Social inequalities in education due to early tracking in the German school system have been widely discussed, but little is known about the role of emotional problems at this critical point in children’s educational careers. This paper examines whether emotional problems prevent intergenerational upward mobility among children at the transition from primary to secondary school and investigates subsequent changes in emotional problems among four mobility groups (upward, downward, stable high, stable low). The study analyzes longitudinal data from 630 students between 3rd and 6th grade. Based on Latent Change Score Models (LCSMs), the findings indicate that (1) children’s emotional problems generally increased from 3rd to 6th grade, (2) elevated pre-transition problems significantly reduced the likelihood of upward intergenerational mobility, and (3) the most pronounced increases in emotional problems following the transition were observed among children in the stable high educational group. These results suggest that emotional problems not only hinder but also reflect heightened performance-related stress in the more demanding secondary school context, particularly for intergenerational status retention. All analyses controlled for key covariates, including gender and academic performance.

Background: Many mental health problems originate in childhood, highlighting the need for early preventive approaches. Preventive services to promote children's mental health are offered in the health, education, and social sectors (H-E-S) but are often not used by certain at-risk groups or early enough. To identify children at-risk and provide needs-oriented support, professionals from all sectors must be well trained, collaborate closely to refer to specialized services for specific mental health problems or risk factors, and understand the regional psychosocial support system and its services. A comprehensive approach to preventing mental health problems requires structured planning and a systematic overview of all institutions and services in the region and their collaboration. This study aims to map the preventive mental health and psychosocial support service system and the collaboration between institutions across three sectors (H-E-S) in two exemplary city districts. The study is integrated into a whole-district approach to child mental health promotion that is being implemented in one of the researched city districts, and its results will inform further activities there. Methods: We use a mixed-methods approach, combining qualitative interviews with a quantitative survey to map psychosocial services for children aged 4 to 10 and their families across the H-E-S sectors in two socioeconomically disadvantaged city districts in East and West Germany. All institutions that potentially offer psychosocial services for children and families will be approached to recruit professionals (e.g., schools, practices, counseling centers). To understand the regional psychosocial support system, we will analyze existing services and their characteristics (e.g., target groups, intervention types) descriptively. Social network analysis will be applied to gain an in-depth understanding of collaboration between institutions, to identify potential gaps in services and pathways, and to inform an intervention aimed at improving interinstitutional and intersectoral collaboration. Discussion: To our knowledge, this is the first study to comprehensively analyze regional preventive psychosocial support systems for children and families across sectors at the community level. Previous mappings of psychosocial services have focused on a single sector (e.g., health) or specific diagnoses only. The psychosocial preventive landscape spanning the H-E-S sectors involves complex financing structures and referral logics. Understanding the characteristics of the existing support landscape requires a systematic and comprehensive approach. Our study advances service mapping and operationalization methods in public health research. Additionally, the findings will inform recommendations for improving comprehensive prevention approaches in the selected city districts.

Objective: The purpose was to examine dyadic (in)congruent expectations of first-time expectant parents regarding future coparental cooperation, caregiving responsibilities, and partner support, and explore how gendered assumptions and structural factors (e.g., parental leave) shape these expectations. Background: The transition to parenthood involves major psychological, relational, and practical changes. Although previous research has emphasized coparenting after birth, less is known about how expectant parents anticipate and construct shared or divergent roles before their child arrives. Method: This qualitative study is part of the CopaGloba longitudinal project on coparenting. Semistructured individual interviews were conducted with 34 Portuguese heterosexual couples (N = 68) in the third trimester of pregnancy. Thematic and dyadic interview analysis were used to identify shared and divergent expectations. Results: Five coparental representation patterns emerged. Congruent patterns were (a) Partners in Learning and (b) Mentor-Mentee, and incongruent patterns were (c) Mother-as-Mentor/Father-as-Partner, (d) Mother-as-Partner/Father-as-Mentee, and (e) Ambiguous couples. Gendered caregiving assumptions, breastfeeding, and leave policies shaped these expectations. Conclusion: Expectant parents hold diverse representations of future cooperation, shaped by gender norms and policy contexts. Implications: These findings highlight the importance of addressing coparental expectations during the prenatal period. Supporting couples in articulating their roles, responsibilities, and mutual support can strengthen early coparenting dynamics and inform the development of preventive, family-focused interventions.

Background The validity of child abuse reports has been investigated, focusing on the agreement between prospective and retrospective reports of child abuse. The agreement of siblings' accounts about each other's experiences of abuse has been overlooked, although it might provide valuable insights. Objective We examined the prevalence of accounts about siblings' experience of abuse in a retrospective survey and analyzed predictors of accounts about different types of abuse. Moreover, agreement between accounts about siblings’ experiences of abuse and predictors of agreement were investigated. Methods Retrospective reports of 4568 adults participating in an online survey were analyzed in terms of predictors of accounts about siblings' experience of physical, sexual, and emotional abuse (71.31 % female). In a subsample of 870 participants, another sibling from the same family also participated in the survey, enabling the assessment of agreement in accounts. Predictors of accounts about siblings' experience of abuse and agreement between accounts were assessed using multivariate logistic regression. Agreement was assessed using Cohen's Kappa as well as agreement in percent. Findings Siblings' experience of emotional abuse was reported by 6.33 % of the participants, siblings' experience of physical abuse by 5.76 %, and siblings' experience of sexual abuse by 2.74 %. The agreement was highest for accounts about physical abuse, followed by sexual abuse. The agreement was higher for accounts about older siblings' experience than for younger siblings' experience of all abuse types. Significant predictors of accounts about siblings’ experiences of abuse and agreement between accounts relate to informant characteristics, sibling constellation, sibling relationship quality, and self-reported experience of abuse and neglect. Conclusion Findings highlight the possibility of investigating the prevalence rates of child abuse with reports of siblings, but also show possible factors contributing to bias in reporting and thus estimates. In practice, testimony from other family members is an essential aspect of restorative justice proceedings, and these findings might help understand conflicting testimonies.

Objective: This study presents the "Post-Separation Family" (PSF) module within the panel study "Growing Up in Germany" (German title: Aufwachsen In Deutschland: Alltagswelten [AID:A]) and discusses its contribution to providing information on diverse post-separation family constellations in Germany. Background: Rates of separation and divorce are persistently high in Western societies, and post-separation families are increasingly diverse and complex. However, official statistics and large-scale surveys in Germany often lack detailed data on post-separation family constellations, particularly regarding nonresident parents. Method: The PSF module in AID:A collects comprehensive information on everyday practices, conflicts, and parental care involvement of a wide range of family constellations. It enables the classification of diverse family constellations, such as single parents and stepfamilies, and includes data on non-resident parents. Results: In 2019, about 23% of families with minors were post-separation families with a non-resident parent (i.e., 17% single-parents, 6% stepfamilies). About 12% of minors in post-separation families practiced a shared care arrangement according to the PSF module data. Key measures on post-separation care arrangements can be further linked to the broad spectrum of outcomes collected in AID:A (e.g., economic hardship, subjective well-being, and parental education). Conclusion: The PSF module represents a concise instrument for analyzing post-separation family diversity in Germany, which could lay the groundwork for national and international comparisons of diverse family constellations if adopted in other surveys.

Adolescence is a critical period for developing coping capacities, yet global crises like the COVID-19 pandemic and war displacement impose unprecedented stressors that can overwhelm existing resources. This study qualitatively explored and compared how adolescents in Germany (N = 20 experiencing pandemic lockdown, aged 11-16; N = 25 Ukrainian refugees experiencing displacement, aged 12-18) coped with these distinct adversities. Drawing on an integrated theoretical framework (combining the transactional model of stress and coping with a risk and resilience framework), we analyzed semi-structured interviews using reflexive thematic analysis to explore the connections among contextual stressors, their impact on resources, and reported coping strategies. Findings revealed that while both crises elicited common coping functions-including adapting routines, emotion regulation, maintaining/rebuilding social connections, and positive reframing-the specific form and feasibility of these strategies appeared to be linked to how each crisis uniquely impacted adolescents' personal, social, and material resources. Crisis-specific strategies were also identified, which seemed to correspond to the distinct resource challenges associated with pandemic confinement (e.g., purposeful engagement with idle time) versus war displacement (e.g., focus on educational continuity amidst profound loss and acculturative demands). These findings underscore that adolescent coping is a dynamic, context-dependent process contingent on available resources. Understanding these connections between stressors, resources, and coping is crucial for developing interventions that are both broadly applicable and tailored to the specific challenges adolescents face in diverse crisis situations, considering their developmental needs.

ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to uncover patterns of parental postseparation conflict and to investigate possible links to the personality factors of the Dark Triad (i.e., Machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy).BackgroundStudies revealed different postseparation coparenting patterns that explain why some parents face long-lasting conflicts after separation. However, the role of legal disputes and links to parental personality traits have mostly been neglected so far.MethodThe analyses included 486 separated parents from the German Family Panel "pairfam" in year 2020-2021. We aimed to identify postseparation patterns of conflict, including coparenting and legal conflict, by using latent profile analysis. Possible links between latent profiles and the Dark Triad were assessed.ResultsThree postseparation conflict profiles were found: a cooperative, a parallel-derogating, and a conflictual profile. Links between these profiles and the Dark Triad could be found for narcissism, with membership to the conflictual profile being more likely with higher narcissism values.ConclusionThe findings show that a significant proportion of separated families is affected by postseparation conflict and that parents' personality plays a role here.ImplicationsThe results indicate that interventions targeting families affected by postseparation conflict should take parental personality traits into account.

Information and Support Needs of Separated Parents When parents separate, they have to overcome considerable emotional and organizational challenges, which can be unsettling and might raise many questions. An increased need for support can be assumed, especially in the case of ongoing conflicts or intimate partner violence. An online survey was carried out to investigate the specific questions that parents have following relationship dissolution and the extent to which parents affected by conflict and violence have specific (information) needs. 255 mothers and 104 fathers who had separated from the other parent in the last 5 years took part in the study. Of the participants, 51 % had completed or ongoing family court proceedings, 69 % reported ongoing conflict and 49 % reported partner violence. Overall, parents most frequently had questions about legal regulations, finding a care arrangement for their children, cooperating with the other parent, supporting their children in the separation process and adapting to the new living situation. Parents with ongoing conflicts were more often concerned with questions about how to deal with strong negative feelings, mistrust and the desire for distance. Parents who had been affected by intimate partner violence were more likely to have questions on ensuring safety for themselves and their children and dealing with the children's stress responses. The findings were taken into account in the development of the STARK online information platform and can be used to develop further needs-based support services.

Background:This study addresses a research gap by identifying depressive symptom trajectories from adolescence to emerging adulthood in a German community sample using a person-centered approach. Method:The sample consisted of 3,682 adolescents and young adults (49.3% self-identified as female; age at T1: 15-19 years, M = 17.03, SD = 0.88) assessed in seven annual waves of the German Family Panel Pairfam. Latent class growth analysis was conducted with sociodemographic variables (gender, family status, parental education, economic deprivation, immigration background) and depressive symptoms, as assessed by the State-Trait Depression Scales. Results:Five depressive symptom trajectories were identified: stable low symptoms (34%), intermediate onset with decreasing symptom trajectory (8%), intermediate onset with slow increasing symptom trajectory (46%), intermediate onset with strong increase symptom trajectory (9%) and stable high symptoms (4%). Female gender and economic deprivation were predictors for all four classes associated with higher depressive symptoms with reference to the class with stable low depressive symptoms. Family status and immigration status lost their predictive impact for membership in depressive symptom trajectories when economic deprivation was included. Conclusions:Interventions should target the underlying etiological factors of female gender and economic deprivation being risk factors for trajectories of depression, taking into consideration the complexity and interaction of biopsychosocial and political variables in the development of depressive disorders.

Models of emotional socialization propose that individual differences in parental emotion regulation influence children's emotionality, adjustment, and mental health. However, there is a relative dearth of longitudinal studies on the mediating processes explaining such an intrafamilial transmission. The current study examines parenting stress and sensitive challenging parenting as mediators between parental use of specific emotion regulation strategies and children's mental health in a three-wave longitudinal study from infancy to middle childhood.The results showed that the use of adaptive as well as maladaptive emotion regulation strategies have a longitudinal effect on children's mental health problems, mediated by parenting stress. Furthermore, the association between deactivating parental emotion regulation and child symptomatology additionally is mediated by lower sensitive challenging parenting. For adaptive emotion regulation, an additional mediation via sensitive challenging parenting moderated by parenting stress appeared.Results emphasize the relevance of parental maladaptive emotion regulation as a risk factor and adaptive emotion regulation as a promotive factor for children's mental health. Moreover, daily family interactions characterized by parenting stress and low parental sensitivity when supporting child's autonomy may be two relevant psychological processes explaining how the way parents modulate their own emotions affects their children. This may also inform mental health prevention.

The COVID-19 pandemic was stressful for many adolescents and their families, but effects proved far from uniform. Using a person-centered approach, this study aimed to identify types of perceived changes in family climate during the pandemic’s first lockdown, and test risk and resilience factors for differential changes in family climate. Further, risk and protective factors regarding longitudinal changes in adolescents’ well-being were tested depending on family climate. The longitudinal analyses included 822 adolescent participants (age 16–20; 42.7

Profiling the German case, we examine stability and change in shared physical custody (SPC) compared to sole custody (SC) and its correlates. Changing legal and cultural conditions led to a higher rate of separated parents sharing childcare. Because most prior studies relied on cross-sectional data or analyses, there is only sparse information on the stability of care arrangements in Europe more generally and in Germany specifically. Drawing on the representative panel 'Growing up in Germany' collected in 2019 and 2021, our analyses were based on parents' reports on 558 minors in post-separation families. Employing multinomial logit models, we regressed a categorical change score indicating fluctuations in care arrangements on a variety of measures, including socio-demographic and separation-specific indicators. The share of children in both SPC and SC was highly stable. A shorter distance between parental homes and higher parental education was linked to stable SPC arrangements. Fewer interparental conflicts, but also more coparenting problems at baseline, were associated with a higher chance to switch to arrangements with increasing shared care, whereas parental employment at baseline was linked to decreasing care. Results are further discussed in light of the timing of data collection during the COVID-19 pandemic and potential underlying mechanisms.

Theoretical Background: The war in Ukraine has led to the displacement of countless families, subjecting children and adolescents to significant stressors such as trauma from the conflict, loss, and the challenges of adapting to a new culture upon resettlement. To deal with these stressors, they develop and employ a variety of coping strategies. Aim: This study aimed to identify and explore the innate coping strategies employed by Ukrainian refugee adolescents as they adapt to life in Germany after displacement in order to better understand how to support them during such a difficult time of crisis. Method: We conducted 25 semi-structured interviews with Ukrainian refugees aged 12 - 18 years, covering topics from their escape from Ukraine to their everyday life in Germany. The data were holistically analyzed using Braun and Clarke's thematic analysis method. The themes identified, representing the coping strategies employed by the refugees, were examined in light of Lazarus and Folkman's psychological stress and coping theory, which distinguishes between emotion-focused and problem-focused coping. Results: The analysis revealed a multifaceted approach to coping, encompassing both emotion-focused and problem-focused strategies. Many participants prioritized educational pursuits and future planning, adopting a proactive approach to their new challenges. Maintaining familiar routines from their life in Ukraine provided a sense of continuity and stability amid change. Emotional regulation, facilitated by creative activities and social support, emerged as a critical coping theme. Building and maintaining social connections were key for emotional support and integration. Some adolescents coped by distancing themselves from distressing aspects of their past or present, while others engaged in reflecting on past experiences, sometimes finding solace and at other times experiencing sorrow. Notably, despite facing adversities, a sense of optimism was observed in some adolescents, indicating an adaptive and resilient mindset. Discussion and Conclusion: The study underscores the importance of holistic support for refugee children and adolescents that acknowledges and works with their innate coping strategies. It highlights the complexity of the refugee experience, where growth and struggle coexist, and the need for tailored interventions to support young refugees in not only immediate challenges but also in long-term mental health.

BackgroundSmartphone apps may provide an opportunity to deliver mental health resources and interventions in a scalable and cost-effective manner. However, young people from marginalized and underserved groups face numerous and unique challenges to accessing, engaging with, and benefiting from these apps. ObjectiveThis study aims to better understand the acceptability (ie, perceived usefulness and satisfaction with an app) and feasibility (ie, the extent to which an app was successfully used) of mental health apps for underserved young people. A secondary aim was to establish whether adaptations can be made to increase the accessibility and inclusivity of apps for these groups. MethodsWe conducted 2 sequential studies, consisting of a systematic literature review of mental health apps for underserved populations followed by a qualitative study with underserved young male participants (n=20; age: mean 19). Following the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) guidelines, an electronic search of 5 databases was conducted in 2021. The search yielded 18,687 results, of which 14 articles met the eligibility criteria. ResultsThe included studies comprised a range of groups, including those affected by homelessness, having physical health conditions, living in low- and middle-income countries, and those with sexual and gender minority identities. Establishing and maintaining user engagement was a pervasive challenge across mental health apps and populations, and dropout was a reported problem among nearly all the included studies. Positive subjective reports of usability, satisfaction, and acceptability were insufficient to determine users’ objective engagement. ConclusionsDespite the significant amount of funding directed to the development of mental health apps, juxtaposed with only limited empirical evidence to support their effectiveness, few apps have been deliberately developed or adapted to meet the heterogeneous needs of marginalized and underserved young people. Before mental health apps are scaled up, a greater understanding is needed of the types of services that more at-risk young people and those in limited-resource settings prefer (eg, standard vs digital) followed by more rigorous and consistent demonstrations of acceptability, effectiveness, and cost-effectiveness. Adopting an iterative participatory approach by involving young people in the development and evaluation process is an essential step in enhancing the adoption of any intervention, including apps, in “real-world” settings and will support future implementation and sustainability efforts to ensure that marginalized and underserved groups are reached. Trial RegistrationPROSPERO CRD42021254241; https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/display_record.php?RecordID=254241