Abstract
One in seven adolescents have been reported to experience mental health difficulties and that most of these difficulties tend to have their first onset during adolescence (World Health Organization, 2021). Mental health difficulties (e.g., anxiety and depression) and other conditions such as sleep problems are often associated with psychosocial impairment in various life domains (WHO, 2021). One of the most consistent factors that has been identified as playing a significant role in developmental psychopathology is family (Halonen et al., 2022). Specific characteristics of family such as family dysfunction could place adolescents at high risk of developing mental health problems, while as other features of family (e.g., positive parent-child relationships) help to promote healthy development.
While informative, most of the studies on developmental psychopathology have been conducted in Western, educated, industrialized, rich, and democratic nations (in short WEIRD nations) (Thalmayer et al., 2021). WEIRD participants, from countries that represent about 12 percent of the world's population, differ psychologically from other populations across the globe. This is because a lot of these behaviours and perceptions are based on the environments and contexts in which we grew up.
This special issue focuses on research on various types and aspects of developmental psychopathology and their risk factors among young people in Cyprus, Malaysia, the UK and the Philippines (Essau, 2024). Most of the articles in this special issue are part of the research which were presented at the 15th International Conference on Child and Adolescent Psychopathology (ICCAP2023): Enhancing resilience in children, young people, and families in a changing world [Special Issue]. ICCAP2023 took place in Kuching, Sarawak (on Borneo Island), Malaysia and was attended by over 600 delegates from 32 countries.
The first article in this special issue, a study by Constantina Demetriou found family functioning with family satisfaction as an important factor that differentiated adolescents with and without mental disorders. These two groups of adolescents differed in various areas of family factors in that responsiveness and supervision are common themes among adolescents without any mental disorders, while as conflicts and authoritarian control are common among adolescents with mental disorders. These findings highlight the importance of positive family dynamics. Evren Morgul explored the moderating role of parenting role stress on the relationship between negative reactivity and emotional/behavioural difficulties among mothers of children 7-year- olds living in the UK. Negative reactivity significantly predicted higher emotional/behavioural problems in children. Her finding showed that maternal parenting role stress was a significant moderator of children's negative reactivity and emotional/behavioural problems. Hazalizah Hamzah and her colleagues examined the extent to which family resilience, resilience, and gender are related to well-being among adolescents in Malaysian. Their finding showed resilience as the strongest contributor to well-being, followed by family resilience. Another contributor to well-being was gender, with males reported higher well-being scores than females.
The next two articles focussed on sleep. Using qualitative research method, Fatanah Ramlee and her colleagues explored children's perceptions of sleep and sleep habits. The following themes emerged from the interview: sleep behaviour (e.g., closing eyes and lying down) and dreams; three themes were indicators of sleep quality – namely, feelings upon waking, daytime functioning, and facial appearance. The last three themes were related with children's perceptions of sleep habits, namely, sleep environment, bedtime routines, and sleep resistance and midnight awakenings. Overall, these findings showed that children had a good knowledge about the importance of sleep. Vanida Tian and colleagues examined the extent to which the association between physical activity and mood might affect subsequent night sleep quality by focusing on total sleep time, sleep efficiency, and sleep onset latency. The authors used an ecological momentary assessment to monitor and record their physical activity, mood and sleep. Physical activity was found to significantly predicted total sleep time, sleep efficiency, sleep onset latency, and sleep quality; mood disturbance also predicted sleep quality. The authors concluded that physical activity and mood regulation are of importance in promoting good sleep quality among adolescents.
Wan Salwina and colleagues examined social difficulties faced by adolescents with High Functioning Autism Spectrum Disorder (HFASD) from three different sources of information. While HFASD youths reported having difficulties with non-verbal cues, language, and initiating conversations, their parents reported HFASD's rigid interests, insecurities, and lack of self-awareness. According to healthcare experts, HFASD displayed high anxiety levels which acted as a significant social barrier. Overall, these findings highlighted the importance of integrating multiple perspectives when developing social skills interventions to support youth with HFASD. In the last article, Patricia Simon and Roseann Tan-Mansukhani examined the impact of a single-session hope-based intervention among undergraduate students who were deemed to be vulnerable during the pandemic. Participants with high perfectionism scores were randomly assigned to one of the three groups: hope, mindfulness, waitlist control. Results showed a decrease in anxiety scores from pre- to post-intervention for the hope and mindfulness conditions, which were maintained after one month.
In conclusion, findings of the above studies enhanced our knowledge about various aspects of developmental psychopathology in different countries and cultural settings. Investments should be made in developing evidence-based intervention for emotional and behavioural difficulties in children and adolescents which will have a positive impact on young people's development, health and well-being, that in turn will contribute to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (United Nations, 2015). The aims of these goals are to address the most pressing challenges facing the world, including poverty, inequality, climate change, environmental degradation, peace, and justice.