The Children's Firesetting Interview with psychiatrically referred and nonreferred children

This study evaluated the Children's Firesetting Interview (CFI). The measure was developed to operationalize multiple domains of functioning derived from a riskfactor model of firesetting. The model poses that child, parent, and family characteristics promote firesetting and continuation of a pattern of firesetting. Major factors include curiosity about fire, involvement in and exposure to firerelated activities, and knowledge about first safety The CFI, consisting of 46 questions reflecting six a prioridimensions, was administered to 519 children (ages 6–13) recruited from nonpatient, outpatient, and inpatient samples. Internal consistency and testretest reliability of the measure were satisfactory. Criterion validity was supported by the findings that firesetters showed greater curiosity about fire, involvement in firerelated activities, exposure to models/materials, and knowledge about things that burn than did nonfiresetters. These findings did not vary as a function of the child's patient status or level of antisocial behavior. Implications for the evaluation of firesetting risk are discussed.This study was supported by grant MH-39976 from the Antisocial and Violent Behavior Branch of the National Institute of Mental Health and by a Research Scientist Development Award (MH00353) from the National Institute of Mental Health. The authors acknowledge the constructive suggestions of two anonymous reviewers.     

Behavioral correlates of developmental expressive language disorder

The association of behavior problems with preschool language disorders has been documented extensively. However, researchers have typically failed to differentiate subgroups of language-impaired children, to use observational data in documenting the behavior disorders, or to study children at the youngest ages. Using a multimodal assessment, this study examined parent-child interaction and behavior problems in a clearly defined subgroup of language-impaired children, those with developmental expressive language disorder (ELD). These children exhibit a delay in expressive language compared with receptive language and nonverbal cognitive skills. Subjects were identified and studied at the youngest age at which the disorder can be assessed. A group of ELD children, averaging 27 months of age, was contrasted with a group of normally developing children, matched for age, sex, and receptive language ability. Groups were compared on observed parent-child interactions as well as maternal responses on the Parenting Stress Index, the Eyberg Child Behavior Inventory, and a behavior-related structured interview. ELD children, when compared with normally developing children, exhibited higher levels of negative behavior and were perceived as different by their parents.Portions of these data were presented at the biennial meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, Baltimore, April 1987, and at the annual meeting of the Society for Pediatrie Research, Anaheim, California, April 1987. This work has been supported by NIMH grant no. 1 R03 MH41603 to author Fischel, and by NICHD grant no. 1 ROI HD19245 to authors Whitehurst and Fischel. It has also been supported by grants of equipment from Commodore Business Machines, Inc., Koala Corporation, and NEC Telephones. We thank the Department of Pediatrics at the Nassau County Medical Center for the use of their facilities.     

Generativity and Erikson's “belief in the species”

Generativity is the concern for guiding and promoting the next generation through such creative behavior as parenting, teaching, mentoring, leading, and generating products and outcomes that benefit others. Erikson (1963) has argued that in order to be generative in adulthood, people must have a fundamental “belief in the species” or a faith that human progress is possible and worth working toward. The present study focuses on hope and trust concerning the self and others (Erikson's “belief in the species”). In addition, however, the study examines the relation between generativity and personality traits, in this case, dominance, leadership, self-absorption, and nurturance. A sample of 70 adults was administered (1) a series of self-report questionnaires converging on Erikson's idea of belief in the species, (2) a self-report scale assessing generativity, (3) measures of personality traits, and (4) two open-ended measures of generativity requiring subjects to describe life commitments and creative endeavors. The results provide modest support for Erikson's claim of a link between belief in the species and generativity, with significant positive correlations obtained (1) between self-report generativity and two measures of belief in species and (2) between generativity assessed through life commitments and one measure of belief in the species. In addition, the personality trait of nurturance was positively related to all three generativity measures. Problems and issues in the assessment of generativity are discussed.     

Identifying depression in children: A comparison of alternative selection criteria

This study evaluated commonly used methods of identifying depressed children and examined the extent to which the conclusions about correlates of dysfunction vary among different selection criteria. Child psychiatric patients (N=237,ages 7–12) and their parents participated and completed measures to permit identification of depressed children on the basis of three separate criteria, including selfreport scores on the Children's Depression Inventory, parent-reported scores for the same measure, and a DSM-III diagnosis of major depression. The study examined whether depressed and nondepressed children, defined separately by the different criteria, differed in a variety of depression-related symptoms, cognitive processes, and social activity. The results indicated little overlap in the persons identified as depressed on the basis of child-or parent-completed CDI scores or DSM-III diagnosis. Depressed and nondepressed children tended to differ across all domains (depression-related symptoms, cognitive processes, and social activity) for each selection criterion. However, significant differences were evident in these domains only when the selection criterion and other domains were assessed with the same informant (e.g., self-report) and hence shared a common method (rater) component. The findings underscore the potential influence that method factors may have in influencing the conclusions that are drawn regarding the correlates of childhood depression.Completion of this research was supported by a Research Scientist Development Award (MH00353) and by a grant (MH35408) from the National Institute of Mental Health. The author is grateful to Debra Bass, Antoinette Rodgers, and Todd Siegel for assistance with this project.     

Regional cerebral blood flow for singers and nonsingers while speaking, singing, and humming a rote passage

Two groups of singers (n = 12,13) and a group of nonsingers (n = 12) each produced the national anthem by (1) speaking and (2) singing the words and by (3) humming the melody. Regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) was measured at rest and during each phonation task from seven areas in each hemisphere by the 133Xe-inhalation method. Intrahemisphere, interhemisphere, and global rCBF were generally similar across phonation tasks and did not yield appreciable differences among the nonsingers and the singers.     

Can dyslexia be treated? Treatment-specific and generalized treatment effects in dyslexic children's response to remediation

A total of 178 reading disabled children were randomly assigned to one of three treatment conditions providing training in word recognition and decoding skills (DS), oral and written language (OWLS), or classroom survival skills (CSS. an alternative treatment control). Pre- and post-treatment comparisons on an array of standardized and experimental measures indicated that the two experimental treatments (DS, OWLS) resulted in improvement on selected tests significantly greater than that resulting from a third treatment intervention which controlled for treatment time and individual attention (CSS). Effects specific to each experimental treatment were identified, as well as some generalized treatment advantages shared by both experimental groups at post-test. These results indicate that some of the deficits associated with developmental dyslexia are amenable to treatment. Greater generalization of treatment effects was observed following the DS than the OWLS treatment. While DS-instructed children exhibited better word recognition skills, however, their knowledge of grapheme-phoneme correspondence rules was not improved. Several OWLS-specific effects observed on experimental reading and language measures were not replicated on standardized tests which purport to measure the same skills. These results are discussed with respect to (i) possible mechanisms by which disabled readers may acquire word recognition skills, (ii) their failure to acquire and use grapheme-phoneme correspondence rules, and (iii) a possible reduced tendency in the present population to generalize newly acquired specific knowledge to related knowledge domains.     

Psychic phenomena following near-death experiences: An Australian study

This study examines the incidence of reports of psychic phenomena and associated beliefs both before and after the near-death experience (NDE). The near-death experiencers interviewed reported no more psychic phenomena before the NDE than the general population. There was a statistically significant increase following the NDE in the incidence of 14 of 15 items examined.     

Response to commentaries on “A neurobiological model for near-death experiences”

This work has received financial support from FONDECYT (Project 1111-88). The authors also acknowledge the helpful comments of Dr. Bruce Cassels.