bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Prevention of conduct disorder before and after school entry: Relating interventions to developmental findings
Authors: Reid John B. 
Published: October 2008

AbstractIn this paper, both longitudinal and treatment studies relevant to conduct disorder (CD) are reviewed, and a developmental approach to its prevention is presented. Outcome studies for the treatment of CD and antisocial behavior are first reviewed to demonstrate that, although none have been entirely successful, many interventions have powerful effects on various symptoms that comprise the disorder, highly predictive antecedents, and risk factors. Second, the development of CD and the potency and interrelationship among antecedent and mediating variables is traced through the preschool and early elementary school years. Third, an attempt is made to synthesize the developmental and treatment research findings to suggest possible integrations of interventions that are promising for future preventive trials in the preschool and elementary school periods. It is concluded that, whereas before the entry to school preventive interventions targeted entirely in the family setting may prove successful, after the transition to school multisetting interventions will be essential. Finally, three examples of new and multisetting prevention trials are briefly described.
Psychopathology and adaptive functioning among extremely low birthweight children at eight years of age
Authors: Szatmari Peter , Saigal Saroj , Rosenbaum Peter , Campbell Dugal 
Published: October 2008

AbstractThe objective of this study was to explore the relationship among extremely low birthweight (ELBW), psychopathology, and impairments in adaptive functioning in a regional cohort of 7–8-year-old children with a birthweight of 501–1,000 g compared to a sample of full-term controls. One-hundred twenty-nine of 143 (90%) ELBW survivors and 145 controls, born between 1977 and 1981, agreed to participate in the study. The children were assessed at a mean, unadjusted age of 7.8 years. Results showed that parents of ELBW children were more likely than parents of controls to report specifically problems of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). There were few differences between the groups in terms of impairments in adaptive functioning. Further analyses showed that the relationship between ELBW and ADHD could not be explained by confounding psychosocial risk factors, nor were ELBW children from disadvantaged environments more likely to have ADHD problems than ELBW children from nondisadvantaged environments. The relationships between ELBW and ADHD problems appeared to be associated with the lower IQ of the ELBW subjects.
Preschool children at social risk: Chronicity and timing of maternal depressive symptoms and child behavior problems at school and at home
Authors: Alpern Lisbeth , Lyons-Ruth Karlen 
Published: October 2008

AbstractThe current study investigated the relationship between previous, recent, or chronic maternal depressive symptoms and subtypes of child behavior problems rated by teachers and mothers among 64 low-income children aged 4–6 years. Sixty-nine percent of mothers with high depressive symptom levels at the preschool assessment had also reported high symptom levels during the child's infancy. Children whose mothers reported depressive symptoms at both ages exhibited significantly elevated rates of hostile behavior problems in the classroom and at home compared to children of never-depressed mothers. Children of mothers who were previously but not currently depressed showed significantly more anxious and withdrawn behavior at school and at home, while children of recently depressed mothers were more hyperactive and demanding. Child cognitive scores and father absence were also related to behavior problems, but these variables did not mediate the independent effects of chronicity and timing of maternal depressive symptoms on the types of child symptoms displayed.
Focused and social attention of autistic children in interactions with familiar and unfamiliar adults: A comparison of autistic, mentally retarded, and normal children
Authors: Kasari Connie , Sigman Marian , Yirmiya Nurit 
Published: October 2008

AbstractThis study involved observations of children's behaviors in interactive situations with both familiar and unfamiliar partners. The greatest differences between the autistic and nonautistic children were in an unstructured situation where caregivers did not initiate interactions. In this situation, autistic children rarely looked to the partner or initiated social bids to the partner. They also were less focused on the toys available for play compared to nonautistic children. However, the autistic children were similar in their interactive responses to the partner in an adult-initiated social situation. Individual differences confirmed that more able autistic children in terms of cognitive and language abilities also engaged in greater social and communicative behavior with the partner. These findings suggest that the ways in which social deficits are manifested by autistic children are variable with respect to the context in which they are measured.
Are self-reported depressive symptoms in first-grade children developmentally transient phenomena? A further look
Authors: Ialongo Nick , Edelsohn Gail , Werthamer-Larsson Lisa , Crockett Lisa , Kellam Sheppard 
Published: October 2008

AbstractIn light of putative developmental constraints, some have argued that prior to the middle to late elementary school years children's reports of depressive symptoms represent nothing more than transient developmental phenomena. In an earlier study of an epidemiologically defined sample of first-grade children, self-reported depressive symptoms proved relatively stable and significantly related to adaptive functioning. In the present study, we follow that cohort of first graders longitudinally and assess the prognostic value of self-reports of depressive symptoms in first grade with respect to depressive symptoms and adaptive functioning in the late elementary school years. We also assess whether or not children's reports of depressive symptoms demonstrate greater stability and are more highly associated with adaptive functioning in the middle to late elementary school years. First-grade depressive symptoms were found to have significant prognostic value in terms of levels of depressive symptoms and adaptive functioning in fifth grade, with the strength of prediction varying by gender in the former. Although there was a moderate increase in short-term stability from first to fifth grade, it remained consistently strong across first, fourth, and fifth grades. The magnitude of the relationship between depressive symptoms and adaptive functioning also remained consistent over time. These findings on stability, caseness, and prognostic power attest to the significance of children's self-reports of depressive symptoms in the early as well as the middle to late elementary school years.
Perceptual perspective-taking and seriation abilities in high-functioning children with autism
Authors: Yirmiya Nurit , Sigman Marian , Zacks Daphna 
Published: October 2008

AbstractThis study compared a group of 18 high-functioning children with autism (9–16 years of age) and a group of 14 normally developing children (9–14 years of age) on their abilities to take the perceptual perspective of someone else and to seriate objects based on length, size, weight, and color. Results indicated that the high-functioning children with autism were as able as the normally developing children to seriate the various objects. In contrast, significant differences emerged on the perceptual perspective-taking tasks with the high-functioning children with autism as a group performing less well than the normally developing children. However, the majority of autistic children showed good perspective-taking ability. The implications of these results to our understanding of autism are discussed.
Escalation and reinforcement in mother-child conflict: Social processes associated with the development of physical aggression
Authors: Snyder James , Edwards Patty , McGraw Kate , Kilgore Kim , Holton Angie 
Published: October 2008

AbstractThe objective of this study was to test a social interactional model of physical aggression. Specifically, this model hypothesizes that the performance of physical aggression has its roots in socialization settings that are characterized by high densities of aversive stimuli and that provide frequent reinforcement for escalation to high intensity aversive behavior during social conflict. Social conflicts were observed during 10 hr of interaction of each of 20 mothers and their 5-year-old sons; half of the sons were selected based on evidence of frequent aggression in home and school settings. Simple descriptive and sequential analyses indicated that aggressive relative to nonaggressive dyad members were more likely to engage in conflict, engaged in longer conflicts, were more likely to escalate to higher levels of aversiveness, and were less likely to de-escalate the intensity of conflict. In aggressive and nonaggressive dyads, the cessation of conflict contingent on the escalation of one dyad member was reliably associated with an increased likelihood of escalation and with escalation to higher levels of aversiveness by that member in the subsequent conflict. However, escalation occurred more frequently and was more likely to result in cessation of conflicts in aggressive than nonaggressive dyads.
Earned- and continuous-security in adult attachment: Relation to depressive symptomatology and parenting style
Authors: Pearson Jane L. , Cohn Deborah A. , Cowan Philip A. , Cowan Carolyn Pape 
Published: October 2008

AbstractThe secure working model classification of adult attachment, as derived from Main and Goldwyn's (in press) Adult Attachment Interview scoring system, was considered in terms of earned-security and continuous-security. Earned-security was a classification given to adults who described difficult, early relationships with parents, but who also had current secure working models as indicated by high coherency scores; continuous-security referred to a classification in which individuals described secure early attachment relationship with parents and current secure working models. Working models of attachment were classified as earned-secure, continuous-secure, or insecure in a sample of 40 parents of preschool children. Comparisons among the classifications were conducted on a measure of depressive symptoms and two sets of ratings of observed parenting styles. Adults with earned-secure classifications had comparable depressive symptomatology to insecures, with 30% of the insecures, 40% of the earned-secures, and only 10% of the continuous-secures having scores exceeding the clinical cut-off. The rate of depressive symptomatology in the earned-secure group suggests that reconstructions of past difficulties may remain emotional liabilities despite a current secure working model. With regard to parenting styles with their preschoolers, the behavior of earned-secure parents was comparable to that of the continuous-secures. This refinement in conceptualizing secure working models suggests ways for understanding variation in pathways to competent parenting as well as a possible perspective on how adults' adverse early experiences may continue to place them and their children at risk.
Development and self-regulatory structures of the mind
Authors: Cicchetti Dante , Tucker Don 
Published: October 2008

AbstractFrom their early roots in embryology, parallels are drawn between the major psychological and biological foci of organismic theories. Neural plasticity and concepts of causality in developmental systems are discussed. Because the nature of the developmental process necessitates addressing the nonlinear dynamics of complex systems, it is theorized that causal explanations in neural development, just as is the case with psychological processes, should emphasize the individual's active strivings for self-organization as the major determinant of ontogenesis. Whether or not they cohere to form an integrated self, it is hypothesized that the homeostatic, self-regulatory structures of the mind are the major stabilities in the chaotic dynamics of psychological and neural development.
Temperament and the self-organization of personality
Authors: Derryberry Douglas , Reed Marjorie A. 
Published: October 2008

AbstractThis paper explores the development of cortical plasticity and cognitive representations in light of temperamental differences in basic motivational systems. Motivational systems related to reward/approach and punishment/avoidance begin to function early in life. By controlling the child's behavioral and emotional reactions, these systems provide exteroceptive and interoceptive information capable of stabilizing cortical synapses through use-dependent processes. By controlling attention, the motivational systems further contribute to synaptic stabilization through modulatory processes. As a result, children with strong reward/approach systems are likely to develop representations that emphasize potential rewards and frustrations and may become vulnerable to impulsive disorders. Children with strong punishment/avoidance systems may develop representations emphasizing punishment and relief, along with a vulnerability to anxiety disorders. These motivationally constructed representations differentiate in varied ways across domains involving the physical world, moral rules, and the self and, thus, contribute to the various forms of impulsive and anxious psychopathology.
Developmental changes in stress adaptation in relation to psychopathology
Authors: Benes Francine M. 
Published: October 2008

AbstractAs modern neuroscience seeks to understand the neural bases for mental illness, it is becoming increasingly important to define how and when complex neural circuits may be altered in individuals who carry the genetic vulnerability for psychopathology. One factor that could potentially play a contributory role in mental illness is the stress response. A variety of studies suggest that stress can alter the activity of several key cortical neurotransmitters, including glutamate, γ-aminobutyric acid, dopamine, and serotonin. Specifically, exposure to neurotoxic levels of adrenal steroid hormone, particularly if this occurs early in life, could potentially induce permanent changes of these transmitter systems in corticolimbic regions, such as the hippocampal formation and cingulate gyrus, that have a high density of glucocorticoid receptors. Overall, exposure to severe stress during the perinatal period could potentially induce alterations in the circuitry of the anterior cingulate cortex and hippocampal formation and interfere with the normal mechanisms underlying attention and learning.
Attachments past and present: Implications for therapeutic intervention with mother-infant dyads
Authors: Erickson Martha Farrell , Korfmacher Jon , Egeland Byron R. 
Published: October 2008

AbstractTheory and research on parent-infant attachment and on adult representations of past relationships suggest several possible themes and approaches for therapeutic intervention with parent-infant dyads. These include strategies aimed at increasing the parent's insight into the connection between past and present relationships and enhancing the parent's understanding of the child's needs and feelings, as well as the use of the therapeutic alliance to help the parent move toward more positive working models of self and others. Project STEEP (Steps Toward Effective, Enjoyable Parenting), an ongoing study of the effectiveness of preventive intervention with new mothers, provides one model of therapeutic intervention built on attachment theory and research.
Body image, relational psychoanalysis, and the construction of meaning: Implications for treating aggressive children
Authors: Santostefano Sebastiano , Calicchia John A. 
Published: October 2008

AbstractFor more than a decade it has been reported that a significant proportion of youth referred for treatment come with aggressive problems that are difficult to treat and resistant to change. Concepts and research findings from the domains of body image, cognitive unconscious, and the new relational perspective in psychoanalysis are integrated to address this issue and construct a treatment model. It is proposed that body image schemas, representing early, interpersonal experiences and prescribing persistent aggressive behaviors, are cast in nonverbal, nonsymbolic forms. On the other hand, meanings of environmental rules are cast in symbolic/verbal forms. Therefore, little or no communication and conflict exist between these meanings. For the same reason, because verbal interpretation and discussions of beliefs and attitudes, emphasized by both cognitive-behavioral and psychodynamic therapies, are cast in symbolic-conceptual forms, they might not effectively influence embodied meanings that prescribe aggression. Accordingly, the goal of the proposed approach is to facilitate the translation of embodied meanings that underly aggression into symbolic form in order to promote communication between these meanings and those of expectations and interpretations. This translation is accomplished as the youth and therapist (paralleling infant-caretaker transactions) interact and negotiate an evolving series of ritualized activities within which the youth projects various unrepaired, developmental interferences (interpersonal dilemmas), and their associated embodied meanings, onto the therapist who enacts the roles of the projected dilemmas, using action symbols as solutions whenever possible. As the youth identifies with and internalizes the therapist's efforts and solutions, the embodied meanings become translated into symbols that communicate with those of rules at higher cognitive levels, resulting in mental conflict available to awareness and discussions. To illustrate the heuristic value of the model, a treatment case is described and new research directions discussed.
Clinical, empirical, and developmental perspectives on the therapeutic relationship in child psychotherapy
Authors: Shirk Stephen R. , Saiz Christopher C. 
Published: October 2008

AbstractDespite substantial interest in the therapeutic relationship by child clinicians, relationship processes in child therapy have been neglected by clinical researchers. In this paper, clinical and empirical perspectives on the therapeutic relationship in child treatment were reviewed. Initial findings indicated that the quality of the child's affective relationship with the therapist is associated with collaboration on therapy tasks. Given the recurrent finding of links between treatment collaboration and treatment outcome, research on factors that influence children's ability to form therapeutic relationships is recommended. To this end, a developmental social cognitive model of therapeutic alliance formation is proposed.
Psychological maltreatment: Toward an operational definition
Authors: McGee Robin A. , Wolfe David A. 
Published: October 2008

AbstractDespite consensus on the existence and importance of psychological maltreatment, there is far less agreement on how it should be defined. This article reviews the current definitions, proposes a theoretical clarification of the concept, and describes its relevance for the field of developmental psychopathology. We conceptualize psychological maltreatment as theinteractionbetween maltreating parent behaviors and the special vulnerabilities of a child, particularly his or her developmental level. Also, we restrict the definition of psychological maltreatment to verbal and nonverbal parent communication; parental acts that involve physical or sexual contact are excluded. This effort strives to minimize the redundancy with the definitions of other forms of maltreatment and facilitate research into the effects of all forms of victimization.
Hiding in blind and sighted children
Authors: Bigelow Ann E. 
Published: October 2008

AbstractChildren with varying visual abilities (totally blind, visually impaired, normally sighted) participated in a longitudinal study of the development of the ability to infer what is seen by another. The children were asked to hide themselves, a toy, and specific parts of their bodies from a sighted observer. After each hiding the observer asked, “Can I see you?” to determine whether the children associated self-exposure with what was hidden. The totally blind children were not as successful at hiding as the other children. The totally blind children associated hiding with being in contact with an obstacle but did not necessarily understand that the covering obstacle had to completely block the observer's view of what was hidden or that covering was not necessary if other obstacles already blocked the observer's view. The totally blind children and one visually impaired child associated self-exposure with exposure of the mouth, whereas the other children who associated self-exposure with a particular body part associated self-exposure with exposure of their eyes. Results suggest that lack of direct visual experience impedes blind children's understanding of what constitutes a barrier to vision, which affects their ability to infer what others see. Implications of the findings for understanding the development of the self in blind children are discussed.
Age, clinical severity, and the differentiation of depressive psychopathology: A test of the orthogenetic hypothesis
Authors: Weiss Bahr , Nurcombe Barry 
Published: October 2008

AbstractWerner's orthogenetic principle states that human behavior proceeds from a state of global diffuseness to one of articulated complexity, and that as individuals develop, their responses to the environment become more specific and more differentiated. The present study evaluated this hypothesis, in relation to psychopathology in general and depression in particular. Child Behavior Checklist responses for 1, 345 outpatient and inpatient children and adolescents were compared along two developmental dimensions: age and clinical severity. Results failed to support the hypothesis that the psychopathology in general is more differentiated among older and more severely disturbed children. The findings did indicate, however, that depression was more distinct among the older, more severely disturbed subjects. Finally, little evidence of a categorical depression was found in any of the four age by severity groups.
Role of aggression, rejection, and attributions in the prediction of depression in children
Authors: Panak William F. , Garber Judy 
Published: October 2008

AbstractConcurrent and predictive relations among aggression, peer rejection, and self-reported depressive symptoms were examined in 521 third-, fourth-, and fifth-grade children at three time points over 1 year. Increases in aggression were significantly associated with increases in depression, and this relation was mediated, in part, through increases in peer rejection. The relation between peer-reported rejection and depression was mediated by perceived rejection. Finally, we found support for the cognitive diathesis-stress model of depression in children. Controlling for initial levels of depression and peer rejection, the interaction between stress (increases in peer rejection) and a depressogenic attributional style contributed significantly to the prediction of self-reported depressive symptoms 1 year later.