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By the time children reach adolescence, most have experienced at least one type of severe adversity and many have been exposed to multiple types. However, whether patterns of adverse childhood experiences are consistent or change across developmental epochs in childhood is not known. Retrospective reports of adverse potentially traumatic childhood experiences in 3 distinct developmental epochs (early childhood, 0- to 5-years-old; middle childhood, 6- to 12-years-old; and adolescence, 13- to 18-years-old) were obtained from adolescents (N = 3485) referred to providers in the National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN) for trauma-focused assessment and treatment. Results from latent class analysis (LCA) revealed increasingly complex patterns of adverse/traumatic experiences in middle childhood and adolescence compared to early childhood. Depending upon the specific developmental epoch assessed, different patterns of adverse/traumatic experiences were associated with gender and with adolescent psychopathology (e.g., internalizing/externalizing behavior problems), and juvenile justice involvement. A multiply exposed subgroup that had severe problems in adolescence was evident in each of the 3 epochs, but their specific types of adverse/traumatic experiences differed depending upon the developmental epoch. Implications for research and clinical practice are identified.

Background Attention bias towards threat is associated with anxiety in older youth and adults and has been linked with violence exposure. Attention bias may moderate the relationship between violence exposure and anxiety in young children. Capitalizing on measurement advances, the current study examines these relationships at a younger age than previously possible. Methods Young children (mean age 4.7, ±0.8) from a cross-sectional sample oversampled for violence exposure (N = 218) completed the dot-probe task to assess their attention biases. Observed fear/anxiety was characterized with a novel observational paradigm, the Anxiety Diagnostic Observation Schedule. Mother-reported symptoms were assessed with the Preschool-Age Psychiatric Assessment and Trauma Symptom Checklist for Young Children. Violence exposure was characterized with dimensional scores reflecting probability of membership in two classes derived via latent class analysis from the Conflict Tactics Scales: Abuse and Harsh Parenting. Results Family violence predicted greater child anxiety and trauma symptoms. Attention bias moderated the relationship between violence and anxiety. Conclusions Attention bias towards threat may strengthen the effects of family violence on the development of anxiety, with potentially cascading effects across childhood. Such associations may be most readily detected when using observational measures of childhood anxiety.

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a profound impact on individuals, families, and communities around the world. Intensive health precautions have created constraints on mobility, work, education, family life, and interpersonal relationships. Preliminary survey studies have reported an increase in the prevalence and severity of psychosocial impairments in the pandemic’s immediate wake. However, the impact of specific pandemic-related experiences and patterns of experiences has not been systematically assessed and studied. The goal of the present study was to develop and conduct a preliminary empirical test of a novel, comprehensive assessment of pandemic-related experiences, the Epidemic-Pandemic Impacts Inventory (EPII), using person-centered latent class analysis (LCA). Aims were to (1) test the hypothesis that LCA would identify unique subgroups based on patterns of negative and positive pandemic-related experiences across personal and social domains, and (2) examine whether identified subgroups would significantly differ on sociodemographic characteristics and indicators of mental health and functioning. Results supported hypotheses, with several unique subgroups identified across domains that were differentiated on sociodemographic characteristics and measures of perceived stress, depression, anxiety, PTSD, and perceived social support. Findings support the EPII as an instrument for measuring tangible and meaningful experiences in the context of an unprecedented pandemic disaster. This study, combined with future research with the EPII, may serve to inform public health strategies for supporting families and communities in the current pandemic and under similar mass public health crisis circumstances in the future.