In a sample of early post-menarchal female adolescents, this study examined sleep regularity in relation to depression symptoms, circadian rhythms, and chronotype preference. Sixty-six female adolescents, aged 11–14 and within fifteen months post-menarche, completed a one-week sleep and circadian rhythm assessment involving self-reported sleep behaviors, 24-h sleep monitoring using wrist actigraphy, and serial cortisol and 6-sulfatoxymelatonin collections for four days. Sleep regularity was operationalized as the probability of being in the same wake/sleep state at any two timepoints 24 h apart (i.e., sleep regularity index (SRI)). Reduced SRI was associated with higher depressive symptoms (F [1,273] = 18.65, p = < .0001), as were eveningness chronotype (F [1,273] = 21.13, p = < .0001), sleep duration (F [1,273] = 6.25, p = .01), and self-reported life stress (F [1,273] = 22.82, p = < .0001). The interaction between SRI and chronotype was also a predictor of increased depression (F [1,273] = 18.65, p = < .0001), such that eveningness and low sleep regularity predicted higher scores. Sleep regularity was not significantly associated with cortisol awakening response, cortisol slope, or overnight melatonin levels. Sleep regularity appears linked to altered mood in early post-menarchal girls. Further research linking sleep regularity to physiological processes governing sleep is warranted. Interventions targeting sleep regularity stand to improve mental health outcomes, as well as promote healthy developmental trajectories for affect regulation.

The association between low household income and adolescent mental health causes continuing concern. We examined the relation between household income and adolescent internalizing and externalizing problems, and explored individual, parental, and neighborhood characteristics. The sample included 872 Dutch adolescents (Mage = 14.93 years) oversampled on risk of psychopathology. Low income was defined as parent-reported net monthly household income below the 20th percentile (<€2000). Internalizing and externalizing problems were examined using the Youth Self-Report and Child Behavior Checklist. Covariates included sex, age, ethnic background, IQ, perceived social support, adverse life events, physical health, parental psychopathology, parental IQ, parent-child interaction, neighborhood unemployment rate, and neighborhood violence. Low household income was associated with more internalizing and externalizing problems. These associations were explained by more physical health concerns, increased parental psychopathology, more parent-child interaction problems, more adverse life events, lower perceived social support, and lower adolescent IQ. For all, except for mother-child interaction, a mediating role was suggested. This indicates a complex interplay between household income, individual, social, and parental factors affecting adolescent mental health. This study accentuates the necessity for a comprehensive, multi-faceted approach to address the negative effects of poverty on adolescent mental health, targeting these influences for preventive measures.

Drawing on the “social misfit” hypothesis, this study tested whether peer victimization is more predictive of maladjustment when children have many same-race classmates who they view as low in aggression. Also accounted for were children’s race, the racial composition of the classroom, and children’s perceptions of other-race peers. Data were collected in the fall, winter, and spring of a school year from 1,424 4th and 5th grade children (Mage = 10.06; SDage = 0.67; Rangeage = 8.43–13.03; 683 girls; 741 boys; 39.61% Black; 60.39% White) in the Southeastern United States. Measures included children’s ratings of the aggressiveness of their participating Black and White classmates; teacher-reports of depressive symptoms, anxiety, and social withdrawal; and peer-reports of peer victimization, aggression, and prosocial behavior. Consistent with the social misfit hypothesis, when children viewed same-race classmates as low in aggression, peer victimization was more strongly associated with internalizing problems in the fall for Black children (R2: 0.05–0.16) and with heightened anxiety in the spring for White children with many same-race classmates (R2 = 0.09). Although some protective effects of viewing other-race classmates as aggressive emerged, associations with heightened anxiety (R2: 0.06–0.09) underscored the need to promote positive interracial relationships to optimize children’s mental health.

Mania symptoms in youth predict poor long-term mental health outcomes, yet their developmental trajectories and associated risk factors remain unclear. Leveraging data from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study (N = 10,474; 9–10 years at baseline; 48% female, 65% white), we used latent growth mixture models to identify trajectories of mania symptoms across two years in early adolescence. We used multinomial logistic regressions to examine associations between trajectories and risk factors across mental and physical health, cognition, and family/environmental domains. We identified three trajectories: Low (58%), Moderate (32%), and High/Variable Mania Symptoms (10%). All mental health symptoms (depression, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, conduct and oppositional defiant disorders and anxiety), two physical health factors (sleep disturbances, irritable bowel syndrome symptoms), one cognitive factor (verbal learning impairment), and three family/environmental factors (trauma, parent- and youth-reported family conflict) significantly differentiated between all three trajectories, reflecting incremental increases in risk factor severity with increasing mania symptoms. Other physical, cognitive, family and environmental factors were also associated with more severe mania symptom trajectories. More severe mania symptom trajectories in early adolescence are associated with multiple mental, physical, cognitive, family and environmental risk factors, underscoring the need for comprehensive risk prediction approaches in youth.

As youth transition into adolescence, their desire for autonomy leads to changes in the family dynamic, resulting in increased family conflict and possible disruptions to children’s psychological health. Previous literature, however, has largely neglected to consider whether the association between family conflict and child behavioral difficulties is uni- or bi-directional. The current study used latent curve growth models with structured residuals (LCMs-SR) to investigate this question in the Adolescent Brain & Cognitive Development (ABCD) study. At four annual waves (baseline through 3-year follow-up), youth (N = 11,868; Mage at Time 1 = 9.48 years; 48% female; 50% White) reported on family conflict while parents reported on youths’ internalizing and externalizing behaviors. Youth reported family conflict levels as increasing over four years. Furthermore, family conflict was bidirectionally associated with externalizing behavior, in that families with greater than expected conflict had children with more externalizing behaviors, and youth with more externalizing behaviors reported greater than expected conflict at home. Internalizing behavior, however, did not predict later family conflict, though family conflict predicted deviations in later internalizing behavior. These findings add to the literature by demonstrating bidirectional influences between children’s behavior and family functioning across emerging adolescence.

The present work investigated changes in well-being during the transition out of upper secondary education (i.e., from shortly before graduating from upper secondary education to approximately one year later). The motivation for a post-school pathway (e.g., starting university or vocational training) was examined as a potential predictor of between-person differences in well-being trajectories. German-speaking high school graduates (N = 874 between ages 16 and 20; 69% female, 95% born in Germany) reported on their affective well-being in up to four surveys and indicated their motivation for their post-school pathway. At three measurement occasions, participants also participated in a three-week experience sampling phase, in which they reported on their daily well-being. Latent change models revealed an initial increase in well-being after graduation, but mixed evidence for subsequent trajectories, as both positive and negative affect decreased on average. Changes in well-being were more pronounced for global than for daily assessments of affective well-being. We did not find associations between the motivation for a post-school pathway and well-being trajectories. Overall, these findings highlight the complexity of well-being trajectories during the transition out of upper secondary education and the importance of using multiple time points and assessment methods to understand these dynamics.

Traditionally, early life adversity research has focused on negative outcomes. Contrastingly, the hidden talents framework asserts that many individuals develop specialized abilities as a direct result of their adversity exposure. This framework serves as the foundation for the current study, which systematically reviews extant empirical studies investigating hidden talents or stress-adapted skills in individuals who have experienced early adversity. Synthesizing data through a developmental lens, this review examines how these skills manifest at different stages of development. Guided by the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses, we searched four databases and identified 45 eligible studies. Data on country of origin, sample size, predictor and outcome themes, and participant characteristics were extracted. Categorized into cognitive, social, and physiological domains, findings reveal that early adversity was associated with adaptive skills aligned with environmental demands (e.g., heightened emotional awareness, intuitive decision-making, empathy). While cognitive adaptations were the most studied, social and physiological adaptations remain underexplored. Some studies also reported null effects. Future directions include calls for examination of developmental pathways, longitudinal designs, diverse sampling, and culturally responsive approaches to better understand hidden talents and inform strength-based interventions.

This study examined explicit mentalising (EM) in preschoolers with a history of language delay (HLD) and tested whether vocabulary mediates the association between theory of mind (ToM) and EM, after controlling for family socio-economic status (SES). Ninety Mandarin-speaking preschoolers (45 with HLD, 32 boys; 45 without HLD, 24 boys; aged 4–6 years) completed measures of cognitive and affective ToM, receptive emotional and non-emotional vocabulary, expressive emotional and non-emotional vocabulary, and EM. The results showed that participants with HLD scored lower on vocabulary, ToM, and EM than their peers without HLD. Expressive vocabulary partially mediated the ToM–EM relationship. For cognitive ToM, mediation followed a sequential path from receptive to expressive vocabulary, whereas affective ToM was mediated only by expressive vocabulary; the association of nonemotional expressive vocabulary in the cognitive pathway was attenuated after controlling for SES. EM interventions for preschoolers with HLD may benefit from targeting reasoning processes and supporting the development of emotional understanding and expression through vocabulary growth and ToM-related mechanisms.

The first year of university is a developmentally significant transition that involves substantial stressor exposure and, for some, heightened anxiety. Parenting may influence the association between stressor exposure and anxiety symptoms, with some research showing that parental care and overprotection throughout childhood and adolescence are associated with the experience of anxiety. However, how these factors interact and relate to anxiety symptoms in early adulthood is not clear. To address this issue, we examined interactions between parenting characteristics (care and overprotection) and stressors experienced during the transition to university, and how they relate to anxiety symptoms in 240 first-year undergraduates (Mage = 18.2, SD = 1.18, 75% female, 51.7% White). Results revealed a significant interaction between parental overprotection and stressor exposure, such that higher parental overprotection and higher levels of recent stressor exposure were associated with more anxiety symptoms (β = 0.52, p = .008). These findings demonstrate continued evidence for associations between experiences of parenting and psychopathology in emerging adulthood and suggest that overprotective parenting behaviors may exacerbate effects of stress exposure.

Adolescence represents a pivotal neurodevelopmental period marked by escalating anxiety symptoms and heightened approach motivations. Although anxiety is typically linked to avoidance, concurrent shifts in motivational systems and neurocircuitry may alter its behavioral and neural expression, shaping developmental trajectories and treatment response. This study investigated how approach motivations (Behavioral Activation System; BAS) interact with anxiety to influence behavior and brain function in N = 121 adolescents (ages 9–13; 44% girls; 33.1% White, 22.3% Latino, 19.8% Asian, 14.9% Black, 9.9% Mixed Race). Participants completed a decision-making task and resting-state fMRI. Dimensional analyses examined joint effects of anxiety and BAS on risk-taking behaviors, task-evoked neural activity and connectivity, and intrinsic connectivity at rest. Higher anxiety was associated with risk aversion and inhibition when BAS was low, but with risk-taking and impulsivity when BAS was high (risk-taking: β = 0.25, p = .012; inhibitory control: β = 0.13, p < .001). During risk-taking, anxiety and BAS showed interactive effects on striatal (β = −0.10, p = .006) and amygdala (β = 0.10, p = .005) activity alongside distinct effects on prefrontal–subcortical connectivity (β = −0.30, p = .014; β = 0.17, p = .01). Higher BAS was associated with stronger intrinsic prefrontal–striatal connectivity (β = 0.23, p = .012), while anxiety showed no significant resting-state effects. Findings underscore the role of reward-related systems in adolescent anxiety and support developmentally informed, personalized intervention strategies.

Early deprivation holds far-reaching implications for academic performance in adolescence. Yet, the implicated cascading mechanisms remain under-delineated, and little is known about why children may display diverse patterns of cognitive development. To address such gaps, we leveraged long-term longitudinal data derived from the Future of Families and Child Wellbeing Study (n = 2,085). Results indicated that early deprivation (age 3, caregivers’ reports and observers’ ratings; controlling for early threat and unpredictability) was negatively associated with adolescent academic performance (age 15, adolescents’ reports) indirectly through a negative association with cognitive ability in middle childhood (age 9, standardized tests). Furthermore, such an indirect effect was less pronounced among children with higher (versus lower) negative emotionality (age 1, mothers’ ratings), given that the negative link between early deprivation and subsequent cognitive ability was weaker among children with higher (versus lower) negative emotionality. Breaking down cognitive ability into sub-components (i.e., working memory, language ability, reading comprehension, and problem-solving), both language ability and applied problem-solving were involved in the deprivation-emotionality interaction. These findings highlight the critical role of cognitive ability in accounting for the long-term academic consequences of early deprivation and the key role of negative emotionality in shaping heterogeneity in such pathways.

Methylation alterations of the glucocorticoid receptor gene (NR3C1) may help explain why not all individuals experiencing insensitive parenting develop behavior problems, yet evidence from human cohorts remains limited. This longitudinal study examined associations among NR3C1 methylation, caregiver parenting, and child internalizing and externalizing behaviors. A total of 224 Han Chinese preschoolers (Mage = 47.33 ± 9.60 months; 42.5% girls) were recruited from Jinan, China, in 2021 (T1). Parenting quality and child behavior problems were reported by both parents, and NR3C1 methylation across 46 cytosine–phosphate–guanine sites in the exon 1F promoter region was sequenced from buccal cells. Follow-up assessments were conducted 1.5 years later among 113 children who stayed in the same kindergarten (Mage = 63.60 ± 7.68 months; 45.7% girls). NR3C1 methylation at baseline moderated the association between parenting and baseline, but not follow-up, behavior problems, consistent with differential susceptibility. Children with lower methylation exhibited more behavior problems under low-quality parenting but fewer under high-quality parenting. This interaction did not vary between parental and child sex, or NR3C1 BclI (rs41423247) and Tth111I (rs10052957) polymorphisms. Findings highlight the dynamic nature of Epigenome × Environment interactions and suggest that lower NR3C1 methylation may act as a plasticity factor in preschool children.

Temperament has been linked to the development of externalizing symptoms, but the nature of these associations remains unclear. Traditional approaches often treat early reactive temperament as static, overlooking developmental variation. This study applied a longitudinal latent change score model to examine how levels and changes in Negative Affect (NA) and Surgency from age 3 to 5 predict Conduct Problems (CP) and Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) symptoms in early childhood. Data from the National Educational Panel Study (N = 2,477) were analyzed. Temperament was assessed at ages 3, 4, and 5 using the Children’s Behavior Questionnaire, and CP and ADHD symptoms were measured at ages 5, 6, and 8 with the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire. Measurement invariance was established. Significant individual differences in developmental change emerged. Change in NA and Surgency, but not baseline levels, predicted higher latent CP and ADHD symptom levels at age 5 and further increases through age 8. These findings indicate that intraindividual change in reactive temperament can be a relevant marker of developmental risk. Temperamental risk for externalizing symptoms in early childhood is not fixed but may be shaped by both stable dispositions and developmental change, highlighting the importance of assessing temperament development to identify early emerging risk.

The moderating roles of friendship and contextual variables on associations between social withdrawal and peer exclusion and growth curves of depressed affect were studied with a three-wave multilevel longitudinal design. Participants were 313 boys and girls aged 10–12 from Canada (n = 139), mostly of European and North African descent, and Colombia (n = 174), mostly mestizo, afrocolombian, and European descent. Depressed affect, peer exclusion, social withdrawal and friendship were assessed with peer-reports, and collectivism and individualism with self-reports. Group-level scores included gender, place and means of social withdrawal, peer exclusion, friendship, collectivism and individualism for each child’s same-gender classroom peer-group. Results indicated that being friended weakened associations between peer exclusion and social withdrawal and depressed affect. The strength of this effect varied across peer-group contexts.

Lower socioeconomic status (SES) is a risk factor for psychopathology. Youth living in low SES neighborhoods experience a myriad of stressors, particularly social stressors (e.g., discrimination), which may be particularly stressful for adolescents sensitive to peer feedback (i.e., blunted sensitivity to acceptance from peers). This study thus aimed to test whether neighborhood SES moderates the relationship between brain responses to peer feedback and affect outside of the lab, measured through ecological momentary assessment (EMA). To measure neural response to acceptance (relative to rejection), 13–18-year-old adolescents (N = 172) completed an event-related potential (ERP) task during which they received accepting or rejecting feedback from peers. They also rated their positive and negative affect via EMA for a week. Neighborhood SES moderated the relationship between brain responses to peer acceptance and negative affect. Specifically, for adolescents living in low SES neighborhoods, blunted brain response to acceptance was related to elevated negative affect. Prevention and intervention efforts (e.g., neighborhood/community interventions) may benefit from focusing on increasing hedonic responses to social feedback.

Parental reflective functioning – parents’ capacity to envision the mental states underlying their child’s behavior – plays an important role in parenting behavior, parental well-being, and children’s psychosocial outcomes. Most studies have examined parental reflective functioning in terms of relatively stable interindividual differences between parents. This is unfortunate because theoretical accounts suggest that this capacity is susceptible to intraindividual fluctuations. Parenting stress, in particular that associated with difficult child behavior, has been described as a factor that can put parental reflective functioning under pressure. Using a multilevel approach, this 7-day diary study investigated day-to-day fluctuations in parental reflective functioning and its associations with daily parenting stress and perceived internalizing and externalizing adolescent difficulties. Parents of community adolescents (N = 128) and adopted adolescents (N = 28) were sampled because adoptive parents face unique stressors that may challenge their reflective capacities. Results indicated that daily parenting stress was associated with more daily prementalizing (i.e., severely biased mentalizing), less daily certainty about mental states, and less interest and curiosity in the adolescent’s mental states. Whereas externalizing difficulties were similarly related to more daily prementalizing and less certainty about mental states, findings for internalizing difficulties were mixed. Most associations were consistent across biological and adoptive parents.

Recent research suggests that maternal mood entropy, a novel measure of mood dysfunction, is associated with child outcomes. However, the link between maternal mood entropy and children’s structural brain development, and how this association may change across childhood, remains unclear. In a longitudinal study with neuroimaging data collected at ages 4.5, 6, 7.5, and 10.5 years (n = 1,498; n = 674 with neuroimaging), we examined whether maternal mood entropy is associated with children’s hippocampal and amygdala volumes over time. Mothers reported on negative mood symptoms at several assessments between ages 3 months and 4.5 years. We calculated maternal mood levels as the sum of mood symptoms and computed maternal mood entropy by applying Shannon’s entropy to the distributions of mood questionnaire responses. Maternal mood measures were not associated with amygdala volumes; however, mood entropy was directly associated with smaller hippocampal volumes at age 4.5 years and indirectly associated with smaller hippocampal volumes at 10.5 years through rank-order stability over time. These effects were present beyond the effects of socioeconomic status and intracranial volume and were specific to mood entropy, not mood levels. Our findings indicate that patterns of maternal mood are embedded in early childhood brain structure, setting the stage for subsequent neurodevelopment.

Callous-unemotional (CU) traits are linked with various psychosocial maladjustments. Scant research has investigated its developmental pattern during the transition from late adolescence to young adulthood, and whether the pattern may function as a mechanism against daily stressors in stressful contexts. This study adopted a multi-timescale approach to elucidate how long-term developmental trajectories of CU traits relate to both socioemotional maladjustment and daily emotion dynamics during the transition period. A three-wave longitudinal study (N = 313; Mage = 18 years, 72% female, 30% White) with two 30-day daily diary bursts embedded over three years was conducted. Latent growth curve modeling revealed a modest group-level increase in CU traits. Higher initial levels and faster increase in CU traits were associated with higher depressive symptoms and peer problems and lower empathy and peer attachment in wave 3. Multilevel modeling showed that individuals with faster growth in CU traits displayed lower daily emotional problems, blunted reactivity to stress, and reduced stress-unrelated emotional fluctuations; these associations persisted over two-and-a-half years. These findings suggest that the developmental growth of CU traits may buffer daily stress reactivity in the short-term but could be maladaptive in the long-term.

The development of externalizing behavior in young children is shaped by the complex interaction of temperament, neural mechanisms, and environmental factors. This study explored how child frontal alpha asymmetry (FAA) and child negative affect jointly moderate the relationship between mindful parenting and child externalizing behavior. The sample, drawn from families in the Netherlands, included reports from 128 mothers and 103 partners on mindful parenting, and on children’s negative affect and externalizing behavior. FAA was measured in 95 four-year-old children during an EEG session while they watched an animated video. Results indicated that children with high negative affect and greater left-sided FAA displayed the most externalizing behavior when maternal mindful parenting was low, but the least when mindful parenting was high. In contrast, no significant effects were found for children with lower negative affect or in partner-reported data. These findings suggest that children with both high negative affect and greater left-sided FAA are more sensitive to the quality of mindful parenting, particularly from mothers, aligning with the environmental sensitivity framework. Future research should replicate these findings, ideally in a larger sample, and further examine the long-term, cumulative impact of FAA and negative affect on the development of behavioral problems.