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Improving children's mental wellbeing is a recognised public health priority, but evidence on recent trends is lacking. This study updates evidence on differences in child mental health since 2008 by comparing two nationally representative cohorts in Wales, UK. Parents of 4- to 12-year-old children completed the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ). No significant differences were seen for younger girls between 2007/2008 and 2012/2013. There was a decrease in conduct, hyperactivity and total difficulties symptom scores and an increase in prosocial scores for boys and older girls. These findings suggest that rates of child mental health problems are stable or falling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Reduced processing and experience of aversive emotional cues is a common component of theories on the development and persistence of aggression and antisocial behaviour. Yet physical pain, arguably the most basic aversive cue, has attracted comparatively little attention., Methods: This study measured pain sensitivity and physiological response to painful stimuli (skin conductance level, SCL) in adolescent boys with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD; n = 183), who are at high risk for antisocial behaviour. We compared boys with ADHD with and without a comorbid diagnosis of Conduct Disorder (CD) on pain sensitivity, and examined patterns of association between pain measures, on the one hand, and problem severity and callous and unemotional (CU) traits, on the other., Results: Boys with comorbid CD exhibited a higher pain threshold and tolerance than boys with ADHD alone, but the groups did not differ in physiology at the time the pain threshold and tolerance were reported. Regression analyses showed that ADHD problem severity positively predicted pain sensitivity, whereas levels of CU traits negatively predicted pain sensitivity., Conclusions: These findings on physical pain processing extend evidence of impairments in aversive cue processing among those at risk of antisocial behaviour. The study highlights the importance of considering comorbidity and heterogeneity of disorders when developing interventions. The current findings could be used to identify subgroups within those with ADHD who might be less responsive to interventions that use corrective feedback to obtain behaviour change.