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Psychiatric illnesses can affect the social transitions of adolescence and young adulthood, such as completing education and entering working life and relationships. However, associations between earlier onset age and long-term outcomes among those with early-onset psychoses (EOP) are unclear, as are the long-term outcomes of EOP compared to non-psychotic disorders. We used national register data of the Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1986 to detect persons with EOP and other early-onset psychiatric disorders. The long-term clinical and work-family outcomes of persons with onset age before 18 years (n = 41 psychoses, n = 495 non-psychoses) or between 18–22 years (n = 61 psychoses, n = 377 non-psychoses) were compared. Individuals with the onset of psychosis between 18–22 years had significantly more unfavourable long-term outcomes when compared to those with psychosis onset before 18 years. Persons with psychosis onset before the age of 18 years had similar outcomes to those with non-psychotic psychiatric disorder onset before 18 years regarding educational level, marital status, having children, and substance use disorders. Individuals with EOP were more often on a disability pension compared to those with other early-onset mental disorders. Adjusting for sex, educational level and substance use only slightly diluted these results. Unexpectedly, later onset age of EOP was associated with worse outcomes. Those with psychosis onset between 18–22 years of age are in a critical period, which underlines the importance of investing on interventions in this age group. Further studies on the effect of the onset age on later outcomes in EOP are needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: Rates of parental separation have increased dramatically in recent decades. We evaluated the association of individuals' childhood family structure with their somatic health over 46 years of follow-up. Methods: Data were drawn from the Northern Finland Birth Cohort, an ongoing project in which 12,058 participants born in 1966 have been followed from their 24th gestational week. Based on information supplied at age 14 years, family structure was categorised as 'single-parent family' and 'two-parent family'. The anthropometric information, data from blood samples and medical history were collected from postal questionnaires and clinical examinations routinely performed at the ages of 31 and 46 years. Results: The study population comprised a total of 10,895 individuals; 85% (n =9253) were offspring of two-parent families and 15% (n =1642) of single-parent families. Type 2 diabetes (P =0.032) or prediabetes (P =0.007), psychoactive drug problems (P <0.001) and sexually transmitted diseases (P <0.001) were more common in the single-parent family group than in the participants from two-parent families. In addition, among men back diseases (P =0.002), and among women hypertension (P =0.003) and ovary infection (P =0.024) were more frequent in individuals affected by parental death than in those from two-parent families. Conclusions : Our results indicate the association of childhood family structure with offspring morbidity during 46 years' follow-up. The lifetime morbidity was observed to be higher among offspring from a single-parent family compared to two-parent family offspring. Public and scientific concern about the consequences of parental separation on the offspring' health exist, therefore support from healthcare professionals and society is warranted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Parental death before adulthood has been shown to increase offspring's risk of poor health and adverse social consequences. In a sample of 422 subjects with parental death (334 (79.1%) due to natural causes), and 6172 matched controls, those with parental death were given a diagnosis of a psychiatric disorder up to 28 years of age earlier than their controls (10-year survival proportions: 88.6% vs. 93.1%, p = 0.001). Our findings indicate that psychosocial support must be provided as early as when a parent falls ill, especially with those illnesses that are the most common causes of death in the population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Delayed motor developmental milestones have been reported to be associated with schizophrenia in previous studies, but no study has examined the relationship between early motor developmental milestones and schizotypy. We have examined this relationship in a prospective birth cohort.In the Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1966, data on 9 early motor developmental milestones were collected prospectively from visits to child welfare centers, and data on adult schizotypy were collected through a questionnaire (N = 4557–4674). Positive schizotypy was measured by the Perceptual Aberration Scale (PAS), negative schizotypy was measured by Physical Anhedonia Scale (PhAS) and Social Anhedonia Scale (SAS). Three related scales were included: Schizoidia Scale (SCHD), Hypomanic Personality Scale (HPS), and Bipolar II Scale (BIP2). We examined the milestone–schizotypy associations before and after excluding cases of schizophrenia from this population-based sample. Hierarchical regression analyses adjusted for covariates and separately for both genders were performed. In men, each extra month of delay in achievement of touching thumb with index finger, sitting unsupported, standing up, walking with support, or walking unsupported was associated with an increase in PAS, PhAS, or SCHD scores, or decrease in BIP2 score (P <.05). In women, each extra month of delay in achievement of turning from back to tummy was associated with an increase in PhAS and SAS scores (P <.05). Schizotypy is associated with delayed motor developmental milestones in early-life, but there is some heterogeneity with regards to types of milestones and gender. These findings suggest delayed motor development confers risk across the continuum of schizophrenia syndrome. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Although a pathway from childhood behavioural disorders to criminal offending is well established, the aetiological processes remain poorly understood. Also, it is not clear if attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is predictive of crime in the absence of comorbid disruptive behaviour disorder (DBD).Hypothesis: We examined two research questions: (1) Does ADHD have a unique effect on the risk of criminal offending, independently of DBD? (2) Is the effect of childhood behavioural disorders on criminal offending direct or mediated by adolescent processes related to school experience, substance misuse and peers?Method: Structural equation modelling, with latent variables, was applied to longitudinally collected data on 4644 men from the 1986 Northern Finland Birth Cohort Study.Results: Both ADHD and DBD separately predicted felony conviction risk. Most of these effects were mediated by adolescent alcohol use and low academic performance. The effect of DBD was stronger and included a direct pathway to criminal offending.Conclusion: Findings were more consistent with the life course mediation hypothesis of pathways into crime than the behavioural continuity path, in that the effects of each disorder category were mediated by heavy drinking and educational failure. Preventing these adolescent risk outcomes may be an effective approach to closing pathways to criminal behaviour amongst behaviourally disordered children. However, as there was some evidence of a direct pathway from DBD, effective treatments targeting this disorder are also expected to reduce criminal offending. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Aims Prenatal exposure to maternal cigarette smoking ( PEMCS) is associated with a higher probability of substance use in adolescence. We explore if externalizing behavior mediates this relationship, while controlling for a number of potential covariates of this mediation process. Methods We used data obtained in two geographically distinct community samples of adolescents. The first (cross-sectional) sample consisted of 996 adolescents (12-18 years of age) recruited from the Saguenay Youth Study ( SYS) in Canada (47% with PEMCS). The second (longitudinal) sample consisted of 1141 adolescents (49% with PEMCS) from the Northern Finland Birth Cohort ( NFBC1986). In both samples, externalizing behavior and substance use were assessed during adolescence. In the NFBC1986 cohort, externalizing behavior was also assessed in childhood. Results In both populations, PEMCS is associated with a higher likelihood of adolescent drug experimentation. In the NFBC1986 cohort, exposed (versus non-exposed) adolescents experiment with an extra 1.27 [B = 0.24, 95% confidence intervals (CI) = 0.15, 0.33 P < 0.001] drugs. In the SYS cohort, a clear protective effect of not being exposed is shown: non-exposed (versus exposed) adolescents are 1.5 times [B = −0.42, 95% CI = −0.75, −0.09, P = 0.013] less likely to take drugs. These associations between PEMCS and drug experimentation remain in the multivariate and mediational analyses. Conclusions Prenatal exposure to maternal cigarette smoking appears to be associated with a higher probability of experimenting with drugs during adolescence, both directly and indirectly via externalizing behavior and the number of peers reported as using drugs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Little is known about whether factors during the first years of life predict later outcomes in schizophrenia spectrum disorder (SSD). As part of the Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1966, we examined if prospectively collected early parenthood-related and developmental factors predict employment and hospitalization in individuals with and without SSD.Methods: Overall, 161 individuals with SSD and 10,116 without SSD were included in the study. Outcomes were analysed at age of 44-45years, defining "employment" as being employed for at least 25% of working days and "hospitalization" as having psychiatric hospitalization at least once during the last two years of follow-up. Maternal age, wantedness of pregnancy, grand multiparity, parental psychoses, birth weight, birth height, age of standing up and standing and walking without support were analysed as predictors.Results: Of the individuals with SSD, only 11.2% were employed, although 77.6% remained not hospitalized. In individuals with SSD, only young maternal age was associated with lower probability (OR 0.25, CI 0.08-0.77) of being non-hospitalized after controlling for sex and onset age of illness. Among persons without SSD, almost all parenthood-related and developmental factors were related to employment, while grand multiparity and parental psychosis were related to hospitalization after controlling for sex.Conclusions: Only one of the early parenthood-related and developmental factors analysed in this study predicted outcome in individuals with SSD, while among those without SSD almost all factors were related to employment. Thus, prognosis of SSD does not seem to be predetermined much by early development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Cross-sectional studies have suggested inhalant use is associated with psychosis. This association was examined in a longitudinal study accounting for other substance use and potential confounders.Methods: We used a prospective sample (N = 6542) from the Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1986. Self-report questionnaires on substance use and psychotic experiences were completed when the cohort members were 15-16 years old. Inhalant use was categorized into four groups (never, once, 2-4 times, 5 times or more). Subsequent psychosis diagnoses (ICD-10) until age 30 years were obtained from national registers. Cox regression analysis was used to examine the association between adolescent inhalant use and risk of psychosis.Results: During the observation period 124 individuals were diagnosed with incident psychosis. Overall, there were 225 (3.4%) subjects with any inhalant use, 18 (8.0%) of whom were diagnosed with psychosis during the follow up. Of non-inhalant users (n = 6317) 106 (1.7%) were diagnosed with psychosis. Compared to non-users, those using inhalants had increased risk of incident psychosis with most frequent inhalant use associated with the greatest risk (unadjusted HR = 9.46; 3.86-23.20). After adjusting for baseline psychotic experiences, other substance use, comorbid mental disorder and parental substance abuse, the increased risk of psychosis persisted (HR = 3.06; 1.05-8.95). Furthermore, a dose-response effect between inhalant use and risk of psychosis was identified (OR = 2.34; 1.83-2.99).Conclusions: Inhalant use in adolescence was independently associated with incident psychosis. The adverse health outcomes associated with adolescent inhalant use provide compelling reasons for implementation of policies to reduce the use of volatile substances in adolescents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]