Callous-unemotional traits moderate the association between inhibitory control and disruptive behavior problems.

The presence of callous-unemotional (CU) traits may not be unique to conduct disorder (CD) but also extend to oppositional defiant disorder (ODD). While a distinct neurocognitive profile characterizes CU traits, it remains unclear whether this CU-related neurocognitive profile differs between youth with CD and ODD. This study investigated whether CU traits moderate the relationship between inhibitory control and CD or ODD symptoms. We leveraged computational modeling to decompose task-based inhibitory control in a sample of 200 children (59.5% boys, 86.5% Caucasian), aged 8 to 15 years (M = 10.10, SD = 1.88), referred to an outpatient child diagnostic clinic focused on externalizing problems. Analyses examined whether CU traits moderated the relationship between inhibitory control and CD or ODD symptoms while controlling for ADHD symptoms and child demographics. The results indicated that the strength of the relationship between inhibitory control and CD and ODD symptoms varies as a function of CU traits. Specifically, CD was linked to a more cautious decision-making style when elevated CU traits were present, whereas ODD was associated with more efficient decision making. These findings suggest distinct neurocognitive profiles based on CU traits, which vary between CD and ODD. Clinically, this underscores the importance of tailoring interventions for CD-CU and ODD-CU, focusing on decision making processes rather than merely addressing impulsivity. This research contributes to a more nuanced understanding of the interaction between neurocognitive processes and disruptive behavior, with significant implications for both theoretical models and treatment approaches.

Computational modeling of social evaluative decision-making elucidates individual differences in adolescent anxiety.

Adolescents experience significant developmental changes during a time of heightened sensitivity to social cues, particularly rejection by peers, which can be especially overwhelming for those with elevated levels of social anxiety. Social evaluative decision-making tasks have been useful in uncovering the neural correlates of information processing biases; however, linking youths' task-based performance to individual differences in psychopathology (e.g., anxiety symptoms) has proven more elusive. Here, we address this weakness with drift diffusion modeling to decompose youths' performance on the social judgment paradigm (SJP) to determine if this approach is useful in discovering individual differences in anxiety symptoms, as well as puberty, age, and sex. A sample of 103 adolescents (55 males, Mage = 14.49, SD = 1.69) completed the SJP and self-report measures of anxiety, as well as self- and parent-reported measures of puberty. The decision threshold parameter, reflecting the amount of evidence needed to make a social evaluative decision, predicted youth self-reported anxiety, above and beyond typical metrics of SJP performance. Our results highlight the potential advantage of parsing task performance according to the underlying cognitive processes. Future research would likely benefit from applying computational modeling approaches to social judgment tasks when attempting to uncover performance-based individual differences in psychopathology.

Post-event rumination and social anxiety: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Post-event rumination, the extent to which one engages in persistent, detailed, and negative thinking following social situations, serves as a risk process in the pathophysiology of social anxiety. Although a substantial body of research has assessed post-event rumination and social anxiety, this literature has produced inconsistent results. We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to examine whether the magnitude of the association between post-event rumination and social anxiety varied as a function of questionnaire and/or task utilized. We included all studies reporting a correlation between post-event rumination and social anxiety symptomatology. Fisher's z correlation coefficients were calculated through random-effect meta-analyses. Results indicated a moderate association between post-event rumination and social anxiety symptomatology (r = 0.45, p < 0.001, 95%CI [0.40-0.50]). Subgroup meta-analyses indicated that the type of questionnaire used to assess post-event rumination (Q = 44.36, df = 3, p < 0.001) and social anxiety (Q = 26.44, df = 8, p < 0.001), as well as the task conducted prior to assessing post-event rumination (Q = 14.31, df = 2, p < 0.001), influenced the effect size. This study demonstrates a moderate relation between post-event rumination and social anxiety across the anxiety spectrum, illustrating the importance of treatments specifically targeting post-event rumination. Moreover, we highlight the importance of taking care when designing studies to explore relations between post-event rumination and social anxiety.

Catch the drift: Depressive symptoms track neural response during more efficient decision-making for negative self-referents.

Background: Adolescence is a time of heightened risk for developing depression and also a critical period for the development and integration of self-identity. Despite this, the relation between the neurophysiological correlates of self-referential processing and major depressive symptoms in youth is not well understood. Here, we leverage computational modeling of the self-referential encoding task (SRET) to identify behavioral moderators of the association between the posterior late positive potential (LPP), an event-related potential associated with emotion regulation, and youth self-reported symptoms of depression. Specifically, within a drift-diffusion framework, we evaluated whether the association between the posterior LPP and youth symptoms of major depression was moderated by drift rate, a parameter reflecting processing efficiency during self-evaluative decisions. Methods: A sample of 106 adolescents, aged 12 to 17 (53% male; Mage = 14.49, SD = 1.70), completed the SRET with concurrent high-density electroencephalography and self-report measures of depression and anxiety. Results: Findings indicated a significant moderation: for youth showing greater processing efficiency (drift rate) when responding to negative compared to positive words, larger posterior LPPs predicted greater depressive symptom severity. Limitations: We relied on a community sample and our study was cross-sectional in nature. Future longitudinal work with clinically depressed youth would be beneficial. Conclusions: Our results suggest a neurobehavioral model of adolescent depression wherein efficient processing of negative information co-occurs with increased demands on affective self-regulation. Our findings also have clinical relevance; youth's neurophysiological response (posterior LPP) and performance during the SRET may serve as a novel target for tracking treatment-related changes in one's self-identity.

The current state-of-the-art in pharmacotherapy for pediatric generalized anxiety disorder.

INTRODUCTION: Anxiety disorders are the most prevalent psychiatric disorders among youth. Among the various anxiety disorders, generalized anxiety disorder is particularly prevalent. Youth with GAD appear at elevated risk of developing other anxiety disorders, mood disorder, and substance use disorders. Functional outcomes of youth with GAD can be improved through early recognition and treatment, thus promoting better longer-term outcomes. AREAS COVERED: The current article summarizes evidence-based state-of-the-art pharmacotherapy for pediatric GAD based on open-label, randomized, and controlled trials. Two electronic databases (PubMed and Scopus) were systematically searched in April 2022 for relevant publications. EXPERT OPINION: The literature supports a combination of psychotherapy and pharmacotherapy as being associated with better outcomes when compared to mono-therapies. While longer-term follow-ups are limited, one such study does challenge this notion. Both selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) and selective norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs) have been found across studies to have moderate effect sizes in the treatment of pediatric anxiety disorders. SSRIs continue to be a first-line intervention, whereas SNRIs may be considered a second-line treatment. While more evidence is needed, there are emerging data indicating that SSRIs are associated with a more rapid and greater reduction in anxiety symptoms when compared to SNRIs.

Modeling brain dynamics and gaze behavior: Starting point bias and drift rate relate to frontal midline theta oscillations.

Frontal midline theta oscillatory dynamics have been implicated as an important neural signature of inhibitory control. However, most proactive cognitive control studies rely on behavioral tasks where individual differences are inferred through button presses. We applied computational modeling to further refine our understanding of theta dynamics in a cued anti-saccade task with gaze-contingent eye tracking. Using a drift diffusion model, increased frontal midline theta power during high-conflict, relative to low-conflict, trials predicted a more conservative style of responding through the starting point (bias). During both high- and low-conflict trials, increases in frontal midline theta also predicted improvements in response efficiency (drift rate). Regression analyses provided support for the importance of the starting point bias, which was associated with frontal midline theta over the course of the task above-and-beyond both drift rate and mean reaction time. Our findings provide a more thorough understanding of proactive gaze control by linking trial-by-trial increases of frontal midline theta to a shift in starting point bias facilitating a more neutral style of responding.

Computational Modeling of Self-Referential Processing Reveals Domain General Associations with Adolescent Anxiety Symptoms.

What an adolescent thinks about themselves, commonly termed self-referential processing, has significant implications for youth long-term psychological well-being. Self-referential processing plays an important role in anticipatory and reactive processing in social contexts and contributes to symptoms of social anxiety. Previous work examining self-referential processing largely focuses on child and adolescent depression, relying on endorsement and reaction time for positive and negative self-describing adjectives in a self-referential encoding task (SRET). Here, we employ computational methods to interrogate the latent processes underlying choice reaction times to evaluate the fit of several drift-diffusion models of youth SRET performance. A sample of 106 adolescent, aged 12-17 (53% male; Mage = 14.49, SD = 1.70) completed the SRET and self-report measures of anxiety and depression. Our results support the utility of modeling the SRET, where the rate of evidence accumulation (i.e., drift rate) during negative self-referential processing was related to social anxiety above-and-beyond mean task performance. Our regression analyses indicated that youth efficiency in processing of self-referential views was domain general to anxiety, highlighting the importance of assessing both social and physiological anxiety symptoms when predicting SRET performance. The computational modeling results revealed that self-referential views are not uniquely related to depression-related constructs but also facets of anxiety.

Multi-Informant Ratings of Childhood Limited Prosocial Emotions: Mother, Father, and Teacher Perspectives.

OBJECTIVE: Modest agreement between mothers', fathers', and teachers' reports of child psychopathology can cause diagnostic ambiguity. Despite this, there is little research on informant perspectives of youth's limited prosocial emotions (LPEs). We examined the relationship between mother-, father-, and teacher-reported LPE in a clinical sample of elementary school-aged children. METHOD: The sample included 207 primarily Caucasian (n = 175, 84.5%) children (136 boys; 65.7%) aged 6-13 years (M = 8.35, SD = 2.04) referred to an outpatient child diagnostic clinic focused on externalizing problems. We report the percentage of youth meeting LPE criteria as a function of informant perspective(s). Utilizing standard scores, we report distributions of informant dyads in agreement/disagreement regarding child LPE, followed up by polynomial regressions to further interrogate the relationship between mother-, father-, and teacher-reported LPE as it relates to conduct problems (CPs). RESULTS: The prevalence of child LPE was approximately twice as large when compared to those reported in community samples; mothers and fathers generally agreed on their child's LPE symptoms (55% agreement). Higher-order nonlinear interactions between mothers and fathers, as well as parents and teachers, emerged; discrepancies between informants, characterized by low levels of LPE reported by the child's mother, were predictive of youth at the highest risk for CPs. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings emphasize the clinical utility of gathering multiple reports of LPE when serious CPs are suspected. It may be beneficial for clinicians to give significant consideration to teacher reported LPE when interpreting multiple-informant reports of LPE.

Normative and Maladaptive Personality Traits and Self-Reported Executive Functioning.

Research on self-reported executive functioning (EF) and personality has largely focused on normative personality traits. While previous research has demonstrated that maladaptive personality traits are associated with performance-based EF, the literature examining the relationship between these traits and self-reported EF is limited. The current study examined the relationship between multiple domains of self-reported EF (Barkley Deficits in Executive Functioning Scale) and both normative (The International Personality Item Pool-NEO-120 Item [IPIP-120]) and maladaptive (Personality Inventory for DSM-5-Short Form [PID-5-SF]) personality traits in an undergraduate student sample (n = 354). Similar to past research, relationships were largest across EF domains for both measures related to neuroticism (i.e., IPIP-120 neuroticism and PID-5-SF negative affectivity) and conscientiousness (i.e., IPIP-120 conscientiousness and PID-5-SF disinhibition). Normative personality traits generally accounted for greater variance in EF when examined alone and were also generally associated with greater incremental validity when compared with maladaptive personality traits. However, multiple regression analyses indicated that maladaptive personality traits added unique predictive variance above and beyond normative personality traits in their association with multiple domains of EF. These results highlight the utility of assessing both normative and maladaptive personality traits as well as multiple domains of EF to more fully understand the relationship between personality and EF.

The significance of limited prosocial emotions among externalizing disorders in children.

Limited Prosocial Emotion (LPE) specifier of conduct disorder (CD) includes lack of remorse or guilt, callousness/lack of empathy, unconcern about performance, and shallow/deficient affect. Given the relatively recent inclusion of the LPE specifier in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, fundamental information is still unknown about LPE, such as how common the different domains are, how much they overlap with one another, whether they predict unique variance from each other, and the potential for the LPE specifier as a transdiagnostic facet of externalizing problems. Caregivers (n = 1,50) of children (Mage = 8.42, SD = 2.31) completed a questionnaire assessing individual LPE domains and measures of externalizing symptoms. Results showed that LPE specifier domains were highly related but separable. All LPEs were uniquely associated with oppositional defiant disorder (ODD), CD, and overall impairment after controlling for other LPE items, child sex, and ADHD symptoms. Being unconcerned about performance, emotionally manipulative, and having shallow/deficient affect were uniquely associated with ADHD while controlling for ODD and CD symptomatology. Our findings fit with the historical conceptualization of LPE as a unidimensional construct and contributes to the growing evidence of the potential utility of assessing LPE across externalizing disorders in children. Future research should look to replicate and extend our findings in clinical samples of youth.

The Importance of Assessing Impairment Associated With Limited Prosocial Emotions.

Limited prosocial emotions (LPE) are characterized by a lack of remorse or guilt, callousness/lack of empathy, being unconcerned about performance, and shallow/deficient affect. While previous research has largely focused on the presence or absence of LPE in youth, there is considerable evidence that symptom presence/absence and symptom impairment are separable dimensions, where impairment often is found to play a significant, unique role in assessing child psychopathology. The current study utilized a newly developed questionnaire with the purpose of exploring its psychometric properties and better understand the dual and potentially differential role LPE symptom presence and LPE-related impairment have in youth. Mothers (n = 265) of children (Mage = 8.04, SD = 2.07) completed questionnaires assessing LPE impairment, LPE symptoms, externalizing disorder symptoms, and functional impairment. Results demonstrated strong support for the psychometric properties of the newly developed measure of LPE impairment. Importantly, LPE-related impairment uniquely predicted all impairment domains above-and-beyond the effects of LPE symptoms, oppositional defiant disorder, and CD symptoms (as well as child age and sex covariates). Moreover, youth in the top 25th percentile on both LPE symptoms and LPE-related impairment (compared to youth only in the top 25th percentile in LPE symptoms) had greater mean externalizing symptoms and functional impairment. The preliminary evidence provided suggests researchers and clinicians may benefit from assessing both LPE symptoms and LPE-related impairment when attempting to identify youth with high levels of conduct problem symptoms and/or psychosocial impairment. Future research should aim to replicate and expand our findings to other clinical populations.

Relationship between Puberty and Inhibitory Control: Computational Modeling of the Drift-diffusion Process.

Previous work relies largely on the simple reaction time measures in inhibitory control tasks. The goal of the current study was to provide a better understanding the relationship between puberty, sex, and inhibitory control utilizing and contrasting two popular drift diffusion models. A sample of 103 adolescents (Mage = 14.49, SD = 1.69) self-reported their pubertal development and completed a flanker task. Utilizing Bayesian regressions, we found that the interaction between puberty and sex were significant predictors of the A/B parameter, conceptualized as the amount of information considered for a decision during the task.

Can worry and physiological anxiety uniquely predict children and adolescents' academic achievement and intelligence?

When exploring the relationship anxiety has with IQ, academic achievement studies often rely on diagnostic groups or total scores for an anxiety measure. The differential effects caused by anxiety dimensions, as well as their interactions, were examined with an exploratory method. This study examined the main effect of worry and physiological anxiety as predictors of youths' academic and cognitive functioning. Two samples of youth that presented to an out-patient clinic (n = 121, M = 10.59, SD = 2.78, range = 6-16; n = 92, M = 10.07, SD = 2.76, range = 6-16) were administered well-established performance measures of academic and intellectual functioning, along with a measurement of anxiety. In an exploratory analysis, the interaction between worry and physiological anxiety was the only significant effect, robust across all academic composites and intelligence indices. Physiological anxiety had a differential relationship with academic achievement domains (and processing speed) dependent on levels of worry; low-levels of worry were predictive of improved scores at high, but not low-, levels of physiological anxiety. In contrast, high-, but not low-, levels of physiological anxiety were associated with lower scores when accompanied by elevated levels of worry when predicting intelligence indices.

Initial Investigation of the Psychometric Properties of the Limited Prosocial Emotions Questionnaire (LPEQ).

Callous-unemotional traits, which include lack of remorse or guilt, callousness/lack of empathy, unconcern about performance, and shallow/deficient affect, were included as a specifier of conduct disorder in the current (fifth) edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders under the rubric Limited Prosocial Emotions (LPEs). The purpose of this study was to examine the psychometric properties of a new rating scale, the Limited Prosocial Emotions Questionnaire (LPEQ). Caregivers (n = 1,050) of children (Mage = 8.42, SD = 2.31) completed the LPEQ and other measures. Results provide support for a single factor model of the LPEQ, with measurement invariance supported across child and informant sex. Both the reliability and validity of the LPEQ as a measure of LPEs were also well supported. Children identified with LPE had significantly greater average impairment and need for treatment relative to children without LPE. Children with conduct problems (i.e., conduct disorder or oppositional defiant disorder), as well those without conduct problems, had significantly more impairment if they were identified as having LPE. Our findings fit with the mounting evidence of the clinical utility of assessing LPEs in children. Future research should look to replicate our findings in clinical samples of youth.

Preliminary Investigation of the Psychometric Properties of the Parent Version of the Borderline Personality Features Scale for Children (BPFS-P).

There is growing evidence that features of borderline personality disorder (BPD) emerge in childhood and present long-term risk for the development of BPD. Thus, valid and reliable assessments of BPD features in childhood are needed. This study examined the psychometric properties of the parent version of the Borderline Personality Features Scale for Children (BPFS-P) in a large, representative sample (N = 1,050; 51.5% male; Mage = 8.42, SD = 2.31; Agerange = 5 to 12 years). The factor structure of the BPFS-P was examined, and measurement invariance was tested across child age and sex as well as caregiver informant sex. Additionally, the unique contribution of the identified factors of the BPFS-P to overall impairment and need for treatment beyond co-occurring dimensions of additional psychopathology was examined. A one factor structure was identified, which demonstrated measurement invariance across child sex and age as well as caregiver informant sex. BPD features measured with the BPFS-P contributed unique variance to explaining overall impairment and need for treatment. These findings point to the potential of the BPFS-P to break new ground in identifying youth at risk for BPD.

Relationships between multiple dimensions of executive functioning and resting-state networks in adults.

The current study sought to examine the functional connectivity of resting state networks (RSNs) as they relate to the individual domains of executive functioning (EF). Based on the Unity and Diversity model (Miyake et al., 2000), EF performance was captured using a three-factor model proposed by Karr et al. (2018), which includes inhibition, shifting, and fluency. Publicly available data was used from the Nathan Kline Institute -Rockland project was used. Of the 722 participants who completed the Delis-Kaplan Executive Function System (D-KEFS), which was used to measure EF performance, 269 of these individuals completed resting state fMRI scans. First, a confirmatory factory analysis replicated Karr et al. (2018) revealing three components: inhibition, shifting and fluency. Next, RSNs were identified across the sample using an Independent Components Analysis (ICA) and was compared to previously established intrinsic connectivity networks (Laird et al., 2011). Finally, dual regression was used to analyze the relationships between the functional connectivity of RSNs and EF performance, which indicated that RSNs were differentially associated with inhibition and shifting. Better inhibition was related to increased connectivity between the left striatum and the attentional control network. Better shifting performance was related to increased connectivity between the pre- and postcentral gyri and the speech and sensorimotor network. These results highlight individual differences within these RSNs that are unique to the literature, as non-EF confounds are mitigated within the current measurements of EF performance.

Structure related to function: prefrontal surface area has an indirect effect on the relationship between amygdala volume and trait neuroticism.

Trait neuroticism refers to individual differences in negative emotional response to threat, frustration, or loss, operationally defined by elevated levels of irritability, anger, sadness, anxiety, worry, hostility, self-consciousness, and vulnerability to mental and physical difficulties. While functional studies have been fairly consistent when identifying regions associated with neuroticism during emotional stimuli, structural imagining studies do not tend to find a relationship between amygdala volume and trait neuroticism. There is a great deal of functional evidence that frontoparietal areas are related to the amygdala, and to emotional reactivity more generally, as a function of their involvement in emotion regulation. Specifically, top-down emotion appraisal and expression appear to involve parts of the dorsolateral and dorsomedial prefrontal cortices, which operate at least in part via the indirect modulation of the amygdala. It was hypothesized that cortical surface area and cortical thickness in regions associated with emotion appraisal/expression and emotional attention (i.e., superior frontal and rostral middle frontal gyri, respectively) would have an indirect effect on the relationship between amygdala volume and self-reported neuroticism (respectively), potentially explaining the inconsistency in the structural literature. In sample of 1106 adults, superior frontal and rostral middle frontal gyri, as parcellated by Freesurfer, were examined as potentially restricting variance in a model of indirect effects, which may elucidate the overall relationship between cortical and subcortical gray matter volume and trait neuroticism. Results indicated that, despite no association between bilateral amygdala volume and trait neuroticism, when right superior frontal surface area was entered into the model of indirect effects, a significant relationship between amygdala volume and trait neuroticism emerged. Two of the three remaining models indicated that cortical surface area had an indirect effect on the relationship between amygdala volume and trait neuroticism. These findings highlight the relationship between structural and functional neuroimaging studies. Specifically, the results indicate that when volume is related to behavior, individual differences in higher-order cortical regions, particularly surface area, may help to better understand the relationship between emotion and subcortical gray matter volume.

The effects of childhood inattention and anxiety on executive functioning: inhibition, updating, and shifting.

Although anxiety and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms are highly comorbid, research has generally examined the executive functioning (EF) deficits associated with each of these symptoms independently. The purpose of this study was to examine the unique and interactive effects of anxiety and ADHD symptoms (first respectively, then collectively) on multiple dimensions of EF (i.e., inhibition, updating, and shifting, respectively). A sample of 142 youth from the community (age range 8-17 years; Mage = 11.87 ± 2.94 years) completed the Delis-Kaplan Executive Function System and dimensional measures of anxiety, inattention, and hyperactivity/impulsivity. It was hypothesized that anxiety would moderate the effect of ADHD symptomatology on EF. Multiple regression models examined anxiety and ADHD symptom domains as predictors of EF. When examining ADHD symptom domains separately, anxiety moderated the relationship between inattention and both updating and shifting; the association between hyperactivity/impulsivity and updating was also moderated by anxiety. Within the full model including both ADHD symptom domains, results indicated that anxiety moderated the relationship between inattention and shifting. Analyses of ADHD symptoms in separate and combined models demonstrated a similar pattern: Increased inattention was associated with worse EF and when anxiety was a significant moderator, and increased ADHD symptoms were associated with worse EF only for those with high levels of anxiety. These results highlight the utility of including anxiety in studies examining the relationship between ADHD and EF. EF is related to multiple aspects of daily functioning (e.g., academic achievement), and EF deficits are often targeted in interventions for ADHD.

The Compensatory ADHD Behaviors Scale (CABS): Development and Initial Validation.

Several measures are available that assess inattention, hyperactivity/impulsivity, and executive functioning deficits. Treatments for adults with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and skill-based academic interventions focus on improving compensatory strategies to ameliorate functional impairment; however, no measure exists that examines the compensatory behaviors adults utilize to compensate for the functional deficits associated with inattention and hyperactivity/impulsivity. The current study aimed to determine the psychometric properties of the Compensatory ADHD Behaviors Scale (CABS). Five-hundred participants (Mage= 36.83, SD = 11.57) completed measures of ADHD symptomatology, executive functioning, functional impairment, mood disorder symptoms, and the CABS. Analyses revealed that scales assessing both use and effectiveness of compensatory behaviors subscales had similar factor structures, reflecting present- and future-oriented behaviors. The present-, but not future-oriented, behaviors significantly related to ADHD symptomatology, executive dysfunction, and functional impairment; effectiveness of present-oriented compensatory behaviors demonstrated incremental validity in predicting impairment. Compensatory strategies may be a useful variable to measure when examining functional impairment associated with inattention and hyperactivity/impulsivity. The current study provides preliminary evidence of the ability of CABS to validly measure various strategies associated with (clinical and subclinical) ADHD symptomatology, executive functioning, and overall impairment.

Maternal Impression Management in the Assessment of Childhood Depressive Symptomatology.

BACKGROUND: Self-report instruments are commonly used to assess for childhood depressive symptoms. Historically, clinicians have relied heavily on parent-reports due to concerns about childrens' cognitive abilities to understand diagnostic questions. However, parents may also be unreliable reporters due to a lack of understanding of their child's symptomatology, overshadowing by their own problems, and tendencies to promote themselves more favourably in order to achieve desired assessment goals. One such variable that can lead to unreliable reporting is impression management, which is a goal-directed response in which an individual (e.g. mother or father) attempts to represent themselves, or their child, in a socially desirable way to the observer. AIMS: This study examined the relationship between mothers who engage in impression management, as measured by the Parenting Stress Index-Short Form defensive responding subscale, and parent-/child-self-reports of depressive symptomatology in 106 mother-child dyads. METHODS: 106 clinic-referred children (mean child age = 10.06 years, range 7-16 years) were administered the Child Depression Inventory, and mothers (mean mother age = 40.80 years, range 27-57 years) were administered the Child-Behavior Checklist, Parenting Stress Index-Short Form, and Symptom Checklist-90-Revised. RESULTS: As predicted, mothers who engaged in impression management under-reported their child's symptomatology on the anxious/depressed and withdrawn subscales of the Child Behavior Checklist. Moreover, the relationship between maternal-reported child depressive symptoms and child-reported depressive symptoms was moderated by impression management. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that children may be more reliable reporters of their own depressive symptomatology when mothers are highly defensive or stressed.