boys) investigated the mediating role of media response styles in associations between trait affectivity and depressive symptoms. Trait negative affectivity predicted media rumination and media dampening, yet only media rumination predicted greater levels of depressive symptoms over time. Trait positive affectivity was associated with concurrent media distraction and media-enhancing. The media response styles did not mediate the associations between trait affectivity and depressive symptoms over time. These findings suggest that individuals higher in trait negative affectivity tend to engage in maladaptive emotion regulation strategies during sad media content consumption, whereas adolescents higher in trait positive affectivity turn to more adaptive strategies during sad or happy media content consumption. Yet, media response styles are not robustly associated with depressive symptoms over time.

Inventory of Callous-Unemotional Traits (ICU) Factor Structure and Measurement Invariance in an Adolescent Multinational Sample.

OBJECTIVE: The Inventory of Callous-Unemotional Traits (ICU) is a widely used, comprehensive measure of callous-unemotional (CU) traits. While the ICU total score is used frequently in research, the scale's factor structure remains highly debated. Inconsistencies in past factor structure research appear to be largely due to the use of small non-representative samples and failure to control for method variance (i.e., item wording direction). METHOD: The current study used a multitrait-multimethod (MTMM) confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) approach that considers both trait and method variance to test the factor structure of a 22-item version of the self-report ICU in a multinational community sample of 4,683 adolescents (ages 11-17). RESULTS: Results showed that a hierarchical four-factor model (i.e., one overarching CU factor, four latent trait factors) that controlled for method variance (i.e., by allowing residuals from positively worded items to covary) provided the best fit (χ2 = 2797.307, df = 160, RMSEA=.059, CFI=.922, TLI=.888, SRMR=.045). CONCLUSIONS: After controlling for method variance, the best-fitting factor structure is consistent with how the ICU was developed and corresponds to the four symptoms of Limited Prosocial Emotions (LPE) specifier in the DSM-5 criteria for Conduct Disorder (CD). In addition, measurement invariance of this factor structure across age (i.e., younger versus older adolescents) and sex was supported. As a result, mean differences in ICU total score across age and sex can be interpreted as reflecting true variations in these traits. Further, we documented that boys generally scored higher than girls on the ICU, and this sex difference was larger in later adolescence.

Reconciling a phenomenological with a functional approach to memory: narrative coherence and its social function.

To date, the phenomenological and functional aspects of autobiographical memory have by and large been studied separately. This is quite remarkable, given that both can inform each other, and that investigating their interaction can add to the understanding of the (in)adaptivity of certain memory characteristics for our well-being. In other words, examining how particular features of autobiographical memory are adept or inept at serving specific functions, could help us to better comprehend and explain relations between memory and psychological well-being. We discuss previous attempts to integrate phenomenology with functionality and formulate three main directions for future research based on the current state of the art. The directions concern (1) focusing on functionality (adaptivity) and not merely on the use of memories in phenomenological work, (2) attention for the bidirectionality of the relation between phenomenology and functionality, and (3) the addition of narrative constructs like coherence to the traditional range of phenomenological features. We will illustrate our directions for the reintegration of phenomenology with functionality through the social function of coherent autobiographical memories. This framework could help to stimulate future empirical studies and pave the road for new clinical interventions to improve psychological well-being.

Narrative coherence predicts emotional well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic: a two-year longitudinal study.

Prior research has shown that narrative coherence is associated with more positive emotional responses in the face of traumatic or stressful experiences. However, most of these studies only examined narrative coherence after the stressor had already occurred. Given the outbreak of the novel coronavirus disease COVID-19 in March 2020 in Belgium and the presence of data obtained two years before (February 2018), we could use our baseline narrative coherence data to predict emotional well-being and perceived social support in the midst of the pandemic. In a sample of emerging adults (NT1 = 278, NT2 = 198), higher baseline coherence of narratives about positive autobiographical experiences predicted relative increases in emotional well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic. Furthermore, the relation between the coherence of positive narratives and emotional well-being was partially mediated by perceived social support. These findings suggest that narrative coherence could be an enhancement factor for adaptive emotional coping with stressful situations, in part by evoking more supportive social reactions. This study demonstrates the importance of researching cognition (narrative coherence) and emotion (well-being) to shed light on pressing societal matters such as the global COVID-19 pandemic.

Co-Rumination and Depressive Symptoms in Adolescence: Prospective Associations and the Mediating Role of Brooding Rumination.

Although relationships between co-rumination and depressive symptoms have often been found, little research attention has been given to mechanisms underlying this association. The current study investigated brooding rumination as a mediator of the relationship between co-rumination and depressive symptoms. Analyses were performed on data of 1549 adolescents (53.4% girls; Mage = 12.93, range 9-17) using three waves of data with 1-year intervals. Mediated and indirect effects were investigated by means of cross-lagged analyses. The results indicated that co-rumination was not predictive of depressive symptoms 2 years later. However, co-rumination did have an indirect effect on prospective depressive symptoms through brooding rumination. Additional analyses looking into the directionality of effects showed that neither brooding rumination nor depressive symptoms were predictive of relative increases in one's tendency to co-ruminate. Multi-group analyses further showed that findings were not moderated by gender or age. The current study contributes to the growing literature on the role of interpersonal and intrapersonal affect-regulation styles in predicting depressive symptoms and suggests that passive and catastrophic problem talk with same-sex friends may get internalized into maladaptive and repetitive thinking patterns.

Attachment and the Development of Depressive Symptoms in Adolescence: The Role of Regulating Positive and Negative Affect.

Although widely accepted, attachment theory's hypothesis that insecure attachment is associated with the development of depressive symptoms through emotion regulation strategies has never been longitudinally tested in adolescence. Additionally, previous research only focused on strategies for regulating negative affect, whereas strategies for regulating positive affect may also serve as a mechanism linking insecure attachment to depressive symptoms. This study aimed to fill these research gaps by testing whether the association between attachment and change in depressive symptoms over time is explained by strategies for regulating negative and positive affect in adolescence. Adolescents (N = 1706; 53% girls; Mage = 12.78 years, SDage = 1.54 at Time 1) were tested three times, with a 1-year interval between measurement times. They reported on their attachment anxiety and avoidance at Time 1, depressive symptoms at Times 1 and 3, and regulation of negative affect (brooding and dampening) and positive affect (focusing and reflection) at Time 2. The results from multiple mediation analyses showed that more anxiously attached adolescents developed more depressive symptoms via increased brooding and dampening. More avoidantly attached adolescents developed more depressive symptoms via decreased focusing. These findings provide longitudinal support for attachment theory's emotion regulation hypothesis, and show that the regulation of both negative and positive affect is important.

Transactional Links Between Social Anxiety Symptoms and Parenting Across Adolescence: Between- and Within-Person Associations.

This 4-year longitudinal multi-informant study examined between- and within-person associations between adolescent social anxiety symptoms and parenting (parental psychological control and autonomy support). A community sample of 819 adolescents (46.1% girls; Mage T1  = 13.4 years) reported annually on social anxiety symptoms and both adolescents and mothers reported on parenting. Between-person associations suggested that adolescent social anxiety symptoms were associated with higher adolescent- and mother-reported psychological control and lower mother-reported autonomy support. At the within-person level, however, mothers reported lower psychological control and higher autonomy support after periods with higher adolescent social anxiety symptoms. Our findings illustrate the importance of distinguishing among between-person and within-person associations and including perceptions of both dyad members in longitudinal research concerning parenting and adolescent mental health.

Investigating the interplay between parenting dimensions and styles, and the association with adolescent outcomes.

Research has indicated that a strictly dimensional or parental style approach does not capture the full complexity of parenting. To better understand this complexity, the current study combined these two approaches using a novel statistical technique, i.e., subspace K-means clustering. Four objectives were addressed. First, the study tried to identify meaningful groups of parents in longitudinal adolescent reports on parenting behaviour. Second, the dimensional structure of every cluster was inspected to uncover differences in parenting between and within clusters. Third, the parenting styles were compared on several adolescent characteristics. Fourth, to examine the impact of change in parenting style over time, we looked at the cluster membership over time. Longitudinal questionnaire data were collected at three annual waves, with 1,116 adolescents (mean age = 13.79 years) at wave 1. Based on five parenting dimensions (support and proactive, punitive, psychological and harsh control), subspace K-means clustering, analysed per wave separately, identified two clusters (authoritative and authoritarian parenting) in which parenting dimensions were interrelated differently. Authoritative parenting seemed to be beneficial for adolescent development (less externalising problem behaviour and higher self-concept). Longitudinal data revealed several parenting group trajectories which showed differential relations with adolescent outcomes. Change in membership from the authoritative cluster to the authoritarian cluster was associated with a decrease in self-concept and an increase in externalising problem behaviour, whereas changes from the authoritarian cluster to the authoritative cluster were associated with an increase in self-concept and a decrease in externalising problem behaviour.

A SNP, Gene, and Polygenic Risk Score Approach of Oxytocin-Vasopressin Genes in Adolescents' Loneliness.

Not much is known regarding underlying biological pathways to adolescents' loneliness. Insight in underlying molecular mechanisms could inform intervention efforts aimed at reducing loneliness. Using latent growth curve modeling, baseline levels and development of loneliness were studied in two longitudinal adolescent samples. Genes (OXTR, OXT, AVPR1A, AVPR1B) were examined using SNP-based, gene-based, and polygenic risk score (PRS) approaches. In both samples, SNP- and gene-based tests showed involvement of the OXTR gene in development of loneliness, though, significance levels did not survive correction for multiple testing. The PRS approach provided no evidence for relations with loneliness. We recommend alternative phenotyping methods, including environmental factors, to consider epigenetic studies, and to examine possible endophenotypes in relation to adolescents' loneliness.

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

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

Loneliness, Social Anxiety Symptoms, and Depressive Symptoms in Adolescence: Longitudinal Distinctiveness and Correlated Change.

Loneliness, social anxiety symptoms, and depressive symptoms are internalizing problems that are highly intertwined and often co-occur during adolescence. This overlap and co-occurrence raises the question whether three different labels are used for the same underlying phenomenon. The present study adopts a comprehensive approach to this issue by investigating the development of the three phenomena simultaneously. Specifically, this study aimed to investigate (1) the developmental trend for all three internalizing problems separately, (2) whether they are best described by a single developmental trend, (3) how they co-develop across adolescence, and (4) gender differences in this co-development. The analyses were run in three three-wave longitudinal samples of adolescents with one-year intervals in order to verify the robustness of the findings. Sample 1 (roughly ages 15, 16, and 17) comprised 549 adolescents (63% girls), and Samples 2 and 3 (roughly ages 13, 14, and 15) comprised 811 adolescents (46% girls) and 1101 adolescents (52% girls), respectively. Latent growth curve modeling for the three phenomena separately showed either small increases or stable patterns. A comparison of a Multiple Indicator Latent Growth Model (MILGM) with a Parallel Process Latent Growth Curve Modeling (PPLGCM) showed that the three internalizing problems followed unique, but related, developmental trends across adolescence. The intercepts of the three phenomena were positively correlated with one another in all samples and increases in loneliness were associated consistently with increases in social anxiety symptoms. Only in Sample 3 evidence was found for a similar association between loneliness and depressive symptoms and between social anxiety symptoms and depressive symptoms. Except for differences in initial levels, gender differences in the development of the three problems were limited. Overall, the results of the present study clearly indicate that the three internalizing problems are longitudinally distinct from one another, but co-develop across adolescence.

Temporal associations between social anxiety and depressive symptoms and the role of interpersonal stress in adolescents.

BACKGROUND: Adolescence is characterized by an increased vulnerability for internalizing psychopathologies such as depression and anxiety. A positive association between anxiety and depression has consistently been found in research. However, the specific direction of this association is less clear. In this study, we investigated the temporal associations between (social) anxiety and depressive symptoms. Furthermore, the role of dependent interpersonal stress as a potential mediating factor in these temporal associations was examined. METHODS: Data were part of a larger longitudinal study on the emotional development of adolescents, which was initiated in February 2013. The total sample consisted of 2011 adolescents between the ages of 11 and 19. Data were analyzed using cross-lagged models. RESULTS: Bidirectional positive associations were found between social anxiety symptoms and depressive symptoms. However, dependent interpersonal stress was not a mediator in the link between social anxiety and depression. Our results indicate that dependent interpersonal stress seems to be particularly related to depressive symptoms and not to social anxiety symptoms. CONCLUSIONS: Findings suggest that bidirectional associations between social anxiety and depressive symptoms exist. This implies that clinicians should be specifically vigilant for the development of depressive symptoms in socially anxious adolescents and the development of social anxiety symptoms in depressed adolescents. Our findings further highlight the importance of targeting dependent interpersonal stress in the context of depression.

Developmental Change in Loneliness and Attitudes Toward Aloneness in Adolescence.

Adolescents are particularly vulnerable to experiencing feelings of loneliness. Changes in different social contexts and the inability to cope with these changes can result in different types of loneliness. According to the multidimensional view on loneliness, loneliness can be experienced in relationships with peers and parents and can be placed in a broader perspective by taking into account attitudes toward aloneness (i.e., positive and negative). However, we do not yet know how loneliness and attitudes toward aloneness develop across adolescence. These developmental trends were examined in two samples of Flemish adolescents consisting of 834 adolescents (61.9% girls, M age = 14.84; Sample 1), and 968 adolescents (58.6% girls, M age = 14.82; Sample 2), respectively. Adolescents filled out the Loneliness and Aloneness Scale for Children and Adolescents (LACA) during regular school hours on three (Sample 1) and four (Sample 2) measurement occasions with a 1-year interval. Latent growth curve modeling (LGCM) was applied. In line with theoretical notions, adolescents' parent-related loneliness and positive attitude toward aloneness were expected to increase, and adolescents' peer-related loneliness and negative attitude toward aloneness were expected to decrease. Clear evidence was found for the hypotheses regarding attitudes toward aloneness. The results regarding peer-related loneliness were inconsistent across samples and parent-related loneliness decreased, which was in contrast with theoretical expectations. In general, the two types of loneliness and attitudes toward aloneness changed in different directions during adolescence, suggesting the added value of a multidimensional view on loneliness.

Co-Brooding and Co-Reflection as Differential Predictors of Depressive Symptoms and Friendship Quality in Adolescents: Investigating the Moderating Role of Gender.

Co-rumination has been shown advantageous for friendship quality, but disadvantageous for mental health. Recently, two components have been distinguished, with co-brooding predicting increases in depressive symptoms and co-reflection decreases. The current study aimed to replicate these findings and investigated whether both components also show differential relations with friendship quality. Gender was investigated as a moderator. Path analyses were used on data of 313 adolescents aged 9-17 (50.5% girls). Co-brooding was related to more concurrent and prospective depressive symptoms in girls. Co-reflection predicted less concurrent and prospective depressive symptoms in girls and higher concurrent positive friendship quality for boys and girls. This study underscores the value of studying co-rumination components and suggests that boys and girls in this context differ in their pathways towards depression.

When Do Good Things Lift You Up? Dampening, Enhancing, and Uplifts in Relation To Depressive and Anhedonic Symptoms in Early Adolescence.

Longitudinal studies examining the role of response styles to positive affect (i.e., dampening and enhancing) for depressive symptoms have yielded inconsistent results. We examined concurrent and prospective relations of dampening and enhancing with depressive and anhedonic symptoms, and whether these relations depend on the frequency of uplifts. Early adolescents (N = 674, 51.6% girls, Mage = 12.7 years, range 11.3-14.9) completed questionnaires three times (one-year intervals). Dampening interacted with daily uplifts predicting concurrent depressive symptoms. Dampening was unrelated to depressive and anhedonic symptoms one year later. High dampening and low enhancing predicted relative increases in anhedonia over two years. Relationships did not differ for girls and boys. Therapeutic interventions designed to promote adaptive responding to positive affect may, thus, reduce anhedonia in adolescence.

Parent-Adolescent Discrepancies Regarding Adolescents' Peer-Related Loneliness: Associations with Adolescent Adjustment.

Because loneliness is a subjective experience, it is often examined using self-reports. Yet, researchers have started to use other-reports to examine loneliness. As previous research suggests that discrepancies between self- and other views might have important implications for adolescents' mental health, the current study examines discrepancies in multi-informant reports on adolescents' loneliness in relation with prosocial behavior, aggression, and adolescents' parent-related loneliness. The sample consisted of 374 mother-adolescent dyads and 318 father-adolescent dyads (41.80% male, M age = 15.67 years, SD = 1.25). Results indicated that informants used different reference points to assess adolescents' peer-related loneliness, but were otherwise comparable. Moreover, informant discrepancies were associated with greater adolescents' reported parent-related loneliness. The current study did not provide evidence that discrepancies were related to prosocial or aggressive behavior. The current study adds to the notion that other-reports on loneliness show substantial convergence with self-reports. In addition, this study indicates that the discrepancy between other- and self-reports on loneliness holds valuable information for adolescent socio-emotional adjustment.

Adolescents' Loneliness and Depression Associated with Friendship Experiences and Well-Being: A Person-Centered Approach.

Loneliness and depressive symptoms are distinct, but partly overlapping constructs. The current study examined whether clusters of loneliness and depressive symptoms could be identified through latent profile analysis in two samples of 417 and 1140 adolescents (48.40 and 48.68 % male, respectively), on average 12.47 and 12.81 years old, respectively. Four clusters were identified, (1) low on loneliness and depressive symptoms, (2) low on loneliness and high on depressive symptoms, (3) high on loneliness and low on depressive symptoms, and (4) high on loneliness and depressive symptoms. We found that these four clusters were differentially related to friendship quantity and quality as well as to happiness and self-esteem. The current study stresses the importance of assessing both loneliness and depressive symptoms, as their mutual relation within individuals is differentially related to various aspects of adjustment.

Understanding comorbidity among internalizing problems: Integrating latent structural models of psychopathology and risk mechanisms.

It is well known that comorbidity is the rule, not the exception, for categorically defined psychiatric disorders, and this is also the case for internalizing disorders of depression and anxiety. This theoretical review paper addresses the ubiquity of comorbidity among internalizing disorders. Our central thesis is that progress in understanding this co-occurrence can be made by employing latent dimensional structural models that organize psychopathology as well as vulnerabilities and risk mechanisms and by connecting the multiple levels of risk and psychopathology outcomes together. Different vulnerabilities and risk mechanisms are hypothesized to predict different levels of the structural model of psychopathology. We review the present state of knowledge based on concurrent and developmental sequential comorbidity patterns among common discrete psychiatric disorders in youth, and then we advocate for the use of more recent bifactor dimensional models of psychopathology (e.g., p factor; Caspi et al., 2014) that can help to explain the co-occurrence among internalizing symptoms. In support of this relatively novel conceptual perspective, we review six exemplar vulnerabilities and risk mechanisms, including executive function, information processing biases, cognitive vulnerabilities, positive and negative affectivity aspects of temperament, and autonomic dysregulation, along with the developmental occurrence of stressors in different domains, to show how these vulnerabilities can predict the general latent psychopathology factor, a unique latent internalizing dimension, as well as specific symptom syndrome manifestations.