Twin study
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Environmental factors linked with identifying as a sexual minority may increase suicidality risk
Adolescents who identify as a sexual minority (e.g., gay/lesbian, bisexual) are at an increased risk for suicidality compared to their heterosexual counterparts.1 Until now, inherent limitations in study design has meant that the extent of this association has been unclear.
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Is aggression linked with academic performance in young people?
A new study published in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry has investigated the association between aggression and academic performance in >27,000 young people enrolled in four twin cohorts comprising the ACTION consortium.
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Are autistic behaviours a trait or a state of anorexia nervosa?
Anorexia nervosa (AN) and autism spectrum disorder (ASD) seem to co-occur more frequently than would be expected by chance.1,2 Yet because most studies investigating the nature of this co-occurrence have used a retrospective design, where the data are prone to recall bias, we don’t know whether the elevation of autistic traits in AN is present from childhood or rather from AN onset.
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Poor sleep quality in adolescence might contribute to poor psychological functioning
Sleep problems affect up to 25% adolescents and have frequently been associated with psychopathology. Now, Marije Vermeulen and colleagues have investigated whether short and/or problematic sleep truly contributes to psychological functioning.
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Genetic and environmental influences on callous-unemotional traits vary with age
Research on callous-unemotional (CU) traits explores the relative importance of genetic versus environmental influences on the initial risk and trajectory.
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Shared genetic risk underlies the co-occurrence of ADHD and other psychiatric symptoms
Data from twin studies suggest that the co-occurrence of ADHD with other psychiatric disorders is due, in part, to shared genetic risks.
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Gender-specific pathways mediate the risk of substance use in adolescents with ADHD
Data suggest that children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are more likely to start smoking tobacco and/or marijuana earlier in childhood than unaffected children, and then escalate use during adolescence. Now, a study by researchers at the University of Minnesota has examined the mediating pathways underlying this association between childhood ADHD and later substance-abuse problems.
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Teacher assessments could replace high-stake testing to improve student well-being
Many students experience anxiety and distress during exams, and these emotions can have a negative effect on achievement. Notably, one of the top-reported concerns voiced by children in the UK is the stress and anxiety associated with school work and exam performance.
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Genetic factors influence the relationship between the home environment and onset of depressive symptom
Clinical depression is prevalent in adolescence, but how depression emerges and the nature of the early risk factors is unknown. Insight has now come from a study performed by researchers at King’s College London.
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Low activity levels affect child mental development
High activity levels (AL) in early childhood are associated with sub-optimal social and behavioural outcomes, but whether low AL have negative outcomes is unclear. Now, a study conducted by researchers at Boston University has demonstrated that AL are curvilinearly related to mental development.
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