bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Antisocial, Angry, and Unsympathetic: “Hard‐to‐manage” Preschoolers' Peer Problems and Possible Cognitive Influences
Authors: Hughes Claire , White Adele , Sharpen Joanna , Dunn Judy
Published: August 2003

This study is the first to provide direct observations of dyadic interactions with friends for preschool‐aged disruptive children. Forty preschoolers (mean age 52 months) rated by parents as “hard to manage” on Goodman's (1997) Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ), as well as 40 control children (matched for age, gender, school, and ethnic background) were filmed for 20 minutes on two occasions playing with a teacher‐nominated best friend. The videos were transcribed and coded for antisocial behaviour, displays of negative emotion, and empathic/prosocial responses to friend's distress. Individual differences in social behaviour were considered in relation to false‐belief performance, affective perspective taking, and executive function skills (planning and inhibitory control). Compared with controls, the hard‐to‐manage group showed significantly higher rates of both antisocial behaviour and displays of negative emotion, as well as significantly lower rates of emphatic/prosocial responses. Across both groups combined, frequencies of angry and antisocial behaviours were related to poor executive control. Mental‐state understanding was not significantly correlated with antisocial behaviour, emotion display, or empathy, suggesting that the interpersonal problems of young disruptive children owe more to failure of behavioural regulation than to problems in social understanding per se. However, given the relatively low power of the study, these findings require replication with a larger sample.
Childhood Peer Relationship Problems and Later Risks of Educational Under‐achievement and Unemployment
Authors: Woodward Lianne J. , Fergusson David M.
Published: August 2003

This paper examines relations between the extent of children's peer relationship problems at age 9 and their later risks of educational under‐achievement and unemployment by the age of 18 years. Results showed that children with high rates of early peer relationship problems were at increased risk of under‐achievement and unemployment when compared with children with low rates of early peer relationship problems. These elevated educational and occupational risks were explained by two processes. First, associations between early peer difficulties and later disadvantage were in part noncausal, and arose because of the personal characteristics (IQ and attentional problems) and social backgrounds (socioeconomic adversity, exposure to parental change, and punitive parent‐child interaction) of children with early peer problems. Second, problematic peer relations during childhood appeared to place young people at increased risk of a range of adolescent interpersonal and school‐related difficulties, including weaker peer attachments, interpersonal problems with teachers, school truancy, suspension, and early school leaving. In turn, these experiences and behaviours served to reduce the educational and employment opportunities of children with early peer problems. Results highlight the importance of childhood peer relationships for academic and occupational success.
Precursors of Literacy Delay among Children at Genetic Risk of Dyslexia
Authors: Gallagher Alison , Frith Uta , Snowling Margaret J.
Published: August 2003

This paper reports the literacy skills of 63 children selected as being at genetic risk of dyslexia compared with 34 children from families reporting no history of reading impairment. Fifty‐seven per cent of the at‐risk group were delayed in literacy development at 6 years compared with only 12% of controls. The “unimpaired” at‐risk group were not statistically different from controls on most cognitive and language measures at 45 months, whereas the literacy‐delayed group showed significantly slower speech and language development, although they did not differ from controls in nonverbal ability. Letter knowledge at 45 months was the strongest predictor of literacy level at 6 years. In addition, early speech and language skills predicted individual differences in literacy outcome and genetic risk accounted for unique variance over and above these other factors. The results are discussed in terms of an interactive developmental model in which semantic and phonological skills support early reading acquisition.
Social and Emotional Adjustment in Children Affected with Gilles de la Tourette's Syndrome: Associations with ADHD and Family Functioning
Authors: Carter Alice S. , O'Donnell Deborah A. , Schultz Robert T. , Scahill Lawrence , Leckman James F. , Pauls David L.
Published: August 2003

This study examined social‐emotional functioning in children with Gilles de la Tourette's syndrome (TS) alone and children with TS and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). In addition, the contribution of family functioning to social competence was examined. Children with a clinical diagnosis of TS were recruited from the Yale Child Study Center TS specialty clinic. Unaffected control children were recruited through newspaper advertisements and announcements within the university and at area schools. The final sample consisted of 72 children (45 boys and 27 girls) between the ages of 8 and 14. Sixteen children met DMS‐III‐R criteria for TS, 33 children met criteria for TS and ADHD, and 23 children had no psychiatric diagnoses. Children with TS and ADHD evidenced more externalizing and internalizing behavior problems and poorer social adaptation than children with TS only or unaffected controls. Children with TS only were not significantly different from unaffected controls on most measures of externalizing behaviors and social adaptation but did exhibit more internalizing symptoms. Tic symptom severity was not associated with social, behavioral, or emotional functioning among children with TS, even after stratifying by medication status. However, ADHD diagnosis, obsessional symptom severity, and family functioning were significantly associated with social and emotional adjustment among TS children. Moreover, family functioning was associated with social and emotional adjustment even after controlling for TS and ADHD diagnostic status. These findings demonstrate that much of the social and behavioral dysfunction in children with TS is ADHD‐specific and children with TS alone have a very different social‐emotional profile than do those with TS plus ADHD. Finally, social‐emotional adjustment in children with TS is best understood within the family context.
Stimulation Seeking and Hyperactivity in Children with ADHD
Authors: Antrop Inge , Roeyers Herbert , Oost Paulette Van , Buysse Ann
Published: August 2003

Thirty hyperactive and 30 non‐hyperactive children were confronted with a delay, consisting of a waiting situation of 15 minutes, either with or without extra stimulation provided by the presentation of a videotape. The behaviour of the child during the waiting period was videotaped and later coded by two naive observers. In line with theories that emphasise the stimulation‐seeking function of hyperactive behaviours, such as the optimal stimulation account and the delay aversion theory, a group by stimulation effect was hypothesised. For two categories of activity this was found, with ADHD children displaying more activity than non‐ADHD children in the no‐stimulation but not in the stimulation condition. These data provide support for the stimulation‐seeking function of certain features of ADHD hyperactivity.
Verbal Short‐term Memory Deficits in Down Syndrome: A Consequence of Problems in Rehearsal?
Authors: Jarrold Christopher , Baddeley Alan D. , Hewes Alexa K.
Published: August 2003

Individuals with Down syndrome suffer from relatively poor verbal short‐term memory. Previous explanations of this deficit have been framed in terms of inefficient or absent rehearsal of verbal material in Down syndrome within the phonological loop component of Baddeley and Hitch's (1974) working memory model. Two experiments are presented which test this explanation by looking for the markers of rehearsal in children with Down syndrome and verbal mental age matched controls. Both experiments confirm that individuals with Down syndrome show poorer verbal short‐term memory performance than controls. However, they rule out rehearsal as an explanation of these deficits because the evidence suggests that neither individuals with Down syndrome nor matched controls are engaging in spontaneous subvocal rehearsal. Other explanations of poor verbal short‐term memory performance in Down syndrome, in terms of impairments both within and outside of the phonological loop system, are discussed. Practical implications for intervention strategies aimed at improving verbal short‐term memory skills in Down syndrome are also outlined.
Latina Mothers’ Attributions, Emotions, and Reactions to the Problem Behaviors of their Children with Developmental Disabilities
Authors: Chavira Víctor , López Steven R. , Blacher Jan , Shapiro Johanna
Published: August 2003

We examined the applicability of attribution theory to mothers’ perceptions and reactions to their child's problem behavior. Participants were 149 Latina mothers of children with developmental disabilities who were interviewed regarding specific incidents in which their child exhibited a behavior problem. The findings indicate that most mothers viewed their child as not being responsible for the behavior problem. Furthermore, as predicted by attribution theory, mothers who ascribed relatively high responsibility to the child were significantly more likely to report negative emotions (anger and frustration) and aggressive/harsh behavioral reactions than mothers who ascribed low responsibility. Also, mothers were more likely to ascribe high responsibility to the child when the problem was characterized as a behavioral excess than as a behavioral deficit. The results provide support for the applicability of an attributional framework and may have important implications for helping parents in addressing the problem behaviors of their children with developmental disabilities.
Behavioral and Emotional Problems in Chinese Children: Teacher Reports for Ages 6 to 11
Authors: Liu Xianchen , Kurita Hiroshi , Guo Chuanqin , Tachimori Hisateru , Ze Jing , Okawa Masako
Published: August 2003

This study examined the applicability of the Chinese Version of Teacher's Report Form (TRF‐CV) and estimated the prevalence of behavioral problems in a general population sample of 2936 children aged 6 through 11 years in the Shandong Province of China. Teachers completed the TRF‐CV and the Conners Hyperkinesis Index (CHI). The TRF‐CV total scale showed satisfactory 2‐week test–retest reliability (r= .83) and internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha = .94). The TRF‐CV Total Problems, Attention Problems, Delinquent Behavior, and Aggressive Behavior had acceptable concurrent validity with the CHI (mean r= .62). With the TRF‐CV Total Problems score of 26 as a cutoff, an overall correct classification rate of 90% for clinical sample and nonreferral required children was obtained. Exploratory factor analysis yielded six syndromes: Aggressive/Delinquent Behavior, Withdrawn/Depressed, Somatic Complaints, Attention Problems, Social Problems, and Thought Problems, with significant correlations with corresponding American cross‐informant syndromes (mean r= .84). The overall prevalence rate of behavioral problems was 15.5%(95% CI = 14.2−16.8%), with a boy‐to‐girl ratio of 2.0:1(χ2= 59.70, p < .001). Younger boys exhibited more externalizing problems. These findings indicate that the TRF‐CV is applicable for Chinese children, and the prevalence of behavioral problems shown by it among Chinese children seems comparable to that found in other countries. Although most of the American syndromes were well replicated, the differences in the present subjects, when submitted to principal components analysis, from American samples from whom the original syndromes were derived, could have prevented the study from replicating distinctions between aggressive vs. delinquent and depressed vs. withdrawn syndromes.
Bilingualism, School Achievement, and Mental Wellbeing: A Follow‐up Study of Return Migrant Children
Authors: Vuorenkoski Lauri , Kuure Olli , Moilanen Irma , Penninkilampi Varpu , Myhrman Antero
Published: August 2003

In the first phase of this follow‐up study we investigated how the use of more than one language affects mental wellbeing and school achievement among 320 school‐aged Finnish‐Swedish re‐migrant children. Now, in the second phase, we screened the same series of children 6 years after migration for psychiatric and psychosomatic symptoms. Out of five groups distinguished in terms of patterns of language use, two had fared well and three showed evident vulnerability. Both successful groups were marked by consistent use of the two languages, Finnish and Swedish, whereas the risk groups were characterised by mixed use of languages before re‐migration or substantial language shift after re‐migration.
Practitioner Review: The Assessment and Treatment of Post‐traumatic Stress Disorder in Children and Adolescents
Authors: Perrin Sean , Smith Patrick , Yule William
Published: August 2003

Post‐traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a syndrome defined by the intrusive re‐ experiencing of a trauma, avoidance of traumatic reminders, and persistent physiological arousal. PTSD is associated with high levels of comorbidity and may increase the risk for additional disorders over time. While controversies remain regarding the applicability of the PTSD criteria to very young children, it has proved to be a useful framework for guiding assessment and treatment research with older children and adolescents. This article presents an overview of the literature on the clinical characteristics, assessment, and treatment of PTSD in children and adolescents.
School and Neuropsychological Performance of Evacuated Children in Kyiv 11 Years after the Chornobyl Disaster
Authors: Litcher Leighann , Bromet Evelyn J. , Carlson Gabrielle , Squires Nancy , Goldgaber Dmitry , Panina Natalia , Golovakha Evgenii , Gluzman Semyon
Published: August 2003

This paper examines the cognitive and neuropsychological functioning of children who were in utero to age 15 months at the time of the Chornobyl disaster and were evacuated to Kyiv from the 30‐kilometer zone surrounding the plant. Specifically, we compared 300 evacuee children at ages 10–12 with 300 non‐evacuee Kyiv classmates on objective and subjective measures of attention, memory, and school performance. The evacuee children were not significantly different from their classmates on the objective measures (grades; Symbolic Relations subtest of the Detroit Test; forms 1 and 2 of the Visual Search and Attention Test; Benton Form A; Trails A; Underline the Words Test) or on most of the subjective measures (the attention subscale of the Child Behavior Checklist completed by mothers; the attention items of the Iowa Conners Teacher's Rating Scale; mother and child perceptions of school performance). The one exception was that 31.3% of evacuee mothers compared to 7.4 %of classmate mothers indicated that their child had a memory problem. However, this subjective measure of memory problems was not significantly related to neuropsychological or school performance. No significant differences were found in comparisons of evacuees and classmates who were in utero at the time of the explosion, children from Pripyat vs. other villages in the 30‐kilometer zone, and children manifesting greater generalized anxiety. For both groups, children with greater Chornobyl‐focused anxiety performed significantly worse than children with less Chornobyl‐focused anxiety on measures of attention. The results thus fail to confirm two previous reports that relatively more children from areas contaminated by radiation had cognitive deficits compared to controls. Possible reasons for the differences in findings among the studies are discussed.
The Mental Health of the Peers of Suicide Completers and Attempters
Authors: Ho Ting‐pong , Leung Patrick Wing‐leung , Hung Se‐fong , Lee Chi‐chiu , Tang Chun‐pan
Published: August 2003

This study examined the prevalence and risk of psychiatric disturbances and suicidal behaviours among the peers of suicide attempters and completers. The subjects were selected from high schools with and without history of student suicides in the past 3 years. The psychiatric disturbances (as measured by the YSR and CBCL), suicidal behaviours, drug use, and a wide range of potential risk factors were measured. About a quarter of the peers of suicide completers and attempters were probable psychiatric cases and 15–21% of them reported suicidal acts. The increased risk of psychiatric disturbances and suicidal behaviours were still evident after controlling for age, sex, and potential risk factors. The presence of psychiatric disturbances could not wholly account for the increased odds of suicidal behaviours. Peers of suicide attempters carried a higher risk than peers of suicide completers. The close friends of suicide completers were particularly at risk of internalising problems, whereas the close friends of suicide attempters were at high risk of externalising problems. The peers of suicide completers and attempters represent a high‐risk group for psychiatric disturbances and suicidal behaviours. The specific association of different types of psychiatric disturbances in the peers of suicide completers and attempters suggested that different risk mechanisms might be in operation within these peer groups.
Social Functioning in Children with a Chronic Illness
Authors: Meijer Susan A. , Sinnema Gerben , Bijstra Jan O. , Mellenbergh Gideon J. , Wolters Wim H. G.
Published: August 2003

Behavioural, cognitive, and affective aspects of social functioning of 107 children with a chronic illness were studied. The aim of the study was twofold: (1) to describe peer interaction of children with a chronic illness in comparison with normative data of healthy children; (2) to examine whether peer interaction was related to the illness characteristics physical restrictions and pain. Peer interaction was assessed with measures of social activities (CBCL), parent‐reported social skills (CABS), child‐reported social skills (MESSY), social self‐esteem (SPPC), and social anxiety (SASK). Results showed no differences between diagnosis groups, suggesting that the social consequences of chronic illness are not diagnosis specific. Compared with healthy norms, chronically ill children reported less aggressive behaviour. The parent‐report measures suggested a similar trend. Children with chronic illness also tended to display more submissive behaviour than healthy norms, as perceived by their parents. With regard to illness characteristics, both physical restrictions and pain were associated with restricted social activities, but not with other measures of social peer interaction. Children who display submissive behaviour and children who are restricted in their social activities should receive extra attention because they are especially vulnerable for problems in their social development.
Multi‐method Psycho‐educational Intervention for Preschool Children with Disruptive Behavior: Preliminary Results at Post‐treatment
Authors: Barkley Russell A. , Shelton Terri L. , Crosswait Cheryl , Moorehouse Maureen , Fletcher Kenneth , Barrett Susan , Jenkins Lucy , Metevia Lori
Published: August 2003

Annual screenings of preschool children at kindergarten registration identified 158 children having high levels of aggressive, hyperactive, impulsive, and inattentive behavior. These “disruptive” children were randomly assigned to four treatment conditions lasting the kindergarten school year: no treatment, parent training only, full‐day treatment classroom only, and the combination of parent training with the classroom treatment. Results showed that parent training produced no significant treatment effects, probably owing largely to poor attendance. The classroom treatment produced improvement in multiple domains: parent ratings of adaptive behavior, teacher ratings of attention, aggression, self‐control, and social skills, as well as direct observations of externalizing behavior in the classroom. Neither treatment improved academic achievement skills or parent ratings of home behavior problems, nor were effects evident on any lab measures of attention, impulse control, or mother‐child interactions. It is concluded that when parent training is offered at school registration to parents of disruptive children identified through a brief school registration screening, it may not be a useful approach to treating the home and community behavioral problems of such children. The kindergarten classroom intervention was far more effective in reducing the perceived behavioral problems and impaired social skills of these children. Even so, most treatment effects were specific to the school environment and did not affect achievement skills. These findings must be viewed as tentative until follow‐up evaluations can be done to determine the long‐term outcomes of these interventions.
Cognitive and Familial Contributions to Conduct Disorder in Children
Authors: Toupin Jean , Déry Michèle , Pauzé Robert , Mercier Henri , Fortin Laurier
Published: August 2003

Although young children with conduct disorder (CD) are suspected of having verbal and executive function deficits, most studies that investigated this hypothesis did not control for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Furthermore, relatively little is known about the interaction between cognitive deficits and familial factors in explaining the onset and persistence of CD in children. The participants in this study were 57 children with CD and 35 controls aged 7 to 12 years. At 1‐year follow‐up, 41 of the participants with CD were reassessed. Children with CD were found to be significantly impaired in four of five executive function measures after ADHD symptoms and socioeconomic status (SES) were controlled. Executive function test performance, number of ADHD symptoms, and familial characteristics (SES, parental punishment) together correctly classified 90% of the participants. Only the number of ADHD symptoms was found to significantly improve prediction of CD 1 year later beyond that afforded by number of CD symptoms a year earlier. Findings indicate that children with CD and ADHD symptoms are especially at risk for persistent antisocial behaviour. Results also highlight the importance of treatment programs that cover both cognitive and familial aspects associated with CD.
Gender Self‐concept Profiles of Adolescents Suspended from High School
Authors: Hay Ian
Published: August 2003

The gender self‐concept profiles of 128 adolescents (107 males) whose persistent behaviour problems led to suspension from school were investigated. Establishing the students’ percentile ratings in the 11 subscales of the Self‐Description Questionnaire overcame previous methodological weaknesses. For boys and girls Physical Appearance, Opposite‐sex Relationships, and Honesty and Trustworthiness were in the average range, but Parent Relationships, General Self, and General School self‐concepts were low. Only girls were low for Same‐sex Relationships and Emotional Stability. The profiles suggest that boys’ antisocial behaviours are associated with striving for a masculine self‐image, but girls’ antisocial behaviours are associated with greater social marginalisation. The issues of multi‐ focused interventions, prosocial role models, the particular needs of girls, and the relationship between self‐control, self‐enhancement, and reputation enhancement theories are discussed.
Verbal Bias in Recognition of Facial Emotions in Children with Asperger Syndrome
Authors: Grossman James B. , Klin Ami , Carter Alice S. , Volkmar Fred R.
Published: August 2003

Thirteen children and adolescents with diagnoses of Asperger syndrome (AS) were matched with 13 nonautistic control children on chronological age and verbal IQ. They were tested on their ability to recognize simple facial emotions, as well as facial emotions paired with matching, mismatching, or irrelevant verbal labels. There were no differences between the groups at recognizing simple emotions but the Asperger group performed significantly worse than the control group at recognizing emotions when faces were paired with mismatching words (but not with matching or irrelevant words). The results suggest that there are qualitative differences from nonclinical populations in how children with AS process facial expressions. When presented with a more demanding affective processing task, individuals with AS showed a bias towards visual‐verbal over visual‐affective information (i.e., words over faces). Thus, children with AS may be utilizing compensatory strategies, such as verbal mediation, to process facial expressions of emotion.
Stability and Change of Attachment at 14, 24, and 58 Months of Age: Behavior, Representation, and Life Events
Authors: Bar‐Haim Yair , Sutton D. Barbara , Fox Nathan A. , Marvin Robert S.
Published: August 2003

Stability and change of attachment was examined longitudinally in a group of 48 children at 14, 24, and 58 months of age. Whereas attachment classifications showed stability between 14 and 24 months, lack of stability was the case between either 14 or 24 months and 58 months. Mothers of children who did not exhibit stability of attachment reported more negative and less positive life events. No correspondence was found between attachment classification at 14 or 24 months and mental representations at 58 months. However there was agreement between representational and behavioral measures of attachment at 58 months, where mental representations of attachment appeared to mirror and complement behavioral classification of the attachment relationship with the mother. Evidence for continuity of attachment from infancy to childhood internal representations was found only in a subgroup of children who showed stability of secure attachment between infancy and 58 months of age. These children exhibited greater Emotional Openness in the SAT at 4.5 years. Findings are discussed in terms of different positions in attachment theory and research regarding the stability and change of attachment relationships.
Knowledge of Display Rules in Prelingually Deaf and Hearing Children
Authors: Hosie J. A. , Russell P. A. , Gray C. D. , Scott C. , Hunter N. , Banks J. S. , Macaulay M. C.
Published: August 2003

Deaf children of elementary and secondary school age participated in a study designed to examine their understanding of display rules, the principles governing the expression and concealment of emotion in social situations. The results showed that deaf children's knowledge of display rules, as measured by their reported concealment of emotion, was comparable to that of hearing children of the same age. However, deaf children were less likely to report that they would conceal happiness and anger. They were also less likely to produce reasons for concealing emotion and a smaller proportion of their reasons were prosocial, that is, relating to the feelings of others. The results suggest that the understanding of display rules (which function to protect the feelings of other people) may develop more gradually in deaf children raised in a spoken language environment than it does in hearing children.
Annotation: Developing Child Mental Health Services in Developing Countries
Authors: Rahman Atif , Mubbashar Malik , Harrington Richard , Gater Richard
Published: August 2003

There is an urgent need to pay attention to the mental health of children in developing countries. Professionals confronted with this task face a number of challenges. Services have to be planned in a rational way, keeping in mind the needs of local populations. These needs will often exceed the available resources, and it will be necessary to set priorities. Feasible and cost‐effective models of service delivery then have to be developed to meet these needs. This annotation provides a framework within which mental health needs of children can be assessed, priorities established, and services organised. This is illustrated with examples of relevant activities undertaken in low‐income developing countries over the last two decades.
Autism and Developmental Receptive Language Disorder—a Follow‐up Comparison in Early Adult Life. II: Social, Behavioural, and Psychiatric Outcomes
Authors: Howlin Patricia , Mawhood Lynn , Rutter Michael
Published: August 2003

This paper focuses on general social functioning in two groups of young men, one with autism and one with developmental receptive language disorders, who were first assessed at the ages of 7–8 years. At that time, although matched for nonverbal IQ (mean 92–93) and expressive language, the Language group showed significantly fewer social and behavioural problems. At follow‐up, when aged on average, 23 to 24 years, the Autism group continued to show significantly more impairments in terms of stereotyped behaviour patterns, social relationships, jobs, and independence. However, problems in all these areas were also common in the Language group. Many still lived with their parents, few had close friends or permanent jobs, and ratings of social interaction indicated abnormalities in a number of different areas. On a composite measure of social competence only 10% of the Language group was assessed as having severe social difficulties compared to 74% of the Autism group. Nevertheless, 65% were rated as having moderate social problems and only 25% were rated as being of near/normal social functioning. Two individuals in the Language group, but none in the Autism group, had also developed a florid paranoid psychosis in late adolescence.

As in the follow‐up of cognitive and linguistic functioning (see Mawhood et al., 2000, this volume, pp. 547–559), discriminant function analysis, which had clearly distinguished between the groups as children, now showed much greater overlap between them. Regression analysis indicated that although early language ability appeared to be related to outcome in the Autism group, there was little association between any measures of childhood functioning and prognosis in the Language group. Theoretically, these findings have implications for our understanding of the nature of autism and other pervasive language disorders, and of the relationship between them. Practically, they demonstrate the very persistent problems experienced by individuals with developmental language disorders, and their need for much greater help and support than is presently available.
The Familial Aggregation of the Lesser Variant in Biological and Nonbiological Relatives of PDD Probands: a Family History Study
Authors: Szatmari Peter , MacLean Joanna E. , Jones Marshall B. , Bryson Susan E. , Zwaigenbaum Lonnie , Bartolucci Giampiero , Mahoney William J. , Tuff Larry
Published: August 2003

Objective: To determine the risk of the lesser variant (or PDD‐like traits) in the biological and nonbiological second‐ and third‐degree relatives of PDD probands using a screening questionnaire and to investigate the extent to which the risk of the lesser variant differs according to various characteristics of the proband.Method: The sample consists of a series of 34 nuclear families with 2 affected PDD children (multiplex, MPX), 44 families with a single PDD child (simplex, SPX), and 14 families who adopted a PDD child. Data on characteristics of the lesser variant in 1362 biological and 337 nonbiological second‐ and third‐degree relatives were collected from parents by telephone interview and from several maternal and paternal relatives by questionnaire.Results: All components of the lesser variant were more common in biological relatives (BR) than nonbiological relatives (NBR), confirming the familial aggregation of the traits. Proband characteristics associated with an increased risk of the lesser variant in relatives were a higher level of functioning and coming from a MPX family.Conclusions: These findings on the familial aggregation of the lesser variant suggest that the genes for PDD also confer susceptibility to the lesser variant and that PDD may be a genetically heterogeneous disorder.
Phonological Awareness of Syllables, Rhymes, and Phonemes in Deaf Children
Authors: Sterne Abram , Goswami Usha
Published: August 2003

Phonological awareness is important for reading development in hearing children, in whom it develops at the three consecutive levels of the syllable, rhyme, and phoneme. Deaf children typically have literacy difficulties, and previous research has been equivocal about whether deaf children can develop phonological awareness. Three experiments are presented that investigate the phonological skills of deaf children (mean age 11 years) at the three linguistic levels of syllable, rhyme, and phoneme. The first experiment showed that deaf children's syllable awareness can be equivalent to that of chronological age‐matched hearing controls. In the second experiment, deaf children's ability to make rhyme judgements was above chance, but poorer than that of younger reading‐matched hearing controls. The third experiment showed that deaf children could phonologically recode nonsense words at a level above chance, suggesting that they could draw on phonemic skills in certain conditions. We conclude that deaf children can develop phonological awareness, but that their phonological skills lag those of hearing children and may develop in different ways. Differences between our tasks and those used in other studies are discussed.
Morphological Alteration of Temporal Lobe Gray Matter in Dyslexia: An MRI Study
Authors: Eliez Stephan , Rumsey Judith M. , Giedd Jay N. , Schmitt J. Eric , Patwardhan Anil J. , Reiss Allan L.
Published: August 2003

Functional imaging studies of developmental dyslexia have reported reduced task‐related neural activity in the temporal and inferior parietal cortices. To examine the possible contribution of subtle anatomic deviations to these reductions, volumes were measured for the major lobes of the brain, the subcortical nuclei, cerebellum, and lateral ventricles on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans from 16 right‐handed dyslexic men, ages 18 to 40, and 14 matched controls, most of whom had previously undergone PET imaging. A specific decrease in tissue volume was localized to the temporal lobes and was particularly prominent on the left (p < 01). An analysis of tissue composition revealed that this reduction was primarily attributable to decreased gray matter within the left temporal lobe (p < 002). Further segmentation of the temporal lobe showed that this reduction was not confined to the superior temporal gyrus, the primary location of primary auditory cortex. Reductions of temporal lobe gray matter may reflect a regional decrease in neuronal number or neuropil, which in turn may result in reading impairment.
Is Preschool Language Impairment a Risk Factor for Dyslexia in Adolescence?
Authors: Snowling Margaret , Bishop D. V. M. , Stothard Susan E.
Published: August 2003

The literacy skills of 56 school leavers from the Bishop and Edmundson (1987) cohort of preschoolers with specific language impairment (SLI) were assessed at 15 years. The SLI group performed worse on tests of reading, spelling, and reading comprehension than age‐matched controls and the literacy outcomes were particularly poor for those with Performance IQ less than 100. The rate of specific reading retardation in the SLI group had increased between the ages of 8½ and 15 years and there had been a substantial drop in reading accuracy, relative to age. However, over 35% had reading skills within the normal range and those who had had isolated impairments of expressive phonology had a particularly good outcome. Our findings highlight the limitations of discrepancy definitions of dyslexia that do not take account of the changing demands of reading over time. We argue that children's phonological difficulties place them at risk of literacy failure at the outset of reading and that later, impairments of other language skills compromise development to adult levels of fluency.
Social Phobia and the Persistence of Conduct Problems
Authors: Pine Daniel S. , Cohen Elizabeth , Cohen Patricia , Brook Judith S.
Published: August 2003

Recent epidemiological studies suggest that both social anxiety and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in childhood might predict levels of delinquent behavior in adolescence. The current study prospectively examines the influence of social phobia and ADHD symptom scale scores on the correlation in conduct disorder symptom scale scores over time. An epidemiologically selected sample of 776 young people living in Upstate New York received DSM‐based psychiatric assessments in 1983, 1985, and 1992 using structured interviews. Correlations among conduct disorder scales over time were examined as a function of social phobia and ADHD ratings. Individuals with low scores on social phobia scales or high scores on ADHD scales exhibited the highest correlation in conduct disorder symptom scales over time. There was also a suggestion that low scores on social phobia scales predicted later risk for conduct disorder. Low scores on social phobia symptom scales or high scores on ADHD scales predict stronger across‐time correlations in conduct disorder symptom scales. Various cognitive or biological factors might account for these moderating effects on conduct problems.
Extracting Meaning from Comorbidity: Genetic Analyses That Make Sense
Authors: Simonoff Emily
Published: August 2003

As behavioral genetic strategies have become part of the arsenal of research in developmental psychopathology, a wide variety of genetic analyses are being applied to child psychiatric data. Multivariate genetic techniques have been used to explore comorbidity among traits or disorders and the main analysis undertaken has been to examine whether comorbidity is due to shared genetic and/or environmental factors. However, this model ignores other possible causes of comorbidity, which are reviewed. In particular, genetic analyses of comorbidity have only infrequently considered the model of phenotypic causality (one disorder directly influencing another), which provides an important alternative with potentially different implications for intervention strategies. Data from a recently published article by Wamboldt, Schmitz, and Mrazek (1998) are used to illustrate the potential difficulties of distinguishing between models of shared genetic/environmental risk and phenotypic causality. Given that the sample sizes required to distinguish between these models are often large, and frequently greater than those of the datasets available, it is argued that researchers should select the models that they test based on other lines of evidence that these models are plausible. Where convincing evidence does not exist, researchers should explore alternative models and determine their power to discriminate between these models.
Annotation: Childhood Bereavement Following Parental Death
Authors: Dowdney Linda
Published: August 2003

Psychological outcomes in children who have experienced the death of a parent are heterogeneous. One child in five is likely to develop psychiatric disorder. In the year following bereavement, children commonly display grief, distress, and dysphoria. Nonspecific emotional and behavioural difficulties among children are often reported by surviving parents and the bereaved children themselves. The highest rates of reported difficulties are found in boys. This review identifies the moderating and mediating variables that lead to some children being more vulnerable to disturbance than others following parental death. Limitations and gaps in the recent bereavement literature are identified. Theoretical and methodological advances that are necessary for a coherent account of childhood bereavement are outlined.
Attributing Social Meaning to Ambiguous Visual Stimuli in Higher‐functioning Autism and Asperger Syndrome: The Social Attribution Task
Authors: Klin Ami
Published: August 2003

More able individuals with autism and Asperger syndrome (AS) have been shown to pass relatively high level theory of mind (ToM) tasks without displaying commensurate levels of social adaptation in naturalistic settings. This paper presents a social cognitive procedure—the Social Attribution Task (SAT)—that reduces factors thought to facilitate ToM task performance without facilitating real‐life social functioning. Sixty participants with autism (N= 20), AS (N= 20), and normally developing adolescents and adults (N= 20) with normative IQs were asked to provide narratives describing Heider and Simmel's (1944) silent cartoon animation in which geometric shapes enact a social plot. These narratives were coded in terms of the participants' abilities to attribute social meaning to the geometric cartoon. The SAT provides reliable and quantified scores on seven indices of social cognition. Results revealed marked deficits in both clinical groups across all indices. These deficits were not related to verbal IQ or level of metalinguistic skills. Individuals with autism and AS identified about a quarter of the social elements in the story, a third of their attributions were irrelevant to the social plot, and they used pertinent ToM terms very infrequently. They were also unable to derive psychologically based personality features from the shapes' movements. When provided with more explicit verbal information on the nature of the cartoon, individuals with AS improved their performance slightly more than those with autism, but not significantly so.
Voice Processing Abilities in Children with Autism, Children with Specific Language Impairments, and Young Typically Developing Children
Authors: Boucher Jill , Lewis Vicky , Collis Glyn M.
Published: August 2003

It is well established that people with autism have impaired face processing, but much less is known about voice processing in autism. Four experiments were therefore carried out to assess (1) familiar voice‐face and sound‐object matching; (2) familiar voice recognition; (3) unfamiliar voice discrimination; and (4) vocal affect naming and vocal‐facial affect matching. In Experiments 1 and 2 language‐matched children with specific language impairment (SLI) were the controls. In Experiments 3 and 4 language‐matched children with SLI and young mainstream children were the controls. The results were unexpected: the children with autism were not impaired relative to controls on Experiments 1, 2 and 3, and were superior to the children with SLI on both parts of Experiment 4, although impaired on affect matching relative to the mainstream children. These results are interpreted in terms of an unexpected impairment of voice processing in the children with SLI associated partly, but not wholly, with an impairment of cross‐modal processing. Performance on the experimental tasks was not associated with verbal or nonverbal ability in either of the clinical groups. The implications of these findings for understanding autism and SLI are discussed.
Dual Access to Semantics in Autism: Is Pictorial Access Superior to Verbal Access?
Authors: Kamio Yoko , Toichi Motomi
Published: August 2003

The main aim of the present study was to compare pictures and words with respect to access to semantic systems in autism using a semantic priming paradigm. A word completion task was conducted using both within‐modality (word‐word, WW) and cross‐modality (picture‐word, PW) conditions on a group of high‐functioning adolescents and adults with autism (N= 20) and a control group (N= 20) matched on chronological age, mental age, Verbal IQ and Performance IQ. Both groups showed semantic priming effects in both modality conditions, generating significantly more responses for related prime‐target pairs than for unrelated pairs. Although the control group performed similarly on both priming tasks, the autistic group performed significantly better on a PW task than on a WW task. These findings suggest the possible advantage of pictures over words in access to semantics in autism. The theoretical implications are discussed in terms of functional asymmetry between verbal and pictorial semantic operations that may be specific to autism.
On the “Specifics” of Specific Reading Disability and Specific Language Impairment
Authors: McArthur G. M. , Hogben J. H. , Edwards V. T. , Heath S. M. , Mengler E. D.
Published: August 2003

The reading and oral language scores of 110 children with a specific reading disability (SRD) and 102 children with a specific language impairment (SLI) indicated that approximately 53% of children with an SRD and children with an SLI could be equally classified as having an SRD or an SLI, 55% of children with an SRD have impaired oral language, and 51% of children with an SLI have a reading disability. Finding that a large percentage of children can be equally classified as SRD or SLI has repercussions for the criteria used to define an SRD, for conceptualising subgroups of learning disability, and for estimates of the incidence of SRD. Further, it highlights the need for future studies to assess both the reading and oral language abilities of SRD and SLI participants to determine how specifically impaired and homogeneous samples really are.
The Five Minute Speech Sample in Children with Asthma: Deconstructing the Construct of Expressed Emotion
Authors: Wamboldt Frederick S. , O' Connor Wamboldt , Wamboldt Marianne Z. , Gavin Leslie A. , Klinnert Mary D.
Published: August 2003

Objective: To use the Five Minute Speech Sample (FMSS) to assess Expressed Emotion (EE) in various samples of children with asthma in order to clarify (1) developmental and validity issues for the EE construct and (2) the use of the FMSS technique, specifically, in children with chronic medical illness.

Method: Data were collected on a sample of 84 adolescents with severe, chronic asthma who had failed outpatient management. In addition, a sample of 30 children with asthma, ages 6–9, were recruited from an outpatient pediatric clinic. A comparison sample of 15 children without any chronic illness, ages 6–9, were recruited by notices posted in the community. The primary caregiver of each child was assessed using the FMSS.

Results: FMSS interviews were reliability coded in all samples. Rates of high Criticism (FMSS CRIT), Emotional Overinvolvement (FMSS EOI), and EE were comparable to rates previously reported in child and adolescent samples. Although the validity for ratings of FMSS CRIT was well supported, the validity of FMSS EOI ratings and the overall EE construct were more problematic.

Conclusions: The FMSS is a useful and largely valid measure in children with asthma. Ratings of FMSS CRIT were found to have strong validity. There was little problem shifting the context of FMSS administration from chronic mental to chronic medical illness, but a variety of developmental considerations arose, especially regarding FMSS EOI ratings. Although we raise concerns about viewing EE as a valid construct, it may remain a useful predictive index.