Background: Parental influence on children's internalizing symptoms has been well established; however, little is known about the underlying mechanisms. One possible mechanism is child emotion regulation given evidence (a) of its associations with internalizing symptoms and (b) that the development of emotion regulation during childhood and adolescence is influenced by aspects of the family environment. This meta‐analysis aimed to systematically investigate the mediating role of child emotion regulation in the relationship between various family factors and internalizing symptoms in children and adolescents. Methods: We searched Medline, Embase, PsychInfo, and Web of Science for English articles up until November 2022. We included studies that examined child emotion regulation as a mediator between a family factor and child/adolescent internalizing symptoms. Random‐effects models were used to calculate pooled indirect effects and total effects for nine family factors. Heterogeneity and mediation ratio were also calculated. Results: Of 49 studies with 24,524 participants in this meta‐analysis, family factors for which emotion regulation mediated the association with child/adolescent internalizing symptoms included: unsupportive emotion socialization, psychological control, secure attachment, aversiveness, family conflict, parent emotion regulation and parent psychopathology, but not supportive emotion socialization and behavioral control. Conclusions: Various family factors impact children's emotion regulation development, and in turn, contribute to the risk of internalizing symptoms in young people. Findings from this study highlight the need for interventions targeting modifiable parenting behaviors to promote healthy emotion regulation and better mental health in children and adolescents.
Minocycline has anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and anti-apoptotic properties that explain the renewed interest in its use as an adjunctive treatment for psychiatric and neurological conditions. Following the completion of several new clinical trials using minocycline, we proposed an up-to-date systematic review and meta-analysis of the data available. The PICO (patient/population, intervention, comparison and outcomes) framework was used to search 5 databases aiming to identify randomized controlled trials that used minocycline as an adjunctive treatment for psychiatric and neurological conditions. Search results, data extraction, and risk of bias were performed by two independent authors for each publication. Quantitative meta-analysis was performed using RevMan software. Literature search and review resulted in 32 studies being included in this review: 10 in schizophrenia, 3 studies in depression, and 7 in stroke, with the benefit of minocycline being used in some of the core symptoms evaluated; 2 in bipolar disorder and 2 in substance use, without demonstrating a benefit for using minocycline; 1 in obsessive-compulsive disorder, 2 in brain and spinal injuries, 2 in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, 1 in Alzheimer’s disease, 1 in multiple systems atrophy, and 1 in pain, with mixes results. For most of the conditions included in this review the data is still limited and difficult to interpret, warranting more well-designed and powered studies. On the other hand, the studies available for schizophrenia seem to suggest an overall benefit favoring the use of minocycline as an adjunctive treatment.
4 June 2024 in European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry
A prominent tripartite model proposes that parent role modeling of emotion regulation, emotion socialization behaviors, and the emotional climate of the family are important for young people’s emotional development. However, limited research has examined the neural mechanisms at play. Here, we examined the associations between family and parenting factors, the neural correlates of emotional reactivity and regulation, and internalizing symptoms in early adolescent girls. Sixty-four female adolescents aged 10–12 years with elevated internalizing symptoms completed emotional reactivity, implicit (affect labeling) and explicit (cognitive reappraisal) emotion regulation tasks during functional magnetic resonance imaging. Positive family emotional climate was associated with greater activation in the anterior cingulate and middle temporal cortices during emotional reactivity. Maternal emotion regulation difficulties were associated with increased frontal pole and supramarginal gyrus activation during affect labeling, whereas supportive maternal emotion socialization and positive family emotional climate were associated with activation in prefrontal regions, including inferior frontal and superior frontal gyri, respectively, during cognitive reappraisal. No mediating effects of brain function were observed in the associations between family/parenting factors and adolescent symptoms. These findings highlight the role of family and parenting behaviors in adolescent emotion regulation neurobiology, and contribute to prominent models of adolescent emotional development.
A widely cited idea in the emotion regulation literature holds that expressive suppression impairs memory while cognitive reappraisal has no effect on or may enhance memory relative to control. However, empirical evidence for these effects has been inconsistent. To provide a definitive test, we conducted four well-powered experiments with more than 4,000 participants to examine the effects of reappraisal and suppression of negative emotion (Experiments 1 and 3) and positive emotion (Experiments 2 and 4) on verbal and nonverbal memory. Results showed no consistent evidence for an effect of reappraisal on either type of memory, though expressive suppression of negative emotion consistently impaired verbal memory relative to control. Obtained effect sizes were small given successful emotion regulation manipulations and adequate statistical power (ds < 0.11). Conclusions are constrained to English-speaking online samples, and may not generalize to other types of memory. These findings highlight the need to systematically test widely accepted assumptions as a field. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).
27 November 2025 in Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry
Background: Depression in both bipolar and major depressive disorder remains a major unmet need due to treatment resistance to the existing treatments. Emerging evidence implicates the renin-angiotensin system in regulating the cellular stress response relevant to depression, suggesting it as a novel therapeutic target for depression. Candesartan, a common hypertension medication, decreases neuroinflammation, oxidative and nitrosative pathway activation, and neurotrophic signalling of angiotensin II by predominantly blocking the angiotensin II type 1 receptors (AT1R). Given AT1R-induced activities are implicated in the pathophysiology of bipolar and major depressive disorder and with supportive pharmacoepidemiology data, candesartan may represent a novel antidepressant strategy. Methods: The CADET Trials are 2 parallel 16-week double-blind randomized placebo-controlled trials of adjunctive candesartan (or placebo) for the treatment of bipolar depression (CADET-BD) and major depressive disorder (CADET-UD). Each trial aims to recruit 240 adult participants. The primary outcome is the between-group (ie, intervention vs. placebo) differential change from baseline to week 16 in depression symptoms as measured by the Montgomery Åsberg Depression Rating Scale. Secondary outcomes measure depression, mania, anxiety, quality of life, cost-effectiveness, functioning, substance use, cognition, and biological markers. Findings: Findings are not yet available as the trial is ongoing. Implications: The CADET Trials examine the efficacy of candesartan in reducing depressive symptoms in both unipolar and bipolar depression, and whether its effects are mediated through the renin-angiotensin system. Candesartan is affordable, accessible, and well-tolerated. If effective, it could quickly be adopted into clinical practice as a new adjunctive medication for the treatment of these disorders.