Recent neurodevelopmental and evolutionary theories offer strong theoretical rationales and some empirical evidence to support the importance of specific dimensions of early adversity. However, studies have often been limited by omission of other adversity dimensions, singular outcomes, and short follow up durations. 1,420 participants in the community, Great Smoky Mountains Study, were assessed up to eight times between age 9 and 16 for four dimensions of early adversity: Threat, Material Deprivation, Unpredictability, and Loss (as well as a Cumulative Adversity measure). Participants were followed up to four times in adulthood (ages 19, 21, 25, and 30) to measure psychiatric disorders, substance disorder, and “real-world” functioning. Every childhood adversity dimension was associated with multiple adult psychiatric, substance, or functional outcomes when tested simultaneously in a multivariable analysis that accounted for other childhood adversities. There was evidence of differential impact of dimensions of adversity exposure on proximal outcomes (e.g., material deprivation and IQ) and even on distal outcomes (e.g., threat and emotional functioning). There were similar levels of prediction between the best set of individual adversity scales and a single cumulative adversity measure when considering distal outcomes. All dimensions of childhood adversity have lasting, pleiotropic effects, on adult health and functioning, but these dimensions may act via distinct proximal pathways.

Investigators have identified a number of factors that increase the risk for experiencing sexual coercion, but as yet little is known about how sexual coercion in turn affects these risk factors. Using a sample of 110 adolescents, the current study examined the hypothesis that, after an incident of sexual coercion, adolescents would exhibit increases in several behaviors known to increase risk for victimization. As predicted, after experiencing sexual coercion, adolescents reported increased externalizing symptoms, more frequent sexual intercourse and a greater total number of intercourse partners. Finally, alcohol use, drug use, and problems related to substance use increased. These findings suggest the presence of a feedback loop, in which the experience of sexual coercion leads to an intensification of the factors that initially contributed risk for coercion.

Social support and vagal regulatory capacity (VRC), an index of flexible vagal responses during various types of stress, are linked to attenuated stress responding and positive health outcomes. Guided by the polyvagal perspective, we tested whether children's VRC is associated with attenuated sympathetic nervous system (SNS) stress reactivity in socially supportive conditions. Sixty-one 4- to 5-year-old children living in poverty underwent two standardized laboratory stress induction procedures. Cardiac vagal reactivity (respiratory sinus arrhythmia) to a first set of stressors (social, cognitive, physical, and emotional) indexed VRC. During a second set of stressors, participants were randomly assigned to a supportive or nonsupportive social context, and cardiac sympathetic reactivity (preejection period) was assessed. We hypothesized VRC would predict lower SNS stress reactivity, but only in the socially supportive context. Children with high VRC showed attenuated SNS stress reactivity in the socially supportive context compared to children with high VRC in the nonsupportive context and children with low VRC in either context. Individual differences in VRC predict attenuated SNS stress reactivity in socially supportive conditions. Understanding how social support and VRC jointly mitigate SNS stress reactivity may further efforts to prevent negative health outcomes. Implications for biological sensitivity to context and differential susceptibility theories are discussed.

A functional promoter polymorphism of the nitric oxide synthase 1 gene first exon 1f variable number tandem repeat (NOS1 ex1f-VNTR) is associated with impulsivity and related psychopathology. Facets of impulsivity are strongly associated with personality traits; maladaptive impulsivity with neuroticism; and adaptive impulsivity with extraversion. Both high neuroticism and low extraversion predict anxiety and depressive symptoms. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effect of the NOS1 ex1f-VNTR genotype and possible interaction with environmental factors on personality, anxiety, and depressiveness in a population-representative sample. Short allele carriers had higher neuroticism and anxiety than individuals with the long/long (l/l) genotype. Male short/short homozygotes also had higher extraversion. In the face of environmental adversity, females with a short allele had higher scores of neuroticism, anxiety, and depressiveness compared to the l/l genotype. Males were more sensitive to environmental conditions when they had the l/l genotype and low extraversion. In conclusion, the NOS1 ex1f-VNTR influences personality and emotional regulation dependent on gender and environment. Together with previous findings on the effect of the NOS1 genotype on impulse control, these data suggest that NOS1 should be considered another plasticity gene, because its variants are associated with different coping strategies.

The present longitudinal investigation examined borderline personality features as a predictor of aggression 1 year later. Moderation by physiological reactivity and gender was also explored. One hundred ninety-six children (M = 10.11 years, SD = 0.64) participated in a laboratory stress protocol in which their systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, and skin conductance reactivity to recounting a relational stressor (e.g., threats to relationships or exclusion) were assessed. Teachers provided reports on subtypes of aggressive behavior (i.e., reactive relational, proactive relational, reactive physical, and proactive physical), and children completed a self-report measure of borderline personality features. Path analyses indicated that borderline personality features predicted increases in reactive relational aggression and proactive relational aggression among girls who evinced heightened physiological reactivity to interpersonal stress. In contrast, borderline personality features predicted decreases in proactive physical aggression in girls. Findings suggest that borderline personality features promote engagement in relationally aggressive behaviors among girls, particularly in the context of emotional dysregulation.

This study examined how the development of aggressive/rule-breaking behaviors (9–17 years) is related to the development of overreactive and warm parenting, and explored gender differences in development and interrelations. Externalizing was assessed using combined mother/father reports of the Child Behavior Checklist (N = 516). Overreactivity was assessed using self-reports of the Parenting Scale; warmth was measured using self-reports of the Parenting Practices Questionnaire. All constructs were assessed three times across 6 years. The interrelated development of externalizing and parenting was examined by cohort-sequential multigroup latent growth models. Timing of effects was investigated using multigroup cross-lagged models. The results from latent growth models suggest that boys and girls change similarly in the extent to which they show externalizing behaviors, and indicate that mothers and fathers show somewhat different parenting toward boys than girls. No gender differences were found for interrelations between externalizing and parenting. Initial levels of aggression were related to changes in overreactivity and warmth, and vice versa. Changes in externalizing were related to changes in parenting. Cross-lagged models showed that relations between overreactivity and aggression/rule breaking were reciprocal. Together, results from this study show that adolescent externalizing and parenting affect each other in important ways, regardless of the gender of the child or the parent.

The links between low socioeconomic status and poor health are well established, yet despite adversity, some individuals with low socioeconomic status appear to avoid these negative consequences through adaptive coping. Previous research found a set of strategies, called shift-and-persist (shifting the self to stressors while persisting by finding meaning), to be particularly adaptive for individuals with low socioeconomic status, who typically face more uncontrollable stressors. This study tested (a) whether perceived social status, similar to objective socioeconomic status, would moderate the link between shift-and-persist and health, and (b) whether a specific uncontrollable stressor, unfair treatment, would similarly moderate the health correlates of shift-and-persist. A sample of 308 youth (Meanage = 13.0, range 8–17), physician diagnosed with asthma, completed measures of shift-and-persist, unfair treatment, asthma control, and quality of life in the lab, and 2 weeks of daily diaries about their asthma symptoms. Parents reported on perceived family social status. Results indicated that shift-and-persist was associated with better asthma profiles, only among youth from families with lower (vs. higher) parent-reported perceived social status. Shift-and-persist was also associated with better asthma profiles, only among youth who experienced more (vs. less) unfair treatment. These findings suggest that the adaptive values of coping strategies for youth with asthma depend on the family's perceived social status and on the stressor experienced.

The Dysregulation Profile (DP) is a broad indicator of concurrent affective, behavioral, and cognitive dysregulation, often measured with the anxious/depressed, aggressive behavior, and attention problems syndrome scales of the Child Behavior Checklist. Despite an expanding body of research on the DP, knowledge of the normative developmental course of the DP from early childhood to adolescence is lacking. Furthermore, although we know that the DP longitudinally predicts personality pathology, no research yet has examined whether next to the DP in early childhood, the rate of change of the DP across development predicts personality pathology. Therefore, using cohort-sequential latent growth modeling in a population-based sample (N = 668), we examined the normative developmental course of mother-reported DP from ages 4 to 17 years and its associations with a wide range of adolescent-reported personality pathology dimensions 3 years later. The results showed that the DP follows a nonlinear developmental course with a peak in early adolescence. The initial level of the DP at age 4 and, to a lesser extent, the rate of change in the DP predicted a range of personality pathology dimensions in late adolescence. The findings suggest that the DP is a broad developmental precursor of personality pathology in late adolescence.

Evidence now implicates inflammatory proteins in the neurobiology of internalizing disorders. Genetic factors may influence individual responses to maltreatment; however, little work has examined inflammatory genetic variants in adults and none in children. The present study examined the role of an interleukin 1B gene (IL1B) variant in preschoolers exposed to maltreatment and other forms of adversity in internalizing symptom development. One hundred ninety-eight families were enrolled, with one child (age 3–5 years) from each family. Adversity measures included child protective service documentation of moderate–severe maltreatment in the last 6 months and interview-assessed contextual stressors. Internalizing symptoms were measured using the Child Behavior Checklist and the Diagnostic Infant and Preschool Assessment. Maltreated children had higher major depressive disorder (MDD) and posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms and marginally higher internalizing symptoms on the Child Behavior Checklist. Controlling for age, sex, and race, IL1B genotype was associated with MDD symptoms (p = .002). Contextual stressors were significantly associated with MDD and posttraumatic stress disorder and marginally with internalizing symptoms. The IL1B genotype interacted with contextual stress such that children homozygous for the minor allele had more MDD symptoms (p = .045). These results suggest that genetic variants of IL1B may modulate the development of internalizing symptoms in the face of childhood adversity.

Conceptions of mental illness in children are bound by cultural and social conventions of what constitutes healthy and unhealthy development. To understand current conceptualizations of disorders in children, we review the history of these conceptualizations from three intertwined perspectives: a sociopolitical history of American children and families, the history of the mental health fields and scientific disciplines involved in diagnosing children, and the evolution of children's role in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. We review where the field has been in its conception of childhood mental illness throughout the past century, where we believe it is now, and raise questions about the direction in which child diagnosis may be headed as we enter the new millennium. We conclude with social policy recommendations based on theory and research regarding mental disorders in children.

Earlier age of menarche is believed to confer greater vulnerability to depressive symptoms via increased reactivity to stressors associated with adolescence. In this longitudinal study, we measured depressive symptoms and salivary cortisol levels in 198 boys and 142 girls between the ages of 11 and 13 tested four times during Grade 7 as they transitioned from elementary school to secondary school as per Quebec's education system. Results showed that girls who had already reached menarche before starting secondary school had significantly higher depressive symptoms and salivary cortisol levels across the school year in comparison to girls who had not reached menarche, who in turn presented higher depressive scores than boys. When we divided menarcheal girls as a function of menarcheal timing in subanalyses, we found that girls with early menarche presented consistently elevated depressive symptoms across the school year while girls with on-time menarche presented transient depressive symptoms but no differences in salivary cortisol levels. Collectively, these results show that early menarche is associated with high depressive symptoms and cortisol levels in adolescent girls. This developmental milestone may render girls more vulnerable to environmental stressors and therefore represents a critical period to intervene to promote mental health.

Cardiovascular response patterns to laboratory-based social and physical exercise challenges were evaluated in 69 children and adolescents, 20 with selective mutism (SM), to identify possible neurophysiological mechanisms that may mediate the behavioral features of SM. Results suggest that SM is associated with a dampened response of the vagal brake to physical exercise that is manifested as reduced reactivity in heart rate and respiration. Polyvagal theory proposes that the regulation of the vagal brake is a neurophysiological component of an integrated social engagement system that includes the neural regulation of the laryngeal and pharyngeal muscles. Within this theoretical framework, sluggish vagal brake reactivity may parallel an inability to recruit efficiently the structures involved in speech. Thus, the findings suggest that dampened autonomic reactivity during mobilization behaviors may be a biomarker of SM that can be assessed independent of the social stimuli that elicit mutism.

This study tested an integrative, multipathway model designed to explain bidirectional effects of the attributions and coercive behaviors of mothers and sons in the context of a longitudinal study. Subjects were 246 mothers and sons who were 7–9 years of age. Mothers' and sons' attributions about one another's intent were significantly related to the aggressiveness of the behavior that each of them directed toward the other. Boys' earlier aggression did not significantly predict the mothers' subsequent attributions, whereas mothers' negative behavior indeed predicted subsequent negative attributions on the part of the boys. Even after considering children's earlier negative behavior, children's negative attributions about their mothers helped explain the aggressiveness of their subsequent behavior. The same was not true for mothers whose earlier attributions indirectly influenced their subsequent aggressive behavior.

Research on ethnic-minority youths' mental health has rarely examined developmental trajectories for the same ethnic group in contexts where they are a minority versus where they are the majority or mechanisms accounting for differences in trajectories across such contexts. This study examines Puerto Rican youth residing in two contexts, one in which they are in their home culture of Puerto Rico and one in which they are a minority group, in New York. We explore the relationship among social context, minority status, risk, resilience, and trajectories of internalizing symptoms after adjusting for factors related to migration. We found that youths' reports of internalizing symptoms declined over time. Youths in New York had higher levels of internalizing symptoms than did youths in Puerto Rico, but they had similar trajectories. Differences in internalizing symptoms across the two social contexts were accounted for by experiences of discrimination and exposure to violence. Parental monitoring was associated with fewer internalizing symptoms across the two sites, although this effect diminished over time. Contrary to what was expected, family religiosity was associated with higher levels of internalizing symptoms. This association was stronger in New York than in the Puerto Rico site.

This study explored how coping with war-related traumatic events in Sierra Leone impacted mental health outcomes among 529 youth (aged 10–17 at baseline; 25% female) using longitudinal data from three time points (Time 1 in 2002, Time 2 in 2004, and Time 3 in 2008). We examined two types of coping items (approach and avoidance); used multiple regression models to test their relations with long-term mental health outcomes (internalizing behaviors, externalizing behaviors, adaptive/prosocial behaviors, and posttraumatic stress symptoms); and used mediation analyses to test whether coping explained the relation between previous war exposures (being raped, death of parent(s), or killing/injuring someone during the war) and those outcomes. We found that avoidance coping items were associated with lower internalizing and posttraumatic stress behaviors at Time 3, and provided some evidence of mediating the relation between death of parent(s) during the war and the two outcomes mentioned above. Approach coping was associated with higher Time 3 adaptive/prosocial behaviors, whereas avoidance coping was associated with lower Time 3 adaptive/prosocial behaviors. Avoidance coping may be a protective factor against mental illness, whereas approach coping may be a promotive factor for adaptive/prosocial behaviors in war-affected societies. This study has important implications for designing and implementing mental health interventions for youth in postconflict settings.

Childhood maltreatment can disturb brain development and subsequently lead to adverse socioemotional and mental health problems across the life span. The long-term association between childhood maltreatment and resting–wake brain activity during adulthood is unknown and was examined in the current study. Forty-one medically stable and medication-free military veterans (M = 29.31 ± 6.01 years, 78% male) completed a battery of clinical assessments and had [18F]-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography neuroimaging scans during quiet wakefulness. After statistically adjusting for later-life trauma and mental health problems, childhood maltreatment was negatively associated with brain activity within a priori defined regions that included the left orbital frontal cortex and left hippocampus. Childhood maltreatment was significantly associated with increased and decreased brain activity within six additional whole-brain clusters that included the frontal, parietal–temporal, cerebellar, limbic, and midbrain regions. Childhood maltreatment is associated with altered neural activity in adulthood within regions that are involved in executive functioning and cognitive control, socioemotional processes, autonomic functions, and sleep/wake regulation. This study provides support for taking a life span developmental approach to understanding the effects of early-life maltreatment on later-life neurobiology, socioemotional functioning, and mental health.

We used sex, observed parenting quality at 18 months, and three variants of the catechol-O-methyltransferase gene (Val158Met [rs4680], intron1 [rs737865], and 3′-untranslated region [rs165599]) to predict mothers' reports of inhibitory and attentional control (assessed at 42, 54, 72, and 84 months) and internalizing symptoms (assessed at 24, 30, 42, 48, and 54 months) in a sample of 146 children (79 male). Although the pattern for all three variants was very similar, Val158Met explained more variance in both outcomes than did intron1, the 3′-untranslated region, or a haplotype that combined all three catechol-O-methyltransferase variants. In separate models, there were significant three-way interactions among each of the variants, parenting, and sex, predicting the intercepts of inhibitory control and internalizing symptoms. Results suggested that Val158Met indexes plasticity, although this effect was moderated by sex. Parenting was positively associated with inhibitory control for methionine–methionine boys and for valine–valine/valine–methionine girls, and was negatively associated with internalizing symptoms for methionine–methionine boys. Using the “regions of significance” technique, genetic differences in inhibitory control were found for children exposed to high-quality parenting, whereas genetic differences in internalizing were found for children exposed to low-quality parenting. These findings provide evidence in support of testing for differential susceptibility across multiple outcomes.

This study used a prospective longitudinal design to examine the early developmental pathways that underlie language growth in infants at high risk (n = 50) and low risk (n = 34) for autism spectrum disorder in the first 18 months of life. While motor imitation and responding to joint attention (RJA) have both been found to predict expressive language in children with autism spectrum disorder and those with typical development, the longitudinal relation between these capacities has not yet been identified. As hypothesized, results revealed that 15-month RJA mediated the association between 12-month motor imitation and 18-month expressive vocabulary, even after controlling for earlier levels of RJA and vocabulary. These results provide new information about the developmental sequencing of skills relevant to language growth that may inform future intervention efforts for children at risk for language delay or other developmental challenges.

The present study examined patterns of stability and change in loneliness across adolescence. Data were drawn from the Environmental Risk (E-Risk) Longitudinal Twin Study, a UK population-representative cohort of 2,232 individuals born in 1994 and 1995. Loneliness was assessed when participants were aged 12 and 18. Loneliness showed modest stability across these ages (r = .25). Behavioral genetic modeling indicated that stability in loneliness was explained largely by genetic influences (66%), while change was explained by nonshared environmental effects (58%). Individuals who reported loneliness at both ages were broadly similar to individuals who only reported it at age 18, with both groups at elevated risk of mental health problems, physical health risk behaviors, and education and employment difficulties. Individuals who were lonely only at age 12 generally fared better; however, they were still more likely to finish school with lower qualifications. Positive family influences in childhood predicted reduced risk of loneliness at age 12, while negative peer experiences increased the risk. Together, the findings show that while early adolescent loneliness does not appear to exert a cumulative burden when it persists, it is nonetheless a risk for a range of concomitant impairments, some of which can endure.

Biometric analyses of variability in behavioral phenotypes have demonstrated that genotype plays a significant role in all behavioral development, but the developmental significance of the environment has remained obscure. Behavior genetic analyses typically show the effect of shared family environment to be very small, although considerable variability remains to be explained after genetic factors have been accounted for. Behavior geneticists have suggested, contrary to intuition, that almost all of the important effects of the environment serve to make family members more different from each other. Environmentalists of several persuasions have pointed to the crucial importance of the environment in the initiation and regulation of all developmental processes. In this article, we present a series of simulations to suggest that some of the difficulty of identifying environmental effects in biometric models is methodological. Adding simple dynamic parameters to models of development leads to systems in which environment produces substantial variability that can be detected in the context of a particular genotype, but vanishes when genotype is allowed to vary.