Percussions of Nature and Nurture Interplay on Children’s and Adolescents’Behavior

The Journal of Child and Adolescent Behavior is interested in overviewing how the interaction between nature and nurture can influence the behavior and psychological milieu of children and adolescents. It is concerned with publishing all types of manuscripts that discuss the normal and aberrant behavior and neuropsychiatric development of youth (children and adolescents) from all their aspects; etiology, psychopathology, assessment, prevention, treatment, and prognosis. The current issue includes a group of very informative, knowledgeable, and valuable articles that we hope our readers and followers will find them interesting and illuminating.


Editor-note
The Journal of Child and Adolescent Behavior is interested in overviewing how the interaction between nature and nurture can influence the behavior and psychological milieu of children and adolescents. It is concerned with publishing all types of manuscripts that discuss the normal and aberrant behavior and neuropsychiatric development of youth (children and adolescents) from all their aspects; etiology, psychopathology, assessment, prevention, treatment, and prognosis. The current issue includes a group of very informative, knowledgeable, and valuable articles that we hope our readers and followers will find them interesting and illuminating.
McCarthy and Barbot [1] highlighted in their editorial the gaps in research concerning the first episode of psychosis in children and adolescents. They laid stress on the observation that psychotic symptoms are relatively common in youth after significant psychological trauma or in association with severe mood disturbances. They showed that future researches investigating the diagnosis, treatment, psychosocial background, and prognosis regarding first episodes of psychosis in youth are extremely required.
On the other hand, Zaky [2] stressed in her editorial that school refusal is a presenting complaint and not a diagnosis. She showed that it is problematic as modern societies value education and find irregular school attendance very disturbing. The editorial emphasizes that school refusal is a reflection of many issues concerning the child, his family, and school and its prognosis is much better with early intervention especially in young children with mild symptoms.
The first year of life is of prime importance in creating a healthy and secure attachment between any infant and his primary caregiver. So, D'Hooghe [3] was interested to highlight the negative influence of early attachment trauma on the development of any child especially when the trauma is significant, stressful, early, and parental in origin.
Engur [4] showed in her review the negative percussions of parental psychosis on parenting and the interaction between children and their parents. The importance of psychological support and prompt intervention in cases of parental psychosis has been highlighted.
Horowitz-Kraus et al., [5] investigated the developmental characteristics of the Default Mode Network (DMN) in 15 children who were examined longitudinally thrice by functional magnetic resonance imaging during narrative comprehension tasks and introduced a possible reference for DMN deactivation course. They also discussed the defective patterns in this neural network in different language disorders. Interestingly, Edwards [6] showed in her commentary how racial socialization affected United State Afro-Americans' parenting trends and subsequently children's behavior. It is important to take in consideration that what children see, hear, and learn from their parents and other adults of the same racial group will shape their attitudes, behavior, and the way of interacting with those who belong to other racial groups.
Unasho et al., [7] investigated the prevalence of childhood physical abuse in one of the towns in Ethiopia in association with its risk factors. They reported that 64% of their studied samples were physically abused whether at their homes or schools. In addition, they showed that age, gender, home violence, and the place where the children were raised were the significant determinants of childhood physical abuse.
Nayak et al., [8] found that social and family factors significantly influenced academic school performance in their studied sample of students belonging to rural schools in an Indian district. They recommended an individualized plan but with a global perspective in tackling the issue of poor academic achievement that involves students, teachers, and parents.
Khademi et al., [9] explored the social function and mental wellbeing in a sample of Iranian and Finnish adolescents in a trial to delineate the impact of culture and gender on such issues. They found that studied Iranian and Finnish boys despite their higher societal status, experienced more stress in their schools than their female counterparts.
Butchon and Liabsuetrakul [10] assessed the prevalence of developmental delay and poor growth among children aged less than 5 years in Northeastern Thailand and recommended early detection of such problems with implementation of early intervention to minimize their social, financial, and educational burden on developing communities.
Ndoromo et al., [11] studied the pattern of life of children sleeping in the streets after war in South Sudan. They found that children left their homes to work in the streets and even sleep there when they suffered from home violence whether if the physical aggression was inter-parental or victimizing children as a way of punishment. In addition, parental alcohol problems represented an additional risk factor for the studied phenomenon.
Finally, on the behalf of the editorial board of The Journal of Child and Adolescent Behavior, I would like to thank all the authors for their valuable articles that made the current issue really special. Hopefully, our readers and followers will enjoy browsing it and get the utmost benefit from its interesting and rich scientific content.