Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry最新文献

{"title":"Initiation and stability of self-harm in adolescence and early adulthood: investigating social and aetiological factors in twins.","authors":"Filip Marzecki, Yasmin I Ahmadzadeh, Olakunle A Oginni, Jean-Baptiste Pingault, Thomas A McAdams, Helena M S Zavos","doi":"10.1111/jcpp.14096","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/jcpp.14096","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Almost one in five (18.8%) UK adolescents are estimated to self-harm and many young people initiate self-harm early (average age 13 years). Prevention of self-harm should be informed by knowledge about risk factors (e.g. socio-demographic indices), characteristics (i.e. motivation for self-harm and help-seeking behaviours), as well as relative aetiological genetic and environmental processes. Previous twin studies evidence both genetic and environmental influences on self-harm. However, to date, there has been no genetically informed research on self-harm aetiology across development, nor studies identifying risk factors for initiating self-harm at a younger age.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>We examined self-harm in the Twins Early Development Study, a birth cohort twin study. Using clustered regression models, we tested associations of socio-demographic factors and victimisation with lifetime self-harm and age of self-harm initiation, both reported at 21. To investigate stability and/or change in genetic and environmental influences on self-harm we interpreted a multivariate Cholesky decomposition across ages ≤16, 21, and 26.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Self-harm was more common in adolescence than early adulthood, and the incidence of self-harm in early adulthood was low (1.4%). The most common motivation for self-harm was 'to get relief from a terrible state of mind' (83.4%). Independent predictors of self-harm and earlier initiation of self-harm were being female, belonging to a gender and/or sexual minority group, and experience of bullying victimisation. Sexual minority status was still significantly associated with self-harm after controlling for familial factors in co-twin control analyses. The Cholesky decomposition showed stability in genetic influences and innovation in non-shared environmental influences on self-harm.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Adolescence should be a key period for self-harm interventions. Women, sexual, and gender minorities, and those experiencing victimisation may need targeted support early in adolescence. Furthermore, it should be acknowledged that different individuals can be at risk at different stages as environmental factors influencing self-harm change across time.</p>","PeriodicalId":187,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.5,"publicationDate":"2024-12-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142816680","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Childhood adversity is associated with reduced threat-safety discrimination and increased fear generalization in 12- to 16-year-olds.","authors":"Celine Samaey, Aleksandra Lecei, Maarten Jackers, Lise Jennen, Koen Schruers, Bram Vervliet, Bart Boets, Ruud van Winkel","doi":"10.1111/jcpp.14092","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/jcpp.14092","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Childhood adversity poses a major transdiagnostic risk for a host of psychiatric disorders. Altered threat-related information processing has been put forward as a potential process underlying the association between childhood adversity and psychiatric disorders, with previous research providing support for decreased discrimination between threat and safety cues, in both children and adults exposed to adversity. This altered threat-safety discrimination has been hypothesized to stem from increased generalization of fear, yet to date, this hypothesis has not been tested in youth.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>Here, we investigate whether childhood adversity is associated with fear generalization during adolescence. 119 adolescents between 12 and 16 years of age (mean = 13.95), of whom 63 exposed to childhood adversity, completed a fear generalization paradigm. Fear conditioning was assessed through trial-by-trial US expectancy ratings and post-experimental ratings of fear, valence and arousal. Additionally, we administered a perceptual discrimination task to assess the potential impact of perceptual discrimination abilities upon fear generalization.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>In line with our hypotheses, results showed that childhood adversity is associated with (1) reduced threat-safety differentiation during fear acquisition and (2) increased fear generalization in both boys and girls, albeit to a different extent, as boys showed more generalization towards safety cues while girls showed more generalization towards dangerous cues. Moreover, this overgeneralization of fear could not be attributed to group differences in perceptual discrimination.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Altered fear learning may be an important process through which adversity increases risk for the development of psychopathology. Longitudinal research is essential to elucidate risk and resilience patterns following childhood adversity.</p>","PeriodicalId":187,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.5,"publicationDate":"2024-12-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142816697","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Childhood maltreatment is associated with lower exploration and disrupted prefrontal activity and connectivity during reward learning in volatile environments.","authors":"Diana J N Armbruster-Genç, Louise Neil, Vincent Valton, Harriet Phillips, Georgia Rankin, Molly Sharp, Jessica Rapley, Essi Viding, Jonathan P Roiser, Eamon McCrory","doi":"10.1111/jcpp.14095","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/jcpp.14095","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Atypical reward processing is implicated in a range of psychiatric disorders associated with childhood maltreatment and may represent a latent vulnerability mechanism. In this longitudinal study, we investigated the impact of maltreatment on behavioural and neural indices of reward learning in volatile environments and examined associations with future psychopathology assessed 18 months later.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>Thirty-seven children and adolescents with documented histories of maltreatment (MT group) and a carefully matched group of 32 non-maltreated individuals (NMT group) aged 10-16 were presented with a probabilistic reinforcement learning task featuring a phase of stable and a phase of volatile reward contingencies. Brain activation and connectivity were assessed simultaneously using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Computational models were used to extract individual estimates of learning rates and temperature, and neural signals in prespecified regions of interest were analysed during volatile and stable environments. In regression analyses, behavioural measures and neural signals at baseline were used to predict psychological symptoms at follow-up.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>The MT group showed lower behavioural exploration, which predicted decreased internalising symptoms at follow-up. The MT group had lower activation in the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) during outcome delivery in volatile relative to stable contexts. OFC connectivity with an area in the mid-cingulate cortex was also lower during outcome processing, which predicted higher general psychopathology at follow-up.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>These findings are consistent with the notion that low exploratory behaviour following childhood maltreatment is potentially a protective adaptation against internalising symptoms, while disrupted neural processing of reward learning in volatile environments may index latent vulnerability to mental illness.</p>","PeriodicalId":187,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.5,"publicationDate":"2024-12-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142811694","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Taking theory of mind research into much needed new terrain - a commentary on Kochanska et al. (2025).","authors":"Ross A Thompson","doi":"10.1111/jcpp.14087","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/jcpp.14087","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Contemporary research on developing theory of mind emphasizes its cognitive and neurobiological foundations, but studies of its relational origins have potential for opening new terrain in this expansive literature. The study by Kochanska and colleagues shows this in several ways. First, it offers a model for constructing theoretically guided causal models built on longitudinal research enlisting multiple predictors of developing theory of mind that can be examined in concert. Second, the findings invite deeper consideration of the processes by which theory of mind emerges by unpacking the relational predictors highlighted in this and other studies. In particular, examining the characteristics of early conversation focused on the child's experiences and mental states and studying the coordination of subjective states in parent-child interaction are each warranted avenues. Third, enlisting fathers and mothers into this inquiry broadens the range of relational partners contributing to young children's developing understanding of the mind.</p>","PeriodicalId":187,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.5,"publicationDate":"2024-12-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142805755","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Social connection and its prospective association with adolescent internalising and externalising symptoms: an exploratory cross‐country study using retrospective harmonisation","authors":"Bettina Moltrecht, João Villanova do Amaral, Giovanni Abrahão Salum, Euripedes Constantino Miguel, Luis Augusto Rohde, George B. Ploubidis, Eoin McElroy, Mauricio Scopel Hoffmann","doi":"10.1111/jcpp.14080","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/jcpp.14080","url":null,"abstract":"BackgroundSocial connection factors play a key role for young people's mental health. It is important to understand how their influence may vary across contexts. We investigated structural (e.g. household size), functional (e.g. social support) and quality (e.g. feeling close) social connection factors in relation to adolescent internalising and externalising symptoms, comparing two countries Brazil and the United Kingdom (UK).MethodsWe pooled data from the UK Millennium Cohort Study (MCS) and the Brazilian High Risk Cohort Study (BHRCS). We included 12 social connection variables, identified through retrospective harmonisation and lived experience expert involvement. We tested measurement invariance and conducted multiple regressions to analyse associations between the social connection factors (age 14) and later internalising and externalising difficulties (age 17.5) in both cohorts. We investigated country‐level interactions and used weights to account for attrition, survey design, population representativeness and sample size.ResultsWe found pooled main associations with later internalising symptoms for ‘living with half‐siblings’ (<jats:italic>p</jats:italic> &lt; .001), ‘moving address’ (<jats:italic>p</jats:italic> = .001), ‘mother marital status’ (<jats:italic>p</jats:italic> &lt; .001–.003), ‘bullying’ (<jats:italic>p</jats:italic> = .001), ‘being bullied’ (<jats:italic>p</jats:italic> &lt; .001) and ‘difficulties keeping friends’ (<jats:italic>p</jats:italic> &lt; .001). For externalising, we found main associations with ‘household size’ (<jats:italic>p =</jats:italic> .041), ‘moving address’ (<jats:italic>p</jats:italic> = .041), ‘mother's marital status’ (<jats:italic>p</jats:italic> = .001–.013), ‘bullying others’ (<jats:italic>p</jats:italic> &lt; .001) and ‘being bullied’ (<jats:italic>p</jats:italic> &lt; .001). Country‐level interactions suggested higher internalising symptoms were associated with ‘household size’ (<jats:italic>p</jats:italic> = .001) in Brazil and ‘being bullied’ (<jats:italic>p</jats:italic> &lt; .001) in MCS. Additionally, ‘half‐siblings in household’ (<jats:italic>p</jats:italic> = .003), ‘poor mother–child relationship’ (<jats:italic>p</jats:italic> = .018), ‘single mother’ (<jats:italic>p</jats:italic> = .035), ‘bullying’ (<jats:italic>p</jats:italic> &lt; .001) and ‘being bullied’ (<jats:italic>p</jats:italic> &lt; .001) were more strongly linked to externalising difficulties in MCS.ConclusionsSocial connection factors, mostly structural, contributed to adolescent internalising and externalising difficulties in both countries. Factors relating to bullying and family composition seem to play a stronger role in each country. Cultural and socioeconomic factors might explain these differences. Future research should investigate cross‐regional differences to meaningfully inform global mental health efforts.","PeriodicalId":187,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry","volume":"27 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":7.6,"publicationDate":"2024-12-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142789825","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Exploring mechanisms behind the increasing gender gap in adolescent psychological symptoms, 2002–2022: the role of national‐level gender equality","authors":"Margreet E. de Looze, Alina Cosma, Frank J. Elgar, Karen Schrijvers, Jo Inchley, Sophie D. Walsh, Gonneke W. J. M. Stevens","doi":"10.1111/jcpp.14081","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/jcpp.14081","url":null,"abstract":"BackgroundInternalising problems have increased considerably among adolescents in the last decades, particularly among girls, resulting in widening gender gaps. This study examined whether the gender gap in psychological symptoms increased more in more gender‐equal countries in the period 2002–2022, and if so, to what extent this could be explained by changes over time in the experience of stressors (i.e. schoolwork pressure, body dissatisfaction, low classmate support) among boys and girls in these countries.MethodsNational data on gender inequality (UNDP Gender Inequality Index) were combined with aggregated individual‐level data from the Health Behaviour in School‐aged Children (HBSC) study (2002–2022) across 43 countries (<jats:italic>N</jats:italic> = 1,268,220). Absolute and relative gender gaps in psychological symptoms were regressed on survey cycle, GII and their interaction. Next, interactions of survey cycle and either schoolwork pressure, body dissatisfaction or classmate support were added to the model.ResultsIncreases in the absolute and relative gender gap in psychological symptoms between 2002 and 2022 were stronger in more gender‐equal countries, mainly due to larger increases in psychological symptoms among girls in these countries. Also, less favourable time trends for schoolwork pressure and classmate support were found in more gender‐equal countries for boys and especially girls. The larger increase in schoolwork pressure among girls in more gender‐equal countries partly explained the increased absolute gender gap in psychological symptoms in these countries.ConclusionsWhile national‐level gender equality was positively associated with boys' and girls' mental health in the early 2000s, this association has become negative for girls in more recent years. The benefits of gender equality for girls' mental health may have become overshadowed by the increased experience of stressors, especially schoolwork pressure. Far from advocating that gender equality is a negative situation, these findings suggest that much work remains to achieve full gender equality, where men and women really share the burdens and stressors in everyday life.","PeriodicalId":187,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":7.6,"publicationDate":"2024-12-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142788540","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Contribution of childhood lead exposure to psychopathology in the US population over the past 75 years.","authors":"Michael J McFarland, Aaron Reuben, Matt Hauer","doi":"10.1111/jcpp.14072","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/jcpp.14072","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>More than half of the current US population was exposed to adverse lead levels in childhood as a result of lead's past use in gasoline. The total contribution of childhood lead exposures to US-population mental health and personality has yet to be evaluated.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>We combined serial, cross-sectional blood-lead level (BLL) data from National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (NHANES) with historic leaded-gasoline data to estimate US childhood BLLs from 1940 to 2015 and calculate population mental-health symptom elevations from known lead-psychopathology associations. We utilized five outcomes: (1) General Psychopathology \"points\", reflecting an individual's liability to overall mental disorder, scaled to match IQ scores (M = 100, SD = 15); (2) Symptoms of Internalizing disorders (anxiety and depression) and Attention-deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (AD/HD), both z-scored (M = 0, SD = 1); and (3) Differences in the personality traits of Neuroticism and Conscientiousness (M = 0, SD = 1).</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Assuming that published lead-psychopathology associations are causal and not purely correlational: We estimate that by 2015, the US population had gained 602-million General Psychopathology factor points because of exposure arising from leaded gasoline, reflecting a 0.13-standard-deviation increase in overall liability to mental illness in the population and an estimated 151 million excess mental disorders attributable to lead exposure. Investigation of specific disorder-domain symptoms identified a 0.64-standard-deviation increase in population-level Internalizing symptoms and a 0.42-standard-deviation increase in AD/HD symptoms. Population-level Neuroticism increased by 0.14 standard deviations and Conscientiousness decreased by 0.20 standard deviations. Lead-associated mental health and personality differences were most pronounced for cohorts born from 1966 through 1986 (Generation X).</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>A significant burden of mental illness symptomatology and disadvantageous personality differences can be attributed to US children's exposure to lead over the past 75 years. Lead's potential contribution to psychiatry, medicine, and children's health may be larger than previously assumed.</p>","PeriodicalId":187,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":6.5,"publicationDate":"2024-12-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142764895","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Neural correlates of children with avoidant restrictive food intake disorder symptoms: large‐scale neuroanatomical analysis of a paediatric population","authors":"Michelle Sader, Holly A. Harris, Gordon D. Waiter, Pauline W. Jansen, Justin H.G. Williams, Tonya White","doi":"10.1111/jcpp.14086","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/jcpp.14086","url":null,"abstract":"BackgroundAvoidant restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID) is a recently recognised feeding and eating disorder and is characterised by a lack of interest and motivation to eat. Despite burgeoning research, few studies to date have explored the underlying neurobiology of ARFID. Research examining the neural underpinnings of ARFID can greatly assist in understanding different mechanisms that play disorder‐specific roles.MethodsWe studied a total of 1,977 10‐year‐old participants from the Generation R Study, a population‐based Dutch cohort, to cross‐sectionally examine neuroanatomical differences between those with versus without ARFID‐like symptoms. Children were classified with versus without ARFID symptoms using the ARFID Index, a validated evaluative tool comprised of parent‐reported and researcher‐assessed measurements of picky eating, energy intake, diet quality, growth and psychosocial impact to characterise ARFID symptoms in the paediatric population. Global and regional values of surface area, cortical thickness, and volume from T<jats:sub>1</jats:sub>‐weighted structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans in those with ARFID symptoms were compared with children not exhibiting symptoms.ResultsWe identified 121 (6.1%) individuals with ARFID symptoms relative to 1,865 (93.9%) individuals without ARFID symptoms. Neuroanatomical findings identified significantly greater frontal (<jats:italic>p</jats:italic> = .00743; <jats:italic>d</jats:italic> = 0.21) and superior frontal (<jats:italic>p</jats:italic> = 6.56E‐04; <jats:italic>d</jats:italic> = 0.28) cortical thickness among children with ARFID symptoms.ConclusionsThis first large‐scale study of the neural correlates of ARFID identified greater thickness of frontal cortical regions in children with ARFID symptoms, suggesting a role for executive function in the aetiology of the condition.","PeriodicalId":187,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry","volume":"18 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":7.6,"publicationDate":"2024-12-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142763299","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Annual Research Review: Associations of socioeconomic status with cognitive function, language ability, and academic achievement in youth: a systematic review of mechanisms and protective factors","authors":"Divyangana Rakesh,&nbsp;Paris Anne Lee,&nbsp;Amruta Gaikwad,&nbsp;Katie A. McLaughlin","doi":"10.1111/jcpp.14082","DOIUrl":"10.1111/jcpp.14082","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Low socioeconomic status (SES) is negatively associated with children's cognitive and academic performance, leading to long-term educational and economic disparities. In particular, SES is a powerful predictor of executive function (EF), language ability, and academic achievement. Despite extensive research documenting SES-related differences in these domains, our understanding of the mechanisms underlying these associations and factors that may mitigate these relationships is limited. This systematic review aimed to identify the mediators and moderators in the association of SES with EF, language ability, and academic achievement. Our synthesis revealed stress, support, stimulation, and broader contextual factors at the school- and neighborhood level to be important mediators and protective factors in these associations. In particular, cognitive stimulation mediated the association of SES with EF, language ability, and academic achievement. Educational expectations, classroom and school environment, and teacher–student relationships also played a key role in the association of SES with academic achievement. In addition, factors such as preschool attendance, home learning activities, and parental support buffered the association between low SES and lower cognitive and language outcomes. We discuss these findings in the context of interventions that may help to reduce SES-related cognitive and educational disparities.</p>","PeriodicalId":187,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry","volume":"66 4","pages":"417-439"},"PeriodicalIF":6.5,"publicationDate":"2024-12-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/jcpp.14082","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142763298","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Oral language intervention in the late primary school years is effective: evidence from a randomised control trial","authors":"Rosanne Esposito, Arne Lervag, Charles Hulme","doi":"10.1111/jcpp.14084","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/jcpp.14084","url":null,"abstract":"BackgroundOral language skills provide the foundation for formal education, and children may require language support over an extended period of time to maximise their education potential. Most work on language intervention, however, has focussed on the preschool or early school years. Here, we describe the development and evaluation of the Oral Language for Literacy Intervention (OLLI) programme which is designed to support children with weak language skills in the later primary school years.MethodsWe conducted a randomised control trial in 33 schools (50 classrooms). The language skills of all 8–9 year‐old children in each participating classroom (<jats:italic>n</jats:italic> = 1,423) were assessed using an automated app (LanguageScreen). The six children with the weakest LanguageScreen scores within each classroom (<jats:italic>n</jats:italic> = 296) were randomly allocated to the intervention (<jats:italic>n</jats:italic> = 148) or control group (<jats:italic>n</jats:italic> = 148). The children in the intervention group received the OLLI programme delivered in individual and small group sessions over 20 weeks. Children in the control group received their typical teaching.ResultsChildren receiving the OLLI programme made significantly larger gains than children in the control group on a preregistered latent variable reflecting standardised measures of oral language ability (<jats:italic>d</jats:italic> = 0.38) and on a measure of their written expression (<jats:italic>d</jats:italic> = 0.42).ConclusionsThese findings have important implications for improving educational attainment in children in the late primary school years. The OLLI programme is designed to be deliverable at scale and is of relatively low cost.","PeriodicalId":187,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry","volume":"3 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":7.6,"publicationDate":"2024-12-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142758416","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}