@article{ZohselHolzHohmetal.2017, author = {Zohsel, Katrin and Holz, Nathalie E. and Hohm, Erika and Schmidt, Martin H. and Esser, G{\"u}nter and Brandeis, Daniel and Banaschewski, Tobias and Laucht, Manfred}, title = {Fewer self-reported depressive symptoms in young adults exposed to maternal depressed mood during pregnancy}, series = {Journal of Affective Disorders}, volume = {209}, journal = {Journal of Affective Disorders}, publisher = {Elsevier}, address = {Amsterdam}, issn = {0165-0327}, doi = {10.1016/j.jad.2016.08.059}, pages = {155 -- 162}, year = {2017}, abstract = {Background: Depressed mood is prevalent during pregnancy, with accumulating evidence suggesting an impact on developmental outcome in the offspring. However, the long-term effects of prenatal maternal depression regarding internalizing psychopathology in the offspring are as yet unclear. Results: In n=85 young adults exposed to prenatal maternal depressed mood, no significantly higher risk for a diagnosis of depressive disorder was observed. However, they reported significantly lower levels of depressive symptoms. This association was especially pronounced when prenatal maternal depressed mood was present during the first trimester of pregnancy and when maternal mood was depressed pre- as well as postnatally. At an uncorrected level only, prenatal maternal depressed mood was associated with decreased amygdala volume. Limitations: Prenatal maternal depressed mood was not assessed during pregnancy, but shortly after childbirth. No diagnoses of maternal clinical depression during pregnancy were available. Conclusions: Self-reported depressive symptoms do not imply increased, but rather decreased symptom levels in young adults who were exposed to prenatal maternal depressed mood. A long-term perspective may be important when considering consequences of prenatal risk factors.}, language = {en} } @article{HolzBoeckerSchlierBuchmannetal.2017, author = {Holz, Nathalie E. and Boecker-Schlier, Regina and Buchmann, Arlette F. and Blomeyer, Dorothea and Jennen-Steinmetz, Christine and Baumeister, Sarah and Plichta, Michael M. and Cattrell, Anna and Schumann, Gunter and Esser, G{\"u}nter and Schmidt, Martin and Buitelaar, Jan and Meyer-Lindenberg, Andreas and Banaschewski, Tobias and Brandeis, Daniel and Laucht, Manfred}, title = {Ventral striatum and amygdala activity as convergence sites for early adversity and conduct disorder}, series = {Frontiers in human neuroscience}, volume = {12}, journal = {Frontiers in human neuroscience}, number = {2}, publisher = {Oxford Univ. Press}, address = {Oxford}, issn = {1749-5016}, doi = {10.1093/scan/nsw120}, pages = {261 -- 272}, year = {2017}, abstract = {Childhood family adversity (CFA) increases the risk for conduct disorder (CD) and has been associated with alterations in regions of affective processing like ventral striatum (VS) and amygdala. However, no study so far has demonstrated neural converging effects of CFA and CD in the same sample. At age 25 years, functional MRI data during two affective tasks, i.e. a reward (N = 171) and a face-matching paradigm (N = 181) and anatomical scans (N = 181) were acquired in right-handed currently healthy participants of an epidemiological study followed since birth. CFA during childhood was determined using a standardized parent interview. Disruptive behaviors and CD diagnoses during childhood and adolescence were obtained by diagnostic interview (2-19 years), temperamental reward dependence was assessed by questionnaire (15 and 19 years). CFA predicted increased CD and amygdala volume. Both exposure to CFA and CD were associated with a decreased VS response during reward anticipation and blunted amygdala activity during face-matching. CD mediated the effect of CFA on brain activity. Temperamental reward dependence was negatively correlated with CFA and CD and positively with VS activity. These findings underline the detrimental effects of CFA on the offspring's affective processing and support the importance of early postnatal intervention programs aiming to reduce childhood adversity factors.}, language = {en} } @article{PitzerEsserSchmidtetal.2017, author = {Pitzer, Martina and Esser, G{\"u}nter and Schmidt, Martin H. and Hohm, Erika and Banaschewski, Tobias and Laucht, Manfred}, title = {Child regulative temperament as a mediator of parenting in the development of depressive symptoms}, series = {Journal of neural transmission}, volume = {124}, journal = {Journal of neural transmission}, publisher = {Springer}, address = {Wien}, issn = {0300-9564}, doi = {10.1007/s00702-017-1682-2}, pages = {631 -- 641}, year = {2017}, abstract = {Child temperament as well as parenting behaviors have been linked to adolescent depression. Beyond their main effects, the interplay between these factors is of interest. For example, in an interactive model, a differential susceptibility of temperamental variants to parenting has been suggested. However, so far, the differential susceptibility hypothesis has mostly been studied with a focus on externalizing disorders. On the other hand, parenting may shape the child's temperament and vice versa in a transactional process. In a prospective, longitudinal at-risk sample (163 boys, 176 girls), we assessed emotional (easy-difficult) and regulative (self-control) temperament at ages 4.5, and 8 years, respectively, as well as parenting quality at age 4.5 years using the HOME inventory. Hierarchical linear regression analysis was used to investigate the prediction of depressive symptoms at age 11, measured by the Child Depression Inventory, including interaction terms between the temperament variable and parenting. We additionally tested whether parenting was mediated by child temperament. As previously reported, both self-control and parenting were longitudinally associated with preadolescent depressive symptoms. There were no interactive effects between temperament and parenting. However, the effects of parenting were partly mediated by self-control. Our data do not support a differential susceptibility of temperamental variants in the development of preadolescent depression. However, our results are in line with the assumption that parenting may shape young children's temperament, with positive parenting in the early childhood fostering the development of regulative temperament.}, language = {en} } @article{JungKraheBondueetal.2016, author = {Jung, Janis Moritz and Krah{\´e}, Barbara and Bondue, Rebecca and Esser, G{\"u}nter and Wyschkon, Anne}, title = {Dynamic progression of antisocial behavior in childhood and adolescence}, series = {Applied Developmental Science}, volume = {22}, journal = {Applied Developmental Science}, number = {1}, publisher = {Routledge, Taylor \& Francis Group}, address = {Abingdon}, issn = {1088-8691}, doi = {10.1080/10888691.2016.1219228}, pages = {74 -- 88}, year = {2016}, abstract = {This longitudinal study from Germany examined the dynamic progression of antisocial behavior in childhood and adolescence based on the social interactional model by Patterson, DeBaryshe, and Ramsey. It examined the link between antisocial behavior, social rejection, academic failure, and affiliation with deviant peers in a sample of 1,657 children and youths aged between 6 and 15 years who were studied at three measurement waves (T1 to T3) over a time period of about 5 years. Teachers rated the children on all variables, parents additionally provided ratings of antisocial behavior and social rejection. Latent structural equation modeling yielded the predicted positive paths from antisocial behavior at T1 to social rejection and academic failure at T2. As predicted, affiliation with deviant peers at T2 was positively associated with social rejection and academic failure at the same measurement point. Finally, affiliation with deviant peers at T2 significantly predicted antisocial behavior at T3.}, language = {en} } @article{KucianZuberKohnetal.2018, author = {Kucian, Karin and Zuber, Isabelle and Kohn, Juliane and Poltz, Nadine and Wyschkon, Anne and Esser, G{\"u}nter and von Aster, Michael G.}, title = {Relation Between Mathematical Performance, Math Anxiety, and Affective Priming in Children With and Without Developmental Dyscalculia}, series = {Frontiers in psychology}, volume = {9}, journal = {Frontiers in psychology}, publisher = {Frontiers Research Foundation}, address = {Lausanne}, issn = {1664-1078}, doi = {10.3389/fpsyg.2018.00263}, pages = {13}, year = {2018}, abstract = {Many children show negative emotions related to mathematics and some even develop mathematics anxiety. The present study focused on the relation between negative emotions and arithmetical performance in children with and without developmental dyscalculia (DD) using an affective priming task. Previous findings suggested that arithmetic performance is influenced if an affective prime precedes the presentation of an arithmetic problem. In children with DD specifically, responses to arithmetic operations are supposed to be facilitated by both negative and mathematics-related primes (= negative math priming effect). We investigated mathematical performance, math anxiety, and the domain-general abilities of 172 primary school children (76 with DD and 96 controls). All participants also underwent an affective priming task which consisted of the decision whether a simple arithmetic operation (addition or subtraction) that was preceded by a prime (positive/negative/neutral or mathematics-related) was true or false. Our findings did not reveal a negative math priming effect in children with DD. Furthermore, when considering accuracy levels, gender, or math anxiety, the negative math priming effect could not be replicated. However, children with DD showed more math anxiety when explicitly assessed by a specific math anxiety interview and showed lower mathematical performance compared to controls. Moreover, math anxiety was equally present in boys and girls, even in the earliest stages of schooling, and interfered negatively with performance. In conclusion, mathematics is often associated with negative emotions that can be manifested in specific math anxiety, particularly in children with DD. Importantly, present findings suggest that in the assessed age group, it is more reliable to judge math anxiety and investigate its effects on mathematical performance explicitly by adequate questionnaires than by an affective math priming task.}, language = {en} } @article{MillenetLauchtHohmetal.2018, author = {Millenet, Sabina and Laucht, Manfred and Hohm, Erika and Jennen-Steinmetz, Christine and Hohmann, Sarah and Schmidt, Martin H. and Esser, G{\"u}nter and Banaschewski, Tobias and Brandeis, Daniel and Zohsel, Katrin}, title = {Sex-specific trajectories of ADHD symptoms from adolescence to young adulthood}, series = {European child and adolescent psychiatry : offical journal of the European Society for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry}, volume = {27}, journal = {European child and adolescent psychiatry : offical journal of the European Society for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry}, number = {8}, publisher = {Springer}, address = {New York}, issn = {1018-8827}, doi = {10.1007/s00787-018-1129-9}, pages = {1067 -- 1075}, year = {2018}, abstract = {Reports of current ADHD symptoms in adults with a childhood diagnosis of ADHD are often discrepant: While one subgroup reports a particularly high level of current ADHD symptoms, another reports—in contrast—a very low level. The reasons for this difference remain unclear. Although sex might play a moderating role, it has not yet been examined in this regard. In an epidemiological cohort study from birth to young adulthood, childhood ADHD diagnoses were assessed at the ages of 4.5, 8, and 11 years based on parent ratings. Sex-specific development of ADHD symptoms was analyzed from the age of 15 to 25 years via self-reported ADHD symptoms in participants with (n = 47) and without childhood ADHD (n = 289) using a random coefficient regression model. The congruence between parent reports and adolescents' self-ratings was examined, and the role of childhood ADHD diagnosis, childhood OCC/CD, and childhood internalizing disorder as possible sex-specific predictors of self-reported ADHD symptoms at age 25 years was investigated. With regard to self-reported ADHD symptoms, females with a childhood ADHD diagnosis reported significantly more ADHD symptoms compared to females without childhood ADHD and males with and without ADHD throughout adolescence and young adulthood. In contrast, males with childhood ADHD did not differ from control males either at age 15 or at age 25 years. Only in females did a childhood diagnosis of an externalizing disorder (ADHD and CD/ODD) predict self-reported ADHD symptoms by age 25 years. Our findings suggest that self-reports of young adults with a childhood diagnosis of ADHD are influenced by sex. Specifically, females with childhood ADHD report increased levels of ADHD symptoms upon reaching adulthood. To correctly evaluate symptoms and impairment in this subgroup, other, more objective, sources of information may be advisable, such as neurophysiological measures.}, language = {en} } @article{MeiserEsser2017, author = {Meiser, Susanne and Esser, G{\"u}nter}, title = {How dysfunctional are dysfunctional attitudes?}, series = {Cognitive Therapy and Research}, volume = {41}, journal = {Cognitive Therapy and Research}, publisher = {Springer}, address = {New York}, issn = {0147-5916}, doi = {10.1007/s10608-017-9842-0}, pages = {730 -- 744}, year = {2017}, abstract = {In order to clarify further the role of Beck's vulnerability-stress model in the early development of depression, this longitudinal study tested a threshold model of dysfunctional attitudes in children and adolescents. An initially asymptomatic sample of 889 youths aged 9-18 years completed measures of dysfunctional attitudes and depressive symptoms. Twenty months later, participants reported stressful life events and current depressive symptoms. Results support a threshold view of cognitive vulnerability as only dysfunctional attitudes above a certain threshold significantly interacted with life events to predict depressive symptoms. Thus, findings suggest that dysfunctional attitudes must exceed a certain threshold to confer vulnerability to depressive symptomatology in youth. The term "dysfunctional" might therefore only apply to higher levels of the "dysfunctional attitudes" proposed by A. T. Beck. Results also indicate that studies using non-clinical samples may systematically underestimate the effect of dysfunctional attitudes when relying on conventional linear methods.}, language = {en} } @article{HolzBoeckerSchlierJennenSteinmetzetal.2018, author = {Holz, Nathalie E. and Boecker-Schlier, Regina and Jennen-Steinmetz, Christine and Hohm, Erika and Buchmann, Arlette F. and Blomeyer, Dorothea and Baumeister, Sarah and Plichta, Michael M. and Esser, G{\"u}nter and Schmidt, Martin and Meyer-Lindenberg, Andreas and Banaschewski, Tobias and Brandeis, Daniel and Laucht, Manfred}, title = {Early maternal care may counteract familial liability for psychopathology in the reward circuitry}, series = {Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience}, volume = {13}, journal = {Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience}, number = {11}, publisher = {Oxford Univ. Press}, address = {Oxford}, issn = {1749-5016}, doi = {10.1093/scan/nsy087}, pages = {1191 -- 1201}, year = {2018}, abstract = {Reward processing is altered in various psychopathologies and has been shown to be susceptible to genetic and environmental influences. Here, we examined whether maternal care may buffer familial risk for psychiatric disorders in terms of reward processing. Functional magnetic resonance imaging during a monetary incentive delay task was acquired in participants of an epidemiological cohort study followed since birth (N = 172, 25 years). Early maternal stimulation was assessed during a standardized nursing/playing setting at the age of 3 months. Parental psychiatric disorders (familial risk) during childhood and the participants' previous psychopathology were assessed by diagnostic interview. With high familial risk, higher maternal stimulation was related to increasing activation in the caudate head, the supplementary motor area, the cingulum and the middle frontal gyrus during reward anticipation, with the opposite pattern found in individuals with no familial risk. In contrast, higher maternal stimulation was associated with decreasing caudate head activity during reward delivery and reduced levels of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in the high-risk group. Decreased caudate head activity during reward anticipation and increased activity during delivery were linked to ADHD. These findings provide evidence of a long-term association of early maternal stimulation on both adult neurobiological systems of reward underlying externalizing behavior and ADHD during development.}, language = {en} } @article{MeiserEsser2017, author = {Meiser, Susanne and Esser, G{\"u}nter}, title = {Interpersonal Stress Generation-A Girl Problem?}, series = {Journal of early adolescence}, volume = {39}, journal = {Journal of early adolescence}, number = {1}, publisher = {Sage Publ.}, address = {Thousand Oaks}, issn = {0272-4316}, doi = {10.1177/0272431617725197}, pages = {41 -- 66}, year = {2017}, abstract = {To provide further insight into stress generation patterns in boys and girls around puberty, this study investigated longitudinal reciprocal relations between depressive symptoms, dysfunctional attitudes, and stress generation, the process by which individuals contribute to the occurrence of stress in interpersonal contexts (e.g., problematic social interactions) or in noninterpersonal contexts (e.g., achievement problems). A community sample of N = 924 German children and early adolescents (51.8\% male) completed depressive symptoms and dysfunctional attitudes measures at T1 and again 20 months later (T2). Stressful life events were reported at T2. Dysfunctional attitudes were unrelated to stress generation. Interpersonal, but not noninterpersonal, dependent stress partially mediated the relationship between initial and later depressive symptoms, with girls being more likely to generate interpersonal stress in response to depressive symptoms. Findings underscore the role of interpersonal stress generation in the early development of depressive symptomatology, and in the gender difference in depression prevalence emerging around puberty.}, language = {en} } @article{TetznerKlieglKraheetal.2017, author = {Tetzner, Julia and Kliegl, Reinhold and Krah{\´e}, Barbara and Busching, Robert and Esser, G{\"u}nter}, title = {Developmental problems in adolescence}, series = {Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology}, volume = {53}, journal = {Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology}, publisher = {Elsevier}, address = {New York}, issn = {0193-3973}, doi = {10.1016/j.appdev.2017.08.003}, pages = {40 -- 53}, year = {2017}, abstract = {This longitudinal study investigated patterns of developmental problems across depression, aggression, and academic achievement during adolescence, using two measurement points two years apart (N = 1665; age T1: M = 13.14; female = 49.6\%). Latent Profile Analyses and Latent Transition Analyses yielded four main findings: A three-type solution provided the best fit to the data: an asymptomatic type (i.e., low problem scores in all three domains), a depressed type (i.e., high scores in depression), an aggressive type (i.e., high scores in aggression). Profile types were invariant over the two data waves but differed between girls and boys, revealing gender specific patterns of comorbidity. Stabilities over time were high for the asymptomatic type and for types that represented problems in one domain, but moderate for comorbid types. Differences in demographic variables (i.e., age, socio-economic status) and individual characteristics (i.e., self-esteem, dysfunctional cognitions, cognitive capabilities) predicted profile type memberships and longitudinal transitions between types.}, language = {en} }