This study aimed to examine the association between gratitude and defending behavior in response to school bullying among Chinese early adolescents and to evaluate the effects of three types of interventions (i.e., gratitude curriculum, gratitude journal, and gratitude visits) on gratitude and defending behavior. Two studies were conducted. Study 1 employed a cross-sectional survey involving 912 seventh- and eighth-grade students from two schools (52.41

Seeking help from others is an important strategy for coping with difficult situations; however, victims of bullying are often reluctant to seek help. Using a series of behavioral experiments with 968 primary and secondary school students, the present study examined individuals’ prediction bias regarding bystanders’ defending intentions from the victim perspective, its association with willingness to seek help, and whether this bias could be modified through an information-based intervention. The results showed that participants reported significantly lower levels of bystanders’ defending intentions from the victim perspective than from the bystander perspective, indicating a systematic underestimation of bystanders’ willingness to defend. This underestimation bias was robust across different types of bullying, genders, and educational stages. Greater underestimation of bystanders’ defending intentions from the victim perspective significantly predicted lower willingness to seek help. Positive contextual information cues significantly reduced the underestimation bias and increased willingness to seek help, whereas negative contextual information cues significantly increased the underestimation bias and decreased willingness to seek help. These findings provide a plausible explanation for victims’ reluctance to seek help and offer practical implications for enhancing help-seeking willingness in school bullying prevention and intervention.

This study investigated adolescent same-sex friendship conflict trajectories and their associations with social-emotional adjustment in a sample of Chinese adolescents (N = 2001, 51.8% boys) from Grades 6 (Wave1, Mage = 12.31 years old, SDage = 0.49) to 10. Using latent class growth analysis, three distinct trajectories of friendship conflict frequency were identified: low-slightly increasing, low-sharply increasing, and high-decreasing-stable. Consistent with an escalation hypothesis, the low-sharply increasing group exhibited a greater increase in depressive symptoms but not interpersonal relationships over time compared to the low-slightly increasing group; the high-decreasing-stable group demonstrated a greater decrease in peer rejection (i.e., "recovery hypothesis") compared to the other two groups, while simultaneously maintaining stable, higher levels of depression and loneliness (i.e., "scar hypothesis"). The findings highlight the developmental heterogeneity in friendship conflict frequency and the importance of understanding the effects of friendship conflict from a dynamic perspective.

Background Bullying victimization is associated with internalizing and externalizing problems, but whether verbal, physical, and relational victimization are associated with shared or differentiated large-scale network patterns remains unclear. Methods In a community sample of 318 children and adolescents aged 8–18 years, sparse canonical correlation analysis identified multivariate associations between three jointly modeled victimization subtypes and resting-state functional connectivity. Generalized additive models examined cross-sectional age-related variation and overall sex differences in connectivity scores. Mode-specific regressions tested whether these scores moderated concurrent associations between victimization and psychological outcomes. Results Three overlapping but differentiated connectivity modes were identified, each dominated by verbal, physical, or relational victimization. All modes involved the visual, dorsal attention, and control networks but differed in the direction of within-network associations and in cross-network organization. The verbal-dominant mode was positively associated with within-visual and within-dorsal-attention connectivity and negatively associated with within-control connectivity. The physical-dominant mode showed positive associations within the visual, dorsal attention, control, and control–default mode systems, together with negative associations involving the ventral attention, default mode, and control–dorsal-attention systems. The relational-dominant mode showed positive associations within the visual, dorsal attention, control, and default mode networks and negative associations involving somatomotor, control–dorsal-attention, and default–control connectivity. All connectivity scores varied nonlinearly with age. The relational-dominant score was higher in females than males, although age-related patterns did not differ by sex. Connectivity scores moderated selected concurrent symptom associations. Conclusions Bullying victimization subtypes were associated with differentiated but overlapping large-scale connectivity patterns and cross-sectional age- and sex-related variation.

This study explored the prospective association between peer victimization and left-behind adolescents' loneliness and investigated the moderating role of sympathetic nervous system (SNS) activity as well as potential differences in left-behind status and gender. A total of 471 Chinese adolescents (50.1% boys; Mage = 13.43 years, SD = 0.47) completed measures of peer victimization, SNS activity (indexed by skin conductance level reactivity, SCLR), and loneliness at Time 1. Loneliness was reassessed six months later (Time 2). The results revealed that T1 peer victimization was positively associated with T2 loneliness. SCLR was positively associated with subsequent loneliness only among boys from both-parent migrant families. Additionally, lower SCLR buffered the association between T1 peer victimization and T2 loneliness only among adolescents from father-only migrant families. These findings indicate that the interaction patterns between peer victimization and SNS activity in relation to subsequent loneliness vary depending on adolescents' left-behind status.

OBJECTIVE:Aggression and depression are two intertwined major manifestations of psychosocial maladjustment among children and adolescents. The current study examined the temporal order of the intertwining of these two constructs across late childhood to middle adolescence, with focus of testing the failure model and acting out model by testing their mediating pathways. METHOD:The sample was 2109 participants (1083 boys, 51.35%, mean age = 11.31 ± 0.49 years at time 1) who were followed from Grade 5 to Grade 9. Multi-informant approach of data collection (i.e. self, peer, school records) was employed. RESULTS:Random-intercept cross-lagged panel modeling (RI-CLPM) revealed that relational aggression at Grade 5 was associated with increases in depression at Grade 6, and academic problems mediated the longitudinal pathway from depression at grade 7 to physical and relational aggression at grade 9. The results were similar in boys and girls. CONCLUSIONS:Evidence supported the transactional longitudinal associations between aggression and depression, and the mediating pathways of academic failures in late childhood to middle adolescence.

The detection of threatening information conveyed by faces is crucial for human survival and development, especially for children. Previous research has shown that adults perceive male faces with a high facial width-to-height ratio (fWHR) as more aggressive and process this information automatically. However, it is unclear whether children possess similarly. In this study, two experiments were conducted with children (9.61 ± .67 years) to explore their ability to perceive aggression based on fWHR and whether they automatically process this information. In Experiment 1, children were asked to rate the perceived level of aggression in adult faces with high and low fWHR. It was found that high fWHR faces were perceived as more aggressive than low fWHR. In Experiment 2, visual mismatch negativity (vMMN) was used as an indicator to explore automatic processing further in an oddball paradigm. Children were asked to detect fixation size while being presented with adult faces with high or low fWHR in the background. It was observed that high fWHR faces induced vMMN in the 270-330 ms time range, while low fWHR faces did not, suggesting that children are able to automatically process high fWHR faces but not low fWHR. These results suggest that children can detect aggression cues through fWHR and automatically process high fWHR faces.

The organization of functional components of executive functions during the critical developmental period of adolescence remains poorly understood. The current study was to examine whether there were age-related differences in component structures of executive function from around age 10 to 18. Using a cohort-sequential design, a sample of 858 Chinese adolescents (grade 5, n = 287, Mage = 10.72, SD = 0.39, 41.8

BACKGROUND:Non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) is a common high-risk behavior in adolescents and it occurs in various psychiatric disorders, especially major depressive disorder (MDD). It remains largely unknown whether and which brain functional networks contribute to NSSI across youth mental disorders. METHODS:This study analyzed brain functional data acquired from 156 adolescents (MDD + NSSI group, n = 44, age = 15.32 ± 1.51; MDD-NSSI group, n = 32, age = 15.36 ± 1.96; healthy controls, n = 80, age = 15.92 ± 2.72). NSSI behavior, four NSSI functions (internal and external emotion regulation, social influence and sensation seeking), as well as the addictive feature were assessed using the Ottawa Self-injury Inventory. Using support vector machine recursive feature elimination classification and regression models, we investigated the brain functional networks that predicted NSSI. External validations were performed in an ADHD cohort (n = 40) and a transdiagnostic psychiatric cohort (n = 40). RESULTS:The brain networks related to NSSI behavior were mainly composed of inter-network connections between the fronto-parietal, motor, limbic, basal ganglia networks. These networks were also associated with it four functions and the additive feature. Notably, the fronto-parietal network was involved in all NSSI components. External validations in both the ADHD and the transdiagnostic cohorts validated the associations of these functional networks with NSSI severity. CONCLUSIONS:Our results demonstrate that the fronto-parietal, motor, limbic and basal ganglia networks play key roles in NSSI among youth with psychiatric disorders, offering insights into potential brain targets for prevention and intervention.

Non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) is a prevalent mental problem among children and adolescents, cutting across psychiatric disorders. Studies in specific disorders such as depression and ADHD have revealed associations with alterations in brain regions responsible for reward processing and emotion regulation. However, it remains largely unknown whether such associations are shared among different disorders. Here, we aimed to examine brain structural and functional associations with NSSI in a transdiagnostic psychiatric cohort of children and adolescents. A total of 386 patients (age = 10.72 +/- 3.53, range = 5.04 to 21.22) diagnosed primarily with ADHD, autism and generalized anxiety disorder from the Healthy Brain Network study were included. Using linear regression models, we examined brain volumes (N = 386) and functional connectivities (N = 277) associated with NSSI and whether potential alterations could moderate/mediate the links between internalizing/externalizing symptoms and NSSI. We found that increased severity of NSSI was associated with decreased bilateral putamen volumes, and reduced connectivities of the left putamen with bilateral regions of temporoparietal junction and of the right putamen with the left temporoparietal junction, demonstrating the role of putamen in NSSI behavior. Moreover, some of these associations played moderating roles: in patients with lower putamen volumes or weaker functional connectivities, increased internalizing/externalizing symptoms were associated with higher NSSI severity. Our findings suggest that transdiagnostic NSSI is linked to structural alterations and functional dysfunctions in putamen, highlighting that putamen may serve as a neural marker of NSSI and as a potential target for neuromodulation treatments across mental conditions.

IntroductionParental involvement during early childhood is crucial for promoting children’s social development. However, few studies have explored both maternal and paternal involvement and their combined effects on children’s social adjustment.MethodsThe person-centered approach was conducted to examine the profiles of maternal and paternal involvement in a sample of 535 Chinese families with preschool children. Furthermore, the present study investigated the associations between these parental involvement profiles and preschoolers’ social adjustment.Results and conclusionLatent profile analysis identified a total of four profiles of parental involvement: Moderate maternal-low paternal involvement profile (21.9%), Both moderate involvement profile (38.1%), High maternal-moderate paternal involvement profile (28.2%), and Both high involvement profile (11.8%). Children in Both high involvement and High maternal-moderate paternal involvement profiles exhibited higher social skills compared to those in lower-involvement profiles. These findings enhance our understanding of home-based parental involvement patterns and their associations with preschoolers’ social development.

Increasing evidence indicates that childhood trauma (CT) experiences and impaired working memory updating (WMU) are critical factors in the development and maintenance of depression. Conversely, exercise activities serve as protective mechanisms against depression. However, it remains unclear about 1) whether adolescents with major depressive disorder (MDD) exhibit impairments in updating non-social and social information, and 2) the interplay among CT, WMU, exercise experience (EE) and depression in adolescents. To address these questions, this study recruited 72 first-episode, treatment-naïve adolescents with MDD and 50 healthy controls (HC), matched for age, gender and education. The WMU abilities were assessed using a classic n-back task including both non-social digits and social emotional faces. The CT experience, EE and depressive symptoms were evaluated by the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ), Subjective Exercise Experience Scale (SEES) and Self-rating Depression Scale (SDS), respectively. Additionally, the mediating roles of WMU and EE in the association between CT and depression were analyzed. Our results showed that compared to HC group, MDD patients exhibited decreased accuracy and increased reaction time to both non-social digits and social emotional faces in the n-back task. Furthermore, the behavioral accuracy in the WMU, as well as fatigue and positive-wellbeing experiences during exercises, significantly mediated the association between CT and depression across the entire sample. Findings from this study revealed that adolescents with MDD exhibit generalized impairments in WMU, and the pathway from CT to depression is partially mediated by both WMU and EE. These findings highlight WMU training and EE improvement as clinical intervention targets for CT-related depression.

Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) is a prevalent mental health condition with significant societal impact. Structural magnetic resonance imaging (sMRI) and machine learning have shown promise in psychiatry, offering insights into brain abnormalities in MDD. However, predicting treatment response remains challenging. This study leverages inter-brain similarity from sMRI as a novel feature to enhance prediction accuracy and explore disease mechanisms. The method’s generalizability across adult and adolescent cohorts is also evaluated. The study included 172 participants. Based on remission status, 39 participants from the Hangzhou Dataset and 34 from the Jinan Dataset were selected for further analysis. Three methods were used to extract brain similarity features, followed by a statistical test for feature selection. Six machine learning classifiers were employed to predict treatment response, and their generalizability was tested using the Jinan Dataset. Group analyses between remission and non-remission groups were conducted to identify brain regions associated with treatment response. Brain similarity features outperformed traditional metrics in predicting treatment outcomes, with the highest accuracy achieved by the model using these features. Between-group analyses revealed that the remission group had lower gray matter volume and density in the right precentral gyrus, but higher white matter volume (WMV). In the Jinan Dataset, significant differences were observed in the right cerebellum and fusiform gyrus, with higher WMV and density in the remission group. This study demonstrates that brain similarity features combined with machine learning can predict treatment response in MDD with moderate success across age groups. These findings emphasize the importance of considering age-related differences in treatment planning to personalize care. Clinical trial number: not applicable.

Previous research has explored the effects of early and recent stress on depressive symptoms, yielding meaningful findings. However, no research has yet comprehensively verified and compared the independent, multiplicative (interactive), and cumulative (additive) effects of these stresses on depressive symptoms. Consequently, the mechanisms by which early and recent stress contribute to depressive symptoms, as well as the extent of individual differences in these processes, remain poorly understood. This study aimed to address this gap by simultaneously examining the independent, multiplicative, and cumulative effects of recent stressful life events and adverse childhood events on depressive symptoms in late adolescence. Additionally, it investigated the moderating role of multilocus genetic variations related to the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis within these models. A theory-driven multilocus genetic profile score (MGPS) was calculated using FKBP5 rs1360780, NR3C1 rs41423247, and CRHR1 rs110402 polymorphisms. The study recruited a sample of 1227 adolescents (Mage = 18.94 ± 0.70 years, 56.8

Background: Learning burnout as a serious psychological distress problem among adolescents during the COVID-19 pandemic was investigated using the cross-lagged panel network models. Methods: A three-wave study using a sample of 11 to 18-year-olds in China was conducted, with baseline data collected in June 2020 (n = 4156) and follow-ups in December 2020 (n = 3209) and August 2021 (n = 2324). Two temporal cross-lagged panel network models were computed to analyze adolescent learning burnout over time. Results: The predictive pathway of adolescent learning burnout demonstrates significant temporal specificity. In the early outbreak period, Positive thinking, Appreciation of life and Depression are the most influential predictive symptoms. In the normalized epidemic prevention period, Goal planning, Affect control and Positive thinking are the most influential predictive symptoms. However, during this period, the extent to which adolescent learning burnout is predicted by other symptoms in the networks is significantly reduced. Limitations: The samples used in this study are not expected to be nationally representative, and therefore the generalizability of the results may be limited. Conclusions: These findings highlight the predictive roles of Positive thinking, Appreciation of life, and Depression in adolescent learning burnout and the importance of timely intervention on these symptoms in the early outbreak period of public health emergency similar to the COVID-19 pandemic. Findings also illustrate the essentiality of eliminate unstable factors in the school environment during the normalized epidemic prevention period.

BACKGROUND:Adolescence is a period marked by high vulnerability to onset of depression. Neuroimaging studies have revealed considerableatrophy of brain structure in patients with major depressive disorder (MDD). However, the causal structural networks underpinning gray matter atrophies in depressed adolescents remain unclear. This study aimed to examine the initial gray matter alterations in MDD adolescents and investigate their causal relationships of abnormalities within brain structural networks. METHODS:First-episode adolescent patients with MDD (n = 80, age = 15.57 ± 1.78) and age- and sex-matched healthy controls (n = 82, age = 16.11 ± 2.76) were included. We analyzed T1-weighted structural images using voxel-based morphometry to identify gray matter alterations in patients and the disease stage-specific abnormalities. Granger causality analysis was then conducted to construct causal structural covariance networks. We also identified potential pathways between the causal source and target. RESULTS:Compared to controls, MDD patients with shorter illness duration showed gray matter atrophy in localized brain regions such as ventral medial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC), anterior cingulate cortex, and insula. With a prolonged course of MDD, gray matter atrophy extended to widespread brain areas. Causal network results demonstrated that early abnormalities had positive effects on the default mode, frontoparietal networks, and reward circuits. Moreover, vmPFC demonstrated the highest out-degree value, possibly representing the initial source of brain abnormality in adolescent depression. CONCLUSIONS:These findings revealed the progression of gray matter atrophy in adolescent depression and demonstrated the directional influences between initial localized alterations and subsequent deterioration in widespread brain networks.

Prosocial behaviors-actions intended to benefit others-are critical indicators of adolescents' moral character and social competencies, and form the basis for societal harmony and cooperation. Adolescence is a critical period for facilitating prosocial behavior and internalizing prosocial values attributing to the ecological and biological transitions in this stage. Particularly, peer group changes and the increasing importance of peer relationships during this stage provide both risks and opportunities for the development of prosocial behaviors. In addition, adolescents may exhibit differences in the degree to which they are affected by peer experiences, which are often rooted in their genetic predispositions. Recent evidence indicated that the genes involved in dopamine neurotransmission and metabolism act in an additive manner to influence sensitivity to the environment. However, exploration regarding the dynamic trajectory of the relationship between peer experience and prosocial behavior and whether the dynamic relationship is moderated by dopaminergic genes in a longitudinal framework is still lacking. With the adoption of the multilocus genetic profile score (MGPS) approach, the present study aimed to explore the dynamic trajectory of the relationship between peer rejection and prosocial behavior, and whether the dynamic association was moderated by dopaminergic genes. The participants comprised 1044 adolescents who were followed up at the age of 13 similar to 15 years old (mean age 13.32 +/- 0.48 years old at Time 1; 50.1% females). Adolescents saliva samples were collected at age 13. Peer-rated prosocial behavior and peer-nominated peer rejection were collected at each time point. All measures presented a good reliability. Real-time genotyping was performed for each participant using MassARRAY RT software version 3.0.0.4 and analyzed using the MassARRAY Typer software version 3.4 (Sequenom). The relationship between the developmental trajectories of peer rejection and prosocial behavior and the moderating role of dopaminergic genes was examined via parallel latent growth model and multiple group comparison analyses. The results showed that adolescents' prosocial behavior and peer rejection increased linearly during the follow-up period. Higher initial levels of peer rejection were associated with lower initial levels and slower growth of prosocial behavior. The change rates of peer rejection were associated with the developmental change of prosocial behavior, that is, the slower increase in peer rejection was associated with a greater increase in prosocial behavior over time. In addition, the relationships between the initial level of peer rejection and the initial level and growth in prosocial behavior were moderated by MGPS, with lower MGPS being more sensitive to the initial level of peer rejection. These findings support the dynamic relationship between peer relationships and prosocial behavior and shed light on the complex polygenic underpinnings of the latter.

This study examined whether children with high levels of bullying or defending rather choose similar or popular peers as friends in late childhood. We expected that friendship preferences of children were based on similarity in bullying and defending behaviors. Moreover, we assumed that children’s bullying behavior was associated with the tendency to seek out popular peers as friends. To test these hypotheses, we analyzed data from third- ( M age = 9.35 years) and fourth-grade ( M age = 10.46 years) students in China ( N = 453, 54.79% boys at wave 1; N = 454, 54.35% boys at wave 2; N = 453, 54.05% boys at wave 3). Longitudinal social network analysis revealed that children’s level of bullying behavior was associated with their likelihood of choosing popular peers as friends, while defending behavior was related to a tendency to select peers with similar levels of defending as friends. The study sheds light on “whom” children with bullying or defending behaviors select for affiliation within Chinese culture, and has implications for prevention and intervention of school bullying.