This editorial is co-written by a developmental psychologist and a young climate activist. We start by showing how the climate crisis is imposing a heavy psychological burden on children and youth, both from experiencing climate-related disasters and from the knowledge that worse is to come. We then describe the global movement of youth demanding urgent climate action. We conclude that health professionals can support young people in many ways, but particularly by supporting their capacity to take action, raising awareness about the impact of the climate crisis on youth mental and physical health, and taking action themselves to work for a secure climate future.

Despite considerable efforts to understand the processes that underlie the development of externalizing behavior problems, it is still unclear why externalizing problems remain chronically high for some children, emerge early and cease by late childhood for others, and arise in adolescence in some cases. The purpose of this study was to examine how a wide range of child and family risk factors are linked to trajectories of externalizing behavior and how these relationships vary from infancy to middle adolescence. We used data from the community-based Norwegian Tracking Opportunities and Problems (TOPP) study sample (n = 921). A Cholesky factorization model was specified to separate stable and emerging risk doses across four developmental periods (infancy, early and middle childhood, and middle adolescence). Children in the High Stable class were characterized by substantially elevated risk levels in multiple domains throughout the study period. Children in the High Childhood Limited class had very high levels of temperamental emotionality, internalizing symptoms, and maternal mental distress, suggesting a substantial intrinsic emotional basis for their externalizing problems. Intrinsic factors seemed less salient for the Adolescent Onset class. These findings emphasize the need for a dynamic perspective on risk factors and support the importance of prevention and intervention efforts across multiple domains from early childhood and throughout adolescence.

School bonding has been identified as a protective factor for a broad range of adolescent outcomes, and it is thus important to identify factors that foster positive relationships with school. The ecological perspective suggests the importance of both individual and contextual antecedents across developmental periods, yet previous research has tended to examine only a narrow selection of school bonding correlates. This study sought to identify longitudinal influences on school bonding, examining the role of both individual and contextual factors over childhood and early adolescence. We draw on data from 1,308 participants (51% female) in the Australian Temperament Project, a large representative Australian sample that has followed the psychosocial development of participants from infancy to adulthood, and thus provides a rare opportunity to address this gap in the literature. Path analysis was conducted to examine individual and contextual predictors of school bonding at 15–16 years. The individual characteristics of higher academic achievement and sociability, and lower hyperactivity predicted school bonding. Contextual factors also made a significant contribution, including the parent–child relationships and maternal education. The results indicate that both individual and contextual factors make unique contributions to school bonding in adolescence, suggesting a number of potential targets for intervention.

This study builds on our earlier investigation (see Ganesalingam et al., 2006). We showed previously that children with moderate to severe traumatic brain injuries (TBI) had poorer self-regulation and social and behavioral functioning than their uninjured peers and that self-regulation predicted significant variance in parent- and teacher-rated social and behavioral outcomes, regardless of the presence or absence of TBI. In this study, we examine self-regulation as a mediator of the relationship between TBI and the outcomes. Participants included 65 children with moderate to severe TBI and 65 children without TBI matched for age and gender. Participants were between 6 and 11 years of age. Children completed an assessment of cognitive, emotional, and behavioral self-regulation, and social and behavioral functioning. Mediation was assessed using a bootstrapping approach (a relatively novel statistical method for assessing specific indirect effects in models with multiple mediators). Analyses indicated that, after controlling for socioeconomic status (SES), aspects of self-regulation accounted for individual variation in the outcomes, and acted as a significant mediator of the effects of TBI on the outcomes. Self-regulatory deficits may reflect the relative vulnerability of the prefrontal cortex to TBI and may help account for post-injury difficulties in social and behavioral functioning. (JINS, 2007, 13, 298–311.)

This study examined the impact of childhood traumatic brain injury (TBI) on self-regulation and social and behavioral functioning, and the role of self-regulation as a predictor of children's social and behavioral functioning. Participants included 65 children with moderate to severe TBI and 65 children without TBI, all between 6 and 11 years of age. Self-regulation and social and behavioral functioning were assessed 2 to 5 years following injury. Children with TBI displayed deficits in self-regulation and social and behavioral functioning, after controlling for socioeconomic status (SES), although the magnitude of the deficits was not related to injury severity. Self-regulation accounted for significant variance in children's social and behavioral functioning, after controlling for SES and group membership. Self-regulation may be an important determinant of children's social and behavioral functioning following TBI. (JINS, 2006, 12, 609–621.)

The direct and interactive effects of temperament and parenting were examined in the prediction of early adolescent externalising behaviour problems (conduct disorder and hyperactivity), internalising problems (depression and anxiety), and substance use, using data on 1,402 13- and 14-year-olds. Significant direct effects were found for four temperament factors (negative reactivity, task persistence, activity, and approach), and four parenting factors (warmth, power assertion, physical punishment, and monitoring). For those high in persistence, low in negative reactivity, or low in activity, problem outcomes were generally very rare, regardless of parenting. Prevalence of behaviour problems was generally elevated among those low in persistence, high in negotive reactivity, or high in activity, even in cases where parenting was high in positive qualities such as warmth and monitoring. Prevalence of certain behaviour problems was substantially elevated when low persistence, high negotive reactivity, or high activity occurred in combination with lower parental warmth or lower monitoring. The results suggest that parenting can play an important moderating role in the relationship of particular temperament characteristics to behavioural problems.

The nature and correlates of psychological disorders of preadolescent children from the longitudinal Australian Temperament Project (ATP) are reported. Almost half of the children identified via checklists completed by mothers, teachers, and the children themselves as being in the at-risk range for disorder received a DSM-III-R diagnosis. Nine per cent of comparison, or low-risk, children also received a diagnosis. Internalising disorders were the most common, and 44% of cases had multiple problems. Children rated as problematic by all three informants or by child plus teacher were the most likely to receive a diagnosis. The at-risk group had more difficult temperament, poorer family and peer relationships, lower levels of social skills, and were of lower SES than the comparison group. There were minimal differences on these variables between at-risk children who did, or did not, receive a DSM-III-R diagnosis. It is argued that especially for boys, checklists from multiple informants are effective tools for identifying clinically significant disorders.

Results are presented from a recent study within the Australian Temperament Project (ATP), in which a group of children with significant behaviour problems, and a comparison group, were selected from the sample at 11–12 years and home-visited, with assessments of clinical diagnoses, intelligence, school achievement and social competence, and a variety of family functioning indices. Approximately half the behaviour problem group received at least one diagnosis. Twice as many boys as girls were diagnosed. Rates of comorbidity were high but, generally, within—rather than between—the broadband internalising or externalising spectra. Concurrent family functioning measures discriminated between groups, but not as strongly as intrinsic child measures, and the particular family variables that best discriminated between groups showed sex differences. High stability of behaviour problems from earlier years was evident, and the behaviour problem group differed from the comparison group on measures of temperament, behaviour, and context from early childhood; both findings reinforce the need for early intervention.The implications of these and other findings from the ATP, particularly the need for early intervention, are discussed.