Acta paedopsychiatrica最新文献

As part of a prospective study on the neuropsychiatric development of children born at varying degrees of organic and psychosocial risk, the effect of marital discord on the cognitive and social-emotional development of 315 first-born children into two parent households was investigated. Both the children and the quality of the parental relationship were evaluated when the children were 3 months and 2 years of age. The findings show that marital discord at 3 months does not affect child performance at 3 months, or at 24 months. Marital discord at 2 years does affect the emotional well-being of the 2 year olds, i.e. it is accompanied by a significant rise in psychopathological symptoms. When the effect of the stability of marital strife from the first assessment to the second was studied, a significant increase of behaviour problems and decrease in cognitive performance was found in the group of children whose parents' marital situation had deteriorated and failed in the meantime but surprisingly not in the group with chronic discordant relationships. Conversely, poor child performance and emotional adjustment improved with a positive change in the parental relationships. Analysis shows that negative marital change goes hand in hand with a decrease in parenting skills which affect children more adversely than their counterparts whose parents had a history of marriage and child-rearing problems. Further study of the course of marital relationships and child development at the next research waves (4.5 and 8 years) will show which results are of long-term versus short-term relevance.

The immediate effects of relaxation therapy (RT) were assessed in 40 hospitalized children and adolescents with diagnoses of adjustment disorder and depression. These effects were assessed using a within subjects pre-test/post-test design and by comparison with a control group of 20 depressed and adjustment disorder patients who watched a 1-h relaxing videotape. The 1-h RT class consisted of yoga exercise, a brief massage and progressive muscle relaxation. Decreases were noted in both self-reported anxiety and in anxious behavior and fidgeting as well as increases in positive affect in the RT but not the video group. In addition, adjustment disorder patients and a third of the depressed patients showed decreases in cortisol levels following RT, while no changes were noted in the video group. Thus, both diagnostic groups appeared to benefit from the RT class.

A group of children under 16 years of age who were admitted to hospital after episodes of deliberate self-poisoning, were followed up after one year. Ninety of the original sample of 100 were traced, and interviewed. Almost half of the subjects were improved after one year but the remaining children continued disturbed. Improvement was most marked in relation to "school problems" and "running away from home". There was significant improvement for some children in their family relationships. Ten per cent of children had been involved in further self-poisoning during the follow-up period. Extended follow-up some seven years later traced 41 of the original subjects. The repetition rate for self-poisoning was 20% although the majority of these episode occurred within a year of the original self-poisoning. Overall, the situation of subjects was judged as improved by them and their families although significant psycho-social difficulties remained for some.

During the last three decades the psychological consequences of precocious puberty have received considerable attention. The nature and shortcomings of relevant studies are described. It is emphasized that specialized counselling and guidance of families with children who have to cope with precocious puberty is important, since it often contributes to an appropriate behaviour adjustment without the development of psychiatric symptomatology. Guidelines for medical service and psychological management are provided.

Various savant abilities, mostly those in intellectual fields, found in autistic people, namely in music, memory, mathematics, specific knowledge and drawing, are presented. Their social importance is discussed. As an interpretation three hypotheses are offered. In autistic people perception and storing of perceived impulses function differently from in normal people (comparable to those of eidetics). The memory process and the storing function abnormally. Outstanding abilities are reinforced unilaterally by the environment and are produced as a kind of avoidance material, because many usual abilities cannot be performed.

The hypothesized connection between adaptive style, specifically repressive adaptation, and the family environments of adolescent clinical samples was investigated. Adolescent patients (n = 221) were studied, who were then divided into four groups matched for sex, age, and socioeconomic status (mean age = 15.7 years, SD 2; sex = 14% boys, 86% girls; SES = 2.4). Grouping was based on the Marlowe Crowne Social Desirability Scale and Spielberger's Trait Anxiety Inventory Scores [repressors (n = 43), impression managers (n = 54), high anxious (n = 55) and low anxious (n = 69)]. Results by MANOVA, Scheffe and discriminate function analysis confirmed our hypothesis. Repressors had distinct family environments as measured by the Family Environment Scale (p = 0.0001). Families were characterized by high levels of cohesion, expressiveness, independence, and organization, displaying correspondingly low levels of achievement orientation, conflict, control and incongruence. Repression may be an effort to adapt to an idealized family environment.

The aim of this article is to present the results from a point-prevalence study of symptoms and items of behaviour among children and adolescents in the western part of Norway. Empirical manifestations of personality traits and psychopathology in the ordinary population are factor-analysed. The prevalences in different types of local communities are calculated, and the variations are discussed using the concept of socialization, especially development and internalization of values, norms and behaviour in cultures with different rates of change.

The analysis of 11 home movies taken by parents before the recognition of autistic or atypical disorders of their own child has confirmed the major value of this method for describing early pathological signs. Symptomatology analysis has revealed anomalies of eye contact, a deficiency and variability of emotional expression, a defect of attention and initiation of communication, as well as motor abnormalities. The comparison of the frequency of abnormal behaviour, assessed with a rating scale among three groups of children (autistic, pervasive developmental disorders and normal) revealed behavioural differences as a function of early age and diagnosis, which concern not only social and communicative behaviours, but those of emotion and attention as well. The limits and interest of this methodological approach are discussed and the possibilities of subsequently using these documents in a more complete method, such as blind examination and scoring by uninformed investigators, are suggested.