The role of fathers in child and adolescent psychopathology: Make room for daddy.

Summarizes research concerning the relation between paternal factors and child and adolescent psychopathology. When compared with mothers, fathers continue to be dramatically underrepresented in developmental research on psychopathology. However, findings from studies of children of clinically referred fathers and nonreferred samples of children and their fathers indicate that there is substantial association between paternal characteristics and child and adolescent psychopathology. Findings from studies of fathers of clinically referred children are stronger for fathers' effects on children's externalizing than internalizing problems. In most cases the degree of risk associated with paternal psychopathology is comparable to that associated with maternal psychopathology. Evidence indicates that the presence of paternal psychopathology is a sufficient but not necessary condition for child or adolescent psychopathology. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Where's poppa? The relative lack of attention to the role of fathers in child and adolescent psychopathology.

Compared with mothers, fathers are dramatically underrepresented in clinical child and adolescent research. The author reviewed empirical and theoretical clinical child and adolescent literature to ascertain the reasons for this underrepresentation. Four somewhat interrelated factors are discussed: practical issues in participant recruitment, differential base rates of paternal vs maternal psychopathology, theory-driven research based on sexist theories, and research assumptions based on outdated societal norms. Suggestions for future research are discussed, including parallel investigations of paternal characteristics whenever maternal characteristics are investigated, assessment of both similarities and differences in the role of fathers and mothers in child and adolescent psychopathology, and investigation of parenting factors for both fathers and mothers (e.g., time spent in actual caretaking, career vs family orientation) in relation to child and adolescent psychopathology. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Character styles.

Reviews the book, Character styles by Stephen M. Johnson (see record 1994-97789-000). Johnson proficiently melds the developmental research of Stern and others with Kohut's self-psychological and Fairbairn's object relations theory; his effort represents a coherent synthesis of parallel lines of research. He describes seven character styles: the hated child, the abandoned child, the owned child, the used child, the defeated child, the exploited child, and the disciplined child, and describes the developmental psychopathology and familial dysfunctions that lead to a crystallization of the various character styles. He also describes how blends of character styles may develop when two or more of the "basic existential life issues" are challenged. He conceptualizes these disorders along a spectrum from character style to character neurosis and then to personality disorder. He clearly explains how different degrees of impairment occur, as well as associated defenses. The treatment recommendations are broad-based, including cognitive, behavioral, strategic and bioenergetic strategies. There is no mention of psychotherapy outcome evidence or clinical case material showing the efficacy of Johnson's model, nor are there any outcome data presented on the treatment of personality disorders. The reviewer recommends this book to all clinicians with an interest in understanding the phenomenology and development of character disorders. Psychotherapists of all orientations will find this a valuable resource, one to which they will return for reference and perusal. The forte of this book is the integration of self-psychological, object-relations and developmental theory. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Father and mother physical abuse and child aggressive behaviour in two generations.

Research in developmental psychopathology has not adequately examined the role of fathers in abuse, nor has it adequately examined the effects of abuse on girls. This study was an investigation of physical child abuse from fathers and mothers in the prediction of aggressive behavior among boys as well as girls. The participants consisted of 1,536 parents and their 983 college-age children. A parallel 2-generation, cross-sectional design was utilized. Results indicated that physical abuse from fathers and from mothers emerged as significant and additive predictors of aggressive behavior among boys as well as girls. The results point to the important role fathers appear to play in the adaptive and maladaptive functioning of their children. The results also suggest that child maltreatment should be examined within the context of the family unit or microsystem. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Introduction to the special section on attachment and psychopathology: Part 1.

Research derived from attachment theory has generated a rich and rapidly growing body of findings on the importance of early caregiving experience in the development of psychopathology and in the promotion of adaptation. This special section presents research and scholarship on the relation of attachment status to psychiatric classifications and diagnosis in child, adolescent, and adult populations. Included as well are articles that explore the cross-generational transmission of attachment patterns and investigate the relation of attachment status to response to psychotherapy. These articles are representative of the notable impact that attachment theory and research are making in the field of developmental psychopathology. The special section is intended to help bridge the gap between thinking about attachment and clinical research and intervention. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Fathers who fail: Shame and psychopathology in the family system.

Reviews the book, Fathers who fail: Shame and psychopathology in the family system by Melvin R. Lansky (see record 1992-98607-000). This book is composed of a collection of the author's essays which attempt to understand "the psychiatrically impaired father in a truly dynamic way." Drawing on contemporary psychoanalysis, family systems theory, and the sociology of conflict, Lansky sketches a richly textured portrait of fathers who fail. The reviewer believes that Lansky's probing discussion of narcissistic equilibrium in the family system enables him to chart the likely history of the more intimidating modes of distancing involving impulsive actions of impaired fathers. After summarizing the information presented in each chapter, the reviewer then concludes that the book largely succeeds in its task because it provides a deeper, more integrated clinical understanding of fathers who fail. It is highly recommended for selective reading for therapists and researchers. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

"Cadism": Odd man out.

Comments that L. B. Silverstein's (see record 1992-05293-001) article on child care and maternal employment contributes unfounded and damaging misbeliefs regarding fathers. The dad-as-cad myth suggests intentional malevolence or at least blatant failure by fathers to care for others, and suggests that their failure to share equally in child care and household management is the primary cause of marital conflict. W. B. Johnson and D. Hayes propose a research agenda for fathering that originates in a coherent model of male development in the context of ever-changing environmental demands. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Charles Wenar (1922–2008).

Charles Wenar, psychology professor emeritus at Ohio State University (OSU), died of complications from pneumonia on June 19, 2008, in Columbus, Ohio. Well-known for his methodological and substantive contributions to an understanding of normal development in infants, toddlers, and children, he was also among the pioneers in the field of developmental psychopathology. He proposed a conceptualization of psychopathology in children and adolescents as normal development gone awry and advocated for a clinical child psychology training program that was well-grounded in both developmental science and clinical child psychology. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The association between psychopathology in fathers versus mothers and children's internalizing and externalizing behavior problems: A meta-analysis.

In light of the selective focus on maternal (vs. paternal) psychopathology as a risk factor for child development, this meta-analysis examines the relative strength of the association between psychopathology in mothers versus fathers and the presence of internalizing and externalizing disorders in children. Associations were stronger between maternal than paternal psychopathology and the presence of internalizing (but not externalizing) problems in children, with all average effect sizes being small in magnitude. Relations were moderated by variables that highlight theoretically relevant differences between psychopathology in mothers versus fathers (e.g., age of children studied, type of parental psychopathology) and by variables related to methodological differences across studies (e.g., method of assessing psychopathology in parents and children, type of sample recruited, familial composition). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Introduction to special section: The role of longitudinal data with child psychopathology and treatment: Preliminary comments and issues.

Longitudinal data can play an important role in child psychopathology and treatment. This article introduces a review of some of the research questions that longitudinal designs can answer and how longitudinal studies have been used in evaluating traditional syndromes in child clinical psychology. The articles in this special section are then introduced. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Donald R. Lynam: Award for Distinguished Scientific Early Career Contributions to Psychology.

Announces Donald R. Lynam as a recipient of the Award for Distinguished Scientific Early Career Contributions to Psychology for 2002. A biographical statement is included, along with major works and contributions for the field. Lynam received this award for contributions to psychopathology research. His contributions span adult psychopathology, personality, clinical child psychology, sociology, developmental psychology, and criminology. His research interests include fledgling psychopathology, the contribution of individual differences to a variety of negative outcomes, and the use of the Five Factor Model of personality to understand psychopathy and other personality disorders. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

"Child health psychology": Erratum.

Reports an error in "Child health psychology" by Dennis Drotar, Suzanne Bennett Johnson, Ron Iannotti, Norman Krasnegor, Karen A. Matthews, Barbara G. Melamed, Sharon Millstein, Rolf A. Peterson, Debbie Popiel and Donald K. Routh (Health Psychology, 1989, Vol 8[6], 781-784). The name of the author, Sharon Millstein, should be Susan Millstein. It appears correctly in this record. (The following abstract of the original article appeared in record 2008-09118-001.) The term child health psychology refers to the field of research on the behavioral aspects of children's health and illness. At this time we need to continue the work of the child health psychology special interest group and to draw into the Division of Health Psychology a much larger number of developmental psychologists, who need to be informed about the relevance of their scientific training to child health issues. We call the Division's attention and that of granting agencies such as the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development to the following high-priority child health research issues: adherence to pediatric medical regimens; child health promotion; family influences on child and adolescent health and disease; and stress and coping in childhood illness. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychopathology of childhood: Research problems and issues.

Argues that research on child psychopathology would benefit from reducing the influence of adult treatment models and from applying a developmental perspective to clinical research on children. Specific methodological problems are discussed, including the assessment of S characteristics; the use of replicable and generalizable diagnostic classifications; the effects of situational specificity and developmental variance on measures of children's behavior; the need to avoid pathological biases in judging children; relationships among correlation, causation, and prediction in a developmental context; problems in measuring change; and the effects of age, cohort, and time of measurement, as well as fallacies in drawing longitudinal conclusions from cross-sectional data. Research needs are also identified, including the need to devise and use well-standardized measures; the need to evaluate interactions between S and treatment variables in outcome research; the need for long-term follow-ups of children identified as being at risk; the need for cumulative programmatic research; and the need to link research more closely to service systems. (47 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Rochester Symposium on Developmental Psychopathology, Volume 3: Models and integrations.

Reviews the book, Rochester Symposium on Developmental Psychopathology, Volume 3: Models and integrations by Dante Cicchetti and Sheree L. Toth (1991). Cicchetti and Toth's Models and integrations is the third of five volumes issuing from the annual "Rochester Symposium on Developmental Psychopathology," a series of publications which has served to define the discipline. The current volume plays a pivotal role in the evolution of developmental psychopathology because it raises important theoretical questions about the discipline, not the least of which are what is it and what might it be? In challenging the conceptual strength and clarity of the field, the book addresses salient developmental issues that will need to be resolved if the discipline is to advance. This is a thought-provoking and intellectually challenging book. It contains 11 weighty chapters organized into three relatively distinct but overlapping sections: (1) theoretical issues, (2) models for understanding specific forms of child psychopathology, and (3) developmentally-grounded intervention strategies. Each chapter in this book demonstrates an extraordinarily high level of theoretical and methodological sophistication. Collectively, the chapters in this volume constitute one of the most informative and sophisticated discussions of theory and methodology in the field of developmental psychopathology that is currently available. This volume is an outstanding contribution to the field and is highly recommended reading for advanced students and researchers in the areas of developmental and child psychopathology. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Social support and stress factors in child maltreatment among alcoholic families.

Investigated the relationships among social support, stress, child maltreatment, and child aggressiveness in alcoholic families. Ss were 62 fathers, 65 mothers, and 65 children (aged 3–5 yrs). Three process models based on prior research were proposed and tested against one another using path analysis. Results suggest that for fathers, social support and stress were each independent direct predictors of child maltreatment. For mothers, social support was an indirect predictor of child maltreatment, and it buffered (moderated) the effect of stress on child maltreatment. For both fathers and mothers, lifetime alcohol problems predicted extent of child maltreatment. The data also indicate that child maltreatment influenced child aggressiveness. (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Tensions in the parent and adult child relationship: Links to solidarity and ambivalence.

Tensions are normative in the parent and adult child relationship, but there is little research on the topics that cause the most tension or whether tensions are associated with overall relationship quality. In this study, adult sons and daughters, age 22 to 49, and their mothers and fathers (N = 158 families, 474 individuals) reported the intensity of different tension topics and relationship quality (solidarity and ambivalence) with one another. Tensions varied between and within families by generation, gender, and age of offspring. Compared to tensions regarding individual issues, tensions regarding the relationship were associated with lower affective solidarity and greater ambivalence. Findings are consistent with the developmental schism hypothesis, which indicates that parent–child tensions are common and are the result of discrepancies in developmental needs that vary by generation, gender, and age. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Measuring Informant Discrepancies in Clinical Child Research.

Discrepancies among informants' ratings of child psychopathology have important implications for diagnosis, assessment, and treatment. Typically, parents and children complete measures (e.g., self-report checklists, diagnostic instruments) to assess child dysfunction. Ratings gathered from these sources reveal relatively little agreement on the nature and extent of the child's social, emotional, and behavioral problems. This article reviews and illustrates the most frequently used methods of measuring informant discrepancies in the clinical child literature (i.e., raw difference, standardized difference, and residual difference scores) and outlines key considerations to influence their selection. The authors conclude that frequently used methods of measuring informant discrepancies are not interchangeable and recommend that future investigations examining informant discrepancies in clinical child research use the standardized difference score as their measure of informant discrepancies. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effect of incest on self and social functioning: A developmental psychopathology perspective.

The effects of child sexual abuse have become a leading concern of mental health service providers. Despite an explosion of studies, one major difficulty in this research is the lack of a developmentally sensitive model for conceptualizing short- and long-term effects and continuity and discontinuity of effects over time. This article proposes a model based in the perspective of developmental psychopathology. It is argued that incest has its unique negative effects in the domains of self- and social functioning, specifically in jeopardizing self-definition and integration, self-regulatory processes, and a sense of security and trust in relationships. Studies with clinical samples indicate that diagnostic conditions associated uniquely with a history of incest reflect serious self- and social impairments. A review of the developmental literature on self- and social development summarizes each major developmental transition from infancy to middle adulthood, and the implications for the negative effects of incest on development are discussed. Finally, implications for developmentally sensitive research are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Problems and solutions in longitudinal and experimental treatment studies of child psychopathology and delinquency.

Identifies questions in child psychopathology and delinquency that can best be answered by using longitudinal data and discusses the advantages and problems of longitudinal studies. The article also reviews methodological issues arising in longitudinal research on child psychopathology and proposes solutions to problems. Retrospective and prospective designs are contrasted with the accelerated longitudinal design. It is concluded that more longitudinal studies of child psychopathology including experimental treatment interventions are needed, with repeated data collection from a variety of sources and several years of data before and after the interventions. Such studies, in addition to the traditional longitudinal studies, are likely to improve the understanding of child psychopathology and of factors that influence and reduce serious outcomes for children and adolescents. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)