Marital discord and psychiatric disorder in children and adolescents

The relationship between marital discord and any DISC-2.1/DSM-III-R child psychiatric diagnosis was explored. Interview data from a community sample of 90 parent/child pairs and a clinic sample of 37 parent/child pairs were analysed. The data were collected at Columbia University/the New York State Psychiatric Institute as part of the pilot project of a multi-site methodological study. Rates of marital discord and DISC diagnoses were found higher in the clinic sample than in the community sample. The association between marital discord and any diagnosis remained significant when other risk and protective factors were controlled. Policy implications and recommendations for future research strategies suggested by the current exploratory study were discussed.     

The comorbidity of ADHD in a community sample of children aged 6 through 16 years

Secondary analyses of the data from the Puerto Rico Child Psychiatry Epidemiologic Study were undertaken to provide information on the comorbidity patterns of ADHD. A high level of comorbidity was found among ADHD and other diagnostic categories, particularly the conduct/oppositional group. Comorbidity was associated with level of impairment and with service utilization.     

Informant-Based Determinants of Symptom Attenuation in Structured Child Psychiatric Interviews

Informant-related determinants of item attenuation, that is, the drop-off in symptom endorsement rates at retest, were examined in an enriched community subsample of 245 parent–child pairs drawn from the National Institute of Mental Health Methods for Epidemiology of Child and Adolescent Mental Disorders Study. Youngsters and their parents were interviewed with the Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children (Version 2.3; DISC-2.3) on two occasions with a mean test–retest interval of 12 days. Item attenuation rates were high for both informants, with adults failing to confirm 42% and children 58% of baseline responses at retest. Stepwise regressions revealed that item attenuation at DISC-P retest was higher for adult informants who were younger, and who reported on older and less impaired children. On the DISC-C, attenuation was higher for children who were less impaired, rated as doing worse in school, and who had a longer test–retest interval. These results are broadly consistent with past studies examining the determinants of attenuation and test–retest reliability and have implications for the design and use of structured diagnostic instruments.     

Parental and family risk factors for substance use in inner-city African-American children and adolescents

The purpose of this study was to develop and test a multidimensional model of parental and family influences on risk for substance use in inner-city African-American primary grade children and their adolescent siblings. The risk factors investigated were conceptually grouped into three broad domains of family influences and the respective indices computed: parental risk attributes, family risk attributes, and parenting styles. Parenting styles were captured as indicators of a latent construct, poor parenting. In study 1, we hypothesized that the parental and family risk variables would be mediated through parenting styles to predict intentions to use drugs, actual drug use, positive drug attitudes, and negative drug attitudes in a sample of 455 inner-city African-American families and their primary-grade children. In study 2, the substance use risk model was tested on a sample of 59 adolescent sibilings to determine whether the pattern of parental and family factors that contributed to early high-risk attitudes and behaviors in children would predict drug attitudes and behaviors in teen siblings. The results confirmed our expectations that parental and family risks were important predictors of childrens' negative drug attitudes and intentions to use drugs in the future and that positive parental and family characteristics would protect against future risk by enhancing negative drug attitudes. Also, substance use attitudes and behaviors in the teen siblings were predicted primarily by family risk characteristics. The family risk index also predicted frequency of use of hard drugs, but only when mediated through poor parenting. The implications of these results for future research are discussed.     

Indexical Reference and bodily causal diagrams in intentional action

In this paper, completed only months before his death, the author studies a number of concepts of importance for the analysis of intentional action. Four themes in particular are discussed: the intentionality of action, the practical syllogism, what the author terms the practical causality of practical thinking, and the proximate cause of action. (K. S.)     

Methamphetamine effects on cognitive processing during extended wakefulness

We examined the effects of both 5- and 10-mg/7O kg body weight of d-methamphetamine HCl on high event rate vigilance and tracking performance in a 13.5-hr sustained-performance session during one night of sleep loss. At 0116 hours participants were administered either a 5 mg/70 kg oral dose of d-methamphetamine (n=10), 10 mg/70 kg d-methamphetamine (n=10), or a placebo (n=10) using standard double-blind procedures. Performance on all measures degraded markedly during the night in the placebo group. Both the 5- and 10-mg methamphetamines treatment reversed an initial decline in d', and reversed increases in nonresponses (lapses) and tracking error within approximately 3 hr of administration. No evidence that amphetamine treatment increased impulsive responding (fast guesses) was observed. The magnitude of the performance effects of the methamphetamine treatments was similar at 3 hr postadministration. However, the effects of the 5-mg dose were shorter-lived, disappearing by the last testing session (6.5 hr postadministration), whereas effects of the 10-mg dose tended to remain throughout testing. Both amphetamine treatments decreased subjective sleepiness during the night and tended to increase subjective sleep latencies during a post-testing sleep period.     

An Epistemic Approach to Nondeterminism: Believing in the Simplest Course of Events

Studia Logica - This paper describes an approach for reasoning in a dynamic domain with nondeterministic actions in which an agent’s (categorical) beliefs correspond to the simplest, or most...     

Acculturation and mental health: Current findings and recommendations for future research

Results of existing literature suggest that the relationship between acculturation and mental health is complex. Some studies have found a beneficial association between increased acculturation and mental health, whereas others have found a detrimental association or no relationship at all. We reviewed literature on acculturation and mental health in Hispanics/Latino Americans, Asians/Asian Americans, and other ethnic groups. Results indicate that greater acculturation is associated with increased substance use and abuse. Findings for other disorders and symptoms demonstrate considerable heterogeneity and potential reasons for this variation are provided. Acculturation involves a complex set of processes that appear to have differential impact on mental health outcomes. Critical issues in the measurement of acculturation are discussed, and recommendations for future research are offered.     

Adherence to antiretroviral medications in HIV: differences in data collected via self-report and electronic monitoring.

Controversy remains regarding the reliability of methods used to determine adherence to antiretroviral medication in HIV. In this study the authors compared adherence rates of 119 HIV-positive participants during a 6-month study, as estimated via electronic monitoring (EM) and self-report (SR). Adherence for both short (4-day) and long (4-week, or intervisit) periods was examined, as well as factors that underlie discrepancies between EM and SR. Results showed that intervisit EM estimates were consistently lower than those of SR. SR estimates based on shorter periods (4 days) were closer to those of EM. Higher discrepancies between EM and SR estimates were associated with lower cognitive functioning and externalized locus of control. These findings lend support for using both EM and SR methods; however, study design (e.g., length) and other factors (e.g., cognitive status, cost) should be considered.