Research on sex-related differences in child and adolescent neurocognitive development has often been framed around whether boys and girls differ and which group performs better. This framing is increasingly inadequate because it treats developmental timing, observable phenotypes, and clinical recognition as interchangeable forms of evidence. Drawing on developmental neuroscience, cognitive development, research on gendered experience, and clinical studies of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), this integrative narrative review proposes a developmental-visibility framework. The framework interprets sex-related differences across three analytically distinct layers: developmental timing, phenotypic expression, and clinical recognition. Developmental timing refers to age-related trajectories, pubertal coupling, maturation tempo, and variability. Phenotypic expression refers to how developmental differences may appear in language, executive function, emotion, and social cognition under specific task and measurement conditions. Clinical recognition refers to how informants, referral thresholds, compensatory or camouflaging behavior, and diagnostic tools influence which difficulties are identified. ASD and ADHD illustrate the clinical-recognition layer because less externally disruptive or more compensated presentations may remain underrecognized despite meaningful developmental burden. The framework helps explain why modest average effects, inconsistent behavioral findings, and unequal clinical recognition can coexist. It shifts the field from asking whether sex-related differences exist to asking when, how, and under what social and clinical conditions they become visible.
Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), toxic stress, relational insecurity, and structural adversity are major public-health concerns for children and adolescents, but ACE evidence should not be treated as an individual diagnostic score or deterministic prognosis. This Hypothesis and Theory article proposes developmental literacy and epistemic dignity as linked upstream constructs for primary child protection. Developmental literacy is defined as developmentally staged and disability-inclusive neurobiopsychosocial knowledge and skills concerning bodies, emotions, stress, attachment, co-regulation, play, nutrition, safety, rights, boundaries, non-violent care, and help-seeking. Epistemic dignity refers to the supported capacity and right of children-including preverbal, disabled, neurodivergent, and communication-diverse children-to have bodily, emotional, relational, play-based, and communicative signals interpreted with seriousness, humility, and appropriate response. Drawing on research on ACEs and positive childhood experiences (PCEs), nurturing care, relational health, health-promoting schools, social and emotional learning, mental-health literacy, sexuality/safety education, child participation, epistemic injustice, disability studies, implementation science, and critiques of ACE and trauma-informed practice, the article develops a universal, proportionate, relationally safe, anti-bias, and non-coercive public-health framework. It argues that early-childhood services, schools, pediatric/public-health touchpoints, caregiver support, and community systems can provide age-appropriate developmental knowledge without turning schools into clinics, teachers into trauma detectors, or children into individual risk scores. The framework does not recommend routine individual ACE-score screening in schools as a default practice; it supports ethically governed, service-linked pathways for recognizing distress and unmet support needs. Coercive reproductive control is treated only as a rejected comparator because it targets reproductive status rather than modifiable developmental environments, support access, and institutional trust. The article concludes with safeguards and testable hypotheses for evaluating developmental literacy, epistemic dignity, relational safety, accessibility, help-seeking, response quality, caregiver support, referral continuity, and unintended harms.
Copy number variants (CNVs) are genomic rearrangements that carry a substantial risk for neurodevelopmental and neuropsychiatric disorders. Among these, recurrent deletions and duplications at the 16p11.2 locus are robustly associated with autism spectrum disorders, schizophrenia, epilepsy, and related conditions, yet also display marked variability in penetrance and phenotypic expression. Accumulating evidence indicates that 16p11.2 gene dosage influences multiple stages of brain development, from early progenitor dynamics and neuronal migration to synaptic formation, refinement, and plasticity. However, how disruptions across these processes are integrated over time, and how they relate to the observed variability and incomplete penetrance, remains poorly understood. In this review, we summarize the current evidence on the impact of 16p11.2 CNVs on brain development, focusing on cellular and circuit-level processes that shape neural connectivity. We discuss how gene dosage imbalance influences early developmental trajectories, synaptic formation and pruning, interneuron maturation, and activity-dependent plasticity, and consider how these processes interact across developmental stages. We suggest a conceptual framework wherein 16p11.2 CNVs do not impose fixed pathogenic outcomes, but rather they contribute towards developmental constraints that shape the timing and stability of neural circuit development. Consequently, these constraints increase vulnerability to neurodevelopmental and psychiatric outcomes in a context-dependent manner.
Sexual consent in adolescents and young people is a complex issue that requires in-depth analysis from various perspectives. In Spain, current legislation, represented by Organic Law 8/2021 and Organic Law 10/2022, has sought to protect minors from sexual violence, but the use of the term "consent" in this specific context poses significant challenges from a psychological perspective. This study conducts a systematic review to address what psychological and developmental factors shape minors' capacity to provide sexual consent, and how these findings align with or challenge Spanish legislative assumptions. From an initial 839 studies, 23 met the inclusion criteria to analyse the psychological, developmental, and emotional factors that influence the capacity of adolescents to consent-with a specific focus on the legal threshold of 16 years-in order to identify possible weaknesses in current legislation that contradict current knowledge on the psychological development of minors. The results of this review highlight the need for a critical review of the legislation and for a more nuanced approach that recognises the difference between the capacity to consent of an adult and that of a developing individual, based on scientific evidence and not only on legal criteria. It is hoped that the results of this review will contribute to improving the protection of minors from sexual violence and clarify the ambiguity when speaking in terms of consent between minors.
The sensory/neural Temporal Sampling (TS) theory of developmental language disorder (DLD) is based on the sensory and linguistic impairments in rhythm processing that are found in children with both developmental dyslexia (DD) and DLD. These sensory/linguistic impairments include decreased sensitivity to amplitude rise times (ARTs, the sensory triggers related to automatic cortical speech tracking), syllable stress patterns and speech rhythm. At the neural level TS theory predicts impairments in the cortical tracking of different rates of amplitude modulation (AM) in the speech signal <10 Hz. To date, the accuracy of low-frequency cortical tracking in natural continuous speech has not been measured in children with DLD. Here, EEG was recorded during story listening from children with and without DLD aged around 9 years, and decoding analyses in the delta, theta and alpha (control) bands were carried out. EEG power was computed in the delta, theta and gamma bands, and phase-amplitude coupling and phase-phase coupling (PAC, PPC) were also computed between bands. Whole-brain analyses showed that the accuracy of low-frequency decoding (delta, theta) did not differ between groups. However, region-specific analyses revealed significantly reduced delta-band speech tracking in the right temporal cortex in the children with DLD. PAC and PPC dynamics did not differ between groups. The data suggest that low-frequency cortical tracking impairments in DLD may be spatially constrained to the right hemisphere rather than globally present as in DD. The data are discussed using TS theory.
The metaphor of "scaffolding" originates from developmental psychology, and has become a central theoretical concept that plays explanatory roles in psychology, developmental biology, and evolutionary biology. In developmental psychology, the scaffolding process is typically characterized as a child's temporary reliance on external structure in training activities, which leads to long-term transformation of the child's capacities. In recent attempts to clarify this concept for wider usage (e.g., Caporael, Griesemer, and Wimsatt 2014a, b; Neto et al. 2023), the temporariness of dependence on scaffolds is still seen as a typical, if not defining, feature of scaffolding explanations. In this paper, we follow Bill Wimsatt's footsteps (Wimsatt 2014a, 2019; Wimsatt and Griesemer 2007) in examining the development of skills that require complex developmental trajectories. Our cases are jazz improvisation and scientific expertise, both of which are distinctively social and improvisational. We argue that the social scaffolds required to reach the maturity of such expertise are continually required thereafter for maintenance and further development. This is because improvisational training is somewhat indistinguishable from improvisational performance, and performance in social expertise aims at interactions, communications, and rapport between interlocutors.
In the last 25 years, research on dehumanization-the tendency to perceive others as less than fully human-has spiked and evolved in many ways. In the current review, we will provide an overview of the various methodological and conceptual trends in this research area and introduce a new way of conceptualizing dehumanizing perceptions. Focusing on developments in neuroscience that have shown how human and object stimuli are typically processed in different ways using specific brain areas, dehumanization can be understood as the fading of this human-object divide. We will demonstrate what this process account of dehumanization implies for the understanding of the concept, how it can respond to some of the recent controversies and critiques, and how a research agenda integrating the study of developmental mechanisms can bolster our understanding of dehumanization processes.
Background: Facial motion has been shown to enhance face recognition in typical recognisers and increase attention to diagnostic internal facial features (eyes, nose and mouth), which may support improved recognition. The present study aimed to replicate these effects and assess whether they extend to individuals with developmental prosopagnosia (DP), who show impairments in face recognition and reduced attention to the internal features. Methods: Participants completed a famous face recognition task (Experiment 1) and an unfamiliar old/new recognition task (Experiment 2), with both static and moving stimuli. Eye movements were recorded to assess visual attention. In each experiment, two analyses were conducted: a replication analysis in a neurotypical sample (Experiment 1: n = 49; Experiment 2: n = 51), and a separate comparison of 14 individuals with DP with a subset of 16 age-matched controls. Results: Across both experiments, recognition accuracy was higher for moving than static faces in both the control and DP samples, and participants directed a greater proportion of visual attention to internal facial features when faces were presented in motion. However, compared to age-matched controls, individuals with DP showed differences in the allocation of attention to the internal facial features. Conclusions: The findings replicate evidence that facial motion enhances recognition and increases attention to the internal facial features in typical recognisers and extend these effects to individuals with DP. Although individuals with DP benefit from motion, differences in the distribution of attention across internal features remain, suggesting that motion alters but does not normalise face-scanning strategies.
The ATP2B2 is associated with the development of hereditary conditions, including ataxia, dystonia, and intellectual disabilities. Recent research has established a connection between the ATP2B2 gene and a newly identified disorder characterized by delays in mental, speech, and motor development. This article presents a case study involving a patient diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder and intellectual disability, who possesses a previously unreported heterozygous variant in the ATP2B2 gene. This variant results in the loss of the stop codon, potentially leading to an elongation of the protein chain (c.3732G>C/p.Ter1244TyrextTer137, NM_001001331.2). The findings also provide additional data on the phenotype associated with this novel ATP2B2-related neurodevelopmental disorder, thereby enriching the understanding of this rare condition. Ген ATP2B2 ассоциирован с развитием наследственных заболеваний, таких как атаксия, дистония и нарушение интеллектуального развития. Установлена связь между геном ATP2B2 и новым заболеванием, характеризующимся задержкой психического, речевого и моторного развития. В статье описывается пациент с расстройством аутистического спектра и нарушением интеллектуального развития с обнаруженным ранее неописанным гетерозиготным вариантом в гене ATP2B2, приводящим к потере стоп-кодона и вероятному увеличению длины белковой цепи (c.3732G>C/p.Ter1244TyrextTer137, NM_001001331.2). Представлены дополнительные данные о новом ATP2B2-ассоциированном фенотипе расстройства нейроразвития, что дает ценную информацию об этом редком заболевании.
Neuroticism, a Big Five trait characterized by emotional instability and susceptibility to negative affect, is a robust transdiagnostic predictor for the onset, severity, and persistence of anxiety disorders, major depressive disorder (MDD), and other affective conditions. Recent advances in functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) techniques-including resting-state fMRI, multimodal neuroimaging, and their integration with machine learning-have enabled multi-perspective investigations into the neural substrates of neuroticism. Current research in this field primarily follows three complementary approaches: cross-sectional studies identifying key brain regions for emotional processing and cognitive control (e.g., amygdala (AMG), prefrontal cortex); longitudinal studies capturing neural mechanisms evolution across adolescence, middle age, and old age to elucidate relationships between neuroticism and brain plasticity; and intervention studies exploring plastic pathways for reshaping the neural representations of neuroticism, challenging the classic "trait stability" paradigm. This review synthesizes recent progress in the cognitive neuroscience of neuroticism across these three approaches, proposes a unified emotion-cognition neural model centered on the AMG-prefrontal-default mode network circuit, and outlines a hypothesized lifespan trajectory of Limbic Sensitivity → Regulatory Strain → Prefrontal Decline. While accumulated evidence broadly supports the cross-sectional and interventional pillars of this framework, the lifespan trajectory remains a theoretically informed working model requiring further longitudinal validation. The field still faces critical limitations, including small effect sizes, methodological heterogeneity, and unresolved questions regarding causality and circuit specificity. This review aims to provide a conceptual integration of existing findings, identify key uncertainties, and propose evidence-based future directions. We further link the proposed neural model to clinical phenotypic characteristics of high neuroticism and discuss its implications for targeted neural interventions, thereby advancing our understanding of the biological basis of neuroticism and providing a theoretical framework for prevention and intervention in neuroticism-related affective disorders.
This prospective study of young children (M = 11.62 months, SD = 8.28) with prior child welfare contact examined trajectories of exposure to various types of maltreatment (i.e., domestic violence, emotional abuse, sexual abuse, physical abuse, and neglect) as risk factors for children's psychopathology sequelae. Data were drawn from 1,059 children (52% male, 48% female; 39% White, 28% Hispanic, 27% Black) in the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being II. Repeated-measures latent class analysis identified four trajectories of child maltreatment exposure: "Stable Low Multi-Type," "Increasing Emotional-Physical," "Stable High Emotional-Physical," and "Stable High Multi-Type." Maltreatment trajectories significantly predicted internalizing (χ2[3] = 21.89, p < .001) and externalizing symptoms (χ2[3] = 33.04, p < .001). Children in both the "Stable High Multi-Type" trajectory (M = 18.42, SE = 1.05, p < .001) and the "Increasing Emotional-Physical" trajectory (M = 14.61, SE = 0.53, p < .01) exhibited elevated externalizing symptoms. The "Increasing Emotional-Physical" trajectory was associated with elevated internalizing symptoms (M = 13.27, SE = 0.93, p < .001). Findings indicate the need for continuous, comprehensive assessment of maltreatment exposure and underscore the value of early, targeted interventions in enhancing children's well-being.
Infant electroencephalography (EEG) is essential for understanding early brain development, yet presents unique challenges including frequent movement artifacts, low signal-to-noise ratio, and rapid developmental changes. Specialized preprocessing pipelines have been developed to address these issues, but no structured cross-pipeline evaluation of their capabilities currently exists. This article presents a capability framework for ten prominent infant EEG preprocessing tools - nine infant-specific tools (APICE, Adjusted-ADJUST, GADS, NEAR, HAPPE, HAPPE+ER, HAPPILEE, BEAPP, and MADE) and the Modular pipeline, a general-purpose approach scalable to infant data - organized around five capability dimensions: artifact handling, automation and scalability, flexibility and adaptability, developmental sensitivity, and validation against empirical data. The framework is proposed as an exploratory evaluative heuristic, not a definitive taxonomy. For each dimension, each pipeline was assigned a maturity level from 1 (minimal documented support) to 5 (fully demonstrated, well-documented, and developmentally appropriate support), based on predefined anchored descriptors applied independently by two raters (overall Krippendorff's α =.69), with lower agreement on the Automation and Validation dimensions - a pattern consistent with field-level ambiguity about what constitutes strong performance on these dimensions. No single pipeline reached the highest maturity level across all five dimensions; each occupies a distinct profile aligned with particular research needs. Notably, no pipeline achieved level 5 on either developmental sensitivity or validation against empirical data, indicating a field-wide gap in developmental calibration and cross-dataset validation. This capability framework provides a structured foundation for researchers and clinicians to make informed, context-sensitive preprocessing decisions in infant EEG studies.
Physical bullying remains a significant form of peer aggression during adolescence, a developmental period marked by rapid bodily, psychological, and social change. Although gender differences in bullying have been widely documented, less is known about whether the association between gender and physical bullying perpetration and physical victimization varies across adolescent stages in contemporary non-WEIRD settings. This study conducted a secondary data analysis of openly available survey data from 169 school-going adolescents in India. Participants were grouped into three developmental stages: early adolescence (10-12 years, 35.5%), middle adolescence (13-15 years, 49.1%), and late adolescence (16-18 years, 14.8%). Two Bayesian regression models aided by Markov Chain Monte Carlo estimation were used to examine the association between gender and physical bullying perpetration and victimization, and to assess whether age moderated these associations. Male adolescents showed higher levels of both physical bullying perpetration and physical victimization than female adolescents. The association between male gender and physical bullying perpetration became more pronounced across later adolescent stages. By contrast, age did not clearly moderate the association between gender and physical victimization. The findings suggest that bullying prevention in school settings should pay closer attention to gendered peer dynamics, developmental stage, and school climate. In particular, school-wide and developmentally sensitive approaches may be more useful than isolated incident-based responses for addressing physical bullying in adolescent populations.
Child-to-parent violence (CPV) refers to persistent physical, psychological, or financial violence perpetrated by children or adolescents against their parents. Although CPV has attracted increasing academic and professional attention in recent years, evidence regarding its predictors remains fragmented. This systematic literature review aimed to synthesize empirical evidence on the predictors of adolescent CPV, with a particular focus on developmental victimization, personality traits, and psychopathology. Violence refers to the intentional use of physical, psychological, or symbolic force to cause harm, control, or suffering, while aggression corresponds to intentional behavior aimed at harming another individual, which may or may not involve physical violence and is often broader and more situational. A systematic literature review was conducted in accordance with PRISMA guidelines and prospectively registered in PROSPERO (CRD42024596076). Searches were carried out in January 2025 across six electronic databases (PsycINFO, Web of Science, Scopus, PubMed, MEDLINE, and CINAHL). Empirical studies published between 2000 and 2025 examining predictors of CPV in adolescence, namely developmental victimization, personality traits, and psychopathology, were included. Methodological quality was assessed using the Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool (MMAT). The search identified 862 records, of which 46 studies met the inclusion criteria and were retained for full-text analysis. Most studies were quantitative in design and published within the last 15 years, with Spain accounting for most of the empirical evidence. The findings consistently demonstrated associations between CPV and exposure to direct or vicarious family victimization, maladaptive personality traits-particularly psychopathic features-and a range of psychopathological symptoms, including substance use, mood and anxiety disorders, and neurodevelopmental conditions. The results support a multifactorial and developmental understanding of CPV, highlighting early victimization as a central risk context interacting with personality and mental health vulnerabilities. Limitations of the existing literature are discussed, and directions for future research are proposed, emphasizing the need for longitudinal and qualitative studies to inform prevention and intervention strategies.
Children born very preterm (VPT < 32 weeks' gestation) are at elevated risk for neurodevelopmental difficulties, including social functioning, motor coordination, and perceptual processing, domains that also show overlap with autism-related profiles. Biological motion (BM) perception, which supports the extraction of social information from movement, may represent one important pathway through which early motor and perceptual functioning relate to later socio-emotional development. We examined BM perception, motor coordination, and behavioral outcome in 64 VPT and 31 full-term (FT) (mean age = 12 years). BM perception was measured via eye-tracking, recording time to detect point-light walkers under low- and high-noise conditions. Motor skills were evaluated with the Movement Assessment Battery for Children-2nd Edition, and behavioral outcome with the Child Behavior Checklist. Children born VPT showed lower BM perception, poorer motor coordination, and more internalizing and social difficulties than FT peers. In the VPT group, poorer motor coordination was linked to reduced social competence and more internalizing symptoms, while lower BM perception was associated specifically with internalizing symptoms. Combined deficits were tied to the highest levels of anxiety and social withdrawal. BM perception was selectively related to gross motor skills, consistent with shared action-perception systems. No such associations appeared in the FT group. These findings highlight the interplay between perceptual and motor functioning and socio-emotional outcomes in children born VPT children. The observed associations point to potential developmental mechanisms that may increase vulnerability to social and emotional difficulties, offering insights relevant to autism and related neurodevelopmental conditions.
Language development in early childhood varies considerably, making early detection of Developmental Language Disorders (DLDs) challenging despite their high prevalence and long-term effects on learning and mental health. In Italy, no culturally adapted, easy-to-use screening tools are currently available in primary care. To address this gap, a screening tool was developed to support the early identification of children aged 24-72 months at risk of DLD and other clinically relevant language difficulties. To evaluate the psychometric properties and accuracy of the Comunicazione e Linguaggio in Ambulatorio Pediatrico (CLAP), a brief age-specific screening tool designed for use in Italian paediatric outpatient settings. In this pilot validation study, children were recruited by primary care paediatricians during routine well-child visits and stratified into four age groups: 24-30, 36-42, 48-54, and 60-72 months. After administration of the CLAP screening tool, each child underwent a blinded speech-language pathologist (SLP) assessment. Psychometric evaluation included internal consistency, item-total correlations, confirmatory factor analysis, and item response theory indices (discrimination and difficulty). Diagnostic accuracy was assessed using ROC curves, area under the curve (AUC), sensitivity, specificity, and optimal cut-offs. Analyses were conducted separately for each age group. Fifty children were enrolled in each age group; overall, 24% of the sample fell into the pathological subgroup after the blinded SLP assessment. Internal consistency was acceptable in the 24-30-month (KR-20 = 0.695) and 36-42-month (KR-20 = 0.777) groups, but lower in older children. Factor analyses supported a mainly unidimensional structure in the younger groups. Item response theory showed good discrimination and informativeness for several items. ROC analyses indicated excellent diagnostic accuracy in the 24-30-month group (AUC = 0.93; sensitivity = 92%; specificity = 87%), fair accuracy in the 36-42- and 48-54-month groups (AUC = 0.75 and 0.74), and poor performance in the 60-72-month group (AUC = 0.46). The CLAP demonstrates promising psychometric properties and good-to-fair accuracy as a brief screening tool for identifying children aged 24-54 months at risk of clinically relevant language difficulties, including those who may need further assessment for DLD. Its age-specific design, quick administration, and non-invasive nature support its potential integration into routine primary care. For older children, an age-specific revision or an alternative tool might be required. A larger validation study is currently in progress. What is already known on this subject Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) is common in early childhood; however, early identification remains difficult due to variable developmental pathways and the absence of validated screening tools in primary care. Currently, no brief, culturally adapted instrument is available for routine use in Italian paediatric settings. What does this study add to existing knowledge This study demonstrates that the CLAP tool has promising psychometric properties, with good accuracy in the youngest age group and fair accuracy up to 54 months for identifying children at risk of clinically relevant language difficulties, including those who may later meet criteria for DLD. It provides the first evidence supporting an age-specific, feasible screening option that can be integrated into Italian primary care, while also identifying areas requiring revision for older pre-schoolers. What are the potential or actual clinical implications of this work? CLAP can assist paediatricians in the early detection of clinically relevant language difficulties in children during routine well-child visits. Its adoption could help standardize early language screening in Italy, leading to earlier referral for further diagnostic assessment and appropriate speech-language evaluation.
Extensive explorations in neuroscience, psychology, and psychotherapy increasingly recognized the embodied and relational foundations of selfhood, underscoring the need for an integrated framework spanning development, psychopathology, and therapeutic change. This narrative review synthesizes empirical and theoretical literature across neuroscience, embodiment research, predictive processing, developmental science, phenomenology, and psychodynamic theory, proposing a multidimensional neuropsychodynamic framework of embodied selfhood and its clinical implications. A central contribution is the positioning of Peripersonal Space (PPS) as an embodied action-oriented interface that functions as a primary developmental scaffold for bodily self-consciousness, self-other relations, affect regulation and temporal continuity. PPS is proposed as a dynamic matrix linking embodied predictive self-processes with relational experience, thereby shaping subjective temporality and autobiographical processes. Within this framework, subjective time emerges through bodily rhythms, interpersonal synchronization, and predictive engagement with environmental affordances. These embodied temporal processes gradually extend toward autobiographical continuity and mentalizing capacities, supported by coordinated interactions among large-scale brain networks. Psychodynamic concepts including holding, containment, dimensionality, and symbolic transformation are revisited in dialogue with contemporary embodied and relational neuroscience. Clinically, disturbances of selfhood across psychopathological conditions are discussed in relation to altered PPS organization, disturbances in self-evidencing, and embodied temporal continuity. Psychotherapeutic change is conceptualized as involving gradual reorganization across embodied, affective, and reflective dimensions through co-regulation, interpersonal attunement, and temporally extended relational engagement. Overall, this perspective advances a process-oriented and interdisciplinary framework linking embodiment, temporality, autobiographical integration, and psychotherapy, while highlighting directions for future interdisciplinary research at the interface of neuroscience, embodiment and psychodynamics.
Network theory conceptualizes psychopathology as dynamic interactions among symptoms within interconnected networks. The network dynamics of psychopathological symptoms among adolescents may vary substantially across individuals, yet this heterogeneity remains underexplored. Depression, anxiety, and problematic smartphone use (PSU) are common and frequently co-occurring indicators of psychopathology during adolescence and may mutually reinforce one another over time. Based on these three indicators, this study investigated distinct developmental trajectories of adolescent psychopathology and characterized their heterogeneous network structures, longitudinal associations, and core symptoms. 9653 Chinese fifth-grade students (49.7% female; Mage = 10.14 ± 0.36 years) completed self-reported measures of depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms, and PSU across four waves with one-year intervals. Group-based multi-trajectory modeling was used to identify heterogeneous developmental trajectories of psychopathological symptoms, and cross-lagged panel network analysis was applied to examine network dynamics of each group. Three developmental trajectories were identified: a low-risk group (34.8%), a potential-risk group (49.9%), and a high-risk group (15.2%). Network structures differed substantially across subgroups: the low-risk group showed a stable resilient network with low connectivity, the potential-risk group exhibited a transitional and highly spreading network with weak connections, and the high-risk group demonstrated a stable active network with strong connectivity. Comparison worry, depressed mood, and worthlessness emerged as central symptoms, especially in the potential- and high-risk groups. These findings enhance understanding of how symptoms spread and sustain in adolescent psychopathology, highlight heterogeneity in network dynamics, and offer implications for explaining comorbidity, and informing risk identification and targeted prevention strategies.
Background/Objectives: Executive function (EF) impairments are common in neurodevelopmental disorders but are often examined using group-level approaches that may overlook clinically meaningful cognitive heterogeneity. This study explored EF heterogeneity in children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), developmental dyslexia, and comorbid presentations using a clinically grounded mixed-method approach. Methods: Standardized neuropsychological data from the NEPSY-II, WISC-IV, and Woodcock-Johnson IV batteries were integrated with a case-based thematic synthesis of 11 clinical evaluations. Semi-inductive analysis was informed by preliminary patterns observed in a larger clinical sample. Results: Three executive function profiles were identified: (1) globally reduced executive functioning, characterized by widespread deficits in inhibition, attention, and working memory; (2) verbal-mnestic executive vulnerability, marked by weaknesses in verbal memory and attention regulation despite relative cognitive strengths; and (3) selective executive control deficit, reflecting impairments in inhibitory control and self-regulation. These profiles revealed clinically meaningful patterns that were not fully captured by categorical diagnostic classifications. Conclusions: The findings support the value of integrated, profile-based approaches for understanding executive function heterogeneity in neurodevelopmental conditions. Such approaches may enhance ecological validity in assessment and contribute to individualized intervention planning. Given the exploratory and case-based nature of the study, the findings should be considered preliminary and hypothesis-generating.
Dimensional and transdiagnostic models have become central to contemporary efforts to move psychiatric nosology beyond DSM/ICD categories. This shift reflects persistent limitations of categorical syndromes as final biological targets, including within-diagnosis heterogeneity, cross-diagnostic comorbidity, developmental instability, and incomplete alignment with underlying mechanisms. This article examines a central unresolved problem in this transition: when, if ever, a descriptive or predictive psychiatric dimension can be interpreted as a candidate disease axis. We conducted a conceptual synthesis of major dimensional and transdiagnostic frameworks, including Research Domain Criteria (RDoC), Hierarchical Taxonomy of Psychopathology (HiTOP), the general psychopathology factor, cross-disorder genomic models, clinical staging approaches, and data-driven subtyping. The analysis separates three levels of inference that are often conflated in psychiatric research: descriptive structure, predictive utility, and disease-level biological validity. The synthesis identifies a recurrent inferential error in which reproducible factors, clusters, or classifiers are prematurely treated as evidence of disease architecture. Such constructs may describe real covariance patterns or improve prognostic prediction without establishing biological validity. We propose an eight-domain hierarchical framework for promotion to candidate disease-axis status, organized into four core gatekeepers-replication across cohorts, ascertainment, and methods, developmental coherence, incremental prognostic value beyond diagnosis and nonspecific severity, and discriminability from nonspecific severity-and four supporting/disciplining domains: cross-level convergence, mechanistic constraint, clinical leverage, and explicit falsifiability/boundary conditions. On this basis, middle-level transdiagnostic spectra and selected cross-disorder genomic liabilities appear more defensible as candidate disease axes than highly global or weakly specified constructs. Psychiatry was justified in turning toward dimensional models, but dimensionality alone does not confer biological validity. The key task is not to choose between categories and dimensions, but to define the evidential thresholds under which dimensional constructs warrant ontological promotion.