The sleep patterns and problems of clinically anxious children

Childhood sleep problems have been associated with a range of adverse cognitive and academic outcomes, as well as increased impulsivity and emotional disorders such as anxiety and depression. The aim of the study was to examine subjective reports of sleep-related problems in children with anxiety disorders during school and weekend nights. Thirty-seven children with clinically-diagnosed anxiety disorders and 26 non-clinical children aged 7-12 years completed an on-line sleep diary to track sleep patterns across school nights and weekend nights. Anxious children reported going to bed significantly later (p = 0.03) and had significantly less sleep (p = 0.006) on school nights compared to non-anxious children. No significant differences in sleep onset latency, number of awakenings or time awake during the night, daytime sleepiness, or fatigue were found between the two groups. On the weekends, anxious children fell asleep quicker and were less awake during the night than on weeknights. School-aged anxiety disordered children showed a sleep pattern that differs from their non-anxious peers. Although the mean 30 min less sleep experienced by anxious children may initially seem small, the potential consequences on daytime performance from an accumulation of such a sleep deficit may be significant, and further investigation is warranted.     

Community vs. Clinic-Based Modular Treatment of Children with Early-Onset ODD or CD: A Clinical Trial with 3-Year Follow-Up

This study examines the treatment outcomes of 139, 6–11 year-old, clinically referred boys and girls diagnosed with Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD) or Conduct Disorder (CD) who were randomly assigned to a modular-based treatment protocol that was applied by research study clinicians either in the community (COMM) or a clinic office (CLINIC). To examine normative comparisons, a matched sample of 69 healthy control children was included. Multiple informants completed diagnostic interviews and self-reports at six assessment timepoints (pretreatment to 3-year follow-up) to evaluate changes in the child’s behavioral and emotional problems, psychopathic features, functional impairment, diagnostic status, and service involvement. Using HLM and logistic regression models, COMM and CLINIC showed significant and comparable improvements on all outcomes. By 3-year follow-up, 36% of COMM and 47% of CLINIC patients no longer met criteria for either ODD or CD, and 48% and 57% of the children in these two respective conditions had levels of parent-rated externalizing behavior problems in the normal range. We discuss the nature and implications of these novel findings regarding the role of treatment context or setting for the treatment and long-term outcome of behavior disorders. This study was supported by grants to the first author from the National Institute of Mental Health (MH 57727) and to the second author by the National Institute of Nursing Research (NR 07615). The fourth author was supported by grant K01 MH078039 from the National Institute of Mental Health. The authors acknowledge the research and clinical staff of the Resources to Enhance the Adjustment of Children (REACH) program, and Drs. David Brent, Tammy Chung, William Gardner, John Lochman, and Wayne Osgood. Reprints may be obtained from Dr. Kolko, WPIC, 3811 O’Hara St., Pittsburgh, PA 15213.     

Parent management training for reducing oppositional and aggressive behavior in preschoolers

This article provides an overview of parent management training (PMT) for preschool-age children with aggressive and oppositional behaviors. Assessment strategies and basic concepts of PMT are provided. Theoretical underpinnings and research outcomes are highlighted for some variations of PMT programs that have strong empirical support. These programs include Helping the Noncompliant Child, Parent–Child Interaction Therapy, Incredible Years Training Series, Triple P-Positive Parenting Program, and Oregon Early Intervention Foster Care.     

Social Cognition and Externalizing Psychopathology: An Investigation of the Mediating Role of Language

The present study integrates findings from three lines of research on the association of social cognition and externalizing psychopathology, language and externalizing psychopathology, and social cognition and language functioning using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). To date these associations have been examined in pairs. A sample of 354 clinic-referred children (aged 7 to14 years) recruited from a children’s mental health centre were tested on measures of language, social cognition, working memory, and child psychopathology. We compared a hypothesized model presenting language functioning as a mediator of the association between social cognition and externalizing psychopathology to a model presenting the independent contribution of language and social cognition to externalizing psychopathology. As hypothesized, we found that the mediation model fits the data better than the alternative model. Our findings have implications for developing and modifying intervention techniques for children with dual language and externalizing psychopathology. This research was supported by a grant from Health Canada (NHRDP, 6606-4835) to the third author.     

Influential observations in principal factor analysis

We propose a method for detecting influential observations in iterative principal factor analysis. For this purpose we derive the influence functionsI(x; LL ^T ) andI(x; ) for the common variance matrixT =LL ^T and the unique variance matrix , respectively, in the common factor decomposition =LL ^T + . A numerical example is given for illustration.The authors are grateful to Tomoyuki Tarumi and Atsuhiro Hayashi for their kind permission to use their software Seto/B for drawing Figures 1 and 2 and to anonymous reviewers for comments on the paper.     

受欺负与青少年外化问题关系的“健康环境悖论”：敌意性归因的中介作用

“健康环境悖论”是指在总体受欺负水平较低的环境中, 受欺负的个体会表现出更多适应问题。本研究以来自47个班级的1764名5年级到8年级学生为被试(男生956人, 平均年龄14.46岁), 考察了班级平均受欺负水平在个体受欺负经历与外化问题间的调节作用及敌意性归因的中介作用。结果发现：(1)受欺负与外化问题的关系存在“健康环境悖论”现象, 即班级平均受欺负水平能调节个体受欺负经历与外化问题的关系, 在班级平均受欺负水平较低的班级中受欺负经历与外化问题的关联更强; (2)班级平均受欺负水平对受欺负与外化问题的调节作用通过敌意性归因的中介作用实现。本研究证实了受欺负与外化问题的健康环境悖论现象, 并首次揭示了敌意性归因的中介作用机制。     

父母积极教养课程及其在中国的社会和文化适应

基于社会学习理论的父母教养课程被普遍视为预防儿童青少年行为问题以及促进儿童身心健康的“黄金标准”。父母积极教养课程（Triple P – Positive Parenting Program）是其中的主要代表。本文详尽介绍了Triple P的理论基础、干预体系、课程内容以及实证研究结果,分析了该课程存在的优势以及缺陷。此外,本文结合中国家庭的特点和需求,探讨了该课程运用于中国家庭时可能会遇到的挑战,同时提出了改良的方向,为家庭干预实践工作者和研究人员提供了新的视角。     

越轨同伴交往与青少年睡眠问题的交叉滞后分析

本研究采用交叉滞后设计探讨越轨同伴交往与青少年睡眠问题之间的双向关系。通过越轨同伴交往问卷与匹兹堡睡眠质量指数（PSQI）对广东省某地区887名青少年（43.90%男生; M = 15.55）进行为期一学年的追踪研究。在控制了性别、年龄后,结果发现:（1）学年初始的睡眠问题可以显著正向预测青少年学年末的越轨同伴交往（b2 = 0.12, SE = .05, p < .05）,即青少年在学年初始睡眠问题越多,学年末则表现出更多的越轨同伴交往;（2）研究并未发现学年初始的青少年越轨同伴交往可以显著预测其学年末的睡眠问题（b1 = –0.07, SE = .06, p > .05）。因此,本研究的结果支持了睡眠问题对青少年越轨同伴交往的单向预测作用,即睡眠问题可能是增加青少年越轨同伴交往的重要风险因素之一。     

父母婚姻质量与青少年外化问题的关系:教养方式的中介作用

本研究采用婚姻调适问卷、教养方式问卷及儿童行为量表对全国四大地理区域9个城市的2396名青少年及其父母进行测查。婚姻质量由青少年的父母自评,父母的教养方式由青少年报告,青少年的外化问题由父母分别报告,考察了父母婚姻质量与青少年外化问题之间的关系,以及教养方式在其中的中介作用。采用包含潜变量的结构方程模型和Bootstrap中介效应检验进行分析,研究发现：（1）父母婚姻质量与积极教养呈显著正相关,与严厉教养呈显著负相关。父母的婚姻质量、积极教养及严厉教养与青少年的外化问题之间呈现跨轮的显著相关。（2）父母婚姻质量能直接正向预测青少年外化问题,教养方式在父母婚姻质量和青少年外化问题中起到部分中介作用。     

共同冗思的概念、测量和理论解释

共同冗思指个体在双向关系中过度讨论个人问题的行为。共同冗思对个体产生适应权衡效应,即它不仅与积极的友谊属性有关,还与抑郁和焦虑等内化问题相关。以往研究主要分析共同冗思的性别差异、发展特点及其在不同亲密关系中的表现。结果发现共同冗思的适应权衡效应在女性群体中比在男性群体中更为突出,在青少年群体中比在儿童群体中更为突出。研究者主要从同伴传染、压力生成、共情痛苦以及生理机制等角度解释共同冗思与内化问题的关系。友谊等亲密关系中的共同冗思对个体适应的负面影响难以察觉,它可以作为个体抑郁和焦虑等内化问题的危险信号。后续研究可以从考察共同冗思的人格以及环境影响因素等角度深化对该主题的理解。