Humor preferences in normal and physically handicapped children.

This study investigated the relationship of motor disabilities and humor ratings of activity and nonactivity cartoons by poliomyelitis, cerebral palsy, and normal children. Poliomyelitis children rated activity cartoons as funnier than nonactivity cartoons. They also rated activity cartoons higher than did cerebral palsy or normal children, and nonactivity cartoons lower than did cerebral palsy children. These differences could not be explained on the basis of age of affliction or motor patterns of the particular disabilities involved. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Selective attention to threatening stimuli and field independence as factors in the etiology of paranoid behavior.

Tested a theory that selective attention to threatening stimuli induces paranoia. An attempt was made to manipulate attention to threatening and nonthreatening statements among 60 college students and examine the effects on 3 indices of paranoia. Although manipulation checks indicated that attention was varied in the desired manner, hypothesized results in which selective attention to threatening statements would lead to greater scores on the paranoia measures were not found. However, a measure of field independence showed a predicted positive correlation with the indices of paranoia for Ss who were manipulated to attend selectively to threatening statements. These same correlations tended to be negative or zero among Ss manipulated to attend to nonthreat and among unbiased attenders. These data suggest that susceptibility to development of paranoid behavior through selective attention to threat cues may increase as a function of field independence. (17 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Parenting stress and social support of mothers who physically abuse their children in Hong Kong

Thirty-seven identified abusive mothers were matched on demographic and socioeconomic parameters with a known nonabusive comparison sample in order to examine the role of parenting stress and maternal social support. The mothers were assessed using a personal (demographic) questionnaire, the Parenting Stress Index (PSI), and the Maternal Support Index (MSSI). Demographic data showed that the two groups were comparable on all variables except abusive mothers had significantly more children (p = .01). Abusive mothers showed significantly more stress on total PSI scores (p = .005), as well as in all three of the subjects: Child Domain (p = .007) Parent Domain (p = .02), and Life Stress (p = .016). Abusive mothers scored lower in all seven items on the MSSI. The difference was significant on the MSSI as a whole (p = .007) and on four subsets: number of people to count on in time of need (p = .02), perceived neighborhood support (p = .04), satisfaction with spousal relationship (p = .01), and degree of community involvement (p = .03). The greatest percentage (74.32%) of correct predictions of child abuse was achieved by combining the number of children, the Life Stress Scale and the MSSI. Implications for future research are discussed.     

Perception of maternal behavior by normal and handicapped children.

153 normal, 101 ambulatory but minimally brain damaged, and 44 wheelchair-bound 12–17 yr olds reported on how they perceived their mother's behavior. Reports of the wheelchair-bound Ss were similar to those of normals. However, the minimally brain-damaged Ss perceived maternal behavior as significantly more controlling and less accepting than either the normal or wheelchair-bound groups. The author discusses whether this finding is a result of actual differences in maternal behavior or of differences in perceptual sensitivity. (10 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Dental disease and current treatment needs in a group of physically handicapped children

The enzyme glutathione reductase (GR) (GSSG+NADPH+H+-->2 GSH+NADP+) plays a key role in the cellular defense against oxidative stress. High levels of GR activity are often associated with tumor growth and/or resistance mechanisms against drug and radiation therapy. In order to investigate the molecular basis of elevated glutathione reductase activities we studied the enzyme at the DNA, mRNA and protein levels in murine experimental tumor cell lines and in human lung tumors. A modified ultracentrifugation procedure was developed which allowed the simultaneous isolation of DNA and total cellular RNA. Out of 11 human bronchial carcinomas obtained from patients without prior chemotherapy, five tumors showed a GR activity which was 2.4 to 3.8 times higher than in the respective control tissues. In each case the elevated enzyme activity was accompanied by an elevated GRmRNA levels. For none of the tumors, GR gene rearrangement or amplification was observed by Southern blot analyses. The mouse tumor cell lines ASB XIV, Lewis lung carcinoma and EAT cells, also showed high levels of GRmRNA whereas this mRNA was hardly detectable in normal mouse lung tissue.     

Typical configurations of psychosocial stress factors of psychiatrically conspicuous children and adolescents

Typical configurations of psychosocial stressors in children and adolescents with psychiatric disorders. Abnormal psychosocial situations are strongly associated with psychiatric disorders in children and adolescents. They are significant risk factors, and sometimes play a causative role. Information about such situations can therefore serve as a basis for planning and implementation of therapeutic interventions. Up till now, however, there has been little evidence for the specificity of the relationship between psychosocial factors and psychiatric disorders. Therefore, in the present study cluster analysis was used to group a psychiatric population of children and adolescents by typical configurations of psychosocial stressors, and the subjects in these clusters were then compared with regard to age, gender, psychiatric disorders and level of intelligence. Five clusters were formed, with qualitative and quantitative differences. One cluster consists of cases with various psychiatric disorders but few psychosocial stressors or none at all. In the other four clusters, "parental handicap, mental disorder or deviation" and "anomalous parenting situation" are variables of key importance as one of them occurs in each cluster, together with different combinations of other psychosocial factors. In the one cluster where both of the previously mentioned key variables occur all of the additional factors also occur.     

Depressive symptoms in mothers and children: Preschool attachment as a moderator of risk.

Drawing from transactional models, the authors examined whether attachment security measured at age 3 (a potential source of differential vulnerability) interacts with the course of maternal depressive symptoms over an 8-year period (a potential source of differential exposure) in predicting children’s self-reported depressive symptoms at age 11. Participants were from the NICHD Study of Early Child Care (N = 938). Results from growth curve modeling and analysis of covariance suggest that preschool attachment quality moderates the influence of subsequent maternal depression on children. In particular, variability in the course of maternal depressive symptoms predicted offspring depressive symptoms only among those children with an insecure attachment history. A potential protective effect of early attachment security was evident among children exposed to the most chronic levels of maternal depression. Of the children with different patterns of insecure attachments, those with behaviors classified as disorganized appeared most vulnerable to also becoming depressed if paired with a mother experiencing ongoing depressive symptoms. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Stress exposure and stress generation in children of depressed mothers.

Two hypotheses were tested: (1) One mechanism contributing to the high rate of disorder in children of women with affective disorders is elevated exposure to stressful events and conditions, and (2) the children of depressed women, particularly women with unipolar depression, contribute to event occurrence because of increased interpersonal conflict. Life stress interview assessments were made at 6-mo intervals for 3 yrs on 53 children of unipolar, bipolar, medically ill, and normal women. Both hypotheses were confirmed. Transactional models of risk and further studies of the interpersonal functioning of children at risk for depression are needed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Parent, family, and disease factors as predictors of psychosocial functioning in children with cystic fibrosis.

Examined the relative contribution of disease, parental, and family factors on the psychological and social functioning of children with cystic fibrosis. 33 patients (7–16 yrs old) and 29 mothers completed a battery of tests, including a state-trait anxiety inventory, the Beck Depression Inventory, and a coping health inventory for parents developed by H. I. McCubbin et al (1983). Results show that Ss' self-esteem and occurrence of behavioral problems were associated with maternal trait anxiety, overprotection, and the impact of disease on family functioning. Social competence and athletic self-esteem were associated with nutritional status. Results reflect the need for clinicians to be sensitive to parental and family functioning when dealing with behavioral problems and to consider physical status when providing treatment of social problems. (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Injury risk among children of low-income U.S.-born and immigrant mothers.

The number of immigrants in the United States is at an all time high, yet psychologists have largely ignored the domain of immigrant health. This article considers 1 aspect of immigrant health, risk for pediatric injury. A sample of over 5,000 5-year-old children from impoverished families was studied; approximately 13% had immigrant mothers. Children of immigrants had a significantly lower rate of injury in the prior year. This was particularly true of non-White children of immigrants. Three possible mediators for this finding--assistance with parenting, parenting style, and health care accessibility--were considered, but none explained the difference. The need for further research on the topic and implications of results for injury prevention are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Child rearing attitudes of mothers and fathers as reported by schizophrenic and normal patients.

To determine the significant aspects of family background as perceived by schizophrenics, Ss were asked to think back to the time when they were 13 or 14 and answer a questionnaire on child rearing practices as they were conceived to be reflected in the attitudes of their parents at that time. The responses of schizophrenics with good and poor premorbid backgrounds were compared with each other and to GMS patients. The results indicate that there was a significant and direct relationship between level of adjustment and degree of deviance in postulated parental attitudes. Parents, in general, are perceived to be dominating rather than overprotective or rejecting. Normals and schizophrenics differ significantly in describing familial attitudes, although all seem to perceive father as dominant, mother as over-protective. From Psyc Abstracts 36:04:4JQ76G. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The central adaptation syndrome: psychosocial stress as a trigger for adaptive modifications of brain structure and brain function

This review makes an attempt to combine data from biological and psychosocial stress literature and to suggest an alternative interpretation of the relationship between stress and disease. It rearranges the presently available knowledge on the short- and long-term effects of stress on many different aspects of brain structure and brain function in the form of a new conceptualization of the biological role of the stress response. The higher associative brain structures are not only the sites in which environmental and psychosocial demands are recognized and from which a less or more systemic, i.e. controllable or uncontrollable, stress response is initiated. They are also the sites which are primarily affected in the course of the stress response: the stress response acts as a trigger for the adaptive modification of the structure and the function of the brain of higher vertebrates and serves thus to adjust, in a self-optimizing manner, the behavior of an individual to the ever-changing requirements of its external world. This novel concept summarizes a large amount of information into a framework that lends itself to testable strategies for future research.     

Trajectories of smoking from adolescence to early adulthood and their psychosocial risk factors.

Objective: To explore patterns of persistence and change in smoking behavior as well as risk factors associated with the developmental course of smoking from age 13 to 25. Design: Data from the public use sample of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (N = 5,789) were analyzed using semiparametric group-based modeling. Main Outcome Measures: Smoking quantity-frequency in the past 30 days. Results: Six distinct smoking trajectories were identified: nonsmokers, experimenters, stable light smokers, quitters, late escalators, and stable high smokers. Baseline risk factors that were associated with greater likelihood of membership in all of the smoking trajectory groups compared with nonsmokers included alcohol use, deviance, peer smoking, and (with the exception of the late escalators) drug use. Deviance, peer smoking, and alcohol and drug use also distinguished the likelihood of membership among several of the 5 smoking trajectory groups. Conclusion: The results add to basic etiologic research on developmental pathways of smoking in adolescence and young adulthood by providing evidence of heterogeneity in smoking behavior and prospectively linking different patterns of risk factors with the probability of trajectory group membership. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Smoking in pregnancy: a study of psychosocial and reproductive risk factors

In this study relationships between demographic variables and family dynamics of childbearing families in Finland were studied. The sample was 160 urban families expecting their first or second child in the third trimester of pregnancy. One-hundred and eighteen families participated in the study. The Family Dynamics Questionnaire (FDQ) and the Family Dynamics Measure (FDM) were used in this study. Most expectant parents reported their family was well-functioning. Mothers of higher socioeconomic status found more flexibility in their families than mothers of lower socioeconomic status. Fathers in families expecting their first baby reported more mutuality, role reciprocity and more stability than second-time fathers. The findings contribute cues for public health nurses and midwives regarding parity, socioeconomic status and family dynamics to provide more specific family guidance during the transition to parenthood. Realistic information on the changes in family dynamics after childbirth should be given to pregnant parents.     

Pretrauma problems, prior stressor exposure, and gender as predictors of change in posttraumatic stress symptoms among physically injured children and adolescents.

Objective: This study addressed predictors of change in posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) among youths who had experienced physical injuries. The influences of pretrauma internalizing and externalizing problems, prior stressor exposure, and gender were investigated. Additionally, gender was examined as a moderator of the associations between internalizing problems and PTSS, externalizing problems and PTSS, and prior stressor exposure and PTSS. Method: Participants were 157 children and adolescents (75% male; age M = 13.30 years, SD = 3.60; 44% Caucasian, 39% African American, 13% Hispanic, and 4% other) admitted to 2 hospitals for physical injuries. Youths and their parents completed measures of PTSS (Child Posttraumatic Stress Reaction Index), internalizing and externalizing problems (Child Behavior Checklist), and prior stressor exposure (Coddington Life Events Scale, Child) during the hospital stay; youths completed up to 3 additional PTSS assessments targeted at 3, 6, and 12 months postinjury. Results: Multilevel regression analyses revealed a significant average decline in PTSS over time (p p p     

Parenting knowledge: Experiential and sociodemographic factors in European American mothers of young children.

Knowledge of child rearing and child development is relevant to parenting and the well-being of children. Using a sociodemographically heterogeneous sample of 268 European American mothers of 2-year-olds, we assessed the state of mothers' parenting knowledge; compared parenting knowledge in groups of mothers who varied in terms of parenthood and social status; and identified principal sources of mothers' parenting knowledge in terms of social factors, parenting supports, and formal classes. On the whole, European American mothers demonstrated fair but less than complete basic parenting knowledge; age, education, and rated helpfulness of written materials each uniquely contributed to mothers' knowledge. Adult mothers scored higher than adolescent mothers, and mothers improved in their knowledge of parenting from their first to their second child (and were stable across time). No differences were found between mothers of girls and boys, mothers who varied in employment status, or birth and adoptive mothers. The implications of variation in parenting knowledge and its sources for parenting education and clinical interactions with parents are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Dilemmas of child care in the United States: Employed mothers and children at risk.

Describes the lack of US policies and the research on child care needs, both for employed parents and for their children. Unlike all other industrialized nations, the US has not developed coherent policies on the twin initiations of parental leaves and quality child care. Although neither Canada nor the US have achieved the level of support for employed families that are common in Europe, the deficiencies of US policies are especially glaring. Given the high rates of maternal employment in both countries, the major issues are how to provide a comprehensive system of high quality child care for infants and young children and how to fund necessary services. (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Hostility predicts metabolic syndrome risk factors in children and adolescents.

The authors tested in 134 African American and European American children whether hostility measured at study entry predicted the metabolic syndrome risk factors an average of 3 years later. Hostility was measured with the Cook-Medley Hostility Scale (W. W. Cook & D. M. Medley, 1954) and with ratings of Potential for Hostility from interview responses. Metabolic syndrome was based on having at least 2 of the following risk factors above the 75th percentile of scores for their age, race, and gender group: body mass index, insulin resistance index, ratio of triglycerides to high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and mean arterial blood pressure. Children who exhibited high hostility scores at baseline were likely to exhibit the metabolic syndrome at the follow-up. The results highlight the potential importance of early prevention and intervention of behavioral risk factors for cardiovascular disease. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Predictors of repeat hospitalization in children with asthma: The role of psychosocial and socioenvironmental factors.

This study examined relationships between psychosocial factors and asthma rehospitalization patterns in 115 children (ages 4-18) who had ≥1 hospitalization during the study period. Lifetime history of hospitalizations and new hospitalizations during a 1-year follow-up period were measured, controlling for baseline asthma symptoms and medications. Prospectively, caretaker characteristics (lower sense of mastery, being less emotionally bothered by asthma) predicted greater likelihood of future asthma hospitalizations. Lifetime history of hospitalizations was associated with family impacts (greater family strain and family conflict, greater financial strain) as well as caretaker characteristics (greater personal strain, beliefs about not being able to manage one's child's asthma). These findings could help guide future interventions targeted at the subgroup of children who represent a high proportion of asthma hospitalizations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Posttraumatic stress symptoms and depression in mothers of children with severe burn injuries

This study examined posttraumatic stress symptoms and depressive symptoms in mothers of children with burn injuries from accidentally falling into a bathtub filled with hot water. Subjects were 16 pairs, children with burn injuries and their mothers. Psychiatric interviews were administered to the mothers to check the presence or absence of mental disorders. The severity of mothers' depressive symptoms was rated on the Hamilton Depression Scale. Prevalence rates of DSM-IV posttraumatic stress disorder and major depression were 6.3% and 0% in children with burn injury and 12.5% and 18.8% in their mothers, respectively. For three symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (intense distress at similar event, restricted range of affect, and hypervigilance), prevalence rates were significantly higher for the mothers than for the children. Ratings of the three symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder for the mothers were significantly and positively correlated with scores for guilt feelings. Compared with children with burn injury, mothers are prone to posttraumatic stress symptoms mixed with guilt feelings for children with burn injury.