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.     

Occupational interests: Male-female or high level-low level dichotomy?

The relation between occupational level and masculine and feminine interests was investigated to determine whether sex differences in interests would be minimized at the high end of the occupational continuum and dichotomized at the low end. Subjects were scored on four experimental scales derived from Kuder OIS scales-Male, Female, High Occupational Level, and Low Occupational Level. Scores were subjected to several analyses, including comparisons of mean differences within and across groups, and an errors of classification study. In general, results were consistent with the proposed hypothesis. A strong, unpredicted relation, for the two male groups, between high occupational level and female interests was hypothesized to be the result of a verbal factor common to both sets of interests.     

Forethoughts from the editor

Conclusion  Perhaps the fundamental question involved in assessing research can best be summarized as follows: On the basis of what criteria must the long-term accountability of public funds allocated for research be measured, and who should determine these criteria? Should these criteria be based on the quality or the quantity of research produced; on the actual utilization of the research results; on the relevance of research to one or more aspects of “development”; or on the medium- or long-range “potential” impact of research results? Should these criteria be in accordance with “international” standards or reflect primarily national goals and objectives? In addition, there is the complex issue of knowledge integration, an understanding of which is a prerequisite for the generation of a “generic frame-work” designed to focus on the organization of communication between science and the social environment. Given that research and knowledge generation are becoming increasingly international in scope and impact, it is insufficient to merely contend that knowledge integration must occur through various forms of collaboration involving cross fertilization and interdisciplinary perspectives. This is already complicated at the national—let alone the international—level. Unfortunately, none of these issues have thus far been solved by the ever-expanding range of tools available for assessing research.     

Quantifying developing country research capacity in the areas of malaria,schistosomiasis, and leprosy

Implicit in addressing the issue of how to build and strengthen health related endogenous research capacity is that both donor organizations and developing country policymakers distinguish betweenhealth priorities andhealth research priorities. This distinction has important policy consequences in that the majority of developing countries are not in a position, either in financial or human resource terms, to simultaneously generate and implement broad-based priorities in both areas. In this context, it is important that health research priority setting be developed in tandem with existing research capacity. This underlines the importance of assessing the amount and nature of available expertise, and positioning research output, both in the national health needs, and the international science research contexts. The present article, which more properly constitutes a feasibility study, uses scientometric methods to assess the amount and nature of scientific output in three important tropical diseases: malaria, schistosomiasis and leprosy. The major goals of this study have been to i) compare the amount and nature of research produced in developed and developing countries for the three diseases; ii) determine in how far scientometric methods can be used to measure research capacity, and whether this measurement can facilitate the determination of health (research) priorities.     

Opportunities for development via group psychotherapy in the nursing home

This paper illustrates the benefits of group therapy within the nursing home, and considers the enhancing and problematic factors in conducting groups within this setting. Growth which empowers staff and residents is possible and can be achieved despite significant challenges and social change. A lifespan developmental perspective can assist residents to achieve their maximum developmental maturity and group therapy can be effective in accomplishing that goal. This paper discusses the effect of the nursing home environment and staff on the resident, the task of the therapist in the nursing home, the value of group therapy, therapeutic goals in group therapy, what precipitates the need for group therapy in nursing homes, and the issue of group therapy with the cognitively impaired.     

Situational Determinants of the Acceptability of Telling Lies1

It was tested whether the same factors people take into account when involved in the decision to lie apply to the evaluation of lies presented in scenarios. The scenarios represented 12 different situation categories formed by the crossing of the motive for lying (social. individualistic, egoistic), the relative importance of the situation (important matter, unimportant matter), and the closeness of the relation between the subject and the receiver of the lie (best friend, acquaintance). The acceptability of lying was evaluated from 2 perspectives (self, others) by 180 women of the general public. The results show that as the interest of the person that is lied to becomes greater, lying becomes more acceptable. As the interest of the liar becomes greater, lying becomes less acceptable. The systematically higher estimations of acceptability attributed to others indicate a false-uniqueness effect.     

Attributional style and depressive symptoms in adolescents: an examination of the role of various indicators of cognitive vulnerability

This study focuses on the hopelessness theory to explain depressive symptoms in adolescents. The aim is to assess which dimensions of the attributional style (causal attribution, attribution of consequences, implications for the self, total score, and weakest link score) better moderate the impact of negative events on the increase of depressive symptoms. For this purpose, 856 Spanish adolescents (449 girls and 407 boys, ages between 14 and 17 years) were assessed at the beginning of the school year and at follow-up 6 months later. They completed measures of depressogenic cognitive style [Hankin, B. L., & Abramson, L. Y. (2002). Measuring cognitive vulnerability to depression in adolescents: Reliability, validity, and gender differences. Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, 31, 491-504], negative life events, and depressive symptoms. The results show that only the dimension of attribution of stable and global causes moderated the impact of the negative events on the increase of depression at follow-up. The results are discussed in terms of the meaning of the weakest link score and the construct of attributional style from a developmental perspective.     

MMPI-2 characteristics of transsexuals requesting sex reassignment: comparison of patients in prehormonal and presurgical phases

To assess psychopathology in transsexuals at different phases of sex reassignment, we administered the Spanish adaptation of the MMPI-2 (Avila-Espada & Jiménez-Gómez, 1999) to 107 male-to-female and 56 female-to-male transsexuals. Except for the Mf scale, mean T scores from the Clinical scales were within the normal range and did not differ between sexes. Male-to-female transsexuals seeking sex-reassignment hormonal therapy, but not female-to-male patients, scored significantly higher on the Depression, Hysteria, Psychopathic Deviate, Schizophrenia, and Social Introversion scales than patients seeking sex-reassignment surgery. The results show that the majority of patients were free of psychopathology. Transsexuals in the initial phases of sex reassignment may experience more distress than in later phases; however, these results are unlikely to reflect clinically relevant differences.     

An exploration of possible pre- and postnatal correlates of autism: a pilot survey

Biological mothers of children, diagnosed with autism or pervasive developmental disorder, and biological mothers of children without developmental delays and matched on age and sex, were surveyed about a number of possible pre- and postnatal correlates of autism or pervasive developmental disorder. A regression analysis for boys showed the mother not vomiting in the first trimester, not having smell aversions, not craving sweets, the mother reporting fewer food aversions during the pregnancy, and having an infection while pregnant significantly predicted a later diagnosis of autism or pervasive developmental disorder. Not vomiting in the first trimester was the only significant predictor of a diagnosis of autism or a pervasive developmental disorder in girls.