Longitudinal predictors of weapon involvement in middle adolescence: Evidence from the UK Millennium Cohort Study.
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SUBMITTER: Villadsen A
PROVIDER: S-EPMC10087410 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Jan
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
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Longitudinal predictors of weapon involvement in middle adolescence: Evidence from the UK Millennium Cohort Study.
Villadsen Aase A Fitzsimons Emla E
Aggressive behavior 20220817 1
This study uses longitudinal data from the UK Millennium Cohort Study (N = 13,277) to examine the childhood and early adolescence factors that predict weapon involvement in middle adolescence, which in this study is exemplified by having carried or used a weapon. It finds that childhood experiences of low family income and domestic abuse between parents predict weapon involvement at age 17 years. Other predictors include childhood externalizing problems and self-harm in early adolescence. Furthe ...[more]
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Project description:Study questionDo the parent-child relationships of adolescents born after medically assisted reproduction (MAR) using the parents' own gametes differ from those of adolescents born after natural conception (NC)?Summary answerMAR and NC families have similar parent-child relationships in terms of closeness and conflict frequency, except that MAR mothers report being closer to their children than NC mothers.What is known alreadyPrior work on parent-child relationships during childhood has reported mixed findings. While some studies have documented no differences between MAR and NC families, others have shown that MAR families have greater levels of warmth and positive feelings than NC families. Evidence on parent-child relationships during the adolescent period is generally positive but is limited because of the small number of existing studies and the reliance on small samples.Study design, size, durationThis work is based on the UK Millennium Cohort Study, whose study members were born in 2000-2002. The analyses focused on Sweep 6 which was collected when cohort members were around 14 years old. We also relied on variables collected in Sweep 1, when cohort members were aged around 9 months, to account for characteristics that could confound or mediate the relationship between MAR and our outcomes. The attrition rate between Sweeps 1 and 6 was 36.7%.Participants/materials, setting, methodsThe final sample consisted of 10 233 cohort members, 320 of whom were conceived with the help of MAR (3.1%). A total of six dependent variables were used to measure, when the cohort members were around 14 years old, levels of parent-child closeness and conflict, reported separately by the mother, the father and the cohort member. Linear models were used to analyse the association between parent-child relationships before and after adjustment for socio-demographic characteristics and mental health.Main results and the role of chanceSweep 6 achieved a response rate of 76.3% of the eligible sample. The results show that, on average, MAR and NC families had similar parent-child relationships in terms of closeness and conflict frequency. The only difference was that MAR mothers reported being closer to their children than NC mothers both before (β = 0.149, P < 0.05) and after (β = 0.102, P < 0.1) adjustment for family socio-demographic characteristics and mental health.Limitations, reasons for cautionThe outcome variables are self-reported by each of the respondents and could be subject to social desirability bias. Second, some parents may have not reported they conceived through donor insemination, which could result in the analytical sample including a small subset of children who were not genetically related to their parents. Third, the data did not include information about whether the children were aware of their conception mode, since the Millennium Cohort Study did not collect information on MAR disclosure. Moreover, they did not allow us to study other aspects of parent-child relationships. Finally, as we observed parent-child relationships at only one moment in time; we were unable to test whether they changed over time.Wider implications of the findingsThe results suggest that the difficulties and the stress parents underwent to conceive through MAR did not translate into more difficult parent-child relationships during adolescence. Given the increasing number of children conceived via MAR, the finding that MAR and NC families had similar parent-child relationships in terms of closeness and conflict frequency is reassuring.Study funding/competing interest(s)This work was supported by European Research Council agreement n. 803959 (MARTE to A.G.). The authors declare no competing interests.Trial registration numbern/a.
| S-EPMC7891809 | biostudies-literature
Project description:This study aimed to identify determinants of a late autism spectrum disorder diagnosis, including diagnoses made 'very late' (i.e., in adolescence), using the Millennium Cohort Study, a nationally representative population-based cohort in the United Kingdom. Children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder by age 14 (N = 581) were included and grouped by the parent-reported timing of diagnosis: before school (up to age 5), during primary school (age 5-11) and during secondary school (age 11-14). Predictors of diagnostic timing, at the child, family and school levels, were investigated using multinomial logistic regression. Most (79%) children with autism spectrum disorder were diagnosed after school entry, and 28% were not diagnosed until secondary school. Among those not diagnosed until secondary school, 75% had been identified at age 5 years by a parent and/or teacher as having socio-behavioural difficulties. Being diagnosed after starting school was predicted by living in poverty (adjusted relative risk ratio: primary = 1.90, 95% confidence interval: 1.03-3.53; secondary = 2.15, 1.05-4.42) and/or having no initial parental concerns (primary = 0.32, 0.15-0.70; secondary = 0.19, 0.09-0.43). Having typical-range intelligence also predicted diagnosis during secondary school. The result indicates that those without cognitive delays and poorer children were at risk of 'very late' (i.e. adolescent) diagnosis. Strategies to promote earlier identification, targeting age at primary school entry, could help those more likely to be diagnosed late.Lay abstractDespite policy emphasis on early identification, many children with autism spectrum disorder are diagnosed late, with some being diagnosed as late as in adolescence. However, evidence on what determines the timing of autism spectrum disorder diagnosis including children diagnosed in adolescence is lacking. Understanding these determinants, particularly in those diagnosed later than is ideal, can inform the development of effective strategies to improve earlier identification of autism spectrum disorder. This study used a nationally representative population-based cohort in the United Kingdom to explore child, family and school level predictors of timing of autism spectrum disorder diagnosis. In the United Kingdom, 79% of the children with autism spectrum disorder were diagnosed after entering primary school and 28% during secondary school. Among those not diagnosed until secondary school, 75% had shown social difficulties noticed by parents and/or teachers at age 5 years. The results suggest that healthcare providers should be aware that, even for universal systems of care, those living in poverty and having higher intelligence are most likely to miss out on a timely diagnosis. Strategies to promote earlier identification among school-aged children, including targeting primary school entry age (i.e. around age 5) and that encouraging referrals for a formal assessment at the first report of concerns over the child's social development may benefit those children who would otherwise be diagnosed later.
| S-EPMC7645602 | biostudies-literature
Project description:PurposeLittle is known about potential influences on emerging partnered intimate behaviors in early adolescence. We investigate (1) the prevalence of partnered intimate activities and (2) associations with social relationships, parental monitoring and supervision, health behaviors, and psychosocial well-being.MethodsWe used population-based data from the UK's Millennium Cohort Study on 11,079 participants aged 14 years. Partnered intimate activities were grouped into three categories: "light" (handholding, kissing, and cuddling); "moderate" (touching and fondling under clothes); and "heavy" (oral sex and sexual intercourse). Multinomial logistic regression models were used.ResultsThirty percent of study participants reported not engaging in partnered intimate activity. Fifty-eight percent reported "light," 7.5 percent "moderate," and 3.2 percent "heavy" activity. Associated with increased likelihood (adjusted relative risk ratios [RRRs]) of intimate activities were confiding worries in a friend (light RRR = 2.13, moderate RRR = 3.42, heavy RRR=5.32), low parental monitoring-staying out late or overnight (late: light RRR = 1.62, moderate RRR = 2.44, heavy RRR = 2.32; overnight: light RRR = 1.57, moderate RRR = 1.94, heavy RRR = 3.38), health-damaging behaviors (per unit increase: light RRR = 1.91, moderate RRR = 3.15, heavy RRR = 5.03), and depressive symptoms (per scale point increase light RRR = 1.03, moderate RRR = 1.09, heavy RRR = 1.11). Confiding in a parent was associated with lower likelihood of intimate activity (light RRR = .82, moderate RRR = .65, heavy RRR = .65).ConclusionsPartnered intimate activity of some form is commonplace among 14-year-olds in the United Kingdom. Given the short- and long-term implications of adolescent sexual development and well-being, improving our understanding of influences could help identify opportunities for interventions with benefits across the lifecourse.
| S-EPMC6986910 | biostudies-literature
Project description:In this study, we use the UK Millennium Cohort Study to estimate a dynamic factor model of child development. Our model follows the children from birth until 7 years of age and allows for both cognitive and noncognitive abilities in children. We find a significant self-productivity effect in both cognitive and noncognitive development, as well as some evidence of dynamic dependence across different abilities. The activities that parents carry out with children at home (parental investment) have a significant effect on children's development; we find substantial evidence of two distinct latent parental investment variables with differential effects across the two abilities.
| S-EPMC5371649 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Emotional support from family members may have an important effect on adolescent health outcomes, and has been identified as a target for policy to protect against the impacts of poverty and other early life adversities. However, few studies have assessed the extent to which poverty and adversity themselves influence the nature of emotional support that parents can provide to adolescents. We, therefore, aimed to investigate the impact of trajectories of income poverty and family adversities, including parental mental ill health, alcohol misuse and domestic violence across childhood developmental stages on young people's relationships with their families and perceived emotional support received. We analysed longitudinal data on 10,976 children from the nationally representative UK Millennium Cohort study. Exposure trajectories of poverty and family adversities were characterised using group-based multi-trajectory models (age 9 months-14 years). The outcomes were perceived emotional support and quality of family relationships, measured by the three-item Short Social Provisions Scale (SPS-3) and levels of parent-adolescent closeness and conflict, measured at age 14. ORs and 95% CIs were estimated using multivariable logistic regression models, adjusting for potential confounding factors. At age 14, the overall prevalence of low perceived emotional support was 13% (95% CI: 12, 14). Children of mothers with lower socioeconomic status (SES) were more likely to report low emotional support, with a clear social gradient (education-degree plus: 10.3% vs. no qualifications: 15.4%). Compared with children exposed to low levels of poverty and adversity, children in the persistent adversity trajectory groups experienced higher odds of low emotional support and low-quality parent-adolescent relationship; those exposed to both persistent poverty and poor parental mental health were particularly at increased risk of experiencing poor family relationships and low perceived emotional support (adjusted odds ratio 2·2; 95% CI 1·7-2·9). Low perceived emotional support and poor family relationships in adolescence are more prevalent among socially disadvantaged children and adolescents and those experiencing social adversity. Policies to improve levels of family support for UK adolescents should focus on improving modifiable determinants such as child poverty and family mental health.
| S-EPMC11424735 | biostudies-literature
Project description:AimsTo identify patterns of stability and change in co-occurrence in children between 5-11 years, and to assess if they vary by socio-demographic factors.MethodsData from 9548 singleton children from the UK Millennium Cohort Study (MCS) were assessed for co-occurrence of five common adverse conditions: wheeze; longstanding illness; unfavorable weight; injury; and socio-emotional difficulties. We summed adverse conditions (0-5) for each child at ages 5, 7, and 11 and identified co-occurrence (≥2 conditions). Using multinomial regression, we explored associations between co-occurrence trajectories and child's sex and ethnicity, maternal education, and income quintile.Results45.6% of children experienced co-occurrence between 5-11 years (7% experienced constant co-occurrence). More children moved into co-occurrence than moved out (16.9 vs. 11.9%). Mutually-adjusted relative risk ratios (aRRR) showed a gradient by maternal education: compared to children with no co-occurrence whose mothers had a higher/degree, children whose mothers had no qualifications were more likely to move into (aRRR = 1.32(95%CI:1.02,1.70)), out of (1.74(1.34,2.26)), have fluctuating (1.52(1.09,2.10)) or constant co-occurrence (2.58(1.76,3.80)). The same gradient (high vs. low) was evident for income quintiles. Girls were less likely to experience co-occurrence.ConclusionsCo-occurrence of adverse conditions is common during childhood, and trajectories are socially patterned. Child-focused care for lower-income children and boys early in life may prevent and reduce co-occurrence in later childhood.
| S-EPMC4900599 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Background: Early infancy and childhood are critical periods in the establishment of lifelong weight trajectories. Parents and early family environment have a strong effect on children's health behaviors that track into adolescence, influencing lifelong risk of obesity. Objective: We aimed to identify developmental trajectories of body mass index (BMI) from early childhood to adolescence and to assess their early individual and family predictors. Methods: This was a secondary analysis of the Millennium Cohort Study and included 17,165 children. Weight trajectories were estimated using growth mixture modeling based on age- and gender-specific BMI Z-scores, followed by a bias-adjusted regression analysis. Results: We found four BMI trajectories: Weight Loss (69%), Early Weight Gain (24%), Early Obesity (3.7%), and Late Weight Gain (3.3%). Weight trajectories were mainly settled by early adolescence. Lack of sleep and eating routines, low emotional self-regulation, child-parent conflict, and low child-parent closeness in early childhood were significantly associated with unhealthy weight trajectories, alongside poverty, low maternal education, maternal obesity, and prematurity. Conclusions: Unhealthy BMI trajectories were defined in early and middle-childhood, and disproportionally affected children from disadvantaged families. This study further points out that household routines, self-regulation, and child-parent relationship are possible areas for family-based obesity prevention interventions.
| S-EPMC7431491 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundPatterns of development and underlying factors explaining anxiety disorders in children and adolescents are under-researched, despite their high prevalence, impact and associations with other mental disorders. We aimed to a] understand the pattern and persistence of specific anxiety disorders; b] examine differing trajectories of symptoms of specific anxiety disorders and; c] examine socio-demographic and health-related predictors of persistent anxiety disorder-specific symptoms, across middle childhood to early adolescence.MethodsThe current study used data from 8122 participants in the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children birth cohort. The Development and Wellbeing Assessment questionnaire was administered to parents to capture child and adolescent anxiety total scores and DAWBA-derived diagnoses. Separation anxiety, specific phobia, social anxiety, acute stress reaction, and generalized anxiety at 8, 10 and 13 years were selected. Further, we included the following socio-demographic and health-related predictors: sex, birth weight, sleep difficulties at 3.5 years, ethnicity, family adversity, maternal age at birth, maternal postnatal anxiety, maternal postnatal depression, maternal bonding, maternal socio-economic status and maternal education.ResultsDifferent anxiety disorders presented different prevalence and patterns of development over time. Further, latent class growth analyses yielded a trajectory characterized by individuals with persistent high levels of anxiety across childhood and adolescence; for specific phobia (high = 5.8%; moderate = 20.5%; low = 73.6%), social anxiety (high = 3.4%; moderate = 12.1%; low = 84.5%), acute stress reaction (high = 1.9%; low = 98.1%) and generalized anxiety (high = 5.4%; moderate = 21.7%; low = 72.9%). Finally, the risk factors associated with each of the persistent high levels of anxiety disorders were child sleeping difficulties and postnatal maternal depression and anxiety.ConclusionsOur findings show that a small group of children and young adolescents continue to suffer from frequent and severe anxiety. When considering treatment strategies for anxiety disorders in this group, children's sleep difficulties and postnatal maternal depression and anxiety need to be assessed as these may predict a more prolonged and severe course of illness.
| S-EPMC10242895 | biostudies-literature
Project description:This study examined the development of decision-making and its association with psychological wellbeing and risky behaviours in adolescents with and without autism. Participants included 270 autistic and 9,713 typically developing adolescents. In both samples, those with a diagnosis of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) were excluded. Data came from the Millennium Cohort Study, a nationally representative population-based birth cohort. Decision-making was assessed using the Cambridge Gambling Task at ages 11 and 14. Psychological wellbeing (happiness, self-esteem, depressive symptoms and self-harm) and risky/antisocial behaviours were self-reported at age 14. After adjusting for sex, cognitive ability, spatial working memory, socioeconomic status and pubertal status, autistic adolescents showed comparable quality of decision-making to that of their peers at both ages but also a more deliberative decision-making style as they aged. Only in autistic adolescents was this decision-making style associated with positive outcomes.
| S-EPMC8349343 | biostudies-literature
Project description:PurposePromoting positive mental health, particularly through enhancing competencies (such as prosocial behaviors and learning skills), may help prevent the development of health risk behaviors in adolescence and thus support future well-being. Few studies have examined how mental health competencies in childhood are associated with adolescent health risk behaviors, which could inform preventative approaches.MethodsUsing UK Millennium Cohort Study data (n = 10,142), we examined how mental health competence (MHC) measured at the end of elementary school (11 years) is associated with self-reported use of cigarettes, e-cigarettes, alcohol, illegal drugs, antisocial behavior, and sexual contact with another young person at age 14 years. A latent measure of MHC was used, capturing aspects of prosocial behavior and learning skills, categorized as high MHC, high-moderate MHC, moderate MHC, and low MHC. Logistic and multinomial regression estimated odds ratios and relative risk ratios for binary and categorical outcomes, respectively, before and after adjusting for confounders. Weights accounted for sample design and attrition and multiple imputation for item missingness.ResultsThose with low, moderate, or high-moderate MHC at age 11 years were more likely to have taken part in health risk behaviors at age 14 years compared with those with high MHC. The largest associations were seen for low MHC with binge drinking (relative risk ratio: 1.6 [95% confidence interval: 1.1-2.4]), having tried cigarettes (odds ratio: 2.2 [95% confidence interval: 1.6-3.1]) and tried illegal drugs (odds ratio: 2.0 [95% confidence interval: 1.3-3.1) after adjusting for confounders (which attenuated results but largely maintained significant findings).ConclusionsMHC in late childhood is associated with health risk behaviors in midadolescence. Interventions that increase children's MHC may support healthy development during adolescence, with the potential to improve health and well-being through to adulthood.
| S-EPMC7592122 | biostudies-literature