Megan Skelton explores a study that uses polygenic scores in the context of longitudinal developmental data, to characterise developmental trajectories and the role of neuropsychiatric genetic risk variants in early-onset depression.
[read the full story...]Joint risks? Tobacco and cannabis and psychotic symptoms
James MacCabe appraises a recent study, which looks at the association of combined patterns of tobacco and cannabis use in adolescents who go on to experience psychotic symptoms.
[read the full story...]Persistent and severe postnatal depression predicts adverse outcomes in children
Sophie Graham and Jennifer Burgess explore the associations between persistent and severe postnatal depression in mothers and mental health and educational outcomes in their offspring.
[read the full story...]The Origins of Happiness: can we predict life satisfaction?
Paul Ramchandani considers the methods, findings and implications of a new book by Andrew E. Clark, Sarah Fleche, Richard Layard, Nattavudh Powdthavee and George Ward, entitled: ‘The Origins of Happiness: The science of well-being over the life course’.
[read the full story...]Poor social communication in children may be a risk factor for social anxiety
Carla McEnery appraises a new study that asks: are social and communication difficulties a risk factor for the development of social anxiety?
[read the full story...]Early menarche associated with depressive symptoms in early adolescence
Emily Stapley summarises a Mendelian randomisation study that investigates associations between the timing of menarche with depressive symptoms and depression in adolescence.
[read the full story...]Does teenage cannabis use lower intelligence?
Ian Hamilton presents his debut blog on a recent prospective cohort study on the relationship between teenage cannabis use, IQ and educational attainment.
[read the full story...]Childhood sleep disturbance and risk of psychotic experiences
Joanne Wallace explores the relationship between nightmares/night terrors at age 12 with psychotic experiences at age 18, which has been confirmed by a recent UK birth cohort study.
[read the full story...]Bullying is bad for your mental health, even if you are the bully
Clinicians and mental health researchers have long recognised that there is a link between traumatic experiences in childhood and symptoms of psychosis or non-clinical psychotic experiences presenting in adolescence or adulthood. One type of traumatic experience is the experience of abuse, whether physical, emotional or social in nature. When it comes to bullying, any or [read the full story…]