Risk factors

  • Persistent picky eating predicts pervasive developmental disorders in children

    Picky eating — characterized by food refusal, unwillingness to try new foods or eating a limited variety of foods — affects 14-50% preschool children and is often considered by clinicians as a normal phase of child development.

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  • Understanding eating disorder susceptibility requires an integrated sociological, biological and genetic approach

    In 2015, Kristen Culbert, Sarah Racine and Kelly Klump compiled a Research Review on the underlying causes of eating disorders for the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry.

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  • Machine learning approach predicts suicide risk

    A study has evaluated the performance of machine learning on routinely collected electronic health records, as a possible approach to accurately screen and detect adolescents at risk of making suicide attempts.

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  • Violent self-harm may predict subsequent suicide

    Researchers in Sweden have found that violent methods of self-harm requiring hospitalization may indicate high risk of future suicide in adolescents and young women.

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  • Suicide risk in the young: what, how and who to study

    Suicide is the second leading cause of death in children and adolescents and occurs at a higher rate in this population than in any other age group.

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  • The family environment mediates risk of self-harming

    Non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) constitutes any deliberate physical injury to oneself that is not life-threatening. It is a behaviour that commonly starts during adolescence. Childhood family adversity (CFA) is associated with NSSI, but the risk pathways between CFA and NSSI are unclear.

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  • Teen on green background

    Addiction & Substance Use

    Irrespective of the age group it is just as important to be aware of what we don’t know as what we can be more confident about. This is particularly true of young people and drug use, as most research investigating prevention and interventions has tended to focus on adult populations.

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  • crying boy

    Bullying

    Not long ago, bullying was viewed as a normal part of childhood’s formative experiences. Over the past 50 years, since the pioneering work of Dan Olweus (1970), bullying started to be recognized as a complex public health matter and a social problem. Solid evidence has accumulated about the impact of bullying victimization on children’s and adolescents’ (hereby youth) mental health and well-being.

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  • mum with toddler on knee

    Parenting

    Parenting: an introduction to the importance of parenting for children and young people’s mental health and the effectiveness of parenting interventions. From this topic guide, you can find the latest blogs, events, publications, videos and podcasts.

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  • worried teen girl

    Self-harm & Suicide

    Self-harm is an increasingly recognised phenomenon and one of the strongest predictors of suicide, which continues to be one of the leading causes of death in young people worldwide. Self-harm can take many forms and may present with or without suicidal intent and both in the context of mental disorder, and without.

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