Background and Objectives: There is evidence that eating meals or snacks while watching TV is an obesogenic factor. Moreover, the patterns of TV and other screen use during meals begin early and persist. However, there are only a few studies to date which address the prevalence and predictors of young children’s exposure to screen during mealtimes. Thus, the present study aimed to investigate the prevalence and the associated factors of screen use during meals in early childhood. Materials and Methods: A cross sectional survey was conducted in Lithuania. Data of 847 children aged 2 to 5 years old (51.5% boys) were analyzed in this study. Parents completed the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL/1½-5) and reported their children’s daily screen time, exposure to background TV, screen use during child’s meals, child and parental height and weight, and sociodemographic data. Results: More than half of children were exposed to screen during meals: 33.7% occasionally, several times per week or per month, and 22%—daily or during every meal. Overall daily screen time, background TV, consumption of junk food, child age, and emotional and behavioral problems were related to mealtime screen use (all associations significant at p < 0.01). Longer daily screen time (OR 1.01; 95% CI 1.00–1.01), more background TV (OR 1.26; 95% CI 1.10–1.45), and elder child age (OR 1.02; 95% CI 1.00–1.03) were significant predictors of occasional use of screen during meals. Also, longer daily screen time (OR 0.99; 95% CI 0.98–0.99), background TV (OR 0.78; 95% CI 0.66–0.91) together with no siblings’ status of a child (OR 0.42; 95% CI 0.25–0.69) increased the probability that children were fed in front of screens daily. Conclusions: This study confirmed the unfavorable associations among screen use during meals, daily screen time and junk food consumption in early childhood. In addition, first-time parents should get particular health providers’ attention as they are more likely to use screens during child’s mealtime.

This study examines the associations between adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), health risk behaviours, and psychological well-being among Lithuanian university students. A cross-sectional survey was carried out with a convenience sample of 393 students (80.7% females and 19.3% males) recruited from mostly undergraduate courses (96.4%) in Lithuanian universities. Participants, aged 18–25 years (21.07 ± 1.53), completed a web-based survey in which they were asked to retrospectively self-report on ACEs while answering questions on health risk behaviours (e.g., smoking, substance use, riding a car with a drunk driver) and psychological well-being. Only 8.7% of the study sample experienced no ACEs, and almost half of the sample (48.9%) experienced ≥4 ACEs. Findings from adjusted models showed that, compared with students with no ACEs, those who experienced ≥4 ACEs had higher odds of lifetime illicit drug use (AOR = 2.73, p < 0.05), riding with a drunk driver (AOR = 2.44, p < 0.05), suicidal ideation before age 18 (AOR = 28.49, p < 0.01) and in the past 12 months (AOR = 5.39, p < 0.01). An increased number of ACEs was also associated with lower psychological well-being (B = −3.94, p < 0.001). Findings from this study have implications for mental health professionals as well as university administrators, as students with a higher number of traumatic experiences may require greater levels of support and services.

The Comprehensive Assessment of Psychopathic Personality-Self-Report (CAPP-SR) is a recent operationalization of the CAPP model, which conceptualizes psychopathy in terms of 33 symptoms that can be thematically organized according to six theoretical domains. The current study examined the higher order factor structure of the CAPP-SR symptom scales in community, university, and offender samples derived from three separate countries. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) indicated that a three-factor model (Antagonism/Meanness, Disinhibition, and Fearless Grandiosity) was optimal in a large population-representative U.S. community sample. EFA with targeted rotation confirmed this three-factor structure in New Zealand university and Lithuanian prison samples. Furthermore, construct validity analyses against other psychopathy measures and psychopathy-relevant criteria provided initial support for the three CAPP-SR latent factors. For instance, CAPP-SR Antagonism/Meanness was associated with other psychopathy scales reflective of antagonism, meanness, callous affect; CAPP-SR Disinhibition with other psychopathy scales reflective of behavioral psychopathy traits (e.g., impulsivity, irresponsibility), antisocial behavior, substance abuse; and CAPP-SR Fearless Grandiosity with narcissism, emotional stability, and boldness. These findings suggest that a three-factor structure provides for an alternative (to the traditional thematic domains) hierarchical interpretation of CAPP-SR scores. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

This study explored the profiles of elementary-school-aged children’s Internet use in relation to their emotional and behavioral problems. Participating in this cross-sectional study were 877 child–parent dyads from Latvia, Lithuania, and Taiwan. Children (8–10 years old) provided information on three variables: the amount of time they spent online, frequency of online activities, and knowledge of how to do things online. Latent profile analysis including these three variables provided a four-class solution for child Internet use. A comparison between Latvia, Lithuania, and Taiwan on the percentage of the sample distribution in each class showed that there was no difference between sites for the high class (high ratings on all three variables). The largest differences were for the low and average classes (low and average ratings on all three variables, namely, time online, frequency, and knowledge): the Lithuanian and Taiwanese samples were similar in that a higher percentage of each sample was in the low class, whereas the Latvian sample had children equally distributed between the low class and the average class. Analysis of the data from the entire sample for differences in parent-reported child behavioral difficulties suggested that children in the high class had an elevated level of behavioral problems and compulsive Internet use.

Assessment of Risk and Treatability: Adolescent Version (START: AV, Viljoen, Nicholls, Cruise, Desmarais, & Webster, 2014) provides a structural professional judgement on the risk of adverse outcomes related to harm to others and rule violations. The advantage of START: AV is in that it includes the assessment of both strengths and vulnerabilities. As it is a relatively new assessment tool, the questions related to psychometric properties of the measure are still topical, especially in intercultural context. The reliability and convergent validity of START: AV ratings were examined in a sample of 159 male juveniles (M age = 16.97, SD = 0.81) on probation. Information about the psychosocial functioning of the minors was collected during the interviews with probation officers and rated by the researchers according to the START: AV User Guide. The Subtypes of Antisocial Behaviour (STAB; Burt & Donnellan, 2009), the Triarchic Psychopathy Measure (TriPM; Patrick, 2010), and the Criminal Sentiments Scale-Modified (CSS-M; Shields & Simourd, 1991) were used as convergent measures in this study. The results provided evidence for the reliability of the START: AV ratings and associations between behavioural variables, psychopathy constructs and START: AV are in favour of its concurrent validity. Pro-criminal attitudes were not associated with START: AV ratings, and further research is needed to test the manifestation of pro-criminal attitudes among juvenile offenders on probation. These findings support for further testing the START: AV on its predictive validity as well as utility in work with juvenile offenders.