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Background: Experiencing traumatic stress is common and may lead to posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in a number of children and adolescents. Research using advanced imaging techniques is beginning to elucidate some of the neurobiological correlates of the traumatic stress response in youth. Methods: This paper summarizes the emerging network perspective of PTSD symptoms and reviews brain imaging research emphasizing structural and functional connectivity studies that employ magnetic resonance imaging techniques in pediatric samples. Results: Differences in structural connections and distributed functional networks such as the salience, default mode, and central executive networks are associated with traumatic and severe early life stress. The role of development has been relatively underappreciated in extant studies though there is evidence that critical brain regions as well as the structural and functional networks implicated undergo significant change in childhood and these typical developmental differences may be affected by traumatic stress. Conclusions: Future research will benefit from adopting a truly developmental approach that considers children's growth as a meaningful effect (rather than simply a covariate) interacting with traumatic stress to predict disruptions in the anatomical, functional, and connective aspects of brain systems thought to underlie the network of PTSD symptoms. Linking symptom networks with neurodevelopmental network models may be a promising avenue for future work.

Emotion-focused prevention and intervention efforts in schools have been promoted as a significant developmental and public health priority. This paper reports the results of a longitudinal study testing central premises of a school-based prevention model aimed at promoting positive emotional development through targeting test anxiety. Test anxiety interventions may be a practical strategy for conducting emotion-focused prevention and intervention efforts because of a natural fit within the ecology of the school setting. At-risk youth (n = 1,048) from urban public schools were screened and 325 with elevated test anxiety were offered the intervention in one of two waves (immediate intervention vs. waitlist). The intervention was associated with decreases in test anxiety, anxiety disorder, and depression symptoms. Critically, results suggest high participant satisfaction and growth curve analysis of follow-up assessments (end of the year, the next school year, and a subsequent school year) demonstrated positive developmental trajectories consistent with predictions (e.g., initial change in test anxiety predicted change in other symptoms). Findings provide evidence for the ecological validity of targeting test anxiety in school-based, emotion-focused prevention efforts.

Exposure to natural disasters can be highly traumatic and have a detrimental effect on youth mental health by threatening the satisfaction of basic human needs and goals. Recent research in adults suggests that exposure to disasters may exacerbate existential anxiety about the meaning of life. The current study expands this investigation to adolescents, who may be particularly vulnerable to the negative effects of disaster. Data came from 325 adolescents (mean age = 15.05 years, SD = 1.05) residing in the Greater New Orleans area who were exposed to Hurricanes Katrina and/or Gustav. Existential anxiety concerns were highly prevalent in the sample and were associated with elevated levels of posttraumatic stress disorder (R = .09) and depression symptoms (R = .13). Consistent with theoretical predictions, disaster exposure levels moderated the association between facets of existential anxiety and mental health symptoms. Findings highlight the salience of existential concerns in disaster exposed youth, and provide evidence that exposure to traumatic stress may strengthen their association with mental health problems.

While conventional wisdom suggests that parents and their adolescent offspring will often disagree, the nature of discrepancies in informant reports of parenting behaviors is still unclear. This article suggests testing measurement invariance in an effort to clarify if discrepancies in informant scores reflect true differences in perspectives on the same construct, or if the instrument is simply not measuring the same construct across parents and youth. The study provides an example by examining invariance and discrepancy across child, adolescent, and parent reports on the Alabama Parenting Questionnaire. The sample for this study was 255 youth (51.4 % male) aged 6-17 years (M age  = 12.3 years) and an accompanying parent. A five-factor model of the measure was found to provide approximately equivalent measurement across four participant groups (children under 12 years, adolescents aged 12-18 years, and parents of each group, respectively). Latent mean levels of reported parenting constructs varied greatly across informants. Age moderated the association between reports of two subscales, Parental Involvement and Positive Parenting, such that adolescents were more consistent with parents. The findings highlight the utility of testing measurement invariance across informants prior to evaluating differences in their reports, and demonstrate the benefits of considering invariance in the larger conversation over informant discrepancies.