Longitudinal Associations Between Reactive and Proactive Aggression and Depression in Early Adolescence: Between- and Within-Person Effects

Depressive symptoms and aggression often co-occur, and previous studies have found different bidirectional links between depressive symptoms and aggression, suggesting inconsistent developmental cascades. Moreover, it is unclear whether different functions of aggression are differentially associated with depressive symptoms over time. The present study examined the longitudinal associations of reactive and proactive aggression with depressive symptoms in early adolescence. Adolescents (n = 942, 50.7% girls; mean age = 12.54 years, SD = 0.42) were surveyed annually over three years (2019-2021). Random-intercept cross-lagged panel models were used to disentangle between- and within-person effects. The results showed moderate between-person associations of depressive symptoms with the two aggressive functions. And depressive symptoms were more highly associated with reactive aggression than with proactive aggression. However, the state-level bidirectional cross-lagged associations between reactive and proactive aggression and depressive symptoms were not significant. This study highlights the stable trait-like association between depressive symptoms and reactive aggression, and the absence of state-level bidirectional cross-lagged associations challenges previous developmental cascades in adolescents.

Infant Communication Across the Transition to Walking: Developmental Cascades Among Infant Siblings of Children with Autism

New motor skills can shape how infants communicate with their caregivers. For example, learning to walk allows infants to move faster and farther than they previously could, in turn allowing them to approach their caregivers more frequently to gesture or vocalize. Does the link between walking and communication differ for infants later diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), whose communicative and motor development differs from their neurotypically developing peers? We prospectively followed two groups of infants longitudinally during the transition from crawling to walking: (1) N = 25 infants with no family history of ASD; and (2) N = 91 infants with an older sibling with ASD. Fifteen infants were later diagnosed with ASD, and 26 infants showed a language delay (but did not receive an ASD diagnosis). After learning to walk, infants without ASD or language delay showed considerable changes in their communication: They gestured more frequently, and increasingly coordinated their gestures and vocalizations with locomotion (e.g., by approaching a caregiver and showing a toy). Infants with language delay showed similar but attenuated growth in their communication. However, infants later diagnosed with ASD did not display enhanced communication after they began to walk.

Developmental cascades of behavior problems and cognitive ability from toddlerhood to middle childhood: A 9-year longitudinal study

Little is known about the direction, ordering, and uniqueness of longitudinal associations between behavior problems and cognitive ability, from toddlerhood to middle childhood. A developmental cascade model was tested in the present study to examine the transactional processes in 103 Chinese children at the ages of 1, 2, 7, and 9 years. Behavior problems were assessed using the maternal reported Infant-Toddler Social and Emotional Assessment at the ages of 1, 2 and parental reported Children Behavior Checklist at the ages of 7, 9. Cognitive ability was measured using Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development at the ages of 1, 2 and Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children at the ages of 7, 9. The results revealed the stability of behavior problems and cognitive ability from age 1 to age 9 years and concurrent associations between externalizing and internalizing problems. Unique longitudinal associations were identified between (1) age 1 cognitive ability and age 2 internalizing problems, (2) age 2 externalizing problems and age 7 internalizing problems, (3) age 2 externalizing problems and age 7 cognitive ability, (4) age 7 cognitive ability and age 9 externalizing problems. The results indicated essential targets for future interventions aimed at reducing children's behavior problems at 2 years old and promoting cognitive ability at 1 year old and 7 years old.

Mediating Factors in Within-Person Developmental Cascades of Externalising, Internalising and ADHD Symptoms in Childhood

Previous studies have offered evidence for peer problems and academic achievement as mediators in developmental cascades from externalising to internalising problems, and from ADHD symptoms to both internalising and externalising problems. However, these mediators have not been found to fully account for these cascades, indicating that there may be additional mediators involved. This study investigated the role of harsh parenting and parental involvement alongside academic achievement and peer problems in mediating within-person developmental cascades from externalising to internalising problems and from ADHD symptoms to internalising and externalising problems using autoregressive latent trajectory models with structured residuals. Models were fit for parent- and teacher-reports on children’s psychosocial development as measured by the Social Behaviour Questionnaire (SBQ) collected over ages 7, 9, and 11 in an ethnically diverse Swiss longitudinal cohort study (z-proso; N = 1387, 51% male). Results indicated that, when appropriately disentangling within- from between-person effects, none of the considered factors acted as significant mediators in longitudinal within-person relations between ADHD, internalising and externalising problems; hence, mediating mechanisms in developmental cascades remain to be identified.

Processes and pathways in development via digital media: Examples from word learning

Word learning unfolds over multiple, cascading pathways which support in-the-moment processing and learning. The process is refined with each exposure to a word, and exposures to new words occur across a variety of forms and contexts. However, as children are exposed to more and more digital media, the ways in which children encounter, learn, and build on their vocabulary is also shifting. These shifts represent changes in context, content, and at the level of the child that can lead to negative outcomes. Less work, however, has discussed what these differences mean for how things change in the underlying developmental cascade and learning processes. Here, we suggest that the increasing presence of digital media may shift the developmental pathways for learning (the chain of events that support future learning) but not necessarily the developmental processes (the mechanisms underlying learning). Moreover, the interaction of the two may lead to different behavior and outcomes for learning in a digital era. We argue it is imperative for researchers to not only study how digital media differs from everyday learning, but directly measure if the well-worn pathways, processes, and variables found with decades of research with real items translate to a digital media era.

The Cascading Effects of Externalizing Behaviors and Academic Achievement Across Developmental Transitions: Implications for Prevention and Intervention

Children's behavior and achievement problems are interrelated causes of distress for individuals, schools, and families, and generate long-term individual and societal costs. Yet, little is known about how the timing and direction of relationships involving achievement and problem behaviors (1) varies by standardized versus teacher ratings of achievement and (2) changes as students enter adolescence and begin secondary school. Using data from the Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development (N = 1048, 50.05% female), we employed longitudinal structural equation modeling to examine the relationship between externalizing behaviors and two forms of achievement from third through ninth grade. Results revealed that externalizing behaviors in grades three, five, and six directly and indirectly influenced teacher ratings of school achievement in grades 5, 6, and 9, and indirectly influenced standardized assessments of achievement over time. The reciprocal relationships involving externalizing behaviors and school achievement were especially strong from grade 6 to grade 9with their contemporaneous association peaking in grade 9. Demographic and maturational factors influenced the average levels of externalizing behaviors and achievement scores over development, but none altered the timing and direction of these relationships. Our findings highlight early adolescence as an important period for implementing evidence-based interventions related to the reduction of externalizing behaviors and improvements in achievement. Implications for prevention research, practice, and policy are discussed.

Child maltreatment and the development of substance use and disorder

Children who experience maltreatment are at well-documented risk for the development of problematic substance use and disorder in adolescence and beyond. This review applies a developmental psychopathology framework to discuss the complex multilevel probabilistic pathways from child maltreatment to substance use and substance use disorder (SUD). We begin with an overview of the myriad vulnerabilities associated with child maltreatment, including the development of substance use and SUD. Prominent pathways that may potentiate liability for SUD are discussed. Specifically, we highlight the robust empirical support for the prominent externalizing pathway of risk, and also discuss the state of the research regarding the internalizing pathway. Consistent with the developmental psychopathology perspective, we then review biological processes such as neuroendrocrine mechanisms, allostatic load, and neurobiological pathways that may underlie child maltreatment risk, as well as discuss broader contextual issues. Elucidating the processes underlying the development of substance use and disorder among children exposed to this form of early adversity is paramount for not only informing developmental theories, but also designing effective prevention and intervention programs. Thus, implications for preventive interventions are provided. Finally, critical next steps for research within the area of child maltreatment and the developmental psychopathology of substance use and SUD are proffered.

Developmental cascades of internalising symptoms, externalising problems and cognitive ability from early childhood to middle adolescence

BACKGROUND

Cognitive ability and problem behaviour (externalising and internalising problems) are variable and inter-related in children. However, it is not known if they mutually influence one another, if difficulties in one cause difficulties in the other, or if they are related only because they share causes.

METHODS

Random-intercept cross-lagged models adjusted for confounding were fitted to explore this in 17,318 (51% male) children of the UK's Millennium Cohort Study at ages 3, 5, 7, 11 and 14 years. Externalising and internalising problems were assessed using the parent-reported Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire. Cognitive ability was measured using standardised scores of age-appropriate validated cognitive ability assessments. Where multiple cognitive assessments were available a single score was derived using principal components analysis.

RESULTS

There was much evidence for cross-domain longitudinal effects in childhood, especially for cognitive ability (on both internalising and externalising problems and in both males and females) and externalising problems (on internalising problems in both genders and cognitive ability in males). Bidirectional effects were childhood-limited, gender-specific and less consistent. The consistent bidirectional associations were, in males, between externalising problems and cognitive ability, and, in females, between externalising and internalising problems (although the effects of internalising problems were weak). In adolescence, only externalising problems had cross-domain effects such that, in both genders, they were associated with lower cognitive ability in subsequent measurements and increased levels of internalising problems.

CONCLUSIONS

In either childhood or adolescence, reducing behavioural problems could have both emotional and cognitive benefits. In childhood, improving cognitive skills could reduce both emotional and behavioural problems.

Developmental psychopathology: A primer for clinical pediatrics

Developmental psychopathology (DP), broadly defined as the scientific discipline that has as its primary goal the integration of developmental science and psychopathology into a coherent approach to explanatory models for psychopathological development, has become the dominant approach in the past decade for understanding the origins of mental disorders among children and adolescents. Hence, it is incumbent upon those working in the field of clinical pediatrics to have at least a basic understanding of its core principles of DP. This article provided such an understanding (i.e., a primer) in an exposition of the four principles that are generally considered be core elements of with examples illustrative of each of the principles.

Cross-domain influences on youth risky driving behaviors: A developmental cascade analysis

We apply a developmental cascade approach to study the longitudinal, cross-domain effects of negative family influence, deviant peer associations, and individual substance use on risky driving among a sample of low-income African American youth. Participants (N = 681) were followed from age 16 to age 21. Using structural equation modeling, we examined conceptual models of pathways to risky driving. Results indicated strong associations between domains within time points among negative family environment, deviant peer associations, individual substance use, and risky driving. Deviant peer associations were related to future risky driving. Alcohol and marijuana use also predicted later deviant peer relationships. The pathways were observed both between age 16 and 18 and between age 18 and 21. Consistent with the cascade hypotheses, we found that risks in one domain manifested as risks in the same domain across time in addition to spreading to other domains.