About
174
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Introduction
I am a Professor and Chair for Clinical Developmental Psychology in the Department of Psychology and at the Jacobs Center for Productive Youth Development at the University of Zurich, Switzerland. I am one of the PIs of the Zurich Project on Social Development from Childhood to Adulthood (z-proso) and have worked extensively with the Great Smoky Mountains Study + other longterm-longitudinal studies. I am also affiliated with The International Max Planck Research School on the Life Course (LIFE).
Publications
Publications (174)
Prior research has established that testosterone is an important modulator of social decision-making. However, evidence on the relationship between basal testosterone levels, commonly measured in saliva or blood, and social behavior has been inconsistent due to methodological shortcomings. Additionally, it has been suggested that cortisol might mod...
Introduction: Population-level substance use research primarily relies on self-reports, which often underestimate actual use. Hair analyses offer a more objective estimate; however, longitudinal studies examining concordance are lacking. Previous studies showed that specific psychological and be-havioral characteristics are associated with a higher...
Adolescent friendships of positive quality promote well-being for decades to come. But what impedes the development of positive friendship quality? The current study examined whether maternal depressive symptoms during early childhood predict children’s friendship quality into adolescence, and whether observed negative parenting behavior and childr...
Adolescent friendships of positive quality promote well-being for decades to come. But what impedes the development of positive friendship quality? The present study examined whether maternal depressive symptoms during early childhood predict children’s friendship quality into adolescence, and whether observed negative parenting behavior and childr...
Importance
Exposure to different types of negative life events, including traumatic events, is common across the lifespan and associated with increased mental health symptoms.
Objective
To assess whether vulnerability to negative life events varies across 5 developmental periods from preschool to young adulthood.
Design, Setting, and Participants...
Early adolescence comes with new opportunities for subsequent risk and resilience. Yet, international cohort studies covering this important developmental period and extending into young adulthood are rare. To address this gap in research, this special issue draws on data from the Zurich Project on Social Development from Childhood to Adulthood (z-...
Associations among self-control, substance use (e.g., tobacco and cannabis use), and violence perpetration have been documented during the adolescent years, but the direction of these associations is not well understood. Using five assessments (covering 9 years) from a prospective-longitudinal study, we examined self-control as a precursor and subs...
This study investigates the role of positive cognitive reappraisal (PCR) flexibility and variability in mental health in response to real-life stressors among college students. We employed ecological momentary assessment and intervention through ReApp, a mobile app designed to train and promote PCR. We analyzed data from the intervention groups acr...
Background: Substance use disorders (SUD) are associated with severe negative social and health-related outcomes. Evidence accumulates that chronic substance use is associated with alterations in social interaction behavior, which likely contributes to the vicious circle of SUD. However, little is known if these social problems originate from conte...
This study compares the developmental course of cannabis use in adolescents with versus without an immigrant background. Data came from a Swiss prospective-longitudinal cohort study (n = 1445) with nine assessments between ages 7 and 24. Parents reported their immigration history; adolescents self-reported their past-year cannabis use five times be...
Can positive transitions into young adulthood at age 25 prevent problematic substance use at age 31, even in the context of childhood adverse family environments, conduct problems, and adolescent substance use? We lean on John Schulenberg's developmental framework to examine this question, focusing on the potential young adult milestones of high sc...
Objective
Digital mental health interventions delivered via smartphone-based apps effectively treat various conditions; however, optimizing their efficacy while minimizing participant burden remains a key challenge. In this study, we investigated the potential benefits of a burst delivery design (i.e. interventions delivered only in pre-defined tim...
Growing evidence suggests that experiences with police are associated with a range of negative mental health problems among youth. This study examined the impact of negative police contact on changes in adolescent internalizing problems, measured by anxiety and depression. Six waves of data from a longitudinal study in Zurich, Switzerland were used...
Paracetamol is one of the most commonly used over-the-counter medications. Experimental studies suggest a possible stress-suppressing effect of paracetamol in humans facing experimental stress-inducing paradigms. However, no study has investigated whether paracetamol and steroid hormones covary over longer time frames and under real-life conditions...
Data on the chronicity of mental disorder in children with chronic physical illness (CPI) are limited. We examined the prevalence and predictors of homotypic and heterotypic continuity of mental disorder in children with CPI. A sample of 263 children aged 2–16 years with physician-diagnosed CPI were recruited from outpatient clinics (e.g., dermatol...
Background/objectives
Emerging adults (~18–28 years of age) have a high prevalence of poor sleeping habits and poor diet quality; however, little is known on whether these poor sleeping habits are associated with dietary outcomes in this age group. This study assessed associations between actigraphy-based sleep with energy intake (EI), overall diet...
Keyes' and Platt's (The Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 2023) review provides much‐needed systematic evidence about why internalizing symptoms have increased and it clarifies the role of novel risk factors. The findings highlight that multiple factors at multiple levels are responsible for this phenomenon, many with small effects, withi...
Objective:
Some children are unaffected by mental illness despite exposure to childhood adversity. These children are typically considered resilient. The objective of this study was to follow up such resilient children in adulthood to characterize mental health status, substance use, and functional outcomes.
Methods:
The analysis was based on th...
Robust reward sensitivity may help preserve mental well‐being in the face of adversity and has been proposed as a key stress resilience factor. Here, we present a mobile health application, “Imager,” which targets reward sensitivity by training individuals to create mental images of future rewarding experiences. We conducted a two‐arm randomized co...
Objective
Little is known about self-concept in adolescents with physical-mental comorbidity. This study investigated whether physical-mental comorbidity was associated with self-concept in adolescents and examined if adolescent age or sex moderated the association between physical-mental comorbidity and self-concept.
Methods
Study data were obtai...
This study assessed associations of actigraphy-assessed sleep with adiposity and serum cardiometabolic outcomes in emerging adults, and whether sex and race modified these associations. Data on 147 emerging adults (age = 19.4 ± 1.3 years; body mass index = 26.4 ± 7.0 kg m-2 ; 59% female; 65% White) from RIGHT Track Health were used. Actigraphy-base...
Objective: Digital mental health interventions delivered via smartphone-based apps effectively treat various conditions, but optimizing their efficacy while minimizing participant burden remains a key challenge. Here, we investigated the potential benefits of a burst delivery design, i.e., intervention delivered only in pre-defined time intervals,...
Background:
Little comparative data on substance use (SU) between sexual minority youth (SMY) and heterosexual youth (HET) is available. This study compares the prevalence of SU in an urban cohort between SMY and HET and evaluates demographic and psychosocial predictors of SU.
Methods:
Data came from a prospective-longitudinal cohort study in an...
Objective: Epidemiological studies increasingly use hair samples to assess people’s cumulative exposure to steroid
hormones, but how the use of different psychoactive substances may affect steroid hormone levels in hair is, so
far, largely unknown. The current study addresses this gap by establishing the substance exposure correlates of
cortisol, c...
Objective:
A natural experiment that provided income supplements to families has been associated with beneficial outcomes for children that persisted into adulthood. The children in this study are now adults and many are parents.
Method:
The study builds on the 20+ year longitudinal, representative Great Smoky Mountains study conducted from 1993...
Life course epidemiology seeks to understand the intricate relationships between risk factors and health outcomes across different stages of life to inform prevention and intervention strategies to optimize health throughout the lifespan. However, extant evidence has predominantly been based on separate analyses of data from individual birth cohort...
We examined early adolescent predictors of later distress and adaptive coping in early adulthood, using data from a prospective longitudinal cohort study ( n = 786). In early adolescence (age 13), we assessed indicators of mental health (internalizing symptoms), stressor exposure (cumulative stressful life events), and family socialization (support...
Importance
Upward income mobility is associated with better health outcomes and reduced stress. However, opportunities are unequally distributed, particularly so for those in rural communities and whose family have lower educational attainment.
Objective
To test the impact of parental supervision on their children’s income two decades later adjust...
Background
Positive prospective mental imagery plays an important role in mental well-being, and depressive symptoms have been associated with difficulties in generating positive prospective mental images (PPMIs). We used a mobile app to gather PPMIs generated by young adults during the COVID-19 pandemic and analyzed content, characteristics, and a...
Unlabelled:
Historic declines in young people's mental health began to emerge before the COVID-19 pandemic. In the face of this youth mental health crisis, the pandemic constituted a naturalistic stressor paradigm that came with the potential to uncover new knowledge for the science of risk and resilience. Surprisingly, approximately 19-35% of peo...
This study examined longitudinal links between several dimensions of parent–child relationship and adolescent substance use, and tested the role of self-control in mediating these. Data came from the Zurich Project on the Social Development from Childhood to Adulthood. Validated questionnaires were used to measure parent–child domains at age 11, se...
Introduction: Reappraisal is one of the highly modifiable resilience factors and an important emotion regulation strategy. Reappraisal training can be delivered via mobile apps; however, such apps have typically combined reappraisal with other techniques. To address this gap, we developed ReApp, which engages users solely in reappraisal. Methods: F...
Despite considerable scientific interest in documenting growing despair among U.S. adults, far less attention has been paid to defining despair and identifying appropriate measures. Emerging perspectives from social science and psychiatry outline a comprehensive, multidimensional view of despair, inclusive of individuals' cognitive, emotional, biol...
Objective: Large-scale epidemiological research often uses self-reports to determine the prevalence of illicit substance use. Self-reports may suffer from
inaccurate reporting but can be verified with objective measures. This study examined the following: the prevalence of illicit and non-medical substance
use with self-reports and hair toxicology,...
Background:
Consistent findings have reported that FFM is associated with EI. However, conjoint assessments of physiologic (body composition, fasting serum leptin) and behavioral [eating behaviors and physical activity (PA)] correlates of EI during emerging adulthood have not been examined.
Objectives:
We assessed associations between physiologi...
Hair concentrations of cortisol, cortisone, and testosterone are non-invasive measures of cumulative steroid hormone levels. Use of contraceptives co-varies with levels of cortisol and cortisone in women's hair. It is unclear, however, how different contraceptive methods (i.e., that differ in their steroid hormone composition) affect corticosteroid...
OBJECTIVES
First, to leverage 15 years of longitudinal data, from child ages 2 to 17, to examine whether maternal depressive symptoms in early and middle childhood and in adolescence predict their child’s unhealthy behaviors during adolescence. Second, to examine whether the timing of maternal depressive symptoms or specific unhealthy behaviors mat...
Importance:
During an ongoing longitudinal cohort study, a casino opening created a natural cash transfer experiment. Some participating families received income supplements, and others did not. The children in this study are now adults.
Objective:
To assess the long-term outcomes of family income supplements received in childhood.
Design, sett...
Introduction:
We investigated the longitudinal course of self-, other-, and dual-harm in adolescents, focusing on the infliction of physical injury on oneself, another person, or both parties, respectively. We examined the within-person transitions between these types of harm and whether relationships with peers and teachers predict individual har...
Introduction:
Debates about the legalization of illegal substances (e.g., cannabis) continue around the globe. A key consideration in these debates is the adequate protection of young people, which could be informed by current prevalence and age-of-onset patterns. For Switzerland, such information is limited, which is particularly true for women,...
Background: Positive prospective mental imagery plays an important role in mental well-being, and depressive symptoms have been associated with difficulties in generating positive prospective mental images (PPMIs). We used a mobile app to gather PPMIs generated by young adults during the COVID-19 pandemic and analyzed content, characteristics, and...
Background
Little is known about the childhood antecedents and adult correlates of adolescent dual-harm (i.e. co-occurring self- and other-harm). We examine the longitudinal associations between (a) social and psychological risk factors in childhood and adolescent dual-harm and (b) adolescent dual-harm and social and mental health impairments in ea...
Background
Adolescent suicidality, suicidal ideation (SUI) and self-harming behaviour (SI) are major public health issues. One group of adolescents known to be particularly prone to suicidality and mental health problems is lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) youth. Although the social acceptance of the LGB community has increased in recent years, LGB...
Background
The juvenile justice system in the USA adjudicates over seven hundred thousand youth in the USA annually with significant behavioral offenses. This study aimed to test the effect of juvenile justice involvement on adult criminal outcomes.
Methods
Analyses were based on a prospective, population-based study of 1420 children followed up t...
The Zurich Project on the Social Development from Childhood to Adulthood (z-proso) began in 2004 in response to the need for a better evidence base to support optimal child social development and prevent crime and violence. Since then, the study has tracked the development of a diverse sample of youths ( N = 1,675 in the target sample; ~50% female)...
Introduction: Robust sensitivity to reward may help preserve positive emotions in the face of adversity and has been proposed as a key resilience factor. We describe the development, feasibility, and efficacy of an mHealth application, Imager, which targets reward sensitivity by training individuals to create mental images of future rewarding exper...
Background
Longitudinal studies are needed to clarify whether early adversities are associated with advanced methylation age or if they actually accelerate methylation aging. This study test whether different dimensions of childhood adversity accelerate biological aging from childhood to adulthood, and, if so, via which mechanisms.
Methods
381 par...
Polysubstance use (i.e., simultaneous or sequential use of different psychoactive substances) is associated with increases in the risk of severe health problems and social impairments. The present study leverages community-representative, long-term longitudinal data from an urban cohort to assess: (a) the prevalence and continuation of polysubstanc...
Objective
The aim of this study was to estimate the six-month prevalence of mental illness in children with chronic physical illness (multimorbidity), examine agreement between parent and child reports of multimorbidity, and identify factors associated with child multimorbidity.
Method
The sample included 263 children aged 2–16 years with a physic...
Objective
This study tested the ‘intervention as prevention’ hypothesis: that treatment of childhood psychopathology in the community might reduce risk for adult psychopathology.
Method
Analyses were based on a prospective, population-based study of 1,420 children followed up to 8 times during childhood (ages 9 to 16; 6674 observations) about psyc...
Using a multimethod, multiinformant longitudinal design, we examined associations between specific forms of positive and negative emotional reactivity at age 5, children’s effortful control (EC), emotion regulation, and social skills at age 7, and adolescent functioning across psychological, academic, and physical health domains at ages 15/16 ( N =...
PurposeThis study examined health-related quality of life (HRQL) in children across different physical illnesses; estimated parent–child agreement on HRQL reports; compared HRQL between children with and without physical–mental multimorbidity; and tested if multimorbidity was associated with HRQL.Methods
Children aged 6–16 years (mean = 11.1; n = 1...
Background
There is evidence of unmet psychiatric needs in children under 6. These young children are dependent on their parents to identify their mental health needs. This study tested child and parent associations with parent perception of young child mental health need.
Method
Parents of 917 children (aged 2–6 years) completed a diagnostic inte...
The pathways through which exposure to maternal depressive symptoms in early childhood are linked to academic performance during adolescence are poorly understood. This study tested pathways from maternal depressive symptoms (age 2–5) to adolescent academic performance (age 15) through cumulative parenting risk (age 7) and subsequent child function...
Background:
Amidst cannabis legalization efforts and laws, we do not fully understand how the youngest frequent cannabis users fare during young adulthood. This study aims to 1) examine the prevalence of cannabis use during adolescence, and 2) investigate links of frequent (i.e., weekly or daily) teenage cannabis use with psychopathology and funct...
The Zurich Project on Social Development from Childhood to Adulthood (z-proso) began in 2004 in response to the need for a better evidence base to support optimal child social development and prevent crime and violence. Since then, the study has tracked the development of a diverse sample of youths (N = 1,675 in the target sample; ~50% female) from...
Objective
Research on associations of early cannabis use with adult functioning reports mixed findings. This may be due, in part, to wide variations in the definitions of early cannabis use. This study aims to compare associations of four commonly-used definitions of early cannabis use—related to timing, dose, duration, and associated symptoms—with...
Objectives:
To test the associations of childhood domestic gun access with adult criminality and suicidality.
Methods:
Analyses were based on a 20+ year prospective, community-representative study of 1420 children, who were assessed up to 8 times during childhood (ages 9-16; 6674 observations) about access to guns in their home. Participants wer...
We examined the longitudinal course of, and pre‐ and during‐pandemic risk factors for, self‐injury and domestic physical violence perpetration in young adults during the COVID‐19 pandemic. Data came from a Swiss longitudinal study (N = 786, age ~22 in 2020), with one prepandemic (2018) and four during‐pandemic assessments (2020). The prevalence of...
Background
Loneliness is a major risk factor for both psychological disturbance and poor health outcomes in adults. This study aimed to assess whether childhood loneliness is associated with a long-term disruption in mental health that extends into adulthood.
Methods
This study is based on the longitudinal, community-representative Great Smoky Mou...
Adolescent self-injury is a widespread public health problem, but long-term longitudinal studies from European countries are rare. Self-injury in males and sex differences are poorly understood. This study describes the prevalence, frequency, age-related course, and recurrence of, and mental health services use related to adolescent self-injury. Da...
Cardiometabolic risk (CMR) has increased among adolescents. A growing literature shows that childhood self-regulatory skills are associated with obesity and CMR. However, the developmental nature of self-regulation has not been considered in existing studies. Therefore, it is unclear how specific types of self-regulation (i.e., attentional, emotion...
ZUSAMMENFASSUNG
Einleitung Eine wachsende Zahl psychologischer Behandlungsangebote erfolgt über das Smartphone, bzw. über Apps. Viele der wissenschaftlich geprüften Apps basieren auf den Prinzipien der kognitiven Verhaltenstherapie (KVT), Goldstandard zur Behandlung vieler psychischer Problematiken. Ziel dieses Reviews war es, den Status Quo der Fo...
The goal of the current analyses was to explore associations of self-rated physical attractiveness with facets of psychological well-being across adolescence. Participants provided information on their perceived physical attractiveness, internalized distress, suicidal ideation, and self-harm at 15, 17 and 20 years of age. Male adolescents repeatedl...
Objectives: Young adults are essential to the effective mitigation of the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19) given their tendency toward greater frequency of social interactions. Little is known about vaccine willingness during pandemics in European populations. This study examined young people’s attitudes toward COVID-19 vaccines in Fall 2020...
Objective:
This manuscript serves to provide an overview of the methods of the Multimorbidity in Children and Youth across the Life-course (MY LIFE) study, profile sample characteristics of the cohort, and provide baseline estimates of multimorbidity to foster collaboration with clinical and research colleagues across Canada.
Method:
MY LIFE is...
Violent ideations are increasingly recognized as an important psychological pre-dictor for aggressive and violent behavior. However, little is known about the processes that contribute to violent ideations. This paper examines the extent to which polyvictimization triggers violent ideations in late adolescence and early adulthood, while also adjust...
In 2015, economists Case and Deaton¹ reported that decades-long gains in US life expectancy had stalled and reversed and that rates of premature mortality had risen among middle-aged non-Hispanic White individuals with low education. They hypothesized that this premature mortality was due to increases in cause-specific mortality from suicides, drug...