A rising global concern, adolescent aggression has been linked to adolescents' mental health conditions, and vice versa. Although longitudinal relationships between the two have been studied, within-person associations between these variables, which are important for informing interventions, have not been adequately examined. To bridge that research gap, this study examined the within-person associations between aggression (i.e., reactive, proactive, and cyber aggression) and mental health problems (i.e., depressive and anxious symptoms), as informed by the frustration-aggression theory and the failure model. Three-wave longitudinal data were collected from a sample of Chinese adolescents (N = 1422; 50.9% girls; mean age = 13.56 years) at three time points, each separated by one-year intervals. The data were analyzed using a random-intercept cross-lagged panel model (RI-CLPM), revealing several within-person relationships. The presence of symptoms of depression and anxiety at T2 predicted increased cyber aggression at T3, and depressive symptoms at T2 also predicted an increase in reactive aggression at T3 (p < 0.1). In addition, proactive aggression at T2 predicted an increase in depressive symptoms at T3 (p < 0.1), and reactive aggression at T1 predicted a reduction in symptoms of anxiety at T2. All aggression- and mental health-related variables were significantly correlated at the between-person level. Moreover, the results of the multiple-group RI-CLPMs showed that gender influenced the relationships between proactive aggression and symptoms of depression and anxiety. The study's results lend partial support to the notion of bidirectional relationships between adolescent aggressive behaviors and mental health conditions, as well as to the frustration-aggression theory and the failure model. Insights into the interactions between adolescents' mental health problems and aggression can inform prevention and intervention strategies.

Although a large body of research has found associations between aggressive behavior and non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI), evidence for the directionality, underlying mechanisms, and potential gender differences in their associations remain unclear. To address the gaps, this study investigated the bidirectional relationship between aggressive behavior and NSSI, the mediating role of peer victimization (physical and relational victimization), and gender differences in these associations among a sample of Chinese adolescents. Using a longitudinal design, a total of 1394 Chinese adolescents (Mage = 13.39, SD = 0.59, 43.3% girls) completed surveys across three waves, with intervals of nine and six months, respectively. The results revealed that within the total sample, T1 aggressive behavior positively predicted T2 physical victimization, and T2 physical victimization positively predicted T3 NSSI. T1 NSSI positively predicted T2 relational victimization, and T2 relational victimization positively predicted T3 aggressive behavior. However, the indirect effect of T1 aggressive behavior on T3 NSSI mediated by T2 physical victimization was significant only for boys. The indirect effect of T1 NSSI on T3 aggressive behavior mediated by T2 relational victimization was significant only for girls. These findings highlighted the importance of considering the gender-specific process underlying the relationship between aggressive behavior and NSSI, thus guiding the development of gender-informed prevention and intervention strategies.

Neuroticism appears to be a factor that triggers social aggression, but the relationship between neuroticism and social aggression and its underlying mechanisms is unclear. Questionnaire data from 942 college students ranging in age from 17 to 24 (Mage = 20.33, SD = 1.03) were analysed to assess whether depression symptoms mediated the relationship between neuroticism and social aggression, and to test a moderating effect of perceived social support. Results showed that neuroticism positively predicted social aggression and this association was mediated by depression symptoms. Moderation was found for the association between neuroticism and depression symptoms, as well as between neuroticism and social aggression, and that neuroticism had a stronger predictive effect on depression symptoms and social aggression under low compared to high perceived social support. These findings may inform prevention and intervention efforts to reduce social aggression.

In this multi-informant, 3-year longitudinal study, the bidirectional relations between externalizing and internalizing problems were investigated, along with whether peer victimization and academic achievement mediated their relations after separating between-person effects from within-person effects.

A sample of 3238 Chinese children (55.02% boys; Mage T1 = 9.89 years) reported semiannually on peer victimization and both externalizing and internalizing problems, and parents reported on their children's externalizing and internalizing problems. Students' objective academic achievement data (i.e. final exam scores) were obtained from school records.

Random intercepts cross-lagged panel modeling (RI-CLPM) revealed that neither academic achievement nor peer victimization mediated the relations between externalizing and internalizing problems in both self and parent reports at the within-person level. The cross-lagged panel models (CLPM) results supported that peer victimization (but not academic achievement) mediated the relations from internalizing to externalizing problems or externalizing to internalizing problems, whether self-reported or parent-reported. This study also identified meaningful sex differences in focal relations among children.

Findings illustrate the importance of distinguishing within-person and between- person associations, with within- person findings failing to support the hypothesized mediating pathways of the Dual Failure or Acting Out Models among children.

Relative to the general population, adolescents with psychiatric disorders such as major depression disorder are incarcerated (and reincarcerated) at higher rates. Current research is mixed on whether this association is a cause, consequence, or the product of selection. For example, aggression can lead to more depressive symptoms, yet depression is associated with antisocial behaviors (e.g., delinquency). To better understand the relationship between depression and delinquent behavior, we used the discordant kinship model to examine data from sibling pairs in the National Longitudinal Surveys of Youth 1979, a nationally representative study. By explicitly modeling within- and between-family variance, we reduced the influence of genetic and shared-environmental confounds on our analysis. Our results suggest that the relationship between depression and delinquency is not causal, but rather a product of selection.

The current study investigated sex differences in longitudinal associations among youth depression, conduct problems, and peer rejection from ages 11 to 16. We hypothesized that girls would follow the irritable depression model, which posits that depression leads to conduct problems, and that peer rejection would mediate this relationship. We hypothesized that boys would follow the cumulative failure model, which suggests that conduct problems predict future depression, mediated by peer rejection.

We used integrative data analysis to combine three datasets, creating an aggregate sample of 2,322 adolescents, 58.4% of an ethnic minority group, and 51.3% boys. Using random-intercept cross-lagged panel modeling with data from ages 11-16, we conducted a nested model comparison.

Results indicated that a model which allowed paths to differ by sex demonstrated better model fit than a constrained model. While depression, conduct problems, and peer rejection were relatively stable over time and had correlated random intercepts, there were few crossover paths between these domains for either sex. When the strengths of individual crossover pathways were compared based on sex, only the path from conduct problems at age 13 to depression at age 14 was significantly different, with this path being stronger for girls.

These results suggest that stable, between-person effects largely drive relationships between depression, conduct problems, and peer rejection during adolescence, whereas there are few transactional, within-person pathways between these domains. This pattern of findings demonstrates the utility of random intercept cross-lagged panel modeling for disentangling between- and within-person effects.

In schizophrenia, aggressive conduct is frequent. And depressed mood can also contribute to the occurrence of aggressive behaviors. The aim of this study was to investigate the risk factors for the occurrence of aggression in stable schizophrenia patients in rural China, mainly to investigate the role of depressed mood in the occurrence of aggression in schizophrenia patients.

This is a cross-sectional study conducted in the townships surrounding Chaohu City, Anhui Province, China. Patients' depressive mood was evaluated using the PHQ-9 (The 9-item Patient Health Questionnaire). Patients' aggressiveness was evaluated using the Modified Overt Aggression Scale (MOAS). A score of ≥4 was used as a threshold and divided into aggressive and non-aggressive groups.

This study comprised a total of 821 schizophrenia patients. Among them, the prevalence of having aggressive behavior was 18.8%. After correcting for confounders, logistic regression analysis showed that low education level (OR=0.470, 95% CI 0.254-0.870; p=0.016), living with family (OR=0.383, 95% CI 0.174-0.845; p=0.017) depressed mood (OR=1.147, 95% CI 1.112-1.184; p<0.001) was significantly associated with the risk of aggressive behavior in patients with schizophrenia. Multivariate linear regression indicated that higher levels of aggression were linked with lower levels of education and higher depressive mood.

This study suggests that aggression is more common in patients with stable schizophrenia, and lower levels of education and higher levels of depression are associated risk factors for its occurrence. Living alone may be helpful in reducing the likelihood of aggression.

The extent to which depression is associated with somatic complaints in children from the English-speaking Caribbean and Latin America is not well established.

We sought to explore the association between depressive and somatic symptoms among children from the English-speaking Caribbean and Latin America, while accounting for age, sex, socioeconomic status, cultural background, and anxiety score.

1541 elementary school children, ages 9-12 years, from the English-speaking Caribbean and Latin America completed the Adolescent Depression Rating Scale (ARDS), the Numeric 0-10 Anxiety Self-Report Scale and the Children's Somatic Symptom Inventory-24 (CSSI-24). T-tests and ANOVA's were used to compare CSSI-24 and ARDS scores among countries, and the CSSI-24 scores of children with (ARDS ≥ 4) and without likely clinically significant depression. Regression analyses assessed possible predictors of CSSI-24 score.

Depressive and somatic symptom scores were highest among the Jamaican children and lowest among the Colombian children (p < .001). Children with likely clinically significant depression exhibited higher mean somatic symptom scores (p < .001). Depressive symptom scores predicted somatic symptom scores (p < .001).

Depressive symptoms were a strong predictor of reporting somatic symptoms. Knowledge of this association may facilitate better recognition of depression among youth.

Although the associations between adolescent psychological distress (i.e., depression, anxiety, and somatization), school violence, and cyberbullying have been examined using cross-sectional data, little evidence from longitudinal panel data exists to determine the temporal association. A two-wave longitudinal panel data with a 10-month interval were obtained from a random sample of 487 Chinese junior high school students (grades 7-9) in Tianjin in Mainland China. The cross-lagged panel analysis showed that adolescent psychological distress in the first wave of the survey was significantly associated with subsequent school violence against peers and teachers in the second wave but not in the opposite direction. Student psychological distress in the first wave of the survey was not significantly associated with cyberbullying perpetration in the second wave and vice versa. The findings suggested that adolescent psychological distress was a risk factor rather than the consequence of violence against peers and teachers in school. However, the temporal associations between adolescent psychological distress and cyberbullying perpetration were non-significant. These findings were relevant to both sex groups. The findings may imply that potential interventions and policies to prevent students from committing school violence should consider reducing students' psychological distress as one of the core elements.

Elevated aggression in individuals with psychiatric disorders is frequently reported yet aggressive acts among people with mental illness are often intertwined with proneness to aggression and other risk factors. Evidence has suggested that both general psychopathology and proneness to aggression may share common psychological characteristics. This study aims to investigate the complex relationship between general psychopathology, proneness to aggression, and their contributing factors in community youth. Here, we first examined the association between proneness to aggression and the level of general psychopathology in 2184 community youths (male: 41.2%). To identify common characteristics, we trained machine learning models using LASSO based on 230 features covering sociodemographic, cognitive functions, lifestyle, well-being, and psychological characteristics to predict levels of general psychopathology and proneness to aggression. A subsequent Gaussian Graph Model (GGM) was fitted to understand the relationships between the general psychopathology, proneness to aggression, and selected features. We showed that proneness to aggression was associated with a higher level of general psychopathology (discovery: r = 0.56, 95% CI: [0.52-0.59]; holdout: r = 0.60, 95% CI: [0.54-0.65]). The LASSO model trained on the discovery dataset for general psychopathology was able to predict proneness to aggression in the holdout dataset with a moderate correlation coefficient of 0.606. Similarly, the model trained on the proneness to aggression in the discovery dataset was able to predict general psychopathology in the holdout dataset with a correlation coefficient of 0.717. These results suggest that there is substantial shared information between the two outcomes. The GGM model revealed that isolation and impulsivity factors were directly associated with both general psychopathology and proneness to aggression. These results revealed shared psychological characteristics of general psychopathology and proneness to aggression in a community sample of youths.

It is well known that depression and delinquency in adolescents are highly correlated, but longitudinal studies on the causal relationship between them are not active in East Asia compared to in Western culture. In addition, even the results of research on causal models and sex differences are inconsistent.

This study examines the longitudinal reciprocal effects between depression and delinquent behavior in Korean adolescents based on sex differences.

We conducted multiple-group analysis by using an autoregressive cross-lagged model (ACLM). Longitudinal data from 2,075 individuals (2011-2013) were used for analysis. The longitudinal data are from the Korean Children and Youth Panel Survey (KCYPS), and data were used beginning with students at 14 years old (in the second grade of middle school) and tracked them until they were 16 (in the first grade of high school).

Boys' delinquent behaviors at 15 years (the third grade of middle school) affected their depression at 16 years (the first grade of high school). In contrast, girls' depression at 15 years (the third grade of middle school) influenced their delinquent behaviors at 16 years (the first grade of high school).

The findings support the failure model (FM) among adolescent boys and the acting-out model (ACM) among girls. The results imply that strategies to effectively prevent and treat delinquency and depression in adolescents must consider sex effects.

Depression, social anxiety, and aggression often co-occur in adolescents. Several theoretical models have been proposed to explain the temporal relationships of these symptoms, with relevant empirical evidence mixed. The role of environmental factors should be taken into consideration.

To examine the temporal relationship between depression, social anxiety, and aggression in adolescents, and to extend previous work by exploring the moderating effects of family functioning.

A total of 1947 Chinese adolescents completed the survey questionnaires at two time points: family functioning at baseline, and depression, social anxiety, and aggression at baseline and 6-month follow-up. Data was analyzed using a cross-lagged model.

Bidirectional positive association was found between depression and aggression. However, although social anxiety predicted subsequent depression and aggression, the opposite relationship was not found. Moreover, favorable family functioning alleviated depression and moderated the prediction of social anxiety to depression.

Findings suggested that clinicians should pay attention to the underlying depressive symptoms of adolescents with aggressive behaviors, and to the level of aggression of adolescents with depression. Interventions on social anxiety may prevent the transformation of social anxiety to depression and aggression. Adaptive family functioning may act as a protective factor for the comorbid depression in adolescents with social anxiety, which can be targeted by relevant interventions.

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) have been linked to a host of negative health and behavioral outcomes, including crime, delinquency, and violence. Recent work on ACEs suggests that the impact of ACEs differs by gender, but research is unclear on the mechanisms of this relationship and how they impact violent delinquency. To explore whether and how the impact of ACEs on violent delinquency varies by gender, this study draws on Broidy and Agnew's gendered expansion of general strain theory (GST), which proposes that a key explanation for the gendered impact of strain on crime lies in gender differences in the negative emotional states that mediate the relationship. Using longitudinal data on a sample of 979 at-risk youth (558 girls and 421 boys) from the Longitudinal Studies on Child Abuse and Neglect, this study examines the impact of ACEs (sexual abuse, physical abuse, emotional abuse, physical neglect, supervisory neglect, parent mental illness, parent intimate partner violence, parent substance use, parent criminality, and family trauma) on violent delinquency by gender with consideration of the three negative emotional states hypothesized by GST-anger, depression, and anxiety. Results indicate that ACEs increase the odds of violent delinquency for both boys and girls, but that this relationship is significantly stronger for boys. Mediation models suggest that anger mediates the link between ACEs and violent delinquency for girls. Implications for research and policy centering on ACEs are discussed.

From late childhood, friendships as a distinct peer experience become increasingly salient in affecting individual development. This one-year longitudinal study examined same-domain and cross-domain effects of aggression and depression in friendships among early adolescents in China. Participants included 226 students (95 boys) within 113 friendship dyads initially in sixth grade (initial mean age = 12 years) in two public junior high schools. Data on aggression, depression, and friendship were collected from self-reports and peer nominations in 2017 and 2018. The results using the actor-partner interdependence model showed that friends' aggression positively predicted adolescents' later aggression and that friends' depression positively predicted adolescents' later depression, indicating same-domain contagion effects. In addition, friends' aggression positively predicted adolescents' later depression, indicating cross-domain cascading effects. The results suggest that adolescents with more aggressive friends are at risk for developing higher levels of social-behavioral and psychological problems with time. The results help understand the role of friendships in individual maladaptive development and are discussed in terms of the Chinese context.

Group-based trajectory analyses of depressive symptoms are often conducted with convenience samples, over limited developmental periods, or with a limited set of predictors in the adolescent context. Examinations of protective and risk factors in robust national samples are needed.

Using an ecological approach, this study's purpose is to identify key relational and contextual factors associated with trajectory groups of depressive symptoms that span ages 13 to 34.

12,248 respondents in the National Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Waves 1, 3, and 4) were analyzed with a group-based, cohort sequential design to identify trajectory classes, shapes, and adolescent (i.e., Wave 1) risk and protective factors for depressive symptom trajectories.

A four-class quadratic solution was identified. Close attachment to parents was strongly associated with decreased odds of membership on elevated trajectories. No relationship with a mother or father was associated with better mental health than a poor relationship with that parent. Peer support, teacher support, and educational achievement were highly protective. Romantic relationships, increased number of sexual partners, and prayer were modestly associated with higher depressive symptom burden. Pregnancy was associated with increased burden later in life relative to the teenage years.

Assessing adolescent family, school, peer, and religious contexts indicates several protective and risk factors for depressive symptoms that are persistent over time.

Adolescence is a developmental stage when adolescents are vulnerable to addictive behaviors, such as Internet addiction (IA), which refers to pathological use of the Internet. Although there are views proposing that the links between IA and adolescent problem behavior may be bidirectional in nature, few studies have examined the reciprocal relationships between IA and other maladjustment indicators, and even fewer studies have simultaneously employed both emotional and behavioral maladjustment indicators in a single study. To address the above research gaps, the present study investigated how IA is associated with both depression and delinquency among Chinese adolescents. Two waves of data were collected at two consecutive years, respectively, with 1year apart, from 3,010 students (Mean age=13.16, SD=0.81; 57.48% boys) in four junior high schools in mainland China. These students completed the same questionnaire containing measures of IA, depression, and delinquency at each wave. The proposed cross-lagged panel model fitted the data very well, and there were significant positive reciprocal effects between IA and depression as well as delinquency after controlling for background socio-demographic factors. Gender differences were also observed in multi-group comparisons. Specifically, IA showed a stronger longitudinal impact on delinquency among boys than among girls. While depression significantly predicted IA in 1year among boys, such a prediction was not significant among girls. These findings delineate the bidirectionality of the associations between IA and emotional and behavioral maladjustment indexed by depression and delinquency, respectively. The findings also suggest that researchers and practitioners have to take gender differences as well as different developmental indicators in understanding the bidirectional influences between IA and adolescent behavioral and emotional development.

The current study examined associations between rumination and executive function difficulties in preadolescent youth, using predictions outlined in the attentional scope and multiple systems models of rumination. This study aimed to (a) extend current conceptual models of rumination to youth, (b) clarify disparate model predictions regarding working memory updating ("updating"), inhibition, and shifting abilities, and (c) examine differential neurocognitive predictions between two forms of rumination, sadness and anger. One hundred and fifty-nine youths oversampled for ADHD and other forms of child psychopathology associated with executive dysfunction (aged 8-13; 53.5% male; 59.1% Caucasian) completed a battery of assessments, including self-report measures of rumination and computerized neurocognitive tasks. Multiple regression analyses were conducted assessing relations between rumination and each executive function, controlling for both sadness and anger rumination to assess their unique associations. Sadness rumination was associated with poorer updating (β = -0.18, p = 0.046) and shifting abilities (β = 0.20, p = 0.03) but not inhibition (β = -0.04, p = 0.62), offering partial support to the attentional scope and multiple systems models. In contrast, anger rumination was associated with better updating abilities (β = 0.20, p = 0.03) but not shifting (β = -0.15, p = 0.11) or inhibition (β = 0.08, p = 0.35). Together, these results suggest (a) developmental differences in the neurocognitive correlates associated with rumination risk in youth compared to findings from the adult literature, and (b) that the executive function correlates of children's responses to negative emotions are affect-specific, such that sadness rumination is associated with difficulties replacing negative thoughts and shifting between mental sets, while anger rumination is associated with a better ability to maintain negative thoughts.

Contemporary scholarship has demonstrated an association between traumatic brain injury (TBI) during adolescence and aggressive offending. Research, however, has yet to identify any mechanisms linking TBI to subsequent aggressive offending. Consequently, the current study hypothesized that adverse psychological effects is one such pathway. The current study used the Pathways to Desistance data set (n = 416) to examine the pathway of TBI to aggressive offending through adverse psychological effects. The findings of the structural equation model supported the hypothesized association. Specifically, increased exposure to TBI was indirectly associated with aggressive offending through adverse psychological effects. An additional supplemental analysis illustrated that a direct link between TBI and aggressive offending did not exist for the analytical sample. The findings suggested that the neurological disruptions commonly associated with TBI could result in direct increases in negative psychological outcomes and indirect increases in subsequent negative behavioral outcomes.

The current cross-sectional study examined whether internalizing (i.e. anxiety and depressive) symptoms and/or emotion dysregulation moderated the association between witnessed community violence and aggressive behavior. Participants were 180 predominantly African American adolescents (62% girls; M age = 15.87 years, SD = 1.19 years) from a high school located in an urban community in the United States. Approximately 95% of adolescents reported having witnessed at least one violent act during their lifetimes, with many endorsing repeated exposure to severe acts of community violence. Results indicated that emotion dysregulation exacerbated the association between witnessed community violence and aggression. A quadratic effect of anxiety symptoms also moderated this association, such that witnessed community violence was linked to aggression at low and high, but not moderate, levels of anxiety symptoms. In contrast, a quadratic effect of depressive symptoms was uniquely related to aggression, regardless of witnessed community violence. Directions for future research and implications for practice are reviewed.

Justice-involved youth display higher prevalence rates of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), in comparison with youth in the general population, highlighting a critical public health concern. Individual factors are important predictors of STDs, but only provide a partial understanding of this public health issue. Communities experiencing higher levels of disorder and lower levels of cohesion tend to have fewer institutional resources available, which may impact sexual risk behavior and STDs. However, few studies have examined the association between community characteristics and STD prevalence among adolescents. The current study examined community-level (n = 106) characteristics and individual-level attributes in explaining STDs among justice-involved youth (n = 1233: n = 515 female; n = 718 male). At the individual level, results showed older males and those with more drug-related problems were more likely to be STD positive, while females with more sexual partners and those with less drug-related problems were more likely to be STD positive. At the community level, females residing in areas with fewer educated residents were more likely to be STD positive. These gender differences were significant, suggesting a gendered perspective is important for understanding STD infection. The justice system represents a critical opportunity in the treatment and prevention of STDs for youth.

Drawing from an integrated general strain theory framework, the purpose of the study is to examine the longitudinal mediating and moderating mechanisms linking perceived racial discrimination with aggressive delinquency among North American Indigenous (i.e., American Indian and Canadian First Nations) youth.

Data come from an eight-year longitudinal study of Indigenous youth residing on reservations/reserves in the upper-Midwest and Canada (N = 659). Scales were created for discrimination, depressive symptoms, school bonds, and delinquent peer associations at years 2 and 3, and a count measure of aggression was created at years 2, 3, and 5. Cross-lagged path analysis models were estimated to examine possible mediating effects of depressive symptoms, school bonds, and delinquent peer associations. Separate regression models were examined to test for possible moderating effects of the aforementioned variables.

The results of a longitudinal path analysis model showed that discrimination indirectly increased aggression through decreased school bonds and increased delinquent peer associations. Depressive symptoms was the only significant moderator, and contrary to expectations, the effect of discrimination on aggression declined in magnitude as depressive symptoms increased.

Discrimination is a key criminogenic stressor among Indigenous youth and is linked with multiple adverse outcomes through the adolescent years.

Depression is a particularly prevalent form of psychopathology affecting millions of individuals worldwide. It is associated with a variety of adverse social and behavioral outcomes. Numerous observational studies have found that depressed individuals have significantly elevated rates of interpersonal violence. As of now, the social mechanisms that explain the association between depression and violence remain understudied and not well understood. Drawing on the aggression and social psychology literatures, we argue that depressed actors suffer skills deficits and exhibit hostile communication styles that provoke grievances and disputes. We suggest that, because of these interpersonal tendencies, depression increases involvement in verbal disputes, and that frequent participation in verbal disputes foments social contexts where interpersonal violence is more common. Findings from a series of regression models based on a nationally representative sample of 2171 respondents offer support for our assumptions. The study suggests a consideration of interpersonal dynamics, particularly verbal disputes, might unlock clues about the association between depression and violence involvement.

Despite evidence of links between depression and violent outcomes, potential moderators of this association remain unknown. The current study tested whether a biological marker, cortisol, moderated this association in a longitudinal sample of adolescents.

Participants were 358 Dutch adolescents (205 boys) with a mean age of 15 years at the first measurement. Depressive symptoms, the cortisol awakening response (CAR) and violent outcomes were measured annually across 3 years. The CAR was assessed by two measures: waking cortisol activity (CAR area under the curve ground) and waking cortisol reactivity (CAR area under the curve increase). Within-individual regression models were adopted to test the interaction effects between depressive symptoms and CAR on violent outcomes, which accounted for all time-invariant factors such as genetic factors and early environments. We additionally adjusted for time-varying factors including alcohol drinking, substance use and stressful life events.

In this community sample, 24% of adolescents perpetrated violent behaviours over 3 years. We found that CAR moderated the effects of depressive symptoms on adolescent violent outcomes (βs ranged from -0.12 to -0.28). In particular, when the CAR was low, depressive symptoms were positively associated with violent outcomes in within-individual models, whereas the associations were reversed when the CAR was high.

Our findings suggest that the CAR should be investigated further as a potential biological marker for violence in adolescents with high levels of depressive symptoms.

Youth involved in the justice system meet criteria for psychiatric disorders at much higher rates than youth in the general population and a large body of research has established a relationship between mental health problems and delinquency or recidivism. However, only limited research has examined the relationship between specific types of psychopathology and specific patterns or types of delinquency for justice-involved youth and only a single study has explored the relationship between psychopathology and delinquency among youth with psychiatric diagnoses receiving mental health treatment. We examined the relationship between severity of offending and internalizing and externalizing symptoms among court-involved, non-incarcerated youth referred for mental health treatment. Over half of youth and over two-thirds of parents reported youth symptomatology at the 93^rd percentile or above for internalizing symptoms, externalizing symptoms, or both. We found that youth engaged in serious or violent delinquency are more likely to have externalizing problems but that internalizing symptoms were equally high across youth committing minor, moderate, and serious delinquent acts. Findings from this study support the need for future research exploring the nuances of relationships between psychiatric disorder and patterns of delinquency, which can provide helpful information to justice system stakeholders in identifying youth needs.

Detention personnel may assume that mental health problems heighten the likelihood of future violence in detained youth. This study explored whether brief mental health screening tools are of value for alerting staff to a detained youth's potential for future violent offending.

Boys (n = 1259; Mean age = 16.65) completed the Massachusetts Youth Screening Instrument-Second Version (MAYSI-2) and the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) as part of a clinical protocol. Official records were collected to index past and future violent offending.

A few significant positive and negative relationships between MAYSI-2 and SDQ scale scores and future violent offending were revealed, after controlling for age, past violent offending, and follow-up time. These relations were almost entirely dissimilar across the ethnic groups, even to the extent of finding opposite relations for boys in different ethnic groups.

The small number of relations and their small effect sizes suggest little likelihood that screening for mental health problems in boys who are detained in the Netherlands offers any potential for identifying youth at risk for committing future violent crimes. The current findings also suggest that ethnic differences in the relation between mental health problems and future criminality must be considered in future studies.

Resistance to antisocial peer pressure consistently relates to adolescent adjustment. However, it is typically measured via a mono-method, self-report approach. The current study introduces a virtual reality (VR) protocol to create an observational measure of adolescents' responses to peer pressure to engage in antisocial activities. Data on the reliability and validity of the assessment procedure are presented. Participants (N = 264, 46% male, M_age = 18.17 years, 81% White) provided self-reports of susceptibility to antisocial peer pressure, antisocial behavior, dating violence perpetration, and depressive symptoms. Participants also engaged in 9 VR simulations, 4 of which involved antisocial peer pressure. Participant behavior in the VR simulations was coded for resistance to antisocial peer pressure. Approximately half the sample repeated the VR simulations at a 2-month follow-up. Resistance to antisocial peer pressure in 4 VR simulations evidenced item/simulation-level convergent validity with one another and discriminant validity against scores in 5 VR bystander behavior simulations. When scores from the 4 antisocial peer pressure VR simulations were summed into a total scale score, they demonstrated acceptable internal consistency, 2-month test-retest correlations, convergent validity with self-reports of susceptibility to antisocial peer pressure, and criterion validity with self-reports of antisocial behavior and dating violence perpetration. Associations with antisocial behavior and dating violence perpetration held after accounting for self-reports of susceptibility to antisocial peer pressure and participant gender. Results provide evidence that VR simulations may offer a psychometrically sound addition to self-report measures as a method for assessing responses to antisocial peer pressure.

Research on depression among Caribbean children has been limited by a lack of valid and reliable measures. We addressed this problem by exploring the internal consistency reliability and the concurrent and discriminant validity of the Kutcher Adolescent Depression Rating Scale (KADS) among a wide cross-section of the student population attending elementary schools in Jamaica and Barbados.

Students enrolled in grade 6 in a cross-section of schools in Jamaica and Barbados were invited to participate in the study. Schools included a balance of government-funded public schools and privately funded preparatory schools. All schools that were invited to participate accepted, and all grade 6 classrooms in each school were sampled. The following instruments were administered to the students during the fall semester of 2015: KADS, Adolescent Depression Rating Scale (ADRS), major depression disorder subscale of the Revised Children's Anxiety and Depression Scale (RCADS), and state and trait anxiety visual analogue scales.

In total, 759 children (376 girls [49.5%] and 363 boys [47.8%]; in 20 cases [2.6%], sex was missing) with a mean age of 10.7 (standard deviation 0.66) years (median 11.0 yr) took part in the study. Overall, the KADS had an acceptable degree of reliability (α = 0.76). The instrument had reasonably good concurrent validity, as evidenced by strong correlations with scores on the ADRS (r = 0.62) and the major depression disorder subscale of the RCADS (r = -0.61). It had acceptable discriminant validity, as shown through low correlations with the state and trait anxiety visual analogue scales (r = 0.21 and 0.18, respectively). This pattern of results suggests that a large part (37%) of the variance underlying the KADS assesses depression, and a smaller degree of the variance (3%-4%) measures a conceptually similar but distinct concept.

The KADS is a reliable and valid measure for assessing depressive symptoms among Jamaican and Barbadian elementary school students. The sample may not be representative of all Caribbean children.

This study examines whether (1) mothers vary in the way they express hostility toward their delinquent adolescent offspring, (2) different types of maternal hostility differentially affect adolescents' depression and recidivism, and (3) adolescent depression serves as a mechanism through which maternal hostility predicts later reoffending. The sample consists of 1,216 male first-time offenders, aged 13-17 years (M = 15.80, SD = 1.29). Confirmatory factor analysis supported the premise that maternal hostility could be distinguished into two subtypes: emotional and physical hostility. Adolescent offenders who experienced emotional or physical hostility by their mothers reported greater depressive symptoms and reoffending 6 months later. Further, the relation between maternal hostility (of each type) and adolescent reoffending was partially explained by depressive symptomology.

Despite evidence of a positive link between depressive symptoms and violent behaviors, the pathways underlying this longitudinal association remain unknown. Depressive symptoms might drive and reinforce victimization which in turn could increase risk of individuals becoming violent towards others. Thus, we tested whether victimization mediated the link between depressive symptoms and violent behaviors using a 6-year longitudinal study of a community sample of adolescents. The sample included 682 Dutch adolescents (54% boys) from an ongoing longitudinal study RADAR (Research on Adolescent Development and Relationships). From ages 13 to 18 years, depressive symptoms, victimization experiences, and violent behaviors were annually assessed. We conducted longitudinal mediation analyses to test pathways to violence in adolescents with depressive symptoms. Longitudinal analyses revealed that victimization mediated the association between depressive symptoms and violent behaviors from early to late adolescence. As part of this, we found that adolescents' depressive symptoms predicted victimization, and this victimization increased risk of subsequent violent behaviors. In conclusion, links between depressive symptoms and violent behaviors are potentially important to understand adolescent development. Decreasing the occurence of victimization is likely to be an important target for the prevention of violent behaviors in adolescents with depressive symptoms.

Research has documented that both unipolar and bipolar depression are positively correlated with involvement in delinquency and crime. The present study sought to broaden the understanding of these relationships by looking for links between offending and family histories of depressive symptoms in relationship to offspring delinquency. More than 6,000 college students and their mothers provided self-reported information regarding feelings of depression. Students provided self-reports of involvement in various categories of offending and drug use from ages 10 through 18. Numerous significant positive correlations were found between general feelings of depression and of manic depression and involvement in delinquency. The depression-delinquency relationships were strongest when considering offspring themselves, although maternal depression symptoms were also associated with various forms of offspring delinquency and drug use. To help assess the causal chains that might be involved, multiple regression and mediation analysis revealed that parental depression enhanced the probability of offspring feeling depressed and may have thereby contributed to offspring being delinquent, particularly in the case of manic depression. This study reconfirmed the well-established relationship between depression and involvement in delinquency and drug use, and suggests that it extends back to parental forms of depression, especially by the mother.

More and more students report high level of perceived stress during childhood and adolescence, which is associated with socioemotional and behavioural strengths and difficulties. This study aims-based on the cognitive vulnerability-transactional stress theory-to examine perceived stress in early adolescence as a potential moderator in the association between depressive symptoms and socioemotional and behavioural strengths and difficulties from early to middle adolescence. Results of latent moderated structural equations with questionnaire data from a longitudinal study with 1,088 German students (Time 1: M_age  = 13.70, SD = 0.53; Time 2: N = 845, M_age  = 15.32, SD = 0.49) indicate that perceived stress functions as a moderator in the above-mentioned association and dominates the interaction if perceived strongly.

Due to the longstanding and detrimental effects of engaging in aggressive behaviour and of experiencing symptoms of internalizing problems in children and adolescents, there is an increasing interest in identifying the temporal sequence between these 2 problems with previous research yielding inconsistent findings. Therefore, the longitudinal links between relational aggression, physical aggression, and depression were examined across 7 years in a sample of 643 children (54 % girls) aged 10 at Time 1. Three models were compared- (1) the failure model, in which aggression predicted depression, (2) the acting out model, in which depression predicted aggression, and (3) a reciprocal model, in which both aggression and depression shared a reciprocal relation over time. Cross-lagged path analyses using structural equation modeling supported the failure model (i.e., engaging in relational and physical aggression predicts subsequent depressive symptoms). Findings were similar for boys and girls. These findings add to the literature suggesting that externalizing problems precede internalizing problems.

Few longitudinal studies have analyzed how violence exposure (e.g. child maltreatment, witnessing community violence) influence both externalizing and Post-Traumatic Stress (PTS) symptoms among children in foster care. Data from three waves of the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being (1999-2007) (NSCAW; National Data Archive on Child Abuse and Neglect, 2002) were analyzed to investigate the change trajectories of both externalizing and PTS symptomatology among children with a substantiated report of child maltreatment by Child Protective Services (CPS) between October 1999 and December 2000. This study uses data collected at three time points: baseline and approximately 18 (Wave 3) and 36 (Wave 4) months post-baseline. The Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) scale measured externalizing symptoms and the Post Traumatic Stress Disorder section of a version of the Trauma Symptom Checklist for Children (TSCC) provided the measure of current trauma-related symptoms or distress. Analyses were conducted using a parallel process growth curve model with a sample of n=280 maltreated youth between the ages of 8 and 15 following home removal. Findings revealed that initial levels of externalizing and PTS symptomatology were both significantly and positively related and co-develop over time. Externalizing symptom severity remained in the borderline range during the first two years in out-of-home care. Both direct and indirect forms of interpersonal violence exposure were associated with initial level of externalizing symptom and PTS symptom severity, respectively. Taken together, our results suggest an underlying process that links early violence exposure to the co-development and cumulative impact of PTS on externalizing behavior above and beyond experiences of maltreatment. We conclude by discussing the key points of intervention that result from a more nuanced understanding of the longitudinal relationship between PTS and externalizing symptoms and the effect of complex trauma on growth in these symptoms over time.

Despite growing trends in adolescent female aggression, much adolescent aggression research has focused on males to the exclusion of their female counterparts. Using relational-cultural and social role theories, the current study identifies the risk and promotive factors associated with adolescent female aggression. Using data from the Rural Adaptation Project (a 5 year longitudinal panel study of youth from two rural, ethnically diverse, low income counties in North Carolina), a 2-level hierarchical linear model was estimated (N = 3580). Internalizing symptoms, association with delinquent friends, peer pressure, and parent-child conflict emerged as risk factors whereas teacher support was a significant promotive factor. Results suggest that interventions should focus on negative relationships in both the parent and peer domains and underscore the need for mental health services for aggressive girls.

We examined whether standardized test scores and grades are related to risky behaviors among low-income minority adolescents and whether social networks and social-emotional factors explained those relationships.

We analyzed data from 929 high school students exposed by natural experiment to high- or low-performing academic environments in Los Angeles. We collected information on grade point average (GPA), substance use, sexual behaviors, participation in fights, and carrying a weapon from face-to-face interviews and obtained California math and English standardized test results. Logistic regression and mediation analyses were used to examine the relationship between achievement and risky behaviors.

Better GPA and California standardized test scores were strongly associated with lower rates of substance use, high-risk sexual behaviors, and fighting. The unadjusted relative odds of monthly binge drinking was 0.72 (95% confidence interval, 0.56-0.93) for 1 SD increase in standardized test scores and 0.46 (95% confidence interval, 0.29-0.74) for GPA of B- or higher compared with C+ or lower. Most associations disappeared after controlling for social-emotional and social network factors. Averaged across the risky behaviors, mediation analysis revealed social-emotional factors accounted for 33% of the relationship between test scores and risky behaviors and 43% of the relationship between GPA with risky behaviors. Social network characteristics accounted for 31% and 38% of the relationship between behaviors with test scores and GPA, respectively. Demographic factors, parenting, and school characteristics were less important explanatory factors.

Social-emotional factors and social network characteristics were the strongest explanatory factors of the achievement-risky behavior relationship and might be important to understanding the relationship between academic achievement and risky behaviors.

This study examined prospective mediating relations among mother-adolescent attachment security, self-worth, and risk behaviors, including substance use and violence, across ages 13-17 in a sample of 901 low-income African American adolescents. Path analyses revealed that self-worth was a significant mediator between attachment security and risk behaviors, such that earlier attachment security predicted self-worth 1 year later, which in turn, predicted substance use, weapon carrying, and fighting in the 3rd year. Implications for the role of the secure base concept within the context of urban poverty are discussed.

Different interpersonal experiences are related to delinquency and depressive mood. In many studies, delinquency has been associated with exposing others to hostility, while depressive mood has been associated with being a victim of others' hostility. In this study, we proposed that adolescents with a co-occurrence of high delinquency and depressive mood may be both perpetrators and victims in their relations with parents at home, peers and teachers at school, and other people encountered in leisure time. We studied a normative sample of 1452 mid-adolescents (50.61% boys and 49.38% girls). Cluster analyses found a group with a co-occurrence of high delinquency and high depressive mood. Adolescents in this cluster group were highest on being exposed to hostility, exposing others to hostility, and being involved in mutually hostile interactions with others in different everyday contexts. The findings were especially strong when we examined being a victim and a perpetrator across contexts. The results were similar for boys and girls. We conclude that the co-occurrence of high delinquency and depressive mood among some adolescents is intimately linked to the mutually hostile interactions that these adolescents experience in their everyday interpersonal contexts.

Youth with conduct problems (CP) may experience high rates of depressive symptoms (DS). However, little is known about the direction of the longitudinal associations between CP and DS in this specific population. Although girls with CP appear at greater risk than boys for presenting comorbid depression, empirical research on gender differences in these associations is even sparser. The current study used autoregressive latent trajectory models to compare four perspectives with hypotheses regarding the longitudinal associations between CP and DS, while taking into account the evolution of both problems. We also examined gender differences in the longitudinal associations. A total of 345 children (40.6 % female) presenting with a high level of CP in early elementary school (mean age at study inception = 8.52; SD = .94) were evaluated annually over a four-year period (5 measurement time points). The results revealed that CP and DS were quite stable over time. Moreover, CP and DS showed strong covariation at each measurement time point, but only one significant positive cross-lagged association between the two processes, indicating that higher levels of DS at time 3 were associated with higher levels of CP 1 year later. No differences were observed in the longitudinal associations between CP and DS in boys and girls. Given the comorbidity and stability of CP and DS, these findings suggest that DS should be systematically evaluated among children with early clinically significant CP, and treatment plans should include interventions aimed at both CP and DS among children who present with both types of problems.

This study identified temporal sequencing in the associations between family support and depressive symptoms over the course of adolescence for youth in Ghana.

Data derived from a longitudinal cohort study of 718 Ghanaian adolescents (58 % female) who were, on average, 13.84 years at Wave 1. Youth completed surveys at three time points separated by an 18-month time lag from early through late adolescence. Latent growth curve techniques were used to investigate the degree to which family support predicts changes in youth depressive symptoms and/or depressive symptoms precede changes in family support from early through late adolescence.

Youth in Ghana experience declines in family support and increases in depressive symptoms over the course of adolescence. The associations between lower family support and higher depressive symptoms are recursive or bidirectional over time.

Study results suggest the value of promoting family support and reducing youth's depressive symptomology as a way of interrupting a recursive cycle of declining family support and increasing depressive symptomology from early through late adolescence.

The current study examined multilevel risk factors and developmental assets on longitudinal trajectories of aggressive behavior in a diverse sample of rural adolescents. Using ecological and social capital theories, we explored the impact of positive and negative proximal processes, social capital, and contextual characteristics (i.e., school and neighborhood) on adolescent aggression. Data came from the Rural Adaptation Project, which is a 5-year longitudinal panel study of more than 4,000 middle and high school students from 40 public schools in two rural, low income counties in North Carolina. A three-level HLM model (N = 4,056 at Wave 1, 4,251 at Wave 2, and 4,256 at Wave 3) was estimated to predict factors affecting the change trajectories of aggression. Results indicated that negative proximal processes in the form of parent-adolescent conflict, friend rejection, peer pressure, delinquent friends, and school hassles were significant predictors of aggression. In addition, social capital in the form of ethnic identity, religious orientation, and school satisfaction served as buffers against aggression. Negative proximal processes were more salient predictors than positive proximal processes. School and neighborhood characteristics had a minimal impact on aggression. Overall, rates of aggression did not change significantly over the 3-year study window. Findings highlight the need to intervene in order to decrease negative interactions in the peer and parent domains.

Various developmental models have attempted to explain the relationship between antisocial behavior and depressive symptoms in youth, often proposing intermediary processes such as social and academic functioning. However, few studies have tested these developmental models fully, particularly in mixed gender samples. The current study strives to fill this gap in the literature, examining these processes in an early adolescent sample. Results indicated both direct and indirect paths between antisocial behavior and depression. In addition, potentially important gender differences were found. These results underscore the importance of examining direct and indirect links between symptoms of depression and anti-social behavior, and suggest that there may be important developmental differences between girls and boys in the relationship between these symptoms.

Middle school is a critical yet understudied period of social behavioral risks and opportunities that may be particularly difficult for emerging adolescents with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) given their childhood social difficulties. Relatively few ADHD studies have examined social behavior and social-cognitive problem solving beyond the elementary years, or examined aspects of positive (prosocial) behavior. The current study examined how middle school students with clinically elevated ADHD symptoms differ from their non-ADHD peers on baseline (6th grade) and age-related changes in prosocial and aggressive behavior, and the extent to which social-cognitive problem solving strategies mediate these relations. Emerging adolescents with (n = 178) and without (n = 3,806) clinically elevated, teacher-reported ADHD-combined symptoms were compared longitudinally across 6th through 8th grades using parallel process latent growth curve modeling, accounting for student demographic characteristics, oppositional-defiant disorder (ODD) symptoms, deviant peer association, school climate, and parental monitoring. Sixth graders with elevated ADHD symptoms engaged in somewhat fewer prosocial behaviors (d = -0.44) and more aggressive behavior (d = 0.20) relative to their peers. These small social behavioral deficits decreased but were not normalized across the middle school years. Contrary to hypotheses, social-cognitive problem solving was not impaired in the ADHD group after accounting for co-occurring ODD symptoms and did not mediate the association between ADHD and social behavior during the middle school years. ADHD and social-cognitive problem solving contributed independently to social behavior, both in 6th grade and across the middle school years; the influence of social-cognitive problem solving on social behavior was highly similar for the ADHD and non-ADHD groups.

This study tests competing models of the relation between depression and polysubstance use over the course of adolescence. Participants included a nationwide sample of adolescents (N = 3,604), ages 12 to 17 at study Wave 1, assessed annually for 3 years. Models were tested using cohort-sequential latent growth curve modeling to determine whether depressive symptoms at baseline predicted concurrent and age-related changes in drug use, whether drug use at baseline predicted concurrent and age-related changes in depressive symptoms, and whether initial levels of depression predicted changes in substance use significantly better than vice versa. The results suggest a transactional model such that early polysubstance use promotes early depressive symptoms, which in turn convey elevated risk for increasing polysubstance use over time, which in turn conveys additional risk for future depressive symptoms, even after accounting for gender, ethnicity, and household income. In contrast, early drug use did not portend risk for future depressive symptoms. These findings suggest a complicated pattern of interrelations over time and indicate that many current models of co-occurring polysubstance use and depressive symptoms may not fully account for these associations. Instead, the results suggest a developmental cascade, in which symptoms of one disorder promote symptoms of the other across intrapersonal domains.

This study explores the multiple factors that account for peer influence processes of adolescent delinquency and depression using data from Waves I and II of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health). Random-effects longitudinal negative binomial models were used to predict depression and delinquency, controlling for social connection variables to account for selection bias. Findings suggest peer depression and delinquency are both predictive of youth delinquency, while peer influences of depression are much more modest. Youth who are more connected to parents and communities and who are more popular within their networks are more susceptible to peer influence, while self-regulating youth are less susceptible. We find support for theories of popularity-socialization as well as weak-ties in explaining social network factors that amplify or constrain peer influence. We argue that practitioners working with youth should consider network-informed interventions to improve program efficacy and avoid iatrogenic effects.