Christian Churches and the Prevention of Preadolescent Aggression and Violence in Puerto Rico: Regional Leaders’ Perspective

Journal of Religion and Health - Preadolescents’ involvement in religious congregations may serve as a distal protective factor against aggression. Interviews were conducted to...     

Age at injury and long-term behavior problems after traumatic brain injury in young children

Objective: This study examined the effects of age at injury on the persistence of behavior problems and social skill deficits in young children with complicated mild to severe traumatic brain injury (TBI). Method: A concurrent cohort/prospective research design was used with repeated assessments of children with TBI (n = 82) or Orthopedic Injury (OI) (n = 114). Parents completed the Child Behavior Checklist, the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Functions, and the Preschool and Kindergarten Behavior Scales or the Home and Community Social and Behavior Scales shortly after injury to assess preinjury functioning, and at an extended follow-up an average of 38 months postinjury. Generalized linear modeling was used to examine the relationship of age at injury to the maintenance of behavior problems, and logistic regression was used to examine the persistence of clinically significant behavior problems. Results: At the extended follow-up, severe TBI was associated with significantly greater anxiety problems relative to the Group OI. With increasing time since injury, children who sustained a severe TBI at an earlier age had significantly higher levels of parent-reported symptoms of ADHD and anxiety than children who were older at injury. Conclusions: Findings suggest that longer-term treatment for behavior problems may be needed after severe TBI, particularly for those injured at an earlier age. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved).     

The effect of pre-treatment enquiries on child dental patient's post-treatment ratings of pain and anxiety

Abstract

The aim of this study was to attempt to replicate a study in adults: to determine whether pre-treatment enquiries about anxiety and pain in children, attending the dentist, influenced their subsequent reports of pain and anxiety immediately after treatment. One hundred and ninety five children aged from seven to 16, attending four Community Dental Clinics, were allocated at random to five groups. Before treatment the first group was asked questions about their dental anxiety, expectations and memories of pain. The second group was asked about dental anxiety and expectations of pain. The third group was asked only about dental anxiety; the fourth was asked only about pain. The fifth, the control group, was asked about none of these topics. All the children were asked after treatment to rate 1) their anxiety about dentistry and 2) their experience of pain in the treatment just completed. The children experienced less pain than they had expected. There were no differences between the groups in disruptiveness or in the amount of pain experienced. However, the children who were asked about both pain and dental anxiety (groups one and two) reported significantly less dental anxiety than the control group. These results are consistent with the conclusion that pre-treatment enquiries about both anxiety and pain have no effect on disruptiveness or the experience of pain but do reduce anxiety about dentistry.     

Agreement between Parents and Children on Ratings of Post-Concussive Symptoms Following Mild Traumatic Brain Injury

The level of parent-child agreement on post-concussive symptoms (PCS) was examined in children following mild traumatic brain injuries (TBI). As part of a larger longitudinal study, 186 children with mild TBI and 99 with orthopedic injuries (OI), from 8 to 15 years of age, were recruited prospectively. Parents and children completed the PCS Interview (PCS-I) and the Health and Behavior Inventory (HBI) at 2 weeks, 1 month, 3 months, and 12 months postinjury. Item-level correlations between child and parent ratings on both measures of PCS were significant but modest in both groups. Parent-child correlations for composite scales on the HBI and the total score on the PCS-I were significant in both groups, but somewhat higher in the OI group than in the mild TBI group. Mean symptom ratings tended to be significantly higher for children as compared to parents, especially for somatic symptoms. Parents and children display modest agreement when reporting PCS; their ratings correlate significantly, but children report higher mean levels of symptoms than parents.     

Long-Term Executive Function Deficits in Children With Traumatic Brain Injuries: Assessment Using the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF)

Long-term deficits in executive functions following childhood traumatic brain injuries (TBI) were examined using the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF). Parents completed the BRIEF approximately 5 years postinjury as part of a prospective study of children injured between the ages of 6 and 12. The children were between 10 and 19 years of age at the time of the assessment, and included 33 with severe TBI, 31 with moderate TBI, and 34 with orthopedic injuries. Parents also rated children's adaptive functioning and completed several other measures of parent and family functioning. Children were administered a neuropsychological test battery that included several measures of executive functions. The groups displayed a significant linear trend in BRIEF scores, with the largest deficits in executive functions reported in children with severe TBI. BRIEF scores were related consistently across groups to a test of working memory, but not to other neuropsychological measures. BRIEF scores also predicted children's adaptive functioning and behavioral adjustment, as well as parent psychological distress, perceived family burden, and general family functioning. The findings indicate that TBI results in long-term deficits in executive functions that are related to children's psychosocial outcomes, as well as to parent and family functioning.     

Hospital referral patterns in pediatric neuropsychology

The practice of pediatric neuropsychologists was examined by reviewing all referrals made in 1 year to neuropsychology programs located in three children's hospitals. The review identified 472 cases, 75% of whom were between the ages of 7 and 11. The sample included 86 inpatients and 386 outpatients. The most common diagnoses, accounting for 87% of the cases, were learning disability, traumatic brain injury, attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder, seizure disorder, primary psychiatric disorder, phenylketonuria, idiopathic mental retardation, brain tumor, leukemia, stroke, and encephalitis. The most common referral sources, accounting for 92% of the cases, were neurologists, pediatricians, parents, physiatrists, neurosurgeons, oncologists, specialists in metabolic disease, psychologists, rheumatologists, and psychiatrists. The distribution of diagnoses and referral sources differed significantly for inpatients and outpatients and across the three hospitals. The results may distinguish child neuropsychology from adult neuropsychology and highlight the diversity that characterizes its practitioners.     

The Gendered Nature of Discriminatory Experiences by Race, Class, and Sexuality: A Comparison of Intersectionality Theory and the Subordinate Male Target Hypothesis

Three competing theoretical approaches to social inequalities by gender, race, class, and sexuality are examined. The additive approach assumes that people possessing multiple subordinate-group identities experience the oppressions associated with them as distinct phenomena. The intersectionality-inspired approach suggests that subordinate-group identities such as non-White, lower class, and non-heterosexual interact with gender in a synergistic way, occasioning inordinately pernicious experiences of discrimination for women possessing one or more additional subordinate-group identities. The subordinate male target hypothesis (SMTH) claims that the discrimination experienced by the men of subordinate groups—primarily at the hands of men of dominant groups—is greater than that experienced by the women of the same subordinate groups. In 2009, telephone survey data was collected from 414 women and 208 men in Toronto, Canada and 521 women and 245 men in Vancouver, Canada. Negative binomial regression techniques are applied to these data to determine whether and how gender (male or female), race (White or non-White), educational attainment, household income, and sexual orientation (heterosexual or non-heterosexual), as well as two-way interactions between gender and the other variables, predict scale measures of self-reported major experiences of discrimination and self-reported chronic, routine discriminatory experiences. High levels of both kinds of discrimination reported by men in general are at odds with the additive and intersectionality-inspired perspectives which accord women the gender identity most vulnerable to discrimination. Inordinately high levels of routine discrimination reported by men with a high school diploma or less are consistent with the SMTH-inspired perspective.