The Association between Prosocial Behaviour and Peer Relationships with Comorbid Externalizing Disorders and Quality of Life in Treatment-Naïve Children and Adolescents with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.

Several recent studies confirmed that Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) has a negative influence on peer relationship and quality of life in children. The aim of the current study is to investigate the association between prosocial behaviour, peer relationships and quality of life in treatment naïve ADHD samples. The samples included 79 children with ADHD (64 boys and 15 girls, mean age = 10.24 years, SD = 2.51) and 54 healthy control children (30 boys and 23 girls, mean age = 9.66 years, SD = 1.73). Measurements included: The "Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview Kid; Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire" and the "Inventar zur Erfassung der Lebensqualität bei Kindern und Jugendlichen". The ADHD group showed significantly lower levels of prosocial behaviour and more problems with peer relationships than the control group. Prosocial behaviour has a weak positive correlation with the rating of the child's quality of life by the parents, both in the ADHD group and in the control group. The rating of quality of life and peer relationship problems by the parents also showed a significant negative moderate association in both groups. The rating of quality of life by the child showed a significant negative weak relationship with peer relationships in the ADHD group, but no significant relationship was found in the control group. Children with ADHD and comorbid externalizing disorders showed more problems in peer relationships than ADHD without comorbid externalizing disorders. Based on these results, we conclude that therapy for ADHD focused on improvement of prosocial behaviour and peer relationships as well as comorbid externalizing disorders could have a favourable effect on the quality of life of these children.

[Coronavirus Pandemic - #STAYHOME: How Are You Holding Up? Questions And Tips For 11-18-Year-Olds To Make It Better].

PURPOSE: Adolescents have to cope with several challenges and restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with many of those incongruent with the typical developmental tasks of adolescent age. Some adolescents might be particularly vulnerable in this situation, including those who are deprived of psychological, social or health care services and/or are exposed to abuse or neglect in their home environment. The aims of the current international multicentre follow-up study are to: 1. collect data on the mental health and quality of life of adolescents during and after the pandemic; 2. improve their mental health by providing an online prevention program that addresses their actual needs; 3. accelerate the development of culturally adapted prevention programs by involving an international team, and 4. to contribute to adequate preparation for any potentially occurring, similar situationin the future. METHODS: Participants aged 11-18 years and their parents/caregivers from diff erent parts of Europe and non-European countries are recruited online. Data are collected regularly in a follow-up study by means of structured self-administered online questionnaires on adolescents' mental health, quality of life and current attitudes and needs. The baseline data collection was in March 2020 at first restrictions of the COVID pandemic in Europe. It is followed up several times (at the beginning weekly, later monthly, bi-monthly, three-monthly) to study changes in mental health, quality of life and attitudes of children and adolescents during the coronavirus disease pandemic. Data were collected by means of structured questionnaires (see below). The time frame of the study is set to one year from study start, March 2021. The last data collection was done in December 2020. The prevention program is developed and provided based on continuously analysed incoming data. CONCLUSIONS: Prevention based on the results of the study is expected to contribute to maintaining adolescents' mental health, improve their quality of life, increase their and their environment's cooperation with the necessary restrictions during the pandemic, and to make reintegration easier once the restrictions are over. Furthermore, the study has the potential to inform on the wellbeing of children and adolescents in extreme situations in general, thus contribute to future preventive measures and policymaking. Implications and Contribution: The proposed international online follow-up study is expected to provide scientifi c evidence for 1. possible changes in the mental health and quality of life of adolescents during and after a pandemic situation, 2. the eff ectiveness of a culturally adapted prevention program developed to address challenges associated with these changes.

Dyskinesia in Treatment-Naive and Stimulant-Treated Children With ADHD.

Objective: Stimulants are safe and effective medications for the treatment of ADHD. There are a number of case studies that report stimulant-induced dyskinesia. The aim of this study was to compare dyskinesia in a treated and a treatment-naive group of children with ADHD, and a healthy control group. Method: Children aged 6 to 18 years were involved in the study (n = 158). Diagnosis of ADHD was measured with the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview Kid (MINI Kid). Dyskinesia was assessed with the Abnormal Involuntary Movement Scale (AIMS). Results: Before methylphenidate administration, the treated ADHD group showed significantly higher AIMS total score than the control group (p = .001) and the treatment-naive ADHD group (p < .001). We found the same pattern 1.5 hr after methylphenidate administration. Conclusion: These results call attention that clinicians should take special care for the possible development of dyskinesia during the treatment of their ADHD patients with methylphenidate.

Psychiatric diagnoses in "healthy" control group of a clinical study and its effects on health related quality of life.

BACKGROUND: The measure of health-related quality of life (HRQoL) among children with mental disorders is still in early ages, even though the worldwide-pooled prevalence of psychiatric diagnoses among children and adolescents is around 13%. Several studies confirmed that these children have impaired social and school functioning and low HRQoL. Mental disorders among children often remain undiagnosed or diagnosed too late, in that case additional negative effects could be expected. The aim of the current study was to identify psychiatric disorders in children who participated in a clinical study as a "healthy" control group and measure its effects on HRQoL. METHODS: The inclusion criteria for control participated children were not having ongoing or previous psychiatric or psychological treatment. In the second step control children (n=79, age range 6-15) were divided into two subgroups according to achieved diagnostic criteria. Measures were Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview Kid and Inventory for the Assessment of the Quality of Life in Children and Adolescents. For data analyzing due to unequal sample sizes robust Welch t-test with omega squared, Spearman's rank correlation coefficients and logistic regression were applied. RESULTS: According to the children and parents control group with diagnoses have lower HRQoL in school, peer relationships and mental health dimensions than control group without diagnoses. Furthermore, by the children's report this difference exists in the domain of time spent alone, by the parent proxy report exist in the somatic health and general dimensions. An increasing number of diagnoses decreased HRQoL in most areas. The presence of psychiatric diagnoses by children increase 8 times more likely to have low HRQoL in the domain of school and 4 times in the domain of time spent alone. CONCLUSIONS: These results draw attention to the relative high ratio of undiagnosed mental disorders in the control group and for the low HRQoL of these children. Screening of psychiatric disorders in schools should be crucial and the earliest recourse of treatment in the identified children. The findings of this study also underline the importance of assessing HRQoL from different perspectives.

Long-Term Effects of Multimodal Treatment on Psychopathology and Health-Related Quality of Life of Children With Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.

AIM: The current study aimed to examine the association between long-term (36 months) multimodal (pharmacological and psychological) treatment and psychopathology and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in children with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) from the perspectives of both the children and parents. METHODS: The sample consisted of 23 children with ADHD (21 boys, 2 girls, mean age = 13.46 years, SD = 2.36) and 23 healthy control children (11 boys, 12 girls, mean age = 12.49 years, SD = 1.75). The Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview for Children and Adolescents (MINI Kid) was applied to measure psychopathology and both parent and self-rated versions of the Inventory for the Measure of the Quality of Life in Children and Adolescents were used to assess HRQoL at baseline and at the 36-month follow-up visit. The ADHD group took part in multimodal (medical and behavioral) therapy. The healthy control group did not get any intervention. RESULTS: At the baseline, the ADHD group was characterized with higher scores in nine MINI Kid scales and showed lower HRQoL than the control group according to both children and their parents. At the 36-month follow-up visit six scale scores (ADHD, social phobia, oppositional defiance and conduct disorder, major depressive episode, dysthymic disorder) showed statistically significant decreases in the ADHD group, while these scores were constant in the control group. Parent-rated HRQoL was significantly lower in the clinical group at baseline than at the end of the study, but there were no significant changes in the control group. Self-reported changes in HRQoL matched parent-reported changes. INTERPRETATION: Multimodal therapy is associated with decreased psychopathology and improved HRQoL over the long term.

Direct Self-Injurious Behavior (D-SIB) and Life Events among Vocational School and High School Students.

Although several studies have recently assessed direct self-injurious behavior (D-SIB) among adolescents, it is still understudied in adolescents attending vocational schools: an educational setting generally associated with lower socioeconomic status. After extending the "Saving and Empowering Young Lives in Europe" (SEYLE) project to a vocational school population, we examined their D-SIB and life event characteristics compared to the high school population. SEYLE's Hungarian randomly selected high school sample (N = 995) was completed with a randomly selected vocational school sample (N = 140) in Budapest, Hungary. Participants aged 14⁻17 years completed the SEYLE project's self-administered questionnaires. D-SIB lifetime prevalence was significantly higher (29.4%) in the vocational school group compared to the high school group (17.2%) (Χ²(1) = 12.231, p< 0.001). D-SIB was associated with suicidal ideation in the vocational school group. Different life events were more frequent in the high school than in the vocational school group, and associations between D-SIB and life events differed in the vocational school group compared to the high school group. In conclusion, vocational school students are a vulnerable population with a higher prevalence of D-SIB compared to high school students. Life events and their association with D-SIB also differ in vocational school students compared to high school students. Taking all these into account might contribute to prevention/intervention designed for this population.