Child and family‐related predictors of psychological outcomes in children adopted from abroad; what is the role of caregiver time?

International adoptees need to cope with stressful transitions and to develop secure attachment with their caregivers at the same time. Although most children adopted from abroad adjust fine, they are at increased risk of psychological problems. We investigated whether both child and family‐related factors are associated with later psychological problems and whether the length of time spent at home after adoption before daycare moderates these associations among internationally adopted children in Finland (FinAdo, Finnish Adoption Study). The sample consisted of 1,265 children (708 girls, 557 boys) who arrived in Finland before they started school (mean age 2 years at arrival). Later behavioral problems were measured using the Child Behavior Check List (CBCL). According to our results, male gender, older age, child's early clinical symptoms (problems of sensory processing) and single parenthood were associated with later behavioral problems measured by CBCL scores. Longer stay at home before the start of daycare or school modified these results. Longer stay at home was associated with less later behavioral externalizing problems in girls but not in boys compared to those who spent a shorter time at home.     

Parent Cognitions as Predictors of Child Treatment Response in Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder

Using a subsample of 105 children and their parents (100 mothers, 57 fathers) from the Multimodal Treatment Study of Children with ADHD (the MTA), the value of parents' baseline cognitions as predictors of children's treatment outcome at 14 months was examined. Measures of parents' cognitions about themselves, their ADHD children, and their parenting, as well as a self-report measure of dysfunctional discipline were included. Both mothers' and fathers' self-reported use of dysfunctional discipline predicted worse child treatment outcome. Low self-esteem in mothers, low parenting efficacy in fathers, and fathers' attributions of noncompliance to their ADHD child's insufficient effort and bad mood also were associated with worse child treatment outcome. All of these predictive relations were obtained even after MTA treatment effects had been taken into account. Secondary analyses indicated that mothers had a more external locus of control, lower self-esteem, lower parenting efficacy, and a greater tendency to attribute noncompliance to their ADHD child's bad mood than did fathers.     

Equine Facilitated Therapy with Children and Adolescents Who Have Been Sexually Abused: A Program Evaluation Study

Child sexual abuse (CSA) is a social problem that often inflicts long lasting psychological trauma and leads to psychopathology, behavioural problems and re-victimization. Treating young people who are presenting with the detrimental effects of CSA is often difficult because these effects off-set efforts at establishing a therapeutic bond. Animals have been found to facilitate the development of the therapeutic alliance between client and practitioner and therapies utilizing horses have the added bonus of empowering clients. This study aimed to evaluate an Equine Facilitated Program (EFT) run by Phoenix House, a sexual assault referral centre in Queensland, Australia. Participants were six boys and nine girls (aged 8–11 years) and 15 adolescent girls (aged 12–17 years). All participants provided several measures of data designed to establish levels of psychological distress at three points in time. That is, Time 1—intake into the service; Time 2—following approximately 6 weeks of in-clinic counselling and pre-EFT; and Time 3 post-EFT (9–10 week duration). Significant improvements in functioning were found between Time 2 and Time 3 assessment across all psychometric measures and for both age groups. No, or non-significant, improvements were found between Time 1 and Time 2 assessments. Overall the results show that EFT proved an effective therapeutic approach for the children and adolescents referred to the service. Of particular note was the finding that efficacy was similar across gender, age and Indigenous/non-Indigenous status. Implications of this and suggestions for further research are discussed.     

The Developmental Trajectory of Cancer-Related Cognitive Impairment in Breast Cancer Patients: A Systematic Review of Longitudinal Neuroimaging Studies

Neuropsychology Review - This systematic review explored the neurobiological mechanisms underlying the clinical time course of cancer-related cognitive impairment (CRCI) in breast cancer patients...     

Predictors of anxiety and depression among newly diagnosed people living with HIV: A longitudinal study

This longitudinal study examined whether past resilience and internalized stigma predicted anxiety and depression among newly diagnosed Spanish-speaking people living with HIV (PLWH). We also analyzed whether coping strategies mediated this relationship. Data were collected at two time points from 119 PLWH. Approximately a third of participants had scores indicative of anxiety symptoms, the same result was found for depressive symptoms. Structural equations modeling revealed that 61% of the variance of anxiety and 48% of the variance of depression 8 months after diagnosis was explained by the proposed model, which yielded a good fit to data. Anxiety and depressive symptoms were significantly and negatively predicted by positive thinking, thinking avoidance, and past resilience, and positively predicted by self-blame. Additionally, anxiety was positively predicted by internalized stigma. Past resilience negatively predicted internalized stigma, self-blame, and thinking avoidance and it positively predicted positive thinking. Internalized stigma positively predicted self-blame. Moreover, internalized stigma had a significant indirect effect on anxiety symptoms through self-blame, and past resilience had significant indirect effects on anxiety symptoms and depressive symptoms through internalized stigma and coping. The results point to the need for clinicians and policy makers to conduct systematic assessments and implement interventions to reduce internalized stigma and train people living with HIV to identify and use certain coping behaviors.     

The Social Phobia Inventory: validity and reliability in an adolescent community sample

Social anxiety disorder and social anxiety are highly prevalent psychological conditions in youth. Because of the known risks associated with the spectrum of social anxiety in youth, early detection with valid and reliable assessment measures is imperative. Self-report measures have become the most widely used method of assessment for child and adolescent social anxiety. Because research to date on self-report measures of social anxiety disorder in adolescents is limited, the primary objective of the present study was to contribute to the literature by examining the validity and reliability of a new self-report measure, the Social Phobia Inventory (SPIN), in a community sample of adolescents. The SPIN is a 17-item measure purported to assess the full spectrum of social anxiety disorder symptomatology. Previously, psychometric research on the SPIN in adult populations has demonstrated its validity and reliability. In the current psychometric examination, results revealed strong support for the temporal stability, internal consistency, and construct validity of the SPIN, suggesting it is an appropriate screening measure for the assessment of social anxiety disorder in adolescents.     

Feasibility of telecognitive assessment in dementia

Videoconferencing (VC) technology has been used successfully to provide psychiatric services to patients in rural and otherwise underserved settings. VC-based diagnostic interviewing has shown good agreement with conventional face-to-face diagnosis of dementia in several investigations, but extension of this technology to neurocognitive assessment has received little attention. To this end, the authors administered a brief battery of common neuropsychological tests via VC technology (telecognitive) and traditional face-to-face methods to 14 older persons with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and 19 persons with mild to moderate Alzheimer's disease (AD). Highly similar test scores were obtained when participants were tested in-person or via VC. Telecognitive assessment appears to be a valid means to conduct neuropsychological evaluation of older adults with cognitive impairment. Furthermore, continued development of VC technology has implications for expanding neuropsychological assessment options in under-served populations.     

Amnesic effect of GMP depends on its conversion to guanosine

Extracellular guanine-based purines, namely the nucleotides GTP, GDP, GMP and the nucleoside guanosine, exert important neuroprotective and neuromodulator roles in the central nervous system, which may be related to inhibition of the glutamatergic neurotransmission activity. In this study, we investigated GMP effects on mice inhibitory avoidance performance and the dependence on its conversion to guanosine for such effect, by using the ecto-5'-nucleotidase specific inhibitor AOPCP. We also investigated if this conversion occurs in the central nervous system or peripherally, and if guanosine and GMP affect nociception by the tail-flick test. I.p. GMP or guanosine (7.5 mg/kg) or i.c.v. GMP (480 nmol) pretraining administration was amnesic for the inhibitory avoidance task. I.c.v. AOPCP (1 nmol) administration completely reversed the amnesic effect of i.c.v. GMP, but not of i.p. GMP, indicating that peripheral conversion of GMP to guanosine is probably relevant to this effect. AOPCP alone did not interfere with the performance. Furthermore, tail-flick measurement was unaffected by i.p. GMP and guanosine, suggesting that the amnesic effect of both purines was not due to some antinociceptive effect against the footshock used in the task. All these data together, in accordance to those previously observed in studies involving glutamate uptake and seizures reinforce the idea that guanosine is the specific extracellular guanine-based purines effector and indicate that its conversion occurs not only in the central nervous system but also peripherally.     

Performance and Private Speech of Children with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder While Taking the Tower of Hanoi Test: Effects of Depth of Search,Diagnostic Subtype,and Methylphenidate

We administered the Tower of Hanoi to demographically comparable samples of control participants (n = 34) and children with the Combined (n = 22) and Inattentive subtypes (n = 19) of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Controls excelled over children with the Inattentive subtype, who outperformed patients with the Combined subtype. These results replicated findings of greater executive deficits in the Combined than in the Inattentive type of ADHD. Double-blind administration of methylphenidate improved task performance only for patients with the Inattentive subtype. In a drug-free Baseline session, children with both subtypes of ADHD made more private verbalizations than controls, particularly when failing puzzles. In later sessions, regardless of drug condition, the inattentive sample exhibited a smaller increase in self-regulatory utterances under failure. In contrast, the combined sample decreased self-regulatory verbalizations under failure only under methylphenidate. The results support some differences between the two subtypes of ADHD in executive functioning and in their response to stimulant therapy. Portions of these results were submitted as part of H. Theresa Chang's PhD dissertation (Chang, 2000) and Helena Kopecky's unpublished master's research, both conducted at the University of Rochester and supervised by Rafael Klorman.     

Observed classroom behavior of children with ADHD: relationship to gender and comorbidity

Examined hypothesized gender and comorbidity differences in the observed classroom behavior of children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The behavior of 403 boys and 99 girls with ADHD, ages 7–10, was compared (a) to observed, sex-specific classroom behavior norms, (b) by sex, and (c) by comorbid subgroups. Boys and girls with ADHD deviated significantly from classroom norms on 15/16 and 13/16 categories, respectively. Compared to comparison girls, girls with ADHD had relatively high rates of verbal aggression to children. Boys with ADHD engaged in more rule-breaking and externalizing behaviors than did girls with ADHD, but the sexes did not differ on more neutral, unobtrusive behaviors. The sex differences are consistent with notions of why girls with ADHD are identified and referred later than boys. Contrary to hypothesis, the presence of comorbid anxiety disorder (ANX) was not associated with behavioral suppression; yet, as hypothesized, children with a comorbid disruptive behavior disorder (DBD) had higher rates of rule-breaking, and impulsive and aggressive behavior, than did children with ADHD alone and those with ADHD+ANX. Elevated rates of ADHD behaviors were also observed in children with comorbid DBD, indicating that these behaviors are truly present and suggesting that reports of higher ADHD ratings in this subgroup are not simply a consequence of negative halo effects and rater biases.