A personality scale that identifies individuals' general attitude to what happens to them as largely a matter of luck or fate or of powerful others (externality) or whether they feel they can influence the consequences (internality) is known as locus of control (LOC). A continuous scale can distinguish those who are more external from those who are more internal. Lower scholastic achievement is associated with externality and higher achievement with internality, but little is known about the association of parental LOC on children's academic performance. Data collected within the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) are analyzed to assess associations between mothers' LOC orientation, measured during pregnancy, and their children's abilities in mathematics and science reasoning. We found that maternal external LOC is associated with lower scores for her child assessed by tests measuring mental arithmetic as well as understanding of mathematical and scientific concepts. Additionally, we determined the extent to which three separate sets of factors previously found to positively influence the developing child's ability mediate these findings: (a) perinatal and infant exposures, such as prenatal smoking, binge drinking, consumption of oily fish, and postnatal breast feeding; (b) parenting attitudes and strategies; and (c) the interface of the parents with their child's school. The three factors identify at least 50% of the mechanism by which maternal externality is associated with poor academic outcomes in her child and may be candidates for further investigation as possible intervention targets.
Purpose: Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is an effective and safe intervention to prevent human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) transmission in men who have sex with men; current Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines indicate its use among high-risk adults. Adolescent sexual minority males (ASMM) also have significant HIV risk, but implementation strategies are likely to differ for this population. We aimed to estimate impact and efficiency of PrEP for ASMM in higher prevalence US settings, using a variety of implementation strategies and assumptions about coverage, adherence, and background prevalence. Methods: We develop a stochastic, dynamic, network-based model, parametrized using numerous ASMM behavioral and clinical data sources. We simulate 10 years with and without PrEP, comparing percent of incident infections averted (impact) and number of person-years on PrEP per infection averted (efficiency). Results: Our main scenario (PrEP for 16- to 18-year-old ASMM, initiating PrEP 6 months after first anal intercourse, 40% coverage, adherence profiles from the ATN 113 trial; 2.9% background HIV prevalence among ASMM) prevents 27.8% of infections, with 38 person-years on PrEP per infection averted. Expanding implementation to cover younger ages or earlier initiation has small effects on impact and efficiency. Targeting highest risk ASMM increases efficiency, but requires querying sexual histories. Across levels examined, coverage and adherence do not have major impacts on efficiency, whereas background prevalence does. Conclusions: PrEP can have a large impact on HIV incidence among ASMM in the United States, especially in settings with high prevalence. However, willingness of, and support for, providers will be central to achieving the coverage needed to make this a success.
The epigenetic patterns established during development may influence gene expression over a lifetime and increase susceptibility to chronic disease. Being born preterm (<37 weeks of gestation) is associated with increased risk mortality and morbidity from birth until adulthood. This brief review explores the potential role of DNA methylation in preterm birth (PTB) and its possible long-term consequences and provides an overview of the physiological processes central to PTB and recent DNA methylation studies of PTB.
Explanations of variability in long-term recall typically appeal to encoding and/or retrieval processes. However, for well over a century, it has been apparent that for memory traces to be stored successfully, they must undergo a post-encoding process of stabilization and integration. Variability in post-encoding processes is thus a potential source of age-related and individual variance in long-term recall. We examined post-encoding variability in each of two experiments. In each experiment, 20-month-old infants were exposed to novel three-step sequences in each of three encoding conditions: watch only, imitate, and learn to criterion. They were tested for recall after 15min (as a measure of the success of encoding) and either weeks (1, 2, or 3: Experiment 1) or days (1, 2, or 4: Experiment 2) later. In each experiment, differential relative levels of performance among the conditions were observed at the two tests. The results implicate post-encoding processes are a source of variance in long-term recall.
It has been suggested that interconnected brain areas evolve in tandem because evolutionary pressures act on complete functional systems rather than on individual brain areas. The cerebellar cortex has reciprocal connections with both the prefrontal cortex and motor cortex, forming independent loops with each. Specifically, in capuchin monkeys cerebellar cortical lobules Crus I and Crus II connect with prefrontal cortex, whereas the primary motor cortex connects with cerebellar lobules V, VI, VIIb, and VIIIa. Comparisons of extant primate species suggest that the prefrontal cortex has expanded more than cortical motor areas in human evolution. Given the enlargement of the prefrontal cortex relative to motor cortex in humans, our hypothesis would predict corresponding volumetric increases in the parts of the cerebellum connected to the prefrontal cortex, relative to cerebellar lobules connected to the motor cortex. We tested the hypothesis by comparing the volumes of cerebellar lobules in structural MRI scans in capuchins, chimpanzees and humans. The fractions of cerebellar volume occupied by Crus I and Crus II were significantly larger in humans compared to chimpanzees and capuchins. Our results therefore support the hypothesis that in the cortico-cerebellar system, functionally related structures evolve in concert with each other. The evolutionary expansion of these prefrontal-projecting cerebellar territories might contribute to the evolution of the higher cognitive functions of humans.
Context: Existing research on the neurobehavioral consequences of prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE) has not adequately accounted for genetic and environmental confounds. Objective: To examine the association between PAE and offspring externalizing problems in a large representative sample of families in the United States using measured covariates and a quasi-experimental design to account for unmeasured genetic and environmental confounds. Design: This study combines information from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth and the Children of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth. The analyses statistically controlled for measured characteristics of the mothers and families and exposure to other prenatal psychoactive substances. In the primary analyses, siblings differentially exposed to prenatal alcohol were compared. Setting and Participants: Women were recruited from the community using a stratified and clustered probability sample and were followed longitudinally. The sample included 8621 offspring of 4912 mothers. Main Outcome Measures: Maternal report of conduct problems (CPs) and attention/impulsivity problems (AIPs) during childhood (ages 4-11 years) using standardized assessments related to psychiatric diagnoses. Results: There was an association between PAE and offspring CPs that was independent of confounded genetic and fixed environmental effects and the measured covariates. The CPs in children of mothers who drank daily during pregnancy were 0.35 SD greater than those in children whose mothers never drank during pregnancy. Although AIPs were associated with PAE when comparing unrelated offspring, children whose mothers drank more frequently during pregnancy did not have more AIPs than siblings who were less exposed to alcohol in utero. Additional subsample analyses suggested that maternal polysubstance use during pregnancy may account for the associations between PAE and AIPs. Conclusion: These results are consistent with PAE exerting an environmentally mediated causal effect on childhood CPs, but the relation between PAE and AIPs is more likely to be caused by other factors correlated with maternal drinking during pregnancy.
by
Peter Jensen ;
Margaret Roper;
Prudence Fisher;
John Piacentini;
Glorisa Canino;
John Richters;
Maritza Rubio-Stipec;
Mina Dulcan;
Sherryl H Goodman;
Mark Davies;
Donald Rae;
David Shaffer;
Hector Bird;
Benjamin Lahey;
Mary Schwab-Stone
Background: Previous research has not compared the psychometric properties of diagnostic interviews of community samples and clinically referred subjects within a single study. As part of a multisite cooperative agreement study funded by the National Institute of Mental Health, 97 families with clinically referred children and 278 families identified through community sampling procedures participated in a test-retest study of version 2.1 of the Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children (DISC 2.1).
Methods: The DISC was separately administered to children and parents, and diagnoses were derived from computer algorithms keyed to DSM-III-R criteria. Three sets of diagnoses were obtained, based on parent information only (DISC-P), child information only (DISC-C), and information from either or both (DISC-PC).
Results: Test-retest reliabilities of the DISC-PC ranged from moderate to substantial for diagnoses in the clinical sample. Test-retest κ coefficients were higher for the clinical sample than for the community sample. The DISC-PC algorithm generally had higher reliabilities than the algorithms that relied on single informants. Unreliability was primarily due to diagnostic attenuation at time 2. Attenuation was greatest among child informants and less severe cases and in the community sample.
Conclusions: Test-retest reliability findings were consistent with or superior to those reported in previous studies. Results support the usefulness of the DISC in further clinical and epidemiologic research; however, closely spaced or repeated DISC interviews may result in significant diagnostic attenuation on retest. Further studies of the test-retest attenuation phenomena are needed, including careful examination of the child, family, and illness characteristics of diagnostic stability.
Previous research has demonstrated that the offspring of depressed mothers are at greater risk for negative psychopathological and psychosocial outcomes than children of nondepressed mothers. This study specifically examines offspring's romantic relationship quality during the transition to adulthood as a function of maternal depression and 3 putative mechanisms for this association: youth depression history, mother- child relationship discord, and maternal romantic relationship difficulties. The study further explores the role of these factors in the risk for depressive symptoms during the transition to adulthood. Hypotheses were examined longitudinally in a community sample of 182 Australian youth who were followed from birth to age 20 and were in committed romantic relationships at age 20 with romantic partners willing to provide data regarding romantic relationship satisfaction. Structural equation modeling analyses found support for a direct effect of maternal depression on youth romantic relationship quality with significant mediation by mother- child relationship discord, as well as an association between mother- child relationship discord and later depressive symptoms that is mediated by youth romantic relationship quality. Findings also lend support for an indirect effect of maternal depression on youth depressive symptoms via mother- child relationship discord and youth romantic relationship quality. This study provides further evidence for the negative psychosocial and psychopathological outcomes of children of depressed mothers and the intergenerational transmission of relational difficulties.
Children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are at increased risk for the development of depression, with evidence that peer and academic difficulties mediate predictions of later depression from ADHD. In the present study, we hypothesized that parent- child relationship difficulties may be an additional potential mediator of this association. Academic, peer, and parent- child functioning were tested as mediators of the association of attention problems and depression in two distinctly different yet complementary samples. Study 1 was a cross-sectional sample of 5- to 10-year-old children (N = 230) with and without ADHD. Study 2 was a prospective longitudinal sample of 472 youth, followed prospectively from birth to age 20 years, at risk for depression. Despite differences in age, measures, and designs, both studies implicated peer and parent- child problems as unique mediators of depressive symptoms, whereas academic difficulties did not uniquely mediate the ADHD-depression association. Furthermore, inattention symptoms, but not hyperactivity, predicted depressive symptoms via the disruption of interpersonal functioning. The inclusion of oppositional defiant disorder into models impacted results and supported its independent role in parent- child problems. Implications include support for interventions that target interpersonal competence, which may effectively reduce the risk of depression among children with ADHD.
Purpose: Cross-sectional and retrospective studies have highlighted the long-term negative effects of maternal depression on offspring physical, social, and emotional development, but longitudinal research is needed to clarify the pathways by which maternal depression during pregnancy and early childhood affects offspring outcomes. The current study tested one developmental pathway by which maternal depression during pregnancy might negatively impact offspring mental health in young adulthood, via poor physical health in early childhood.
Methods: The sample consisted of 815 Australian youth and their mothers who were followed for 20 years. Mothers reported on their own depressive symptoms during pregnancy and offspring early childhood. Youth completed interviews about health-related stress and social functioning at age 20 years, and completed a questionnaire about their own depressive symptoms 2 to 5 years later.
Results: Path analysis indicated that prenatal maternal depressive symptoms predicted worse physical health during early childhood for offspring, and this effect was partially explained by ongoing maternal depression in early childhood. Offspring poor physical health during childhood predicted increased health-related stress and poor social functioning at age 20. Finally, increased health-related stress and poor social functioning predicted increased levels of depressive symptoms later in young adulthood. Maternal depression had a significant total indirect effect on youth depression via early childhood health and its psychosocial consequences.
Conclusions: Poor physical health in early childhood and its effects on young adults' social functioning and levels of health related stress is one important pathway by which maternal depression has long-term consequences for offspring mental health.