Not all wealth is health: how does parental wealth affect children’s cognitive ability, mental and physical health?

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Vishal Bhavsar reviews a cohort study which finds that greater parental housing wealth was associated with fewer emotional and behavioural problems in children.

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The case for social-emotional competence: essential skills for school and life? #MHED2018

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Michael Wigelsworth summarises a review by Celene Domitrovich on social-emotional competence, which she describes as an essential factor in promoting positive adjustment and reducing risk in children.

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Early life deprivation, neurodevelopment, mental health and resilience: ERA study

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André Tomlin summarises the latest instalment of the ERA (English and Romanian Adoptees) study, which explores the neurodevelopmental and mental health trajectories of Romanian orphans who experienced severe levels of early life deprivation.

Today’s blog features a podcast interview with lead author of the ERA study: Professor Edmund Sonuga-Barke.

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Childhood bullying and mental illness in young adulthood

The risk of psychotic experiences was found to be increased for both self-reported bullies and victims at age 8 and 10.

Jasmin Wertz appraises a recent Finnish cohort study, which explores how different forms of children’s bullying involvement are associated with mental illness and use of specialised psychiatric services in young adulthood.

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Incredible Years Parent Training has a role in improving outcomes for all children

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Fiona Warner-Gale presents the findings of a meta-analytic review of the Incredible Years Parent Training programme, which is found to be effective at modifying disruptive and prosocial child behaviour. This evidence will be of interest to many, including policymakers, planners and practitioners.

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Moving to better neighbourhoods: bad for boys, good for girls?

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The link between external influences such as family and neighbourhood experiences and young people’s mental health outcomes has been extensively commented on in the literature. While it is more common for studies to focus on the individual or family level, looking at things from a wider perspective is interesting especially from a public mental health [read the full story…]

NICE publish first guideline for conduct disorders and antisocial behaviour in children and young people

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Conduct disorders are the most common reason why children are referred to mental health services and it’s estimated that around 5% of all UK children aged 5-16 have a diagnosis of the condition. Around half of the young people affected by conduct disorders go on to have a serious mental health problem as an adult. [read the full story…]

Short-term use of second-generation antipsychotics can cause side effects in children and adolescents

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Over the last few years, we have seen more and more children and young people being prescribed antipsychotic drugs. The theory behind this increase is that the newer antipsychotic drugs have fewer side effects than the older typical antipsychotics. However, some small and relatively short duration studies have shown that the newer drugs may also [read the full story…]

Modular psychotherapy may be the answer for young people with comorbid depression, anxiety and conduct problems

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Young people with mental health problems often suffer from comorbidity, i.e. a complex mix of different conditions like depression, anxiety and conduct problems. Clinical research very often investigates specific treatments (e.g. CBT) for single disorders (e.g. depression) and guidelines and manuals are then developed for clinicians to help them treat these individual conditions. The problem [read the full story…]

Group parenting programmes help improve child conduct problems, parental mental health and parenting skills

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Conduct problems in young children are common and costly, so there’s lots of interest in training programmes that can help parents and children cope better. This new review from the Cochrane Developmental, Psychosocial and Learning Problems Group assesses the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of behavioural and cognitive-behavioural group-based parenting programmes for improving child conduct problems, parental [read the full story…]