ORCID Profile
0000-0002-3987-6486
Current Organisations
Queensland University of Technology
,
University of New South Wales
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Research Topics
In Research Link Australia (RLA), "Research Topics" refer to ANZSRC FOR and SEO codes. These topics are either sourced from ANZSRC FOR and SEO codes listed in researchers' related grants or generated by a large language model (LLM) based on their publications.
Top 5 Research Topics
ANZSRC Field of Research (FoR)
Mental Health | Developmental Psychology and Ageing | Epidemiology | Psychology | Public Health and Health Services | Educational Psychology
ANZSRC Socio-Economic Objective (SEO)
Child Health | Mental Health | Learner and Learning Achievement | Behaviour and Health |
Related Links
Publications
Daily stressors and negative life events in children at elevated risk of developing schizophrenia
Publisher: Royal College of Psychiatrists
Date: 05-2014
DOI: 10.1192/BJP.BP.113.127001
Abstract: Psychological stress is implicated in the development of schizophrenia, but little is known about experiences of stress among children at elevated risk for the disorder. To examine stressor exposure and reactivity in children with different vulnerability profiles for schizophrenia: (a) children presenting multiple antecedents of schizophrenia (ASz group), (b) children with a family history of schizophrenia (FHx group) and (c) typically developing low-risk (TD) children. Ninety-five children (ASz = 29 FHx = 19 ASz+FHx = 5 TD = 42), identified aged 9–12 years using a community-based screening procedure or as relatives of in iduals with schizophrenia, completed questionnaires assessing environmental stressors and psychopathology at age 11–14 years. Relative to their typically developing peers, children in the FHx and ASz groups were exposed to a greater number of negative life events and a higher frequency of daily stressors, respectively and were more distressed by these experiences. Stress exposure and reactivity may constitute useful targets of early intervention for psychosis.
Early developmental vulnerabilities following exposure to domestic violence and abuse: Findings from an Australian population cohort record linkage study
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 09-2022
DOI: 10.1016/J.JPSYCHIRES.2022.07.012
Abstract: Early life exposure to Domestic Violence and Abuse (DVA) is associated with poor psychosocial and cognitive development in childhood. However, most prior research uses mother-reported involvement in DVA as a proxy indicator of child exposure studies using direct measures of child exposure to DVA are scarce, especially among representative population-based s les. We address this gap by using longitudinal, population-based data from an Australian record linkage study of children to examine the associations between early life exposure to DVA and early childhood developmental vulnerability. Exposure to DVA was measured using police contact records for children involved in a DVA incident either as a victim or witness. Developmental vulnerability at school entry was measured using the Australian Early Development Census, providing indices of five broad domains of function and person-centred classes of developmental risk (referred to as 'mild generalized risk', 'misconduct risk', and 'pervasive risk', each compared to a group showing 'no risk'). Children exposed to DVA showed significantly greater odds of developmental vulnerability on all five domains and were more likely to be members of the three developmental risk classes. Girls who were victims of DVA (OR = 1.65) had significantly poorer developmental outcomes than boys who were victims (OR = 1.26) within the domain of communication skills and general knowledge (d = 0.29 [SE = 0.16], p = .04). No other sex differences were found. These preliminary findings hold important implications for policy regarding the early intervention and implementation of support services for young children exposed to DVA.
Changes in distributed neural circuitry function in patients with first-episode schizophrenia
Publisher: Royal College of Psychiatrists
Date: 09-2004
Abstract: A number of functional brain abnormalities have been reported in schizophrenia, but it remains to be determined which of them represent trait and state markers of the illness. To delineate regional brain dysfunctions that remain stable and those that fluctuate during the course of schizophrenia. A cohort of patients with first-episode schizophrenia and a matched group of control participants underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging on two occasions 6–8 weeks apart during performance of a working memory task. The patients' disease was in partial remission at the second scan. Relative to control participants, the function of the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, left thalamus and right cerebellum remained disturbed in the people with schizophrenia, whereas the dysfunction of the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, right thalamus, left cerebellum and cingulate gyrus normalised, with significant reduction in symptoms. These results suggest that dysfunction of the left fronto-thalamo-cerebellar circuitry is a relatively stable characteristic of schizophrenia, whereas disturbance of the right circuitry and cingulate gyrus is predominantly a state-related phenomenon.
Attention orienting dysfunction during salient novel stimulus processing in schizophrenia
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 06-2005
DOI: 10.1016/J.SCHRES.2004.12.010
Abstract: Schizophrenia is characterised by marked disturbances of attention and information processing. Patients experience difficulty focusing on relevant cues and avoiding distraction by irrelevant stimuli. Event-related potential recordings indicate an litude reduction in the P3a component elicited by involuntary orienting to task-irrelevant, infrequent novel stimuli presented during auditory oddball detection in patients with schizophrenia. The goal of the present study was to elucidate the functional abnormality underlying the disturbed orienting to novel stimuli in schizophrenia. Twenty-eight stable, partially remitted, medicated patients with schizophrenia and 28 healthy control participants completed a novelty oddball variant during event-related fMRI. Relative to healthy participants, patients with schizophrenia were characterised by underactivity during novel stimulus processing in the right amygdala-hippoc us, within paralimbic cortex in the rostral anterior cingulate and posterior cingulate cortices and the right frontal operculum, and in association cortex at the right temporo-parietal-occipital junction, bilateral intraparietal sulcus, and bilateral dorsal frontal cortex. Subcortically, relative hypoactivation during novelty processing was apparent in the cerebellum, thalamus, and basal ganglia. These results suggest that patients less efficiently reorient processing resources away from the ongoing task of detecting and responding to the task-relevant target stimuli. In addition, trend results suggest that patients experienced increased distraction by novel stimuli.
Meta-analyses of cognitive and motor function in youth aged 16 years and younger who subsequently develop schizophrenia
Publisher: Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Date: 06-09-2011
DOI: 10.1017/S0033291711001693
Abstract: Previous reviews have reported cognitive and motor deficits in childhood and adolescence among in iduals who later develop schizophrenia. However, these reviews focused exclusively on studies of in iduals with affected relatives or on population/birth cohorts, incorporated studies with estimated measures of pre-morbid intelligence, or included investigations that examined symptomatic at-risk participants or participants 18 years or older. Thus, it remains unclear whether cognitive and motor deficits constitute robust antecedents of schizophrenia. Meta-analyses were conducted on published studies that examined cognitive or motor function in youth aged 16 years or younger who later developed schizophrenia or a schizophrenia spectrum disorder (SSD) and those who did not. Twenty-three studies fulfilled the following inclusion criteria: (1) written in English (2) prospective investigations of birth or genetic high-risk cohorts, or follow-back investigations of population s les (3) objective measures of cognitive or motor performance at age 16 or younger (4) results provided for in iduals who did and who did not develop schizophrenia/SSD later in life and (5) sufficient data to calculate effect sizes. Four domains of function were examined: IQ Motor Function General Academic Achievement and Mathematics Achievement. Meta-analyses showed that, by age 16, in iduals who subsequently developed schizophrenia/SSD displayed significant deficits in IQ ( d =0.51) and motor function ( d =0.56), but not in general academic achievement ( d =0.25) or mathematics achievement ( d =0.21). Subsidiary analysis indicated that the IQ deficit was present by age 13. These results demonstrate that deficits in IQ and motor performance precede the prodrome and the onset of illness.
Cumulative environmental risk in early life is associated with mental disorders in childhood
Publisher: Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Date: 22-07-2022
DOI: 10.1017/S0033291722001702
Abstract: No single environmental factor is a necessary or sufficient cause of mental disorder multifactorial and transdiagnostic approaches are needed to understand the impact of the environment on the development of mental disorders across the life course. Using linked multi-agency administrative data for 71 932 children from the New South Wales Child Developmental Study, using logistic regression, we examined associations between 16 environmental risk factors in early life (prenatal period to years of age) and later diagnoses of mental disorder recorded in health service data (from age 6 to 13 years), both in idually and summed as an environmental risk score (ERS). The ERS was associated with all types of mental disorder diagnoses in a dose–response fashion, such that 2.8% of children with no exposure to any of the environmental factors (ERS = 0), compared to 18.3% of children with an ERS of 8 or more indicating exposure to 8 or more environmental factors (ERS ⩾ 8), had been diagnosed with any type of mental disorder up to age 13–14 years. Thirteen of the 16 environmental factors measured (including prenatal factors, neighbourhood characteristics and more proximal experiences of trauma or neglect) were positively associated with at least one category of mental disorder. Exposure to cumulative environmental risk factors in early life is associated with an increased likelihood of presenting to health services in childhood for any kind of mental disorder. In many instances, these factors are preventable or capable of mitigation by appropriate public policy settings.
Cohort Profile: The New South Wales Child Development Study (NSW-CDS)-Wave 2 (child age 13 years).
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 16-07-2018
DOI: 10.1093/IJE/DYY115
Developmental profiles of schizotypy in the general population: A record linkage study of Australian children aged 11–12 years
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 03-2022
DOI: 10.1111/BJC.12363
Abstract: The detection of young people at high risk for psychotic disorders has been somewhat narrowly focused on overt symptom‐based markers that reflect mild reality distortion (e.g., psychotic‐like experiences), or prodromal syndromes that are proximal to psychosis onset. The concept of schizotypy represents a broader framework for investigating risk for schizophrenia (and other disorders) in childhood, before the onset of prodromal or overt symptoms. We sought to detect profiles of risk for psychosis (schizotypy) in a general population s le of 22,137 Australian children aged 11–12 years, and to determine early life risk factors associated with these profiles from data available in linked records (registers). Fifty‐nine self‐reported items were used as indicators of schizotypy across six broad domains z ‐scores for each domain were subjected to latent profile analyses (LPA). A series of multinomial logistic regressions was used to examine the association between resulting profile (class) membership and several childhood and parental risk factors, and the proportion of children with mental disorders among each schizotypy profile was examined. The LPA revealed three person‐centred profiles referred to as True Schizotypy ( n = 1,323 6.0%), Introverted Schizotypy ( n = 4,473 20.2%), and Affective Schizotypy ( n = 4,261 19.2%), as well as a group of children showing no risk ( n = 12,080 54.6%). Prior exposure to perinatal and familial adversities including childhood maltreatment, as well as poor early childhood development and academic functioning, was variously associated with all risk groups. There was a higher proportion of childhood mental disorder diagnoses among children in the True Schizotypy group, relative to other profiles. Subtle differences in the pattern of exposures and antecedents among schizophrenia liability profiles in childhood may reflect distinct pathogenic pathways to psychotic or other mental illness. Children aged 11–12 years report characteristics of schizotypy which can be classified into three distinct profiles that may represent different pathological processes towards later mental ill‐health. Early life exposure to perinatal and familial adversities including childhood maltreatment, early childhood developmental vulnerability, and poor academic functioning predict membership in all three childhood schizotypy profiles. Latent liability for schizophrenia (and potentially other mental disorders) may be represented by different profiles of functioning observable in childhood.
Substance use and psychotic-like experiences in young people: a systematic review and meta-analysis
Publisher: Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Date: 15-11-2022
DOI: 10.1017/S0033291722003440
Abstract: This study aimed to systematically review and synthesise the available evidence on the prevalence and associations between psychotic-like experiences (PLEs) and substance use in children and adolescents aged ⩽17 years, prior to the typical age of development of prodromal symptoms of psychosis. As substance use has been associated with earlier age of psychosis onset and more severe illness, identifying risk processes in the premorbid phase of the illness may offer opportunities to prevent the development of prodromal symptoms and psychotic illness. MEDLINE, PsycINFO, and CINAHL databases were searched for chart review, case-control, cohort, twin, and cross-sectional studies. Study reporting was assessed using the Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology (STROBE) checklist, and pooled evidence was evaluated using the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) approach. Searches identified 55 studies that met inclusion criteria. Around two-in-five substance users reported PLEs [rate = 0.41, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.32–0.51 low quality evidence], and one-in-five with PLEs reported using substances (rate = 0.19, 95% CI 0.12–0.28 moderate-to-high quality evidence). Substance users were nearly twice as likely to report PLEs than non-users [odds ratio (OR) 1.77, 95% CI 1.55–2.02 moderate quality evidence], and those with PLEs were twice as likely to use substances than those not reporting PLEs (OR 1.93, 95% CI 1.55–2.41 very low quality evidence). Younger age was associated with greater odds of PLEs in substance users compared to non-users. Young substance users may represent a subclinical at-risk group for psychosis. Developing early detection and intervention for both substance use and PLEs may reduce long-term adverse outcomes.
Footprints in Time Longitudinal Study of Indigenous Children Primary School Report
Publisher: Queensland University of Technology
Date: 17-10-2022
DOI: 10.5204/REP.EPRINTS.235509
Abstract: The Longitudinal Study of Indigenous Children (LSIC also called Footprints in Time) is the only longitudinal study of developmental outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children globally. Footprints in Time follows the development of Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children to understand what Indigenous children need to grow up strong. LSIC involves annual waves of data collection (commenced in 2008) and follows approximately 1,700 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children living in urban, regional, and remote locations. This LSIC Primary School report has been produced following the release of the twelfth wave of data collection, with the majority of LSIC children having completed primary school (Preparatory [aged ~5 years] to Year 6 [aged ~12 years]). Primary schools play a central role in supporting student learning, wellbeing, and connectedness, and the Footprints in Time study provides a platform for centring Indigenous voices, connecting stories, and exploring emerging themes related to the experience of Indigenous children and families in the Australian education system. This report uses a mixed-methods approach, analysing both quantitative and qualitative data shared by LSIC participants, to explore primary school experiences from the perspective of children, parents and teachers. Analyses are framed using a strengths-based approach and are underpinned by the understanding that all aspects of life are related. The report documents a range of topics including teacher cultural competence, racism, school-based Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander education activities, parental involvement, engagement, attendance, and academic achievement.
Psychotic-like experiences and other antecedents of schizophrenia in children aged 9–12 years: a comparison of ethnic and migrant groups in the United Kingdom
Publisher: Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Date: 15-10-2007
DOI: 10.1017/S0033291707001845
Abstract: The incidence of schizophrenia and the prevalence of psychotic symptoms in the general adult population are elevated in migrant and ethnic minority groups relative to host populations. These increases are particularly prominent among African-Caribbean migrants to the UK. This study examined the associations of ethnicity and migrant status with a triad of putative antecedents of schizophrenia in a UK community s le of children aged 9–12 years. The antecedent triad comprised: (i) psychotic-like experiences (ii) a speech and/or motor developmental delay or abnormality and (iii) a social, emotional or behavioural problem. Children ( n =595) and their primary caregivers, recruited via schools and general practitioners in southeast London, completed questionnaires. Four indices of risk were examined for associations with ethnicity and migrant status: (i) certain experience of at least one psychotic-like experience (ii) severity of psychotic-like experiences (total psychotic-like experience score) (iii) experience of the antecedent triad and (iv) severity of antecedent triad experiences (triad score). African-Caribbean children, as compared to white British children, experienced greater risk on all four indices. There were trends for South Asian and Oriental children to present lowered risk on several indices, relative to white British children. Migration status was unrelated to any risk index. Prevalence of the putative antecedents of schizophrenia is greater among children of African-Caribbean origin living in the UK than among white British children. This parallels the increased incidence of schizophrenia and elevated prevalence of psychotic symptoms among adults of African-Caribbean origin.
Abnormal processing of speech during oddball target detection in schizophrenia
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 10-2003
The influence of parental offending on the continuity and discontinuity of children’s internalizing and externalizing difficulties from early to middle childhood
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 12-02-2019
DOI: 10.1007/S00127-019-01670-5
Abstract: Although parental criminal offending is a recognized risk factor for conduct problems among offspring, its impact on the continuity and discontinuity of children's behavioural and emotional difficulties during the early development is less well known. We used data from a large, population-based record-linkage project to examine the relationship between parental offending and the continuity and discontinuity of children's conduct, attentional, and emotional difficulties from early to middle childhood while also considering the role of timing of the parental offending exposure. Data for 19,208 children and their parents were drawn from the New South Wales Child Development Study. Multinomial regression analyses tested associations between mother's and father's history and timing of any and violent offending, and patterns of continuity or discontinuity in offspring emotional, conduct, and attentional difficulties between ages 5 and 11 years. Maternal and paternal offending each conferred a significantly increased risk of all the patterns of developmental difficulties, including those limited to age 5 only (remitting problems), to age 11 only (incident problems), and to difficulties present at both ages 5 and 11 years (persisting problems). Greatest odds were observed for persisting conduct problems. Paternal offending that continued through early and middle childhood had the greatest association with child difficulties, while the timing of maternal offending had a less prominent effect on child developmental difficulties. Parental offending is a strong risk factor for early and pervasive behavioural and emotional problems in offspring, and may be a key indicator of high risk for later antisocial behaviour.
Incidence of Early Police Contact Among Children With Emerging Mental Health Problems in Australia
Publisher: American Medical Association (AMA)
Date: 22-06-2021
Mental Health Service Use by Young People: The Role of Caregiver Characteristics
Publisher: Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Date: 26-03-2015
Hospital admission for infection during early childhood influences developmental vulnerabilities at age 5 years
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 20-07-2016
DOI: 10.1111/JPC.13239
Abstract: Childhood infectious diseases can be associated with later physical and psychological ill health, and the effects of this association may be evident during early childhood development. This study aimed to examine the effects of hospitalisation for early life infection on early childhood development. Hospital admission data for infection were obtained from the New South Wales Ministry of Health Admitted Patient Data Collection for 87 026 children, for whom the Australian Early Development Census (AEDC) was completed in their first year of formal schooling (age approximately 5 years). The AEDC provides estimates of each child's level of functioning on five domains of development spanning social and emotional skills, communication skills, numeracy and literacy and physical health. Multinomial logistic regressions were used to determine the relationship between exposure to hospital admissions for infectious disease prior to age 4 years and vulnerability on the AEDC. Models were adjusted for the effects of potential confounding factors related to the perinatal period, exposure to maltreatment and family characteristics. Single and multiple hospitalisation(s) for infections were consistently associated with increased likelihood of being developmentally vulnerable on all AEDC domains, with odds ratios ranging from 1.02 to 1.28, after adjustment for confounding factors. This study demonstrates a pervasive effect of early life infections that require hospital admission on multiple aspects of early child development, even after adjustment for potential confounding factors. Relatively, severe infection during early childhood constitutes a risk factor for developmental vulnerability by the time of entry to school.
Increased incidence of childhood mental disorders following exposure to early life infection
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 10-2021
Correction to: Overrepresentation of Indigenous students in school suspension, exclusion, and enrolment cancellation in Queensland: is there a case for systemic inclusive school reform?
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 20-01-2022
15:00 THE RELATIONSHIP OF SUBCLINICAL PSYCHOTIC EXPERIENCES TO INTERNALISING AND EXTERNALISING PSYCHOPATHOLOGY IN CHILDHOOD
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 04-2012
Childhood Schizotypy and Adolescent Mental Disorder
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 04-09-2023
A systematic meta-review grading the evidence for non-genetic risk factors and putative antecedents of schizophrenia
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 12-2011
DOI: 10.1016/J.SCHRES.2011.09.020
Abstract: Identifying the relative strength of evidence associated with non-genetic risk factors and putative antecedents of schizophrenia will guide research and may inform the design of early detection and intervention strategies. To present and quality assess current evidence for non-genetic risk factors and putative antecedents derived from well-conducted systematic reviews that report pooled data. Medline, Embase, CINAHL, Current Contents, and PsycINFO databases were searched systematically, and supplemented by hand searching. Review reporting quality was assessed using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) checklist, review methodology was assessed using the Assessment of Multiple Systematic Reviews (AMSTAR) checklist, and evidence quality was assessed using the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) approach. Twenty-four reviews met inclusion criteria. The risk factors with the highest quality evidence, reporting medium effect sizes, were advanced paternal age, obstetric complications, and cannabis use. The strongest evidence among the putative antecedents was identified for motor dysfunction and low IQ. More research is required that applies sound methodological practices, taking into consideration specificity for schizophrenia and possible confounding factors, to robustly identify the non-genetic risk factors and putative antecedents of schizophrenia.
Comparing algorithms for deriving psychosis diagnoses from longitudinal administrative clinical records
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 05-2014
DOI: 10.1007/S00127-014-0881-5
Abstract: Registers derived from administrative datasets are valuable tools in psychosis research, but diagnostic accuracy can be problematic. We sought to compare the relative performance of four methods for assigning a single diagnosis from longitudinal administrative clinical records when compared with reference diagnoses. Diagnoses recorded in inpatient and community mental health records were compared to research diagnoses of psychotic disorders obtained from semi-structured clinical interviews for 289 persons. Diagnoses were derived from administrative datasets using four algorithms 'At least one' diagnosis, 'Last' or most recent diagnosis, 'Modal' or most frequently occurring diagnosis, and 'Hierarchy' in which a diagnostic hierarchy was applied. Agreements between algorithm-based and reference diagnoses for overall presence/absence of psychosis and for specific diagnoses of schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, and affective psychosis were examined using estimated prevalence rates, overall agreement, ROC analysis, and kappa statistics. For the presence/absence of psychosis, the most sensitive and least specific algorithm ('At least one' diagnosis) performed best. For schizophrenia, 'Modal' and 'Last' diagnoses had greatest agreement with reference diagnosis. For affective psychosis, 'Hierarchy' diagnosis performed best. Agreement between clinical and reference diagnoses was no better than chance for diagnoses of schizoaffective disorder. Overall agreement between administrative and reference diagnoses was modest, but may have been limited by the use of participants who had been screened for likely psychosis prior to assessment. The choice of algorithm for extracting a psychosis diagnosis from administrative datasets may have a substantial impact on the accuracy of the diagnoses derived. An 'Any diagnosis' algorithm provides a sensitive measure for the presence of any psychosis, while 'Last diagnosis' is more accurate for specific diagnosis of schizophrenia and a hierarchical diagnosis is more accurate for affective psychosis.
Authors' reply
Publisher: Royal College of Psychiatrists
Date: 08-2014
Mismatch negativity (MMN) and sensory auditory processing in children aged 9–12years presenting with putative antecedents of schizophrenia
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 09-2013
Item response theory analysis of self-reported social–emotional learning competencies in an Australian population cohort aged 11 years.
Publisher: American Psychological Association (APA)
Date: 07-2023
DOI: 10.1037/SPQ0000533
Cumulative Environmental Risk in Early Life: Associations With Schizotypy in Childhood
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 28-10-2022
Abstract: Psychotic disorders are associated with a growing number of recognized environmental exposures. Cumulative exposure to multiple environmental risk factors in childhood may contribute to the development of different patterns of schizotypy evident in early life. Hypotheses were that distinct profiles of schizotypy would have differential associations with a cumulative score of environmental risk factors. We prospectively examined the relationship between 19 environmental exposures (which had demonstrated replicated associations with psychosis) measured from the prenatal period through to age 11 years, and 3 profiles of schizotypy in children (mean age = 11.9 years, n = 20 599) that have been established in population data from the New South Wales-Child Development Study. Multinomial logistic regression was used to examine associations between membership in each of 3 schizotypy profiles (true schizotypy, introverted schizotypy, and affective schizotypy) and exposure to a range of 19 environmental risk factors for psychosis (both in idually and summed as a cumulative environmental risk score [ERS]), relative to children showing no risk. Almost all environmental factors were associated with at least 1 schizotypy profile. The cumulative ERS was most strongly associated with the true schizotypy profile (OR = 1.61, 95% CI = 1.52–1.70), followed by the affective (OR = 1.33, 95% CI = 1.28–1.38), and introverted (OR = 1.32, 95% CI = 1.28–1.37) schizotypy profiles. Consistent with the cumulative risk hypothesis, results indicate that an increased number of risk exposures is associated with an increased likelihood of membership in the 3 schizotypy profiles identified in middle childhood, relative to children with no schizotypy profile.
Inter-agency indicators of out-of-home-care placement by age 13–14 years: A population record linkage study
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 07-2019
DOI: 10.1016/J.CHIABU.2019.04.013
Abstract: Cross-agency administrative data can improve cost-effective triage systems for child protection and other human service delivery. To determine the minimum set of cross-agency indicators that could accurately classify placement in out-of-home-care (OOHC) before age 13-14 years. Participants were 72,079 Australian children (mean age = 13.16 years SD = 0.37 51.4% male) and their parents, for whom linked administrative records spanning the years 1994-2016 were available for analysis within the 'New South Wales Child Development Study'. First, a series of logistic regression analyses were conducted to examine associations between cross-agency (health, justice, education) risk indicators and membership of the sub-cohort of 1239 children who had an OOHC placement prior to age 13-14 years, relative to (1) the sub-cohort of 55,473 children who had no previous contact with child protection services, and (2) the sub-cohort of 15,367 children who had been reported to child protection services but had no record of OOHC placement. We then explored the classification characteristics associated with a smaller combination of risk factors, and the utility of specific familial risk factors, for classifying membership of the OOHC subgroup. A combination of six risk indicators evident before OOHC placement can classify children placed in OOHC with approximately 95% accuracy, and the presence of at least four of these risk indicators provides excellent specificity (99.6%). A combination of risk factors observable in administrative datasets held by multiple government agencies may be used to target support services to prevent entry into OOHC for children from vulnerable families.
Pervasive influence of maternal and paternal criminal offending on early childhood development: a population data linkage study
Publisher: Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Date: 29-11-2016
DOI: 10.1017/S0033291716003007
Abstract: Parental criminal offending is an established risk factor for offending among offspring, but little evidence is available indicating the impact of offending on early childhood functioning. We used data from a large Australian population cohort to determine associations between exposure to parental offending and a range of developmental outcomes at age 5 years. Multi-generation data in 66 477 children and their parents from the New South Wales Child Development Study were combined using data linkage. Logistic and multinomial regressions tested associations between any and violent offending histories of parents (fathers, mothers, or both parents) obtained from official records, and multiple measures of early childhood developmental functioning (social, emotional–behavioural, cognitive, communication and physical domains) obtained from the teacher-reported 2009 Australian Early Development Census. Parental offending conferred significantly increased risk of vulnerability on all domains, particularly the cognitive domain. Greater risk magnitudes were observed for offending by both parents and by mothers than by fathers, and for violent than for any offending. For all parental offending exposures, vulnerability on multiple domains (where medium to large effects were observed) was more likely than on a single domain (small to medium effects). Relationships remained significant and of comparable magnitude following adjustment for sociodemographic covariates. The effect of parental offending on early childhood developmental outcomes is pervasive, with the strongest effects on functioning apparent when both parents engage in violent offending. Supporting affected families in early childhood might mitigate both early developmental vulnerability and the propensity for later delinquency among these offspring.
Psychotic-like experiences and depressive symptoms in a community sample of adolescents
Publisher: Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Date: 09-2011
DOI: 10.1016/J.EURPSY.2010.12.007
Abstract: Studies of psychotic-like experiences (PLEs) within community s les of adolescents have explored predominantly positive experiences. There is a paucity of research examining the prevalence and correlates of negative PLEs, and whether particular subtypes of negative PLEs can be identified among the general population of adolescents. This study examined the association of both positive and negative PLEs with depressive symptoms, including detailed analysis of subtypes of positive and negative psychosis dimensions. A community s le of 777 adolescents (50.9% girls: mean age 14.4 years) completed a questionnaire assessing positive and negative PLEs and depressive symptoms. Principal component factor analysis identified four factors of positive symptoms (persecutory ideation, grandiose thinking, first-rank/hallucinatory experiences and self-referential thinking), and three factors of negative symptoms (social withdrawal, affective flattening, and avolition). Depressive symptoms were associated positively with persecutory ideation, first-rank/hallucinatory experiences, social withdrawal, and avolition, whereas grandiose thinking related negatively with depressive symptoms. Neither self-referential thinking nor affective flattening related to self-reported depression. These findings support the view that not all types of positive and negative PLEs in adolescence are associated with depression and, therefore, they may not confer the same vulnerability for psychotic disorders.
Neural sources involved in auditory target detection and novelty processing: An event-related fMRI study
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 2001
Birth outcomes and academic achievement in childhood: A population record linkage study
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 04-2014
Abstract: Poor academic performance during childhood predicts later adverse outcomes, and could be targeted for improvement if detected early. This study used population-based record linkage to examine the association between early life risk factors and academic achievement at two different stages of development using two different cohorts: a kindergarten (~age 5 years) and a grade 3 cohort (~age 8 years). Similar factors were predictive of academic performance in both age groups, including positive effects of increasing maternal age and lack of maternal prenatal smoking. Female sex was associated with higher scores for literacy. The results suggest that children with less developed academic skills can be identified earlier, with effective programmes to enhance academic skills needed during the first year of school to enhance subsequent results.
XIth Biennial Winter Workshop on Schizophrenia, Davos, Switzerland, February 24–March 1, 2002
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 2002
Multivariate neuroanatomical classification of cognitive subtypes in schizophrenia: A support vector machine learning approach
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 2014
Temporal Lobe Volume Abnormalities Precede the Prodrome: A Study of Children Presenting Antecedents of Schizophrenia
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 07-11-2012
Coping with Unusual ExperienceS for 12–18 year olds (CUES+): a transdiagnostic randomised controlled trial of the effectiveness of cognitive therapy in reducing distress associated with unusual experi
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 12-2017
Pathways from developmental vulnerabilities in early childhood to schizotypy in middle childhood
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 02-12-2022
DOI: 10.1111/BJC.12405
Abstract: Childhood disturbances in social, emotional, language, motor and cognitive functioning, and schizotypy have each been implicated as precursors of schizophrenia‐spectrum disorders. We investigated whether relationships between early childhood developmental vulnerabilities and childhood schizotypy are mediated by educational underachievement in middle childhood. Participants were members of a large Australian ( n = 19,216) population cohort followed longitudinally. Path analyses were used to model relationships between developmental vulnerabilities at age ~5 years, educational underachievement from ages ~8 to 10 years and three distinct profiles of schizotypy at age ~11 years ( true , introverted and affective schizotypy ). Early childhood developmental vulnerabilities on five broad domains (related to physical, emotional, social, cognitive and communication development) were associated with schizotypy profiles in middle childhood. Educational underachievement in middle childhood was associated with all schizotypy profiles, but most strongly with the true schizotypy profile (OR = 3.92, 95% CI = 3.12, 4.91). The relationships between schizotypy profiles and early childhood developmental vulnerabilities in ‘language and cognitive skills (school‐based)’ and ‘communication skills and general knowledge’ domains were fully mediated by educational underachievement in middle childhood, and the relationships with early childhood ‘physical health and well‐being’ and ‘emotional maturity’ domains were partially mediated. Developmental continuity from early childhood developmental vulnerabilities to schizotypy in middle childhood is mediated by educational underachievement in middle childhood. While some domains of early developmental functioning showed differential relationships with distinct schizotypy profiles, these findings support a developmental pathway to schizotypy in which cognitive vulnerability operates from early childhood through to middle childhood.
Gender and the intergenerational transmission of antisocial behavior
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 03-2020
Systematic meta-analysis of insula volume in schizophrenia
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 11-2012
DOI: 10.1016/J.BIOPSYCH.2012.04.020
Abstract: Volume reduction in insular cortex may constitute an important neuropathology in schizophrenia. We provide the first meta-analysis of studies that conducted region-of-interest analyses of the magnitude of effect and pattern of insula volume reduction in schizophrenia compared with healthy control subjects. Included studies examined insula volume in schizophrenia relative to healthy control subjects. Studies were located via electronic database searches and hand searching. Study selection, data extraction, and quality assessment were completed by two independent reviewers. Hedge's g effect sizes were calculated using Comprehensive Meta-Analysis (v.2) to quantify volumetric differences between people with and without schizophrenia, accounting for moderating influences of age, sex, illness duration, medication, whole brain volume, and potential differences in hemispheric and anatomical subregions. Random-effects analysis showed reductions of bilateral insula (n = 945, g = -.446, 95% confidence interval -.639 to -.252, p = .00001), with moderate heterogeneity apparent (I² = 76%). This effect was consistent across left and right insula and not influenced by illness stage or sex. Additional analyses revealed larger reductions of anterior (n = 605, g = -.643, p < 0.001 I² = 52%) than of posterior insula (n = 453, g = -.321, p = .028 I² = 55%). Meta-regression analyses did not identify any significant predictors of reduced insula volume. This meta-analysis indicates medium-sized reduction of insula volume in schizophrenia, of greatest magnitude in the anterior subregion. Cellular distinctions across anterior and posterior insula may contribute to understanding the neuropathology and functional significance of the observed volumetric differences.
An adaptive reflexive processing model of neurocognitive function: supporting evidence from a large scale (n = 100) fMRI study of an auditory oddball task
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 04-2005
DOI: 10.1016/J.NEUROIMAGE.2004.12.035
Abstract: Recent hemodynamic imaging studies have shown that processing of low probability task-relevant target stimuli (i.e., oddballs) and low probability task-irrelevant novel stimuli elicit widespread activity in erse, spatially distributed cortical and subcortical systems. The nature of this distributed response supports the model that processing of salient and novel stimuli engages many brain regions regardless of whether said regions were necessary for task performance. However, these latter neuroimaging studies largely employed small s le sizes and fixed-effect analyses, limiting the characterization and inference of the results. The present study addressed these issues by collecting a large s le size (n = 100) and employed random effects statistical models. Analyses were also conducted to determine the inter-subject reliability of the hemodynamic response and the effects of gender and age on target detection and novelty processing. Group data demonstrated highly significant activation in all 34 specified regions of interest for target detection and all 24 specified regions of interest for processing of novel stimuli. Neither age nor gender systematically influenced the results. These data are discussed within the context of a model that proposes that the mammalian brain has evolved to adopt a strategy of engaging distributed neuronal systems when processing salient stimuli despite the low probability that many of these brain regions are required for successful task performance. This process may be termed 'adaptive reflexive processing.' The implications of these results for interpreting functional MRI studies are discussed.
Validation of a two-factor model of the Best Start Kindergarten Assessment of literacy and numeracy
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 13-03-2018
Abstract: This study examined the structure of the Best Start Kindergarten Assessment (Best Start) of literacy and numeracy, with the aim of confirming a two-factor measure of attainment at school entry comparable in structure to standardised measures of literacy and numeracy administered in later school years. Administrative data from the 2009 Best Start were obtained from the New South Wales Department of Education for 37,734 children aged ∼5 years (i.e. as they entered their first year of compulsory schooling) as part of the New South Wales Child Development Study. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were performed on the 11 Best Start scales using a split half methodology, with the findings supporting a two-factor solution underpinning literacy and numeracy attainment. The availability of this two-factor Best Start measure of literacy and numeracy at school entry, which precedes the repeated national assessments conducted later in the primary and high school years, facilitates research to examine pathways of academic performance over time.
WEDNESDAY 22 OCTOBER 2008
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 29-09-2008
The Role of the Anterior Cingulate Cortex in Conflict Processing: Evidence from Reverse Stroop Interference
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 11-2001
Cumulative comorbidity between neurodevelopmental, internalising, and externalising disorders in childhood: a network approach
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 10-10-2023
The Survey of School Promotion of Emotional and Social Health (SSPESH): A Brief Measure of the Implementation of Whole-School Mental Health Promotion
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 28-06-2019
Misperceptions of Facial Emotions Among Youth Aged 9–14 Years Who Present Multiple Antecedents of Schizophrenia
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 31-01-2013
33.3 LEVELS OF AND IMPLICATIONS FOR PERSONAL STIGMA AND MENTAL HEALTH LITERACY IN RELATION TO PSYCHOSIS AMONG YOUNG PEOPLE WITH AND WITHOUT RISK OF DEVELOPING PSYCHOTIC DISORDER
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 04-2018
A preliminary investigation of schematic beliefs and unusual experiences in children
Publisher: Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Date: 07-0003
DOI: 10.1016/J.EURPSY.2014.12.006
Abstract: In cognitive models of adult psychosis, schematic beliefs about the self and others are important vulnerability and maintaining factors, and are therefore targets for psychological interventions. Schematic beliefs have not previously been investigated in children with distressing unusual, or psychotic-like, experiences (UEDs). The aim of this study was firstly to investigate whether a measure of schematic beliefs, originally designed for adults with psychosis, was suitable for children and secondly, to examine the association of childhood schematic beliefs with internalising and externalising problems and with UEDs. Sixty-seven children aged 8–14 years, with emotional and behavioural difficulties, completed measures of UEDs, internalising (depression and anxiety), and externalising (conduct and hyperactivity-inattention) problems, together with the Brief Core Schema Scales (BCSS). The BCSS was readily completed by participants, and scale psychometric properties were good. Children tended to view themselves and others positively. Internalising and externalising problems and UEDs were all associated with negative schematic beliefs effect sizes were small to medium. Schematic beliefs in young people can be measured using the BCSS, and negative schematic beliefs are associated with childhood psychopathology and with UEDs. Schematic beliefs may therefore form a useful target in psychological interventions for young people with UEDs.
Abnormal function of the brain system supporting motivated attention in medicated patients with schizophrenia: an fMRI study
Publisher: Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Date: 02-05-2006
DOI: 10.1017/S0033291706007677
Abstract: Background. Patients with schizophrenia have an impaired ability to generate activity that is appropriate to current circumstances and goals. Method. We report a study using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to examine cerebral activity during a three-tone auditory oddball target detection task in a s le of 28 patients with schizophrenia and 28 healthy controls. Results. The patients exhibited significantly less activation in response to target stimuli relative to baseline in an extensive set of sites in association neocortex, paralimbic cortex, limbic structures and subcortical nuclei, yet demonstrated a normal level of activation in the sensorimotor cortex. Comparison of activity elicited by rare target stimuli with that elicited by equally rare novel stimuli makes it possible to distinguish cerebral activity associated with attention to behaviourally salient stimuli from activity associated with attending to other attention-capturing stimuli. This comparison revealed that the patients with schizophrenia also exhibited a deficit in activation of basal forebrain areas that mediate motivation during the processing of behaviourally salient stimuli, including the amygdala, ventral striatum, orbital frontal cortex and rostral anterior cingulate cortex. Conclusion. Patients with schizophrenia have a deficit in function of the brain system concerned with mediating motivation, in addition to a more general deficit in the cerebral response to attention-captivating stimuli.
Psychosocial predictors of distressing unusual experiences in adolescence
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 11-2021
DOI: 10.1016/J.SCHRES.2021.08.018
Abstract: For adults with psychosis, international guidelines recommend in idual and family based cognitive behavioural therapy interventions. Recommendations are extended to children and adolescents, based on adult research. It is also recommended that psychological interventions are offered for childhood presentations of psychotic-like or Unusual Experiences (UE), in the absence of a formal diagnosis, when these are Distressing (UEDs). Cognitive models underpinning these interventions require testing in adolescent populations, to further refine therapies. We address this need, by testing for the first time, the application of the adult cognitive model of psychosis to adolescent UEDs. We used baseline data from the Coping with Unusual ExperienceS (CUES+) randomised controlled trial for 122 clinically referred adolescents (12-18 years) with self-reported UEDs. Known psychological mechanisms of adult cognitive models of psychosis negative life events, affect (anxiety and depression), reasoning (jumping to conclusions bias), and schemas were investigated using multiple linear regression models, alongside variables particularly associated with the development and severity of adolescent UEDs and UE type (dissociation, externalising/behavioural problems, managing emotions). The psychological mechanisms of adult cognitive models of psychosis explained 89% of the total variance of adolescent UED severity, F (10, 106) = 99.34, p < .0005, r Findings suggest that the psychological components of adult cognitive models of psychosis, particularly schemas, are also implicated in adolescent UEDs.
Parental and community risk factors for childhood self-harm thoughts and behaviours
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 08-2022
DOI: 10.1016/J.JAD.2022.05.050
Abstract: Childhood self-harm is rare but increasing in frequency. Little is known about risk factors specifically for self-harm in preteen children. We examined self-harm thoughts and behaviours in children aged 3-14 years in association with parental and community-level risk factors, using a large general population-based record linkage s le (n = 74,479). Parental factors were strongly associated with childhood self-harm, with over three-quarters of children with self-harm having a parent with a history of mental disorder and/or criminal offending. Community-level factors (socioeconomic deprivation, remote or regional location, and neighbourhood crime rate) were not associated with childhood self-harm after adjustment for confounding factors. Measures of self-harm thoughts and behaviours derived from administrative data likely underestimate the prevalence of self-harm in the population. Intergenerational transmission of risk factors is likely an important contributor to childhood self-harm.
Stigma and other barriers to health and social care services among youth in Greater London
Publisher: Georg Thieme Verlag KG
Date: 14-04-2011
Examining the overlap of young people’s early contact with the police as a person of interest and victim or witness
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 29-05-2021
DOI: 10.1177/26338076211014594
Abstract: There is known to be considerable overlap among the victims and perpetrators of crime. However, the extent of this overlap early in life among children and young adolescents is not clear. We examined the sociodemographic profiles of young people who had early contact with police regarding a criminal incident as a person of interest, victim and/or witness, as well as the patterns of multiple police contact types from birth to 13 years of age. Data were drawn from a longitudinal, population-based s le of 91,631 young people from New South Wales, Australia. Among the 10.6% (n = 9677) of young people who had contact with police, 14.4% (n = 1393) had contact as a person of interest and as a victim and/or witness on two or more separate occasions. The most common first contact type was as a victim/witness, but those children with a first contact as a person of interest were most likely to have at least one further contact. Young people with both types of police contact were younger at first police contact, were more likely to reside in a socioeconomically disadvantaged area, and to be recorded as having an Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander background. Our findings demonstrate that, by 13 years of age, 1 in 10 young people had been in early contact with police and that a minority have contact with the police as both a person of interest and a victim/witness. These young people may represent a particularly disadvantaged group in the community who are likely to be at risk of future adversity, including repeated contact with the criminal justice system.
Latent profiles of early developmental vulnerabilities in a New South Wales child population at age 5 years.
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 06-11-2017
Abstract: Detecting the early emergence of childhood risk for adult mental disorders may lead to interventions for reducing subsequent burden of these disorders. We set out to determine classes of children who may be at risk for later mental disorder on the basis of early patterns of development in a population cohort, and associated exposures gleaned from linked administrative records obtained within the New South Wales Child Development Study. Intergenerational records from government departments of health, education, justice and child protection were linked with the Australian Early Development Census for a state population cohort of 67,353 children approximately 5 years of age. We used binary data from 16 subdomains of the Australian Early Development Census to determine classes of children with shared patterns of Australian Early Development Census–defined vulnerability using latent class analysis. Covariates, which included demographic features (sex, socioeconomic status) and exposure to child maltreatment, parental mental illness, parental criminal offending and perinatal adversities (i.e. birth complications, smoking during pregnancy, low birth weight), were examined hierarchically within latent class analysis models. Four classes were identified, reflecting putative risk states for mental disorders: (1) disrespectful and aggressive/hyperactive behaviour, labelled ‘misconduct risk’ ( N = 4368 6.5%) (2) ‘pervasive risk’ ( N = 2668 4.0%) (3) ‘mild generalised risk’ ( N = 7822 11.6%) and (4) ‘no risk’ ( N = 52,495 77.9%). The odds of membership in putative risk groups (relative to the no risk group) were greater among children from backgrounds of child maltreatment, parental history of mental illness, parental history of criminal offending, socioeconomic disadvantage and perinatal adversities, with distinguishable patterns of association for some covariates. Patterns of early childhood developmental vulnerabilities may provide useful indicators for particular mental disorder outcomes in later life, although their predictive utility in this respect remains to be established in longitudinal follow-up of the cohort.
Forecasting childhood adversities from conditions of birth
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 02-02-2022
DOI: 10.1111/PPE.12828
Abstract: Childbirth presents an optimal time for identifying high‐risk families to commence intervention that could avert various childhood health and social adversities. We sought to establish the minimum set of exposures required to accurately predict a range of adverse childhood outcomes up to the age of 13 years, from a set of 14 in idual and familial risk exposures evident at the time of birth. Participants were 72,059 Australian children and their parents drawn from a multi‐register population cohort study (data spanning 1994–2018). Risk exposures included male sex, young mother (aged ≤21 years), no (or late first weeks) antenatal visit, maternal smoking during pregnancy, small for gestational age, preterm birth, pregnancy complications (any of hypertension, diabetes mellitus, gestational diabetes or pre‐ecl sia), previous pregnancies of ≥20 weeks, socio‐economic disadvantage, prenatal child protection notification, and maternal or paternal mental disorder or criminal offending history. In idual outcomes included early childhood developmental vulnerability (age 5 years), sustained educational underachievement (age 8 and 10 years), mental disorder diagnoses, substantiated childhood maltreatment, and contact with the police as a victim or person‐of‐interest up to age 13–14 years. Risk exposures at birth predicted in idual childhood outcomes with fair to excellent accuracy: the area under the receiver operating characteristic curves ranged between 0.60 (95% CI 0.58, 0.62) for childhood mental disorder and 0.83 (95% CI 0.82, 0.85) for substantiated child maltreatment. The presence of five or more exposures characterised 12–25% of children with one or more adverse outcomes and showed high predictive certainty for models predicting multiple outcomes, which were apparent in 9% of the population. Up to a quarter of the neonatal population at risk of multiple adverse outcomes can be detected at birth, with implications for population health screening. However, cautious implementation of these models is warranted, given their relatively low positive predictive values.
Neural memory plasticity for medical anomaly detection
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 07-2020
Measurement Invariance Across Sex and Language Background of a Self-Report Social-Emotional Learning Questionnaire for Middle Childhood
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 06-02-2023
DOI: 10.1007/S12187-023-10015-3
Abstract: This study investigates the measurement invariance of a brief self-report measure of childhood social-emotional competencies, the Middle Childhood Survey: Social-Emotional Learning (MCS-SEL), across demographic subgroups. Invariance was tested simultaneously among subgroups of children aged 11–12 years that were differentiated by sex (male, female) and main language spoken at home (English, not English). Multi-group confirmatory factor analysis evaluated structural and item-level invariance using two random, independent s les of 2,000 students (500 per demographic strata) selected by disproportionate s ling from the New South Wales Child Development Study (NSW-CDS) population cohort. The measure achieved full configural, metric, scalar, and residual invariance across all demographic subgroups, validating its utility for assessing middle childhood social-emotional competencies at a population-level.
Poster #55 META-ANALYSIS OF INSULA GREY MATTER VOLUME IN SCHIZOPHRENIA
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 04-2012
Prenatal maternal smoking, maternal offending, and offspring behavioural and cognitive outcomes in early childhood
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 05-09-2018
DOI: 10.1002/CBM.2089
Abstract: Maternal smoking during pregnancy and parental offending are both linked to adverse offspring outcomes. Few studies have examined how these exposures together influence erse offspring outcomes in early childhood. To examine associations between quantity of prenatal maternal smoking and frequency of maternal offending and offspring behavioural and cognitive outcomes at age 5 years. Over 66,000 Australian children (mean age 5.6 years) were drawn from an intergenerational data linkage study. Unadjusted and adjusted logistic regressions were conducted for the two key exposures (maternal prenatal smoking and mother having at least two criminal convictions) and offspring behavioural and cognitive vulnerabilities. Population attributable fractions (PAFs) were also estimated for each outcome for the two exposures. Prenatal smoking and maternal offending were, separately and together, associated with most of the developmental vulnerabilities examined, even after adjusting for other familial and prenatal risk factors. PAFs for prenatal smoking ranged from 5.3% to 15.8%, and PAFs for maternal offending ranged from 3.4% to 11.8% across the offspring outcomes. Maternal smoking during pregnancy and maternal offending were uniquely associated with a range of offspring vulnerabilities, but mothers who smoked during pregnancy tended to experience multiple problems that should also be considered as indicators of child vulnerabilities. While early behavioural difficulties were evident in these children, it was striking that they were also likely to have cognitive vulnerabilities. Early intervention to support cognitive development in these children may minimise their risk of academic underachievement, long-term disadvantage, and even offending.
Size matters: Increased grey matter in boys with conduct problems and callous–unemotional traits
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 17-03-2009
DOI: 10.1093/BRAIN/AWP011
Abstract: Brain imaging studies of adults with psychopathy have identified structural and functional abnormalities in limbic and prefrontal regions that are involved in emotion recognition, decision-making, morality and empathy. Among children with conduct problems, a small subgroup presents callous-unemotional traits thought to be antecedents of psychopathy. No structural brain imaging study has examined this subgroup of children. The present study used voxel-based morphometry to compare whole brain grey matter volumes and concentrations of boys with elevated levels of callous-unemotional conduct problems and typically developing boys and explored four a priori regions of interest. sMRI scans were collected from 23 boys with elevated levels of callous-unemotional conduct problems (mean age = 11 years 8 months) and 25 typically developing boys (mean age = 11 years 6 months) selected from a community s le of children. Data were analysed using optimized voxel-based morphometry. Study-specific probability maps were created and four a priori regions of interest identified (orbitofrontal, anterior cingulate and anterior insular cortices and amygdala). Both grey matter volume and concentration were examined controlling for cognitive ability and hyperactivity-inattention symptoms. Boys with callous-unemotional conduct problems, as compared with typically developing boys, presented increased grey matter concentration in the medial orbitofrontal and anterior cingulate cortices, as well as increased grey matter volume and concentration in the temporal lobes bilaterally. These findings may indicate a delay in cortical maturation in several brain areas implicated in decision making, morality and empathy in boys with callous-unemotional conduct problems.
The 2015 Middle Childhood Survey (MCS) of mental health and well-being at age 11 years in an Australian population cohort.
Publisher: BMJ
Date: 06-2017
Regional mapping of early childhood risk for mental disorders in an Australian population sample
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 07-04-2022
DOI: 10.1111/EIP.13281
Abstract: Population‐level profiles of risk for later childhood mental disorders have been identified in patterns of early developmental vulnerabilities using Australian Early Developmental Census. We sought to demonstrate the geographical distribution of these early childhood risk profiles for mental illness, to inform policy decisions for place‐sensitive provision of health and allied services. Using geographic information system techniques, we mapped the regional percentage of children at highest risk for mental disorders across the state of New South Wales (NSW), according to Local Government Areas, for 82 891 children in the NSW Child Development Study. A high proportion ( %) of children at risk of later mental disorders were located in regional and socioeconomically disadvantaged areas, with a few metropolitan regions showing similarly high proportions of the population at risk. These findings highlight the potential to identify place‐sensitive needs for early intervention and prevention programs for emerging mental health problems in children.
Population profiles of child‐reported psychotic‐like experiences and their differential association with other psychopathologies
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 22-07-2019
DOI: 10.1111/BJC.12230
Abstract: Childhood psychotic-like experiences (PLEs) increase risk for concurrent and future psychiatric disorders but are common in the population. Strategies are needed to identify vulnerable in iduals who may benefit from monitoring or targeted intervention. This study aimed to delineate profiles of childhood PLEs that might be differentially associated with other psychopathologies, and multiple psychopathology. Cross-sectional, online self-report survey. Participants were 27,000 Australian children from a population cohort (13,416 girls mean age 11.91 years) who completed an online self-report questionnaire assessing PLEs (hallucinations and delusions) and Emotional, Peer Relationship, Conduct, and Hyperactivity-Inattention psychopathology. Latent class analysis differentiated classes of children showing different patterns of PLE responses, and multinomial logistic regression determined the association between the PLE classes and the various psychopathologies, adjusted for demographic covariates and the other psychopathologies. Five latent profiles of PLE responses were characterized as follows: None (27.4% of children), Minor (29.7%), Moderate (11.8%), Hallucinatory (21.0%), and Strong (10.2%). These classes showed distinct associations with other psychopathologies (odds ratios between 1.27 and 4.58), and dose-response relationships indicated increasing likelihood of multiple psychopathology for the Hallucinatory and Strong classes (odds ratio = 21.87 for ≥3 psychopathologies in the Strong class). Tailored interventions that address the particular needs of these different classes of in iduals may be warranted. Children aged 11-12 years who report psychotic-like experiences (PLEs) can be classified into five different PLE profiles based on self-reported questionnaire responses, which may reflect different pathological processes. These PLE profiles show different patterns and magnitudes of increased risk for other types of psychopathology, and multiple psychopathology, suggesting that they present different treatment needs. Cross-sectional investigation of the associations between PLE profiles and other psychopathologies limits any conclusions as to the causal direction of these relationships. Multi-informant reports of psychopathology were unavailable.
Correction to: Psychometric Comparability of Self-Report by Children Aged 9–10 versus 11 Years on the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ)
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 26-03-2019
Empathy in young people: change in patterns of eye gaze and brain activity with the manipulation of visual attention to emotional faces.
Publisher: Frontiers Media SA
Date: 2015
Empathy in youths: Change in patterns of eye gaze and brain activity with the manipulation of visual attention to emotional faces
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 10-2016
Transitions between socio-emotional and cognitive vulnerability profiles from early to middle childhood: a population study using multi-agency administrative records
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 04-02-2020
Child protection services for children with special healthcare needs: A population record linkage study
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 09-12-2021
DOI: 10.1002/AJS4.145
Abstract: Children with disabilities are known to have high rates of contact with child protection services. However, little is known about child protection contacts for a broader group of children with special healthcare needs (SHCN i.e., special needs or other impairments of concern that affect learning). This study examined the characteristics of contact with child protection services (prior to the age of 6 years) for children with SHCN identified at school entry using the 2009 Australian Early Development Census, using administrative data from more than 65,000 children in the New South Wales Child Development Study. Child protection contacts prior to age 6 years were more prevalent among children with SHCN compared with those without in particular, children with SHCN had higher odds of a history of exposure to neglect and physical abuse, and higher odds of being placed in out‐of‐home care, compared with their typically developing peers. Understanding the characteristics of child protection contacts among children with SHCN, with consideration of factors that may influence their patterns of contact with these and other human services agencies, will inform the development of appropriate social policy initiatives to fulfil Australia’s obligations under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Conditions of Birth and Early Childhood Developmental Risk for Mental Disorders
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 03-06-2023
DOI: 10.1007/S10578-023-01549-2
Abstract: Distinct classes of children in the general population are at increased odds of later mental illness and other adverse outcomes according to patterns of early childhood developmental vulnerability. If certain risk factors known at the time of birth are reliably associated with membership in early childhood risk classes, then preventative interventions could be initiated in the earliest years of life. Associations between 14 factors known at the time of birth and membership in early childhood risk classes were examined in 66,464 children. Risk class membership was associated with maternal mental illness, parental criminal charges and being male distinct patterns of association were shown for some conditions, for ex le, prenatal child protection notification was uniquely associated with misconduct risk’. These findings suggest that risk factors known at the time of birth could assist in very early detection of children who may benefit from early intervention in the first 2000 days.
Shared intermediate phenotypes for schizophrenia and bipolar disorder: neuroanatomical features of subtypes distinguished by executive dysfunction
Publisher: CMA Joule Inc.
Date: 2015
DOI: 10.1503/JPN.130283
Brain potentials implicate temporal lobe abnormalities in criminal psychopaths.
Publisher: American Psychological Association (APA)
Date: 08-2006
Early life exposure to air pollution and psychotic-like experiences, emotional symptoms, and conduct problems in middle childhood
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 20-07-2023
DOI: 10.1007/S00127-023-02533-W
Abstract: Air pollution has been linked to a variety of childhood mental health problems, but results are inconsistent across studies and the effect of exposure timing is unclear. We examined the associations between air pollution exposure at two time-points in early development and psychotic-like experiences (PLEs), and emotional and conduct symptoms, assessed in middle childhood (mean age 11.5 years). Participants were 19,932 children selected from the NSW Child Development Study (NSW-CDS) with available linked multi-agency data from birth, and self-reported psychotic-like experiences (PLEs) and psychopathology at age 11–12 years (middle childhood). We used binomial logistic regression to examine associations between exposure to nitrogen dioxide (NO 2 ) and particulate matter less than 2.5 μm (PM 2.5 ) at two time-points (birth and middle childhood) and middle childhood PLEs, and emotional and conduct symptoms, with consideration of socioeconomic status and other potential confounding factors in adjusted models. In fully adjusted models, NO 2 exposure in middle childhood was associated with concurrent PLEs (OR = 1.10, 95% CI = 1.02–1.20). Similar associations with PLEs were found for middle childhood exposure to PM 2.5 (OR = 1.05, 95% CI = 1.01–1.09). Neither NO 2 nor PM 2.5 exposure was associated with emotional symptoms or conduct problems in this study. This study highlights the need for a better understanding of potential mechanisms of action of NO 2 in the brain during childhood.
Early developmental risk for subsequent childhood mental disorders in an Australian population cohort.
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 02-12-2018
Abstract: We examined associations between developmental vulnerability profiles determined at the age of 5 years and subsequent childhood mental illness between ages 6 and 13 years in an Australian population cohort. Intergenerational records from New South Wales (NSW) Government Departments of Health and Child Protection spanning pre-birth to 13 years of age were linked with the 2009 Australian Early Development Census records for 86,668 children. Mental illness indices for children were extracted from health records between 2009 and 2016 (child’s age of 6–13 years). Associations between mental disorder diagnoses and membership of early childhood risk groups, including those with established ‘special needs’ (3777, 4.3%) at school entry, or putative risk classes delineated via latent class analysis of Australian Early Development Census subdomains – referred to as ‘pervasive risk’ ( N = 3479 4.0%), ‘misconduct risk’ ( N = 5773 6.7%) or ‘mild generalised risk’ ( N = 9542 11%) – were estimated using multinomial logistic regression, relative to children showing ‘no risk’ ( N = 64,097 74%). Poisson regression models estimated the relative risk of a greater number of days recorded with mental health service contacts among children in each Australian Early Development Census risk group. Adjusted models included child’s sex, socioeconomic disadvantage, child protection contacts and parental mental illness as covariates. The crude odds of any mental disorder among children aged 6–13 years was increased approximately threefold in children showing pervasive risk or misconduct risk profiles at the age of 5 years, and approximately sevenfold in children with special needs, relative to children showing no risk patterns of association largely remained after adjusting for covariates. Children with special needs and the misconduct risk class used mental health services over a greater number of days than the no risk class. Patterns of early childhood developmental vulnerability are associated with subsequent onset of mental disorders and have the potential to inform interventions to mitigate the risk for mental disorders in later childhood and adolescence.
Effects of maltreatment and parental schizophrenia spectrum disorders on early childhood social-emotional functioning: A population record linkage study
Publisher: Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Date: 04-08-2017
DOI: 10.1017/S204579601600055X
Abstract: Childhood maltreatment and a family history of a schizophrenia spectrum disorder (SSD) are each associated with social-emotional dysfunction in childhood. Both are also strong risk factors for adult SSDs, and social-emotional dysfunction in childhood may be an antecedent of these disorders. We used data from a large Australian population cohort to determine the independent and moderating effects of maltreatment and parental SSDs on early childhood social-emotional functioning. The New South Wales Child Development Study combines intergenerational multi-agency data using record linkage methods. Multiple measures of social-emotional functioning (social competency, prosocial/helping behaviour, anxious/fearful behaviour aggressive behaviour, and hyperactivity/inattention) on 69 116 kindergarten children (age ~5 years) were linked with government records of child maltreatment and parental presentations to health services for SSD. Multivariable analyses investigated the association between maltreatment and social-emotional functioning, adjusting for demographic variables and parental SSD history, in the population s le and in sub-cohorts exposed and not exposed to parental SSD history. We also examined the association of parental SSD history and social-emotional functioning, adjusting for demographic variables and maltreatment. Medium-sized associations were identified between maltreatment and poor social competency, aggressive behaviour and hyperactivity/inattention small associations were revealed between maltreatment and poor prosocial/helping and anxious/fearful behaviours. These associations did not differ greatly when adjusted for parental SSD, and were greater in magnitude among children with no history of parental SSD. Small associations between parental SSD and poor social-emotional functioning remained after adjusting for demographic variables and maltreatment. Childhood maltreatment and history of parental SSD are associated independently with poor early childhood social-emotional functioning, with the impact of exposure to maltreatment on social-emotional functioning in early childhood of greater magnitude than that observed for parental SSDs. The impact of maltreatment was reduced in the context of parental SSDs. The influence of parental SSDs on later outcomes of maltreated children may become more apparent during adolescence and young adulthood when overt symptoms of SSD are likely to emerge. Early intervention to strengthen childhood social-emotional functioning might mitigate the impact of maltreatment, and potentially also avert future psychopathology.
Abstracts for the 12th International Congress on Schizophrenia Research (ICOSR)
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 03-2009
Cognitive impairment among children at-risk for schizophrenia
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 03-2014
DOI: 10.1016/J.JPSYCHIRES.2013.12.003
Abstract: Adults with schizophrenia present cognitive impairments, as do in iduals at ultra-high risk for the disorder, youth with relatives with schizophrenia spectrum disorders, and children with antecedents of schizophrenia. The present study aimed to determine if impairments in childhood differed depending on the definition of risk and/or on the degree of relatedness to an affected in idual, and if impairments were explained by IQ. Four groups of children aged 9-12 years were studied: (1) 13 children with ≥1 first-degree or ≥2 second-degree affected relatives (high familial loading: FHx(H)) (2) 14 with ≥1 affected second-degree relative (lower familial loading: FHx(L)) (3) 32 with well-replicated antecedents of schizophrenia (ASz) and (4) 45 typically-developing (TD) children with neither a positive family history nor antecedents. Compared to TD children, both FHx(H) and ASz children exhibited significantly poorer verbal comprehension, scholastic achievement, and verbal working memory, while FHx(H) children additionally displayed significantly lower full-scale IQ, and verbal memory and executive function impairments. After adjusting statistical analyses for IQ, group differences were attenuated. Relative to TD children, FHx(L) children showed no significant differences in performance. The results imply that impairments in verbal comprehension, scholastic achievement, and verbal working memory may index vulnerability for schizophrenia among children with affected relatives with the disorder and among those with multiple antecedents of the disorder who have no affected relatives. More accurate identification of children at-risk for schizophrenia and the specific deficits that they present provides opportunities for interventions such as cognitive remediation that may impact the development of the illness.
Distressing psychotic-like experiences, cognitive functioning and early developmental markers in clinically referred young people aged 8–18 years
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 03-09-2021
DOI: 10.1007/S00127-021-02168-9
Abstract: Neurocognitive difficulties and early childhood speech/motor delays are well documented amongst older adolescents and young adults considered at risk for psychosis-spectrum diagnoses. We aimed to test associations between unusual or psychotic-like experiences (PLEs), co-occurring distress/emotional symptoms, current cognitive functioning and developmental delays/difficulties in young people (aged 8–18 years) referred to Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services in South London, UK. Study 1 examined receptive language, verbal learning and caregiver-reported speech and motor delays/difficulties in a s le of 101 clinically-referred children aged 8–14 years, comparing those reporting no PLEs ( n = 19), PLEs without distress ( n = 16), and PLEs with distress ( n = 66). Study 2 tested associations of severity of distressing PLEs with vocabulary, perceptual reasoning, word reading and developmental delays/difficulties in a second s le of 122 adolescents aged 12–18 years with distressing PLEs. In Study 1, children with distressing PLEs had lower receptive language and delayed recall and higher rates of developmental delays/difficulties than the no-PLE and non-distressing PLE groups ( F values: 2.3–2.8 p values: 0.005). Receptive language ( β = 0.24, p = 0.03) and delayed recall ( β = − 0.17, p = 0.02) predicted PLE distress severity. In Study 2, the cognitive-developmental variables did not significantly predict PLE distress severity ( β values = 0.01–0.22, p values: 0.05). Findings may be consistent with a cognitive-developmental model relating distressing PLEs in youth with difficulties in cognitive functioning. This highlights the potential utility of adjunctive cognitive strategies which target mechanisms associated with PLE distress. These could be included in cognitive-behavioural interventions offered prior to the development of an at-risk mental state in mental health, educational or public health settings.
Abstracts of the ICOSR
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 04-2001
Improved hemodynamic activity in first episode psychotic patients with atypical neuroleptic treatment: A six week test-retest event-related fMRI study
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 06-2001
Criterion validity of the Psychotic-Like Experiences Questionnaire for Children (PLEQ-C)
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 06-2020
Abstracts of the 11th International Congress on Schizophrenia Research
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 29-01-2007
Comorbidity of conduct disorder symptoms and internalising problems in children: investigating a community and a clinical sample
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 18-11-2011
DOI: 10.1007/S00787-011-0229-6
Abstract: Previous studies have demonstrated that many children with conduct problems (CP) also show internalising psychopathology (IP). However, it remains unclear whether the presence of IP serves as a protective or risk factor for the severity and development of CP. The aim of the present study was to assess the prevalence and associations of comorbid IP in children with CP in a community and a clinical s le. Data from boys as well as girls with CP in the clinical range were obtained from a community s le (n = 1,160) and a clinical s le diagnosed with disruptive behaviour disorder (n = 193) from two European countries. In the community s le, information was obtained using the strengths and difficulties questionnaire, whereas in the clinical s le, the child behaviour checklist was used. Internalising disorders, according to ICD-10, were also assessed in the clinical s le. For both s les, age, gender, and impact of comorbid IP in the clinical range (above 90th percentile) for CP were explored. Results revealed that in both s les, participants with CP showed a high rate of comorbid IP (community s le: 35% clinical s le: 78%). Participants with comorbid IP were more likely to experience social problems with peers. In the clinical s le, comorbid IP rated by the parents was more prevalent than internalising disorders according to ICD-10. Boys with CP and comorbid IP demonstrated a higher severity of externalising behaviour than boys without comorbid IP in the clinical s le. We concluded that in both s les, we found a high co-occurrence of CP and IP. Based on the idea that the co-occurrence of IP and CP in children and adolescents may potentially lead to increased antisocial behaviour, internalising psychopathology should be carefully investigated. Effective strategies and specific risk factors must be evaluated to treat comorbidity as early as possible in children with CP and IP.
Understanding the relationship between schematic beliefs, bullying, and unusual experiences in 8–14 year olds
Publisher: Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Date: 06-10-2015
DOI: 10.1016/J.EURPSY.2015.08.008
Abstract: Cognitive models of adult psychosis propose that negative schematic beliefs (NSBs) mediate the established association between victimisation and psychotic symptoms. In childhood, unusual, or psychotic-like, experiences are associated with bullying (a common form of victimisation) and NSBs. This study tests the mediating role of NSBs in the relationship between bullying and distressing unusual experiences (UEDs) in childhood. Ninety-four 8–14 year olds referred to community Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services completed self-report assessments of UEDs, bullying, and NSBs about the self (NS) and others (NO). Both NS and NO were associated with bullying (NS: r = .40, P .001 NO: r = .33, P = .002), and with UEDs (NS: r = .51, P .001 NO: r = .43, P .001). Both NS and NO significantly mediated the relationship between bullying and UEDs (NS: z = 3.15, P = .002 NO: z = 2.35, P = .019). Children's NSBs may mediate the adverse psychological impact of victimisation, and are appropriate treatment targets for young people with UEDs. Early educational intervention to reduce negative appraisals of the self and others may increase resilience to future adverse experiences and reduce later mental health risk.
33.4 UNDER WHAT CONDITIONS DO YOUNG PEOPLE DISCLOSE THEIR DIFFICULTIES? SUBJECTIVE EXPERIENCES OF YOUNG PEOPLE AT RISK OF DEVELOPING PSYCHIATRIC DISORDER
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 04-2018
Toward earlier identification and preventative intervention in schizophrenia: evidence from the London Child Health and Development Study
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 15-12-2015
Childhood developmental vulnerabilities associated with early life exposure to infectious and noninfectious diseases and maternal mental illness
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 26-12-2017
DOI: 10.1111/JCPP.12856
Abstract: Fetal exposure to infectious and noninfectious diseases may influence early childhood developmental functioning, on the path to later mental illness. Here, we investigated the effects of in utero exposure to maternal infection and noninfectious diseases during pregnancy on offspring developmental vulnerabilities at age 5 years, in the context of estimated effects for early childhood exposures to infectious and noninfectious diseases and maternal mental illness. We used population data for 66,045 children from an intergenerational record linkage study (the New South Wales Child Development Study), for whom a cross-sectional assessment of five developmental competencies (physical, social, emotional, cognitive, and communication) was obtained at school entry, using the Australian Early Development Census (AEDC). Child and maternal exposures to infectious or noninfectious diseases were determined from the NSW Ministry of Health Admitted Patients Data Collection (APDC) and maternal mental illness exposure was derived from both APDC and Mental Health Ambulatory Data collections. Multinomial logistic regression analyses were used to examine unadjusted and adjusted associations between these physical and mental health exposures and child developmental vulnerabilities at age 5 years. Among the physical disease exposures, maternal infectious diseases during pregnancy and early childhood infection conferred the largest associations with developmental vulnerabilities at age 5 years maternal noninfectious illness during pregnancy also retained small but significant associations with developmental vulnerabilities even when adjusted for other physical and mental illness exposures and covariates known to be associated with early childhood development (e.g., child's sex, socioeconomic disadvantage, young maternal age, prenatal smoking). Among all exposures examined, maternal mental illness first diagnosed prior to childbirth conferred the greatest odds of developmental vulnerability at age 5 years. Prenatal exposure to infectious or noninfectious diseases appear to influence early childhood physical, social, emotional and cognitive developmental vulnerabilities that may represent intermediate phenotypes for subsequent mental disorders.
Academic achievement and schizophrenia: a systematic meta-analysis
Publisher: Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Date: 20-07-2020
DOI: 10.1017/S0033291720002354
Abstract: Cognitive impairments in childhood are associated with increased risk of schizophrenia in later life, but the extent to which poor academic achievement is associated with the disorder is unclear. Major databases were searched for articles published in English up to 31 December 2019. We conducted random-effects meta-analyses to: (1) compare general academic and mathematics achievement in youth who later developed schizophrenia and those who did not (2) to examine the association between education level achieved and adult-onset schizophrenia and, (3) compare general academic achievement in youth at-risk for schizophrenia and typically developing peers. Meta-regression models examined the effects of type of academic assessment, educational system, age at assessment, measurement of educational level attained, school leaving age, and study quality on academic achievement and education level among in iduals with schizophrenia. Meta-analyses, comprising data of over four million in iduals, found that: (1) by age 16 years, those who later developed schizophrenia had poorer general academic (Cohen's d = −0.29, p ⩽ 0.0001) and mathematics achievement ( d = −0.23, p = 0.01) than those who did not (2) in iduals with schizophrenia were less likely to enter higher education (odds ratio = 0.49, p ⩽ 0.0001) and, (3) youth reporting psychotic-like experiences and youth with a family history of schizophrenia had lower general academic achievement ( d = −0.54, p ⩽ 0.0001 d = −0.39, p ⩽ 0.0001, respectively). Meta-regression analyses determined no effect modifiers. Despite significant heterogeneity across studies, various routinely collected indices of academic achievement can identify premorbid cognitive dysfunction among in iduals who are vulnerable for schizophrenia, potentially aiding the early identification of risk in the population.
Profiles of Resilience from Early to Middle Childhood among Children Known to Child Protection Services
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 23-09-2021
DOI: 10.1080/15374416.2021.1969652
Abstract: The processes facilitating resilience are likely to be influenced by in idual, familial and contextual factors that are dynamic across the life-course. These factors have been less studied in relation to resilience profiles evident in the developmental period between early to middle childhood, relative to later periods of adolescence or adulthood. This study examined factors associated with Factors associated with resilience profiles included being female, and personality characteristics of openness and extraversion other factors associated with Resilience processes appear to involve a complex interplay between in idual, family, and community characteristics requiring interagency support.
Error-related negativity and correct response negativity in schizophrenia
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 09-2002
DOI: 10.1016/S1388-2457(02)00154-2
Abstract: To examine error-related negativity (ERN) and correct response negativity (CRN) in schizophrenia in light of two previous conflicting reports, and to determine their relation to disorganization, psychomotor poverty and reality distortion. Event-related potentials were recorded from 21 schizophrenic and 21 control participants who performed a simple go/no-go task. Response-locked potentials were computed for errors of commission and for correct-hits. Scores for reality distortion syndrome, psychomotor poverty syndrome and disorganization syndrome were determined for each schizophrenic participant using the Signs and Symptoms of Psychotic Illness (SSPI) scale. ERN produced during error trials and CRN produced during correct trials were significantly larger in the control participant group than in the schizophrenic participant group. In the schizophrenic patients, ERN litude was negatively correlated with psychomotor poverty syndrome score and CRN litude was negatively correlated with disorganization syndrome score. Decreased ERN and CRN in the schizophrenic participant group suggests abnormal internal behavior monitoring in schizophrenic patients. Patients with high disorganization symptoms may employ an abnormal strategy for comparing actual response outcome with desired response outcome, while patients with psychomotor poverty may be less emotionally responsive to errors.
Oral Presentations
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 09-2010
Costs for physical and mental health hospitalizations in the first 13 years of life among children engaged with Child Protection Services
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 2020
DOI: 10.1016/J.CHIABU.2019.104280
Abstract: Longitudinal data on health costs associated with physical and mental conditions are not available for children reported to child protection services. To estimate the costs of hospitalization for physical and mental health conditions by child protection status, including out-of-home-care (OOHC) placement, from birth until 13-years, and to assess the excess costs associated with child protection contact over this period. Australian population cohort of 79,285 children in a multi-agency linkage study. Costs of hospitalization were estimated from birth (if available) using Round 17, National Hospital Cost Data Collection (2012-13 deflated to 2015-16 AUD). Records of the state child protection authority determined contact status. Data were reported separately for children in OOHC. Hospital separations were classified as mental disorder-related if the primary diagnosis was recorded in ICD-10 Chapter V (F00-F99). Hospital separations were more common in children with child protection contact. Physical health care costs per child decreased with age for all children, but were significantly higher for children with contact. Mental health costs per child were always significantly higher for children with contact, with marked increases at 3 ≤ 4 years and 8 ≤ 9 years. Point estimates of annual costs per child were always highest for children with an OOHC placement. The net present value of the excess costs was $3,224 per child until 13- years, discounted at 5 %. Children in contact with child protection services show higher rates and costs for physical and mental health hospitalizations in each of their first 13 years of life.
Earlier Contact with Child Protection Services Among Children of Parents With Criminal Convictions and Mental Disorders
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 03-07-2020
Abstract: Parental history of offending and/or mental illness are risk factors for child maltreatment. However, limited research has directly contrasted the role of maternal versus paternal criminal offending or mental health problems in contributing to earlier contact with the child protection system. In this study we examined the relative contributions of these risk factors in relation to the time to the offspring’s first report to child protection services, or first placement in out of home care (OOHC), using administrative records for a population s le of 71,661 children. Prior paternal offending had a greater independent effect on time to the offspring’s first contact with child protection services (HR = 2.27 [95% CI = 2.14-2.40]) than maternal offending (HR = 1.75 [95% CI = 1.63 -1.87]) or maternal mental disorder diagnosis (HR = 1.66 [95% CI = 1.57 -1.77]). By contrast, prior maternal offending (HR = 2.58 [95% CI = 2.26-2.95]) and mental disorder diagnosis (HR = 2.33 [95% CI = 2.05-2.63]) had a greater effect on earlier placement in OOHC, relative to prior paternal offending (HR = 1.59 [95% CI = 1.35 -1.88]) and mental disorder diagnosis (HR = 1.06 [95% CI = 0.94 -1.19]). These findings demonstrate the potential benefits of coordinated government responses across multiple agencies to identify vulnerable children and families who might benefit from early interventions or support services.
Modelling psychosocial influences on the distress and impairment caused by psychotic-like experiences in children and adolescents
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 11-12-2013
DOI: 10.1007/S00787-013-0500-0
Abstract: Psychological understanding of psychotic-like experiences (PLEs) occurring in childhood is limited, with no recognised conceptual framework to guide appropriate intervention. We examined the contribution to PLE severity of emotional, cognitive and socio-environmental mechanisms thought to influence the development and maintenance of psychosis. Forty 8-14 year olds referred to a community Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service completed a battery of questionnaires and assessments measuring severity of PLEs, emotional problems, cognitive biases, and negative life events. 85% of children assessed reported having experienced a PLE over the previous year and 55% reported more than one. 60% had experienced at least one in the previous fortnight. Multiple linear regression demonstrated that each of the variables made a significant and independent contribution to PLE severity, after adjusting for verbal ability and age, accounting together for more than half of the variance (reasoning B = 6.324, p = .049 emotion B = 1.807, p = .005 life events B = 4.039, p = .001). PLEs were common in this clinical s le of children. Psychological factors implicated in the development and maintenance of psychosis in adults were also associated with PLE severity in these children. PLE severity may be reduced by targeting each of these factors in cognitive therapy, at this very early stage. Any improvements in emotional wellbeing and functioning may then increase future resilience.
Auditory mismatch negativity in regular long-term cannabis users
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 09-2010
Rostral anterior cingulate cortex dysfunction during error processing in schizophrenia
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 03-2003
DOI: 10.1093/BRAIN/AWG056
Abstract: Previous research has demonstrated that patients with schizophrenia have an impaired ability to monitor erroneous responses to stimuli internally. Event-related potential (ERP) studies of error-eliciting tasks indicate that, in healthy adults, the commission of an erroneous response is associated with a fronto-centrally distributed negative voltage component termed the error negativity (Ne) or error-related negativity (ERN). In patients with schizophrenia, the Ne/ERN elicited by errors of commission (EoC) is reduced in litude compared with that elicited in healthy participants. Functional MRI (fMRI) studies and source localization analyses of ERP data in healthy participants suggest that EoC are associated with activity in the rostral anterior cingulate cortex (ACC). Using event-related fMRI, we examined the brain activity associated with EoC in a group of 10 patients with schizophrenia and 16 matched healthy participants. Patients were stable, partially remitted, medicated out-patients recruited from the community. Participants performed a Go/NoGo task variant that was shown previously to elicit a reduced Ne/ERN during EoC in patients with schizophrenia relative to healthy participants, as well as robust rostral ACC activation during EoC in healthy participants. Patients with schizophrenia were characterized by relative underactivity in the rostral ACC compared with healthy participants. There was also evidence for more widespread underactivity in the limbic system. In contrast to these regions of relative hypoactivity, patients with schizophrenia demonstrated hyperactivity relative to healthy participants in bilateral parietal cortex during both EoC and correctly rejected NoGo trials. Our results are consistent with previous ERP research demonstrating functional abnormalities during error processing in schizophrenia. In light of the role of the rostral ACC and other limbic structures in mediating affective and motivational behaviour, our results suggest there may be a disturbed affective or motivational response to the commission of errors in schizophrenia.
Self-harm and suicidal ideation among young people is more often recorded by child protection than health services in an Australian population cohort
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 06-06-2023
DOI: 10.1177/00048674231179652
Abstract: We investigated patterns of service contact for self-harm and suicidal ideation recorded by a range of human service agencies – including health, police and child protection – with specific focus on overlap and sequences of contacts, age of first contact and demographic and intergenerational characteristics associated with different service responses to self-harm. Participants were 91,597 adolescents for whom multi-agency linked data were available in a longitudinal study of a population cohort in New South Wales, Australia. Self-harm and suicide-related incidents from birth to 18 years of age were derived from emergency department, inpatient hospital admission, mental health ambulatory, child protection and police administrative records. Descriptive statistics and binomial logistic regression were used to examine patterns of service contacts. Child protection services recorded the largest proportion of youth with reported self-harm and suicidal ideation, in which the age of first contact for self-harm was younger relative to other incidents of self-harm recorded by other agencies. Nearly 40% of youth with a health service contact for self-harm also had contact with child protection and/or police services for self-harm. Girls were more likely to access health services for self-harm than boys, but not child protection or police services. Suicide prevention is not solely the responsibility of health services police and child protection services also respond to a significant proportion of self-harm and suicide-related incidents. High rates of overlap among different services responding to self-harm suggest the need for cross-agency strategies to prevent suicide in young people.
The impact of parental mental illness across the full diagnostic spectrum on externalising and internalising vulnerabilities in young offspring
Publisher: Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Date: 14-01-2018
DOI: 10.1017/S0033291717003786
Abstract: The intergenerational risk for mental illness is well established within diagnostic categories, but the risk is unlikely to respect diagnostic boundaries and may be reflected more broadly in early life vulnerabilities. We aimed to establish patterns of association between externalising and internalising vulnerabilities in early childhood and parental mental disorder across the full spectrum of diagnoses. A cohort of Australian children ( n = 69 116) entering the first year of school in 2009 were assessed using the Australian Early Development Census, providing measures of externalising and internalising vulnerability. Parental psychiatric diagnostic status was determined utilising record-linkage to administrative health datasets. Parental mental illness, across diagnostic categories, was associated with all child externalising and internalising domains of vulnerability. There was little evidence to support interaction by parental or offspring sex. These findings have important implications for informing early identification and intervention strategies in high-risk offspring and for research into the causes of mental illness. There may be benefits to focusing less on diagnostic categories in both cases.
Psychotic-like experiences in a community sample of 8000 children aged 9 to 11 years: an item response theory analysis
Publisher: Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Date: 17-10-2011
DOI: 10.1017/S0033291711002108
Abstract: Psychotic-like experiences (PLEs) in the general population are common, particularly in childhood, and may constitute part of a spectrum of normative development. Nevertheless, these experiences confer increased risk for later psychotic disorder, and are associated with poorer health and quality of life. This study used factor analytic methods to determine the latent structure underlying PLEs, problem behaviours and personal competencies in the general child population, and used item response theory (IRT) to assess the psychometric properties of nine PLE items to determine which items best represented a latent psychotic-like construct (PSY). A total of 7966 children aged 9–11 years, constituting 95% of eligible children, completed self-report questionnaires. Almost two-thirds of the children endorsed at least one PLE item. Structural analyses identified a unidimensional construct representing psychotic-like severity in the population, the full range of which was well s led by the nine items. This construct was discriminable from (though correlated with) latent dimensions representing internalizing and externalizing problems. Items assessing visual and auditory hallucination-like experiences provided the most information about PSY delusion-like experiences identified children at more severe levels of the construct. Assessing PLEs during middle childhood is feasible and supplements information concerning internalizing and externalizing problems presented by children. The hallucination-like experiences constitute appropriate items to screen the population to identify children who may require further clinical assessment or monitoring. Longitudinal follow-up of the children is required to determine sensitivity and specificity of the PLE items for later psychotic illness.
Common or distinct pathways to psychosis? A systematic review of evidence from prospective studies for developmental risk factors and antecedents of the schizophrenia spectrum disorders and affective psychoses
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 25-08-2015
Poster Session Abstracts
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 20-08-2012
Trajectories of childhood internalizing and externalizing psychopathology and psychotic-like experiences in adolescence: A prospective population-based cohort study
Publisher: Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Date: 09-02-2016
DOI: 10.1017/S0954579415001108
Abstract: Adolescent internalizing and externalizing psychopathology is strongly associated with adult psychiatric morbidity, including psychotic disorders. This study examined whether internalizing or externalizing trajectories (continuity/discontinuity of symptoms) from middle childhood were associated with adolescent psychotic-like experiences (PLEs). Prospective data were collected from a community s le of 553 children (mean age = 10.4 years 50% male) and their primary caregivers. Participants completed questionnaire reports of internalizing and externalizing psychopathology and PLEs at baseline, and again approximately 2 years later. Logistic regression was used to examine the association of adolescent PLEs with four trajectories of internalizing and externalizing psychopathology (persistent, incident, remitting, and none), controlling for a range of potential confounders and s ling bias. Significant associations were identified between adolescent PLEs and the incident internalizing (adjusted odds ratio [adj. OR ] = 2.96 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.60–5.49) and externalizing psychopathology (adj. OR = 2.14 95% CI = 1.11–4.14) trajectories, as well as the persistent internalizing (adj. OR = 1.90 95% CI = 1.13–3.18) and externalizing (adj. OR = 1.81, 95% CI = 1.02–3.19) trajectories. Children with remitting psychopathology trajectories were no more likely to present later PLEs than those who never experienced psychopathology. While for many in iduals symptoms and illness remit during development without intervention, this study provides important insights regarding potential targets and timing for delivery of early intervention and prevention programs.
Measurement invariance across age, gender, ethnicity, and psychopathology of the Psychotic‐Like Experiences Questionnaire for Children in a community sample
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 02-03-2023
DOI: 10.1002/MPR.1962
Abstract: The current study aimed to assess the measurement invariance of the 9‐item self‐report Psychotic‐Like Experiences Questionnaire for Children (PLEQ‐C) across various demographic (age, gender, ethnicity) and psychopathology profiles in a community s le of children. Children aged 9–11 years ( n = 613 M age = 10.4 years [SD = 0.8] 50.9% female) completed questionnaire screening at school, with primary caregivers returning questionnaires by mail from home. Configural, metric, scalar, and residual invariance of the PLEQ‐C scores were investigated across groups differentiated by age (9 10 11 years), gender (female male), ethnicity (white black other), and by child‐reported and caregiver‐reported psychopathology (abnormal rating not abnormal). The PLEQ‐C scores demonstrated good unidimensional model fit. Full configural, metric, scalar, and residual invariance were demonstrated across gender, ethnicity, and psychopathology (both child‐ and caregiver‐reported). Across age groups, the PLEQ‐C scores showed full configural and metric invariance, but only partial scalar and residual invariance (with a single item measuring differently among 11‐year‐olds). In this community s le, the PLEQ‐C was robust to age, gender, ethnicity, and psychopathology profiles, providing evidence of its capacity to identify children in the general population who might benefit from further assessment to determine the clinical significance of their psychotic experiences.
Conditional Disclosure on Pathways to Care: Coping Preferences of Young People at Risk of Psychosis
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 05-12-2016
Abstract: The interrelationship between stigma and help-seeking is under-researched among children and adolescents. This study explored stigma in relation to pathways to care among young people putatively in an early stage of increased risk of developing psychotic disorders. “Pathways to care” was defined as help-seeking and support from informal and formal resources, and increased risk was determined through the presence of persistent psychotic-like experiences and internalizing/externalizing psychopathology. Twenty-nine qualitative interviews were analyzed using thematic analysis. We defined the superordinate theme in these data as “conditional disclosure,” a concept reflecting the rules and prerequisites that influenced how/whether participants sought help. Through parallels between these findings and established stigma theory, we examined how these conditions could be interpreted as influenced by stigma. Our findings demonstrate the influence of stigma on young people’s perceptions of a range of pre-clinical symptoms, and on how they seek support for these symptoms.
Trajectories of Mismatch Negativity and P3a Amplitude Development From Ages 9 to 16 Years in Children With Risk Factors for Schizophrenia
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 12-2020
Poster #S150 HYPOTHALAMIC-PITUITARY-ADRENAL AXIS DYSFUNCTION: AN EARLY MARKER OF PSYCHOSIS VULNERABILITY?
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 04-2014
Systematic meta-analysis of childhood social withdrawal in schizophrenia, and comparison with data from at-risk children aged 9-14 years
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 08-2013
DOI: 10.1016/J.JPSYCHIRES.2013.03.013
Abstract: Social withdrawal is a robust childhood risk factor for later schizophrenia. The aims of this paper were to assess the evidence for childhood social withdrawal among adults with schizophrenia and, comparatively, in children aged 9-14 years who are putatively at-risk of developing schizophrenia. We conducted a meta-analysis, including cohort and case-control studies reporting social withdrawal measured by the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) in adults with schizophrenia vs. controls. Further, an experimental study compared CBCL withdrawal scores from typically-developing children with scores from two groups of putatively at-risk children: (i) children displaying a triad of replicated antecedents for schizophrenia, and (ii) children with at least one first- or second-degree relative with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder. Six studies met inclusion criteria for the meta-analysis (N = 3828), which demonstrated a large effect of increased childhood social withdrawal in adults with schizophrenia (standardized mean difference [SMD] score = 1.035, 95% CI = 0.304-1.766, p = 0.006), with no indication of publication bias, but considerable heterogeneity (I(2) = 91%). Results from the experimental study also indicated a large effect of increased social withdrawal in children displaying the antecedent triad (SMD = 0.743, p = 0.001), and a weaker effect in children with a family history of schizophrenia (SMD = 0.442, p = 0.051). Childhood social withdrawal may constitute a vulnerability marker for schizophrenia in the presence of other antecedents and/or genetic risk factors for schizophrenia.
Identification of Children at Risk of Schizophrenia via Deep Learning and EEG Responses
Publisher: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)
Date: 2021
Early childhood developmental vulnerability associated with parental mental disorder comorbidity
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 23-08-2022
DOI: 10.1177/00048674221116806
Abstract: Parental mental health has a profound influence on the mental health and well-being of their offspring. With comorbid mental disorders generally the rule rather than the exception, increased knowledge of the impact of parental mental disorder comorbidity on early child development may facilitate improved targeting and delivery of early intervention for vulnerable offspring. Participants were 66,154 children and their parents in the New South Wales Child Development Study – a prospective, longitudinal, record-linkage study of a population cohort of children born in NSW between 2002 and 2004. Early childhood developmental vulnerability was assessed at age ~5 years using the Australian Early Development Census, and information on parental mental disorders was obtained from administrative health records. Binomial and multinomial logistic regression were used to assess the relationship between parental mental disorders and early childhood developmental vulnerability on emotional and behavioural domains, as well as membership of latent developmental risk classes reflecting particular classes of vulnerability. Multiple diagnoses of mental disorders in mothers and fathers were associated with an increased likelihood of early childhood emotional and behavioural developmental vulnerability in offspring, relative to parents without mental disorder. The likelihood of offspring vulnerability increased with the number of parental comorbidities, particularly maternal comorbidities. Early childhood developmental vulnerability was strongly associated with parental mental ill-health, with the strength of associations increasing in line with a greater number of mental disorder diagnoses among mothers and fathers. New and expectant parents diagnosed with multiple mental disorders should be prioritised for intervention, including attention to the developmental well-being of their offspring.
Parental mental disorders and offspring schizotypy in middle childhood: an intergenerational record linkage study
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 13-03-2023
DOI: 10.1007/S00127-023-02455-7
Abstract: To investigate relationships between distinct schizotypy risk profiles in childhood and the full spectrum of parental mental disorders. Participants were 22,137 children drawn from the New South Wales Child Development Study, for whom profiles of risk for schizophrenia-spectrum disorders in middle childhood (age ~ 11 years) were derived in a previous study. A series of multinomial logistic regression analyses examined the likelihood of child membership in one of three schizotypy profiles ( true schizotypy , introverted schizotypy , and affective schizotypy ) relative to the children showing no risk , according to maternal and paternal diagnoses of seven types of mental disorders. All types of parental mental disorders were associated with membership in all childhood schizotypy profiles. Children in the true schizotypy group were more than twice as likely as children in the no risk group to have a parent with any type of mental disorder (unadjusted odds ratio [OR] = 2.27, 95% confidence intervals [CI] = 2.01–2.56) those in the affective (OR = 1.54, 95% CI = 1.42–1.67) and introverted schizotypy profiles (OR = 1.39, 95% CI = 1.29–1.51) were also more likely to have been exposed to any parental mental disorder, relative to children showing no risk . Childhood schizotypy risk profiles appear not to be related specifically to familial liability for schizophrenia-spectrum disorders this is consistent with a model where liability for psychopathology is largely general rather than specific to particular diagnostic categories.
F27. LATENT PROFILES OF DEVELOPMENTAL SCHIZOTYPY IN THE GENERAL POPULATION: ASSOCIATIONS WITH CHILDHOOD TRAUMA AND FAMILIAL MENTAL ILLNESS
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 04-2018
‘Theory of Mind’, psychotic-like experiences and psychometric schizotypy in adolescents from the general population
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 04-2011
DOI: 10.1016/J.PSYCHRES.2010.07.051
Abstract: This study examined 'Theory of Mind' (ToM) functioning, its association with psychometric schizotypy and with self-reported psychotic-like experiences (PLEs) and depressive symptoms, in a community s le of adolescents. Seventy-two adolescents (mean age 14.51years) from Barcelona, Spain, completed questionnaires assessing PLEs, depressive symptoms, and schizotypy. A verbal ToM task and a vocabulary test were administered. The effect of symptomatology, vocabulary ability, age, and gender on task performance was explored. Neither total score on schizotypy nor PLEs were associated with ToM performance. A significant effect of vocabulary on adolescent's performance of both ToM and control stories was found. ToM showed significant negative associations with positive schizotypy, and with one cluster of positive PLEs: first-rank experiences. Positive significant associations between ToM and persecutory delusions and the impulsive aspects of schizotypy were found. Depressive symptoms did not affect ToM performance. Positive schizotypal traits and first-rank symptoms are associated with ToM deficits in adolescents. Results support the trait-(versus state-) dependent notion of ToM impairments in schizophrenia. ToM may be a developmental impairment associated with positive schizotypy and PLEs.
Movement abnormalities and psychotic-like experiences in childhood: markers of developing schizophrenia?
Publisher: Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Date: 11-07-2011
DOI: 10.1017/S0033291711001085
Abstract: Both involuntary dyskinetic movements and psychotic-like experiences (PLEs) are reported to be antecedents of schizophrenia that may reflect dysfunctional dopaminergic activity in the striatum. The present study compared dyskinetic movement abnormalities displayed by children with multiple antecedents of schizophrenia (ASz), including speech and/or motor developmental lags or problems, internalising/externalising problems in the clinical range, and PLEs, with those displayed by children with no antecedents (noASz). The s le included 21 ASz and 31 noASz children, aged 9–12 years old. None had taken psychotropic medication or had relatives with psychosis. The antecedents of schizophrenia were assessed using questionnaires completed by children and caregivers. A trained rater, blind to group status, coded dyskinetic movement abnormalities using a validated tool from videotapes of interviews with the children. ASz children reported, on average, ‘certain experience’ of 2.5 PLEs, while noASz children, by definition, reported none. The ASz children, as compared with noASz children, displayed significantly more dyskinetic movement abnormalities in total, and in the facial and the upper-body regions, after controlling for sex and age. Receiver operator characteristics analyses yielded high area under the curve values for the total score (0.94), facial score (0.91) and upper-body score (0.86), indicating that these scores distinguished between the ASz and noASz children with great accuracy. Brief questionnaires identified children with multiple antecedents of schizophrenia who displayed significantly more involuntary dyskinetic movement abnormalities than children without antecedents. The presence of PLEs and dyskinesias could reflect early disruption of striatal dopamine circuits.
The Coping with Unusual Experiences for Children Study (CUES ): A pilot randomized controlled evaluation of the acceptability and potential clinical utility of a cognitive behavioural interv
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 12-03-2018
DOI: 10.1111/BJC.12176
Abstract: Health care guidelines recommend psychological interventions for childhood unusual experiences that are associated with distress or adverse functional impact (UEDs), based on adult, rather than child-specific, evidence. We report the first randomized controlled evaluation of the acceptability and potential clinical utility of cognitive behavioural therapy for childhood UEDs (CBT-UED). Pilot randomized controlled trial. Participants aged 8-14 years were recruited from referrals to community services for children with emotional/behavioural problems and screened for self-reported UEDs. Of around 1,000 referrals over 36 months, 304 (30%) were identified to the research team, 174 (57%) were successfully contacted, 110 (63%) consented to screening, 96 (87%) attended a screening assessment, and 51 (53%) reported UEDs. Forty-nine (96%) consented to randomization to either CBT-UED (9-12 weekly sessions of 40-50 min, adjunctive to usual care, n = 24) or treatment-as-usual/waitlist control (TAU/WL, n = 25). Childhood internalizing emotional symptoms (e.g., feeling 'nervous'/'scared'/'tearful'/'worried'/'sick' proposed primary outcome), UEDs, depression, anxiety, and childhood psychopathology (secondary outcomes) were measured at baseline, at 12 weeks, and, where therapy was ongoing but incomplete (<12 sessions) at 12 weeks, at end-of-treatment (EOT). Twenty-two CBT-UED participants (92%) attended ≥5 sessions. Forty-four participants (90%) completed 12-week assessments (CBT-UED, n = 21/24, 88% TAU/WL, n = 23/25, 92%). Preliminary findings were encouraging for emotional symptoms and UEDs, but otherwise mixed. Retention, screening, and consent rates were as anticipated recruitment took longer than planned. Trial procedures were acceptable to young people, their families, and clinicians. Therapy exceeded 12 weeks, but was well-received, with no serious adverse events attributed to participation. Further evaluation is needed. Around half of 8- to 14-year-olds in Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services reported distressing unusual experiences. An age-adapted cognitive behavioural intervention appears feasible, and safe to deliver, with the potential to augment standard care. This is a pilot study, and further evaluation is needed. Longer term outcomes should be a focus of future evaluation.
Cortisol awakening response and diurnal cortisol among children at elevated risk for schizophrenia: Relationship to psychosocial stress and cognition
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 08-2014
Childhood adversity in schizophrenia: A systematic meta-analysis
Publisher: Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Date: 30-04-2013
DOI: 10.1017/S0033291712000785
Abstract: Childhood adversity is a putative risk factor for schizophrenia, although evidence supporting this suggestion is inconsistent and controversial. The aim of this review was to pool and quality assess the current evidence pertaining to childhood adversity in people with schizophrenia compared to other psychiatric disorders and to non-psychiatric controls. Included were case-control, cohort and cross-sectional studies. Medline, EMBASE and PsycINFO databases were searched. Study reporting was assessed using the Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology (STROBE) checklist and pooled evidence quality was assessed by the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) approach. Twenty-five studies met inclusion criteria. Moderate to high quality evidence suggests increased rates of childhood adversity in schizophrenia compared to controls [odds ratio (OR) 3.60, p 0.00001]. Increased childhood adversity was also reported in schizophrenia compared to anxiety disorders (OR 2.54, p = 0.007), although the effect was not significant in the subgroup analysis of five studies assessing only sexual abuse. No differences in rates of childhood adversity were found between schizophrenia and affective psychosis, depression and personality disorders whereas decreased rates of childhood adversity were found in schizophrenia relative to dissociative disorders and post-traumatic stress disorder (OR 0.03, p 0.0001). This is the first meta-analysis to report a medium to large effect of childhood adversity in people with schizophrenia and to assess specificity for schizophrenia. Further research is required that incorporates longitudinal design and other potentially causal variables to assess additive and/or interactive effects.
Childhood bullying victimization, self-labelling, and help-seeking for mental health problems
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 19-07-2019
DOI: 10.1007/S00127-019-01743-5
Abstract: Previous research found sustained high levels of mental health service use among adults who experienced bullying victimization during childhood. This could be due to increased psychopathology among this group, but other factors, such as self-perception as having a mental health problem, might contribute to increased service use. Additionally, the relationship between informal help-seeking for mental health problems and bullying victimization is incompletely understood. The present study examined associations between the frequency of bullying victimization and both formal service use and informal help-seeking for mental health problems independent from psychopathology. Data on bullying victimization, service use, informal help-seeking for mental health problems, psychopathology, and self-labelling as a person with mental illness were collected among 422 young people aged 13-22 years. In logistic regression models, controlling for past and current psychopathology and using no bullying victimization as the reference category, we identified a greater likelihood of mental health service use among persons who experienced frequent bullying victimization, as well as a greater likelihood of seeking informal help among persons who experienced occasional victimization. Increased self-identification as a person with mental illness completely mediated the positive association between frequent bullying victimization and mental health service use. Our findings suggest that services to support persons who experienced frequent bullying victimization should focus on improving empowerment and self-perception. Additionally, there might be unserved need for formal support among those who experienced occasional bullying victimization.
Self-reported mental health of children known to child protection services: an Australian population-based record linkage study
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 10-07-2021
New South Wales child development study (NSW-CDS): An Australian multiagency, multigenerational, longitudinal record linkage study
Publisher: BMJ
Date: 02-2016
Low-frequency EEG oscillations associated with information processing in schizophrenia
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 12-2009
DOI: 10.1016/J.SCHRES.2009.09.036
Abstract: Numerous studies have described attenuated event-related potential (ERP) component litudes in schizophrenia (e.g., P300, Mismatch Negativity (MMN), Error Negativity/Error-Related Negativity (Ne/ERN)). Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies have typically shown decreased recruitment of erse brain areas during performance of tasks that elicit the above ERP components. Recent research suggests that phase-resetting of slow-oscillations (e.g., in the delta and theta bands) underlies the potentials observed in ERP averages. Several studies have reported that slow-oscillations are increased in litude in people with schizophrenia at rest. Few studies have examined event-related low-frequency oscillations in schizophrenia. We examined event-related evoked and induced delta and theta activity in 17 people with schizophrenia and 17 healthy controls in two go/no-go task variants. We analyzed stimulus-related and response-related oscillations associated with correct-hits, correct-rejects and false-alarms. Our results reveal a pattern of reduced delta and theta activity for task-relevant events in schizophrenia. The findings indicate that while low-frequency oscillations are increased in litude at rest, they are not coordinated effectively in schizophrenia during various information processing tasks including target-detection, response-inhibition and error-detection. This slow-oscillation coordination abnormality may help explain the decreased recruitment of brain areas seen in fMRI studies.
Children’s contact with police as a victim, person of interest and witness in New South Wales, Australia
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 09-01-2020
Abstract: Contact with the police, as the first contact with the criminal justice system for young people and children, may signify in iduals who are vulnerable to later adverse social and health outcomes. However, little is known about how often children have contact with police or for what reason. In this paper, we provide a demographic profile of the prevalence and reasons for police contact among a representative, longitudinal, population-based s le of 91,631 young people in New South Wales, Australia. By 13 years of age, almost one in six (15.6%) children had contact with police as a victim, person of interest and/or witness on at least one occasion. The most common reason for contact with police was in relation to an assault. There was considerable overlap among children who had been in contact with police on more than one occasion for different reasons, with those having police contact as a person of interest or witness being seven times more likely to have also been in contact with police as a victim in a separate incident, than children not known to police. We show that contact with the police is surprisingly common among children and suggest that early interventions for children in contact with police might prevent a range of adverse outcomes not limited to criminal offending.
4:15 PM CONTINUITY OF EXTERNALISING AND INTERNALISING PSYCHOPATHOLOGY AS PREDICTORS OF PSYCHOTIC-LIKE EXPERIENCES IN A LONGITUDINAL GENERAL POPULATION COHORT OF TEENAGERS
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 04-2014
Familial clustering of birth risk for adverse childhood outcomes
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 18-11-2021
DOI: 10.1038/S41372-021-01264-7
Abstract: To identify classes of children exposed to distinct clusters of perinatal and familial risk factors at the time of birth, and examine relationships between class membership and a variety of adverse outcomes in childhood. A prospective longitudinal study of children (and their parents) born between 2002 and 2004 and who have been followed-up until 12-13 years of age. A combination of latent class analysis and logistic regression analyses were used. Adverse developmental, social, and mental health outcomes in early and middle childhood were greatest for children with 'pervasive familial risk' (i.e., parental mental illness, parental criminality, and perinatal risk factors) at the time of birth some associations were stronger among girls. Pervasive exposure to multiple risk factors in the pre- and perinatal period increases the risk of adverse outcomes in childhood. Future interventions should tailor strategies to address unique combinations of adverse risk exposures in vulnerable families.
Variation in psychosocial influences according to the dimensions and content of children’s unusual experiences: potential routes for the development of targeted interventions
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 07-07-2015
DOI: 10.1007/S00787-015-0739-8
Abstract: The psychosocial processes implicated in the development and maintenance of psychosis differ according to both the dimensional attributes (conviction, frequency, associated distress, adverse life impact) and the content or type (e.g. grandiosity, hallucinations, paranoia) of the psychotic symptoms experienced. This has informed the development of 'targeted' cognitive behavioural therapy for psychosis (CBTp): interventions focusing on specific psychological processes in the context of particular symptom presentations. In adults, larger effect sizes for change in primary outcomes are typically reported in trials of targeted interventions, compared to those for trials of generic CBTp approaches with multiple therapeutic foci. We set out to test the theoretical basis for developing targeted CBTp interventions for young people with distressing psychotic-like, or unusual, experiences (UEs). We investigated variations in the psychosocial processes previously associated with self-reported UE severity (reasoning, negative life events, emotional problems) according to UE dimensional attributes and content/type (using an established five-factor model) in a clinically referred s le of 72 young people aged 8-14 years. Regression analyses revealed associations of conviction and grandiosity with reasoning of frequency, and hallucinations and paranoia, with negative life events and of distress/adverse life impact, and paranoia and hallucinations, with emotional problems. We conclude that psychological targets for intervention differ according to particular characteristics of childhood UEs in much the same way as for psychotic symptoms in adults. The development of targeted interventions is therefore indicated, and tailoring therapy according to presentation should further improve clinical outcomes for these young people.
Trajectories of cognitive development during adolescence among youth at‐risk for schizophrenia
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 23-04-2018
DOI: 10.1111/JCPP.12912
Abstract: Among adults with schizophrenia, evidence suggests that premorbid deficits in different cognitive domains follow distinct developmental courses during childhood and adolescence. The aim of this study was to delineate trajectories of adolescent cognitive functions prospectively among different groups of youth at-risk for schizophrenia, relative to their typically developing (TD) peers. Using linear mixed models adjusted for sex, ethnicity, parental occupation and practice effects, cognitive development between ages 9 and 16 years was compared for youth characterised by a triad of well-replicated developmental antecedents of schizophrenia (ASz N = 32) and youth with a least one affected relative with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder (FHx N = 29), relative to TD youth (N = 45). Participants completed measures of IQ, scholastic achievement, memory and executive function at three time-points, separated by approximately 24-month intervals. Compared to TD youth, both ASz and FHx youth displayed stable developmental deficits in verbal working memory and inhibition/switching executive functions. ASz youth additionally presented with stable deficits in measures of vocabulary (IQ), word reading, numerical operations, and category fluency executive function, and a slower rate of growth (developmental lag) on spelling from 9 to 16 years than TD peers. Conversely, faster rates of growth relative to TD peers (developmental delay) were observed on visual and verbal memory, and on category fluency executive function (ASz youth only) and on matrix reasoning (IQ) and word reading (FHx youth only). These differential patterns of deviation from normative adolescent cognitive development among at-risk youth imply potential for cognitive rehabilitation targeting of specific cognitive deficits at different developmental phases.
Cortisol Levels in Childhood Associated With Emergence of Attenuated Psychotic Symptoms in Early Adulthood
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 2022
Early childhood predictors of elementary school suspension: An Australian record linkage study
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 11-2021
Reading Anomalous Sentences: An Event-Related fMRI Study of Semantic Processing
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 10-2002
Prevalence and correlates of psychotic-like experiences and other putative antecedents of schizophrenia in children aged 9-12 years
Publisher: Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Date: 04-2008
Persisting psychotic-like experiences are associated with both externalising and internalising psychopathology in a longitudinal general population child cohort
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 03-2013
DOI: 10.1016/J.SCHRES.2012.12.009
Abstract: Persisting psychotic-like experiences (PLEs) are associated with an increased risk of internalising symptoms in adolescence. Whether this association holds similarly for externalising symptoms, and from mid-childhood, is unclear. This prospective study investigated the extent to which PLE persistence was associated with internalising and externalising psychopathology in a community s le of children aged 9-11years at study commencement. 8099 children (mean age 10.4years) completed questionnaires assessing PLEs, externalising and internalising symptoms. A subs le of 547 children completed reassessment, on average, two years later. Two-thirds (66%) of children reported PLEs at baseline. Approximately two years later, PLEs persisted in 39% of those children. After adjustment for previous psychopathology and other potential confounds, children with persisting PLEs were at higher risk for internalising (odds ratio [OR]=1.94 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.13-3.34) and externalising (OR=1.97 95% CI 1.19-3.26) psychopathology than children whose PLEs remitted and, than children who never presented PLEs. Persistent PLEs from mid-childhood are associated with later internalising and externalising psychopathology in the general population, whereas transitory PLEs may be part of a spectrum of normative childhood development. Interventions that target persistent PLEs may contribute to a reduction in common childhood psychopathology.
Pituitary gland volume and psychosocial stress among children at elevated risk for schizophrenia
Publisher: Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Date: 20-07-2015
DOI: 10.1017/S0033291715001282
Abstract: Pituitary volume enlargements have been observed among in iduals with first-episode psychosis. These abnormalities are suggestive of hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis hyperactivity, which may contribute to the development of psychosis. However, the extent to which these abnormalities characterize in iduals at elevated risk for schizophrenia prior to illness onset is currently unclear, as volume increases, decreases and no volume differences have all been reported relative to controls. The current study aimed to determine whether antipsychotic-naive, putatively at-risk children who present multiple antecedents of schizophrenia (ASz) or a family history of illness (FHx) show pituitary volume abnormalities relative to typically developing (TD) children. An additional aim was to explore the association between pituitary volume and experiences of psychosocial stress. ASz ( n = 30), FHx ( n = 22) and TD ( n = 32) children were identified at age 9–12 years using a novel community-screening procedure or as relatives of in iduals with schizophrenia. Measures of pituitary volume and psychosocial stress were obtained at age 11–14 years. Neither ASz nor FHx children showed differences in pituitary volume relative to TD children. Among FHx children only, pituitary volume was negatively associated with current distress relating to negative life events and exposure to physical punishment. The lack of pituitary volume abnormalities among ASz and FHx children is consistent with our previous work demonstrating that these children are not characterized by elevated diurnal cortisol levels. The findings imply that these biological markers of HPA axis hyperactivity, observed in some older s les of high-risk in iduals, may emerge later, more proximally to disease onset.
Dissociable impairments of verbal learning differentiate childhood risk profiles for schizophrenia
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 06-2022
Poster Abstracts
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 09-09-2012
Systematic meta-review and quality assessment of the structural brain alterations in schizophrenia
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 04-2012
DOI: 10.1016/J.NEUBIOREV.2011.12.015
Abstract: The large quantity of systematic reviews of magnetic resonance imaging studies in schizophrenia challenges their meaningful interpretation. This meta-review synthesises the available information from systematic reviews of structural alteration in both chronic and first-episode schizophrenia. Systematic reviews were identified using electronic databases. Review methodological quality was assessed according to the Assessment of Multiple Systematic Reviews checklist. Data were extracted in duplicate and quality assessed for consistency and precision, guided by Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation recommendations. Integration of volumetric and voxel-based estimates allowed critical assessment of the magnitude and location of anatomical differences. There is evidence for grey matter reductions of anterior cingulate, frontal (particularly medial and inferior) and temporal lobes, hippoc us/amygdala, thalamus, and insula that may be magnified over time. Other regional alterations appear specific to illness stage or medication status. There is limited high quality evidence supporting grey or white matter changes in schizophrenia, which has previously been obscured by a large volume of conflicting lower quality evidence.
Poster Presentation
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 09-2004
Mental disorders in children known to child protection services during early childhood
Publisher: AMPCo
Date: 03-11-2020
DOI: 10.5694/MJA2.50392
Abstract: To examine associations between being the subject of child protection reports in early childhood and diagnoses of mental disorders during middle childhood, by level of service response. Retrospective analysis of linked New South Wales administrative data, 2001-2016, for a population cohort of children (mean age in 2016, 13.2 years SD, 0.37 years) enrolled in the longitudinal NSW Child Development Study (NSW-CDS), wave 2 linkage. Associations between being the subject of a child protection report (any, and by level of child protection response) during early childhood (birth to 6 years of age) and diagnoses of mental disorders during middle childhood (6-14 years). 13 796 of 74 462 children in the NSW-CDS (18.5%) had been the subjects of reports to child protection services during early childhood: 1148 children had been placed in out-of-home care at least once, and 1680 had been the subjects of substantiated risk-of-significant-harm reports but were not placed in care, while 9161 had non-substantiated reports, and 1807 had reports of facts that did not reach the threshold for significant harm. After adjusting for sex, socio-economic disadvantage, perinatal complications, and parental mental illness, early childhood contact with protection services was associated with increased frequency of being diagnosed with a mental disorder during middle childhood (adjusted odds ratio [aOR], 2.72 95% CI, 2.51-2.95). The frequency was highest for children who had been placed in out-of-home care (aOR, 5.25 95% CI, 4.46-6.18). Childhood-onset mental disorders are more frequently diagnosed in children who come to the attention of child protection services during early childhood, particularly in children placed in out-of-home care.
Parental offending and children’s emergency department presentations in New South Wales, Australia
Publisher: BMJ
Date: 31-05-2019
Abstract: Children whose parents have a history of criminal offending may be at risk of higher rates of emergency department (ED) presentation, along with other adverse health outcomes. We used data from a large, population-based record linkage project to examine the association between maternal and paternal criminal offending and the incidence of ED presentations among child offspring. Data for 72 772 children with linked parental records were drawn from the New South Wales Child Development Study. Information on parental criminal offending (spanning 1994–2016) and child ED presentations (spanning 2005–2016 approximately ages 2–12 years) was obtained from linked administrative records. Cox proportional hazards regression analyses were conducted to examine the association between parental offending and the incidence of children’s ED presentations for any reason and for physical injury, while accounting for important covariates. Child rates of ED presentation, particularly for physical injury, were higher among those with parental history of criminal offending, after adjusting for covariates. The magnitude of the association was higher for paternal criminal offending ( ED presentation for any reason : HR=1.44 (95% CI 1.41 to 1.48) physical injury : HR=1.70 (95% CI 1.65 to 1.75)) than maternal criminal offending ( any reason : HR=0.99 (95% CI 0.95 to 1.03) physical injury : HR=1.05 (95% CI 1.00 to 1.10)). Children of parents, particularly of fathers, with a history of criminal offending have an increased incidence of ED presentation, including for potentially avoidable physical injury. These findings require replication and further research to understand the mechanisms underlying these associations.
Environmental Risk Factors in Bipolar Disorder and Psychotic Depression: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Prospective Studies
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 22-01-2021
Abstract: The aim of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to study the association between specific environmental risk factors (ERF) and later development of Bipolar disorder and Psychotic depression. A systematic search of prospective studies was conducted in MEDLINE, EMBASE and PsycINFO databases, and supplemented by hand searching, according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines (registration number: CRD42018092253). Selected ERF included: pre- eri-natal factors—paternal age at birth, maternal infection, obstetric complications, perinatal stress early childhood factors—urbanicity at birth, childhood infection, childhood adversity later life factors—substance misuse, ethnic minority and migration, urbanicity later in life, stressful life events, and traumatic head injury. Pooled effect sizes of the association between these ERF and affective psychoses were calculated from systematically selected studies. When studies examining each ERF were insufficient for meta-analysis, results were presented narratively. Forty-six studies were included for quantitative analyses among selected ERF for affective psychosis, with significant association found for paternal age & years (OR 1.17, 95%CI 1.12–1.23), early (OR 1.52, 95%CI 1.07–2.17) and late (OR 1.32, 95%CI 1.05–1.67) gestational age, childhood adversity (OR 1.33, 95%CI 1.18–1.50), substance misuse (OR 2.87, 95%CI 1.63–5.50), and being from an ethnic minority (OR 1.99, 95%CI 1.39–2.84). These results suggest some shared environmental load between non-affective and affective psychosis, implying generalized risks for psychosis rather than for specific diagnostic categories. Nonetheless, published studies for some ERF in the affective psychoses are scarce, and further longitudinal studies are needed.
Timing of the first report and highest level of child protection response in association with early developmental vulnerabilities in an Australian population cohort
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 07-2019
DOI: 10.1016/J.CHIABU.2019.04.007
Abstract: Childhood maltreatment is associated with early childhood developmental vulnerabilities. However, the extent to which higher levels of child protection responses confer benefit to developmental competencies, and the impact of earlier timing of first reports in relation to early childhood vulnerability remains unclear. We examined associations between early developmental vulnerabilities and (1) the highest level of child protection response (where OOHC was deemed the highest response among other types of reports/responses), and (2) the developmental timing of the first child protection report. Participants included 67,027 children from the New South Wales Child Development Study, of whom 10,944 were reported to child protection services up to age 5 years. A series of Multinomial Logistic Regressions were conducted to examine focal associations. Children with substantiated maltreatment reports showed the strongest odds of vulnerability on three or more developmental domains (adjusted OR = 4.90 95% CI = 4.13-5.80) children placed in OOHC showed slightly better physical, cognitive and communication competencies (adjusted ORs from 1.83 to 2.65) than those with substantiated reports that did not result in OOHC placements (adjusted OR from 2.77 to 3.67), when each group was compared to children with no child protection reports. Children with first maltreatment reports occurring in the first 18 months of life showed the strongest likelihood of developmental vulnerabilities on three or more developmental domains (adjusted OR = 3.56 95% CI = 3.15-4.01) relative to children with no child protection reports. Earlier reports of maltreatment may signal the need for targeted remediation of early developmental competencies to mitigate early developmental difficulties.
Neurophysiologic Approaches to Study Memory Function in Schizophrenia: ERP and MRI Findings
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 09-2003
Chronic Physical Health Conditions, Mental Health, and Sources of Support in a Longitudinal Australian Child Population Cohort
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 26-06-2019
Abstract: This study examined associations between chronic physical health conditions (identified from hospital records) that are subject to school health care plans, and children’s emotional, behavioral, and social functioning during early (∼5 years of age) and middle childhood (∼11 years). Participants were 21,304 Australian children from a representative longitudinal population cohort derived by multi-agency record linkage. Hospital presentations (admitted patients and emergency department) identified children with asthma (n = 1,573), allergies and anaphylaxis (n = 738), type 1 diabetes (n = 59), epilepsy (n = 87), and any of these conditions (n = 2,275), relative to 19,029 children without these presentations. Logistic regression analyses determined associations between these exposures and (i) emotional, behavioral, social, and overall vulnerabilities reported by teachers (early childhood) and children (middle childhood), and (ii) self-reported lack of sources of support (middle childhood). Prevalence of any condition in hospital records was 7.5% by early childhood, and 10.7% by middle childhood. Relative to peers without these presentations, small increases in risk of overall problems, and selected emotional, behavioral, and social problems, were apparent for children with any condition, and asthma specifically, in early and middle childhood. Large and pervasive effects were apparent for epilepsy, limited small effects in middle childhood only for allergies and anaphylaxis, and no increases in risk associated with type 1 diabetes examined in middle childhood. No condition was associated with increased risk of lacking supports. Children with hospital records of chronic conditions, particularly epilepsy and asthma, might benefit from school-based care plans that integrate their physical and mental health support needs.
Psychopathy and semantic processing: An examination of the N400
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 2006
The impact of parental offending on offspring aggression in early childhood: a population-based record linkage study
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 15-02-2017
DOI: 10.1007/S00127-017-1347-3
Abstract: To examine the impact of parental criminal offending, both paternal and maternal, on offspring aggression at age 5 years, while also considering key risk factors, including parental mental illness, child's sex, and socioeconomic disadvantage. The s le comprised 69,116 children, with linked parental information, from the New South Wales Child Development Study, a population-based multi-agency, multi-generational record linkage study that combines information from a teacher-reported cross-sectional survey of early childhood development at age 5 years (the 2009 Australian Early Development Census AEDC) with data obtained via administrative records from multiple sources (e.g., health, crime, education, and welfare). Hierarchical logistic regression analyses were conducted to determine the effects of maternal and paternal criminal court appearances (frequency and type of offending), and mental health service contacts, on offspring aggression measured in the AEDC. Having a parent with a history of offending was significantly associated with high levels of offspring aggression in early childhood. The strength of association was greatest when parents were involved in frequent (≥6 offences: adjusted odds ratio [aOR] range = 1.55-1.73) and violent (aOR range = 1.49-1.63) offending. Both maternal and paternal offending remained significant predictors of offspring aggression after accounting for parental mental illness, and associations were similar in magnitude for maternal and paternal offending histories. Parental history of severe criminal offending increased the risk of high levels of aggression in offspring during early childhood, highlighting the need for intervention with families during this key developmental period.
Item Response Theory Analysis of the Big Five Questionnaire for Children–Short Form (BFC-SF): A Self-Report Measure of Personality in Children Aged 11–12 Years
Publisher: Guilford Publications
Date: 02-2020
Abstract: Prior investigations indicate that the five core personality dimensions (the “Big Five”) are measurable by middle childhood. The aim of this research was to examine the psychometric properties of a short-form self-report measure of the Big Five personality dimensions in children that would be suitable for administration online in large population-based studies. Twenty-five questionnaire items in English, derived from the 65-item Big Five Questionnaire for Children in Italian (Barbaranelli, Caprara, Rabasca, & Pastorelli, 2003), were completed online by 27,415 Australian children in Year 6 (mean age 11.92 years). An item response theory approach evaluated the psychometric properties and resolved a 20-item short-form questionnaire. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses supported the Big Five structure. Construct validity was demonstrated via correlations between Big Five scores and the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire subscales (Goodman, 2001). The 20 items provide a brief, reliable, and valid child self-report measure of the Big Five personality dimensions.
Prevention and Early Intervention for Anxiety disorders: A controlled trial
Publisher: American Psychological Association (APA)
Date: 1997
School-Based Mental Health Promotion and Early Intervention Programs in New South Wales, Australia: Mapping Practice to Policy and Evidence
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 02-12-2022
DOI: 10.1007/S12310-021-09482-2
Abstract: Limited empirical evidence is available regarding the uptake and effectiveness of school-based mental health and wellbeing programs implemented in Australian schools. This study aimed to characterise the delivery of programs in primary (elementary) schools across New South Wales, Australia, and to assess this information against published ratings of program effectiveness. Delivery of programs in four health-promoting domains—creating a positive school community teaching social and emotional skills engaging the parent community and supporting students experiencing mental health difficulties—were reported by 597 school principals/leaders via online survey. Although three quarters of principals reported implementing at least one program, many of these programs were supported by little or no evidence of effectiveness. There was also variability in the use of evidence-based programs across the four domains. Findings indicate a need to provide educators with improved support to identify, implement, and evaluate effective evidenced-based programs that promote student mental health.
The hemodynamics of oddball processing during single-tone and two-tone target detection tasks
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 06-2006
Influence of stigma, sociodemographic and clinical characteristics on mental health-related service use and associated costs among young people in the United Kingdom
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 27-01-2022
DOI: 10.1007/S00787-022-01947-2
Abstract: This study examined the influence of stigma, psychopathology, and sociodemographic characteristics on mental health-related service use and costs related to service use in a cohort of young people in the UK. Using data from a community s le of young people aged 9–17 years and their caregivers, we assessed 407 young people’s use of services due to mental health problems, young people’s psychopathology, demographic characteristics, maternal education and caregivers’ stigma-related beliefs. Unit costs related to services were gathered from national annual compendia and other widely used sources. We assessed predictors of service use through logistic regression analysis and developed generalised linear models to identify factors associated with costs of mental health-related service utilisation. Persistent psychopathology, socioeconomic disadvantage, and low caregiver intended stigma-related behaviour were associated with increased likelihood of service use among young people. Older age and socioeconomic disadvantage were associated with increased costs. Different factors influenced contact with services and the cost associated with their use — persistent psychopathology and socioeconomic disadvantage increased, and caregivers’ intended stigma-related behaviour decreased the likelihood of using services, whereas socioeconomic disadvantage and older age were associated with increased costs. Social determinants of mental health problems play an important role in the use and costs of different types of mental health-related services for young people. Discordance between drivers of service use and costs implies that young people who are more likely to access services due to mental health problems do not necessarily receive care at the intensity they need.
T15. LONGITUDINAL ASSOCIATIONS BETWEEN CHILDHOOD SALIVARY CORTISOL LEVELS AND PRODROMAL SYMPTOMS IN LATE ADOLESCENCE: FINDINGS FROM A HIGH-RISK COHORT
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 04-2018
The relationship between salivary C-reactive protein and cognitive function in children aged 11–14 years: Does psychopathology have a moderating effect?
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 11-2017
Increased likelihood of distressing and functionally impairing psychotic-like experiences among children with co-occurring internalising and externalising problems
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 02-2023
Psychometric Comparability of Self-Report by Children Aged 9–10 versus 11 Years on the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ)
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 18-02-2019
Abstracts for the 15th International Congress on Schizophrenia Research (ICOSR), March 28-April 1, 2015, Colorado Springs, Colorado
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 03-2015
Mental health-related stigma and pathways to care for people at risk of psychotic disorders or experiencing first-episode psychosis: a systematic review
Publisher: Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Date: 15-02-2017
DOI: 10.1017/S0033291717000344
Abstract: Stigma associated with mental illness can delay or prevent help-seeking and service contact. Stigma-related influences on pathways to care in the early stages of psychotic disorders have not been systematically examined. This review systematically assessed findings from qualitative, quantitative and mixed-methods research studies on the relationship between stigma and pathways to care (i.e. processes associated with help-seeking and health service contact) among people experiencing first-episode psychosis or at clinically defined increased risk of developing psychotic disorder. Forty studies were identified through searches of electronic databases (CINAHL, EMBASE, Medline, PsycINFO, Sociological Abstracts) from 1996 to 2016, supplemented by reference searches and expert consultations. Data synthesis involved thematic analysis of qualitative findings, narrative synthesis of quantitative findings, and a meta-synthesis combining these results. The meta-synthesis identified six themes in relation to stigma on pathways to care among the target population: ‘sense of difference’, ‘characterizing difference negatively’, ‘negative reactions (anticipated and experienced)’, ‘strategies’, ‘lack of knowledge and understanding’, and ‘service-related factors’. This synthesis constitutes a comprehensive overview of the current evidence regarding stigma and pathways to care at early stages of psychotic disorders, and illustrates the complex manner in which stigma-related processes can influence help-seeking and service contact among first-episode psychosis and at-risk groups. Our findings can serve as a foundation for future research in the area, and inform early intervention efforts and approaches to mitigate stigma-related concerns that currently influence recognition of early difficulties and contribute to delayed help-seeking and access to care.
Community screening for psychotic-like experiences and other putative antecedents of schizophrenia in children aged 9–12 years
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 02-2007
DOI: 10.1016/J.SCHRES.2006.11.006
Abstract: Prospective longitudinal investigations are needed to identify causal processes leading to schizophrenia. However, there is presently no cost-effective way to identify children who are at risk of developing schizophrenia spectrum disorders: Although having a family history of schizophrenia is associated with elevated risk for developing spectrum disorders, the majority of in iduals with schizophrenia do not have an afflicted relative. The present study aimed to test the feasibility of screening a community s le of children, aged 9 to 12 years, to identify children who experienced a triad of putative antecedents of schizophrenia that had been identified from previous research, including: (1) speech and/or motor development lags or problems (2) social, emotional, or behavioural problems and (3) psychotic-like-experiences (PLEs). 548 children and 264 caregivers completed questionnaires. 9.2% of boys and 4.1% of girls displayed the triad of antecedents. 58.9% of the children reported "certain experience" of one or more PLEs. The results suggest that questionnaire screening of community s les of children for the putative antecedents of schizophrenia spectrum disorders is feasible. Accuracy of identification will only be established by follow-up studies.
Polydrug use in Australian 12-14 year olds from 2006 to 2017: an examination of drug use profiles, emotional control problems, and family relationship characteristics
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 19-02-2023
Connection to the natural environment and well-being in middle childhood
Publisher: Mary Ann Liebert Inc
Date: 12-2018
Child protection status and developmental outcomes in early and middle childhood: A data summary from the NSW Child Development Study
Publisher: UNSWorks, UNSW
Date: 2021
DOI: 10.26190/8HV3-S740
Euthanasia: the role of the psychiatrist
Publisher: Royal College of Psychiatrists
Date: 05-2006
DOI: 10.1192/BJP.BP.105.010256
Abstract: Belgium has become one of the few countries in the world where euthanasia is legally allowed within a specific juridical framework. Even more unique is the inclusion of grounds for requesting euthanasia on the basis of mental suffering. Further refinement of the legal, medical and psychiatric approach to the issue is required in order to clear up essential practical and ethical matters. Psychiatrists and their professional organisations need to play a greater role in this ongoing debate and contribute from a clinical, scientific and ethical point of view.
Overrepresentation of Indigenous students in school suspension, exclusion, and enrolment cancellation in Queensland
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 03-01-2023
DOI: 10.1007/S13384-021-00504-1
Abstract: Well-established evidence of the ill-effects of exclusionary school discipline, its disproportionate use on students of colour, and association with the “school-to-prison pipeline” has, in the last decade, led to systemic reforms in the United States, which are successfully reducing exclusion and improving outcomes. Few studies, however, have similarly investigated overrepresentation in Australia, with little attention to systemic reform as a result. In this study, we analysed suspension, exclusion, and enrolment cancellation rates in Queensland (QLD) government schools between 2013 and 2019 and found Indigenous students were consistently overrepresented. Suspension incidents proportionate to enrolments increased for all students, but this increase was faster for Indigenous than non-Indigenous students and driven primarily by steep rises in short suspensions during primary school (Preparatory-6). Exclusions increased—again disproportionately—for Indigenous students, chiefly in secondary school (7–12). During 2019, Physical Misconduct had the highest incident rate for both groups however, Indigenous students were most overrepresented in suspensions for Disruptive/Disengaged behaviours. Further, while Indigenous students were overrepresented in all QLD regions, one region’s Indigenous suspension rate was higher than all others despite no difference in the distribution of Indigenous/non-Indigenous enrolments across regions. The scale and nature of Indigenous overrepresentation in exclusionary discipline incidents in QLD indicate clear need for further research to secure political commitment to systemic inclusive school reform, as well as to produce high-quality evidence capable of guiding that reform.
Adolescent trajectories of fine motor and coordination skills and risk for schizophrenia
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 2020
DOI: 10.1016/J.SCHRES.2019.10.018
Abstract: Premorbid motor dysfunction is one of the earliest of developmental antecedents identified among in iduals who develop schizophrenia in adulthood. However, among in iduals with schizophrenia, premorbid motor dysfunction is not apparent at all stages of childhood development and may reduce with increasing age. Currently, little is known about the trajectories of motor development during adolescence among youth at-risk for the disorder. One hundred and one participants were assessed repeatedly, at approximately 24-month intervals (time 1, aged 9-12 years time 2, 11-14 years and time 3, 13-16 years), on the Purdue Pegboard assessment, comprising four subtests: Dominant Hand (DH), Non-Dominant Hand (NDH), Both Hands (BH), and Assembly. Fine motor and coordination skills development between ages 9-16 years was compared between youth characterised by a triad of developmental antecedents of schizophrenia (ASz, N = 32) youth with at least one affected relative with schizophrenia/schizoaffective disorder (FHx N = 26) and typically developing youth without antecedents or family history (TD, N = 43). Longitudinal mixed models for repeated measures indicated significant motor skills improvements with age in TD youth on the Assembly subtest only. Relative to TD youth, we found evidence for developmental deficits (i.e., dysfunction that emerged early and remained stable) among ASz youth on DH and BH subtests, and among FHx youth on the Assembly subtest. ASz youth were characterised by a developmental delay on the Assembly subtest (i.e., initial performance decrement in middle childhood that caught up with peers' performance during adolescence). These ergences from normative motor development may reflect differences in structural and functional neural correlates.
5:45 PM SALIENCE MATTERS: BRAIN POTENTIALS DISTINGUISH PREMORBID ATTENTION PROBLEMS AMONG CHILDREN AT-RISK FOR SCHIZOPHRENIA
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 04-2014
Early intervention and prevention of anxiety disorders in children: Results at 2-year follow-up
Publisher: American Psychological Association (APA)
Date: 1999
Academic resilience from school entry to third grade: Child, parenting, and school factors associated with closing competency gaps
Publisher: Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Date: 30-11-2022
DOI: 10.1371/JOURNAL.PONE.0277551
Abstract: There is substantial evidence confirming that children who begin school with strong developmental skills tend to maintain positive academic trajectories across the elementary school years. Much less is known about children who begin school with poorer developmental competencies yet go on to achieve academically on par with, or above, their initially more competent peers, demonstrating academic resilience. This study used a large population dataset, the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (n = 2,118) to identify children who demonstrated academic resilience between school entry and third grade, and the child, parenting, and school characteristics associated with this resilience. Findings show that two in five children who were initially identified as academically vulnerable on a school entry measure of language and cognitive skills were classified as academically resilient by Grade 3. In multivariate analysis, higher attentional regulation and receptive vocabulary skills were key factors associated with academic resilience in reading and numeracy, along with paternal consistency (for reading resilience) and fewer sleep problems (for numeracy resilience). Bivariate relations (ANOVAs) showed that resilient children, when compared to children who remained vulnerable, also showed fewer peer problems, fewer behavioral sleep problems, higher levels of parenting consistency and lower levels of parenting anger by mothers and fathers, higher levels of parental engagement in children’s school, and higher levels of teacher self-efficacy. Supporting resilient pathways for children who are identified as vulnerable at school entry should include a particular focus on vocabulary development and attentional regulation, along with social skills and peer relationships, school-based parental engagement, and positive parenting support.
Amygdala Hypoactivity to Fearful Faces in Boys With Conduct Problems and Callous-Unemotional Traits
Publisher: American Psychiatric Association Publishing
Date: 2009
DOI: 10.1176/APPI.AJP.2008.07071050
Abstract: Although early-onset conduct problems predict both psychiatric and health problems in adult life, little research has been done to index neural correlates of conduct problems. Emerging research suggests that a subgroup of children with conduct problems and elevated levels of callous-unemotional traits may be genetically vulnerable to manifesting disturbances in neural reactivity to emotional stimuli indexing distress. Using functional MRI, the authors evaluated differences in neural response to emotional stimuli between boys with conduct problems and elevated levels of callous-unemotional traits and comparison boys. Seventeen boys with conduct problems and elevated levels of callous-unemotional traits and 13 comparison boys of equivalent age (mean=11 years) and IQ (mean=100) viewed blocked presentations of fearful and neutral faces. For each face, participants distinguished the sex of the face via manual response. Relative to the comparison group, boys with conduct problems and elevated levels of callous-unemotional traits manifested lesser right amygdala activity to fearful faces. This finding is in line with data from studies of adults with antisocial behavior and callous-unemotional traits (i.e., psychopaths), as well as from a recent study of adolescents with callous-unemotional traits, and suggests that the neural substrates of emotional impairment associated with callous-unemotional antisocial behavior are already present in childhood.
Reading and numeracy attainment of children reported to child protection services: A population record linkage study controlling for other adversities
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 03-2020
Out-of-home care characteristics associated with childhood educational underachievement, mental disorder, and police contacts in an Australian population sample
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 05-2023
Neurocognitive performance in children aged 9–12years who present putative antecedents of schizophrenia
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 08-2010
DOI: 10.1016/J.SCHRES.2010.05.034
Abstract: We previously developed a novel method of identifying children aged 9-12 years who may be at elevated risk of developing schizophrenia and the spectrum disorders because they present a triad of putative antecedents of schizophrenia (ASz). The present study aimed to determine whether ASz children also present neurocognitive deficits that are commonly observed in patients with schizophrenia. Twenty-eight ASz children and 28 typically-developing (TD) children without the antecedents of schizophrenia completed a battery of neurocognitive tests assessing seven domains of function: General intelligence, scholastic achievement, verbal memory, visual memory, working memory, executive function (EF)-verbal fluency, and EF-inhibition. Relative to TD children, the ASz group showed poorer performance on all neurocognitive tests (mean Cohen's d effect size=0.52). In linear regression analyses, group status (ASz vs. TD) significantly predicted scores on the general intelligence, verbal memory, working memory, and EF-inhibition domains (p<0.05). The severity of problems on each of the in idual antecedents comprising the antecedent triad did not relate strongly to performance on the neurocognitive domains. Children aged 9-12 years who present multiple antecedents of schizophrenia display poorer neurocognition than healthy peers on several domains showing pronounced deficits in schizophrenia, first-episode psychosis, and youth with prodromal symptoms. Longitudinal follow-up is necessary to determine the extent to which poorer neurocognitive performance is specific to those who develop schizophrenia.
Abnormal response inhibition in criminal psychopaths: Evidence from event-related fMRI
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 06-2001
A supramodal limbic‐paralimbic‐neocortical network supports goal‐directed stimulus processing
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 03-09-2004
DOI: 10.1002/HBM.20062
Child Maltreatment and Long-Term Physical and Mental Health Outcomes: An Exploration of Biopsychosocial Determinants and Implications for Prevention
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 29-09-2023
Cognitive bias and unusual experiences in childhood
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 14-11-2014
DOI: 10.1007/S00787-014-0644-6
Abstract: Cognitive therapy is recommended for children with psychotic-like, or unusual, experiences associated with distress or impairment (UEDs UK National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, 2013 [1]). Accurate models of the psychological underpinnings of childhood UEDs are required to effectively target therapies. Cognitive biases, such as the jumping to conclusions data-gathering bias (JTC), are implicated in the development and maintenance of psychosis in adults. In this study, we aimed to establish the suitability for children of a task developed to assess JTC in adults. Eighty-six participants (aged 5-14 years) were recruited from Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) and community (school) settings, and completed the probabilistic reasoning ('Beads') task, alongside measures of intellectual functioning, general psychopathology, and UEDs. Self-reported reasoning strategy was coded as 'probabilistic' or 'other'. Younger children (5-10 years) were more likely than older children (11-14 years) to JTC (OR = 2.7, 95 % CI = 1.1-6.5, p = 0.03) and to use non-probabilistic reasoning strategies (OR = 9.4, 95 % CI = 1.7-48.8, p = 0.008). Both UED presence (OR = 5.1, 95 % CI = 1.2-21.9, p = 0.03) and lower IQ (OR = 0.9, 95 % CI = 0.9-1.0, p = 0.02) were significantly and independently associated with JTC, irrespective of age and task comprehension. Findings replicate research in adults, indicating that the 'Beads' task can be reliably employed in children to assess cognitive biases. Psychological treatments for children with distressing unusual experiences might usefully incorporate reasoning interventions.
Relationships between parental mental illness and/or offending and offspring contact with the police in childhood: Findings from a longitudinal record‐linkage study
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 22-01-2023
DOI: 10.1002/CBM.2274
Abstract: Parental offending and mental illness are associated with an increased risk of criminal behaviour in offspring during adolescence and adulthood, but the impact of such problems on younger children, including children's experiences of victimisation, is less well known. To investigate the associations between parental offending and mental illness recorded prior to their offspring's age of 5 years and their offspring's contact with police as a ‘person of interest’, ‘victim’ or ‘witness’ between ages 5 and 13 years. Our s le consisted of 72,771 children and their parents drawn from the New South Wales Child Development Study, an Australian longitudinal population‐based record linkage study. Logistic regression analyses were conducted to examine associations between parental factors and offspring's police contact. Separate models examined the relationships between maternal or paternal offending and mental illness, as well as the combination among either or both parents, as the independent variables, and their child's police contact as the dependent variable. Parental offending and mental illness were each in idually associated with indices of police contact among offspring. Stronger associations were observed when both offending and mental illness were present together (in either parent, or when one parent had both exposures). Stronger associations were evident for mothers with both factors across all offspring police contact types, relative to fathers with both factors, in fully adjusted models that is, children of mothers with both factors were over four times as likely to have contact with police as a ‘person of interest’ (OR = 4.29 95% CI = 3.75–4.92) and over three times as likely to have contact as a victim (OR = 3.35 95% CI = 3.01–3.74) or witness (OR = 3.58 95% CI = 3.03–4.24), than children whose mothers had no history of offending or mental illness. Children with a parental history of offending and mental illness in early life are at an increased likelihood of early police contact as young as 5–13 years of age it is vital that this is taken as a signal to help them and their affected families according to need.
Childhood Maltreatment and Early Developmental Vulnerabilities at Age 5 Years
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 14-08-2018
DOI: 10.1111/CDEV.12928
Abstract: This study examined associations between maltreatment and early developmental vulnerabilities in a population s le of 68,459 children (M
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for Unusual Experiences in Children: A Case Series
Publisher: Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Date: 05-07-2012
DOI: 10.1017/S1352465812000343
Abstract: Background: Over half of children in the general population report unusual or “psychotic-like” experiences (PLEs). The development of a later at-risk mental state is associated with persistent, distressing, PLEs, which are appraised negatively and hard to cope with. We have designed a novel, manualized, cognitive behavioural intervention for children aged 9 to 14 years, which aims to reduce emotional problems, improve coping and resilience, and help children manage PLEs, before an identifiable psychosis risk develops. We report on the feasibility, acceptability and clinical impact of the intervention. Method: Four children who reported PLEs and emotional problems in a community survey completed the intervention, and gave detailed feedback. Clinical outcomes were assessed before, during, and after therapy. Results: Emotional problems, PLE frequency, and PLE impact all decreased during the intervention. Child and therapist satisfaction with the treatment was high. Conclusions: It is feasible, acceptable and helpful to offer psychological interventions to children who report emotional distress and PLEs, prior to the emergence of clear risk factors. Our intervention has the potential to increase resilience to the development of future mental health problems. A larger, randomized controlled evaluation is underway.
Related Organisations
King's College London; Institute Of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience
Location: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Related Funding Activities
The NSW Child Development Study
Start Date: 2011
End Date: 2014
Funder: Australian Research Council
View Funded ActivityThe Role Of Social-emotional Learning In Attaining Literacy And Numeracy
Start Date: 2017
End Date: 2020
Funder: Australian Research Council
View Funded ActivityEpistatic Genetic Effects On Neuroanatomical Subtypes Of Schizophrenia
Start Date: 2013
End Date: 2015
Funder: National Health and Medical Research Council
View Funded ActivityTargeting Early Contact With The Criminal Justice System In Young People
Start Date: 2017
End Date: 2019
Funder: Australian Research Council
View Funded ActivityAn MRI Study Of Emotional Processing Deficits In Childhood
Start Date: 2013
End Date: 2016
Funder: National Health and Medical Research Council
View Funded ActivityIdentifying New Targets For Primary School Mental Health Interventions Using Population Data
Start Date: 2014
End Date: 2017
Funder: National Health and Medical Research Council
View Funded ActivityDetermining Developmental Trajectories Of Children At Risk For Schizophrenia: Identifying Targets And Developing Strategies For Prevention
Start Date: 2008
End Date: 2013
Funder: NIHR Trainees Coordinating Centre
View Funded ActivityDevelopmental Schizotypy In The General Population: Early Risk Factors And Predictive Utility.
Start Date: 2018
End Date: 2022
Funder: National Health and Medical Research Council
View Funded ActivityAchieving Better Mental Health For Maltreated Children: Translating Population Data Into Policy
Start Date: 2018
End Date: 2020
Funder: National Health and Medical Research Council
View Funded ActivityARC Future Fellowships - Grant ID: FT170100294
Start Date: 2018
End Date: 12-2022
Amount: $865,900.00
Funder: Australian Research Council
View Funded ActivityLinkage Projects - Grant ID: LP110100150
Start Date: 06-2011
End Date: 06-2017
Amount: $429,099.00
Funder: Australian Research Council
View Funded Activity