Background: Children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) exhibit executive function deficits, which can be attributed to a dysfunction in the prefrontal region of the brain. Our study aims to evaluate the alteration of brain activity in children with ADHD during the administration of a go/no-go task using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) in comparison to a control group containing typically developing (TD) children.Methods: 32 children with ADHD and 31 of their TD peers were recruited and asked to perform a go/no-go task while undergoing measurements, with the aim of detecting changes in average oxygenated hemoglobin signaling (Δavg oxy-Hb) via fNIRS in the prefrontal lobe.Results: fNIRS data showed significant differences between the left and right dorsolateral prefrontal cortices, with a lower Δavg oxy-Hb change in the ADHD group compared to the TD group.Conclusion: Our results indicate that brain dysfunction in children with ADHD is related to functional impairments in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. The go/no-go task paired with fNIRS represents a useful measurement tool to assess prefrontal brain dysfunction in children struggling with ADHD.

Background: Individuals with non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) behavior are usually prone to repeated, intentional, direct harm to their own bodies that is not allowed by society without suicidal ideation. Under this behavior guidance, childhood traumatic experience may easily cause a series of psychological comorbidity symptoms, such as anxiety and depression, finally leading to a suicidal tendency. Methods: A total of 311 adolescent NSSI behavioral patients were recruited at the Ningbo Kangning hospital, Zhejiang Province according to the DSM-5 diagnostic criteria. Demographic data, childhood abuse and neglect, internet addiction, self-esteem, anxiety, and suicidal tendency were evaluated. A structural equation model with a path induction mechanism was constructed to evaluate the relationship between distal and proximal factors related to suicidal tendencies due to childhood traumatic experiences in NSSI behavioral individuals. Results: Among the 311 subjects included in the survey, 250 (80.39%) suffered traumatic experiences, such as emotional abuse/physical abuse/sexual abuse/emotional neglect or physical neglect in their childhood, 303 (97.43%) had suicidal ideation, 271 (87.14%) showed the total score of self-esteem, 148 (47.59%) had different degrees of Internet addiction tendency, and 286 (91.96%) showed obvious anxiety. The established path model fit well (GFI = 0.996, RMSEA = 0.03), and the model showed that self-esteem, anxiety, and childhood traumatic experience had standardized coefficients of -0.235 (z = -4.742, p < 0.01), 0.322 (z = 6.296, p < 0.01), 0.205 (z = 4.047, p < 0.01), respectively, with suicidal ideation path, suggesting that self-esteem, Internet addiction, and anxiety showed significant mediating effects in the process of childhood traumatic experience affecting suicidal ideation. Conclusion: In the context of childhood traumatic experience, it is often accompanied by a series of regulatory behaviors such as Internet addiction, self-esteem, and so on, which finally leads to anxiety, mental symptoms, and even suicidal tendencies. The results provide effective support for the structural equation modeling to evaluate the multi-level influence of NSSI behavior individuals and emphasize that childhood familial factors may lead to psychiatric comorbidity symptoms and suicidal behavior.

Non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) in adolescents is becoming a widespread health issue. Recent studies have suggested that repetitive NSSI is crucial in NSSI adolescents and can be conceptualized as an “addictive behavior.” The aim of this cross-sectional study was to explore the network relationships among child maltreatment, anxiety, and addictive NSSI in adolescents. In total, 542 adolescents (14.07 ± 2.15 years old, 18.6% males) with NSSI behavior completed the related questionnaires. Two types of psychometric approaches were used to analyze the data. First, the network analysis showed that emotional abuse (Expected Influence: 1.20) had the most central role among the networks, and the edges of emotional abuse–anxiety (weight: 0.25), emotional abuse-addictive NSSI (weight: 0.20), and anxiety–addictive NSSI (weight: 0.19) showed stronger positive associations of trans-symptom edges. Second, the network comparison test was used to examine the network differences between the male and female groups; however, no network differences were found. Overall, among all types of childhood maltreatment, our results suggest that emotional abuse should be more emphasized to prevent long-term mental adverse outcomes and addictive NSSI, and that anxiety may also mediate emotional abuse and addictive NSSI in NSSI adolescents.