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Understanding factors promoting adolescent prosocial behaviour is crucial for positive development. This study explores how positive parenting relates to prosocial behaviour. Utilizing data from a nationally representative sample of 5,317 Finnish adolescents (mean age 15.2, 51.3% girls), we examined the mediating roles of self-control, identification with family and friends, and the moderating effects of gender and antisocial peers. The results revealed that both parental warmth and monitoring were positively associated with prosocial behaviour. Self-control, identification with family and friends, and gender significantly influenced this relationship. Boys appeared more receptive to the positive influence of parenting, while the presence of antisocial peers weakened the link between parental warmth and prosociality. Furthermore, identification with family and friends strengthened the positive effects of parenting on prosocial behaviour. These findings underscore the complex interplay of individual and social factors, highlighting their roles in shaping adolescent prosocial development.

ABSTRACTPotentially traumatizing events are common in adolescence, and these experiences have an impact on psychopathology. Furthermore, these events cumulate for certain individuals. More knowledge about the relationship between well-being and victimization experiences’ amount, type, and timing in adolescents is needed to understand the phenomenon of adolescent victimization. In this cross-sectional study, we investigated in a population-based sample of Finnish adolescents, whether victimization experiences associate with psychosocial well-being. The study sample comprised 5743 adolescents aged 15–16 years who filled in a questionnaire about 12 victimization experiences and psychosocial well-being. General Linear Model regression analyses were used for statistical analysis. A greater number of victimization experiences and recent timing, as well as type of victimization such as cyberbullying, were linked to problems related to psychosocial well-being. It is important to recognize current forms of youth victimization to identify the adolescents at risk for psychosocial distress and investigate on specific types of victimization.

Abstract Eye movements and other rich data obtained in virtual reality (VR) environments resembling situations where symptoms are manifested could help in the objective detection of various symptoms in clinical conditions. In the present study, 37 children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and 36 typically developing controls (9–13 y.o) played a lifelike prospective memory game using head-mounted display with inbuilt 90 Hz eye tracker. Eye movement patterns had prominent group differences, but they were dispersed across the full performance time rather than associated with specific events or stimulus features. A support vector machine classifier trained on eye movement data showed excellent discrimination ability with 0.92 area under curve, which was significantly higher than for task performance measures or for eye movements obtained in a visual search task. We demonstrated that a naturalistic VR task combined with eye tracking allows accurate prediction of attention deficits, paving the way for precision diagnostics.

Abstract Background This randomized controlled trial (RCT) evaluated the long-term effectiveness of the Incredible Years® (IY) Parenting Program in modifying children’s externalizing problems among families in Child Protection Services (CPS) and using other special support services. We also examined whether parent-reported effects of the IY® generalize to the daycare/school setting as reported by teachers. Methods Participants in the study were 3–7-year-old children with behavioural problems (N = 102 at baseline, N = 89 at one-year follow-up). Participants were randomized to intervention (N = 50) and control groups (N = 52) after the baseline assessment. The intervention group received 19-week IY® Parenting Program. The effectiveness of the intervention was analyzed using linear mixed model. Results Our previously reported pre-post intervention effects on CBCL (Child Behavior Checklist) and ECBI (Eyberg Child Behavior Inventory) were not sustained to the one-year follow-up. Child conduct problems decreased from baseline to follow-up in both intervention and control groups. The positive changes were not observed at daycare/school from baseline to post-intervention or to the one-year follow-up, and there were no significant differences in changes between the groups. Conclusions Evidence-based parenting program IY® seems to be an effective intervention for child conduct problems in the short term in families in the CPS context, but sustaining the positive effects and generalizing them to the daycare/school context are challenging. Trial registration: The trial is registered in the ClinicalTrials.gov registry (NCT03239990), Registered August 4th, 2017; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/results?cond=&term=NCT03239990&cntry=&state=&city=&dist=

IntroductionRecently, prescribing antipsychotics for children and adolescents has been increasing in many countries. These drugs are often prescribed off-label, although antipsychotics have been associated with adverse effects. We determined the recent incidence of antipsychotic use among children and adolescents in Finland.MethodsFinnish National Prescription Register including all Finnish inhabitants receiving reimbursement for pharmaceuticals was searched for subjects of 1 to 17 years of age who had started an antipsychotic drug between January 1, 2008, and December 31, 2017 (n = 26,353). Between 2008 and 2017, the range of number of Finnish children and adolescents aged 1 to 17 years was 1.01 to 1.03 million/year. The incidence was calculated by dividing the number of new users by all age- and sex-matched Finnish inhabitants in the year.ResultsBetween 2008 and 2017, the incidence of antipsychotic use among children and adolescents increased from 2.1 to 3.8 per 1000 individuals, respectively. In children aged 7 to 12 years, the incidence of antipsychotic use 1.4-folded (from 1.9 (95% CI: 1.8–2.0) to 2.7 (95% CI: 2.5–2.9) per 1000) with a cumulative increase of 0.2% per year (χ2 = 51.0, p < 0.0001). In adolescents aged 13 to 17 years, the incidence 2.2-folded (from 4.3 (95% CI: 4.1–4.5) to 9.4 (95% CI: 9.1–9.8) per 1000) with a cumulative increase of 0.6% per year (χ2 = 590.3, p < 0.0001). The increase in the incidence of use was steeper in girls (2.3-fold) than in boys (1.4-fold) (χ2 = 85.6, p < 0.0001), especially between 2015 and 2017 (1.6-fold and 1.2-fold, respectively) (χ2 = 151.7, p < 0.0001). The year 2011 was the turning point when the incidence in girls exceeded the incidence in boys, and the incidence of quetiapine use exceeded that of risperidone use.ConclusionsThe incidence of antipsychotic use increased between 2008 and 2017, especially in adolescent girls. The use of quetiapine increased, although it has few official indications in children and adolescents. Future studies should investigate the reasons for increasing use of antipsychotics, especially quetiapine, in children and adolescents.

Abstract Background Not much is known about low mood and its associates in child psychiatric patients. In this study, we examined the prevalence of low mood, how it associates with disruptive behaviour, and affects clinician-rated global functioning in child psychiatric outpatients. Methods The study population consisted of 862 5–12 year-old child psychiatric patients. The study sample was a subsample of all 1251 patients attending a child psychiatric outpatient clinic at Helsinki University Hospital in 2013–2015 formed by excluding 4 year-old and 13 year-old patients and those with missing or incomplete data. The parent-rated Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire, collected as part of the routine clinical baseline measure, was used as a measure of psychiatric symptoms. The diagnoses were set according to ICD-10 by the clinician in charge after an initial evaluation period. The Children’s Global Assessment Scale (CGAS) score set by clinicians provided the measure of the patients’ global functioning. All information for the study was collected from hospital registers. Associations between emotional symptoms and conduct problems/hyperactivity scores were examined using ordinal regression in univariate and multivariate models, controlling for age and sex. The independent samples T test was used to compare the CGAS values of patient groups with low/normal mood. Results In our sample, 512 children (59.4%) showed low mood. In multivariate ordinal regression analysis, low mood associated with conduct problems (OR 1.93, 95% CI 1.39–2.67), but no association was found between low mood and hyperactivity. Low mood was prevalent among children with oppositional defiant disorder or conduct disorder (51.8%). The global functioning score CGAS was lower among children with parent-reported low mood (52.21) than among children with normal mood (54.62, p

SUMMARY: ABSTRACT The course of sleep disturbances in preadolescents was assessed during a 4-year follow-up, and psychiatric problems associated with persistent and temporary sleep problems were investigated in an epidemiological setting. A representative random sample of 1,290 children, their parents, and school teachers filled out various questionnaires when the children were aged 8 and 12 years. Response rates to the relevant items varied between 66.8% and 81.2%. Parental reports of sleep problems decreased from 23.4% to 9.1% during the 4-year period, whereas children's reports remained steady at 18%. Persistent sleep disturbances were found in 12% of children, and 33.3% of sleep problems reported at age 8 were continued. Both current and persistent sleep disturbances were associated with the broad range of mental health problems reported by teachers. However, multivariate modeling suggested that especially current sleep problems were associated with an increased risk for psychiatric problems (odds ratio [OR] 2.45; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.20-4.99), particularly emotional problems (OR 2.92; 95% CI 1.58-5.38). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Earlier studies on adults have shown that functional connectivity (FC) of brain networks can vary depending on the brain state and cognitive challenge. Network connectivity has been investigated quite extensively in children in resting state, much less during tasks and is largely unexplored between these brain states. Here we used functional magnetic resonance imaging and independent component analysis to investigate the functional architecture of large-scale brain networks in 16 children (aged 7-11 years, 11 males) and 16 young adults (aged 22-29 years, 10 males) during resting state and visual working memory tasks. We identified the major neurocognitive intrinsic connectivity networks (ICNs) in both groups. Children had stronger FC than adults within the cingulo-opercular network in resting state, during task performance, and after controlling for performance differences. During tasks, children had stronger FC than adults also within the default mode (DMN) and right frontoparietal (rFPN) networks, and between the anterior DMN and the frontopolar network, whereas adults had stronger coupling between the anterior DMN and rFPN. Furthermore, children compared to adults modulated the FC strength regarding the rFPN differently between the brain states. The FC within the anterior DMN correlated with age and performance in children so that the younger they were, the stronger was the FC, and the stronger the FC within this network, the slower they performed the tasks. The group differences in the network connectivity reported here, and the observed correlations with task performance, provide insight into the normative development of the preadolescent brain and link maturation of functional connectivity with improving cognitive performance.