Reinforcement analysis of interaction in problem and nonproblem families.

Examined the patterns of consequents that problem and nonproblem family members provided for each other's behavior, and the responsivity of the members to those consequents. 20 families with a male child 5–10 yrs old were selected on the basis of their Locke-Wallace Marital Adjustment Scale and Peterson-Quay Behavior Problem Checklist scores. The families' interactions were observed in a laboratory setting and coded using a behavioral rating system. Results show that problem families provided more aversive and fewer positive consequents for prosocial behavior and more positive and fewer consequents for deviant behavior than nonproblem families. Problem family members were less responsive to the consequents than nonproblem family members. Results are discussed in terms of the development and maintenance of dysfunctional family systems. (24 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Approach and avoidance coping responses among older problem and nonproblem drinkers.

The Coping Responses Inventory (CRI) was used to study coping among older problem and nonproblem drinkers. The CRI organizes coping efforts according to their focus (approach or avoidance) and method (cognitive or behavioral). Compared with nonproblem drinkers, older problem drinkers were more likely to use cognitive and behavioral avoidance responses to manage life stressors. Problem drinkers who experienced more negative life events and more severe stressors used both more approach and more avoidance coping. Those who had more financial and social resources relied more on approach and less on avoidance coping. Problem drinkers who relied more on avoidance coping tended to have more drinking problems and to report more depression and physical symptoms and less self-confidence. Positive reappraisal was associated with less depression and more self-confidence. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

WISC-R subtest variability in a clinic-referred sample of Canadian children.

WISC-R protocols and demographic data were obtained from the files of 200 clinic-referred Canadian children (aged 6 yrs to 15 yrs 11 mo). 72% of the sample were referred because of some form of learning problem, emotional disturbance, developmental delay/retardation, and/or behavior disorder. Comparisons were made with normal Canadian children (J. Wersh and J. Briere, see record 1982-05521-001) and the American WISC-R standardization sample (A. Kaufman, Vols 56:3214 and 57:7179). A 1-sample Hotelling T–2 test was employed to examine subtest variability with reference to scale grand means, and a series of MANOVAs examined the effects of Full Scale IQ, age, and sex, and their interactions. The Discrepancy Index, Range Index, and Deviation Index of subtests were also calculated. Overall, subtest variability comparisons with the American normative population and normal Canadian children revealed a few distinct differences in degree and pattern of scatter on selected indices. The relationship of these findings to the literature on WISC-R subtest variability is discussed. (French abstract) (41 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

WISC-R subtest variability in normal Canadian children and its relationship to sex, age, and IQ.

91 children (mean age 11.5 yrs), screened for absence of emotional and educational disabilities, were tested on the WISC-R and examined for significant subtest variability. Arithmetic, Digit Recall, Comprehension, and Coding differed significantly from the grand mean of all subtests. In a 2nd analysis, subtest variability was examined relative to Ss' sex, age, and overall IQ. Sex differences occurred on Information, Picture Completion, Arithmetic, Coding and Digit Recall. Age differences occurred on Information and marginally on Performance IQ. Sex and Age interacted on Performance IQ, and Sex and IQ interacted on Coding. It is suggested that the absence of sex-specific norms and separate norms for Canadian children may lessen the clinical interpretability of subtest differences on the WISC-R. (French abstract) (29 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

"Approach and avoidance coping responses among older problem and nonproblem drinkers": Clarification.

Reports a clarification in the article by R. H. Moos et al (Psychology and Aging, 1990[Mar], Vol 5[1], 31–40). The authors wish to note that research reported in the article by P. L. Brennan and R. H. Moos (see record 1991-10154-001) was based on the sample used in the research reported by Moos et al and that this information was inadvertently deleted in the Brennan and Moos article. (The following abstract of the article by Moos et al originally appeared in PA, Vol 77:14961.) The Coping Responses Inventory (CRI) was used to study coping among older problem and nonproblem drinkers. The CRI organizes coping efforts according to their focus (approach or avoidance) and method (cognitive or behavioral). Compared with nonproblem drinkers, older problem drinkers were more likely to use cognitive and behavioral avoidance responses to manage life stressors. Problem drinkers who experienced more negative life events and more severe stressors used both more approach and more avoidance coping. Those who had more financial and social resources relied more on approach and less on avoidance coping. Problem drinkers who relied more on avoidance coping tended to have more drinking problems and to report more depression and physical symptoms and less self-confidence. Positive reappraisal was associated with less depression and more self-confidence. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Patterns of early cognitive development among boys in four subcultural groups.

600 boys divided by age (6, 7, and 8 yrs), race (Black and White), and social class (middle and lower) were given tests of memory (free recall and digit span), intelligence (Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test and Raven Coloured Progressive Matrices), learning (paired-associates and a matrices training task), and transfer (paired-associates and pre- and postmatrices test). There were (a) significant age advances for all groups on all measures, (b) social class differences on learning and intelligence tests, and (c) racial differences on intelligence, digit span, and paired-associate learning. All groups transferred in a similar manner. Factor patterns across age included more similarities (including similar developmental changes) for the different groups than were expected. (29 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Interventions for boys with conduct problems: Multiple settings, treatments, and criteria.

Summarizes results of treatment programs for boys exhibiting problems commonly subsumed under the label "conduct disorder." 27 children referred by community agencies received treatment in the home; 14 also received treatment in the classroom. Treatment consisted of training the agents in each setting to alter the deviant behaviors of the problem child. Direct observations were made in the children's homes and classrooms before, during, and after intervention. Daily reports were also obtained regarding the occurrence of symptom behavior noted by the parents. At termination, data showed significant reductions from baseline for both criteria in the family intervention. The observation data collected in the classroom also showed significant changes after intervention. Follow-up data showed that the effects persisted in both settings. (49 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Relationships among WAIS subtest scores, patient's premorbid history, and institutionalization.

Divided 40 schizophrenic patients equally among 4 groups on the basis of premorbid history and length of time hospitalized. The WAIS IQ for poor premorbids tended to be higher than for good premorbids, but good premorbids demonstrated significantly higher motor performance (WAIS Digit Symbol and Block Design). There appeared to be a relationship between lower verbal abstractive and decision-making abilities (WAIS Comprehension and Similarities) and length of institutionalization. Results are interpreted as suggesting that, for schizophrenics at least, performance on certain types of intelligence test tasks may be lower for patients who have undergone prolonged institutionalization. (19 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

WISC-R factor structures among Anglos, Blacks, Chicanos, and Native-American Papagos.

Compared WISC-R factor structures for Anglo, Black, Chicano, and Native-American Papago children from Pima County, Arizona. The samples were randomly selected from school enrollment rosters and stratified by ethnicity, grade level (1st, 3rd, 5th, 7th, and 9th), sex, and urban–rural residence (950 Ss). Application of 2 objective procedures for determining the appropriate number of factors for each group suggested a 3-factor solution for Anglos, a 2- or 3-factor solution for Chicanos depending on procedure used, and 2-factor solutions for Blacks and Native-American Papagos. The 2-factor solutions were highly similar for the 4 groups. The 3-factor solutions were similar for Anglos and Chicanos but were substantially different for the other groups. The groups were highly similar in terms of the proportion of variance accounted for by a general factor, and the Verbal–Performance scale distinction appeared equally appropriate for all groups. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Relations among discipline style, child behaviour problems, and perceived ineffectiveness as a caregiver among parents with conduct problem children.

Examined relations among discipline style, parents' self-attributions in the caregiver role, and child behavior problems in a clinical sample of 253 parents (91% female) of 274 6–12 yr old, clinic-referred, children (219 boys, 55 girls) with conduct problems. Principal components factor analysis of parents' responses to 9 discipline techniques reveals 2 general styles labeled severe and mild aversive. Hierarchical regression analyses support the mediating role of parents' self-efficacy as a caregiver for the severe aversive, but not the mild aversive, discipline style after controlling for demographic variables. Also, parents who felt ineffective in using a particular discipline technique rated their child as having more behavior problems than did parents who did not use that technique or who used the technique effectively. (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Destructive sibling conflict and the development of conduct problems in young boys.

Little empirical work has explored the relation between destructive sibling conflict and conduct problems in children. This study used a measure of observed sibling conflict to examine its relations with maternal and teacher report of conduct problems in a low-income sample of 180 five-year-old boys and their close-age siblings. Early report of behavior problems and rejecting parenting were added to the analyses to control for these predictors and to examine interactive effects. The interaction between destructive sibling conflict and rejecting parenting predicted aggressive behavior problems across time and informants such that a rise in aggression scores was evident for children who had high levels of both sibling conflict and rejecting parenting. Sibling conflict was also directly related longitudinally to the Child Behavior Checklist Delinquency factor. Results are discussed in terms of additive risk models and G. R. Patterson's (1984, 1986) theory of coercion. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The WISC-R and internal evidence of test bias with minority groups.

Judgment of test bias can be made on the basis of a number of criteria. This study examines the evidence on the cultural bias of the WISC-R for Anglo-American, Black, and Mexican-American children. The performance of 1,050 children aged 5–11 yrs on the internal criteria of reliability and a number of order-of-item-difficulty measures was assessed. Minority group Ss responded to the test in the same general way as did Anglo-American Ss, and there was no clear pattern to the items on the test that were more difficult for minority Ss. Thus, the WISC-R appears to be nonbiased for minority group children. Explanations other than specific item content should be sought for the observed discrepancy between majority group and minority group IQ test performance. (27 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Neuropsychological characteristics and test behaviors of boys with early onset conduct problems.

School-age children and adolescents with conduct problems typically exhibit deficits in verbal IQ, language abilities, and executive functions. This study examined the extent to which this pattern was evident in a clinic group of preschool boys with early onset conduct problems who met criteria for oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) with and without attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). A 2nd question focused on the strength of relation between clinic boys' uncooperative or inattentive test behaviors and their test performance. As expected, the clinic boys showed a neuropsychological profile highly similar to the one found in older conduct problem populations. Verbal tests distinguished clinic from matched comparison boys even after controlling for observers' ratings of disruptive behavior during testing. Clinic boys with ODD and ADHD had lower verbal and executive function scores than clinic boys with ODD alone. After general vocabulary knowledge and test behavior were controlled, clinic boys were found to have poorer vocabularies for describing affective states than comparison group boys. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Social status of aggressive and aggressive/withdrawn boys: A replication across age and method.

Conducted a replication across age and method of R. Milich and S. Landau's (see record 1984-22852-001) findings that the relationship between aggressive child behavior and social status was clarified by classification of kindergarten males into aggressive vs aggressive/withdrawn (AW) groups. Ss were 238 3rd–6th grade males, and a group-administered sociometric procedure was used for classification instead of the individual interview used by Milich and Landau. Consistent with the previous findings, AW Ss were both highly rejected and unpopular; although rejected, aggressive Ss had no popularity problems. (1 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Four-year longitudinal study of conduct disorder in boys: Patterns and predictors of persistence.

A prospective study of conduct disorder (CD) was conducted using 4 annual structured diagnostic interviews of 171 clinic-referred boys, their parents, and their teachers. Only about half of the 65 boys who met criteria for CD in Year 1 met criteria again during the next year, but 88% met criteria for CD again at least once during the next 3 years. For most boys with CD, the number of symptoms fluctuated above and below the diagnostic threshold from year to year but remained relatively high. Lower socioeconomic status, parental antisocial personality disorder (APD), and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder were significant correlates of CD in Year 1, but the interaction of parental APD and the boy's verbal intelligence predicted the persistence of CD symptoms over time (i.e., only boys without a parent with APD and with above-average verbal intelligence clearly improved). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Waxing and waning in concert: Dynamic comorbidity of conduct disorder with other disruptive and emotional problems over 17 years among clinic-referred boys.

Six waves of structured diagnostic assessments were conducted of 168 clinic-referred 7- to 12-year-olds, over 7 years. Wave-to-wave changes in the number of conduct disorder (CD) behaviors were paralleled by correlated changes in the numbers of symptoms of oppositional defiant disorder (ODD), attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), depression, and anxiety. In addition, CD in Wave 1 predicted levels of ODD, ADHD, depression, and anxiety in later waves when initial levels of those symptoms were controlled, but only ODD in Wave I predicted CD in later waves when initial CD levels were controlled. These findings indicate a striking degree of dynamic comorbidity between CD and other types of psychopathology and provide an initial empirical framework for needed developmental models of comorbidity. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Maternal smoking during pregnancy and the risk of conduct disorder in boys

(BACKGROUND): We studied the clinical efficacy of transurethral microwave thermotherapy (TUMT) using Endotherm UMW system (OLYMPUS). (METHODS): TUMT was performed in 28 patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). Three patients of them were catheterized because of urinary retention. The treatment was performed in a single session for an hour. The urethral surface temperature was set at 39 degrees C, and the coolant flow of the urethral applicator (21 Fr balloon catheter) was set at 30 ml/min, to heat up the broad area of the prostate up to 45 degrees C. The clinical efficacy was evaluated by analyzing subjective responses, using the International Prostate Symptom Score (I-PSS) scale (S) and QOL score (L), and objective responses, using peak urinary flow rate (Qmax), average flow rate (Qave), residual urine volume and prostate volume following the treatment. (RESULTS): At 24 weeks after the treatment, significant improvement were observed in S score (41%), L score (37%), Qmax (53%) and Qave (62%). Although there was no significant decrease in residual urine and prostate volume. The three patients, with a catheter indwelled because of urinary retention, were all free of the catheter within 4 weeks after the treatment. During and after the treatment, no severe adverse effects, including transient urinary retention needed for indwelling a catheter, was detected. (CONCLUSION): A single session of TUMT by Endotherm UMW considered to be safe and useful for symptomatic BPH patients, even who are not indicated for transurethral resection of the prostate (TUR-P) because of underlying disorders.     

Judgments of educators and child-care personnel about appropriate treatment for mentally retarded or normal, overactive or withdrawn, boys

Special educators and child-care personnel ranked the appropriateness of various psychological treatments for a boy described either as mentally retarded or of normal intelligence and whose behavior was described either as withdrawn or overactive. The predicted IQ level by behavior interaction was found only for drug treatment, which was ranked as relatively more appropriate for the retarded overactive child (p less than .05). Drug treatment and behavior modification were perceived as more appropriate for the overactive child (p less than .01, .05). Play therapy, family therapy, and no treatment were deemed more appropriate for the withdrawn child (p less than .05). Educators favored behavior modification and school consultation more than did child-care personnel (p less than .05).     

The contribution of parental discipline, parental monitoring, and school risk to early-onset conduct problems in African American boys and girls.

The association of parental discipline and monitoring with the early conduct problems of 123 boys and girls was assessed in a highly disadvantaged, African American sample. Prospective analyses indicated that, after earlier conduct problems were controlled for, coercive parent discipline and poor parental monitoring at age 4? were independent, reliable predictors of age 6 conduct problems for both boys and girls. The association of parental monitoring with later child conduct problems was mediated, in part, by parents' choice of higher risk schools for their children's kindergarten education. The association of family income with child conduct problems was mediated by parental discipline and monitoring. These models are consistent with previous research on older, European American, more advantaged, male samples, which supports the generality of the association of family processes with child conduct problems across child gender, age, and ethnicity. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)