The prevalence and significance of APS and other risk symptoms in the general population, when assessed in the same way as in help-seeking persons, is still rather unclear. In two complimentary studies, we studied the prevalence of ultra-high risk and basic symptom criteria and symptoms assessed with the ‘Structured Interview for Psychosis-Risk Syndromes’ (SIPS) and the ‘Schizophrenia Proneness Instrument, Adult / Child and Youth version’ (SPI-A/SPI-CY) by trained psychologists in random community samples of age 8-17 and 16-40 years. At the time of writing, 1229 interviews with young adults and 55 with children/adolescents were completed. While only 2.8% of the young adults acknowledged the presence of any risk criterion, 9.1% of the children/adolescents did so. An even more pronounced age-related difference was found in the prevalence of lifetime risk phenomena: 25.2% of the young adults and 45.5% of the children/adolescents reported at least any one. Thereby, 'perceptual abnormalities/hallucinations” of the SIPS, mainly on APS level, were most frequent in both samples. While risk phenomena occurred, at least temporarily, in a quarter of young adults and even in nearly half of the children and adolescents, only a minority fulfilled the frequency and onset requirements of SIPS and SPI-A/SPI-CY – again with higher rates in children and adolescents. This highlights the importance of these additional requirements of the risk criteria, but also the need to further examine developmental peculiarities. These factors might play a crucial role in the differentiation between ill and non-ill persons and thus should be studied in more detail.

Zusammenfassung Hintergrund Elterliche kognitiv-affektive und verhaltensbezogene Reaktionen können die Chronifizierung von kindlichen Schmerzen beeinflussen. Unklar ist, ob Mütter und Väter unterschiedlich reagieren und inwieweit Top-down- (elterliche Somatisierung, Angstsymptome) und Bottom-up-Variablen (kindliche schmerzbezogene Beeinträchtigung, Angstsymptome) die elterlichen Reaktionen modulieren. Ziele der Arbeit (1) Vergleich der Somatisierung, Angstsymptome und elterlichen Reaktionen (Katastrophisieren, Zuwendung) von Müttern und Vätern chronisch schmerzkranker Kinder und (2) Untersuchung des Einflusses von Top-down- und Bottom-up-Variablen auf die elterlichen Reaktionen. Methode Eltern-Kind-Triaden (Kind, Mutter, Vater; je N = 21, Gesamt‑N = 63; Kinder: 50 % weiblich, 11–19 Jahre, ∅15,14 Jahre) wurden während einer kinder- und jugendpsychiatrischen Behandlung ihrer chronischen Schmerzen hinsichtlich der kindlichen Schmerzen und Angstsymptome, elterlicher Somatisierung und Angstsymptome und elterlichen Reaktionen mit validierten Fragebögen erfasst. Ergebnisse Mütter und Väter unterschieden sich nicht in Somatisierung, Angstsymptomen und Reaktionen. Eltern katastrophisierten stärker, wenn ihre Kinder sowohl unter Angstsymptomen als auch unter stärkerer schmerzbezogener Beeinträchtigung litten. Elterliche Zuwendung war verstärkt, wenn Eltern selbst Angstsymptome angaben. Jüngere Kinder und Mädchen erhielten mehr Zuwendung. Diskussion Im Einklang mit vorherigen Studien zeigt sich, dass elterliche und kindliche Angstsymptome, nicht aber das elterliche Geschlecht als modulierende Faktoren der elterlichen maladaptiven Reaktionen eine Rolle spielen. Dies sollte in Prävention und Therapie von Kindern mit chronischen Schmerzen und deren Bezugspersonen berücksichtigt werden.

Introduction: In clinical samples of specialized early detection services, ultra-high risk and basic symptom criteria are associated with a 2-year conversion rate of roughly 30%. Objectives/Aim: Their prevalence and course outside help-seeking samples is largely unknown and is therefore studied in the BEAR study. Methods/Results: At baseline, 25% of the young adults from the community (16-40 years) acknowledged the presence of any lifetime risk symptom, but only 3% met any risk criterion. After 2.5 years, those with any lifetime risk symptoms (RISK) and a control group (CONTROL) are re-interviewed. At the time of writing, 87 follow-ups were conducted: in 48 RISK (30% male, baseline age: 36±4 years) and in 39 CONTROL (46% male, baseline age: 36±2 years). Two RISK (4%), but no CONTROL reported the meanwhile development of first-episode psychosis. RISK were significantly more likely than CONTROL to report presence of any risk symptom within the follow-up period (41% vs. 5%). Thus, the relative risk to still report risk symptoms when these had already been reported before was 8.05 (95% CI: 2.0; 32.4). Altogether 18% met criteria for a non-psychotic current or within-follow-up axis-I disorder whose presence was unrelated to presence of atrisk phenomena at first or second interview (13% in both RISK and CONTROL). Conclusions: This indicates that risk symptoms might frequently be not just fleeting experiences but tend to persist. Thereby, they do not seem to increase the likelihood of developing any mental disorder but-should the result holdmight predispose to the development of psychotic symptoms.

Is post-war reconciliation determined by individuals’ personal contact experiences with former adversaries, or by the amount of intergroup contact within the region in which they live? Using multilevel analyses among representative samples of youth from ethnic majorities and minorities in five post-war countries, we demonstrate that context-level intergroup contact is a stronger determinant of reconciliation than individual-level contact. This study serves as a proof of concept that forgiveness, trust, social distance and approach behaviors in post-war societies are primarily a function of amount of contact in one’s social context rather than one’s personal inter-ethnic interactions. Evidence from this research critically informs our understanding of the influence of social context, particularly the macroscale potential of intergroup contact, on post-war reconciliation, from both majority and minority perspectives, and provides important guidelines for policies and interventions fostering reconciliation.

Objective To assess the level of child and adolescent psychiatric staff’s knowledge regarding pain management, to determine group differences between the medically more educated (physicians, nurses) and the less educated (psychologists, educators, special therapists) and to investigate the influence of gender, age, or professional experience as well as staff’s own pain experiences. Methods A total of 193 staff members from different professional backgrounds from three independent child and adolescent psychiatry clinics in Northern Germany were tested using the German version of the Pediatric Nurses’ Knowledge and Attitudes Survey Regarding Pain Shriner’s revision (PNKAS-Sr). Results In total, the staff scored correctly 66% of the inventory questions. There was no difference between medically more educated and less educated staff members regarding the knowledge of pain management. The main factors influencing PNKAS score were age, profession, and pain education training. Conclusions Although chronic pain is not one of the main aspects of continuing education in child and adolescent psychiatry, the resulting level of knowledge was comparable to results of similar surveys with paediatric staffs. Nevertheless, further education is needed to enhance knowledge and understanding of children’s pain in child psychiatry staff in order to professionally treat patients with chronic somatic and mental illnesses.