Physical disability and psychological distress.

Examined the relationship between physical disability and risk for psychological distress and disorder in 731 physically disabled adults (aged 19–91 yrs at initial interview 4 yrs earlier) and 850 nondisabled adults matched in age, sex, and area of residence. Ss completed the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale, the Diagnostic Interview Schedule, and an anxiety inventory. Disabled Ss were at substantially elevated risk for anxiety, depressive symptoms, and major depressive disorder. These findings can be attributed to chronic stress that tends to characterize the life circumstance and experience of disabled individuals. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Physical attractiveness and mental illness.

Investigated the relation between physical attractiveness and mental disorder in 2 studies of women. In the 1st study, 23 hospitalized mental patients, 30 university employees, and 29 shoppers served as Ss. Results show that the hospitalized mental patients were decidedly less physically attractive than normal controls, based either on live (face-to-face) ratings or on ratings of photographs of the Ss by judges who were unaware of the Ss' mental statuses. Early and current adjustment were reliably associated with appearance for both mental patients and nonpatients. A 2nd study of 50 mental patients replicated some of the 1st study's findings and further examined the consequences of appearance within a psychiatric hospital setting. As compared to the more attractive patients, homelier patients were less socially responsive in a standardized interview procedure, had more severe diagnoses, were hospitalized for longer periods, and received fewer visitors from the community. Physical attractiveness accounted for a large significant amount of length-of-hospitalization variation when degree of psychopathology and other possible moderator variables were controlled statistically. (15 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Issues in mental health services for children and adolescents

Existing system of psychiatric care for children and adolescents is in need of basic reorganization. The authors propose: 1) reestablishment of the speciality of children's and adolescent psychiatrist, a specialist in children's and adolescent narcology, a psychiatrist of early child's age and a pediatric medical psychologist; 2) carrying out the reform of child mental care equal in rights with general psychiatry; 3) preservation and widening of both specialized inpatient and outpatient clinics in general system of child's mental care; 4) legislative and public rehabilitation of children's psychiatry, which suffered considerably from antipsychiatric campaign; 5) professionally organized systematic elevation of psychohygienic, psychiatric and psychotherapeutic knowledges of allied medical and other specialists as well as of parents and of all population too; 6) integration and interaction of govermental services concerning mental health of children and adolescent; 7) organization of regional psychoprophylaxic interdisciplinary centers for children and adolescent.     

Marital distress and mental health care service utilization.

Objective: This study was designed to evaluate the association between marital distress and mental health service utilization in a population-based sample of men and women (N = 1,601). Method: The association between marital distress and mental health care service utilization was evaluated for overall mental health service utilization and for specific sectors of treatment providers, including psychiatrist, other mental health provider, other medical provider, and religious services provider. Interviews were used to assess past-year service utilization and presence of anxiety, mood, and substance use disorders. Results: Approximately 12% of married individuals sought help for problems with their emotions, nerves, or substance use during the 12 months preceding the interview. Marital distress was significantly associated with (a) overall mental health service utilization and service utilization provided by each of the sectors of providers when controlling for demographic variables and (b) overall mental health service utilization and receiving treatment from a psychiatrist when additionally controlling for past-year anxiety, mood, or substance use disorders. There was little evidence that the associations between marital distress and service utilization were moderated by gender or presence of psychiatric disorders. Conclusion: The finding that marital distress is associated with greater mental health care service utilization suggests that clinicians should assess both individual and relationship factors among individuals presenting for treatment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Conceptual behavior in psychotic and normal adolescents.

This study has investigated conceptual behavior in 16 psychotic adolescents matched with 16 adjusted adolescents on age, IQ, and socioeconomic status. A picture sorting test was administered to both groups. Psychotic adolescents categorize and verbalize less adequately than matched controls. Psychotic adolescents use narrower categories than control Ss, perhaps reflecting an inability to reduce effectively the complexity of a stimulus array. In the qualitative analyses of verbalizations, it was found that psychotics use more idiosyncratic verbalizations, possibly indicating the greater privacy and autism of their thinking processes. The conceptual level of the verbalizations offered by the psychotics was less "abstract." Social and emotional content seems to have no effect on categorization and verbalization variables in psychotics. (16 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Parental relations, mental health, and delinquency in adolescents

This paper presents a shortened, 20-item version of The Parental Bonding Instrument (PBI), used in a sample of 573 Norwegian adolescents aged 15-19. The instrument measures mothers' and fathers' "care" and "control/overprotection" as perceived by the adolescent. The two dimensions of the instrument were clearly defined using factor analyses. In addition, they were shown to be related to measures of both depression/anxiety and delinquency, showing that PBI scores may indicate general and nonspecific risk factors in a broad range of psychosocial problems.     

Physical fitness training and mental health.

Reviews theory and research that have attempted to relate fitness training to improvements on psychological variables among normals as well as selected clinical populations. Theoretical speculations in this area are critiqued, and research designs are evaluated as either experimental or quasi-experimental and therefore interpretable, or preexperimental and therefore largely uninterpretable. The research suggests that physical fitness training leads to improved mood, self-concept, and work behavior; the evidence is less clear as to its effects on cognitive functioning, although it does appear to bolster cognitive performance during and after physical stress. Except for self-concept, personality traits are not affected by improvements in physical fitness. Mentally retarded children demonstrate psychological improvement following physical fitness training, but no conclusion can be reached regarding the effects of physical fitness training with other clinical syndromes. (2? p ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Physical attractiveness and self-perception of mental disorder.

Prior research has reported a relation between physical attractiveness and severity of mental disorder, with less attractive people being more maladjusted. However, because these two variables have been measured simultaneously, it has not been possible to separate cause from effect. To clarify this question, in this study we first measured physical attractiveness, social competence, and perceived risk of developing a mental disorder in 280 college women. Seven months later, we measured the subjects' self-perception of having a mental disorder. Women who were more attractive were higher in social competence and lower in perceived risk of mental disorder. More attractive women were also lower in self-perception of mental disorder 7 months later. This relation between attractiveness and self-perception of mental disorder remained significant even after controlling for the Time 1 measures (social competence, perceived risk of mental disorder, and age). The implications of these findings for the hypothesized role of attractiveness in the determination of adjustment are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Prevalence of mental disorders and psychosocial impairments in adolescents and young adults

Graves' disease is the predominant cause of hyperthyroidism in the pediatric age group. Other disorders must be recognized, however, because adequate management relies on a precise diagnosis. Careful monitoring of the thyroid status is required during this active phase of growth and development.     

Self-reported mental distress under the shifting daylight in the high north

Our knowledge of airways reactivity to inflammatory agonists is derived predominantly from tests dominated by large airway responsiveness. To determine directly, the histamine responsiveness of the smallest airways, eight normal and 11 asymptomatic asthmatic subjects were studied utilizing a wedged bronchoscope technique. A fiberoptic bronchoscope was wedged in the anterior segment of the right upper lobe and a double-lumen catheter was advanced through the working channel to its tip. With a constant flow of gas (5% CO2 in air) through one lumen of the catheter, pressure at the tip of the bronchoscope was measured with the subject breath-holding at FRC. Peripheral airways resistance (Rp) was measured at baseline and after saline, histamine (10, 50, 100 mg/ml) and isoproterenol (2 mg/ml) challenge through the bronchoscope. Baseline Rp of asthmatics (0.041 +/- 0.015 cm H2O/ml/min; mean +/- SE) was significantly greater than normal subjects (0.011 +/- 0.003 cm H2O/ml/min; p = 0.019). The log of the concentration of histamine that caused a 100% increase in peripheral airways response was greater in the normal subjects than in the asthmatic subjects (p = 0.0114) and correlated with whole lung responsiveness to histamine in asthmatics (r = 0.847, p < 0.05). Isoproterenol reversed completely the increase in Rp in normal subjects but not asthmatic subjects. The results of this study demonstrate that the resistance of the smallest peripheral airways, when measured directly, increased when challenged locally with histamine in both normal subjects and asthmatic subjects. However, the peripheral airways responsiveness was significantly enhanced in asthmatic subjects relative to normal controls.     

Read-out times from iconic memory in normal and retarded adolescents

The method limits was used to obtain an estimate of read-out times for a sample of 12 normal and 12 retarded subjects matched on chronological age. The procedure required tachistoscopic presentation of a stimulus array (2, 4, or 6 digits) for a variable duration, followed by a post-stimulus. The subject's task was to recall the digit indicated by the cue. The results indicated that read-out time (a) increased as the number of digits increased, (b) was longer for retardates relative to normals, and (c) decreased with practice for both intelligence groups. The implications of a read-out deficit in retarded individuals were discussed.     

Life events and psychological distress: A prospective study of young adolescents.

Seventh and 8th graders were administered measures of negative and positive life experiences and psychological distress on 2 occasions approximately 5 mo apart to examine the etiologic role of negative life events in the maladjustment of early adolescents. 233 7th–8th graders were administered the Junior High Life Experiences Survey, the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, and a child development inventory at Time 1. 79 of the 233 Ss completed the 3 measures at Time 2. Cross-sectional regression analyses revealed a significant positive relationship between negative events and distress but generally failed to support the stress-buffering effects of positive events. However, in the prospective analyses, negative events were not predictive of psychological distress and were, in fact, themselves partly determined by previous distress. Results are compared with previous studies of adult life events and suggest the importance of ongoing stressful processes as engendering both maladjustment and stressful events in the lives of early adolescents. (34 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Physical attractiveness, physical effectiveness, and self-concept in late adolescents

The differential role of various body attitudes in predicting the self-concepts of late adolescents (124 males and 218 females), enrolled in introductory psychology courses, was assessed. Subjects rated 24 body characteristics in terms of 1) how physically attractive they assumed these parts of their bodies were, and 2) how physically effective they assumed them to be; subjects also responded to a short self-concept scale. In accordance with the theory of Erikson (1968) and of McCandless (1970), it was expected that attractiveness attitudes should contribute more to the self-concepts of females than should effectiveness attitudes, while a reverse pattern of interrelatedness was expected for males. Results indicated a higher correspondence between what are seen as attractive body parts and what are viewed as effective body components for males than for females. Moreover, findings from step-wise multiple regression analyses of each sex group's ratings of the body parts for attractiveness and effectiveness, respectively, each with the criterion variable constituting mean self-concept score, were consistent with expectations. For females, the multiple correlation between attractiveness ratings and self-concept was greater than the multiple correlation between effectiveness ratings and self-concept, and more attractiveness variables than effectiveness variables were significant predictors of self-concept. The converse of these findings were obtained with the males' data. The relevance of these results for theories of personality development were discussed.     

Psychiatric disorders and sexual risk among adolescents in mental health treatment.

Objective: To examine the relationship between psychiatric disorders and sexual behaviors among adolescents receiving mental health treatment. Adolescents in mental health treatment have been found to have higher rates of HIV risk behavior than their peers, but data concerning the relationship between psychopathology and risk are inconsistent and limited. Method: Eight hundred and forty adolescents (56% female, 58% African American, mean age = 14.9 years) and their parents completed computerized assessments of psychiatric symptoms via the Computerized Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children (Shaffer, 2000a, 2000b). Adolescents also reported on sexual risk behaviors (vaginal/anal sex, condom use at last sex) and completed urine screens for a sexually transmitted infection (STI). Results: Adolescents meeting criteria for mania, externalizing disorders (oppositional defiant, conduct, and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorders), or comorbid for externalizing and internalizing disorders (major depressive, generalized anxiety, and posttraumatic stress disorders) were significantly more likely to report a lifetime history of vaginal or anal sex than those who did not meet criteria for any psychiatric disorder (odds ratio [OR] = 2.0, 2.3, and 1.9, respectively). Adolescents meeting criteria for mania were significantly more likely to have 2 or more partners in the past 90 days (OR = 3.2) and to test positive for a STI (OR = 4.3) relative to adolescents who did not meet criteria for a psychiatric disorder. Conclusions: The presence of internalizing and externalizing disorders, especially mania, suggests the need for careful screening and targeting of adolescent sexual behavior during psychiatric treatment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Understanding the mental health needs of children and adolescents in residential treatment.

With the penetration of managed care approaches in child welfare, residential treatment services have come under increased scrutiny. In these circumstances it is critical to understand the clinically indicated use of these expensive interventions. As part of a community-reinvestment strategy of reform within a state child welfare agency, a needs-based assessment of children and adolescents was undertaken. A review of cases revealed that although the level of mental health need for many was significant, a substantial proportion of children in residential placement were not at high levels of risk. On the basis of these data, a process of placement review was designed and implemented for more effective use of residential treatment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Paired-associate learning by schizophrenic and normal subjects under conditions of personal and impersonal reward and punishment.

This is a report of 2 dissertations done to cross-validate the findings that, contrary to normals, the performance of schizophrenics on various tasks improves under conditions of punishment rather than reward. In addition, these studies tested the effect of personal vs. impersonal conditions of reinforcement. Ss were patients with acute as well as more chronic periods of illness. The results indicate that regardless of whether the reinforcement was administered mechanically (impersonally) or by another individual (personally), the performance of the schizophrenic group again showed improvement under conditions of punishment rather than rewards. The results are related to a theory of the etiology of schizophrenia and to the treatment of schizophrenics. From Psyc Abstracts 36:04:4JQ22A. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Urinary excretion and clearance of insulin in diabetic and normal children and adolescents

Seventy-two diabetic (38 males) and 86 normal (41 males) children provided timed overnight urine collections. Fourteen of the diabetic and 33 of the normal children had concurrent overnight plasma insulin profiles. Urinary insulin clearance in the diabetic subjects was compared with excretion of albumin, growth hormone, retinol-binding protein, and N-acetyl-beta-D-glucosaminidase. In the normal subjects, urinary insulin excretion correlated with mean overnight plasma levels in the boys (r = 0.82, p < 0.001) but not in the girls (r = 0.32), and varied with puberty stage in the boys. Insulin clearance was greater in boys than girls during puberty, and fell in both sexes with advancing puberty. Insulin excretion was greater in diabetic than normal children in both sexes at all puberty stages. Insulin clearance was also greater in diabetic than normal subjects (1.05 +/- 0.1 ml min-1 1.73 m-2 vs 0.48 +/- 0.05 ml min-1 1.73 m-2, p < 0.001). Insulin excretion as a percentage of the filtered load was also greater in diabetic than normal subjects (1.9 +/- 0.27% vs 0.85 +/- 0.09%, p < 0.01). In the diabetic children, there was a correlation between urinary insulin and growth hormone excretion (r = 0.52, p < 0.02), and retinol-binding protein in those (n = 10) with higher retinol binding protein excretion (r = 0.76, p = 0.01). The value of urinary insulin excretion as a measure of free plasma insulin levels in normal and diabetic children may be limited by sex differences in renal insulin clearance, and by proximal renal tubular dysfunction in children with diabetes.     

Psychophysiology, signs and symptoms of disease the course of normal pressure hydrocephalus

Between May 1982 until January 1997 we investigated 200 patients suspected for normal pressure hydrocephalus (NPH) by performing an intrathecal infusion test. According to our experiences gait ataxia is the leading symptom of NPH. Regarding dementia we could not find a significant difference compared to cerebral atrophy. Bladder incontinence can be characterised as a symptom of late-stage NPH. The complete Hakim trias should not be overestimated in differential diagnostic considerations. Graduation of NPH and cerebral atrophy after the results of the infusion test in an early and late stage enables prognostic evaluation of the course of disease. Patients with NPH in an early stage report in the follow-up on an improvement of their symptoms after shunt operation (65 percent of patients), whereas 50 percent of the patients with late stage NPH were improved. The computer-aided infusion test allows secure differentiation between patients with NPH and those with cerebral atrophy.     

Predictors of mental health among adolescents from immigrant families in Portugal.

The aims of this study were to investigate the degree of mental health problems among adolescents with immigrant background in Portugal and the factors that may predict mental health problems. The study sample consisted of 755 immigrant adolescents from seven ethnocultural groups (Cape Verdeans, Angolans, Indians, Mozambicans, East Timorese, Sao Tomese, and Guineans) and 320 native Portuguese adolescents. Generally, most respondents did not report major psychological adjustment problems. Adolescents from immigrant families reported fewer mental health problems than their native Portuguese counterparts, and girls reported more mental health problems than did boys. Predictive factors—sociodemographic, intercultural contact, and psychosocial adjustment variables—were significantly linked to youths’ mental health. Major predictors of poor psychological adjustment were perceived discrimination, social difficulties, and behavioral problems. As expected, different factors explained the psychological adaptation of adolescents by gender. Implications of the study for counselors are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)