Differences in eating styles between overweight and normal-weight youngsters were investigated with a child version of the Dutch Eating Behavior Questionnaire (DEBQ). Subjects were children (n=1458; M: 10.1; SD=1.3) and adolescents (n=1016; M: 14.9; SD=1.5). Overweight adolescent girls scored high on emotional eating while overweight adolescent boys displayed more external eating. In overweight children, already 10.5 per cent displayed emotional eating and 38.4 per cent reported external eating. All overweight youngsters reported restrained attitudes. Eating styles were positively associated with indicators of eating pathology. The results suggest the use of appropriate norms that take into account the child's age, gender and overweight status.

The current study investigated loss of control (LC) over eating and the role of anxiety, depression and emotional eating in a sample of both treatment seeking (N = 115) and non-treatment seeking (N = 73) overweight youngsters (aged 8-18) using a semi-structured clinical interview and self-report questionnaires. It was found that treatment seekers reported twice as much LC (40%) compared to non-treatment seekers (21%). Cross-sectional prediction models indicated that increased anxiety was associated with emotional eating and LC. Emotional eating tended to mediate the relationship between anxiety and LC. Increased depression was associated with emotional eating but not with LC. Especially overweight treatment seekers turn out to be at risk for LC. Because LC may develop as a result of inadequate coping with negative emotions like anxiety, obesity treatment should focus on teaching more effective coping strategies. Longitudinal research is recommended to further elaborate affect regulation and LC.

A subgroup of overweight children appears to have a stronger tendency to act on impulse than normal weight children, and demonstrated an impulsivity prone personality. Hence, overweight children should be screened for impulse control deficiencies. More research is needed to clear out the robustness of gender differences, the existence of a specific personality profile and possibly common underlying mechanisms of childhood obesity and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.

Introduction: The present article reports on two studies that investigated the utility of Young's cognitive theory (Young, Klosko, & Weishaar, 2003) Conclusion: Young's schema theory might constitute a valuable framework to understand psychopathology in youth.

This study investigated whether early maladaptive schemas can explain the relation between attachment anxiety and avoidance dimensions and symptoms of psychopathology. For this purpose, 289 Flemish, Dutch-speaking, late adolescents participated on a questionnaire study. Using a non-parametric re-sampling approach, we investigated whether the association between attachment and psychopathology was mediated by early maladaptive schemas. Results indicate that the association between attachment anxiety and psychopathology is fully mediated by cognitions regarding rejection and disconnection and other-directedness. The association between attachment avoidance and psychopathology is partly mediated by cognitions regarding rejection and disconnection.

During inpatient obesity treatment, youngsters who are more severely obese lose most weight. In girls and in adolescents suffering from psychological disorders, long-term care should be the aim to prevent an experience of failure. From a psychological health perspective, the inclusion of psychotherapy during inpatient obesity treatment for adolescents suffering from psychiatric disorders is worth considering. All together, the findings of this study demonstrate the importance of adopting both a medical and a psychological perspective on obesity (treatment) in youth.

This study aimed to (1) assess relationships between the Children's Depression Inventory (CDI) and DSM-oriented depression and anxiety scales of the Youth Self Report (YSR); (2) develop reliable norms for the CDI; and (3) determine CDI cutoff scores for selecting youngsters at risk for depression and anxiety. A total of 3073 non-clinical and 511 clinically referred children and adolescents from The Netherlands and Belgium were included. Results showed that CDI scores were significantly related to both DSM-oriented symptoms of depression and anxiety. CDI scores correlated highly with depression symptoms and moderately with anxiety symptoms. Norms for the CDI were determined by means of multiple regression analysis and depended on sex, age, and country. CDI cutoff scores for selecting individuals at risk for depression and anxiety as measured by the DSM-oriented depression and anxiety scales of the YSR were determined by means of multiple regression analysis and ROC analysis. A CDI score of 16 was found to have the most optimal balance between sensitivity and specificity for depression, whereas a score of 21 provided the best sensitivity and specificity for anxiety in a subsample of children. It can be concluded that the CDI is an effective instrument for screening depression, and to a lesser extent anxiety, in school settings or primary and secondary care centres, before applying further assessment of high risk individuals. Keywords: CDI; Children's Depression Inventory; Cutoff; NormingThe CDI in clinical and non-clinical youth 3 Depressive symptoms are commonly experienced among youth. The epidemiological data suggest that depression in youth is a serious health care problem, which underscores the importance of using reliable and well-validated screening instruments (e.g., Birmaher et al., 1996; Birmaher, Arbelaez, & Brent 2002; Lewinsohn, Rohde, & Seeley, 1998). The measurement of depressive symptoms in youth was advanced by the development of the Children's Depression Inventory (CDI: Kovacs, 1980Kovacs, /1981. The CDI was developed as a downward extension of the adult-oriented Beck Depression Inventory (BDI: Beck, Ward, Mendelson, Mock & Erbaugh, 1961). The CDI is a 27-item self-report inventory assessing depressed mood in children and adolescents. Respondents are asked to choose one of three descriptions that best fits how they have been feeling over the past two weeks (e.g., "I do most things wrong", "I do many things wrong", "I do everything wrong"). Responses are scored on a scale from 0 to 2, with total CDI scores ranging between 0 and 54. Although the CDI is designed to provide information about the presence and severity of depressive symptoms, it cannot by itself yield a psychiatric diagnosis. Self-report measures in the early assessment process have however also the advantage over clinical interviews that they facilitate disclosing personal material. The current study aimed to (1) assess the specificity of the relation between CDI scores and symptoms of depression and anxiety; (2) develop no...

Stress induced by maternal and, in lesser extent, paternal rejection is contributing to depressive symptoms primarily in younger and to lesser extent in older age groups. The quality of peer relationships becomes an increasingly salient source of distress as adolescence unfolds and is certainly an important mechanism affecting depression in adolescence. Maladaptive schemas only start functioning as a cognitive diathesis in late adolescence, increasing depression in response to peer-related distress. Since maladaptive schemas are not yet operating as cognitive vulnerability factors in early and middle adolescence, early interventions for depressive disorders may be more effective compared with treatment in later adolescence.