bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Politics, Evidence and the New Aid Agenda
Authors: Killick Tony 
Published: January 2004

AbstractBased on study of (a) the HIPC debt relief initiative, (b) the linking of aid to policy conditionality and (c) transactions‐cost arguments in favour of programme aid, this article argues that major elements in the new aid agenda may not be well‐based empirically. This is partly because of inadequate knowledge, but particularly because the evidence often conflicts with political preferences. As a result, it is likely that large amounts of aid resources are being misdirected. Ways are suggested of narrowing the gap between evidence‐based and ‘political’ decision‐making. In the meantime, donors should avoid diverting more aid into debt relief, should roll back their reliance on policy conditionality, and should exercise pragmatic caution in the expansion of programme assistance.
IMF Gold and the World Bank's Unfunded HIPC Deficit
Authors: Sanford Jonathan E. 
Published: January 2004

AbstractThe World Bank is to forgive $12.24 billion in IDA debt payments from HIPC borrowers. It has received $1 billion from the HIPC Trust Fund to help offset these losses, but still has a $11.6 billion unfunded liability. The IMF has gold worth $38 billion on hand for which it has no actual use. This article proposes that a small portion of IMF gold be sold annually, just enough to offset IDA's annual HIPC deficit, over the next twenty years. The new money would be additional and predictable, and would eliminate the prospect that IDA would have to cut back its future flow of aid because the HIPC programme had drained its resources.
Young adult follow‐up of hyperactive children: antisocial activities and drug use
Authors: Barkley Russell A. , Fischer Mariellen , Smallish Lori , Fletcher Kenneth 
Published: January 2004

Background:  Hyperactive/ADHD children are believed to be a greater risk for adolescent and young adult antisocial activity and drug use/abuse, particularly that subset having comorbid conduct problems/disorder.Method:  We report on the lifetime antisocial activities and illegal drug use self‐reported at young adult follow‐up (mean age 20–21 years; 13+ year follow‐up) for a large sample of hyperactive (H; N = 147) and community control (CC; N = 73) children. Parent reports of childhood hyperactivity and conduct problems at study entry, parent and self‐reports of ADHD and conduct disorder at adolescence, and parent reports of ADHD at young adulthood are examined for their contribution to antisocial behavior and drug use at adulthood.Results:  More of the H group committed a variety of antisocial acts and had been arrested for doing so (corroborated through official arrest records) than did the CC group. The H group also committed a higher frequency of property theft, disorderly conduct, assault with fists, carrying a concealed weapon, and illegal drug possession, as well as more arrests. These activities reduced to two dimensions corresponding to predatory‐overt and drug‐related antisocial conduct. The H group differed from the CC group only on the latter dimension. Childhood, adolescent, and adult ADHD predicted higher drug‐related activities, as did childhood conduct problems. The H group with conduct disorder (CD) reported greater use of most substances than did the H only or CC groups, who did not differ from each other. Severity of teen ADHD and especially lifetime CD predicted use of hard drugs while just lifetime CD predicted marijuana/LSD use. Teen drug use seemed to potentiate increased drug‐related antisocial activities beyond the contribution made by teen CD.Conclusions:  Hyperactive children are at greater risk for antisocial activities and arrests by young adulthood that appear to be principally associated with illegal drug possession, use, and sale. Those having CD, however, appear to engage in greater and more diverse substance use.
Adult outcome for children with autism
Authors: Howlin Patricia , Goode Susan , Hutton Jane , Rutter Michael 
Published: January 2004

Background:  Information on long‐term prognosis in autism is limited. Outcome is known to be poor for those with an IQ below 50, but there have been few systematic studies of individuals with an IQ above this.Method:  Sixty‐eight individuals meeting criteria for autism and with a performance IQ of 50 or above in childhood were followed up as adults. Their mean age when first seen was 7 years (range 3–15 years); at follow‐up the average age was 29 years (range 21–48 years). Outcome measures included standardised cognitive, language and attainment tests. Information on social, communication and behavioural problems was obtained from the Autism Diagnostic Interview (ADI).Results:  Although a minority of adults had achieved relatively high levels of independence, most remained very dependent on their families or other support services. Few lived alone, had close friends, or permanent employment. Communication generally was impaired, and reading and spelling abilities were poor. Stereotyped behaviours or interests frequently persisted into adulthood. Ten individuals had developed epilepsy. Overall, only 12% were rated as having a ‘Very Good’ outcome; 10% were rated as ‘Good’ and 19% as ‘Fair’. The majority was rated as having a ‘Poor’ (46%) or ‘Very Poor’ (12%) outcome. Individuals with a childhood performance IQ of at least 70 had a significantly better outcome than those with an IQ below this. However, within the normal IQ range outcome was very variable and, on an individual level, neither verbal nor performance IQ proved to be consistent prognostic indicators.Conclusions:  Although outcome for adults with autism has improved over recent years, many remain highly dependent on others for support. This study provides some information on prognostic indicators, but more fine‐grained research is needed into the childhood variables that are associated with good or poor outcome.
Continuities in antisocial behavior and parenting across three generations
Authors: Smith Carolyn A. , Farrington David P. 
Published: January 2004

Background:  Accumulating evidence indicates that there are intergenerational continuities in antisocial behavior, and that parenting patterns play a role in these continuities. Very few studies, however, enable assessment across two generations of children at comparable ages, employing independent reporters and comparable measurements. The present study addresses the extent to which antisocial behavior in parents predicts antisocial behavior in children in two successive generations; the degree to which a man's childhood antisocial behavior predicts antisocial behavior in his own children; the extent to which parenting problems are related to child antisocial behavior similarly in two successive generations; and the extent to which intergenerational continuities in antisocial behavior are mediated by parenting variables.Methods:  Questions are addressed with prospective longitudinal data from the Cambridge Study in Delinquent Development (CSDD). The CSDD includes data on 411 Inner London males (Generation 2, or G2), their female partners, their parents (G1) and their children (G3). At time 1, when G2 were aged 8–10, data on G2 child conduct problems and G1 parenting and convictions were available. At time 2 when G2 males were aged 32, data were available on the parenting of 178 G2 fathers with G3 children aged 3–15, and on their G3 children's behavior. Time 1 data come predominantly from G1 mothers, whereas time 2 data come predominantly from G2 fathers.Results:  Between generations, antisocial G1 mothers and fathers predicted conduct problems in G2 and G3 children, but G2 child conduct problems did not predict G3 child conduct problems. Within generations, G2 child conduct problems predicted G2 adult antisocial behavior and antisocial partnerships, which in turn predicted G3 conduct problems. Parental conflict and authoritarian parenting were similarly related to early childhood conduct problems in two successive generations. There was relatively little continuity between G1 and G2 parenting except that G2 males who were poorly supervised by their parents were themselves poor supervisors as fathers. Both G1 and G2 generations displayed assortative mating, with antisocial males tending to partner antisocial female peers.Conclusions:  There are between‐generation and within‐generation continuities in antisocial behavior, although assessment of such continuities is complicated by inevitable design and measurement limitations. Parenting partly mediated the impact of parental antisocial behavior on child antisocial behavior in two successive generations, but the relation between antisocial parents and antisocial children is not fully mediated by parenting variables.
Disagreement between parent and adolescent reports of functional impairment
Authors: Kramer Teresa L. , Phillips Susan D. , Hargis Michael B. , Miller Terri L. , Burns Barbara J. , Robbins James M. 
Published: January 2004

Objective:  Adolescents’ functional impairment has become increasingly important as a criterion for diagnosis and service eligibility as well as a target of therapeutic intervention in mental health settings. This study examines three critical issues in measuring functioning: 1) agreement between parent and adolescent reports of functioning, 2) explanations for disagreement, and 3) clinicians’ ratings of functioning compared with parent and adolescent reports.Methods:  Agreement between parent and adolescent reports of functioning was estimated using the kappa statistic and conditional agreement in a sample of 258 adolescents. Rates of and reasons for expected disagreements between informants were explored in semi‐structured interviews (n = 43). ANOVA was calculated for clinician ratings for parent–adolescent pairs categorized on the basis of their agreement or disagreement on impairment. Finally, the independent contribution of parents’ or adolescents’ reports of impairment on clinician ratings of functioning was examined.Results:  From 12% to 97% of problems reported by one informant were denied by the other. Agreement was particularly poor for questions about relationships with friends, peers’ delinquent behaviors, and leisure activities. On average, parents and adolescents were more likely to expect the other would agree with their ratings rather than disagree. Reasons for disagreement included: 1) differences in how parents and adolescents interpreted questions; 2) lack of parental awareness of adolescents’ behaviors; and 3) different thresholds for what is considered problematic. Results also demonstrated that clinicians perceive problems reported only by parents as somewhat more serious than problems reported only by adolescents.Conclusions:  Implications for diagnosis, treatment planning and outcomes measurement are discussed.
AD/HD and the capture of attention by briefly exposed delay‐related cues: evidence from a conditioning paradigm
Authors: Sonuga‐Barke Edmund J.S. , Houwer Jan De , Ruiter Karen De , Ajzenstzen Michal , Holland Sarah 
Published: January 2004

Background:  The selective attention of children with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (AD/HD) to briefly exposed delay‐related cues was examined in two experiments using a dot‐probe conditioning paradigm.Method:  Colour cues were paired with negatively (i.e., imposition of delay) and positively valenced cues (i.e., escape from or avoidance of delay) during a conditioning phase. These cues were presented alongside neutral cues in a subsequent dot‐probe detection phase.Results:  In experiment 1 teacher‐identified children with AD/HD (N = 12), but not controls (N = 12), displayed an attentional bias towards both positively and negatively valenced cues. In experiment 2 children with a diagnosis of hyperkinetic disorder (N = 15), but not controls (N = 15), displayed a bias towards delay‐related cues. However, this effect was largely carried by the response to positively valenced cues.Conclusions:  These results confirm the dot‐probe conditioning paradigm as a useful test of motivational influence on attention. They provide the first evidence of qualitative differences in the attentional style of children with AD/HD and give further support to those theories that highlight the motivational significance of delay in AD/HD.
Explicit phoneme training combined with phonic reading instruction helps young children at risk of reading failure
Authors: Hatcher Peter J. , Hulme Charles , Snowling Margaret J. 
Published: January 2004

Background:  We evaluate the effectiveness of three theoretically motivated programmes for the teaching of reading to four‐year‐old children.Method:  Four hundred and ten children, of pre‐kindergarten age, in 20 UK Reception‐year classrooms were divided into four matched groups and randomly assigned to one of three experimental teaching conditions, Reading with Rhyme, Reading with Phoneme, Reading with Rhyme and Phoneme, or to a taught control condition (Reading). In each condition the Reading element contained a strong phonic component.Results:  There were no selective effects of the different experimental teaching programmes for normally developing children. However, for those children identified as being at risk of reading failure, training in phoneme skills resulted in selective gains in phoneme awareness and in reading skills.Conclusions:  A reading programme that contains a highly structured phonic component is sufficient for most 4.5‐year‐old children to master the alphabetic principle and to learn to read effectively, without additional explicit phonological training. In contrast, for young children at risk of reading delay, additional training in phoneme awareness and linking phonemes with letters is beneficial.
Failure to thrive in the term and preterm infants of mothers depressed in the postnatal period: a population‐based birth cohort study
Authors: Drewett Robert , Blair Peter , Emmett Pauline , Emond Alan ,   the ALSPAC Study Team
Published: January 2004

Aims:  To examine the relationship between failure to thrive in preterm and term infants and postnatal depression in their mothers.Method:  In a whole population birth cohort of 12,391 infants (excluding those born after term or with major congenital abnormalities) failure to thrive over the first nine months was identified using a conditional weight gain criterion which identified the slowest‐gaining 5%. Depression symptoms were recorded using the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) at 18 and 32 weeks of pregnancy and at 8 weeks and 8 months after delivery.Results:  After the birth, high depression scores were significantly more common in the mothers of infants born preterm, and controlling for depression scores in pregnancy did not eliminate this association after the birth. Failure to thrive was identified in 4.5% of the children born at term (531/11718) and in 8.3% of those born preterm (56/673). The difference was highly significant (χ2 = 20.25 with 1 df, p < .0001). Using a conventional cut‐off on the EPDS (score >12) to identify mothers as ‘depressed’, the prevalence of failure to thrive in the term infants of mothers depressed at 8 weeks postpartum was 5.0%; in the remainder of the population (controls) it was 4.3%. In mothers depressed at 8 months the prevalence was 4.3% in both groups. The prevalence of failure to thrive in the preterm infants of mothers depressed at 8 weeks was 8.8% (7.0% in controls) and in those depressed at 8 months it was 12.3% (6.7% in controls). None of these differences in prevalence was statistically significant, and significant differences did not emerge from further analyses using more stringent criteria for depression.Conclusions:  Preterm births are specifically associated with high maternal depression scores in the postpartum period, and with a higher prevalence of failure to thrive. High depression scores in the postpartum period are not themselves associated with a higher prevalence of failure to thrive, however, either in infants born at term or in those born preterm.
Early childcare and physical aggression: differentiating social selection and social causation
Authors: Borge Anne I.H. , Rutter Michael , Côté Sylvana , Tremblay Richard E. 
Published: January 2004

Background:  Some research findings have suggested that group day‐care may be associated with an increased risk for physical aggression.Methods:  Cross‐sectional maternal questionnaire data from a representative sample of 3431 Canadian 2‐ to 3‐year‐olds were used to compare rates of physical aggression shown by children looked after by their own mothers and those attending group day‐care. A family risk index (using occupational level, maternal education, size of sibship, and family functioning) was created to test whether any difference in physical aggression might reflect social selection rather than social causation.Results:  Aggression was significantly more common in children looked after by their own mothers than in those attending group day‐care. Strong social selection associated with family risk was found, not only in the sample as a whole, but even within the high‐risk subsample. However, after taking social selection into account, physical aggression was significantly more common in children from high‐risk families looked after by their own parents. No such difference was evident in the majority (84%) of children from low‐risk families.Conclusion:  Insofar as there are any risks for physical aggression associated with homecare they apply only to high‐risk families.
Major depression and conduct disorder in youth: associations with parental psychopathology and parent–child conflict
Authors: Marmorstein Naomi R. , Iacono William G. 
Published: January 2004

Background:  This study examined conduct disorder (CD) and major depression (MDD) in adolescents in relationship to parent–child conflict and psychopathology in their parents.Method:  Participants were drawn from a population‐based sample of twins and their families. Affected participants had lifetime diagnoses of CD and/or MDD; controls had no history of either disorder.Results:  The presence of CD or MDD in an adolescent was related to increased rates of maternal MDD and paternal antisocial behavior. Both CD and MDD in adolescents were directly associated with high parent–child conflict. This association appeared unrelated to whether the father had a history of antisocial behavior; however, the association between mother–child conflict and psychopathology in the child was related to the mother having a history of MDD as well.Conclusion:  The implications of these findings for the complex relationship between parental diagnoses, child diagnoses, and parent–child conflict are discussed.
Adolescents in rural communities seeking help: who reports problems and who sees professionals?
Authors: Sears Heather A. 
Published: January 2004

Background:  This study examined whether adolescents who were at various stages of the help‐seeking process differed on demographic characteristics, use of informal helpers, and markers of emotional and behavioral adjustment.Method:  Youths (N = 644; Grades 7–12) living in three rural communities completed a survey at school. Three comparisons were made: teenagers who reported having serious problems versus few or no problems in the past year; teenagers who felt that they did or did not need professional help with these problems; and teenagers who had or had not sought professional help.Results:  Rural youths with serious problems were more likely to be girls and to be living with someone other than a parent, were less likely to talk to family members about problems, and reported more negative emotional and behavioral adjustment. Teenagers who perceived a need for professional help also reported poorer emotional and behavioral adjustment. Adolescents who sought professional help were more likely to be in senior high, were less likely to talk to others about problems, and were lower on anxiety.Conclusions:  Rural adolescents’ demographic characteristics, use of informal helpers, and markers of emotional and behavioral adjustment each contribute to our understanding of their help‐seeking behavior. Future studies must examine how these and other variables combine to discern who reports problems, who perceives a need for help, and who sees professionals.
Skin autofluorescence as a biological UVR dosimeter
Authors: Sandby‐Møller J. , Thieden E. , Philipsen P. A. , Heydenreich J. , Wulf H. C. 
Published: January 2004

Background/Purpose: Collagen is one of the major endogenous skin fluorophores. Alteration in the structure of collagen due to chronic ultraviolet radiation (UVR) exposure may influence the intensity of the autofluorescence. The aim of this study was to investigate the relation between collagen‐linked autofluorescence and sun exposure to clarify whether the skin can be used as a biological UVR dosimeter.Methods: We conducted an in vivo study with 131 healthy volunteers. Fluorescence was measured from sun‐exposed (dorsal forearm, forehead and shoulder) and sun‐protected (buttock) skin and corrected for the impact of pigmentation and redness. The excitation wavelengths (Ex) and emission wavelengths (Em) were: Ex330:Em370, Ex330:Em455 and Ex370:Em455 nm. Individual UVR exposure data were collected both retrospectively and prospectively using questionnaires and electronic personal UVR dosimeters for a summer period.Results: Age, but not sex, skin type or smoking habits correlated significantly positively with skin autofluorescence at Ex370:Em455 at all body sites (P<0.001, r2=0.08–0.26), and at Ex330:Em455 only at the buttock (P=0.001, r2=0.08), whereas age was not correlated with Ex330:Em370. Sun‐protected buttock skin had significantly higher autofluorescence than sun‐exposed skin (P‐values<0.0001).Because of great between‐subject differences in autofluorescence at different body sites, and because the autofluorescence at the unexposed buttock represents the baseline value, individual correction of skin autofluorescence measurement with that of the buttock was performed. Different measures of individual chronic cumulative UVR doses correlated significantly negatively with the skin autofluorescence ratio (Fratio), but the correlations were poor (r2=0.03–0.10).Conclusion: The results indicate that the collagen‐linked skin Fratio might be best to use as a measure of individual photodamage, a UVR dose effect, and that it is also a better marker of individual cumulative UVR dose than the used UVR exposure measurements. The methods used to obtain UVR exposure data might not be sensitive and specific enough.