Family and parenting factors are associated with emotion regulation neural function in early adolescent girls with elevated internalizing symptoms.

A prominent tripartite model proposes that parent role modeling of emotion regulation, emotion socialization behaviors, and the emotional climate of the family are important for young people's emotional development. However, limited research has examined the neural mechanisms at play. Here, we examined the associations between family and parenting factors, the neural correlates of emotional reactivity and regulation, and internalizing symptoms in early adolescent girls. Sixty-four female adolescents aged 10-12 years with elevated internalizing symptoms completed emotional reactivity, implicit (affect labeling) and explicit (cognitive reappraisal) emotion regulation tasks during functional magnetic resonance imaging. Positive family emotional climate was associated with greater activation in the anterior cingulate and middle temporal cortices during emotional reactivity. Maternal emotion regulation difficulties were associated with increased frontal pole and supramarginal gyrus activation during affect labeling, whereas supportive maternal emotion socialization and positive family emotional climate were associated with activation in prefrontal regions, including inferior frontal and superior frontal gyri, respectively, during cognitive reappraisal. No mediating effects of brain function were observed in the associations between family/parenting factors and adolescent symptoms. These findings highlight the role of family and parenting behaviors in adolescent emotion regulation neurobiology, and contribute to prominent models of adolescent emotional development.

Modifiable Parent Factors Associated with Child and Adolescent School Refusal: A Systematic Review.

School refusal is a complex problem that refers to difficulty attending/remaining at school due to emotional distress about attendance. Despite its occurrence being associated with negative outcomes, many are unresponsive to the current treatment options. While parent factors have a key role to play in school refusal, they are not adequately addressed in existing treatments. Further research is needed to consolidate understanding and implement new treatments. Employing the PRISMA method, this review aims to identify modifiable parent factors associated with child and/or adolescent school refusal. Eight studies met inclusion criteria from which nine factors were identified. Factors found to be associated with school refusal included: parent psychopathology, family functioning and maternal overprotection (communication subdomain). Other factors such as maternal overprotection (affection, assistance and travel subdomains) and parental self-efficacy had weak or inconsistent results warranting further investigation. Overall, findings call for action in this field that has sparse and dated literature.

Long-term effects of Youth Mental Health First Aid training: randomized controlled trial with 3-year follow-up.

BACKGROUND: Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) training teaches community members how to provide initial support to someone with a mental health problem. Key gaps in the evidence base supporting the training are the longevity of effects beyond 6 months, effects on mental health first aid behavior, and the impact of support on the recipient of aid. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of the Youth MHFA course 3 years after training. METHODS: 384 Australian parents of an adolescent aged 12-15 were randomized to receive either the 14-h Youth MHFA course or the 15-h Australian Red Cross Provide First Aid course. This paper reports outcomes at baseline and 3 years later. Primary outcomes were cases of adolescent mental health problems, and parental support towards their adolescent if they developed a mental health problem, rated by the parent and adolescent. Secondary outcomes included parent knowledge about youth mental health problems, intentions and confidence in supporting a young person, stigmatizing attitudes, and help-seeking for mental health problems. Data were analyzed with mixed-effects models with group by measurement occasion interactions. RESULTS: 3-year follow-up data was obtained from 149 parents and 118 adolescents, who were aged 16.5 years on average. Between baseline and 3-year follow-up, there was a non-significant reduction in adolescent cases of mental health problems relative to the control group (odds ratios (OR) 0.16-0.17), a non-significant improvement in parental support reported by adolescents with a mental health problem (OR 2.80-4.31), and a non-significant improvement in the quality of support that parents reported providing to their adolescents with a mental health problem (d = 0.38). Secondary outcomes that showed significant improvements relative to the control group were parental knowledge about youth mental health problems (d = 0.31) and adolescent perceptions of general social support from their parents (d = 0.35). CONCLUSIONS: This paper reports on the longest follow-up of Mental Health First Aid training in a controlled trial. Three years after training, participants had maintained their improved knowledge about mental health problems. There were some indications of other positive effects, but the study was underpowered to clearly show benefits to mental health first aid skills and recipients of aid. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ACTRN 12612000390886 , registered retrospectively 5/4/2012, https://www.anzctr.org.au/Trial/Registration/TrialReview.aspx?id=347502.

Parental Self-Efficacy for Reducing the Risk of Adolescent Depression and Anxiety: Scale Development and Validation.

Burgeoning research suggests that parents can reduce the risk of anxiety and depression in their adolescents and that parental self-efficacy (PSE) may be related to parental risk and protective factors for these disorders. As there are currently no measures available to assess PSE in relation to parenting behaviors that may reduce adolescent risk for depression and anxiety, we developed and validated a measure of PSE, the Parental Self-Efficacy Scale (PSES). Using a sample of 359 parents and 332 adolescents (aged 12-15), the PSES was found to have high reliability, confirmatory factor analysis supported its validity, and most of the hypothesized relationships between the PSES and other measures of parenting practices and adolescent depressive and anxiety symptoms were supported.

Interaction between hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis genetic variation and maternal behavior in the prediction of amygdala connectivity in children.

High levels of negative, and low levels of positive parenting behaviors can increase the risk of internalizing symptoms in children, but the mechanisms underlying this association are still unclear. One possibility is that parenting behaviors affect the neural correlates of emotion processing in children. Further, genetic variants relevant to the function of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis are thought to moderate the effect of early experiences on the brain circuits underlying emotion processing, particularly those involving the amygdala. However, no studies have investigated the interactive effect of parenting behaviors and HPA axis-related genes on amygdala activity and connectivity during emotion processing, and in turn internalizing symptoms in children. Participants comprised 80 children (46 females, mean age = 10.0 years) from the community. Observational measures of maternal behavior were collected during mother-child interactions. Children underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging while performing an implicit emotion-processing task, and mothers and children completed measures of child internalizing symptoms. Genetic risk was calculated using an HPA genetic risk score. HPA genetic risk score was indirectly associated with greater child self-reported depressive symptoms via increased amygdala-precuneus connectivity during the emotion-processing task, and interacted with negative maternal parenting behavior to predict increased connectivity between amygdala and superior frontal gyrus, anterior cingulate cortex and parietal cortex. HPA-related genetic variation appears to moderate the effect of negative maternal parenting behavior on the neural underpinnings of emotion processing in children, and may confer risk for depressive symptoms via modulation of amygdala connectivity.

Does Mental Health First Aid training improve the mental health of aid recipients? The training for parents of teenagers randomised controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: There is well-established evidence that Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) training improves knowledge about how to support someone developing a mental health problem, but less evidence that this support improves the mental health of the recipient of aid. This randomised controlled trial aimed to assess the long-term effects of MHFA training of parents on the mental health of their adolescent children. METHODS: 384 Australian parents of an adolescent aged 12-15 were randomised to receive either the 14-h Youth MHFA course or the 15-h Australian Red Cross Provide First Aid course. Outcomes were assessed at baseline, 1-year, and 2-year follow-up in both parents and adolescents. Primary outcomes were cases of adolescent mental health problems, and parental support towards their adolescent if they developed a mental health problem, rated by the parent and adolescent. Secondary outcomes included parent knowledge about mental health problems, intentions and confidence in supporting a young person, stigmatizing attitudes, and help-seeking for mental health problems. RESULTS: Parent and adolescent reports showed no significant difference between training groups in the proportion of cases of adolescents with a mental health problem over time (ps > .05). There was also no significant difference between training groups in the quality of parental support provided to their adolescent at 1- or 2-year follow-up (ps > .05). In contrast, some secondary outcomes showed benefits from the Youth MHFA training relative to the control, with increased parental knowledge about mental health problems at 1-year (d = 0.43) and 2-year follow-up (d = 0.26), and increased confidence to help a young person (d = 0.26) and intentions to provide effective support (d = 0.22) at 1-year follow-up. CONCLUSIONS: The study showed some improvements in mental health literacy in training recipients, but could not detect changes in the mental health of adolescents and the support provided to them by their parents if they had a mental health problem. However, there was a lack of power to detect primary outcome effects and therefore the question of whether MHFA training leads to better outcomes in the recipients of aid remains to be further explored. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ACTRN12612000390886 , registered retrospectively 5/4/2012.

What are parents doing to reduce adolescent alcohol misuse? Evaluating concordance with parenting guidelines for adolescent alcohol use.

BACKGROUND: The Parenting Guidelines for Adolescent Alcohol Use were developed to support parents in reducing adolescent alcohol misuse. The aims of this paper were to: (1) validate an online parent self-assessment survey as a criterion-referenced measure of parental factors that are important for predicting adolescent alcohol misuse; (2) examine parent web-users' concordance with the Parenting Guidelines (extent to which their knowledge and behaviours align with Guidelines recommendations), and (3) examine the associations of parent and child characteristics with parental Guidelines concordance. METHODS: Participants were 489 parents who completed the online survey. The survey assessed parent and child characteristics and parental concordance with the Guidelines in nine parenting areas. Reliability of the survey measure was assessed via an estimate of the agreement coefficient for each of the nine areas. Concurrent validity was examined by exploring the correlates of parental Guidelines concordance. RESULTS: Reliability of the measure was acceptable to high in eight of the nine parenting areas. Greater parental Guidelines concordance was associated with being female, beliefs about healthy levels of drinking that align with the Australian national alcohol use guidelines, drinking within guidelines-recommended levels, the reduced likelihood of another adult in the household with a drinking problem, an older age of adolescent alcohol initiation, and greater confidence in the reported age of adolescent initiation. CONCLUSIONS: This validated self-assessment parenting measure can be useful for identifying targets for parenting interventions designed to prevent or reduce adolescent alcohol misuse, and as a pre- and post-intervention assessment to assess the effects of such interventions.

Adapting a coach-assisted web-based intervention for parents of adolescents who refuse school: qualitative study with users of the Partners in Parenting Plus programme.

BACKGROUND: School refusal is a heterogenous problem which typically emerges in adolescence and co-occurs with internalising disorders. A substantial proportion of adolescents do not respond to existing treatment modalities; thus, novel, effective intervention options are needed. Partners in Parenting Plus (PiP+) is a coach-assisted, web-based intervention designed to empower parents to respond to adolescent internalising disorders. AIMS: To conduct a process evaluation of PiP+ and identify programme adaptations required to meet the needs of parents of adolescents who refuse school. METHOD: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 14 Australian mothers who had: (a) received the PiP+ programme (not tailored for school refusal) during a prior research trial; and (b) reported that their adolescent was refusing school during their participation in PiP+. Inductive thematic analysis was used to analyse interview transcripts. RESULTS: Participants were 41-53 years old (M = 47.8) and parenting adolescent children aged 14-17 years (M = 14.9). Three themes illustrated how PiP+ features met or could better meet the needs of parents of adolescents who were refusing school: (a) feeling heard, supported and respected; (b) relevance to me and my context; and (c) seeing positive changes. Participants had favourable views of PiP+, especially coached components. Participants requested programme enhancements to better meet the needs of parents of neurodiverse adolescents and discussed the impact of cumulative help-seeking 'failures' on self-efficacy and locus of control. CONCLUSIONS: PiP+ was highly acceptable to the majority of parents navigating the issue of school refusal. This has implications for the enhancement of coach-assisted parenting interventions and the context-specific adaptation of PiP+ for school refusal.

Investigating Associations Between Maternal Behavior and the Development of Functional Connectivity During the Transition From Late Childhood to Early Adolescence.

BACKGROUND: Parenting behavior is thought to affect child brain development, with implications for mental health. However, longitudinal studies that use whole-brain approaches are lacking. In this study, we investigated associations between parenting behavior, age-related changes in whole-brain functional connectivity, and psychopathology symptoms in children and adolescents. METHODS: Two hundred forty (126 female) children underwent resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging at up to two time points, providing a total of 398 scans covering the age range 8 to 13 years. Parenting behavior was self-reported at baseline. Parenting factors (positive parenting, inattentive parenting, and harsh and inconsistent discipline) were identified based on a factor analysis of self-report parenting questionnaires. Longitudinal measures of child internalizing and externalizing symptoms were collected. Network-based R-statistics was used to identify associations between parenting and age-related changes in functional connectivity. RESULTS: Higher maternal inattentive behavior was associated with lower decreases in connectivity over time, particularly between regions of the ventral attention and default mode networks and frontoparietal and default mode networks. However, this association was not significant after strict correction for multiple comparisons. CONCLUSIONS: While results should be considered preliminary, they suggest that inattentive parenting may be associated with a reduction in the normative pattern of increased network specialization that occurs with age. This may reflect a delayed development of functional connectivity.

"I literally had no support": barriers and facilitators to supporting the psychosocial wellbeing of young people with mental illness in Tasmania, Australia.

BACKGROUND: There has been limited focus on understanding the barriers and facilitators to meeting the broader psychosocial needs of young people with mental illness from the perspectives of young people. This is required to advance the local evidence base and inform service design and development. The aim of this qualitative study was to explore young people's (10-25 years) and carers' experiences of mental health services, focusing on barriers and facilitators to services supporting young people's psychosocial functioning. METHODS: This study was conducted throughout 2022 in Tasmania, Australia. Young people with lived experience of mental illness were involved in all stages of this research. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 32 young people aged 10-25 years with experience of mental illness, and 29 carers (n = 12 parent-child dyads). Qualitative analysis was guided by the Social-Ecological Framework to identify barriers and facilitators at the individual (young person/carer level), interpersonal, and service/systemic level. RESULTS: Young people and carers identified eight barriers and six facilitators across the various levels of the Social-Ecological Framework. Barriers included, at the individual level: (1) the complexity of young people's psychosocial needs and (2) lack of awareness/knowledge of services available; at the interpersonal level: (3) negative experiences with adults and (4) fragmented communication between services and family; and at the systemic level: (5) lack of services; (6) long waiting periods; (7) limited service accessibility; and (8) the missing middle. Facilitators included, at the individual level: (1) education for carers; at the interpersonal level: (2) positive therapeutic relationships and (3) carer advocacy/support; and at the systemic level: (4) flexible or responsive services, (5) services that address the psychosocial factors; and (6) safe service environments. CONCLUSIONS: This study identified key barriers and facilitators to accessing and utilising mental health services that may inform service design, development, policy and practice. To enhance their psychosocial functioning, young people and carers want lived-experience workers to provide practical wrap-around support, and mental health services that integrate health and social care, and are flexible, responsive and safe. These findings will inform the co-design of a community-based psychosocial service to support young people experiencing severe mental illness.

Identifying and responding to family adversity in Australian community and primary health settings: a multi-site cross sectional study.

Background: Unaddressed family adversity has potentially modifiable, negative biopsychosocial impacts across the life course. Little is known about how Australian health and social practitioners identify and respond to family adversity in community and primary health settings. Objective: To describe, in two Australian community health services: (1) the number of adversities experienced by caregivers, (2) practitioner identification of caregivers experiencing adversity, (3) practitioner response to caregivers experiencing adversity, and (4) caregiver uptake of referrals. Methods: Survey of caregivers of children aged 0-8 years attending community health services in Victoria and New South Wales (NSW). Analysis described frequencies of caregiver self-reported: (1) experiences of adversity, (2) practitioner identification of adversity, (3) practitioner response to adversity, and (4) referral uptake. Analyses were sub-grouped by three adversity domains and site. Results: 349 caregivers (Victoria: n = 234; NSW: n = 115) completed the survey of whom 88% reported experiencing one or more family adversities. The median number of adversities was 4 (2-6). Only 43% of participants were directly asked about or discussed an adversity with a practitioner in the previous 6 months (Victoria: 30%; NSW: 68%). Among caregivers experiencing adversity, 30% received direct support (Victoria: 23%; NSW: 43%), and 14% received a referral (Victoria: 10%; NSW: 22%) for at least one adversity. Overall, 74% of caregivers accepted referrals when extended. Conclusion: The needs of Australian families experiencing high rates of adversity are not systematically identified nor responded to in community health services. This leaves significant scope for reform and enhancement of service responses to families experiencing adversity.

Socioeconomic factors and parents' preferences for internet- and mobile-based parenting interventions to prevent youth mental health problems: A discrete choice experiment.

Background: The positive impact of parenting programs for youth mental health is undermined by difficulties engaging parents. Low engagement disproportionately impacts parents of lower-socioeconomic positions (SEPs). Internet- and mobile-based interventions hold potential for overcoming barriers to enrolment, but additional research is needed to understand how programs can appropriately meet the needs of parents across SEPs. Consumer preference methods such as discrete choice experiments may be valuable in this endeavour. Method: A discrete choice experiment was used to determine the relative influence of modifiable program features on parents' intent to enrol. 329 Australian parents of children aged 0-18 repeatedly selected their preferred program from randomized sets of hypothetical programs in an online survey. Each hypothetical program was unique, varying across four program features: module duration, program platform, user control, and program cost. Cumulative link models were used to predict choices, with education, household income, and community advantage used as indicators of SEP. Results: Overall, parents preferred cheaper programs and briefer modules. Parents' preferences differed based on their socioeconomic challenges. Lower-income parents preferred briefer modules, cheaper programs and application-based programs compared to higher-income parents. Parents with less education preferred briefer modules and a predefined module order. Parents living in areas of less advantage preferred website-based programs, user choice of module order, and more expensive programs. Conclusions: This study offers program developers evidence-based strategies for tailoring internet- and mobile-based parenting interventions to increase lower-SEP parent enrolment. Findings also highlight the importance of considering parents' socioeconomic challenges to ensure programs do not perpetuate existing mental health inequalities, as "one-size-fits-all" approaches are likely insufficient for reaching lower-SEP parents.

The Role of Parent Engagement in a Web-Based Preventive Parenting Intervention for Child Mental Health in Predicting Parenting, Parent and Child Outcomes.

Although parents' engagement in parenting programmes has frequently been posited to influence the efficacy and dissemination of these programmes, its relationship with intervention outcomes in parenting programmes is understudied. This study examined the predictive value of parental engagement on preventive parenting outcomes in a tailored online parenting programme aimed at enhancing parental protective factors and reducing risk factors for child depression and anxiety disorders. The present study also explored the associations between parental engagement and other parent, child and family outcomes. Data were collected from a community sample of 177 parents who received a tailored online parenting programme ('Parenting Resilient Kids'; PaRK) and their children as part of a randomised controlled trial. Participants completed measures on parenting, child anxiety and depressive symptoms, health-related quality of life and family functioning on three occasions. Multiple regressions showed that parental engagement explained additional variance in preventive parenting (most proximal outcomes) at post-intervention and 12-month follow-up. Indicators of higher levels of parental engagement, operationalised by greater proportions of recommended programme modules and intended goals completed, uniquely predicted higher levels of preventing parenting. Higher levels of parental engagement also predicted higher levels of parental acceptance and parental psychosocial health-related quality of life, lower levels of parental psychological control and lower levels of impairments in child health-related quality of life. However, parental engagement did not explain additional variance in parent or child reported anxiety or depressive symptoms. This study provides support for the role of parental engagement in facilitating parenting changes in parenting-focused interventions.

Harsh and Inconsistent Parental Discipline Is Associated With Altered Cortical Development in Children.

BACKGROUND: A growing body of evidence suggests that parenting behaviors may affect child mental health via altering brain development. There is a scarcity of research, however, that has investigated associations between parenting behavior and brain structure using longitudinal magnetic resonance imaging. This study aimed to investigate associations between parenting behaviors and structural brain development across the transition from childhood to adolescence. METHODS: Participants were 246 children who provided 436 magnetic resonance imaging datasets covering the age range from 8 to 13 years. Parents (94% mothers) completed self-report measures of parenting behavior, and both children and parents reported on child mental health. Factor analysis was used to identify dimensions of parental behavior. Linear mixed-effects models investigated associations between parenting behaviors and age-related change in cortical thickness and surface area and subcortical volume. Mediation models tested whether brain changes mediated associations between parenting behaviors and changes in internalizing/externalizing symptoms. RESULTS: Hypothesized associations between parenting and amygdala, hippocampal, and frontal trajectories were not supported. Rather, higher levels of parent harsh/inconsistent discipline were associated with decreases in surface area in medial parietal and temporal pole regions and reduced cortical thinning in medial parietal regions. Some effects were present in female but not male children. There were no associations between these neurodevelopmental alterations and symptoms. CONCLUSIONS: This study provides insight into the links between parenting behavior and child neurodevelopment. Given the functions of implicated regions, findings may suggest that parental harsh/inconsistent discipline affects the development of neural circuits subserving sensorimotor and social functioning in children.

Integrated Child and Family Hub models for detecting and responding to family adversity: protocol for a mixed-methods evaluation in two sites.

INTRODUCTION: Integrated community healthcare Hubs may offer a 'one stop shop' for service users with complex health and social needs, and more efficiently use service resources. Various policy imperatives exist to implement Hub models of care, however, there is a dearth of research specifically evaluating Hubs targeted at families experiencing adversity. To contribute to building this evidence, we propose to co-design, test and evaluate integrated Hub models of care in two Australian community health services in low socioeconomic areas that serve families experiencing adversity: Wyndham Vale in Victoria and Marrickville in New South Wales. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: This multisite convergent mixed-methods study will run over three phases to (1) develop the initial Hub programme theory through formative research; (2) test and, then, (3) refine the Hub theory using empirical data. Phase 1 involves co-design of each Hub with caregivers, community members and practitioners. Phase 2 uses caregiver and Hub practitioner surveys at baseline, and 6 and 12 months after Hub implementation, and in-depth interviews at 12 months. Two stakeholder groups will be recruited: caregivers (n=100-200 per site) and Hub practitioners (n=20-30 per site). The intervention is a co-located Hub providing health, social, legal and community services with no comparator. The primary outcomes are caregiver-reported: (i) identification of, (ii) interventions received and/or (iii) referrals received for adversity from Hub practitioners. The study also assesses child, caregiver, practitioner and system outcomes including mental health, parenting, quality of life, care experience and service linkages. Primary and secondary outcomes will be assessed by examining change in proportions/means from baseline to 6 months, from 6 to 12 months and from baseline to 12 months. Service linkages will be analysed using social network analysis. Costs of Hub implementation and a health economics analysis of unmet need will be conducted. Thematic analysis will be employed to analyse qualitative data. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: Royal Children's Hospital and Sydney Local Health District ethics committees have approved the study (HREC/62866/RCHM-2020). Participants and stakeholders will receive results through meetings, presentations and publications. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: ISRCTN55495932.

A review of Australian Government funding of parenting intervention research.

OBJECTIVES: Parenting is central to children's optimal development and accounts for a substantial proportion of the variance in child outcomes, including up to 40% of child mental health. Parenting is also one of the most modifiable, proximal, and direct factors for preventing and treating a range of children's problems and enhancing wellbeing. To determine the effectiveness of new approaches to parenting intervention, and to evaluate how to optimise reach and uptake, sufficient funding must be allocated for high quality research. METHOD: We reviewed funding awarded by the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) and Australian Research Council (ARC) for parenting intervention research during 2011-2020. RESULTS: Parenting intervention research received 0.25% of the NHMRC and ARC research budgets. CONCLUSIONS: There is a substantial mismatch between the funding of parenting intervention research and the impact of improved parenting on short- and long-term child outcomes. To rectify this, it is critical that Australian Government funding schemes include parenting interventions as priority areas for funding. IMPLICATIONS FOR PUBLIC HEALTH: Changes in allocation of funding to parenting research will support the establishment of evidence for the effective development, implementation and dissemination of parenting interventions to maximise health outcomes for children and their families.

Hippocampal volume and sensitivity to maternal aggressive behavior: a prospective study of adolescent depressive symptoms.

It has been suggested that biological factors confer increased sensitivity to environmental influences on depressive symptoms during adolescence, a crucial time for the onset of depressive disorders. Given the critical role of the hippocampus in sensitivity to stress and processing of contextual aspects of the environment, investigation of its role in determining sensitivity to environmental context seems warranted. This study prospectively examined hippocampal volume as a measure of sensitivity to the influence of aggressive maternal behavior on change in depressive symptoms from early to midadolescence. The interaction between aggressive maternal behavior and hippocampal volume was found to predict change in depressive symptoms. Significant sex differences also emerged, whereby only for girls were larger bilateral hippocampal volumes more sensitive to the effects of maternal aggressive behavior, particularly with respect to experiencing the protective effects of low levels of maternal aggressiveness. These findings help elucidate the complex relationships between brain structure, environmental factors such as maternal parenting style, and sensitivity to (i.e., risk for, and protection from) the emergence of depression during this life stage. Given that family context risk factors are modifiable, our findings suggest the potential utility of targeted parenting interventions for the prevention and treatment of adolescent depressive disorder.

Early adolescents' temperament, emotion regulation during mother-child interactions, and depressive symptomatology.

This study examined the relations among temperament, emotion regulation, and depressive symptoms in early adolescents. Early adolescents provided self-reports of temperament on two occasions, as well as reports on emotion regulation and depressive symptomatology. Furthermore, 163 of these adolescents participated in event-planning and problem-solving interactions with their mothers. Adolescents with temperaments that were high in negative emotionality or low in effortful control displayed more emotionally dysregulated behaviors during the interaction tasks, reported having maladaptive responses to negative affect more often and adaptive responses less often, and had more depressive symptoms. In particular, adolescents with the high negative emotionality and low effortful control temperament combination reported the highest levels of depressive symptomatology. Sequential analyses of family interactions indicated that adolescents with more depressive symptoms were more likely to reciprocate their mothers' negative affective behaviors. Adolescents' adaptive and maladaptive responses to negative affect mediated the associations between their temperament and concurrent depressive symptoms.

The influence of stigma on young people's help-seeking intentions and beliefs about the helpfulness of various sources of help.

PURPOSE: In this study, we examined whether young people's help-seeking intentions and beliefs about the helpfulness of various sources of help are influenced by their own, and their parents' stigmatising attitudes towards young people with mental disorders. METHODS: A national telephone survey was conducted with 3,746 Australians aged 12-25 years and 2,005 of their parents. Stigmatising attitudes, help-seeking intentions, and perceived helpfulness of various sources of help were assessed in relation to four vignettes of a young person with a mental disorder (psychosis, depression, depression with alcohol misuse or social phobia). RESULTS: Unlike 'stigma perceived in others', the 'weak-not-sick', 'social distance' and 'dangerous/unpredictable' dimensions of young people's stigma were associated with both help-seeking intentions and helpfulness beliefs about various sources of help. Attributing mental disorder to a personal weakness rather than an illness was associated with less intention to seek help from a doctor and less positive beliefs about professional sources (including doctors, counsellors, and psychologists). In contrast, young adults aged 18-25 years who perceived the vignette character as more dangerous or unpredictable had greater intention to seek help from a psychiatrist and a helpline, and more positive beliefs about psychiatrists. Greater social distance was associated with less intention to seek help from informal sources and less positive beliefs about these sources. No consistent pattern of associations was found for parent stigma. CONCLUSIONS: The findings suggest that different dimensions of youth stigma differentially influence help-seeking intentions and beliefs about the helpfulness of different sources of help.

Prefrontal and amygdala volumes are related to adolescents' affective behaviors during parent-adolescent interactions.

Adolescence is a key period for the development of brain circuits underlying affective and behavioral regulation. It remains unclear, however, whether and how adolescent brain structure influences day-to-day affective behavior. Because of significant changes in the nature of family relations that also typically occur during adolescence, parent-child interactions provide a meaningful context where affective behavior and its regulation may be assessed. In a sample of 137 early adolescents, we investigated the relationship between aspects of the adolescents' brain structure and their affective behavior as assessed during observation of parent-child interactions. We found a significant positive association between volume of the amygdala and the duration of adolescent aggressive behavior during these interactions. We also found male-specific associations between the volume of prefrontal structures and affective behavior, with decreased leftward anterior paralimbic cortex volume asymmetry associated with increased duration of aggressive behavior, and decreased leftward orbitofrontal cortex volume asymmetry associated with increased reciprocity of dysphoric behavior. These findings suggest that adolescent brain structure is associated with affective behavior and its regulation in the context of family interactions, and that there may be gender differences in the neural mechanisms underlying affective and behavioral regulation during early adolescence. Particularly as adolescence marks a period of rapid brain maturation, our findings have implications for mental health outcomes that may be revealed later along the developmental trajectory.