The purpose of the current review was to address four questions: 1) Are there differences in family functioning or family environment among patients with different eating disorder (ED) diagnoses? 2) Are there differences in the perception of family functioning or family environment among different family members? 3) Is family functioning or family environment related to ED symptomatology? 4) Does family functioning or family environment change as a result of ED treatment? and 4a) If so, does this impact ED treatment outcome? Although most studies found no differences among ED diagnostic groups, those that did generally found worse family functioning among those with binge/purge symptoms than among those with the restricting subtype of anorexia nervosa. Differences in perceptions of family functioning among family members were found, with patients generally reporting worse functioning than their parents. Worse family functioning was generally found to be related to worse ED symptoms. The variety of treatment approaches and different assessments of outcome made it somewhat unclear whether family functioning consistently improves with ED treatment. More research is needed on family functioning and EDs, particularly in understudied groups such as males, and those with ED diagnoses other than anorexia nervosa or bulimia nervosa.

Family history (FH+) of substance use disorder (SUD) is an established risk factor for offspring SUD. The extent to which offspring psychological traits or the family environment, each of which may be relevant to familial transmission of SUD risk, vary by FH+ in socioeconomically disadvantaged populations is less clear. We compared the family/social environmental and psychological characteristics of 73 FH+ and 69 FH- youth ages 12-16, from a study of parental criminal justice system involvement in a primarily low-income, minority urban population. A latent profile analysis (LPA) empirically identified groups of subjects with similar psychological characteristics, which were then compared by FH+. FH+ youths were found to have greater mean household size, greater parental psychological aggression, and a higher mean number of adverse childhood experiences, even without considering parental SUD. FH+ individuals had lower report card grades according to parental report and were more likely to have a history of externalizing disorders than FH- individuals. However, FH+ was not significantly associated with many psychological characteristics or with the class membership from the LPA. In conclusion, among a population of low-income, minority urban youth, FH+ was associated with differences in the family environment and only subtle differences in individual psychological characteristics.

UNASSIGNED: Associations between parental anxiety and adolescent internet addiction have been documented in the literature; however, few studies have analyzed the role of the family environment in this relationship. This study aims to explore the relationship between parental anxiety and adolescent internet addiction while also investigating the indirect relationships involving multiple dimensions of the family environment and child emotional behavior issues.
UNASSIGNED: Surveys were conducted among 6,296 parent-child pairs. We administered SDQ, CIAS-R, and FES-CV to assess adolescents\' issues and internet addiction, and evaluate family environment. Additionally, parents completed GAD-7 to assess parental anxiety levels.Results: Correlation analysis revealed that the family environment and adolescent emotional behavior issues played an indirect relationship in the link between parental anxiety and internet addiction.
UNASSIGNED: The findings emphasize the importance of addressing parental anxiety and fostering a positive family environment as effective measures to alleviate adolescent emotional behavior problems and reduce the risk of internet addiction.

The brain undergoes extensive development during late childhood and early adolescence. Cortical thinning is a prominent feature of this development, and some researchers have suggested that differences in cortical thickness may be related to internalizing symptoms, which typically increase during the same period. However, research has yielded inconclusive results. We utilized a new method that estimates the combined effect of individual differences in vertex-wise cortical thickness on internalizing symptoms. This approach allows for many small effects to be distributed across the cortex and avoids the necessity of correcting for multiple tests. Using a sample of 8763 children aged 8.9 to 11.1 from the ABCD study, we decomposed the total variation in caregiver-reported internalizing symptoms into differences in cortical thickness, additive genetics, and shared family environmental factors and unique environmental factors. Our results indicated that individual differences in cortical thickness accounted for less than 0.5% of the variation in internalizing symptoms. In contrast, the analysis revealed a substantial effect of additive genetics and family environmental factors on the different components of internalizing symptoms, ranging from 06% to 48% and from 0% to 34%, respectively. Overall, while this study found a minimal association between cortical thickness and internalizing symptoms, additive genetics, and familial environmental factors appear to be of importance for describing differences in internalizing symptoms in late childhood. RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS: We utilized a new method for modelling the total contribution of vertex-wise individual differences in cortical thickness to internalizing symptoms in late childhood. The total contribution of individual differences in cortical thickness accounted for <0.5% of the variance in internalizing symptoms. Additive genetics and shared family environmental variation accounted for 17% and 34% of the variance in internalizing symptoms, respectively. Our results suggest that cortical thickness is not an important indicator for internalizing symptoms in childhood, whereas genetic and environmental differences have a substantial impact.

BACKGROUND: Previous studies have linked adolescent motherhood to adverse neurodevelopmental outcomes in offspring, yet the sex-specific effect and underlying mechanisms remain unclear.
METHODS: This study included 6952 children aged 9-11 from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development study. The exposed group consisted of children of mothers < 20 years at the time of birth, while the unexposed group was composed of children of mothers aged 20-35 at birth. We employed a generalized linear mixed model to investigate the associations of adolescent motherhood with cognitive, behavioral, and autistic-like traits in offspring. We applied an inverse-probability-weighted marginal structural model to examine the potential mediating factors including adverse perinatal outcomes, family conflict, and brain structure alterations.
RESULTS: Our results revealed that children of adolescent mothers had significantly lower cognitive scores (β, - 2.11, 95% CI, - 2.90 to - 1.31), increased externalizing problems in male offspring (mean ratio, 1.28, 95% CI, 1.08 to 1.52), and elevated internalizing problems (mean ratio, 1.14, 95% CI, 0.99 to 1.33) and autistic-like traits (mean ratio, 1.22, 95% CI, 1.01 to 1.47) in female. A stressful family environment mediated ~ 70% of the association with internalizing problems in females, ~ 30% with autistic-like traits in females, and ~ 20% with externalizing problems in males. Despite observable brain morphometric changes related to adolescent motherhood, these did not act as mediating factors in our analysis, after adjusting for family environment. No elevated rate of adverse perinatal outcomes was observed in the offspring of adolescent mothers in this study.
CONCLUSIONS: Our results reveal distinct sex-specific neurodevelopmental outcomes impacts of being born to adolescent mothers, with a substantial mediating effect of family environment on behavioral outcomes. These findings highlight the importance of developing sex-tailored interventions and support the hypothesis that family environment significantly impacts the neurodevelopmental consequences of adolescent motherhood.

UNASSIGNED: Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is an abnormal glucose metabolism diagnosed during pregnancy that can have serious adverse consequences for mother and child. GDM is an exceptional health condition, as its management serves not only as treatment but also as prevention, reducing the risk of future diabetes in mother and child.
UNASSIGNED: This qualitative study aimed to explore how pregnant women experience and respond to GDM, focusing particularly on the role of the family environment in shaping women\'s experiences.
UNASSIGNED: The research was carried out in Vietnam\'s Thái Bình province in April-May 2023. We conducted in-depth ethnographic interviews with 21 women with GDM, visiting them in their homes. Our theoretical starting point was phenomenological anthropology, and the data were analysed using a thematic analysis approach.
UNASSIGNED: At the centre of women\'s experiences was the contrast between GDM as a biomedical and a social condition. Whereas GDM was biomedically diagnosed and managed in the healthcare system, it was often deemed insignificant or non-existent by family members. This made GDM a biomedically present but socially absent health condition. This paradox posed challenges to women\'s GDM self-care, placing them in pioneering social positions.
UNASSIGNED: The biomedical presence yet social absence of GDM turned women into pioneers at biomedical, digital, epidemiological, and family frontiers. This article calls for appreciation of pregnant women\'s pioneering roles and for health systems action to involve women and families in the development of GDM policies and programmes at a time of sweeping global health changes.
Main findings: Vietnamese women’s experiences of gestational diabetes were affected by social splits between clinic and home; between biomedical and family worlds.Added knowledge: Gestational diabetes places pregnant women in Northern Vietnam in pioneering roles on biomedical, digital, epidemiological, and family frontiers.Global health impact for policy and action: Pregnant women should be involved in the development of policies and programmes addressing gestational diabetes, with particular attention to the connections between clinical and family worlds.

The problem of self-actualization of disabled children is actual because of barriers in modern society that prevent maximal possible disclosure of their potential and abilities at different stages of growing up. Despite high interest of modern researchers to problematic of self-actualization, this scientific category practically was not investigated in relation to individuals with disabilities, including children, that does not allow to ensure with high degree of efficiency inclusive life-style for this category of citizens. The purpose of the study is to identify specifics of self-actualization of disabled children in various periods of their sociogenesis in family conditions as first social environment of occurring inclusive processes. At that, self-actualization is considered as one of social factors determining formation of inclusive lifestyle of child with persistent health disorders. The theoretical analysis permitted to establish relationship between such categories as self-actualization, lifestyle and social inclusion of disabled children. At the empirical level, the analysis of results of semi-formalized interviews of parents (n=292) and disabled children (n=292) in the Murmansk Oblast, revealed characteristics of self-actualization of disabled children in the family. The social barriers preventing this self-actualization in family environment and inhibiting inclusive processes were identified. The results of the study can be laid in the foundation of designing and implementing variable inclusive social practices of disabled children with disabilities at different stages of sociogenesis, and expanding possibilities for their self-realization, considering needs of socializing personality.

Adolescence is characterized by dynamic neurodevelopment, which poses opportunities for risk and resilience. Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) confer additional risk to the developing brain, where ACEs have been associated with alterations in functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) BOLD signaling in brain regions underlying inhibitory control. Socioenvironmental factors like the family environment may amplify or buffer against the neurodevelopmental risks associated with ACEs. Using baseline to Year 2 follow-up data from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study, the current study examined how ACEs relate to fMRI BOLD signaling during successful inhibition on the Stop Signal Task in regions associated with inhibitory control and examined whether family conflict levels moderated that relationship. Results showed that greater ACEs were associated with reduced BOLD response in the right opercular region of the inferior frontal gyrus and bilaterally in the pre-supplementary motor area, which are key regions underlying inhibitory control. Further, greater BOLD response was correlated with less impulsivity behaviorally, suggesting reduced activation may not be behaviorally adaptive at this age. No significant two or three-way interactions with family conflict levels or time were found. Findings highlight the continued utility of examining the relationship between ACEs and neurodevelopmental outcomes and the importance of intervention/prevention of ACES.

This study aims to understand how socioeconomic status and the family environment impact students\' academic achievement through the mediation of parental involvement in rural China. To achieve this, a cross-sectional design was adopted, and a total of 525 parents of rural junior high school students from S province in southwest China were surveyed. The proposed conceptual framework was tested by structural equation modeling. The results claimed that both socioeconomic status and the family environment are important factors affecting the academic achievement of rural students, and the role of the family environment is more pronounced. Furthermore, parental involvement has a significant mediating effect between socioeconomic status and academic achievement, especially between the family environment and academic achievement. The findings highlighted the importance of the family environment and parental involvement to compensate for the negative impact of disadvantaged family socioeconomic status on academic achievement.

BACKGROUND: Adolescent depression shows high clinical heterogeneity. Brain functional networks serve as a powerful tool for investigating neural mechanisms underlying depression profiles. A key challenge is to characterize how variation in brain functional organization links to behavioral features and psychosocial environmental influences.
METHODS: We recruited 80 adolescents with major depressive disorder (MDD) and 42 healthy controls (HCs). First, we estimated the differences in functional connectivity of resting-state networks (RSN) between the two groups. Then, we used sparse canonical correlation analysis to characterize patterns of associations between RSN connectivity and symptoms, cognition, and psychosocial environmental factors in MDD adolescents. Clustering analysis was applied to stratify patients into homogenous subtypes according to these brain-behavior-environment associations.
RESULTS: MDD adolescents showed significantly hyperconnectivity between the ventral attention and cingulo-opercular networks compared with HCs. We identified one reliable pattern of covariation between RSN connectivity and clinical/environmental features in MDD adolescents. In this pattern, psychosocial factors, especially the interpersonal and family relationships, were major contributors to variation in connectivity of salience, cingulo-opercular, ventral attention, subcortical and somatosensory-motor networks. Based on this association, we categorized patients into two subgroups which showed different environment and symptoms characteristics, and distinct connectivity alterations. These differences were covered up when the patients were taken as a whole group.
CONCLUSIONS: This study identified the environmental exposures associated with specific functional networks in MDD youths. Our findings emphasize the importance of the psychosocial context in assessing brain function alterations in adolescent depression and have the potential to promote targeted treatment and precise prevention.