The association between paternal psychopathology and adolescent depression and anxiety: A systematic review.

INTRODUCTION: Paternal psychopathology is associated with various adolescent outcomes. With emotional disorders presenting a significant public health concern in the adolescent age group, the aim of this systematic review was to synthesize evidence on the relationship between paternal mental health and adolescent anxiety or depression. METHODS: PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, Ovid MEDLINE, Global Health, and PsycINFO were searched for articles which primarily aimed to investigate the relationship between paternal mental health (exposure) and adolescent anxiety or depression (outcome). Articles were assessed for risk of bias, and findings are presented in a narrative synthesis. The protocol is registered on PROSPERO (CRD42018094076). RESULTS: Findings from the fourteen included studies indicated that paternal depression is associated with adolescent depression and anxiety. Findings relating to other paternal mental health disorders were inconclusive. Results largely suggested that adolescent depression and anxiety is equally associated with paternal and maternal mental health. The included studies were mostly cross-sectional, and the quality of included studies was mixed. Attempts to focus on the 11-17 year age range were hampered by the variability of age ranges included in studies. CONCLUSIONS: Further longitudinal research is needed to clarify the association between paternal mental health disorders other than depression, and adolescent anxiety or depression. Mechanisms in this relationship should also be further explored, and could be informed by existing models on younger children.

Evaluation of Community Reinforcement and Family Therapy in the UK military community.

Background: Partners and family can play a key role in encouraging military service and ex-service personnel to seek help for their mental health. Community Reinforcement Approach and Family Training (CRAFT) was developed to equip concerned significant others (CSOs) of those experiencing substance use disorders with skills to encourage their loved one to enter treatment and improve their own well-being. It was adapted in the US for CSOs of ex-service personnel with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) (VA-CRAFT).Objective: This study aimed to evaluate an adaptation of VA-CRAFT for use with CSOs of serving and ex-service personnel experiencing PTSD and Common Mental Disorders in the UK (UKV-CRAFT).Method: Acceptability of UKV-CRAFT was assessed with interviews with experts, namely key stakeholders (n = 15) working in support provision for serving and ex-service personnel. In addition, individuals who took part in a small-scale demonstrative trial of UKV-CRAFT (three CSOs and three facilitators who delivered UKV-CRAFT) provided feedback.Results: UKV-CRAFT was viewed positively, with interviewees highlighting that programmes like UKV-CRAFT filled a gap in provision for UK Armed Forces families as most services were only available to the serving or ex-service personnel. Interviewees praised how UKV-CRAFT enhanced CSO well-being and communication with their loved one. Concerns over the confidentiality of taking part in UKV-CRAFT were raised due to the perceived negative effects of highlighting a loved one's mental ill health, especially for CSOs of serving personnel. Ideas for improvement included broadening access to all CSOs regardless of whether their loved one was seeking treatment.Conclusion: Interviewees regarded UKV-CRAFT as a potentially useful intervention suggesting it could be proactively offered universally to support timely help-seeking if required. We recommend further evaluation of UKV-CRAFT on a wider scale, incorporating our recommendations, to assess its effectiveness accurately.

Community Reinforcement And Family Therapy (CRAFT), a programme for the concerned significant others (CSOs) of people experiencing Substance Abuse Disorders (SUDs), was adapted for the CSOs of UK Armed Forces serving and ex-service personnel (UKV-CRAFT).UKV-CRAFT aimed to equip CSOs with the skills to encourage their Armed Forces loved ones to seek mental health treatment; it was evaluated by post-trial interviews with UKV-CRAFT facilitators, recipients, and Armed Forces stakeholders.UKV-CRAFT was found to be a useful intervention for CSOs but would benefit from further evaluation on a wider scale.Evaluation of Community Reinforcement And Family Therapy in the UK military community.

Post-traumatic stress disorder interventions for children and adolescents affected by war in low- and middle-income countries in the Middle East: systematic review.

BACKGROUND: Millions of children and adolescents are exposed to wars, affecting their psychological well-being. This review focuses on psychosocial interventions in low and middle-income countries (LMICs) in the Middle East, where mental health services are limited. AIMS: Our primary aim was to evaluate the effectiveness of trial-assessed psychosocial interventions in reducing post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms in children and adolescents aged ≤18 years who were exposed to war in LMICs in the Middle East. Changes in other psychological conditions and symptoms were evaluated where reported. METHOD: PubMed, Cochrane Library and Ovid were searched without year restriction, in December 2021. Previous review reference lists were also checked. Only studies published in English were included. Each study was evaluated for risk of bias and results are presented as a narrative synthesis. RESULTS: Three group-based interventions were identified and evaluated across six studies: 'Teaching Recovery Techniques', 'Writing for Recovery' and 'Advancing Adolescents'. Two studies took place in post-war settings, and four in a context of ongoing conflict. Positive experiences and improved social skills were indicated following most interventions, but Teaching Recovery Techniques was the only programme associated with a statistically significant reduction in PTSD score. Differences in follow-up interval limited comparability of outcomes. CONCLUSIONS: This review highlights a paucity of evidence for effective treatment options for children and adolescents affected by war from LMICs in the Middle East. Promising indications of reductions in PTSD symptoms, specifically from Teaching Recovery Techniques, require further rigorous evaluation and long-term follow-up.

Community reinforcement and family training and rates of treatment entry: a systematic review.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Adaptations with different modes of delivery and target addictions have found highly divergent rates of success for Community Reinforcement Approach and Family Training (CRAFT). This study aims to clarify which (1) treatment components and (2) participant characteristics contribute to rates of identified patient (IP) treatment entry. METHOD: Systematic review of CRAFT evaluation studies of all designs (controlled and uncontrolled) with data synthesis and narrative analysis of addiction treatment services and university research departments in North America and Europe. RESULTS: A total of 691 concerned significant others (CSOs), predominately female spouses/parents, participating in 20 distinct treatment conditions from 14 studies. The main outcome of IP treatment entry rate reported by CSOs up to 12 months after starting CRAFT with key predictors/correlates including IP addiction, IP-CSO relationship, CRAFT modality and integration of treatment for IP. Meta-analysis found CRAFT to be twice as effective as controls/comparison groups. Multi-modality treatment, including both individual and group sessions, yielded the highest IP treatment entry rates (77 and 86%), with progressively lower rates for individual (12.5-71%), group (60%) and self-directed workbook (13.3-40%) modalities. While all five studies targeting gambling addiction had consistently low rates (12.5-23%), other treatment components, including therapist training, treatment fidelity and integrating treatment for the IP, were implicated. CONCLUSIONS: Adaptations of Community Reinforcement Approach and Family Training for different delivery modalities and addictions have yielded widely varying rates of treatment engagement for the identified patient, with those offering the most comprehensive support to the concerned significant other, including individual and group sessions, having highest levels of engagement success.

The development and evaluation of a large-scale self-referral CBT-I intervention for men who have insomnia: an exploratory study.

BACKGROUND: Whilst effective psychological treatments such as CBT-I have been developed for insomnia, few services provide CBT-I and awareness of CBT-I is low among referrers. In addition, men tend to seek help less frequently for their insomnia than women. This paper describes the development and evaluation of psycho-educational CBT-I workshops, each for up to 25 people, and designed to be acceptable to men. METHOD: The CBT-I programme was based on Morin and Espie (2003), and adapted into a self-referral one-day workshop format designed specifically to improve access. Workshops were held on Saturdays in leisure centres. A one group pretest-posttest design was used and assessments were collected before and 6 weeks after each workshop. Over a 6-month period, 74 men self-referred, and attended the Introductory Talks preceding the workshops. Of these, 49.3% had never sought help from their GP, 66.2% suffered from clinical insomnia (ISI) and 61.6% were experiencing elevated depression symptoms (BDI over 10). RESULTS: At follow-up, the workshops were found to be effective in reducing insomnia and depression. Satisfaction ratings with the workshops were very high. CONCLUSIONS: Given these promising results, further work is now proposed for a larger controlled study with a longer-term follow-up.

Children with problematic sexualized behaviors in the child welfare system.

This study assessed the utility of the Child Sexual Behavior Inventory (CSBI) in a child welfare sample. In this study, 97 children from ages 10 to 12 from either foster boarding homes or a residential treatment center participated. Researchers interviewed foster parents or primary therapists about children's sexual behavior, traumatic events, clinical symptoms, and their attitudes toward the child. Findings revealed that problematic sexualized behaviors were more prevalent in the residential treatment center (RTC) sample than they were in a normative sample. The pattern of associations between sexual behavior problems, traumatic events, and clinical syndromes in both the RTC and the foster boarding home (FBH) samples was similar to what has been found in samples in which biological custodial parents were the respondents. Analyses comparing youth who met the criterion for having problematic sexualized behaviors and youth who did not meet the criterion revealed that the two groups differed on clinical symptoms, prior traumatic events, and negative reports by caregivers. Results confirm the utility of the CSBI measure for this population and highlight several important clinical and programmatic concerns for addressing problematic sexual behavior in children in the child welfare system.

Effects of Ability and Effort Praise on Children's Failure Attribution, Self-Handicapping, and Performance.

Previous research has suggested that children praised for ability are more likely to attribute their failure to low ability compared to those who are praised for effort. At the same time, self-worth theory suggests that when an individual's self-worth is threatened, they are likely to use a self-serving attributional strategy and self-handicapping. From the perspective of self-worth theory, the present study investigated how ability and effort praise influenced children's failure attribution, self-handicapping, and their subsequent performance compared to simple informational feedback. Fifth graders (N = 103, average age = 11.2 years, SD = 0.71) were randomly assigned to three praise conditions (ability, effort, or no praise). The results revealed that children praised for ability were more likely to attribute their subsequent failure to non-ability factors and indicate more claimed and behavioral self-handicapping than children who were praised for effort or not praised at all. As behavioral self-handicapping created actual obstacles to progress, children praised for ability made significantly less improvement in their performance than those in the other two groups. In addition, the findings showed that children praised for effort also adopted the claimed self-handicapping and defensive attributional strategies compared to those in the no-praise conditions. These results indicate that parents and teachers should not haphazardly administer praise. Implications for parents, teachers, and future research directions, including the replication of this study in diverse cultural settings, conditions of effort praise, and effects of other types of praise, are discussed.

Youth characteristics associated with behavioral and mental health problems during the transition to residential treatment centers: the Odyssey Project population.

This study aimed to determine what youth characteristics were associated with emotional and behavioral problems exhibited within the first three months of placement in residential treatment centers (RTCs) in a sample of youth from 20 agencies in 13 states. Two primary research questions were addressed: 1) What characteristics were associated with behavior during the transition to care? 2) Were the characteristics associated with behavior during the transition the same for boys and girls? Data were drawn from the Time 1 phase of the longitudinal national Odyssey Project dataset developed by the Child Welfare League of America. Measures included an extensive child and family characteristics (CFC) form and the Achenbach Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL). The results revealed significant gender-specific patterns of associations between youth characteristics and behavior exhibited during the transition to RTC placement. Notably, a sexual abuse history was associated with Externalizing for girls and Internalizing for boys and entering on psychotropic medication was associated with Internalizing for girls and boys and Externalizing for boys only. Results suggest many avenues for refining practice.

Quality of Maternal Parenting of 9-Month-Old Infants Predicts Executive Function Performance at 2 and 3 Years of Age.

Whereas the effects of maternal parenting quality during infants' 2nd year on later executive function (EF) have been studied extensively, less is known about the impact of maternal parenting quality during the 1st year. The aim of this study was to examine whether maternal parenting during infants' 1st year predicted EF performance at 2 and 3 years of age in a Chinese sample. Data were collected from 96 mother-infant dyads (42 males) when the infants were 6, 9, 25, and 38 months old. Cognitive development as a control variable was measured with the Bayley Scales of Infant Development II at 6 months. At 9 months, three aspects of maternal parenting quality (sensitivity, mind-mindedness, and encouragement of autonomy) were assessed with MBQS, mind-mindedness coding system, and encouragement of autonomy coding schema within a 15-min mother-infant interaction. Three aspects of EF (working memory, inhibitory control, and delay EF) were measured at 25 and 38 months with age-appropriate tasks. Hierarchical regression analysis showed that maternal mind-mindedness had a more important effect than did the encouragement of autonomy and maternal sensitivity during infants' preverbal period. More precisely, maternal mind-mindedness at 9 months predicted inhibitory control at 2 and 3 years, and maternal encouragement of autonomy predicted performance on delay EF tasks at 3 years, maternal sensitivity had no observed effect on children's EF. This study suggests that maternal parenting quality during the 1st year (maternal mind-mindedness and encouragement of autonomy, but not maternal sensitivity) impacts later EF development.

Chinese Preschool Children's Socioemotional Development: The Effects of Maternal and Paternal Psychological Control.

The present study examined the relative prediction and joint effects of maternal and paternal psychological control on children's socioemotional development. A total of 325 preschool children between the ages of 34 and 57 months (M = 4 years 2 months) and their parents participated in the study. Fathers and mothers, respectively, reported their levels of psychological control and mothers evaluated the socioemotional development of children using two indicators (i.e., behavioral problems and prosocial behaviors). The results indicated that the relative predictive effects of maternal and paternal psychological control on children's socioemotional development differed. Specifically, maternal psychological control was a significant predictor of children's behavioral problems and prosocial behaviors, whereas the levels of paternal psychological control were unrelated to children's socioemotional development. With regard to the combined effects of maternal and paternal psychological control, the results of ANOVAs and simple slope analysis both indicated that children would be at risk of behavioral problems as long as they had one highly psychologically controlling parent. High levels of paternal psychological control were associated with increased behavioral problems of children only when maternal psychological control was low. However, the association between maternal psychological control and children's behavioral behaviors was significant, despite paternal psychological control.

Infant temperamental reactivity, maternal and grandparental sensitivity: Differential susceptibility for behavior problems in China.

BACKGROUND: The differential susceptibility hypothesis suggests that children's innate characteristics and their rearing experiences interact differentially during development. Recently, the study of interactions between infants' temperament and rearing experiences has become a research hotspot. In China, grandparental care is a very common phenomenon, with many infants taken care of by grandparents while mothers are out for work. AIM: To investigate whether the associations between maternal and grandmaternal sensitivity, and behavior problems were moderated by infant temperamental reactivity, while the infants were raised by both their mothers and grandmothers. SUBJECTS: A total of 71 infants (average age of 17.6months), their mothers and grandmothers were included in this study. OUTCOME MEASURES: Maternal sensitivity and grandmaternal sensitivity were assessed with the Maternal Behavior Q-sort-Chinese Version, infants' temperamental reactivity was measured with Carey's Toddler Temperament Questionnaire-Chinese Revision, and infants' behavior problems were measured with the Infant-Toddler Social and Emotional Assessment-Chinese Version. RESULTS: Maternal sensitivity significantly predicted infants' impulsivity and aggression. Infants' temperamental reactivity moderated the effect of maternal sensitivity on infants' general anxiety. In addition, infant temperamental reactivity moderated the impact of grandmaternal sensitivity on infants' separation distress. CONCLUSIONS: Our results support the differential susceptibility hypothesis to some extent. Infants with high temperamental reactivity not only suffer more from low maternal and grandmaternal sensitivity, but also benefit more from high maternal and grandmaternal sensitivity as compared to those infants with low temperamental reactivity.

Youth with problematic sexualized behaviors in the child welfare system: a one-year longitudinal study.

This study assessed continuity of problematic sexualized behaviors (PSB) over a 1-year period. Ninety-seven 10-12-year-olds in either foster boarding homes or a residential treatment center participated at Time 1. Twelve months later, 78 youth were available for a second data collection assessment. At both data collection phases, researchers interviewed foster parents or primary therapists about the youths' sexual behavior. Findings revealed significant continuity in PSB over time, with children who at Time 1 exhibited PSB significantly more likely to exhibit PSB at Time 2. The reverse was also true in that the absence of PSB at Time 1 was associated with the absence of PSB at Time 2. In addition, a subset of specific PSB behaviors was noted to be most stable, although this varied across the groups. Youth with PSB exhibited several patterns of persistence in specific behaviors over time, including continuity, a mix of continuity and change, and complete discontinuity. The persistence of PSB over time was most true for the children living in a residential treatment center, the more disturbed group studied. We conclude that the persistence of PSB is more likely when the child has other problematic behaviors.