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Are changes in ADHD diagnosis across development reflected in differences in IQ from childhood to young adulthood? A longitudinal genetically-sensitive cohort study
Jessica C. Agnew-Blais, 2019
Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is associated with poorer cognitive functioning. We used a developmental, genetically-sensitive approach to examine intelligence quotient (IQ) from early childhood to young adulthood among those with different ADHD courses to investigate whether changes in ADHD were reflected in differences in IQ. We also examined executive functioning in childhood and young adulthood among different ADHD courses.
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Adolescent Victimization and Self-Injurious Thoughts and Behaviours: A Genetically Sensitive Cohort Study
Jessie R. Baldwin, 2019
Victimized adolescents have an increased risk of self-injurious thoughts and behaviours. However, poor understanding of causal and noncausal mechanisms underlying this observed risk limits the development of interventions to prevent premature death in adolescents. This study tested whether pre-existing family-wide and individual vulnerabilities account for victimized adolescents’ increased risk of self-injurious thoughts and behaviours.
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Genetics and the geography of health, behaviour and attainment
Daniel W. Belsky, 2019
Young people’s life chances can be predicted by characteristics of their neighbourhood. Children growing up in disadvantaged neighbourhoods exhibit worse physical and mental health and suffer poorer educational and economic outcomes than children growing up in advantaged neighbourhoods. Increasing recognition that aspects of social inequalities tend, in fact, to be geographical inequalities 2–5 is stimulating research and focusing policy interest on the role of place in shaping health, behaviour and social outcomes.
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A risk score to predict adult Attention-deficit/Hyperactivity disorder: generation and external validation in three birth cohorts and one clinical sample
Arthur Caye, 2019
Few personalised medicine investigations have been conducted for mental health. In this study, we aimed to generate and validate a risk tool that predicts adult attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
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Maternal depression in the intergenerational transmission of childhood maltreatment and its sequelae: Testing postpartum effects in a longitudinal birth cohort
Karmel W. Choi, 2019
Mothers who have experienced childhood maltreatment are more likely to have children also exposed to maltreatment, a phenomenon known as intergenerational transmission. Factors in the perinatal period may contribute uniquely to this transmission, but timing effects have not been ascertained. We tested the mediating role of postpartum depression between maternal childhood maltreatment and a cascade of negative child outcomes, specifically child exposure to maltreatment, internalizing symptoms, and externalizing symptoms.
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Using discordant twin methods to investigate an environmentally mediated pathway between social support and the reduced likelihood of adolescent psychotic experiences
Eloise Crush, 2019
Social support has been shown to be associated with a reduced likelihood of developing psychotic experiences in the general population and even amongst those at high risk due to exposure to multiple forms of victimisation (poly-victimised). However, it is unclear whether this association is merely due to the confounding effects of shared environmental and genetic influences, or reverse causality. This study investigates whether social support has a unique environmentally mediated effect on adolescent psychotic experiences after accounting for familial factors, including genetic factors, and also prior psychopathology.
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Development of an individualised risk calculator for poor functioning in young people victimised during childhood: A longitudinal cohort study
Rachel M. Latham, 2019
Childhood victimization elevates the average risk of developing functional impairment in adulthood. However, not all victimized children demonstrate poor outcomes. Although research has described factors that confer vulnerability or resilience, it is unknown if this knowledge can be translated to accurately identify the most vulnerable victimized children. Here we build and internally validate a risk calculator to identify those victimized children who are most at risk of functional impairment at age 18 years.
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The epidemiology of trauma and post-traumatic stress disorder in a representative cohort of young people in England and Wales
Stephanie J. Lewis, 2019
Despite the emphasis placed on childhood trauma in psychiatry, comparatively little is known about the epidemiology of trauma and trauma-related psychopathology in young people. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the prevalence, clinical features, and risk factors associated with trauma exposure and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in adolescents.
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Loneliness and Neighbourhood Characteristics: A Multi-Informant, Nationally Representative Study of Young Adults
Timothy Matthews, 2019
In this study, we investigated associations between the characteristics of the neighbourhoods in which young adults live and their feelings of loneliness, using data from different sources. Loneliness was measured via self-reports at ages 12 and 18 years and also by interviewer ratings at age 18. Neighbourhood characteristics were assessed between the ages of 12 and 18 via government data, systematic social observations, a resident survey, and participants’ self-reports.
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Association of Air Pollution Exposure With Psychotic Experiences During Adolescence
Joanne B. Newbury, 2019
Urbanicity is a well-established risk factor for clinical (eg, schizophrenia) and subclinical (eg, hearing voices and paranoia) expressions of psychosis. To our knowledge, no studies have examined the association of air pollution with adolescent psychotic experiences, despite air pollution being a major environmental problem in cities. Here we examine the association to test whether exposure mediates the association between urban residency and adolescent psychotic experiences.
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Residential neighbourhood greenery and children's cognitive development
Aaron Reuben, 2019
Children who grow up in neighbourhoods with more green vegetation show enhanced cognitive development in specific domains over short timespans. However, it is unknown if neighbourhood greenery per se is uniquely predictive of children's overall cognitive development measured across many years. In this study, we test whether residential neighbourhood greenery uniquely predicts children's cognitive development across childhood and adolescence.
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Protective Factors for Early Psychotic Phenomena Among Children of Mothers With Psychosis
Simon Riches, 2019
Early identification of sub-clinical psychotic experiences in at-risk individuals is vital to prevent the development of psychosis, even before prodromal symptoms emerge. A widely-replicated risk factor is having a family member with psychosis. Previously, we have shown that better cognitive functioning, a stimulating family environment, and a cohesive community, are protective against psychotic experiences among children; while engaging in physical activity, social support, and a cohesive community are protective for adolescents. Here we investigate whether these factors also protect against the development of sub-clinical psychotic phenomena among children and adolescents who are at high-risk of psychosis by having a mother with psychosis.
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Adolescents Who Self-Harm and Commit Violent Crime: Testing Early-Life Predictors of Dual Harm in a Longitudinal Cohort Study
Leah S. Richmond-Rakerd, 2019
Self-harm is associated with violent offending. However, little is known about young people who engage in “dual-harm” behaviour. In this study, we investigate antecedents, clinical features, and life characteristics distinguishing dual-harming adolescents from those who self-harm only.
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Exploration of NO2 and PM2.5 air pollution and mental health problems using high-resolution data in London-based children from a UK longitudinal cohort study
Susanna Roberts, 2019
Air pollution is a worldwide environmental health issue. Increasingly, reports suggest that poor air quality may be associated with mental health problems, but these studies often use global measures and rarely focus on early development when psychopathology commonly emerges. To address this, we combined high-resolution air pollution exposure estimates and prospectively-collected phenotypic data to explore concurrent and longitudinal associations between air pollutants of major concern in urban areas and mental health problems in childhood and adolescence.
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Longitudinal investigation of DNA methylation changes preceding adolescent psychotic experiences
Susanna Roberts, 2019
Childhood psychotic experiences (PEs), such as seeing or hearing things that others do not, or extreme paranoia, are relatively common with around 1 in 20 children reporting them at age 12. Childhood PEs are often distressing and can be predictive of schizophrenia, other psychiatric disorders, and suicide attempts in adulthood, particularly if they persist during adolescence. Previous research has demonstrated that methylomic signatures in blood could be potential biomarkers of psychotic phenomena. This study explores the association between DNA methylation (DNAm) and the emergence, persistence, and remission of PEs in childhood and adolescence.
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Establishing a generalized polyepigenetic biomarker for tobacco smoking
Karen Sugden, 2019
Large-scale epigenome-wide association meta-analyses have identified multiple ‘signatures’ of smoking. Drawing on these findings, here we describe the construction of a polyepigenetic DNA methylation score that indexes smoking behaviour and that can be utilized for multiple purposes in population health research. and theory-guided research in epigenetic epidemiology.
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Epigenome-wide Association Study of AttentionDeficit/Hyperactivity Disorder Symptoms in Adults
Jenny van Dongen, 2019
Previous studies have reported associations between attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder symptoms and DNA methylation in children. We report the first epigenome-wide association study meta-analysis of adult attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder symptoms, based on peripheral blood DNA methylation (Infinium HumanMethylation450K array) in three population-based adult cohorts.
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Using DNA From Mothers and Children to Study Parental Investment in Children’s Educational Attainment
Jasmin Wertz, 2019
This study tested implications of new genetic discoveries for understanding the association between parental investment and children’s educational attainment. A novel design matched genetic data from 860 British mothers and their children with home-visit measures of parenting: the E-Risk Study. Three findings emerged.
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