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Understanding how partners' perceptions of their relationships predict couple distress and treatment outcomes can inform relationship interventions, because consensus on pretreatment relationship concerns has previously been related to better treatment outcomes. However, whether consensus specifically about relationship concerns is beneficial, or whether consensus more generally (e.g., about couples' strengths) is also related to distress and treatment outcomes, is unknown. Therefore, to replicate and extend previous findings, the present study examined how 740 couples' consensus regarding their relationship strengths and concerns was associated with their relationship distress and satisfaction from pre- to postintervention after completing the Relationship Checkup (an adaptation of the Marriage Checkup). Couples who presented with greater initial consensus on relationship concerns were less likely to be clinically distressed pre- and postintervention. Broadly, there were similar significant gains in relationship satisfaction from pre- to postintervention regardless of couples' initial level of consensus on concerns. However, when distress was modeled categorically, couples with lower initial consensus on concerns showed greater improvement in distress levels than did those with higher consensus. There were no associations between partners' consensus on strengths and their distress or satisfaction pre- or postintervention. Results indicate that a brief integrative relationship intervention can decrease relationship distress, even for couples that present with very different opinions about their relationship concerns. Implications of brief and acceptance-based models in couple education and therapy are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Both preterm birth and early institutional deprivation are associated with neurodevelopmental impairment—with both shared and distinctive features. To explore shared underlying mechanisms, this study directly compared the effects of these putative risk factors on temperament profiles in six-year-olds: Children born very preterm (n= 299); and children who experienced >6 months of deprivation in Romanian institutions from the English and Romanian Adoptees Study (n= 101). The former were compared with 311 healthy term born controls and the latter with 52 nondeprived adoptees. At 6 years, temperament was assessed via parent reports across 5 dimensions: effortful control, activity, shyness, emotionality, and sociability. Very preterm/very low birthweight and postinstitutionalized children showed similarly aberrant profiles in terms of lower effortful control, preterm = −0.50, 95% CI [−0.67, −0.33]; postinstitutionalized = −0.48, 95% CI [−0.82, −0.14], compared with their respective controls. Additionally, postinstitutionalized children showed higher activity, whereas very preterm/very low birthweight children showed lower shyness. Preterm birth and early institutionalization are similarly associated with poorer effortful control, which might contribute to long-term vulnerability. More research is needed to examine temperamental processes as common mediators of negative long-term outcomes following early adversity.

To identify trajectories of peer relationships in very preterm and term-born individuals from 6 to 26 years of age and test early-life predictors of these trajectories. As part of the Bavarian Longitudinal Study, 218 very preterm/very low birth weight (VP/VLBW

Friendships are crucial to children's socioemotional development and quality of life. Children born preterm (

To systematically investigate the association between prenatal opioid exposure (POE) and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms in children 2–18 years old, studies were searched using PubMed, CINAHL, PsycINFO, and Web of Science from January of 1950 to October of 2019. Inclusion criteria were observational studies reporting ADHD symptoms of children with POE compared with non-exposed children or normative data. The study protocol was registered with PROSPERO: CRD42018115967. Two independent reviewers extracted data on hyperactivity/impulsivity, inattention symptoms, ADHD combined subscale symptoms, and sample characteristics. Of 223 articles screened, seven met the inclusion criteria. Data represent 319 children with POE and 1308 non-exposed children from 4.3 to 11.2 mean years from five countries. POE was positively associated with childhood hyperactivity/impulsivity (d = 1.40; 95% CI, 0.49–2.31; p = 0.003), inattention (d = 1.35; 95% CI, 0.69–2.01; p < 0.0001), and combined ADHD symptoms scores (d = 1.27; 95% CI = 0.79–1.75; p < 0.0001). POE was positively associated with ADHD combined symptom scores at preschool (d = 0.83, 95% CI, 0.57, 1.09; p < 0.0001) and school age (d = 1.45, 95% CI, 0.85 to 2.04; p < 0.0001). Results suggest increased risk of ADHD symptoms during school age. Future research is needed to clarify the relationship between biological, social, and environmental risk and ADHD symptoms for children who experienced POE.

Preterm birth (&lt, 37 weeks&rsquo, gestation) has been associated with problems in social functioning. Whether social inhibition is specifically related to preterm birth and whether early parenting may protect against social inhibition difficulties is unknown. To explore effects of gestational age and early parent&ndash, infant relationships on social inhibition, 1314 children born at 26&ndash, 41 weeks gestational age were studied as part of the prospective Bavarian Longitudinal Study. Early parent&ndash, infant relationship quality was assessed postnatally with the parent&ndash, infant relationship index. Social inhibition was assessed at age 6 years using an experimental procedure, in which nonverbal and verbal responses were coded into social inhibition categories (disinhibited, normally responsive, inhibited). Multinomial logistic regressions indicated that children with lower gestational age showed more socially disinhibited (nonverbal: OR = 1.27 [95% CI = 1.17&ndash, 1.40], verbal: OR = 1.23 [95% CI 1.13&ndash, 1.35]) and inhibited (nonverbal: OR = 1.21 [95% CI = 1.11&ndash, 1.32], verbal: OR = 1.11 [95% CI = 1.01&ndash, 1.21]) responses. Good early parent&ndash, infant relationships were associated with less verbal disinhibition (OR = 0.70 [95% CI = 0.52&ndash, 0.93]). Findings suggest that children with lower gestational age are at greater risk to be both socially inhibited and disinhibited. Early parenting affected risk of abnormal social responses. Supporting early parent&ndash, infant relationships may reduce preterm children&rsquo, s risk for social difficulties.