This study explores the role of family, peer, and school connectedness for the well-being of Spanish LGBTIQ+ adolescents. Data was collected in 2024 using a non-probability sampling strategy (114 panel participants, with 175 via snowball sampling) with 289 respondents (Mage = 15.86, SD = 0.97, Range = 14–17). Two cross-sectional structural equation models (SEM) were conducted to test whether depressive symptoms and loneliness statistically mediate the associations between connectedness and several mental health outcomes. Measures included the Social Connectedness Scale, PHQ-9, Paykel Suicide Scale, and single-item indicators of loneliness and well-being. Higher connectedness with family (β = −0.32), friends (β = −0.17), and school (β = −0.17) were associated with lower depressive symptoms, which showed a strong positive association with suicidal ideation/behavior (β = 0.57). The direct associations between connectedness and suicidal ideation/behavior were no longer significant when depression was included in the model. Higher connectedness with friends (β = −0.47) and family (β = −0.14) was associated with lower loneliness, which was negatively associated with well-being (β = −0.30). School connectedness remained directly associated with well-being (β = 0.29). These results highlight the importance of targeted strategies to improve social support networks for LGBTIQ+ adolescents, providing valuable insights for interventions aimed at improving their quality of life.
Trauma exposure is common in young people and is associated with anxiety, depression, and other mental health difficulties. Parents play an important role in supporting their child’s recovery following a potentially traumatic event, yet evidence-based guidance for trauma-informed parenting remains limited. This study used a Delphi methodology to establish expert consensus on parenting strategies for young people aged 5–18 years experiencing anxiety and depressive symptoms following a traumatic event. A panel of 38 predominantly Australian clinicians and researchers with expertise in trauma, youth mental health, and parenting rated 166 candidate strategies across three survey rounds for their importance in supporting young people’s post-trauma mental health. Ninety-four strategies (56.6
Worry is a common psychological experience among most people; however, when it becomes excessive and difficult to control, it can lead to psychological distress. The Penn State Worry Questionnaire for Children (PSWQ-C) was developed to objectively measure worry and consists of 14 items that assess excessive, generalized, and uncontrollable worry in children. This study translated the PSWQ-C into Turkish and examined its psychometric properties in a Turkish sample of 171 children aged 8 to 18 (M = 12.05, SD = 3.37). The Turkish version of PSWQ-C showed high reliability by test-retest and also excellent internal consistency results. To examine the validity of the PSWQ-C, we calculated its correlation with the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory for Children, Intolerance of Uncertainty Scale Child Form and Metacognition Questionnaire for Children and Adolescents. Based on the adult version of the PSWQ, two factor models were evaluated: (a) a single-factor model (M1) and (b) a bifactor model (M2) consisting of one general trait factor and method factor for reverse-scored items. The results suggest that the questionnaire measures a single latent construct, worry, although the bifactor model showed the best fit to the data. The methos factor appear to reflect method effect associated with reverse-scored items. Overall, the PSWQ-C demonstrated satisfactory reliability and validity and appears to be a useful tool for objectively assessing worry in Turkish children.
Child conduct problems commonly co-occur with callous-unemotional (CU) traits and autism spectrum disorder (ASD), which are both associated with empathy deficits; however, their unique associations are poorly understood because few studies consider the high overlap between CU traits and ASD. This study addressed this knowledge gap by investigating the unique associations between CU traits and ASD symptoms, and components of empathy (attention to others’ distress, emotion recognition, understanding emotional states, empathic responding), and differences between children classified into clinical groups (conduct problems with and without CU traits and ASD) and typically developing children. Parents reported on their child’s psychopathology symptoms and empathy, and children completed laboratory tasks measuring empathy components. Results indicated that ASD symptoms, but not CU traits, were uniquely associated with emotion recognition deficits. Meanwhile, CU traits were uniquely associated with reduced empathic responding, and this relationship was exacerbated with ASD symptoms. Theoretical and clinical implications are discussed.
While existing research has documented parental perfectionism on adolescent social anxiety, relatively little attention has been paid to the longitudinal reciprocal associations among parental child‑oriented perfectionism (COP), parental negative attribution, and adolescents’ social anxiety. This study tracked 2228 Chinese adolescents (baseline Mage = 12.95 ± 0.79 years, 46.3
