Madison Aitken

York University · Department of Psychology

Background: The longitudinal course of multiple symptom domains in adolescents treated for major depression is not known. Revealing the temporal course of general and specific psychopathology factors, including potential differences between psychotherapies, may aid therapeutic decision-making. Methods: Participants were adolescents with major de...

Objective This study examined cross-informant evidence for a general factor of psychopathology (“P”), and a narrower, clinically-oriented dysregulation general factor based on the Dysregulation Profile (“DP”) in a large clinical sample of children and adolescents. We also compared the magnitude of P and DP general factor associations with self-harm...

Children with disruptive behavior (DB) are a heterogeneous group who exhibit several characteristics that may contribute to poor social functioning. The present study identified profiles of reactive aggression, proactive aggression, callous-unemotional (CU) traits, and prosocial behavior in a sample of children with DB. Associations with social fun...

Transdiagnostic models of psychopathology suggest that disorders may share common features that could influence their severity. Attention problems and psychomotor restlessness are included in the diagnostic criteria for several disorders, including disorders on the internalizing spectrum, but their transdiagnostic significance has received little a...

Background Adolescents with low self-esteem often experience internalizing psychopathology (i.e., anxiety, depression). Self-esteem may therefore be a clinically relevant construct for assessment and treatment outcomes. We examined whether general and domain-specific (family, peer, academic) self-esteem are related to adolescents’ internalizing sym...

Background Wearable-generated data yield objective information on physical activity and sleep variables, which, are in turn, related to the phenomenology of depression. There is a dearth of wearable-generated data regarding physical activity and sleep variables among youth with clinical depression. Methods Longitudinal (up to 24 months) quarterly...

Introduction Our group developed an Integrated Care Pathway to facilitate the delivery of evidence-based care for adolescents experiencing depression called CARIBOU-2 (Care for Adolescents who Receive Information ‘Bout OUtcomes, 2nd iteration). The core pathway components are assessment, psychoeducation, psychotherapy options, medication options, c...

Background Intensive longitudinal data collection, including ecological momentary assessment (EMA), has the potential to reduce recall biases, collect more ecologically valid data, and increase our understanding of dynamic associations between variables. EMA is typically administered using an application that is downloaded on participants’ devices,...

Best practice clinical assessment of externalizing problems often necessitates collection of information from parents, youth themselves, and teachers. The present study tested the predictive validity of a psychometrically-driven scoring procedure to integrate multi-informant, dimensional ratings of externalizing problems. Participants were 2264 cli...

Adolescence is a period of elevated risk for suicide, and mental health professionals expressed concerns that suicidal behaviours and suicide rates may increase among this age group during the COVID-19 pandemic. Adolescent suicide rates, attempts, and ideation during the pandemic varied depending on the country, data collection methodology, and pop...

Background Adolescents with depression often experience relationship problems with their caregivers, which predict poorer treatment outcomes. Personalising interventions by targeting factors associated with poor treatment outcomes may enhance the effectiveness of interventions. We report the development and initial evaluation of an intervention des...

Parenting can protect against the development of, or increase risk for, child psychopathology; however, it is unclear if parenting is related to psychopathology symptoms in a specific domain, or to broad liability for psychopathology. Parenting differs between and within families, and both overall family-level parenting and the child-specific paren...

Introduction: This secondary analysis of data collected in a randomized controlled trial (RCT) for the treatment of depression in adolescents aimed to test prediction models relating antidepressant (AD) initiation to clinical variables. Methods: The primary study was an RCT where adolescents (ages 11-17) with depression were assigned one of three o...

Several psychological therapy approaches have demonstrated effectiveness for improving adolescent depression, but many still do not benefit sufficiently. This chapter provides an overview of emerging methods being used to guide the selection of psychological therapy approaches for depression most likely to benefit an individual adolescent. We addre...

There is a need for reliable and valid screening tools that assess depressive symptoms in adolescents in Pakistan. To address this need, the present study examined the psychometric properties and factor structure of a Sindhi-translated and adapted version of the child-report Mood and Feelings Questionnaire (MFQ-C) and the Short Mood and Feelings Qu...

Background. Adolescents with depression often experience relationship problems with their caregivers, which predict poorer treatment outcomes. Personalizing interventions by targeting factors associated with poor treatment outcomes may enhance the effectiveness of interventions. We report the development and initial evaluation of an intervention de...

Parenting can protect against the development of, or increase risk for, child psychopathology; however, it is unclear if parenting is related to psychopathology symptoms in a specific domain, or to broad liability for psychopathology. Parenting differs between and within families, and both overall family-level parenting and the specific parenting a...

Background: Intensive longitudinal data collection, including ecological momentary assessment (EMA), has the potential to reduce recall biases and increase our understanding of dynamic associations between variables. Cost and privacy concerns represent barriers that may limit the use of EMA. Research Electronic Data Capture (REDCap), a freely avail...

BACKGROUND Intensive longitudinal data collection, including ecological momentary assessment (EMA), has the potential to reduce recall biases, collect more ecologically valid data, and increase our understanding of dynamic associations between variables. EMA is typically administered using an application that is downloaded on participants’ devices,...

Purpose of review: There are a wide range of psychosocial treatment options, delivered in different modalities, for children with disruptive behaviour. However, clinicians face many challenges in ensuring the empirically supported treatments (ESTs) they select will be effective for their patient. This has prompted studies to generate knowledge on...

Gender dysphoria (GD) is characterized by distress due to an incongruence between experienced gender and sex assigned at birth. Brain functional connectivity in adolescents who experience GD may be associated with experienced gender (vs. assigned sex) and/or brain networks implicated in own-body perception. Furthermore, sexual orientation may be re...

Gender and sexually diverse adolescents have been reported to be at an elevated risk for suicidal thoughts and behaviors. For transgender adolescents, there has been variation in source of ascertainment and how suicidality was measured, including the time-frame (e.g., past 6 months, lifetime). In studies of clinic-referred samples of transgender ad...

The biodevelopment of psychological sex differentiation is putatively reflected in several anthropometrics. We examined eight anthropometrics in 1404 Thai participants varying in sex, sexual orientation, and gender identity/expression: heterosexual men and women, gay men, lesbian women, bisexual women, sao praphet song (transgender birth-assigned m...

Background Problem-solving training is a common ingredient of evidence-based therapies for youth depression and has shown effectiveness as a versatile stand-alone intervention in adults. This scoping review provided a first overview of the evidence supporting problem solving as a mechanism for treating depression in youth aged 14 to 24 years. Meth...

Background Suicide is a leading cause of death in children and youth, with suicidal thoughts and suicide attempts (referred to as non-fatal suicidal behaviors (NFSB)) being among its strongest predictors. Positive parenting (e.g., warmth, responsiveness), negative parenting (e.g., control, hostility), and parent-child relationship quality (e.g., tr...

Parents’ interpretations of the cause of their children’s behavior, i.e., parental attributions, are linked to parenting behavior and child development. However, it is not yet known whether parental attributions are systematically associated with children’s internalizing and externalizing symptoms and behavior or psychosocial treatment engagement a...

Importance Disturbed sleep represents a potentially modifiable risk factor for depression in children and youths that can be targeted in prevention programs. Objective To evaluate the association between disturbed sleep and depression in children and youths using meta-analytic methods. Data Sources Embase, MEDLINE, PsycINFO, Scopus, Web of Scienc...

Children with disruptive behavior disorders (DBDs) experience high rates of comorbid psychopathology, including internalizing disorders. According to the dual pathway model, comorbid internalizing symptoms may be associated with less (buffer hypothesis) or more (multiple problems) severe clinical presentations among children with DBDs. We examined...

Youth with externalizing disorders are a heterogeneous group with varied, severe, and persistent emotional, social, and behavioral challenges. Effective psychotherapy to prevent and reduce the morbidity and societal costs associated with externalizing disorders is imperative. Psychotherapies for youth with externalizing disorders include those comp...

Problem-solving (PS) training is a common ingredient of evidence-based therapies for youth depression that can be delivered as part of broader therapy packages or alone. As a stand-alone treatment, Problem-Solving Therapy (PST) is effective for adult depression. Aims: This scoping review aimed to provide an overview of the evidence concerning PS tr...

Background: Suicide is a leading cause of death in children and youth, with suicidal thoughts and suicide attempt (referred to as non-fatal suicidal behaviors; NFSB) being among its strongest predictors. Parenting, including positive parenting (e.g. warmth, responsiveness), negative parenting (e.g. control, hostility) and parent-child relationship...

Introduction Disturbed sleep represents a potentially important modifiable risk factor for the development of depression in children and youth. This protocol for a systematic review proposes to investigate whether insomnia and/or sleep disturbances predict child and youth depression in community and clinical-based samples. Methods and analysis The...

Clinical practice guidelines (CPG) provide a framework for evidence-based practice; however, few studies have assessed the methodological quality of CPGs relevant to child and youth mental health. This study was a systematic review of CPGs for the assessment, prevention and treatment of disruptive behavior, including attention-deficit hyperactivity...

No study to date has examined self-harm/suicidality in a community sample of children who express gender nonconformity (GNC). This parent-report study (N = 1,923) examined self-harm/suicidality in a nonclinical community sample of 6- to 12-year-old children, including those who express marked GNC but do not have a gender dysphoria (GD) diagnosis. C...

Significance Studying individual differences in gender and sexual orientation provides insight into how early-life biology shapes brain and behavior. The literature identifies multiple biodevelopmental influences on male sexual orientation, but these influences are generally studied individually, and the potential for association or interaction bet...

In press, Journal of Affective Disorders Background: Children who are severely dysregulated experience a range of concurrent and long-term impairments and psychopathology and are particularly at-risk for mood and anxiety disorders. The Child Behavior Checklist Dysregulation Profile (CBCL-DP) may be useful inidentifying children who are highly dysre...

Background: Children who are severely dysregulated experience a range of concurrent and long-term impairments and psychopathology and are particularly at-risk for mood and anxiety disorders. The Child Behavior Checklist Dysregulation Profile (CBCL-DP) may be useful in identifying children who are highly dysregulated, which could facilitate early i...

This study examined the effects of comorbid ADHD symptoms, internalizing psychopathology, Callous-Unemotional (CU) Traits, and conduct problem severity on children's response to an evidence-based psychosocial intervention. Clinic-referred children with DBD ages 8-12 years (N = 76) participated in a 15-week multi-component intervention. Parents prov...

Objective: This study used latent class analysis to identify patterns of co-occurrence among common childhood difficulties (inattention/hyperactivity, internalizing, externalizing, peer problems, and reading difficulties). Method: Parents and teachers of 501 children ages 6 to 9 provided mental health and social ratings, and children completed a...

Although universal screening for mental health difficulties is increasingly recognized as a way to identify children who are at risk and provide early intervention, little research exists to inform decisions about screening, such as the choice of informants and the type of information collected. The present study examined the incremental validity o...

Journal of Adolescent Health, 2016, 58, 693-694

Objective: This study examined rates of self-harm and suicidality (ideation and behavior) in children referred clinically for gender dysphoria compared with their siblings, and referred and nonreferred children from the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) standardization sample. Predictors or correlates of self-harm/suicidality were also examined. Me...

This study examined the relations among perceived and actual knowledge of phonemic awareness (PA), exposure to PA instruction during practicum, and self-efficacy for teaching PA in a sample of 54 teacher candidates (TCs) enrolled in a 1-year Bachelor of Education program in a Canadian university. It also assessed the effects of a brief multimedia-e...

Overinflated competence may deter accessing treatment and/or intervention to compensate for or ameliorate executive dysfunctions that may be inhibiting ability to work at full potential. The objective here is to begin to examine levels of perceived job competence and their relation to executive function among youth with ADHD compared to their typic...

The number of adolescents referred to specialized gender identity clinics for gender dysphoria appears to be increasing and there also appears to be a corresponding shift in the sex ratio, from one favoring natal males to one favoring natal females. We conducted two quantitative studies to ascertain whether there has been a recent inversion of the...

The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) is a 25-item screening measure for emotional and behavioral problems in children and adolescents aged 4 to 16. Structural equation modeling was used to test the five-factor structure of teacher and parent ratings on the British version of the SDQ in a community sample of 501 Canadian children aged...

This study examined the role of word-level reading proficiency and verbal working memory in grade 4 and 5 students' (N = 42; 23 boys) performance on a curriculum-based measure of narrative writing. Two outcomes were measured: correct minus incorrect word sequences (CMIWS; accurate-production of spelling and grammar in-text), and composition quality...