This longitudinal study monitored Theory-of-Mind development in monolingually raised but bilingually educated Spanish children (age 5–6) with varied L2-English curricula (13%–83%) to assess whether higher L2-exposure resulted in advantages on seven ToM concepts (emotion, desires, belief, reference, moral-reasoning, lies, sarcasm). Attention (selective, switching, inhibition) and a full suite of individual-difference effects were also monitored. GLMMs linked greater L2-exposure to higher ToM accuracy, and although all three attention measures contributed to ToM scores, the effect of selective attention was the strongest. L1-vocabulary and NVR routinely predicted ToM scores, and girls surpassed boys on sarcasm. We conclude that bilingualism spurs ToM development quickly and is not linked to L2-vocabulary at this stage. In addition, the fact that L2-exposure and individual differences impacted cognitive, affective, and conative ToM differentially supports an approach that analyses these components separately.

Individuals from refugee backgrounds may experience higher rates of mental and physical health problems compared to the general population, yet the interdependence of these outcomes within couples remains poorly understood. This study aims to understand the relationship between post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), socio-economic status and self-rated general health (SRGH) among couples from refugee backgrounds living in Australia. Couples were nested within dyads using multi-level frameworks and mixed-effects logistic regression (n = 436 dyads). In respondents with likely PTSD, 61% of their partners were also likely to have PTSD compared to only 26% of partners in refugees with unlikely PTSD. After controlling for socio-economic factors, respondents with likely PTSD were significantly less likely to rate their health as ‘excellent/very good’ (OR = 0.20), compared to those with unlikely PTSD. Partners with likely PTSD were also less likely to rate their health as ‘excellent/very good’ (OR = 0.54). Individuals who were older, female, born in the Middle East, experienced less community support or more economic stressors were at greater risk of poorer SRGH. PTSD and SRGH had an interdependent effect within couples from refugee backgrounds. Familial and psychosocial contexts must be considered when developing health promotion and policies for refugee communities.

The role of Law enforcement agencies (LEA) is significant in suicide prevention efforts as first responders. Nevertheless, no published study to date has systematically compiled the body of knowledge about suicide prevention efforts involving LEA. The current scoping review aims to methodically map and examine the peer-reviewed literature and grey literature on the role of LEA in suicide prevention. Electronic searches of the databases like Medline, PsycINFO, Google Scholar, Web of Science, Scopus, CINAHL and Google were conducted using a comprehensive search strategy to identify relevant resources. Grey literature was searched searches were undertaken on relevant databases and, as well as government and organisational websites. The reporting of the review followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses Extension for Scoping Reviews guidelines. The inclusion criteria comprised research articles, reports, and guidelines/policy documents on the role of law enforcement agencies (LEAs) in suicide prevention. Studies on prevalence, custodial settings, non-English publications, and reviews were excluded. Inclusion criteria comprised research articles, reports and guidelines/policy documents focusing on law enforcement’s role in suicide prevention. Studies focusing solely on prevalence or epidemiology, studies confined strictly to custodial settings, publications not in English and systematic reviews or meta-analyses were excluded. Out of 3,327 records screened, the full texts of 82 resources were included in the review. All the resources identified were categorised between peer-reviewed literature and grey literature. Resources were thematically categorised based on functional roles into- I. Strategic and System-Embedded Roles of LEA, II. Capacity Building and Training Oriented Engagements, III. Surveillance Reporting and Data Systems Role, IV. Community Facing and Preventive Engagement, and V. Means Restriction and Environmental Prevention Roles. The chronological development of the resources was inconsistent. Most resources were from high-income countries, focusing on the evaluation of training, capacity building programmes, surveillance initiatives and the exploration of varied roles of LEA across custodial, community and crisis settings and other interdisciplinary collaborations. Notably, the resources show increased disparity in quantity and research methodological approaches across geographies. The review highlights substantial heterogeneity and a limited resource base from low- and middle-income countries on the role of LEA in suicide prevention, with a dearth of structured, evidence-based, scalable models in these settings. These gaps point to an urgent need for locally relevant and cross-sectoral models that position law enforcement as integral partners in suicide prevention efforts, especially where these agencies play a major role as first responders.

About 10 million people worldwide chew khat daily. Chronic khat use is a public health problem associated with physical and psychological impacts, such as mental health disorders and social consequences. The use of khat is increasing dramatically in Ethiopia among the young population. There are controversies over the legal status and health effects related to the consumption of khat. Despite the existing controversies, the problem is increasing with its detrimental impact. Policymakers need to enforce education campaigns aimed at awareness creation on the impact of khat use. It is important to consider legally restricting the availability and use of khat in vulnerable populations, such as children under 18 years, individuals with mental disorders and pregnant women, as well as in settings such as hospitals and schools.

Does the way people talk about time affect how they think about it? Whereas English speakers describe the duration of events most often in terms of spatial length (e.g., a long night), Greek speakers tend to talk about duration in terms of multidimensional spatial size (e.g., mia megali nychta, tr. a big night) or amount (e.g., poli ora, tr. much time). After quantifying these linguistic patterns, we gave non-linguistic tests of duration estimation to English and Greek speakers. English speakers’ estimates were influenced more strongly by irrelevant length information and Greek speakers’ by irrelevant amount information, consistent with verbal metaphors for duration in English and Greek. Next, we tested duration estimation with concurrent verbal interference, to confirm that the observed effects did not depend on participants verbally labeling the stimuli during the task. Finally, we trained English speakers to use Greek-like metaphors for duration, which resulted in Greek-like performance on a non-linguistic duration estimation task. Results show that (a) people who talk about time differently also think about it differently, (b) these effects are not due to participants’ using verbal labels during the task, and (c) language can play a causal role in shaping even basic non-linguistic mental representations of time.

Recent research suggests that maternal mood entropy, a novel measure of mood dysfunction, is associated with child outcomes. However, the link between maternal mood entropy and children’s structural brain development, and how this association may change across childhood, remains unclear. In a longitudinal study with neuroimaging data collected at ages 4.5, 6, 7.5, and 10.5 years (n = 1,498; n = 674 with neuroimaging), we examined whether maternal mood entropy is associated with children’s hippocampal and amygdala volumes over time. Mothers reported on negative mood symptoms at several assessments between ages 3 months and 4.5 years. We calculated maternal mood levels as the sum of mood symptoms and computed maternal mood entropy by applying Shannon’s entropy to the distributions of mood questionnaire responses. Maternal mood measures were not associated with amygdala volumes; however, mood entropy was directly associated with smaller hippocampal volumes at age 4.5 years and indirectly associated with smaller hippocampal volumes at 10.5 years through rank-order stability over time. These effects were present beyond the effects of socioeconomic status and intracranial volume and were specific to mood entropy, not mood levels. Our findings indicate that patterns of maternal mood are embedded in early childhood brain structure, setting the stage for subsequent neurodevelopment.

The current study aimed to examine the influence of distinct patterns of prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE) and postnatal threat and deprivation during infancy on sleep outcomes at three-years. Data were derived from a longitudinal cohort originating from predominately low-income hospital settings in Australia (n = 1952 children; 50.6% female; 80.1% maternal education of trade school or less; 87.4% born in Australia or UK; 2.1% identified as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander) across three developmental waves (prenatal, 12 months, and three years). Children with two distinct patterns of heavy PAE, heavy reducer and heavy throughout, showed statistically significantly reductions in sleep duration at age three in the context of early threat exposure, relative to children with no PAE (11 minute reduction per threat exposure & 30 minute reduction per threat exposure, respectively; small effects). Threat exposure during infancy also independently predicted more night waking (11% increase in frequency per threat exposure; moderate effects) at three years. Overall, Overall, addressing children’s intersectional pre- and post-natal risks remains a critical way forward.

Public policy encourages healthier diets using interventions like financial incentives, calorie labelling or social-norm nudges. While evidence shows these interventions can influence behaviour, effects vary across individuals, indicating a need for tailored approaches. This study explores the effects of tailoring through choice, i.e., whether allowing individuals to choose interventions improves effectiveness. In a field experiment, 839 university students chose between healthier and less healthy snacks under three interventions: (i) small financial incentives, (ii) calorie information or (iii) a social-norm nudge (i.e., 60% chose healthily). Half the respondents were randomly assigned an intervention (or no-intervention control), while the rest selected and received their chosen intervention. Among respondents given a choice, 51%, 41% and 8% selected financial incentives, calorie labelling or social norms, respectively. Self-selected interventions (marginally) significantly increased healthy snack choices compared to the no-intervention control, while randomly assigned interventions did not. When accounting for individual characteristics, chosen calorie labelling and social norm nudges significantly increased healthy choices, while financial incentives did not. Allowing respondents to choose their intervention appears effective, while random assignment is not. This positive effect of choice may be driven by selection into calorie labelling and social norms, although respondent characteristics partially explain this effect.

Studies persuasively show that parental power assertion contributes to children’s hostile (defensive) mindsets, but most examined severe forms of control (abuse, harsh punishment) and aggressive children. Less is known about processes linking power assertion with children’s hostile mindsets in typical, low-risk families. Further, specific mechanisms accounting for associations between parenting and hostile mindsets are unclear; children’s theory of mind (ToM) and regulation have been suggested, implying equifinality in developmental cascades. Finally, factors that moderate impact of parenting on children’s hostile mindsets, implying multifinality, are unclear. In a study of 200 mothers, fathers, and children, we proposed that links between parental power assertion and children’s hostile mindsets are (a) accounted for by two parallel mediators – children’s poor ToM and poor regulation, and (b) moderated by their representations of parents. We expected links between power assertion and hostile mindset to be significant for children with negative representations, but defused, or absent, for children with positive representations. Parental power assertion was assessed at toddler and preschool age, ToM and regulation at preschool age, and hostile mindsets and representations of parents at early school age. We supported both mediated paths for mother–child dyads, mediation via child regulation for father–child dyads, and moderation for both.