Potential underlying mechanisms for greater weight gain in massaged preterm infants

In this paper, potential underlying mechanisms for massage therapy effects on preterm infant weight gain are reviewed. Path analyses are presented suggesting that: (1) increased vagal activity was associated with (2) increased gastric motility, which, in turn, was related to (3) greater weight gain; and (4) increased IGF-1 was related to greater weight gain. The change in vagal activity during the massage explained 49% of the variance in the change in gastric activity. And, the change in vagal activity during the massage explained 62% of the variance in the change in insulin. That the change in gastric activity was not related to the change in insulin suggests two parallel pathways via which massage therapy leads to increased weight gain: (1) insulin release via the celiac branch of the vagus; and (2) increased gastric activity via the gastric branch of the vagus.     

Influence of clinical status in the relationship between alexithymia and emotional recognition: a dimensional study

The results of this study are part of an investigation to determine whether the cognitive-emotional process of emotional recognition is deficient as a function of the clinical condition and alexithymia in subjects with somatization. This investigation applied the self-assessment of emotion and used a procedure that minimizes the use of verbal skills and verbal comprehension. The specific goal of this study was to verify whether there were differences in the covariation between alexithymia and self-evaluation of the emotional reaction in clinical and nonclinical subjects. The results of this study highlight the significant differences between clinical and control subjects. There were inverse significant correlations with the affective valence in clinical subjects, whereas in the ratings of the TAS-20 in control subjects, there were direct correlations with activation. In the conclusions, we discuss whether the variability of the results of previous research of the relationship between alexithymia and emotional recognition is a characteristic feature of this relationship or an effect of the different sampling and procedures utilized.     

Prevalence, symptoms and distribution of oppositional defiant disorder

The purpose of this work was to determine the epidemiological evolution of the Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD) in adolescents, using a sample of Secondary School students of the region of Campo de Gibraltar (Cadiz). The students' age ranged from 12 to 16 years old. Two evaluations were completed, the first one during the school year 2001-2002 and the second one in the school year 2006-2007. The sample comprised 2310 students in the first study and 2351 students in the second one. We used a comparative-selective approach. The results of the comparison revealed a prevalence ranging from 3.77% to 3.83% of students with this disorder, maintaining the main symptoms and with some changes in its distribution as a function of the school grade. Indeed, the data showed more cases in the final courses (1st study) in contrast with a higher concentration of cases in the initial courses (2nd study). With regard to the frequency of ODD by sex, we found that whereas in the earlier study (2001-2002), the relationship between boys and girls was 3.5:1, in the school year 2006/2007, the number of boys with ODD quadrupled the number of girls.     

Spanish adaptation of the EAS Temperament Survey for the assessment of child temperament

Better understanding of child temperament is essential, as it may predict subsequent development of psychopathology. Questionnaires which have been adapted to Spanish population include a rather restricted age range. The Emotionality Sociability and Activity (EAS) Temperament Survey has been widely used in child temperament genetic research. A Spanish version of the scale was administered to a sample of 229 mothers and to their children at 18 and 42 months of age. Its psychometric features were examined. Results showed accuracy indices akin to that obtained in prior studies. Findings suggest a three-factor structure for the assessment of temperament.     

Exposure to severe urban air pollution influences cognitive outcomes, brain volume and systemic inflammation in clinically healthy children

Exposure to severe air pollution produces neuroinflammation and structural brain alterations in children. We tested whether patterns of brain growth, cognitive deficits and white matter hyperintensities (WMH) are associated with exposures to severe air pollution. Baseline and 1 year follow-up measurements of global and regional brain MRI volumes, cognitive abilities (Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised, WISC-R), and serum inflammatory mediators were collected in 20 Mexico City (MC) children (10 with white matter hyperintensities, WMH⁺, and 10 without, WMH⁻) and 10 matched controls (CTL) from a low polluted city. There were significant differences in white matter volumes between CTL and MC children - both WMH⁺ and WMH⁻ - in right parietal and bilateral temporal areas. Both WMH⁻ and WMH⁺ MC children showed progressive deficits, compared to CTL children, on the WISC-R Vocabulary and Digit Span subtests. The cognitive deficits in highly exposed children match the localization of the volumetric differences detected over the 1 year follow-up, since the deficits observed are consistent with impairment of parietal and temporal lobe functions. Regardless of the presence of prefrontal WMH, Mexico City children performed more poorly across a variety of cognitive tests, compared to CTL children, thus WMH⁺ is likely only partially identifying underlying white matter pathology. Together these findings reveal that exposure to air pollution may perturb the trajectory of cerebral development and result in cognitive deficits during childhood.     

Psychometric Properties of the Alabama Parenting Questionnaire-Preschool Revision (APQ-Pr) in 3 Year-Old Spanish Preschoolers

Parenting practices should be assessed and taken into account at an early age, since it is well documented that they are strongly related to children’s development. This study provides data on the psychometric properties of a Spanish version of the Alabama Parenting Questionnaire for Preschool children (APQ-Pr). A community sample of 622 (310 boys and 312 girls) 3 year-old children and their parents, participated in the study. Data were obtained from parents’ reports and correspond to a semi-structured diagnostic interview and self-report questionnaires evaluating parenting and children’s psychological states. Confirmatory factor analysis supported a three-factor solution: positive parenting, inconsistent parenting and punitive parenting. These scales scores showed moderate to good internal consistence (omega values ranged from .54 to .86). Inconsistent parenting scores achieved the strongest associations with external measures of psychopathology, especially for externalizing and conduct problems, as well as for functional impairment, the poorest associations being for the positive parenting scores. Results support the validity of the Spanish APQ-Pr, which is potentially a useful measure for the study of parenting practices regarding preschool children and their relation to conduct problems.     

Assessment of Needs in Residential Care: Perspectives of Youth and Professionals

The evaluation and identification of needs profiles for youth in residential care, through qualitative and quantitative methodologies involving different stakeholders, are still relatively uncommon, even though they are essential in developing specific and effective services. This article will present two studies, one with youth and another with professionals. To assess needs from the standpoint of youth, four focus groups were held with youth in residential care (n = 21). To identify needs profiles of youth from the standpoint of professionals, 47 professionals evaluated a sample of youth in residential care (n = 110) using the RCYNA questionnaire. The results of the study with youth point to needs in three main areas: living situation, social and family relationships, and education. The results of the study with professionals reveal three needs profiles with distinct risk levels: low risk, without emerging needs; intermediate risk, with needs in terms of the economic and living situation; and high risk, with needs in terms of relationships, behavioural, psychological and emotional skills, and education and employment.     

Evaluation of Affect in Mexico and Spain: Psychometric Properties and Usefulness of an Abbreviated Version of the Day Reconstruction Method

The aims of the present study were to assess the psychometric properties of the Spanish-language version of the abbreviated Day Reconstruction Method (DRM), and to investigate differences in affective experience in Mexico and Spain. A total of 2,629 adults from Mexico and 4,583 from Spain were interviewed. Information was obtained using an abbreviated version of the DRM, which had been translated into Spanish. Reliability, validity, and the structure of affect were assessed and compared between countries. The diurnal variation of affect, the changes in affect along the life span, time use, and the relationship between affect and socio-demographic characteristics were also analysed. Adequate psychometric properties for the Spanish-language version of the abbreviated DRM were found in both the Mexican and the Spanish samples, and affect tended to improve along the life span in both countries. However, net affect did not have the same distribution function (Kolmogorov–Smirnov statistic = 0.25, p < 0.001) in both countries, being higher in Spain. Moreover, both samples showed opposite patterns in the diurnal variation of affect. The results showed that the Spanish-language version of the DRM is a feasible and valid method to measure affect, its diurnal rhythms, and time use in large-scale surveys.     

Negative parenting and functions of relational aggression: The moderating roles of gender and physiological reactivity

Dimensions of negative parenting, including permissive, authoritarian, and psychologically controlling parenting behaviors, are associated with children's engagement in relational aggression. However, some youth may be more strongly influenced by negative parenting than others, and effects may depend on whether aggression is proactive or reactive in function. In a community sample of 236 preadolescent children followed over 1 year, we examined whether children's skin conductance level reactivity (an index of “fight or flight” response) and gender moderated links between parents' self-reported negative parenting behaviors and increases in children's teacher-reported proactive and reactive relational aggression. Findings indicated that negative parenting predicted increases in proactive and reactive relational aggression, and, consistent with differential susceptibility theory, effects often emerged among highly reactive youth. Associations between negative parenting and proactive relational aggression emerged for boys but not girls. Results tentatively suggest that associations between parenting and aggression vary by the function of aggression, children's physiological reactivity to stress, and gender, although results should be interpreted with caution due to high levels of missing data. Implications for theory and intervention are discussed.