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Positive attributes in children and reduced risk of future psychopathology

Pablo Vidal-Ribas¹, Robert Goodman¹, Argyris Stringaris¹

¹Pablo Vidal-Ribas, MSc, Robert Goodman, PhD, FRCPsych, Argyris Stringaris, MD, PhD, MRCPsych, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, King's College London, Institute of Psychiatry, London, UK.

The British Journal of Psychiatry : the Journal of Mental Science

|November 1, 2014

Abstract

Background:

There is little research on children's positive attributes and their association with psychiatric outcomes.

Aims:

To examine the hypothesis that children's positive attributes are associated with a reduced risk of developing psychopathology in future.

Method:

Positive attributes, measured with the Youth Strengths Inventory (YSI) and psychiatric outcomes were assessed on two occasions over 3 years in a large epidemiological sample of British children and adolescents (n = 5325).

Results:

The YSI showed high to moderate cross-informant correlations and longitudinal stability. Children scoring high on positive attributes at baseline had fewer psychiatric symptoms and disorders at follow-up, adjusting for symptoms at baseline, disorder at baseline and child and family factors. Analyses with propensity score matching also suggested that positive attributes decrease the likelihood of psychiatric morbidity.

Conclusions:

Children's positive attributes are associated with significantly less psychopathology across time and may be a target for intervention.

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