One in eight children experience early life stress (ELS), which increases risk for psychopathology. ELS, particularly neglect, has been associated with reduced responsivity to reward. However, little work has investigated the computational specifics of this disrupted reward response – particularly with respect to the neural response to Reward Prediction Errors (RPE) – a critical signal for successful instrumental learning – and the extent to which they are augmented to novel stimuli. The goal of the current study was to investigate the associations of abuse and neglect, and neural representation of RPE to novel and non-novel stimuli.

One hundred and seventy-eight participants (aged 10–18, M = 14.9, s.d. = 2.38) engaged in the Novelty task while undergoing functional magnetic resonance imaging. In this task, participants learn to choose novel or non-novel stimuli to win monetary rewards varying from $0 to $0.30 per trial. Levels of abuse and neglect were measured using the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire.

Adolescents exposed to high levels of neglect showed reduced RPE-modulated blood oxygenation level dependent response within medial and lateral frontal cortices particularly when exploring novel stimuli (p < 0.05, corrected for multiple comparisons) relative to adolescents exposed to lower levels of neglect.

These data expand on previous work by indicating that neglect, but not abuse, is associated with impairments in neural RPE representation within medial and lateral frontal cortices. However, there was no association between neglect and behavioral impairments on the Novelty task, suggesting that these neural differences do not necessarily translate into behavioral differences within the context of the Novelty task.

One of the social consequences of the Romanians emigration (generated by he poor socio-economic conditions from Romania) are the children from these families who are left in the country and who can develop different reactions more or less adaptive, depending on the previous psychopatological background of the child and the level of attachment.

This research aims to analyze parent emigration as a precipitant factor in the appearance of anxiety disorders in children coming from these families. Through this study it has been followed the presence of possible associations between the anxiety of the child and its gender, the emigrant parents, the caregiver, the period of absence of the parent.

For the study we analyzed two groups of 43 children each. the two groups correspond in age and location (Maramures County), the dependent variable of the study is represented by the anxiety level. the exclusion criteria were: the presence of the psychiatric diagnosis and the major life events generating stress. to identify the level of anxiety, STAIState Trait Anxiety Inventory (Charles D. Spilberger et al.1970) scale was used. Obtained data were analyzed through statistical program SPSS, version 17.

65.12% from the children with emigrated parents had both parents abroad.

4.65% from the children with the parents abroad had higher levels of anxiety comparative with the children with parents at home.

There is a statistical valid correlation between the level of anxiety in children and the parent emigration.

Spirituality and mental health have always been in a very dynamic relationship. One can wonder if spirituality should be taken out of psychiatry or if psychiatry lost its faith.

The goal of this research is to analyze how anxiety levels are influenced by religious beliefs and practices in children and adolescents.

72 respondents participated in our study. They were pupils in the eighth grade at Scoala Generala Horea, Cluj-Napoca, Romania. the exclusion criteria was any psychiatric disorder diagnosed prior to the research.

We used the questionnaire for anxiety, S.T.A.I. - State Trait Anxiety Inventory (Charles D. Spielberger Ph.D., 1970). the questionnaires about religious beliefs, behaviors and personal motivation: SAI -Spiritual Assessment Inventory (Todd W. Hall, Ph.D&Keith J. Edwards, Ph.D, 1996) and two questions from DUREL - Duke University Religion Index (Koenig HG, Meador K, Parkerson G., 1997). These questionnaires are adapted for a monotheist religion.

To analyze the results, we used SPSS, a Business Intelligence software which includes statistical analysis modules, version 17.

The results identified a valid statistical correlation between anxiety levels and the degree of awareness of God in religious practices and beliefs. (Pearson correlation −0.227, p = 0.05). Depending on the results from SAI questionnaire concerning the level of awareness, we formed 2 groups and we studied the anxiety levels. the analysis of these 2 groups sustained the prior association.

The anxiety levels are lower in children with high degree of spiritual awareness and religious practices and beliefs.