Depression and achievement in subgroups of children with learning disabilities

Eighty-five learning disabled children were assigned to four subgroups and administered measures designed to assess the relationship between depression and academic achievement. As a group, these children were more depressed than nondisabled children. The subgroups, which were identified as learning disabled only, learning disabled with low IQ, learning disabled with socio-emotional disturbance, and learning disabled with hyperactivity, did not differ in magnitude of depression; however, the relationships between depression and achievement and IQ were substantially different in each subgroup. For the two largest subgroups, learning disabled only and learning disabled with socio-emotional disturbance, it was suggested that depression is the consequence of learning failure in the former and a possible cause of learning failure in the latter. These findings underscore the importance of depression, a heretofore neglected variable, for the understanding and remediation of learning disabilities.     

The mediating role of maternal responsiveness in some longer term effects of postnatal depression on infant development

We hypothesized a mediating role for low maternal responsiveness in certain child developmental deficits found previously to be associated with postnatal depression. Forty depressed inpatients and 48 control (non-depressed) mothers and their infants were followed until 42 months postpartum. Mother–infant interactions were impaired at 6 months postpartum in the depressed group. Subsequent cognitive deficits were found in children's Full Scale IQ on the Wechsler Preschool Primary Scale of Intelligence (Revised) at 42 months of age. Statistical modeling of the mediation hypothesis confirmed that these effects were overwhelmingly explained by lowered maternal responsiveness at 6 months. Similarly, increased temperamental difficulties were apparent in children of depressed mothers but were not correlated with maternal responsiveness. Male infants of depressed mothers were disproportionately vulnerable (compared to females) to impaired cognitive abilities associated with maternal depression. The data concur with previous work and provide empirical support for the theoretical prediction that early disturbances of the mother–infant interaction will mediate some developmental deficits in the children of depressed mothers.     

Maternal communication: predictors of outcome at follow-up in a sample of children at high and low risk for depression

Separate lines of investigation have shown the increased risk of dysfunction for children of depressed women and impaired interaction between depressed mothers and their children. The link between the two was examined in 57 children at high and low risk for depression. Children of unipolar depressed, bipolar depressed, chronically medically ill, and normal mothers were evaluated at a 6-month follow-up. Hierarchical regression analyses suggested a relation between maternal interaction behavior on two dimensions, task focus and affective quality, and children's subsequent depression and school behavior; academic performance was related only to affective quality of interaction. Chronic stress was predictive of more negative, critical maternal behavior, whereas depressed mood was associated with less task involvement. Maternal interactions are viewed as a marker of a complex, mutual process involving interpersonal relationships in an adverse environmental context.     

Family and child influences on early academic and emotion regulatory behaviors

Research on child and family factors in early childhood has shown that both are associated with social and instrumental functioning at school entry. The present study sought to examine the direct and indirect effects of child negative emotionality, maternal education, depression, IQ, and quality of maternal instruction on children's academic and emotion regulatory behaviors from the toddler period to school entry using a sample of 174 boys from low-SES backgrounds. Results revealed direct effects of maternal IQ on academic outcomes at school entry that were mediated by maternal instruction. Further, maternal instruction predicted the child's academic and emotion regulation (ER) outcomes even after accounting for other maternal and child variables. The effects of both instruction variables moderated the impact of maternal education. The results suggest that maternal instruction plays an important role in early school success, particularly for children at risk for school problems.     

National Trends in Prayer Use as a Coping Mechanism for Depression: Changes from 2002 to 2007

To analyze national trends in the use of prayer among individuals with depression, we adopted a cross-sectional design with data from the adult Alternative Medicine supplement of the National Health Interview Survey 2002 and 2007. Prayer use and depression were combined into 4 categories: (a) prayed in the past 12 months and depressed; (b) prayed in the past 12 months and not depressed; (c) never prayed but depressed; and (d) never prayed and not depressed. Chi-square tests and multinomial logistic regressions were performed to analyze group differences. All analyses were adjusted for the complex sample design and conducted in SAS-callable SUDAAN. Use of prayer for depression was steady at 6.9 % across time; however, general prayer increased significantly between 2002 and 2007 (40.2 vs. 45.7). Women, aged 50–64, unmarried, with high school education were more likely to use prayer while depressed compared to those who were neither depressed nor prayed. Lifestyle behaviors (e.g. alcohol, smoking, exercise) were also associated with prayer use and depression. Prayer use for depression remained steady with unique relationships occurring among those who smoke, use alcohol, and have irregular exercise. Individuals’ use of prayer as a potential complementary treatment for depression suggests that it is critical for mental and physical health treatment providers to be aware of the use of prayer as a coping resource.     

Child,mother, and father evaluations of depression in psychiatric inpatient children

The agreement among children and their parents in evaluating the children's depression was examined in 48 families. Newly admitted inpatient children (ages 6–13) and their mothers and fathers independently completed selfreport and interview measures to assess severity and duration of the children's depression. The results indicated that different measures of depression completed by the same rater (child, mother, or father) were highly intercorrelated. Yet there was little or no relationship between childmother and child-father ratings of the children's depression for the same or related measures of depression. Children independently diagnosed (DSM III) as depressed rated themselves and were rated by their parents as more depressed than nondepressed children. Even so, children consistently rated themselves as less depressed across the measures than did their parents. Parent ratings of the children's depression and the correspondence of child-parent ratings varied as a function of several child and family variables, including child IQ, gender, race, and family welfare status.This investigation was supported in part by a Research Scientist Development Award (1 K02 MH00353) to the first author from the National Institute of Mental Health and by a Clinical Research Center Grant for the Study of Affective Disorders (5 P50 MH30915-05) from the National Institute of Mental Health. The authors are grateful to the clinical research team of the Child Psychiatric Treatment Service.     

Comorbidity of anxiety and depression in children and adolescents.

Anxiety and depression in children and adolescents are reviewed, including differential diagnosis, assessment of symptoms, family history data, developmental features, and clinical correlates. Findings indicate that 15.9% to 61.9% of children identified as anxious or depressed have comorbid anxiety and depressive disorders and that measures of anxiety and depression are highly correlated. Family history data are inconclusive. Differences emerged among children with anxiety, depression, or both disorders. Anxious children were distinguishable from the other 2 groups in that they showed less depressive symptomatology and tended to be younger. The concurrently depressed and anxious group tended to be older and more symptomatic. In this group, the anxiety symptoms tended to predate the depressive symptoms. Findings are discussed in the context of a proposed developmental sequence.     

Clinical utility of the WISC-R and the French Pictorial Test of Intelligence with native American primary grade children

Cultural bias and the clinical utility of the WISC-R and French Pictorial Test of Intelligence were evaluated using scores of 22 male and 22 female Navajo primary grade children. There were no significant differences in performance on either test according to sex. As expected, the Verbal IQ and Full Scale IQ of the WISC-R and the Deviation IQ of the French provided significantly depressed estimates of ability. A prorated Performance IQ might be the least depressed measure of potential among these children.     

Adoption Is a Successful Natural Intervention Enhancing Adopted Children's IQ and School Performance

ABSTRACT— Is the cognitive development of adopted children different from that of (a) children who have remained in institutional care or in their birth families or (b) their current (environmental) nonadopted siblings or peers? We attempt to answer these questions on the basis of a meta-analysis of 62 studies including 17,767 adopted children. Compared to their nonadopted siblings or peers who stayed behind, adopted children scored substantially higher on IQ tests and they performed much better at school. Compared to their current nonadopted environmental peers or siblings, adopted children showed similar IQ scores but their school performance and language abilities lagged somewhat behind. Most importantly, we found a twofold increase in special-education referrals in adopted children compared to their nonadopted peers. Taken together, the findings document the positive impact of adoption on children's cognitive development and adopted children's remarkably normal cognitive competence but somewhat delayed school performance.     

Social-cognitive and cognitive correlates of depression in children

The present investigation examined depression and its social-cognitive and cognitive correlates in a sample of 108 elementary school children: 36 children in each of grades 1, 4, and 8. Children were classified as depressed and nondepressed according to their scores on the Children's Depression Inventory (CDI). Depression appeared stable over a 3-week time interval. Depressed children reported a higher number of masking symptoms, were rated as more depressed by their teachers, and perceived their family environment to be more distressed. As posited, when compared to nondepressed children, depressed children have lower self-esteem, a more depressive attributional style, and more self-control deficits. Further, they have impaired performance on some cognitive tasks (block design, coding digit span) but not all (vocabulary). The prediction that depression would be manifested differently in first-, fourth-, and eighth-graders was not supported.This research was supported by a grant from the Hogg Foundation for Mental Health. We would like to specifically acknowledge the help of Dr. Wayne Holtzman, director of the Hogg Foundation.     

Person,setting, and interaction contributions to nursery school social behavior patterns1

Within a nursery school environment, 8,930 behavioral observations were taken on 17 preschool children in six settings over a two-month period. Two different data analysis techniques were used. The aggregate analysis showed that person, setting, and interaction all contributed significantly to behavior patterns. The setting was significantly stronger than person. The individual analysis found that subjects' median Person Pattern values were correlated significantly and negatively with IQ and age, suggesting that younger children and those with lower IQ's had more consistent behavior across different settings. This was also true of children who had been at the school more than one year. Implications for predicting behavior were discussed, noting the need to study person and setting relative to one another for particular behaviors in different categories of environments.     

A Prospective Longitudinal Study of High School Dropouts Examining Multiple Predictors Across Development

Prior studies report a variety of demographic, school, individual, and family characteristics that are related to high school drop out. This study utilizes data from a 19-year prospective longitudinal study of “at-risk” children to explore multiple predictors of high school dropouts across development. The proposed model of dropping out emphasizes the importance of the early home environment and the quality of early caregiving influencing subsequent development. The results of this study demonstrate the association of the early home environment, the quality of early caregiving, socioeconomic status, IQ, behavior problems, academic achievement, peer relations, and parent involvement with dropping out of high school at age 19. These results are consistent with the view of dropping out as a dynamic developmental process that begins before children enter elementary school. Psychosocial variables prior to school entry predicted dropping out with power equal to later IQ and school achievement test scores. In our efforts to better understand processes influencing dropping out prior to high school graduation, early developmental features warrant further emphasis.     

Sex differences in the estimated intelligence of school children

This study investigated sex differences in estimated general and multiple intelligence in school children, their parents, and their teachers. There were three groups of participants: 285 (149 female, 136 male) pupils of a mixed government‐run comprehensive school, between the ages of 13 and 16 years; 93 mothers and 58 fathers of the pupils; and five female and eight male teachers. Children estimated their own and their parents' IQ, whilst the parents estimated their own and their children's IQ; the teachers estimated only the children's intelligence. The aims of this study were firstly to assess whether perceptions of male intellectual superiority were observable in school age children and school teachers, and to make direct comparisons between the children's self‐estimations and those of the parents and the teachers. Secondly, this study aimed to replicate previous literature on adult self‐estimations of overall and multiple intelligences, and to compare these to estimations by children of these adults (their parents). Fewer sex differences were observed than expected. Teachers' estimations did not follow conceptions of male superiority. The patterns of sex differences in mother and teacher estimations of children were similar to each other, as were those of fathers and children. Verbal and numerical abilities were found to be most closely related to estimations of overall IQ in all three groups. Most striking was the lack of correlation between father and daughter estimations of each other. Reasons why this study failed to replicate findings on adult samples are discussed. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The social behavior of depressed children: An observational study

Few investigations have examined directly the psychosocial functioning of depressed children. In the present study, 20 depressed and 20 nondepressed fourth-and fifth-grade children were observed in free play during their recess period at school, and their self-perceptions were assessed in subsequent individual sessions. The 10 boys and 10 girls in each group were selected according to their scores on both the Child Depression Inventory and the Peer Nomination Inventory of Depression. Analyses conducted on the eight categories of behavioral observations revealed significant differences between the social behavior of the depressed and the nondepressed children. Although the depressed children made more overtures for social contact than did the nondepressed children and were approached by other children more frequently, they spent more time alone and engaged in a higher frequency of negative interactions with their peers. Consistent with these results, the depressed children's responses to the Self-Perception Profile for Children indicated that they experienced themselves as less socially competent in general, as well as less competent across several specific domains of functioning. These findings are discussed as they relate to developmental processes, theories of adult depression, and recent studies on socially isolated children, and directions for future research in this area are offered.This research was supported in part by Grants MA-8574 from the Medical Research Council of Canada and OMHF No. 923-85/87 from the Ontario Mental health Foundation to the second author.     

Maternal depression and child adjustment: a longitudinal analysis

This study examined the relation between maternal depression and child adjustment. Two major issues were addressed. First, to assess the specificity to depression of observed child adjustment difficulties, four groups of female subjects were included: clinically depressed psychiatric patients, nondepressed psychiatric patients, nondepressed medical patients, and nondepressed nonpatients. Second, to assess the stability of the observed effects, data were collected early in the patients' treatment and again approximately 8 weeks later. The results indicated that the depressed mothers described their children as having various behavior problems; interestingly, interviewers also rated these children as demonstrating disturbed behavior. Although the offspring of the depressed mothers were the most impaired children in the sample, the lack of significant differences between children of the depressed and the nondepressed psychiatric patients suggests that child adjustment is more strongly related to the presence of maternal psychopathology than it is to diagnostic status. Finally, children of the psychiatric patients continued to demonstrate problems at the second assessment. Implications of these results for models of depression are discussed, and directions for future research are offered.     

Attentional Biases for Emotional Faces in Young Children of Mothers with Chronic or Recurrent Depression

Attentional biases for negative stimuli have been observed in school-age and adolescent children of depressed mothers and may reflect a vulnerability to depression. The direction of these biases and whether they can be identified in early childhood remains unclear. The current study examined attentional biases in 5–7-year-old children of depressed and non-depressed mothers. Following a mood induction, children participated in a dot-probe task assessing biases for sad and happy faces. There was a significant interaction of group and sex: daughters of depressed mothers attended selectively to sad faces, while children of controls and sons of depressed mothers did not exhibit biases. No effects were found for happy stimuli. These findings suggest that attentional biases are discernible in early childhood and may be vulnerability markers for depression. The results also raise the possibility that sex differences in cognitive biases are evident before the emergence of sex differences in the prevalence of depression.     

Memory for emotional stories in high and low depressed children

Cognitive theories of depression emphasise a vicious circle linking depressed mood and biased recall towards negative information. In line with this, depressed adults show selectively enhanced recall for negative information. This recall bias is held to be mediated by increased accessibility of negative self‐referent schemas formed as a result of adverse early experiences. Given this, surprisingly few studies have examined depression‐related recall biases from a developmental perspective. Clinically depressed children have been found to show enhanced recall of negative adjectives, particularly when self‐referent, but to date there is no evidence for similar recall biases in non‐clinically depressed groups. The current study addressed this by investigating high and low non‐clinically depressed children's (aged 5–11 years) recall of emotional stories. High depressed children showed enhanced recall of negative stories, relative to positive stories, compared to the low depressed group. This did not vary with age group. We conclude that, when child‐oriented materials are used, depression‐related biases in recall towards negative information are observable even in a non‐clinical sample of children from 5 years of age.     

Adoption and cognitive development: a meta-analytic comparison of adopted and nonadopted children's IQ and school performance

This meta-analysis of 62 studies (N=17,767 adopted children) examined whether the cognitive development of adopted children differed from that of (a) children who remained in institutional care or in the birth family and (b) their current (environmental) nonadopted siblings or peers. Adopted children scored higher on IQ tests than their nonadopted siblings or peers who stayed behind, and their school performance was better. Adopted children did not differ from their nonadopted environmental peers or siblings in IQ, but their school performance and language abilities lagged behind, and more adopted children developed learning problems. Taken together, the meta-analyses document the positive impact of adoption on the children's cognitive development and their remarkably normal cognitive competence but delayed school performance.     

Attributional style and self-control behavior in depressed and nondepressed children and their parents

Do the reformulated model of learned helplessness and the self-control model apply to clinically depressed children? Are the related cognitive patterns specific to depression? Are the cognitive deficits associated with depression learned from one's parents? To address these questions this investigation examined three groups of children (ages 8–12) and their parents: nonclinic (n =25),nondepressed clinic (n=22),and depressed clinic (n=15).Children were diagnosed depressed on the basis of Kiddie-SADS interview data. Depressed clinic children self-reported more depression, had a more depressive attributional style, and had more self-control problems. There were more depressed mothers in the clinic than in the nonclinic sample. Depressed clinic children had more depressed mothers than did nondepressed clinic children. There were no differences among the three groups of parents in their cognitive patterns. No relationship was found between the attributional style and self-control behavior of children and their parents.     

Children of Prenatally Depressed Mothers: Externalizing and Internalizing Symptoms are Accompanied by Reductions in Specific Social-Emotional Competencies

Studies have shown that child development is negatively affected by prenatal depression. A dysregulated hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis in the pregnant woman, passed to the fetus, is one discussed key mechanism. Studies, investigating primary-school age children, have found effects on antisocial behavior. Effects on internalizing symptoms were not found, but the analysis did not distinguish between anxiety and depression symptoms. Additionally, until now, no objective test data operationalizing social-emotional competencies have been included. The present study examined: 1.Whether the effects on child externalizing symptoms could be replicated; 2. If there are specific effects on child internalizing symptoms, separated for anxiety and depression; and 3. Are child clinical symptoms reflected in reductions in social-emotional competencies. A sample of 61 prenatally depressed and 143 prenatally not-depressed women and their 6–9 year old children were compared, controlling for key confounders in both the perinatal period and in middle childhood. Children of prenatally depressed mothers had more antisocial behavior and depression symptoms reported by their mothers. The prediction of antisocial behavior scores tended to be more significant for boys than for girls. Child anxiety symptoms were primarily explained by current maternal depressive symptoms. Children of prenatally depressed mothers also showed a reduction in social-emotional competencies, specifically regarding the ability to interpret complex social situations. This study showed that, even in a non-clinical sample, there are distinct effects of prenatal depression on child externalizing and internalizing symptoms which are accompanied by reductions in specific social-emotional competencies. These results emphasize that treatment for depressed pregnant women and/or early support for affected families is worthwhile. Additional work is required to identify the underlying biological mechanisms.