ORCID Profile
0000-0002-2900-1715
Current Organisation
University of Sydney
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Research Topics
In Research Link Australia (RLA), "Research Topics" refer to ANZSRC FOR and SEO codes. These topics are either sourced from ANZSRC FOR and SEO codes listed in researchers' related grants or generated by a large language model (LLM) based on their publications.
Top 5 Research Topics
ANZSRC Field of Research (FoR)
Psychology | Public Health and Health Services | Health, Clinical And Counselling Psychology | Mental Health | Community Child Health | Biological Psychology (Neuropsychology, Psychopharmacology, Physiological Psychology) | Mental Health | Biological Psychology (Neuropsychology, Psychopharmacology, | Learning, Memory, Cognition And Language | Developmental Psychology And Ageing | Social And Community Psychology | Developmental Psychology and Ageing | Psychiatry | Sensory Processes, Perception and Performance
ANZSRC Socio-Economic Objective (SEO)
Child Health | Mental Health | Child health | Mental health | Mental Health Services | Expanding Knowledge in Psychology and Cognitive Sciences | Rural health | Expanding Knowledge in the Medical and Health Sciences | Behaviour and Health | Clinical health not specific to particular organs, diseases and conditions | Health Status (e.g. Indicators of Well-Being) |
Related Links
Publications
Callous-Unemotional Traits and the Treatment of Conduct Problems in Childhood and Adolescence: A Comprehensive Review
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 19-04-2014
DOI: 10.1007/S10567-014-0167-1
Abstract: The treatment of conduct problems among children and adolescents with callous-unemotional (CU) traits has been subject to much speculation however, treatment outcome research has been surprisingly limited and findings have been mixed. This review examines the research to date in this field as it pertains to two key questions. First, are CU traits associated with clinical outcomes and processes in the family based treatment of child and adolescent conduct problems? Second, can family based intervention produce change in CU traits? Using a systematic search strategy, we identified 16 treatment outcomes studies that can be brought to bear on these questions. These studies provide strong evidence of unique associations between CU traits and risk for poor treatment outcomes, while at the same time indicating that social-learning-based parent training is capable of producing lasting improvement in CU traits, particularly when delivered early in childhood. We discuss the potential for this emerging evidence base to inform the planning and delivery of treatments for clinic-referred children with CU traits, and detail an ongoing program of translational research into the development of novel interventions for this high-risk subgroup.
Families and the Origins of Child Behavior Problems
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 09-1987
DOI: 10.1111/J.1545-5300.1987.00341.X
Abstract: This article reviews recent research into the relationship between family variables and child behavior. Although a ersity of factors may be associated with the development and maintenance of conduct/oppositional disorders in children, of primary importance are the moment-to-moment interactions that the child has with his or her primary caregivers. These are often marked by coercive, aggressive behaviors that may be functional for parents and children within the family system. However, the likelihood that parents will engage in coercive interactions with the child is also related to the latter's personal adjustment, which, in turn, is often dependent upon the parents' perceptions of the quality of marital and social support available to them. The goal for clinicians working with families of oppositional/conduct-disordered children is to retain the demonstrated efficacy of direct intervention into parent-child interactions while developing methods of assessment and treatment that attend to broader family variables, for ex le, marital disorder, interfering in-laws, and social isolation that may be functionally related to the occurrence of coercive parent-child interactions.
Can reciprocated parent–child eye gaze and emotional engagement enhance treatment for children with conduct problems and callous-unemotional traits: a proof-of-concept trial
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 30-01-2019
DOI: 10.1111/JCPP.13023
Abstract: High levels of callous-unemotional (CU) traits are associated with reduced effectiveness of parenting programmes for children with conduct problems. This may be due to low levels of emotional engagement (EE) by these children with their parents. We evaluate a theoretically driven strategy for improving emotional engagement in high CU traits children undergoing a parenting intervention (parent management training PMT) for child conduct problems. N = 40, 3- to 8-year-old children referred for conduct problems and showing stable, high levels of CU traits, were randomised to receive PMT+Emotional Engagement (EE), or the control condition PMT+Child Centred Play (CCP). A benchmarking s le of N = 70 children who received PMT only was also included. Observational coding of the parent-child interactions targeted by EE and CCP respectively was repeated throughout treatment and follow-up. Emotional engagement produced unique improvements in parent-child emotional engagement (shared eye gaze) however, these reverted to baseline levels after treatment. CCP produced unique improvements in parents' child centeredness and child positive play, but by post-treatment, all children had improved on these factors. Both interventions produced similar improvements in general parental warmth. Reductions in severity of conduct problems at post-treatment and follow-up were large in size and did not differ between conditions or from the benchmarking group. Levels of CU traits reduced significantly but again did not differ between groups. The putative mechanism of emotional engagement through reciprocated eye gaze proved to be impervious to sustained change, and thus failed to have a specific impact of conduct problems or levels of CU traits. The development of novel treatment approaches to children with high levels of CU is a challenging endeavour, and these results indicate that focussing on children with stable levels at pretreatment should be a priority.
Outcomes, moderators, and mediators of empathic-emotion recognition training for complex conduct problems in childhood
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 10-2012
DOI: 10.1016/J.PSYCHRES.2012.04.033
Abstract: Impairments in emotion recognition skills are a trans-diagnostic indicator of early mental health problems and may be responsive to intervention. We report on a randomized controlled trial of "Emotion-recognition-training" (ERT) versus treatment-as-usual (TAU) with N=195 mixed diagnostic children (mean age 10.52 years) referred for behavioral/emotional problems measured at pre- and 6 months post-treatment. We tested overall outcomes plus moderation and mediation models, whereby diagnostic profile was tested as a moderator of change. ERT had no impact on the group as a whole. Diagnostic status of the child did not moderate outcomes however, levels of callous-unemotional (CU) traits moderated outcomes such that children with high CU traits responded less well to TAU, while ERT produced significant improvements in affective empathy and conduct problems in these children. Emotion recognition training has potential as an adjunctive intervention specifically for clinically referred children with high CU traits, regardless of their diagnostic status.
Reliability and validity of parent and child versions of the multidimensional anxiety scale for children in community samples
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 02-2007
Childhood Depression and Conduct Disorder: I. Behavioral, Affective, and Cognitive Aspects of Family Problem-Solving Interactions
Publisher: American Psychological Association (APA)
Date: 08-1992
Parental anxiety in the treatment of childhood anxiety: A different story three years later
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 29-04-2010
DOI: 10.1080/15374411003691719
Abstract: This study reports on the results of a long-term follow-up of 60 (29 girls and 31 boys, all of Caucasian ethnicity) children and adolescents diagnosed with an anxiety disorder and treated 3 years earlier with child-focused cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) or child-focused CBT plus parental anxiety management (PAM). Sixty-seven children aged 7 to --14 years were assigned to either the "child anxiety only" or the "child + parental anxiety" condition based on parents' trait anxiety scores. Within conditions, participants were randomly assigned to one of the two treatment conditions. Results indicated that at follow-up, parental anxiety did not represent a risk factor for children's treatment outcome. In addition at follow-up, children who received the combined CBT + PAM intervention (regardless of parental anxiety status) were significantly more likely to be anxiety diagnosis free compared with children who received the child-focused CBT intervention only.
Personal and family distress in homeless adolescents
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 10-1993
DOI: 10.1007/BF00754409
Developmental Links between Cruelty to Animals and Human Violence
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 12-2002
Abstract: Reviews evidence for the significance of childhood cruelty to animals as a predictor of later violence toward humans. Moves are underway in the United States (US) and Britain to encourage communication and cross-fertilisation between animal welfare and child protection and crime prevention services. Literature on healthy versus deviant child-pet interactions is reviewed, with particular regard to the prediction of later violence. Assessment and definitional issues are addressed. The discussion culminates with a summary of substantive findings and the identification of several research designs that are needed to clarify the potential of early identification and remediation of child cruelty to animals as a mental health promotion and violence prevention strategy.
Nausea induced by mental images of chemotherapy
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 15-07-1993
DOI: 10.1002/1097-0142(19930715)72:2<629::AID-CNCR2820720249>3.0.CO;2-7
Abstract: Although anecdotal reports indicate that patients with cancer undergoing chemotherapy can become nauseated outside the chemotherapy clinic when they think or talk about treatment, this phenomenon has not been investigated systematically. A series of experimental analyses with in idual patients was conducted to explore the possibility that mental images of chemotherapy can elicit nausea in patients who, during the course of their treatment, experienced nausea in anticipation of chemotherapy infusions. Occurrence and intensity of nausea were examined in each patient in response to three imagery scenes: pastoral, a nonchemotherapy medical procedure, and chemotherapy. Eight of 10 patients with clinically documented histories of anticipatory nausea to clinic stimuli experienced nausea when they imagined chemotherapy. They did not become nauseated when they imagined non-chemotherapy medical procedures. For the four patients without prior anticipatory nausea, imaginal reexposure to chemotherapy did not elicit nausea. Results provide evidence that mental images of chemotherapy elicit nausea in patients with histories of anticipatory nausea and suggest that cognitive factors may play a more important role in the occurrence of chemotherapy side effects than previously recognized.
The Construct Validity of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire for Aboriginal Children Living in Urban New South Wales, Australia
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 06-2014
DOI: 10.1111/AP.12045
Cortisol, callous-unemotional traits, and pathways to antisocial behavior
Publisher: Ovid Technologies (Wolters Kluwer Health)
Date: 07-2009
Toward Father‐friendly Parenting Interventions: A Qualitative Study
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 06-2018
DOI: 10.1002/ANZF.1307
Prevention of anxiety disorders: Results of a universal trial with young children
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 15-08-2008
Treatment participation among children with conduct problems and the role of telephone reminders
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 13-01-2007
Development and Psychometric Evaluation of the Father Engagement Questionnaire
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 20-07-2018
Stability and malleability of callous-unemotional traits during treatment for childhood conduct problems
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 17-07-2007
DOI: 10.1080/15374410701444298
Abstract: This study examined stability and malleability in the callous-unemotional (CU) traits of young boys (M age = 6.29 years, SD = 1.55) referred to clinics with conduct problems who underwent a parent-training intervention. In contrast to the high stability predicted, CU scores dropped posttreatment for a subset of the s le. However, as hypothesized, posttreatment and 6-month follow-up measures of CU traits and general conduct problems were predicted by different variables. Post hoc analyses of cases grouped according to pattern of CU stability indicated that boys with the most stable high CU traits showed the poorest outcomes at follow-up.
Cognitive-Behavioral Treatment of Recurrent Nonspecific Abdominal Pain in Children: An Analysis of Generalization, Maintenance, and Side Effects
Publisher: American Psychological Association (APA)
Date: 1989
Practitioner Review: Parenting interventions for child conduct problems: reconceptualising resistance to change
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 04-02-2021
DOI: 10.1111/JCPP.13378
Abstract: Parenting interventions based on social learning theory have received extensive empirical support in the treatment of child conduct problems yet, they fail to produce lasting gains in as many as a third of cases. Perspectives on these poor outcomes have been informed by numerous lines of research, and practitioner recommendations for improving such outcomes have often emphasized processes related to clinical engagement. In this Practitioner Review, we examine recent theory and evidence pertaining to these processes, including emerging research into the therapeutic relationship across face‐to‐face and eHealth treatment modalities, and the clinical engagement of both mothers and fathers. The concept of resistance to change is examined in light of these developments, and it is argued that the process of overcoming such resistance can be characterized as one of reflective practice. A novel process model based on this perspective is presented, comprising practical clinical strategies that are designed to be initiated from the earliest contacts with a family and build on one another across treatment.
Gaze categorization under uncertainty: Psychophysics and modeling
Publisher: Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO)
Date: 22-04-2013
DOI: 10.1167/13.5.18
Abstract: The accurate perception of another person's gaze direction underlies most social interactions and provides important information about his or her future intentions. As a first step to measuring gaze perception, most experiments determine the range of gaze directions that observers judge as being direct: the cone of direct gaze. This measurement has revealed the flexibility of observers' perception of gaze and provides a useful benchmark against which to test clinical populations with abnormal gaze behavior. Here, we manipulated effective signal strength by adding noise to the eyes of synthetic face stimuli or removing face information. We sought to move beyond a descriptive account of gaze categorization by fitting a model to the data that relies on changing the uncertainty associated with an estimate of gaze direction as a function of the signal strength. This model accounts for all the data and provides useful insight into the visual processes underlying normal gaze perception.
When individual child psychotherapy exacerbates family systems problems in child abuse cases: A clinical analysis
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 04-1997
Abstract: Children who have suffered physical or sexual abuse are as vulnerable as adult trauma victims to experience `secondary trauma', in which the reactions of the family or broader system exacerbate the child's difficulties. Three clinical cases are presented that suggest that this secondary trauma can be made worse by either excessive or insufficient provision of in idual child psychotherapy, and the way the system interprets and reacts to these clinical decisions. Types of secondary trauma and their interactions with clinical decisions are discussed. Ways of framing clinical decisions to minimize the potential secondary trauma are presented.
Optimising child outcomes from parenting interventions: fathers’ experiences, preferences and barriers to participation
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 07-06-2017
Attachment and Coercive Sexual Behavior
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 2000
DOI: 10.1177/107906320001200102
Abstract: This study examined the relationships between childhood attachment and coercive sexual behavior. One hundred sixty-two male undergraduate students completed self-report measures of childhood maternal attachment, childhood paternal attachment, adult attachment, antisociality, aggression, and coercive sexual behavior. As predicted, insecure childhood attachment, especially insecure paternal attachment, was associated with antisociality, aggression, and coercive sexual behavior. Moreover, childhood attachment independently predicted coercive sexual behavior after antisociality and aggression were statistically controlled. The hypothesis that paternal avoidant attachment would predict coercive sexual behavior independently of its relationship with aggression and antisociality was also supported. Posthoc analysis indicated that maternal anxious attachment was associated with antisociality and that paternal avoidant attachment was associated with both antisociality and coercive sexual behavior. These results are consistent with criminological and psychological research linking adverse early family experiences with offending and lend support to an attachment-theoretical framework for understanding offending behavior in general and sexual offending behavior in particular.
Social Support and Treatment Outcome in Behavioral Family Therapy for Child Conduct Problems
Publisher: American Psychological Association (APA)
Date: 1992
Conduct and Oppositional Defiant Disorders
Publisher: Routledge
Date: 20-06-2003
A brief parent-focused intervention reduces anxiety disorders in socially inhibited children
Publisher: BMJ
Date: 13-03-2011
DOI: 10.1136/EBMH1154
Aggression in young children with concurrent callous-unemotional traits: Can the neurosciences inform progress and innovation in treatment approaches?
Publisher: The Royal Society
Date: 23-04-2008
Abstract: Parenting is the ‘clean water’ of healthy psychological development and parenting interventions remain the number one treatment at the in idual and community levels for early-onset aggression and antisocial behaviour in children. However, recent progress in child psychopathology research is specifying a number of biological mechanisms that interact with environmental risk to influence pathways into aggression and antisocial behaviour. After a brief review of the parent training literature, we focus on child factors, especially callous–unemotional traits, that parse ‘aggressive’ children into more homogeneous groupings, and then review selected ideas about the origins of aggression coming from the neurosciences (such as neurobehavioural responsivity to emotional stimuli hypothalamic–pituitary axis abnormalities influencing low cortisol and low serotonin production). We review human and, where relevant, animal models of neurobiological system changes with particular attention to developmental timing and interactions with environmental factors, especially parenting. Based on this innovative research, we then discuss a number of ideas that hold potential for interventions. We conclude that the future will see the development of interventions that aim for synergy between specific biological processes and psychological experiences as they unfold developmentally. The use of d -cycloserine in fear extinction and oxytocin in affiliative bonds is used as an ex le of these futuristic approaches.
Body weight attributions and eating self-efficacy in adolescence
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 1991
DOI: 10.1016/0306-4603(91)90042-G
Abstract: In an attempt to find an optimum age during adolescence to target weight control programs successfully, 189 adolescents were surveyed using measures of eating self-efficacy and body-weight attributions. The sensitivity of the attribution measures was assessed in a pilot study using 100 adolescents. The major experiment indicated higher levels of eating control at 12 and 13 years of age, decreasing with age. However, the locus of control measure indicated an increase in internal attributions with age. It is argued that this paradox between degree of control subjects reported over their eating and the degree subjects believed their body weight to be controlled internally may have important clinical implications and should be investigated further.
A randomized controlled trial of D-cycloserine enhancement of exposure therapy for social anxiety disorder
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 03-2008
DOI: 10.1016/J.BIOPSYCH.2007.11.011
Abstract: Pilot research has suggested that D-cycloserine (DCS) enhances treatment outcomes for anxiety disorders when employed as an adjunct to exposure therapy (ET). The aim of this study was to determine whether 50 mg of DCS enhances ET for social anxiety disorder (SAD) according to a comprehensive set of symptom and life impairment measures. In a randomized double-blind placebo-controlled trial, we administered 50 mg of DCS or placebo in combination with ET to 56 participants who met primary diagnosis for SAD. Participants administered DCS reported greater improvement on measures of symptom severity, dysfunctional cognitions, and life-impairment from SAD in comparison with placebo-treated participants. Effect sizes were mostly in the medium range. Results also indicated that the amount of adaptive learning about one's ability to give speeches in front of an audience interacted with DCS to enhance treatment outcome. This study shows that the administration of DCS before ET enhances treatment outcomes for SAD. Results also provide the first preliminary evidence to suggest that DCS moderates the relationship between a reduction in negative appraisals about one's speech performance and improvement in overall SAD symptoms.
Individual Differences in Childhood Behavior Disorders Associated With Epigenetic Modulation of the Cortisol Receptor Gene
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 07-07-2015
DOI: 10.1111/CDEV.12391
Abstract: Behavioral/emotional difficulties in children are the first sign of mental health problems. These problems are however, heterogeneous. A domain that may identify homogenous subgroups is hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal function. This study tested whether epigenetic regulation of glucocorticoid receptor gene could explain the co-occurrence of anxiety problems in children with behavior problems. Four- to 16-year-old clinically referred children (N = 241) were measured for psychiatric symptoms, methylation of target CpG sites in blood or saliva, and morning cortisol levels in those who gave blood. Increased methylation of promoter 1F CpG sites was associated with higher vulnerability to co-occurring internalizing symptoms and morning cortisol. The results support increasing optimism that epigenetic regulation of key neuroendocrine systems might help explain hitherto unfathomable in idual differences in susceptibility to psychiatric symptom profiles.
Stimulant side effects: Prefrontal/basal ganglia circuit control at dopamine D1/D2 receptors
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 14-01-2014
Abstract: While side effects of stimulant medication used to treat children for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder have been clinically described as mild but variable, there is little or no research or understanding of biological mechanisms involved. The present short review extends the ‘tonic-phasic’ dopamine hypothesis in terms of prefrontal and subcortical dopamine receptor (D1/D2) imbalance. The minor allele of the dopamine D1 receptor predicts the ‘zombie-like’ motor side effect clinically described in some children treated with stimulant medications. Stimulant side effects may be best understood as reflecting imbalance in parallel cortico-thalamic-striatal circuits, and motor side effects as a result of prefrontal D1/D2 imbalance allowing greater motor inhibitory effects at subcortical D2 receptors. This is a variation of the ‘tonic-phasic’ hypothesis, which takes D1 allelic variation into account.
Learning to ‘talk the talk’: the relationship of psychopathic traits to deficits in empathy across childhood
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 21-04-2009
DOI: 10.1111/J.1469-7610.2008.02058.X
Abstract: Psychopathy is characterised by profound deficits in the human tendency to feel and care about what other people feel, often known as 'affective empathy'. On the other hand, the psychopath often has intact 'cognitive' empathy skills, that is, he is able to describe what and why other people feel, even if he does not share or care about those feelings. Despite a rapidly advancing neuroscience of empathy, little is known about the developmental underpinnings of this psychopathic disconnect between affective and cognitive empathy. The parents of N = 2760, 3-13-year-olds reported on the levels of empathy, callous-unemotional traits (CU), and antisocial behaviour (AB). Consistent with current theory and measurement practice, an index of 'psychopathic traits' was derived from the CU and AB measures. There are important gender and developmental differences in empathy deficits related to psychopathic traits. As expected, psychopathy is associated with severe deficits in affective empathy across all ages for males however, no such deficits were found for females. Contrary to adult findings, psychopathic traits are associated with deficits in cognitive empathy in childhood for both sexes however, males with high psychopathic traits appear to overcome these deficits in cognitive empathy as they move through the pubertal years. In contrast to cognitive empathy, low affective empathy does not appear to be associated with psychopathic traits in females. The characteristic disconnect between cognitive and affective empathy seen in adult male psychopathy crystallises in the pubertal years when they appear to learn to 'talk the talk' about other people's emotions, despite suffering severe deficits in their emotional connection (affective empathy) to others.
Family enhancement of cognitive style in anxious and aggressive children
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 04-1996
DOI: 10.1007/BF01441484
Abstract: This a case report of a 40-year-old male with left knee dislocation Type III and associated peroneal nerve palsy underwent delayed allograft reconstruction of his multiligament knee injury (MKI) with Internal Brace augmentation. The patient returned to work at 6 months postoperatively. He then fell and sustained a displaced supracondylar left femur fracture at the site of the internal brace augmentation of his lateral collateral ligament (LCL) reconstruction for which he underwent placement of a retrograde femoral nail. At 2 years of follow-up the patient had no evidence of knee instability. Level of evidence: V.
Assessing parenting practices through parent-report and direct observation during parent-training
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 20-05-2006
Sleep deprivation or postnatal depression in later infancy: Separating the chicken from the egg
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 06-1998
DOI: 10.1046/J.1440-1754.1998.00213.X
Abstract: To explore the association between maternal distress and depression in the first years of a newborn's life and the child's sleeping behaviour and problems associated with this behaviour. To asses the effectiveness of an outpatient-based in idualised behaviour modification programme to modify children's sleep behaviour and to decrease levels of maternal distress and depression. Families were referred to an outpatient childhood sleep problems clinic. Intervention consisted of an in idualised management programme including recognised modes of child sleep behaviour management ('controlled crying', 'cold turkey,' rewards) together with occasional use of short-term (less than 2 weeks) tapering dose sedating medication for the child. Two months after the initial contact with the clinic, families completed a second questionnaire collating similar data to that collected at time of enrolment. A total of 114 consecutive families referred to the clinic provided initial data. Follow-up questionnaires were returned by 70 (61%). Significant change was recorded in children's sleep parameters including reduction in mean number of night time awakenings (4.1-1.3, P < 0.001), proportion of children requiring longer than 30 min to settle at night (49% to 21%, P < 0.01) and in the proportion of children settling after 8 pm (51% to 33%, P < 0.01). Sleep problem rating on a 0-10 scale decreased from a mean of 8.1-3.1 (P < 0.001). On initial assessment, 40% of mothers had Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPNDS) scores greater than 12 (screening cut-off point). At repeat assessment, 4.3% had scores greater than 12. The mean score on the EPNDS fell from 11.2 to 5.8 (P < 0.001). An outpatient-based in idualised approach to modifying children's problematic sleep behaviour using recognised behaviour management techniques is effective. Modification of problematic childhood sleep behaviour is associated with significant improvement in maternal mood. Given the high incidence of childhood sleep problem and diagnosed postnatal depression, it is likely significant numbers of mothers being diagnosed as having postnatal depression are suffering the effects of chronic sleep deprivation. Management of postnatal mood disorder and childhood sleep behaviour must occur with due recognition to their close association.
Differentiating Autism Spectrum Disorder and Overlapping Psychopathology with a Brief Version of the Social Responsiveness Scale
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 07-03-2014
DOI: 10.1007/S10578-014-0456-4
Abstract: The Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS) is a well-established measure of autism spectrum disorder (ASD), yet it is known to suffer reduced specificity in s les of children with comorbid emotional or behavioural problems. This research examined the specificity of the SRS in children with mixed presentations of internalising and externalising psychopathology and ASD. Participants were 522 (397 male) children aged between 4 and 16 years. The associations between SRS total scores and diagnoses were determined using partial correlations and analyses of variance. A subs le of participants with a single diagnosis was used to identify a subset of questions that distinguished between ASD and all other diagnoses. These items were used to create the 16-item SRS-brief. The SRS was found to have good reliability and sensitivity but poor specificity. The SRS-brief had good psychometric properties and was found to be a more accurate tool for the screening of ASD than the original SRS.
An examination of the differential relationship of marital discord to parents' discipline strategies for boys and girls
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 04-1990
DOI: 10.1007/BF00910725
Child behavior therapy and family context: Research and clinical practice with maritally distressed families
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 28-05-1989
Preventing childhood anxiety disorders
Publisher: Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Date: 12-1996
DOI: 10.1017/S081348390000485X
Abstract: Although much has been written about the need for prevention of anxiety disorders in children, there has been a marked absence of empirical research to evaluate the effectiveness of such programs. This paper suggests that there is now sufficient evidence to identify risk and protective factors for the development of childhood anxiety disorders. Early childhood temperament, negative life events, and children's coping styles are suggested to play a significant role. Acting in association with these variables are parental behaviours that serve to model, prompt, and reinforce anxious behaviour and emphasise the threatening nature of events. Our knowledge of these causal variables enables us to identify children at risk for the development of anxiety problems and highlights variables that should be targets of change in prevention programs. Indicated prevention is designed to disrupt the trajectory towards the development of clinical levels of psychological disorder. This paper describes an “indicated” preventive program for children identified as being at risk for the development of anxiety disorders given evidence of mild anxious symptomatology.
Neural responses to fearful eyes in children with conduct problems and varying levels of callous–unemotional traits
Publisher: Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Date: 19-03-2013
DOI: 10.1017/S0033291713000482
Abstract: Children with conduct problems (CP) are a heterogeneous group. Those with high levels of callous–unemotional traits (CP/HCU) appear emotionally under-reactive at behavioural and neural levels whereas those with low levels of CU traits (CP/LCU) appear emotionally over-reactive, compared with typically developing (TD) controls. Investigating the degree to which these patterns of emotional reactivity are malleable may have important translational implications. Instructing participants with CP/HCU to focus on the eyes of fearful faces (i.e. the most salient feature) can ameliorate their fear-recognition deficits, but it is unknown whether this is mediated by amygdala response. It is also unknown whether focusing on fearful eyes is associated with increased amygdala reactivity in CP/LCU. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to measure neural responses to fearful and calm faces in children with CP/HCU, CP/LCU and TD controls ( n = 17 per group). On half of trials participants looked for a blue dot anywhere within target faces on the other half, participants were directed to focus on the eye region. Reaction time (RT) data showed that CP/LCU were selectively slowed in the fear/eyes condition. For the same condition, CP/LCU also showed increased amygdala and subgenual anterior cingulate cortex (sgACC)/orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) responses compared with TD controls. RT and amygdala response to fear/eyes were correlated in CP/LCU only. No effects of focusing on the eye region were observed in CP/HCU. These data extend the evidence base suggesting that CU traits index meaningful heterogeneity in conduct problems. Focusing on regulating reactive emotional responses may be a fruitful strategy for children with CP/LCU.
Ocean Initialization for Seasonal Forecasts
Publisher: The Oceanography Society
Date: 09-2009
Soapbox: Adolescent depression and the family: A paradox
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 04-1997
Keeping Parents Involved: Predicting Attrition in a Self-Directed, Online Program for Childhood Conduct Problems
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 08-2018
DOI: 10.1080/15374416.2018.1485109
Abstract: Positive parenting programs have a strong evidence base for improving parent-child relationships, strengthening families, and reducing childhood behavior disturbances. Their reach is less than optimal however, with only a minority of families in need of help participating. Father involvement is particularly low. Online, self-directed programs have the potential to improve participation rates. This article examines risk factors for dropout/attrition from a free, evidence-based, self-directed, father-inclusive parenting program, Parentworks, which was made available across Australia. Parents (
Practitioner review: When parent training doesn't work: Theory-driven clinical strategies
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 05-11-2009
DOI: 10.1111/J.1469-7610.2009.02161.X
Abstract: Improving the parent-child relationship by using strategies based on social learning theory has become the cornerstone for the treatment of conduct problems in children. Over the past 40 years, interventions have expanded greatly from small, experimental procedures to substantial, systematic programmes that provide clear guidelines in detailed manuals on how practitioners should implement the standardised treatments. They are now widely disseminated and there is a great deal of empirical support that they are very effective for the majority of cases. However, evaluations of even the best of these evidence-based programmes show that a quarter to a third of families and their children do not benefit. What does the practitioner then do, when a standard social learning approach, diligently applied, doesn't work? We argue that under these circumstances, some of the major theories of child development, family functioning and in idual psychology can help the skilled practitioner think his or her way through complex clinical situations. This paper describes a set of practical strategies that can then be flexibly applied, based on a systematic theoretical analysis. We hold that social learning theory remains the core of effective parent training interventions, but that ideas from attachment theory, structural family systems theory, cognitive-attribution theory, and shared empowerment/motivational interviewing can each, according to the nature of the difficulty, greatly enrich the practitioner's ability to help bring about change in families who are stuck. We summarise each of these models and present practical ex les of when and how they may help the clinician plan treatment.
Family intervention for adolescents with suicidal behavior: A randomized controlled trial and mediation analysis
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 08-2013
DOI: 10.1016/J.JAAC.2013.05.015
Abstract: Family processes are a risk factor for suicide but few studies target this domain. We evaluated the effectiveness of a family intervention, the Resourceful Adolescent Parent Program (RAP-P) in reducing adolescent suicidal behavior and associated psychiatric symptoms. A preliminary randomized controlled trial compared RAP-P plus Routine Care (RC) to RC only, in an outpatient psychiatric clinic for N = 48 suicidal adolescents and their parents. Key outcome measures of adolescent suicidality, psychiatric disability, and family functioning were completed at pre-treatment, 3-month, and 6-month follow-up. RAP-P was associated with high recruitment and retention, greater improvement in family functioning, and greater reductions in adolescents' suicidal behavior and psychiatric disability, compared to RC alone. Benefits were maintained at follow-up with a strong overall effect size. Changes in adolescent's suicidality were largely mediated by changes in family functioning. The study provides preliminary evidence for the use of family-focused treatments for adolescent suicidal behavior in outpatient settings. Clinical trial registration information-Family intervention for adolescents with suicidal behaviour: A randomized controlled trial and mediation analysis anzctr.org/ ACTRN12613000668707.
Can emotional language skills be taught during parent training for conduct problem children?
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 17-04-2009
DOI: 10.1007/S10578-009-0139-8
Abstract: To assess the effectiveness of providing training in elaborative, emotion rich reminiscing (emotional reminiscing, ER) as an adjunct to Parent Management Training (PMT) for parents of children (N = 38, M age = 56.9, SD = 15.8 months) with oppositional behaviors. Control parents received PMT and non-language adjunct intervention, child-directed play. All components of the intervention were manualized. Parents in both conditions received training in an abbreviated course of PMT. Parents in the ER condition additionally received brief training in discussing everyday past events with their child incorporating emotion labels and causes, "wh" questions, and detailed descriptive information. Parents in the control condition received training in allowing their child to lead during play sessions. Across both conditions, children's oppositional behaviors decreased between the beginning and end of training. Providing parents with training parents in an elaborative, emotion-rich reminiscing style resulted in greater parent and child use of elaborations and emotion references during shared conversations. Given findings in the literature of an association between parental emotion talk and children's emotional competence, developmental skills that are frequently compromised in oppositional children, the current pilot study has implications for interventions that broaden the focus of PMT.
Why is this Happening? A Brief Measure of Parental Attributions Assessing Parents’ Intentionality, Permanence, and Dispositional Attributions of Their Child with Conduct Problems
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 08-10-2018
DOI: 10.1007/S10578-018-0844-2
Abstract: We present and evaluate a new self-report measure of parental attributions developed for assessing child causal and dispositional attributions in parenting interventions. The Parent Attribution Measure (PAM) ascribes attributions along first-order dimensions of intentionality, permanence, likeability, and disposition, and a higher-order Total Scale. The psychometric analyses involved participants drawn from populations of clinical (n = 318) and community-based families (n = 214) who completed questionnaires assessing parental attributions, parenting behaviours, parental depression, parental feelings about the child, and child behavioural problems. Confirmatory factor analysis indicated that a 3-factor hierarchical structure provided a close fitting model. The model with intentionality, permanence, and disposition (consolidating likeability and disposition) dimensions as first-order factors grouped under a higher-order general factor was validated in independent s les and demonstrated sound psychometric properties. The PAM presents as a brief measure of parental attributions assessing parents' intentionality, permanence, and dispositional attributions of their child with conduct problems.
Prevalence and Prediction of Disorders in Early Childhood: A Community Study
Publisher: Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Date: 12-2004
DOI: 10.1375/BECH.21.4.215.66102
Abstract: This article examines the prevalence and prediction of internalising and externalising disorders from temperament and parenting in children aged 4 to 6 years ( N = 491). Children were assessed via parent and teacher reports over 14 months and clinical interviews with parents were included at follow-up, along with parent and teacher reports of behavioural and emotional difficulties. Prevalence rates for internalising disorders (8.7%) were higher than for externalising disorders (5.8%), and internalising rates were similar to that found for older children in the same city. Accuracy of prediction of disorders, as well as overall behavioural and emotional difficulties, was low to moderate, and externalising problems were better predicted than internalising problems. The results highlight that while psychological disorders can be predicted from measures of temperament in infancy, the accuracy is too low to recommend these children receive selective prevention and treatment programs.
Learning-style bias and the development of psychopathy
Publisher: Guilford Publications
Date: 02-2013
DOI: 10.1521/PEDI.2013.27.1.85
Abstract: In accordance with a recently proposed account of amygdala function in psychopathy, it is hypothesized that people with high levels of psychopathic personality traits have a bias in learning style to encode the general valence, and neglect the specific-features, of an outcome. We present a novel learning task designed to operationalize these biases in learning style. The results from pilot s les of healthy adults and children and from a clinical s le of children with conduct problems provide support for the validity of the learning task as a measure of learning style and demonstrate a significant relationship between general-valence style learning and psychopathic personality traits. It is suggested that this relationship may be important for the aetiology of the social-cognitive deficits exhibited by psychopaths. These preliminary results suggest that this measure of learning style has the potential to be utilized as a research tool and may assist with the early identification, and treatment, of children with conduct problems and high levels of callous-unemotional traits.
Replication of a ROBO2 polymorphism associated with conduct problems but not psychopathic tendencies in children
Publisher: Ovid Technologies (Wolters Kluwer Health)
Date: 12-2013
Association between a polymorphism of the vasopressin 1B receptor gene and aggression in children
Publisher: Ovid Technologies (Wolters Kluwer Health)
Date: 10-2014
The role of parental attributions in predicting parenting intervention outcomes in the treatment of child conduct problems
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 12-2018
DOI: 10.1016/J.BRAT.2018.10.004
Abstract: Parent attributions about the causes of their children's behaviour problems are a known predictor of problematic parenting and ongoing child problems. However, their importance in parenting interventions remains unknown as research has not addressed whether parental attributions predict outcomes associated with parenting training. The current study examined whether problematic pre-treatment and change resistant parental attributions during treatment uniquely predict child behaviour outcomes. Participants were 250 families with children aged from 3 to 16 referred to specialist clinics for the treatment of conduct problems. Measures of family demographic information, parental attributions, and severity of child conduct problems were collected as part of pre-treatment, post-treatment, and 3-month follow-up assessments. Linear regression showed that mothers' pre-treatment parental attributions uniquely predicted severity of conduct problems at the post-treatment and 3-month follow-up assessments. Fathers' pre-treatment parental attributions uniquely predicted severity of conduct problems at the 3-month follow-up assessment. Reductions in problematic pre-treatment parental attributions were recorded at post-treatment for both parents. However, smaller reductions or increases in mothers' problematic attributions uniquely predicted worse child behaviour outcomes, a result not replicated for fathers. Findings that pre-treatment and change resistant parental attributions predict poorer child behaviour outcomes after controlling for other predictors and treatment effects recommend that parental attributions should be assessed prior to and after treatment and possibly included in treatment to maximise treatment gains for children with conduct problems.
Relationships Between Adjustment to HIV and Both Social Support and Coping
Publisher: American Psychological Association (APA)
Date: 1994
Are impairments in emotion recognition a core feature of callous-unemotional traits? Testing the primary versus secondary variants model in children
Publisher: Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Date: 19-04-2018
DOI: 10.1017/S0954579417000475
Abstract: The role of environmental adversity in the development of high callous–unemotional (CU) traits in children is controversial. Evidence speaks to the traits being largely independent of adversity however, recent data shows that those with high CU traits and high adversity and/or high anxiety might differ in important ways from those with no such history. We tested this using emotion recognition (ER) skills. We tested whether maltreatment history and anxiety levels moderated the relationship between level of CU traits and ER skills in N = 364 children with behavioral problems who were 3 to 16 years old. As hypothesised, in the full s le, the relationship between CU traits and ER differed according to maltreatment history, such that CU traits were associated with poorer recognition for those with zero or negligible history of maltreatment. This moderation of the CU-ER relationship by maltreatment was inconsistent across subgroups, however, and for the cohort utilizing youth self-report of maltreatment, high CU traits were associated with poor ER in those with lower anxiety levels. Maltreatment history and/or anxiety levels can identify different emotional impairments associated with high CU traits, and the impairments might be characteristic of “primary” high CU traits defined as occurring independently of maltreatment and/or high anxiety.
Modifying Bedtime Disruptions in Children using Stimulus Control and Contingency Management Techniques
Publisher: Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Date: 04-1984
DOI: 10.1017/S0141347300009800
Abstract: The present study examined the effect of a bedtime management programme which incorporated both stimulus control and contingency management procedures on the level of bedtime disruption in children. Using a multiple baseline across subjects design each of four children (ranging in age from 2–5 years) were sequentially introduced to the treatment program, which was implemented by the child's parents each night. In addition the study sought to determine whether direct treatment of bedtime disruption would be associated with any negative side effects. Systematic observational data revealed that the Bedtime Management Program was effective in reducing bedtime disruptions in all subjects and the improvements sustained during a 2-month follow-up. No evidence suggests that treatment resulted in negative side effects. The implications of the results for behavioural parent training are discussed.
Debate and argument: The family systems test: A comment on Gehring and Marti (1993)
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 03-1994
Intergenerational Stability of Callous–Unemotional Traits
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 08-11-2018
DOI: 10.1007/S10578-017-0766-4
Abstract: This study investigated the stability of callous and unemotional (CU) traits across generations by assessing self-report assessments of psychopathy factors in parents and their relationship to children's CU traits in a clinical s le: 223 boys (M age = 7.65) and 83 girls (M = 7.35) referred for treatment of disruptive behavior disorders. First, we expanded previous findings showing a positive relationship between maternal psychopathy scores and CU traits in boys. Second, we tested whether parental psychopathy scores predicted CU traits in children over and above general indicators of mental health risk: parental psychopathology, parental warmth, and harsh parenting. Fathers' psychopathy factor 1 was uniquely related to CU traits. In contrast, the relationship between mothers' psychopathy factor 2 and children's CU traits disappeared when maternal warmth was included. Gender differences suggested these results are most applicable to boys. These findings support the intergenerational stability of psychopathy factor 1 between children and their fathers.
Development and Validation of a Short Form of the Alabama Parenting Questionnaire
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 22-08-2007
Language for emotions in adolescents with externalizing and internalizing disorders
Publisher: Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Date: 12-05-2005
DOI: 10.1017/S095457940505025X
Abstract: This study compared the structure and quality of emotion language in adolescents with externalizing disorders (N = 21), internalizing disorders (N = 18), and without a behavioral or emotional disorder (N = 16). Emotion language was elicited in response to vignette material prototypical for anger/sadness and fear, to autobiographical experiences, and to an actual emotional challenge. The findings reveal different emphases in the emotion language of internalizing and externalizing youth rather than a relative weakness for externalizing adolescents. Overall, clinical adolescents used fewer emotion terms that were semantically specific for anger, sad, or fear than typical adolescents. The results also show that emotion language is affected differentially for externalizing and internalizing adolescents depending on the emotion domain. Internalizing youth's emotion language to anger/sad events used inner-directed terms, situational references, and reduced intensity while their representation of emotions in response to salient threatening material was dominated by terms with a cognitive focus. Externalizing adolescents' emotion language responses to anger/sad events were more outer directed and intense, and their emotion language in a salient threat situation more orientated to direct affective terms. The results suggest that examining emotion language for specific emotion domains in adolescents with specific disorders will better clarify the role of emotion language in the regulation of emotions than approaches that globalize emotion language competencies or deficits.
Evaluation of a Puppet Interview to Measure Young Children's Self-Reports of Temperament
Publisher: Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Date: 03-2004
DOI: 10.1375/BECH.21.1.37.35973
Abstract: This study developed and evaluated a puppet interview that allows children to self-report on temperamental constructs. Structured child self-report measures are rarely utilised in clinical assessment of young children under the age of 7—8 years. Given that clinical assessment is often characterised by low convergence between raters, such a measure may offer important contributions. The present study developed and evaluated a measure based on items from the Colorado Childhood Temperament Inventory and reports two studies with child participants aged 4 to 5 years. Independent observations of the children were also made. Results showed moderate levels of internal consistency and stability, and convergence between child self-report and teacher arent raters was low, but similar levels of agreement were achieved between adult informants. The puppet interview thus showed some potential but highlighted the difficulties of self-report in young children within a multiple informant framework in clinical assessment.
Attributions of symptomatology: An exploration of family factors associated with expressed emotion
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 09-1992
DOI: 10.3109/00048679209072063
Abstract: This study explored family factors associated with Expressed Emotion (EE) in families with a member diagnosed with schizophrenia. Drawing on an attributional model of expressed emotion it was predicted that high EE relatives would have less knowledge of the illness and would attribute negative symptoms to the personality, rather than the illness, of the sufferer. Thirty-one caregivers of schizophrenic patients were interviewed. Results indicated that EE status was related to knowledge, coping and causal attributions of negative symptoms. Low EEs, as compared with High EEs, tended to have more knowledge of the illness and to cope better with the patient, and were less likely to attribute the cause of negative symptoms to the sufferer's personality. Support was therefore obtained for the utility of an attributional model in attempting to understand the determinants of levels of EE.
ParentWorks: Evaluation of an Online, Father-Inclusive, Universal Parenting Intervention to Reduce Child Conduct Problems
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 24-10-2019
DOI: 10.1007/S10578-019-00934-0
Abstract: Evidence-based parenting interventions are effective in reducing conduct problems, yet these interventions have limited reach, and few involve the participation of fathers. This paper describes the outcomes of an open trial of ParentWorks, a universal, online, father-inclusive parenting intervention aiming to decrease childhood behavioural problems and promote positive parenting in mothers and fathers. A total of 388 families (456 in idual parents 36.6% fathers) were included in the study. Mixed model analyses showed significant decreases in child emotional/behavioural problems, dysfunctional parenting, interparental conflict, and parental mental health problems. The baseline severity of child behavioural problems significantly moderated the effects on child outcomes so that children with higher levels of problems benefitted more from the program. Participation of both caregivers in two-parent families, as well as parent sex, did not significantly affect the program outcomes. Results provide initial empirical support for the universal, self-directed, online parenting intervention, in addressing both child behavioural problems and parenting outcomes. Trial registration: ACTRN12616001223426, registered 05/09/2016.
Emotional Communication in Families of Conduct Problem Children With High Versus Low Callous-Unemotional Traits
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 03-04-2012
DOI: 10.1080/15374416.2012.668844
Abstract: This study examined relationships between parent-child emotional communication and callous-unemotional (CU) traits and conduct problems. References to negative and positive emotions made by clinic-referred boys (3-9 years) and their parents were coded from direct observations of family interactions involving the discussion of shared emotional experiences. Although frequencies of parents' emotion expression did not generally relate to levels of CU traits, boys higher on CU traits were observed to be more expressive of negative emotions in conversation with their caregivers-specifically for sadness and fear. Independent coders did not judge these children to be less genuine in their emotion expression compared to their low-CU counterparts. We also examined whether CU traits moderated the relationship between parents' focus on emotions and conduct problem severity. Higher levels of maternal focus on negative emotions were found to be associated with lower conduct problems in high-CU boys but related to higher conduct problems in low-CU boys. Frequencies of fathers' emotional communication were unrelated to either child CU traits or conduct problems. We discuss the implications of these findings for the conceptualization of CU traits in preadolescent children, and interventions for conduct problems in children elevated on these traits.
Primary prevention of parent-child conflict and abuse in Iranian mothers: A randomized-controlled trial
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 03-2010
DOI: 10.1016/J.CHIABU.2009.05.008
Abstract: The aim of this study was to assess whether primary health care settings can be used to engage and provide a preventive intervention to mothers of young children. Two hundred and twenty-four mothers who had come to the health centers were randomly assigned to either control group (CG: n=116) or intervention group (IG: n=108). Mothers in IG were taught about the role of parenting skills in families and common mistakes in parenting in 2-h-weekly sessions for 2 successive weeks. A parenting questionnaire was distributed to mothers at pre-test and after 8 weeks from the last training session. Compared to the CG, there were significant improvements from pre- to post-test in IG on measures of Parenting Scales (PS) total scores and Parent-Child Conflict Tactics Scale-modified (CTSPCm) total scores. This improvement was maintained at 8-week follow up. The results support previous international studies that primary health care settings can be used successfully to engage and provide preventive interventions to mothers of young children. Within health centers of Iran where parents routinely bring their children for monitoring of growth or vaccinating against some disease, mothers with a child aged between 2 and 6 years received a parent training. The program gave skills for managing misbehavior and preventing child behavior problems. Mothers reported that their behaviors improved from pre-treatment to post-treatment measured at 8-week follow up. The current work may lead decision-makers to organize this program for all of the health centers to train Iranian mothers.
Oppositional and Conduct Problems
Publisher: Elsevier
Date: 2005
Coaching mothers of typical and conduct problem children in elaborative parent-child reminiscing: Influences of a randomized controlled trial on reminiscing behaviour and everyday talk preferences
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 12-2018
DOI: 10.1016/J.BRAT.2018.09.004
Abstract: This study compared the effects of mother-child reminiscing coaching on mothers of typically developing children (community s le) and mothers of children with conduct problems (clinical s le). It also tested whether intervention effects generalize to mothers' preferences for elaborative and mental-state oriented talk with their children in other contexts. Mother-child dyads (n = 88) in each s le were randomly allocated to condition: reminiscing intervention or active control. Pre-intervention, s le differences emerged. Mothers in the community s le were more elaborative during reminiscing than mothers in the clinical s le, and also expressed stronger preferences for elaborative talk in everyday contexts. Post-intervention, an intervention effect emerged. In both the community and clinical s les, mothers who had participated in the elaborative reminiscing intervention were more elaborative and emotion-focused during reminiscing than mothers in the active control condition. They also increased their preferences for elaborative and mental-state-oriented language in everyday contexts. While the mothers in the community s le remained more elaborative than mothers in the clinical s le, both experienced equivalent intervention gains. These findings highlight the value of reminiscing coaching for changing mothers' interactional preferences and behaviours.
Expression and Regulation of Attachment-Related Emotions in Children with Conduct Problems and Callous–Unemotional Traits
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 12-10-2016
DOI: 10.1007/S10578-015-0598-Z
Abstract: Callous-unemotional traits (CU) are defined by low responsiveness to, and unfeeling disregard for the emotions of others. There is controversial evidence, however, that children with high CU traits can demonstrate affective responsiveness under certain conditions, namely those associated with attachment threat. We tested this using 'fear + amusing' and 'attachment rich' stimuli from the Lion King film. Of N = 76, 4-14 years old children, 56 were clinic-referred children ided into high and low CU traits groups, and 20 children were drawn from the community. Participants watched film sequences of fearful, attachment-related and neutral stimuli and their affective responses and emotion-regulation strategies were coded by independent observers. Children in the high CU traits group were able to disengage from the fear stimuli by showing more 'happiness' to a brief slapstick interlude. In the attachment scenario, high CU children expressed similar or trends toward higher emotional responses and emotion regulation strategies, compared to low-CU children and control children. The results support the idea that high CU children may have the potential for emotional responsiveness to complex emotional stimuli in attachment contexts. Implications of these results for the development of interventions are discussed.
Enhancing Father Engagement in Parenting Programs: Translating Research into Practice Recommendations
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 04-2019
DOI: 10.1111/AP.12361
The child abuse lottery - Will the doctor suspect and report? Physician attitudes towards and reporting of suspected child abuse and neglect
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 03-1998
DOI: 10.1016/S0145-2134(97)00172-5
Abstract: To assess the responsiveness and attitudes of medical practitioners to the reporting of suspected child abuse or neglect. To determine whether characteristics of the medical practitioner (specialist or generalist, rural or urban based, age since graduation, gender, having children of their own) influenced the responsiveness to reporting. A survey of all members of the Australian College of Pediatrics in Queensland (Australia) and pediatric registrars at a tertiary training hospital in Brisbane (n = 124) and a random s le of Queensland general practitioners (n = 100). The survey requested demographic details, responses to three case vignettes suggestive of possible physical abuse or neglect, and details of suspected child abuse or neglect reporting behavior. There were a wide range of responses to the case vignettes, but responses did not vary between specialties. Forty-three percent of all doctors had at some stage considered a case as suspected child abuse or neglect and decided not to report despite a legal mandate to do so. General practitioners were more cautious towards reporting. The reasons for not reporting were multiple but highlighted perceived problems in the services available for the child and family once a report was made. There is need for continuing education of medical practitioners regarding symptoms and signs of physical abuse and the role of doctors in the multidisciplinary management of child abuse. To some extent children's outcome when presenting to medical practitioners as a result of child abuse or neglect is no better than a lottery, dependent on which doctor they happen to see.
Promoting secure attachment, maternal mood and child health in a vulnerable population: A randomized controlled trial
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 12-2000
DOI: 10.1046/J.1440-1754.2000.00591.X
Abstract: To evaluate the efficacy of an early home-based intervention on the quality of maternal-infant attachment, maternal mood and child health parameters in a cohort of vulnerable families. A total of 181 families were recruited to the study in the immediate postnatal period on the basis of a self report questionnaire relating to known family vulnerability factors. Families were assigned randomly to intervention (90), or control (91) groups. The intervention group received a series of home visits from a child health nurse (weekly to 6 weeks, fortnightly to 3 months), with a subgroup receiving home based short-term dynamic therapy from a social worker. Parent/family function was assessed at inception and at 4 months by the Parenting Stress Index and the Edinburgh Post Natal Depression Scale. At 4 months the quality of the home environment was assessed, utilizing the Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment Inventory, as were child and family health parameters and satisfaction with the community child health service. At 4 month follow-up, 160 families (80 intervention, 80 control) were available for assessment. The intervention improved family functioning at 4 months. All aspects of the home environment, including the quality of maternal-infant attachment and mothers' relationship with their child, were significantly enhanced. In particular, significant and positive differences were found in parenting with the intervention group feeling less restrictions imposed by the parenting role, greater sense of competence in parenting, greater acceptability of the child, and the child being more likely to provide positive reinforcement to the parent. Early differences in maternal mood were not maintained at 4 months. Various child health parameters were enhanced including immunization status, fewer parent-reported injuries and bruising, and researcher confirmed lack of smoking in the house or around the infant. The families were consistently more satisfied with their community health service. This form of early home based intervention targeted to vulnerable families promotes an environment conducive for infant mental and general health and hence long-term psychological and physical well-being, and is highly valued by the families who receive it.
Family process and child anxiety and aggression: An observational analysis
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 12-1996
DOI: 10.1007/BF01664736
Anxiety, depression, and peer relationships during adolescence: Results from the Portuguese national health behaviour in school-aged children survey
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 03-2003
DOI: 10.1007/BF03173600
Do callous-unemotional traits moderate the relative importance of parental coercion versus warmth in child conduct problems? An observational study
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 05-07-2011
DOI: 10.1111/J.1469-7610.2011.02435.X
Abstract: Research suggests that parenting has little influence on the development of antisocial behavior in children with callous-unemotional (CU) traits. We aimed to extend and improve on prior studies examining the moderating role of CU traits on associations between parenting and conduct problems, by using independent observations of two key dimensions of parenting: coercion and warmth. The participants included clinic-referred conduct-disordered boys (4-12 years N = 95) and their families. Coercive parenting was coded from observations of family interaction and parental warmth was coded from Five-Minute Speech S les. CU traits and conduct problems were rated by multiple informants. In both mothers and fathers, CU traits moderated links between observed parenting and conduct problems. Specifically, coercive parenting was more strongly positively associated with conduct problems in boys with lower levels of CU traits, whereas parental warmth was more strongly negatively associated with conduct problems in boys with higher levels of CU traits. These findings suggest that different dimensions of parenting may need to be targeted in the treatment of early onset conduct problems in children high and low on CU traits.
Practitioner review: Psychological management of anxiety disorders in childhood
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 11-2001
Abstract: Many anxiety problems begin in childhood and are a common form of psychological problem that can be highly distressing and associated with a range of social impairments. Thus, skills for conceptualising, assessing, and treating childhood anxiety problems should be in the repertoire of all child mental health specialists. This paper reviews psychosocial treatments for the most common anxiety disorders in children and adolescents. Developmental models of anxiety disorders emphasise maximum risk in children with shy or inhibited temperaments who are exposed to high family anxiety and avoidance, and/or acutely distressing experiences. As children mature these temperamental and environmental experiences are internalised to low self-competence and high threat expectancy. Both in idual or group-based interventions utilising cognitive-behavioural strategies to address multiple risk factors are highly efficacious and family involvement can contribute to positive outcomes. Guidelines for assessment and treatment are presented, and suggestions are made for effectively managing clinical process.
Parent-Child Interaction Therapy Adapted for Preschoolers with Callous-Unemotional Traits: An Open Trial Pilot Study
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 06-07-2018
DOI: 10.1080/15374416.2018.1479966
Abstract: Children with co-occurring conduct problems and callous-unemotional (CU) traits show a distinct pattern of early starting, chronic, and aggressive antisocial behaviors that are resistant to traditional parent-training interventions. The aim of this study was to examine in an open trial the acceptability and initial outcomes of a novel adaptation of Parent-Child Interaction Therapy, called PCIT-CU, designed to target 3 distinct deficits of children with CU traits. Twenty-three Australian families with a 3- to 6-year-old (M age = 4.5 years, SD = .92) child with clinically significant conduct problems and CU traits participated in the 21-week intervention and 5 assessments measuring child conduct problems, CU traits, and empathy at a university-based research clinic. Treatment retention was high (74%), and parents reported a high level of satisfaction with the program. Results of linear mixed models indicated that the intervention produced decreases in child conduct problems and CU traits, and increases in empathy, with "medium" to "huge" effect sizes (ds = 0.7-2.0) that maintained at a 3-month follow-up. By 3 months posttreatment, 75% of treatment completers no longer showed clinically significant conduct problems relative to 25% of dropouts. Findings provide preliminary support for using the targeted PCIT-CU adaptation to treat young children with conduct problems and co-occurring CU traits.
Associations among cruelty to animals, family conflict, and psychopathic traits in childhood
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 03-2006
Abstract: Previous research has produced mixed findings on the role of child and family factors in the genesis of childhood cruelty. The authors examined the relationships of cruelty to animals to a range of child and family factors. First, the authors test the idea that cruelty is a callous aggression that will be more strongly associated with psychopathic (callous or unemotional, CU) traits than general externalizing problems. Second, the authors operationalize family problems as open conflict rather than parenting problems as used earlier. Results indicated that for both genders, CU traits were associated strongly with cruelty. For boys, externalizing problems also added prediction in regression analyses. Family conflict was not associated with cruelty for either. These results suggest that cruelty to animals may be an early manifestation of the subgroup of children developing conduct problems associated with traits of low empathy and callous disregard rather than the more common pathway of externalizing problems and parenting problems.
Carers’ burden and adjustment to HIV
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 04-1995
Designing a university clinical research and training environment: Our experience in the behaviour research and therapy centre
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 03-1990
Intergenerational transmission of post-traumatic stress disorder in Australian Vietnam veterans’ families
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 28-12-2017
DOI: 10.1111/ACPS.12685
Abstract: To assess the association between parental post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and offspring PTSD and its specificity for other disorders in a non-clinical epidemiological cohort of Australian Vietnam veterans, their partners and their sons and daughters. Veterans were interviewed twice, in 1992-1994 and 2005-2006 partners were interviewed in 2006-2007, and their offspring in 2012-2014. A total of 125 sons and 168 daughters were interviewed from 197 families, 137 of which also included partners who were the mothers of the children. Statistical analysis used multi-level modelling to compute odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals while controlling for clustering effects within families. Parent PTSD diagnoses were examined for associations with offspring trauma exposure, PTSD and other psychiatric diagnoses. Veteran PTSD increased the risk of PTSD and no other disorder in both sons and daughters partner PTSD did not. Veteran depression was also a risk factor for sons' PTSD, and alcohol disorder was linked to alcohol dependence in sons and PTSD in daughters, but not when controlling for veteran PTSD. We conclude that PTSD in a Vietnam veteran father increases the risk specifically for PTSD in his sons and daughters.
Are We There Yet? The Clinical Potential of Intranasal Oxytocin in Psychiatry
Publisher: Bentham Science Publishers Ltd.
Date: 02-2012
Measuring mental health in Indigenous young people: A review of the literature from 1998–2008
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 04-06-2013
Abstract: Indigenous young people are disproportionately exposed to risk factors for poor mental health. Methodologically rigorous research will be critical in the development and evaluation of prevention and treatment programs. Research examining the mental health of Indigenous young people may have been undermined by poor measurement. The extent to which research has used measures with adequate psychometrics is unknown. MEDLINE, PsychINFO and PUBMED databases, were systematically searched to identify papers published between 1998–2008 measuring the mental health of Indigenous young people from Australia, Canada, New Zealand or the US. Data extracted included type of mental health instrument, psychometric analyses reported and results. Fifty-four relevant studies were identified. Seventy-nine mental health instruments were used, and 18% were bespoke. Only 14% of instruments had been validated for the relevant Indigenous population. Few studies reported assessment of the reliability or validity of instruments. Data about both the reliability and validity of 10 measures were reported. None of the measures met the standards set by the review. Evidence of at least one type of reliability and validity was demonstrated for six measures. From 1998–2008 few studies of mental health in Indigenous young people used measurement instruments with previously determined reliability and validity.
Assessment and Treatment of Simple Phobias in Children: Effects on Family and Marital Relationships
Publisher: Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Date: 06-1992
DOI: 10.1017/S0813483900006380
Abstract: This study evaluated a behavioural treatment package for simple phobias in children using a multiple baseline design across subjects. The participants were three adolescents presenting with a principal DSM-III-R diagnosis of Simple Phobia. One participant also met the criteria for Separation Anxiety Disorder. Results showed marked improvement (at posttreatment and 3 months follow-up) of the anxiety for all three adolescents, both at overt-behavioural and cognitive levels with no negative effects on family and dyadic adjustment. Theoretical considerations and prognoses are discussed.
Punishment insensitivity and parenting: Temperament and learning as interacting risks for antisocial behavior
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 2003
Abstract: We review ideas about in idual differences in sensitivity or responsiveness to common disciplinary behaviors parents use to correct aggressive and antisocial behavior in children. At extremes, children may be seen as "punishment-insensitive," an heuristic with some value relevant to models of the development of antisocial and aggressive behavior disorders. Literature from erse fields, such as psychopathy, child temperament, socialization and the development of moral conscience, conditioning theory, and personality theory, have all utilized the idea that humans differ in their sensitivity to aversive stimuli and the cues that signal their occurrence, as well as their ability to inhibit reward-driven behavior, in the presence of punishment cues. Contemporary thinking places these dispositions squarely as basic biological aspects of temperament that moderate the effects of the environment (e.g., parenting) on outcomes (e.g., mental health). We review a largely forgotten literature that shows clearly that sensitivity to punishment is also reliably influenced by the environment itself. An attempt is then made to model the interactional processes by which parenting and punishment sensitivities in children magnify or diminish each other's progress toward healthy or antisocial development. Implications for parenting of children with low responsiveness to punishment strategies are discussed.
Separation Anxiety, Attachment and Inter-Personal Representations: Disentangling the Role of Oxytocin in the Perinatal Period
Publisher: Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Date: 17-09-2014
Emotional processing deficits in Italian children with Disruptive Behavior Disorder: The role of callous unemotional traits
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 02-2019
DOI: 10.1016/J.BRAT.2018.12.011
Abstract: Research suggests that callous unemotional (CU) traits are associated with poor emotion recognition due to impairments in attention to relevant emotional cues. To further investigate the mechanisms that underlie CU traits, this study focused on the relationship between levels of CU and children's attention to, and recognition of, facial emotions. Participants were 7- to 10-year-old Italian boys, 35 with a diagnosis of Disruptive Behavior Disorder (age: M = 8.93, SD = 1.35), and 23 healthy male controls (age: M = 8.86, SD = 1.35). Children viewed standardized emotional faces (happiness, sadness, fear, disgust, anger, and neutral) while eye-tracking technology was used to evaluate scan paths for each area of interest (eyes, face, mouth), and for each emotion. CU traits were assessed using parent and teacher ratings on the Antisocial Process Screening Device. In the whole s le, elevated levels of CU traits were associated with a lower ability to recognize sadness, a lower number of fixations, and a lower average length of each fixation, specifically to the eye area of sad faces. In children with Disruptive Behavior Disorder diagnoses, high levels of CU traits were associated with lower duration of fixations to the eye-region on the eye area of sad faces, which in turns predicted lower levels of sadness recognition. The findings confirm that poor emotion recognition is associated with impairments in attention to critical information about other people's emotions. The clinical implications are discussed.
Epigenetic regulation of the DRD4 gene and dimensions of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder in children
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 20-02-2016
DOI: 10.1007/S00787-016-0828-3
Abstract: Recent evidence suggests that epigenetic regulation of the DRD4 gene may characterise specific aspects of ADHD symptomology. We tested associations between ADHD symptoms and epigenetic changes to the DRD4 gene in DNA extracted from blood and saliva in N = 330 children referred for a variety of behavioural and emotional problems. ADHD was indexed using DSM diagnoses as well as mother, father, and teacher reports. Methylation levels were assayed for the island of 18 CpG sites in the DRD4 receptor gene. A nearby SNP, rs3758653, was also genotyped as it has previously been shown to influence methylation levels. There was high consistency of methylation levels across CpG sites and tissue sources, and higher methylation levels were associated with the major allele of SNP rs3758653. Higher methylation levels were associated with more severe ADHD independent of SNP status, tissue source, ethnicity, environmental adversity, and comorbid conduct problems. The association applied specifically to the cognitive/attentional, rather than hyperactivity problems that characterise ADHD. The results indicate that epigenetic regulation of the DRD4 gene in the form of increased methylation is associated with the cognitive/attentional deficits in ADHD.
Training Children to Eat Independently: Evaluation of Mealtime Management Training for Parents
Publisher: Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Date: 10-1984
DOI: 10.1017/S0141347300011423
Abstract: This study assessed the effects of training the parents of children displaying problematic eating behaviors in child management skills. Specifically, parents were taught to apply a range of management procedures, e.g. differential reinforcement, behavior correction routines, extinction and time out, to their child's behavior during mealtimes. Subjects were four families, each of which contained a child displaying high rates of disruptive behavior, e.g. non-compliance, complaining, leaving the table during mealtimes, and low rates of food consumption. Each family underwent baseline, mealtime management training (M.M.T.), follow-up conditions within a multiple baseline across families' design. Home observations were conducted four nights each week, during the families' evening meal, and the dependent measures recorded were child behaviour, eating responses, and weight of food eaten. The results showed that M.M.T. was effective in decreasing disruptive behaviour for three of the four families. The fourth family also required home feedback training which resulted in a marked decrease in disruptive behavior. Changes in eating responses were less marked and highly variable among in idual families. Follow-up results and the implications for clinical practice are discussed.
Family-related school issues and the mental health of adolescents: Post hoc analyses of the Portuguese national health behaviour in school-aged children survey data
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 11-2006
The treatment of conduct problems in children with callous-unemotional traits
Publisher: American Psychological Association (APA)
Date: 08-2005
Oxytocin increases gaze to the eye region of human faces
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 2008
DOI: 10.1016/J.BIOPSYCH.2007.06.026
Abstract: In nonhuman mammals, oxytocin has a critical role in peer recognition and social approach behavior. In humans, oxytocin has been found to enhance trust and the ability to interpret the emotions of others. It has been suggested that oxytocin may enhance facial processing by increasing focus on the eye region of human faces. In a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled, between-subject design, we tracked the eye movements of 52 healthy male volunteers who were presented with 24 neutral human faces after intranasal administration of 24 IU oxytocin or placebo. Participants given oxytocin showed an increased number of fixations and total gaze time toward the eye region compared with placebo participants. Oxytocin increases gaze specifically toward the eye region of human faces. This may be one mechanism by which oxytocin enhances emotion recognition, interpersonal communication, and social approach behavior in humans. Findings suggest a possible role for oxytocin in the treatment of disorders characterized by eye-gaze avoidance and facial processing deficits.
Willingness, confidence, and knowledge to work with adolescent sex offenders: An evaluation of training workshops
Publisher: Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Date: 06-2003
DOI: 10.1375/BECH.20.2.117.24839
Abstract: Increasing attention is being paid to best practice in mental health sciences. One crucial aspect of this is the extent to which the mental health workforce has the knowledge and skills to implement state-of-the-art interventions. Recently, evidence has indicated that sexual offending often begins in adolescence, can be a persistent disorder when left untreated, and is associated with a range of other mental health problems in the perpetrator and subsequently in victims. A small number of evaluations of treatment programs are appearing but little work has appeared addressing the issue of how the workforce is equipped, or can be trained, to work with this challenging population. In this paper we present data on the effects of training on knowledge, skills, confidence, and willingness, to work with this client group. Trainees were 107 mental health workers who attended training workshops provided throughout Queensland, Australia by the Griffith Adolescent Forensic Assessment and Treatment Centre. Results showed that the measures developed for assessing training effects were change sensitive and valid. Training was associated with increases in self-rated skills, confidence, knowledge, and willingness to work with this population, and these changes were maintained for the follow-up s le.
Do childhood callous-unemotional traits drive change in parenting practices?
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 07-2011
DOI: 10.1080/15374416.2011.581624
Abstract: This study examined the relationship between callous-unemotional (CU) traits and parenting practices over time in a mixed-sex community cohort (N = 1,008 52.6% boys), aged 3 to 10 years (M = 6.5, SD = 1.3). Measures of CU traits, externalizing psychopathology, parenting practices, and socioeconomic risk factors were collected at baseline, and parenting practices and CU traits were reassessed at 12-month follow-up. CU traits uniquely accounted for change in three domains of parenting (inconsistent discipline, punishment, and parental involvement). Likewise, multiple domains of parenting (positive parenting, parental involvement, and poor monitoring/supervision) uniquely predicted change in CU traits. These seemingly bidirectional dynamics between CU traits and parenting were found to be largely moderated by child age and sex. Results partially replicate previous findings regarding the association between quality of parenting and prospective change in CU traits, and provide initial evidence that CU traits disrupt parenting practices over time.
Further evidence for a relationship between attachment insecurity and coercive sexual behavior in nonoffenders
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 2001
DOI: 10.1177/088626001016001002
Abstract: To replicate and extend the findings of a previous study examining attachment insecurity and coercive sexual behavior in nonoffenders, a new cohort of 119 male undergraduate students completed self-report measures of childhood maternal and paternal attachment, adult attachment, antisociality, aggression, and coercive sexual behavior. Consistent with earlier findings, insecure childhood attachment was significantly associated with coercive sexual behavior, accounting for an additional (although nonsignificant) proportion of variance after anti-sociality and aggression were statistically controlled. In contrast with earlier findings, maternal avoidant attachment rather than paternal avoidant attachment emerged as an important predictor of coercive sexual behavior. Examination of more specific aspects of childhood attachment revealed that insecure patterns of both maternal and paternal attachment were associated with coercive sexual behavior independently of aggression and antisociality. Adult attachment avoidance was found to be associated with coercive sexual behavior, and adult attachment anxiety was found to be associated with antisociality and aggression.
Training school personnel to implement a universal school-based prevention of depression program under real-world conditions
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 09-2004
Is There a Mutual Relationship Between Opposite Attentional Biases Underlying Anxiety?
Publisher: American Psychological Association (APA)
Date: 2011
DOI: 10.1037/A0022019
Abstract: Current models that account for attentional processes in anxiety have proposed that high-trait anxious in iduals are characterized by a hypervigilant-avoidant pattern of attentional biases to threat. We adopted a laboratory conditioning procedure to induce concomitant hypervigilance and avoidance to threat, emphasizing a putative relationship between lower-level reactive and upper-level controlled attentional mechanisms as the core account of attentional processes involved in the development and maintenance of anxiety. Eighty high- and low-trait anxious participants underwent Pavlovian conditioning to a human face. Eye tracking was used to monitor attentional changes to the conditioned stimulus (CS+) face and the neutral stimulus (CS-) face, presented at 200, 500, and 800 ms durations. The high-anxious participants developed the expected attentional bias toward the CS+ at 200 ms presentation time and attentional avoidance at 500 and 800 ms durations. Hypervigilance to aversive stimuli at 200 ms and later avoidance to the same stimuli at 500 and 800 ms were associated with higher levels of galvanic skin conductance to the CS+. The low-anxious in iduals developed the opposite attentional pattern with an initial tendency to orient attention away from the aversive stimuli in the 200 ms condition and to orient attention toward aversive stimuli in the remaining time. The differential modulation between hypervigilance and avoidance elicited in the two groups by the conditioning procedure suggests that vulnerability to anxiety is characterized by a latent relationship between erse attentional mechanisms. Within this relationship, hypervigilance and avoidance to threat operate at different stages of information processing suggesting fuzzy boundaries between early reactive and later-strategic processing of threat.
Impaired attention to the eyes of attachment figures and the developmental origins of psychopathy
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 30-09-2011
DOI: 10.1111/J.1469-7610.2010.02323.X
Abstract: A pervasive failure to attend and respond to emotionally salient stimuli is a core feature of psychopathy. We hypothesise that this begins early in life and is expressed most importantly as a failure to attend to core emotional features (viz., the eyes) of attachment figures. The current study tested whether impaired eye contact is a characteristic of children with antisocial behaviour and callous-unemotional (CU) traits in real life settings. Conduct problem males were assessed on levels of CU traits and observed in free play and 'emotion talk' scenarios with their parents. Eye contact was measured for each dyad (child to mother, child to father, mother to child, father to child) as a proportion of intervals in which the child and parent interacted. Levels of eye contact were reciprocated in mother-son and father-son dyads, but males with high CU traits showed consistent impairments in eye contact towards their parents. Mothers of high CU boys did not show impairments however, fathers of high CU boys showed similar impairment. Levels of eye contact were also associated with independent measures of fear recognition, and general empathy in the boys. The findings provide the first evidence that impairments in eye contact, previously shown during computer tasks, characterise psychopathic traits in young males.
Family interaction and child psychopathology: A comparison of two observation strategies
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 12-1992
DOI: 10.1007/BF01321292
Evaluation of ‘The Father Effect’ Media Campaign to Increase Awareness of, and Participation in, an Online Father-Inclusive Parenting Program
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 09-07-2018
DOI: 10.1080/10410236.2018.1495160
Abstract: There is substantial evidence that parenting programs are effective in improving parenting and child mental health outcomes. While there is increasing focus on delivering parenting interventions online to increase their reach and dissemination, fathers are underrepresented in all formats of parenting programs. However, research suggests that father participation is important for intervention effectiveness. This study evaluated the effectiveness of a media c aign for increasing awareness of, and participation in, an online father-inclusive parenting program called 'ParentWorks'. An 8-week c aign was conducted in Australia via social media channels, digital display advertising, digital television, and radio. To assess the impact of the c aign, data were obtained from caregivers registering for ParentWorks during the c aign period (
Attachment and callous-unemotional traits in children with early-onset conduct problems
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 07-03-2012
DOI: 10.1111/J.1469-7610.2012.02544.X
Abstract: Antisocial children with callous-unemotional (CU) traits appear to be disconnected from other people's emotions although little is known about their experience of the parent-child emotional bond. This study examined parent-child attachment relationships and levels of CU traits in conduct-problem children. Attachment classifications in boys (M = 6.31 years) with disruptive behaviour disorders were assessed using the Manchester Child Attachment Story Task. Multiple informants rated children's CU traits. Independent of severity of conduct problems, high levels of CU traits were associated with more insecure attachment specifically, disorganised attachment representations however, CU traits were not associated with avoidant representations. Among conduct-problem children, those higher on CU traits appear to be at increased risk of experiencing disruptions in parent-child attachment relationships attachment may be an important area for treatment and prevention efforts for CU traits in young children.
Behavioural Treatment of Childhood Recurrent Abdominal Pain: Relationships Between Pain, Children's Psychological Characteristics and Family Functioning
Publisher: Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Date: 03-1990
DOI: 10.1017/S0813483900007373
Abstract: This study examined the impact and side effects of a cognitive behavioural program for the treatment of recurrent abdominal pain (R.A.P.) on children's behavioural adjustment and family functioning. It assessed the extent to which changes in children's pain symptoms covaried with family processes thought to be etiologically significant in cases of R.A.P. Results showed that pain symptoms of both experimental and control children improved significantly six months after initial assessment. Treatment achieved its objectives more quickly with a higher proportion of completely pain-free children. None of the measures of child adjustment or family conflict, expressiveness, independence or achievement orientation were associated with changes in pain intensity ratings or parent observational measures of pain behaviour. There was no evidence that treatment was associated with any negative side effects.
Reliability and validity of the DSM-5 Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children, Adolescents, and Parents-5 in externalizing disorders and common comorbidities
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 17-01-2022
DOI: 10.1177/13591045211061800
Abstract: The Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children Adolescents and Parents (DISCAP) is a semi-structured diagnostic interview for assessing psychiatric disorders in children and adolescents. Changes to diagnostic criteria introduced in the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) required the DISCAP to be revised accordingly. The aim of this study was to evaluate the reliability and validity of the updated DISCAP-5 in clinic-referred children. The DISCAP-5 was administered to parents of n=60 clinic-referred children aged 2–9 years with externalizing problems and a range of comorbid disorders. Inter-rater reliability data were collected using independent ratings of video-recorded DISCAP-5 interviews, and concurrent and discriminant validity were indexed against mother and father reports on the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire. Inter-rater reliability agreement was high for the presence and absence of any diagnosis, common externalizing (e.g., oppositional defiant disorder, conduct disorder) and internalizing disorders (separation anxiety disorder, generalized anxiety disorder), and severity of primary and secondary diagnoses. Rating scale data supported the concurrent and discriminant validity of diagnoses based on the DISCAP-5. The DISCAP-5 appears to provide valid and reliable data in the diagnostic assessment of clinic-referred children with behavioral and emotional difficulties across broad ranges of severity and complexity.
Family caregivers' criticism of patients with schizophrenia
Publisher: American Psychiatric Association Publishing
Date: 07-1998
DOI: 10.1176/PS.49.7.918
Abstract: Relationships were examined between patients' negative symptoms, family caregivers' knowledge of schizophrenia, caregivers' attributions about the cause of patients' symptoms, and caregivers' response to the symptoms. A s le of 84 caregivers of patients with schizophrenia in Brisbane, Australia, were interviewed using a structured format and measures designed for the study. Results of regression analyses indicated that three variables significantly predicted caregivers' criticism of patients--a smaller proportion of negative symptoms in the patient's overall symptom pattern, the caregiver's low level of knowledge about the illness, and the caregiver's attributing the cause of negative symptoms to the patient's personality rather than to the illness. Overall, findings supported the utility of an attributional framework in enhancing conceptions about and research on schizophrenia and family caregiving.
An exploration of the relationship between expression of hostility and the anxiety disorders
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 1993
DOI: 10.1016/0022-3956(93)90046-5
Abstract: The purpose of the present study was to investigate differences between four anxiety disorder groups with respect to their levels of hostility. Patients with diagnoses of panic disorder, agoraphobia with panic, generalized anxiety disorder and social phobia were compared as regards their performance on the Hostility and Direction of Hostility Questionnaire (HDHQ). Results showed that while the groups did not differ on their extrapunitiveness, there were significant differences on intropunitive scores, with social phobics showing the most self criticism and guilt, followed in order by the agoraphobics with panic, generalized anxiety disorder and panic disorder subjects. Scores on the Anxiety Symptoms and Consequences Scale were used to predict intropunitiveness and extrapunitiveness for each diagnostic group. Results showed that intropunitiveness was related to anxiety symptoms differently for each diagnostic group. Overall, the study indicates that intropunitive hostility may be an important feature of anxiety disorders, especially panic with and without agoraphobia, and that the finding is worth further exploration with longitudinal studies.
Adolescents' ability to read different emotional faces relates to their history of maltreatment and type of psychopathology
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 04-2009
Abstract: Emotional processing styles appear to characterize various forms of psychopathology and environmental adversity in children. For ex le, autistic, anxious, high- and low-emotion conduct problem children, and children who have been maltreated, all appear to show specific deficits and strengths in recognizing the facial expressions of emotions. Until now, the relationships between emotion recognition, antisocial behaviour, emotional problems, callous-unemotional (CU) traits and early maltreatment have never been assessed simultaneously in one study, and the specific associations of emotion recognition to maltreatment and child characteristics are therefore unknown. We examined facial-emotion processing in a s le of 23 adolescents selected for high-risk status on the variables of interest. As expected, maltreatment and child characteristics showed unique associations. CU traits were uniquely related to impairments in fear recognition. Antisocial behaviour was uniquely associated with better fear recognition, but impaired anger recognition. Emotional problems were associated with better recognition of anger and sadness, but lower recognition of neutral faces. Maltreatment was predictive of superior recognition of fear and sadness. The findings are considered in terms of social information-processing theories of psychopathology. Implications for clinical interventions are discussed.
Individual differences in imagery and reports of aversions
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 07-2004
DOI: 10.1080/09658210444000070
Abstract: Recent theoretical models highlighting the role of imagery in trauma and aversion learning focus on the role of images in memory (e.g., Brewin, Dalgleish, & Joseph, 1996) and images as substitute stimuli in aversive conditioning (Dadds, Bovbjerg, Redd, & Cutmore, 1997). An unanswered question is whether in idual differences in imagery are associated with different rates of traumatisation and aversion states (fear and avoidance of various stimuli). We examine one aspect of this: does high imagery ability correlate with the frequency with which people report aversions? Three s les of university students were tested on the Betts Questionnaire Upon Mental Imagery, the Tellegen Absorption Scale, and a new measure we designed to s le of range of aversions. As hypothesised, vividness of imagery showed positive correlations with number of aversions reported. This relationship held after controlling for general neuroticism and proneness to disgust. Results for absorption showed no relationship. The results are unable to disentangle causal paths but suggest a focus on in idual differences in imagery vividness may be fruitful for understanding in idual differences in aversion learning.
School connectedness is an underemphasized parameter in adolescent mental health: Results of a community prediction study
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 05-2006
DOI: 10.1207/S15374424JCCP3502_1
Abstract: There is limited prospective research on the relation between school connectedness (i.e., the extent to which students feel accepted, valued, respected, and included in the school) and mental health symptoms in adolescents. A s le of 2,022 students (999 boys and 1,023 girls) ages 12 to 14 years were measured at 2 time points (12 months apart) on school connectedness and mental health symptoms (general functioning, depression, and anxiety symptoms). School connectedness correlated extensively with concurrent mental health symptoms at both time points (between 38% and 55% covariation with depression, 26% to 46% with general functioning, and 9% and 16% for anxiety symptoms). Using hierarchical linear modeling, school connectedness also predicted depressive symptoms 1 year later for both boys and girls, anxiety symptoms for girls, and general functioning for boys, even after controlling for prior symptoms. The reverse, however, was not true: Prior mental health symptoms did not predict school connectedness 1 year later when controlling for prior school connectedness. Results suggest a stronger than previously reported association with school connectedness and adolescent depressive symptoms in particular and a predictive link from school connectedness to future mental health problems.
Prevention and Early Intervention for Anxiety disorders: A controlled trial
Publisher: American Psychological Association (APA)
Date: 1997
Concurrent Treatment of Marital and Child Behaviour Problems in Behavioural Family Therapy
Publisher: Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Date: 09-1992
DOI: 10.1017/S0813483900006288
Abstract: Much research has demonstrated that marital discord and orce are risk factors for the development of childhood behavioural and emotional disorders. Although theoretical models and research programs that focus attention on possible mechanisms of influence are scarce, it is clear that marital discord can powerfully influence children via its effect on spouse's parenting behaviour. Thus, marital discord can represent a significant impediment for intervention programs that aim to help children by providing parent training. It is argued that marital and child focused interventions can be successfully integrated in behavioural family therapy. A description of the process and content elements of such an integration is presented, and future directions for research and practice are discussed.
Threat is a multidimensional construct: Exploring the role of children's threat appraisals in the relationship between interparental conflict and child adjustment
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 15-10-2009
DOI: 10.1007/S10802-008-9275-Z
Abstract: Past research has emphasised the importance of children's appraisals of the threat posed by parent conflict for understanding links between interparental conflict and child outcomes. However, little is known about what it is that children actually find threatening about parent conflict. Children (n = 236) aged 10-16 years were recruited to examine the relative contribution of four specific threat subtypes--fear of parent conflict escalating, fear of being drawn into parent conflict, fear of parent conflict resulting in family breakdown, and fear of parent conflict disrupting parent/child attachment relationships--in explaining links between interparental conflict and child internalising adjustment. Results showed that children's worries about being drawn into parent conflict mediated the relationship between interparental conflict and child internalising adjustment. Fear of interparental conflict disrupting parent/child attachment bonds mediated the relationship between interparental conflict and child internalising problems for girls, but not boys. Results are discussed in terms of the importance of considering multiple dimensions of threat for advancing understanding of the processes underlying the interparental conflict/child adjustment relationship.
Enhancing treatment participation in CAMHS among families of conduct problem children: Effectiveness study of a clinician training programme
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 14-11-2012
The efficacy of a psychosocial intervention for HIV/AIDS caregiving dyads and individual caregivers: A controlled treatment outcome study
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 12-2002
DOI: 10.1080/0954012021000081313
Abstract: The present study examined the comparative efficacy of intervening at the caregiver/care-recipient dyadic level, versus the in idual caregiver level, for caregivers and their care-recipients with HIV/AIDS. Participants were randomly assigned to a Dyad Intervention (DI), a Caregiver Intervention (CI) or Wait List Control group (WLC), and assessed by interview and self-administered scales immediately before treatment and eight weeks later. Participants in the intervention groups also completed a four-month follow-up assessment. Dependent variables included global distress, social adjustment, dyadic adjustment, subjective health status, HIV/AIDS knowledge and target problem ratings. Results showed that caregivers in the DI group showed greater improvement from pre- to post-treatment on global distress, dyadic adjustment and target problems than the CI and WLC caregivers. The CI and DI caregivers showed greater improvement than the WLC group on all dependent variables except social adjustment. Care-recipients in the DI group improved significantly from pre- to post-treatment on dyadic adjustment, social adjustment, knowledge, subjective health status and Target Problem 1, whereas the CI and WLC care-recipients failed to improve on any of these measures. The treatment gains made by the DI caregivers and care-recipients on most dependent variables were maintained at a four-month follow-up. Findings support a reciprocal determinism approach to the process of dyadic adjustment and suggest that intervening at the caregiver/care-recipient level may produce better outcomes for both the caregiver and care-recipient than intervening at the in idual caregiver level.
A randomized controlled trial of intranasal oxytocin as an adjunct to exposure therapy for social anxiety disorder.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 07-2009
DOI: 10.1016/J.PSYNEUEN.2009.01.005
Abstract: In humans, oxytocin nasal administration reduces social-threat perception and improves processes involved in communication and the encoding of positive social cues. The aim of this study was to determine whether oxytocin given as an adjunct to exposure therapy improves treatment for social anxiety disorder (SAD) as indicated by a comprehensive set of symptom outcome measures. In a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, we administered 24 IU of oxytocin or a placebo in combination with exposure therapy to twenty-five participants who met primary diagnosis for SAD. Participants administered with oxytocin showed improved positive evaluations of appearance and speech performance as exposure treatment sessions progressed. These effects did not generalize to improve overall treatment outcome from exposure therapy. Participants who received oxytocin or placebo reported similar levels of symptom reduction following treatment across symptom severity, dysfunctional cognition, and life-impairment measures. This study shows that the administration of oxytocin improves mental representations of self, following exposure therapy. These effects may be either short term or situation specific. Future research is now needed to determine whether oxytocin can enhance treatment outcomes for SAD when used with greater frequency, with a wider variety of social learning experiences, and in conjunction with interventions that more specifically target change in broader dysfunctional cognitions.
Cognitive-behavioral family treatment of childhood obsessive-compulsive disorder: Long-term follow-up and predictors of outcome
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 10-2005
DOI: 10.1097/01.CHI.0000172555.26349.94
Abstract: The aims were to (1) evaluate the long-term durability of in idual and group cognitive-behavioral family therapy for childhood obsessive-compulsive disorder and (2) investigate pretreatment predictors of long-term outcome. Undertaken at a university-based clinic, this study involved 48 participants (8-19 years old) who had received in idual or group cognitive-behavioral family therapy. Participants and parents were assessed at 12 and 18 months following treatment with standardized assessments, including diagnostic and symptom severity interviews, child self-report measures of anxiety and depression, and parental self-report of distress. Pretreatment data were used for the prediction of long-term outcome. Analyses indicated treatment gains were maintained, with a total of 70% of participants in in idual therapy and 84% in group therapy diagnosis free at follow-up. There were no significant differences between the in idual or group conditions across measures. Results indicated that higher pretreatment severity and higher family dysfunction predicted worse long-term outcome. The results suggest that cognitive-behavioral family therapy for obsessive-compulsive disorder provides long-term relief that it is equally effective in in idual and group-based therapy. Focusing on family dysfunction may improve long-term prognosis.
The Efficacy of a Universal School-based Program to Prevent Adolescent Depression
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 08-2001
A benchmarking study of father involvement in Australian child mental health services
Publisher: Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Date: 28-08-2018
A measure of cognitive and affective empathy in children using parent ratings
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 21-08-2008
DOI: 10.1007/S10578-007-0075-4
Abstract: The construct of "empathy" embodies a number of characteristics necessary for psychological health in children. Surprisingly, most research has been based solely on children and adolescent report and observational measures despite evidence that multi-informant assessment is fundamental to the accurate measurement of such constructs. We present research documenting the development and validation of a brief parent-report measure of child empathy targeted at the formative years for the development of empathic skills, through to adolescence. The Griffith Empathy Measure, adapted from the Bryant Index of Empathy, showed convergence with child ratings, and good reliability and validity across gender and age. Consistent with theoretical accounts of empathy, it was found to include affective and cognitive components that showed ergent associations with other aspects of child functioning.
Childhood sleep problems: Association with prenatal factors and maternal distress/depression
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 06-1998
DOI: 10.1046/J.1440-1754.1998.00214.X
Abstract: To determine whether problems with childhood sleep behaviour are associated with either maternal sleep patterns and emotional status during the pregnancy period, or levels of maternal distress and depression during the postnatal period. A case/control comparison study. Cases were families presenting for admissions to a mother/baby hospital in Brisbane with the major presenting problem being the child's sleep behaviour. The control group consisted of families presenting for well child health care to one of four child health centres in suburban Brisbane. Each participating mother provided information by way of a self-report questionnaire on social and demographic variables, children's sleep patterns, maternal emotional adjustment and maternal sleep pattern during the pregnancy, and current problem with child's sleep behaviour. Current level of maternal distress/depression, was measured using the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale. Cases were compared with controls on all these variables. Significant differences were found between groups in childhood sleep parameters, degree of problem related to childhood sleep, maternal sleep variables during the entire pregnancy, and current levels of maternal distress/depression. The origins of problematic childhood sleep behaviour may lie in the pregnancy period. Levels of maternal distress and depression are associated with problematic childhood sleep behaviour. The issue of whether childhood sleep problem predisposes to maternal distress/depression needs exploration. Assessment of maternal mood disorder or childhood sleep problems should be comprehensive and involve both the maternal infant dyad and the family network.
Behavioural family interventions in the management of schizophrenia: A review
Publisher: Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Date: 06-1985
DOI: 10.1017/S0813483900008913
Abstract: A change has taken place in the role ascribed families in the treatment of schizophrenia. Rather than being implicated etiologically, families are seen more as the natural support system in preventing relapse of schizophrenic illness after discharge from hospital. The factors predicting relapse are reviewed including expressed emotion, communication deviance and medication compliance. From these, a set of objectives for treatment have been derived and the behavioural family intervention programme of Falloon and Liberman is described. Outcome research on the efficacy of this and the psychoeducational family approaches show short term benefits in relapse prevention and symptom amelioration but that more long term follow up data are needed. Further research also needs to address the relationship between outcome, specific treatment modality, medication use and the behavioural disturbance of the patient.
The mental health of sons and daughters of Australian Vietnam veterans
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 07-02-2018
DOI: 10.1093/IJE/DYY010
Abstract: War service increases the risk of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) to combatants, and has been shown to increase the risk of PTSD in their offspring. The extent to which there is an excess compared with the general population is not yet established, nor whether PTSD increases the risk of other psychiatric problems. A national s le of 133 sons and 182 daughters of a cohort of 179 Australian Vietnam veterans' families were assessed in person, using structured psychiatric interviews. The prevalence of trauma exposures, DSM-IV (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders Fourth Edition) diagnoses and suicidality were compared with the Australian Bureau of Statistics' 2007 National Survey of Mental Health and Wellbeing data matched for age and sex. The risk of mental health problems potentially attributable to PTSD was also assessed. Sons and daughters were more likely than population expectations to report exposures to natural disasters, fire or explosions and transport accidents, and sons more likely to report exposure to toxic chemicals whereas daughters were more likely to report sexual assault. Sons and daughters had higher prevalences of alcohol and other substance dependence, depression and anxiety, and PTSD, and children's PTSD was associated with substance dependence, depression and suicidal ideation. There were strong associations between children's PTSD and comorbid conditions of substance use disorders, depression and anxiety. Higher rates of mental health problems in veterans' families, together with comorbidity with PTSD and the link between veterans' and children's PTSD, suggest that the effects of trauma may continue into subsequent generations.
Assessing relational schemas in parents of children with externalizing behavior disorders: Reliability and validity of the Family Affective Attitude Rating Scale
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 02-2011
DOI: 10.1016/J.PSYCHRES.2010.07.034
Abstract: Direct observational assessment of parent-child interaction is important in clinical intervention with conduct-problem children, but is costly and resource-intensive. We examined the reliability and validity of a brief measure of parents' relational schemas (RSs) regarding their child. Children (aged 4 to 11years) and their families receiving treatment at a clinic for externalizing behavior problems (n=150) or mood/developmental disorders (n=28) were assessed using a multi-method, multi-informant procedure. RSs were coded from Five-Minute Speech S les (FMSS) using the Family Affective Attitude Rating Scale (FAARS), and were compared with directly observed parent-child interaction and questionnaire measures of family and parental dysfunction and conduct problems. Mothers' and fathers' RS scales were internally consistent and could be reliably coded in under 10min. Less positive RSs and more negative RSs were associated with higher rates of child conduct problems, and were more characteristic of the speech s les of parents of children with externalizing disorders, compared with clinic control parents. RSs demonstrated some associations with parenting behavior and measures of family functioning and symptoms of parental psychopathology, and predicted conduct problems independently of observed parental criticism. The results demonstrate the reliability and validity of the FAARS assessment of parental RSs in clinic-referred families. This brief measure of parent-child dynamics appears well-suited to 'real-world' (i.e., community) clinical settings in which intensive methods of observation are often not feasible.
Reliability of the DSM-III-R Childhood Anxiety Disorders Using Structured Interview: Interrater and Parent-Child Agreement
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 09-1994
DOI: 10.1097/00004583-199409000-00008
Abstract: The aim of the study was to examine the interrater and parent-child agreement for the major child anxiety disorders. One hundred sixty-one children and their parents underwent a semistructured interview (Anxiety Disorders Interview Schedule for Children). To increase external validity, clinicians did not receive specific, extensive training in diagnosing anxiety disorders apart from their standard qualifications. The design of the study allowed for calculation of agreement between raters based on information obtained from the parents alone, from the child alone, or through combined information from both the parents and child, and for calculation of agreement between information obtained from the parents and information obtained from the child. Levels of interrater agreement either as principal or additional diagnoses were moderate to strong for all of the major childhood anxiety disorders (kappa values .59 to .82). In contrast, parent-child agreement was poor for most diagnostic categories (kappa values .11 to .44). The data indicate that, despite the fact that parents and their children do not demonstrate strong agreement, the DSM-III-R childhood anxiety disorders can be reliably diagnosed by pairs of general clinicians using structured interviews.
In Search of Better Measurement of Empathy in Children: A Reply to Murphy (2018) Regarding the Griffith Empathy Measure
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 06-2019
DOI: 10.1111/AP.12357
Prevention and early intenvention strategies for anxiety disorders
Publisher: Ovid Technologies (Wolters Kluwer Health)
Date: 03-1999
Dopamine receptors and the pharmacogenetics of side-effects of stimulant treatment for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder
Publisher: Mary Ann Liebert Inc
Date: 08-2013
Measurement of cruelty in children: The cruelty to animals inventory
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 06-2004
DOI: 10.1023/B:JACP.0000026145.69556.D9
Abstract: Cruelty to animals may be a particularly pernicious aspect of problematic child development. Progress in understanding the development of the problem is limited due to the complex nature of cruelty as a construct, and limitations with current assessment measures. The Children and Animals Inventory (CAI) was developed as a brief self- and parent-report measure of F. R. Ascione's (1993) 9 parameters of cruelty. The CAI emerged as a reliable, stable, and readily utilized measure of cruelty using parent and child reports. Children (especially the older children) reported higher rates of cruelty than their parents and boys reported more cruelty than girls. Self- and parent-reports showed good convergence with independent observations of cruelty versus nurturance during free interactions with domestic animals. The results indicate that cruelty to animals can be reliably measured using brief child and parent report measures.
Development and Validation of the Knowledge of Parenting Strategies Scale: Measuring Effective Parenting Strategies
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 26-06-2018
Anxiety disorders in children
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 1991
THE RELATIONSHIP OF INTERPARENTAL CONFLICT AND GLOBAL MARITAL ADJUSTMENT TO AGGRESSION, ANXIETY, AND IMMATURITY IN AGGRESSIVE AND NONCLINIC CHILDREN
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 10-1991
DOI: 10.1007/BF00925820
Abstract: Seven patients of Chinese origin who had haemoglobin (Hb) Q-H disease were studied. They were found to have a similar clinical phenotype to that of patients with deletional Hb H disease, who have a near identical genotypic configuration. The complete absence of Hb A in Hb Q-H disease and the similar clinical phenotype to deletional Hb H disease lends support to the observation that Hb Q-Thailand shares similar functional properties with Hb A.
Acceptability of an Emotional and Behavioural Screening Tool for Children in Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services in Urban NSW
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 10-2010
DOI: 10.3109/00048674.2010.489505
Abstract: Objective: To assess the acceptability and face validity of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) in Aboriginal community controlled health services (ACCHOs) located in the greater Sydney region. Methods: A qualitative study was conducted in three ACCHOs located within the greater Sydney region in 2008–2009. A semi-structured approach was used in focus groups and small group interviews (n = 47) to elicit participants’ views on the appropriateness of the SDQ and any additional issues of importance to Aboriginal child and adolescent mental health. Results: The SDQ was found to cover many important aspects of Aboriginal child and adolescent mental health, however, the wording of some questions was considered ambiguous and some critical issues are not explored. The peer relationships subscale did not appear to fit well with Aboriginal concepts of the relative importance of different interpersonal relationships. Conclusion: Overall the SDQ was acceptable in ACCHOs in Sydney however, changes to the wording of some questions and the response scale may be indicated to improve cultural appropriateness and clarity. A further set of issues which are not covered by any commonly used screening tools but are of critical importance to Aboriginal child and adolescent mental health should also be considered by clinicians.
No hard feelings: maternal emotion socialization and callous–unemotional traits in children
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 28-06-2021
DOI: 10.1007/S00787-021-01835-1
Abstract: Parents' identification and discussion of their own and their children's emotions are important emotion socialization behaviors (ESBs) that may mitigate child conduct problems (CPs). However, if parents perceive their child to be relatively unemotional, which may be the case for children with conduct problems and high callous-unemotional traits (CP + CU), these parents may be limited in their capacity to use ESBs effectively. This study tested these questions by looking at ESBs in mothers (N = 145) of children aged 2-8 years with CP + CU (n = 24), CPs and low CU traits (CP-CU n = 94) and a non-clinical community s le (n = 27). After watching an emotional movie excerpt, mothers were asked to (1) provide ratings of their child's emotional experience and then (2) engage in a debriefing task with their child about the content. Children's expressed emotion during the excerpt and transcriptions of the debriefing task were coded by masked raters. Unexpectedly, mothers' perceptions of their children's emotion did not vary by group. Emotional ratings provided by mothers of children in the CP + CU group most closely aligned with ratings from independent observers. ESBs did not differ by group in the debriefing task. Mothers of children with CP + CU traits were shown in this study to be reliable reporters of their children's expressed emotion and showed similar rates of parental ESBs as mothers of children in the other groups. Results are discussed in reference to various models of parenting and CU traits that might account for these unexpected findings.
Serotonin 1B receptor gene (HTR1B) methylation as a risk factor for callous-unemotional traits in antisocial boys
Publisher: Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Date: 18-05-2015
Cognitive-behavioural emotion writing tasks: A controlled trial of multiple processes
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 12-2008
DOI: 10.1016/J.JBTEP.2007.11.008
Abstract: We report on a controlled trial of three structured writing paradigms that engage the writer with cognitive-behavioural emotion-processes: exposure, devaluation, and benefit-finding. University students (N=198) wrote once a week for three weeks about their most upsetting experience. The long-term effects of these structured writing procedures were compared to an unstructured emotion writing condition and control. Outcomes indicated that exposure writing sped the reduction of intrusive and avoidant symptoms, while benefit-finding writing increased reports of positive growth. Results suggest the use of these paradigms to study emotion-processing mechanisms and, potentially, in practice to enhance coping in process-specific ways.
Long-term outcomes of an Australian universal prevention trial of anxiety and depression symptoms in children and youth: An evaluation of the friends program
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 07-2006
DOI: 10.1207/S15374424JCCP3503_5
Abstract: This study evaluated the long-term effectiveness of the FRIENDS Program in reducing anxiety and depression in a s le of children from Grade 6 and Grade 9 in comparison to a control condition. Longitudinal data for Lock and Barrett's (2003) universal prevention trial is presented, along with data from 12-month follow-up to 24- and 36-month follow-up. Results of this study indicate that intervention reductions in anxiety reported in Lock and Barrett were maintained for students in Grade 6, with the intervention group reporting significantly lower ratings of anxiety at long-term follow-up. A significant Time x Intervention Group x Gender Effect on Anxiety was found, with girls in the intervention group reporting significantly lower anxiety at 12-month and 24-month follow-up but not at 36-month follow-up in comparison to the control condition. Results demonstrated a prevention effect with significantly fewer high-risk students at 36-month follow-up in the intervention condition than in the control condition. Results are discussed within the context of prevention research.
The influence of family and experimental context on cognition in anxious children
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 2001
Abstract: Examined the influence of family on anxious children's cognition. Research by Barrett, Rapee, Dadds, and Ryan (1996) found anxious children reported increased avoidance after interacting with their parents. They labelled this finding the FEAR effect-Family Enhancement of Avoidant Responses. Whilst some subsequent studies have found similar results, others have not. These contradictory findings question whether the direction of parental influence on anxious children is determined by the perceived demands of the experimental context. Anxious children (N = 101) and their parents were asked to interpret seven ambiguous situations and to discuss what their child would do if the scenario actually occurred. Study 1 found that children in the anxious group and an externalizing control group were more likely to interpret ambiguous situations as threatening than nonclinic children were. Study 2 sought to examine changes in the children's responses from pre- to postfamily discussion, and to identify variables associated with the FEAR effect in anxious families. Interestingly, anxious children whose families completed the discussion task after they (children) had been offered treatment were more likely to show a FEAR effect than anxious families who completed the task as part of assessment. Study 3 examined predictors of enhanced avoidance in anxious families. Treatment context and maternal distress were correlated with the child's increased avoidance following family discussion. Limitations of these studies and directions for future research are discussed.
Facilitating treatment attendance in child and adolescent mental health services: A community study
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 2007
Abstract: Failure of parents to attend and engage in treatment is a significant barrier to implementing effective interventions in child and adolescent mental health. Approaches to enhance treatment attendance and participation have targeted both structural operations of the clinic and aspects of the therapeutic process. Little research, however, has looked at clinicians’ use of strategies to enhance treatment participation. Fifty-one mental health practitioners completed measures of strategies to increase treatment participation among families of conduct problem children. Client attendance was collected for each clinician over a 1-month period. As hypothesized, therapists were more aware of, and reported greater use of, therapy process compared to structural approaches to increase treatment participation. Clinician ratings of usefulness, competence and willingness to use therapy process strategies predicted client appointment attendance. The results are discussed in relation to the importance of training and supervision of professionals working with families in mental health services targeting a range of strategies to enhance treatment participation.
Oxytocin in the postnatal period: Associations with attachment and maternal caregiving
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 07-2017
DOI: 10.1016/J.COMPPSYCH.2017.03.010
Abstract: This study investigated the associations of maternal oxytocin, self-reported attachment insecurity and depressive symptoms with maternal caregiving sensitivity at 3-4months postpartum, observed during the 'free play' and 'reunion' episodes of the Still Face Procedure. 112 mothers completed questionnaires and gave blood s les to determine oxytocin plasma levels before (time 1) and after participating in the Still Face Procedure with their infant (time 2). Sensitive maternal caregiving during the free play episode was predicted by 'good' infant behavior during the reunion episode it was predicted by 'good' infant behavior, higher baseline levels of maternal oxytocin and a greater maternal oxytocin response, or in other words, a larger increase in maternal oxytocin level from time 1 to time 2. With other variables free to vary, baseline maternal oxytocin levels mediated an inverse relation between maternal adult attachment avoidance and sensitive maternal caregiving during the reunion episode. Results highlight the association between oxytocin and sensitive maternal caregiving and suggest that oxytocin is a biological mechanism through which maternal attachment insecurity affects early parenting quality.
Examining alternative explanations of the covariation of ADHD and anxiety symptoms in children: A community study
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 17-07-2008
DOI: 10.1007/S10802-007-9160-1
Abstract: Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is comorbid with a range of other disorders, including anxiety disorders. The aim was to examine different explanations for the covariation of these symptom domains in children according to the framework provided by (Lilienfeld, S. O. Comorbidity between and within childhood externalizing and internalizing disorders: Reflections and directions. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 2003). The covariation of ADHD symptoms and anxiety symptoms were examined over a 12-month period in a community s le of 499 children aged 8-13 91% were retained at 12-month follow-up. Dimensional assessments were conducted using questionnaires given to children, parents and teachers, with results analyzed via structural equation modeling. Positive associations between ADHD and anxiety symptoms were linked with inattention symptoms, were particularly pronounced for girls, and were linked via temperament and behavioral problems. No support for the hypothesis that ADHD symptoms predicted the development of anxiety symptoms over time or vice versa. ADHD symptoms (particularly inattention) and anxiety symptoms are covarying phenomena that are linked with an irritable temperament and disruptive behavior.
A randomized controlled trial of the effect of d-cycloserine on extinction and fear conditioning in humans
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 04-2007
DOI: 10.1016/J.BRAT.2006.07.005
Abstract: Previous research has shown that D-cycloserine (DCS) facilitates extinction of Pavlovian fear conditioning in rats and enhances exposure therapy in humans. The aim of this study was to test the effect of DCS on extinction of fear conditioning in humans. In three experiments, 238 participants were given either DCS (50 or 500 mg) or placebo 2-3 h before extinction training following a differential shock conditioning paradigm. Clear extinction and recovery (return of fear) effects were observed on both skin conductance and self-reported shock expectancy measures in three studies. DCS had no influence on these effects. The same pattern was observed when the analysis was restricted to aware participants or to good conditioners, when fear-relevant cues (pictures of snakes) were used as the conditioned stimuli, or when analysis was restricted to heightened snake-fearful participants. These results suggest that DCS may not enhance the extinction, or prevent the recovery, of learned fear in a differential Pavlovian conditioning paradigm in humans. Further experimental research is needed to better understand the mechanisms underlying the therapeutic effects of DCS.
The effects of peer ostracism on children's cognitive processes
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 09-2012
Mothers, Fathers, and Parental Systems: A Conceptual Model of Parental Engagement in Programmes for Child Mental Health—Connect, Attend, Participate, Enact (CAPE)
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 02-12-2016
Parent training skills and methadone maintenance: Clinical opportunities and challenges
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 07-2000
Study protocol: evaluation of an online, father-inclusive, universal parenting intervention to reduce child externalising behaviours and improve parenting practices
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 19-06-2017
Does oxytocin influence the early detection of angry and happy faces?
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 02-2009
DOI: 10.1016/J.PSYNEUEN.2008.09.001
Abstract: Oxytocin has a crucial role in social behaviour, although its effects on social cognition are not fully understood. Past research shows that oxytocin enhances encoding and conceptual recognition of positive social stimuli over social-threat stimuli. In this study, we evaluated whether oxytocin modified responses to positive and threatening social stimuli at an earlier perceptual stage of processing using the visual search task. In a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled, between-subject design, oxytocin (24 IU) or a placebo was administered to 104 healthy volunteers. Participants returned to complete the visual search paradigm 45min later. Results showed that angry faces were detected more efficiently than happy faces. Participants also gazed longer and more frequently toward angry faces. Oxytocin did not, however, influence response time, accuracy, or gaze toward angry or happy faces, even when participants were separated into high- and low-social anxiety. The results of this study suggest that oxytocin may not influence the detection of positive and threatening social stimuli at early perceptual levels of processing. Oxytocin may have greater influence in altering the cognitive processing of social valence at more conceptual and elaborate levels of processing.
Moderating effects of family structure on the relationship between physical and mental health in urban children with chronic illness
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 1996
Abstract: Examined whether certain family structures modify the relationship between psychological adjustment and severity of physical illness, as measured by an index of functional status, among children with chronic illness. 352 families were ided into four types: two biological parents (n = 149), mother plus another adult relative (n = 47), mother plus unrelated spouse or partner (n = 23), and mother alone (n = 133). Correlations between children's functional status and adjustment were higher in the mother plus unrelated partner and mother alone families, and lower when mother lived with either the biological father or another adult relative. Children in the mother plus unrelated partner group also tended to have poorer overall adjustment than other children. Results are discussed in terms of family structure, childhood illness and adjustment, and the possible mechanisms that interrelate these variables.
Heartless and cunning? Intelligence in adolescents with antisocial behavior and psychopathic traits
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 12-2013
DOI: 10.1016/J.PSYCHRES.2013.08.033
Abstract: Clinical theory predicts that in iduals high in psychopathic traits possess average or above average intelligence however findings in adult and child s les have been mixed. The present study aimed to investigate (1) the relationship between verbal and nonverbal intelligence and the three dimensions of psychopathy (callous-unemotional (CU) traits, narcissism, impulsivity) and (2) whether these dimensions moderate the association between verbal and nonverbal intelligence and the severity of antisocial behavior. Participants were 361 adolescents aged 9-18 years (68% boys) and their parents, drawn from four s les with different levels of risk for antisocial behavior. Families were disadvantaged and 25% were from an ethnic minority. Verbal intelligence was unrelated to parent-reported CU traits, narcissism or impulsivity after controlling for gender, sociodemographic disadvantage, s le, antisocial behavior and hyperactivity. Narcissism, but not CU traits or impulsivity, was significantly related to lower nonverbal IQ. None of the three psychopathic trait dimensions moderated the relationship between verbal or nonverbal IQ and antisocial behavior. CU traits, narcissism, hyperactivity and inclusion in the very high or high risk s les were significantly related to more severe antisocial behavior. Results contradict the widely held view that psychopathic traits are associated with better than average verbal or nonverbal intelligence.
Evaluating Practitioner Training to Improve Competencies and Organizational Practices for Engaging Fathers in Parenting Interventions
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 04-08-2018
A qualitative investigation of adolescents' perceived mechanisms of change from a universal school-based depression prevention program
Publisher: MDPI AG
Date: 22-05-2014
Nausea induced by mental images of chemotherapy
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 02-1994
DOI: 10.1002/1097-0142(19940201)73:3<755::AID-CNCR2820730344>3.0.CO;2-R
An exploration of family and individual profiles following father-daughter incest
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 1991
DOI: 10.1016/0145-2134(91)90041-B
Abstract: This paper presents the results of a range of psychometric assessments which attempted to identify family and in idual variables associated with father-daughter incest. Psychometric self-report measures were used to examine differences between families in which incest had been confirmed and a matched comparison group. Significant differences between the members of the incest and the comparison groups included behavioral and self-esteem problems in the daughters and differences in the familial environments of the two groups. Daughters who had been sexually abused reported lower levels of self-esteem about their intellectual and school status. Mothers in the incest group reported that their daughters had more conduct problems than the comparison mothers. The incest families were generally reported to be higher in conflict and organization and lower in cohesion, expressiveness, and active recreation. No differences between groups were found for levels of marital adjustment, self-esteem in mothers, or overall level of psychopathology in the perpetrators.
Hyperhidrosis: A Case Study and Theoretical Formulation
Publisher: Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Date: 06-1992
DOI: 10.1017/S0813483900006409
Abstract: A case study is presented of a 20-year-old male who experienced marked increases in body temperature and profuse sweating of the forehead and trunk when in formal social situations. No other physiological nor psychological manifestations of anxiety were admitted to and no situational avoidance was reported. Pretreatment, posttreatment, and follow-up self-report measures and daily self-monitoring of intensity and frequency of sweating were collected to evaluate treatment effects. Treatment was conducted over a period of 20 weeks. Cued conditioning and desensitisation were initially employed, however treatment effect was difficult to determine. The effects of an inadvertent in vivo exposure in week 6 of treatment and the subsequent change in treatment to exposure and cognitive therapy are discussed. The positive effects of treatment, which led to a decrease in the frequency and intensity of the sweating response, were evident at the completion of treatment and well maintained at 60 weeks follow-up. The use of exposure and cognitive therapy as a suitable treatment for this disorder are discussed in light of other anxiety disorders.
Family conflict and child adjustment: Evidence for a cognitive-contextual model of intergenerational transmission.
Publisher: American Psychological Association (APA)
Date: 06-1999
Cognitive-Behavioral Models of Emotional Writing: A Validation Study
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 10-10-2006
Cognitive and affective empathy in children with conduct problems: Additive and interactive effects of callous-unemotional traits and autism spectrum disorders symptoms
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 11-2014
DOI: 10.1016/J.PSYCHRES.2014.06.025
Abstract: Callous-unemotional (CU) traits and autism spectrum disorders (ASD) symptoms are characterized by problems in empathy however, these behavioral features are rarely examined together in children with conduct problems. This study investigated additive and interactive effects of CU traits and ASD symptoms in relation to cognitive and affective empathy in a non-ASD clinic-referred s le. Participants were 134 children aged 3 to 9 years (M=5.60 79% boys) with oppositional defiant/conduct disorder, and their parents. Clinicians, teachers, and parents reported on dimensions of child behavior, and parental reports of family dysfunction and direct observations of parental warmth/responsiveness assessed quality of family relationships. Results from multiple regression analysis showed that, over and above the effects of child conduct problem severity and quality of family relationships, both ASD symptoms and CU traits were uniquely associated with deficits in cognitive empathy. Moreover, CU traits demonstrated an independent association with affective empathy, and this relationship was moderated by ASD symptoms. That is, there was a stronger negative association between CU traits and affective empathy at higher versus lower levels of ASD symptoms. These findings suggest including both CU traits and ASD-related social impairments in models delineating the atypical development of empathy in children with conduct problems.
Emotion socialization style in parents of children with callous-unemotional traits
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 16-07-2014
DOI: 10.1007/S10578-013-0395-5
Abstract: Children with callous-unemotional (CU) traits manifest a range of deficits in their emotional functioning, and parents play a key role in socializing children's understanding, experience, expression, and regulation of emotions. However, research examining emotion-related parenting in families of children with CU traits is scarce. In two independent studies we examined emotion socialization styles in parents of children high on CU traits. In Study 1, we assessed parents' self-reported beliefs and feelings regarding their own and their child's emotions, in a s le of 111 clinic-referred and community children aged 7-12 years. In Study 2, we directly observed parents' responding to child emotion during an emotional reminiscing task, in a clinic s le of 59 conduct-problem children aged 3-9 years. Taken together, the results were consistent in suggesting that the mothers of children with higher levels of CU traits are more likely to have affective attitudes that are less accepting of emotion (Study 1), and emotion socialization practices that are more dismissing of child emotion (Study 2). Fathers' emotion socialization beliefs and practices were unrelated to levels of CU traits. Our findings provide initial evidence for a relationship between CU traits and parents' emotion socialization style, and have significant implications for the design of novel family-based interventions targeting CU traits and co-occurring conduct problems.
Genetic Regulation of Maternal Oxytocin Response and Its Influences on Maternal Behavior
Publisher: Hindawi Limited
Date: 2016
DOI: 10.1155/2016/5740365
Abstract: We interrogated the genetic modulation of maternal oxytocin response and its association with maternal behavior using genetic risk scores within the oxytocin receptor (OXTR) gene. We identified a novel SNP, rs968389, to be significantly associated with maternal oxytocin response after a challenging mother-infant interaction task (Still Face Paradigm) and maternal separation anxiety from the infant. Performing a multiallelic analysis across OXTR by calculating a cumulative genetic risk score revealed a significant gene-by-environment ( G × E ) interaction, with OXTR genetic risk score interacting with adult separation anxiety to modulate levels of maternal sensitivity. Mothers with higher OXTR genetic risk score and adult separation anxiety showed significantly reduced levels of maternal sensitivity during free play with the infant. The same G × E interaction was also observed for the extended OXTR cumulative genetic risk score that included rs968389. Moreover, the extended cumulative OXTR genetic risk score itself was found to be significantly associated with maternal separation anxiety as it specifically relates to the infant. Our results suggest a complex montage of in idual and synergistic genetic mediators of maternal behavior. These findings add to specific knowledge about genetic regulation of maternal oxytocin response in relation to maternal adjustment and infant bonding through the first few months of life.
Borderline personality disorder and neuropsychological measures of executive function: A systematic review
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 17-09-2016
DOI: 10.1002/PMH.1320
Abstract: The notion that neurocognitive deficits may be core to the development of borderline personality disorder (BPD) has received considerable attention in recent years, with growing evidence pointing to cognitive deficits in executive function (EF). A relationship between EF and BPD has long been suggested by evidence of high comorbidity between BPD and disorders characterized by poor EF (e.g. attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder) however, despite a marked increase in studies of EF and BPD in recent years, the precise nature of this relationship remains unclear. We provide a systematic review of this emerging evidence base, with respect to (1) studies of participants diagnosed with BPD in which EF has been indexed in isolation from broader cognitive processes (2) the specific domains of EF that have been most robustly associated with BPD and (3) whether deficits in EF are uniquely associated with BPD, independent of comorbid psychopathology. Key directions for future research are discussed with respect to strategies for measuring EF and the need for research designs that control for phenotypic overlap between BPD and related forms of psychopathology.
STUDENT PERCEPTIONS OF PERMISSIVENESS AND TEACHER‐INSTIGATED DISCIPLINARY STRATEGIES
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 11-1990
What Role for Parental Attributions in Parenting Interventions for Child Conduct Problems? Advances from Research into Practice
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 04-09-2018
DOI: 10.1007/S10567-017-0243-4
Abstract: The role of parental attributions in parenting interventions has been the subject of intense interest from clinicians and researchers attempting to optimise outcomes in treatments for children with conduct problems. Despite research articulating the many ways parental attributions can influence behavioural parent training (BPT) outcomes, and recognition that addressing parental attributions in treatment is one of the great challenges faced by BPT practitioners, parenting interventions generally do not provide components that explicitly target or focus on changing problematic parental attributions. In this paper, we ask 'Should parental attributions be included into best practice interventions? If so, how can this be done in a way that improves outcomes without cluttering and complicating the parent training model?' We review the theoretical and empirical status of our understanding of the role of parental attributions in BPT with reference to three questions: 'do pre-treatment parental attributions uniquely predict treatment outcomes' 'do changes in parental attributions uniquely predict treatment outcomes' and 'does targeting parental attributions in BPT affect treatment outcomes'. Our review indicates that existing research supports the importance of focussing on parental attributions for some families in order to maximise treatment outcomes. However, clinical processes for doing this are yet to be identified and specified in a way that would allow for manualised replication and scrutiny in research designs. We finish with a discussion of how these clinical and research challenges could be approached.
Childhood Depression and Conduct Disorder: II. An Analysis of Family Interaction Patterns in the Home
Publisher: American Psychological Association (APA)
Date: 08-1992
The role of maternal psychological adjustment in the measurement of children's functional status
Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date: 1995
Abstract: Studied the ways that mothers interpret illness behavior in their children to assess whether maternal psychological adjustment predicts maternal perceptions of children's behavioral limitations and attribution of these behaviors to chronic illness. Functional status ratings and attributions to illness by 365 mothers of 5- to 8-year-old children with chronic illnesses were associated with children's overall adjustment but not with mothers' own psychological distress. Illness attributions also were related to the child's medical visits and hospitalizations. Thus, mother's illness attributions are related to her perceptions of the child's health and more general behavioral adjustment, but not to her own mental health. Results support the validity of the FS II(R) as a measure of functioning related to children's health status that is not influenced by maternal psychological adjustment.
Attributions, affect, and behavior in abuse-risk mothers: A laboratory study
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 2003
DOI: 10.1016/S0145-2134(02)00510-0
Abstract: There were two main aims: first, to assess parental attributions about child behavior in abuse-risk and nonclinic parents. Second, to assess how attributions predict affective and behavioral reactions to child behavior. Internal-external attributions relating to the causes of child behavior were compared across mothers at-risk of child abuse (n = 40) and mothers who reported no significant parental or child conduct or behavior problems (n = 20). Mothers' attributions about the causes of the behavior of their own child and an unfamiliar child were recorded in response to the presentation of videotaped excerpts of the behavior. Results highlighted that compared with nonclinic mothers, abuse-risk mothers had a tendency to attribute positive child behavior to more external causes and negative child behavior to more internal causes. Differences were also found between parental cognitions about clearly positive, clearly naughty, and ambiguous child behavior. In the abuse-risk group, positive child behavior predicted coercive parenting when it elicited angry feelings in the mother ambiguous and naughty child behavior led to coercive parenting through valence ratings of "deviant" and attributions of "internality." Analyses within the abuse-risk group showed that parental attributions are predictive of parental coerciveness for unfamiliar behavior. As behavior becomes more familiar, ratings of its valence and the affect it elicits override attributional activity. Parental attributions about the causes of child behavior differ according to the valence and familiarity of that behavior, and discriminate between parents at risk for child abuse. Further, attributions are predictive of the affective and behavioral responses the parent makes to the child's behavior for ambiguous or unfamiliar behavior. Evidence was found for the validity of using videotaped stimuli of the behavior of known and unknown children as a method of assessing parental attributions.
The effects of mother training in emotion-rich, elaborative reminiscing on children's shared recall and emotion knowledge
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 31-08-2009
Anxious Children and Their Parents: What Do They Expect?
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 06-1999
DOI: 10.1207/S15374424JCCP2802_9
Abstract: Assigned 73 children, ages 7 to 14, to 1 of 3 groups (anxious, clinical control, and nonclinical control) according to their diagnostic status. Within the anxious group, children were assigned to 1 of 2 further groups on the basis of self-reported parental anxiety--either the child anxiety only group or the child + parent anxiety group. All children completed an experimental task (giving a brief talk in front of a video camera), which was the focus for a series of structured family discussions between the child and his or her parents. The aims of the study were to measure and compare across groups (a) the evaluations of children and their parents regarding the child's predicted anxiety and skill level and (b) the effect of the family discussion on children's expectations. Results indicated that, prior to the family discussion, anxious children's expectations of their future performance did not differ from those of control children. Similarly, there were no differences in children's expectations between the child anxiety group and the child + parent anxiety group. Second, compared to mothers in the child anxiety group, mothers in the child + parent anxiety group expected that their children would be more anxious and more likely to choose an avoidant problem solution (but not less skilled). Finally, the family discussion was found to produce no changes in anxious children's expectations of their future performance. The implications of these findings are discussed.
Reduced Eye Gaze Explains “Fear Blindness” in Childhood Psychopathic Traits
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 04-2008
A model of differential amygdala activation in psychopathy
Publisher: American Psychological Association (APA)
Date: 10-2012
DOI: 10.1037/A0029342
Abstract: This article introduces a novel hypothesis regarding amygdala function in psychopathy. The first part of this article introduces the concept of psychopathy and describes the main cognitive and affective impairments demonstrated by this population that is, a deficit in fear-recognition, lower conditioned fear responses and poor performance in passive avoidance, and response-reversal learning tasks. Evidence for amygdala dysfunction in psychopathy is considered with regard to these deficits however, the idea of unified amygdala function is untenable. A model of differential amygdala activation in which the basolateral amygdala (BLA) is underactive while the activity of the central amygdala (CeA) is of average to above average levels is proposed to provide a more accurate and up-to-date account for the specific cognitive and emotional deficits found in psychopathy. In addition, the model provides a mechanism by which attentional-based models and emotion-based models of psychopathy can coexist. Data to support the differential amygdala activation model are provided from studies from both human and animal research. Supporting evidence concerning some of the neurochemicals implicated in psychopathy is then reviewed. Implications of the model and areas of future research are discussed.
Adaptive demands along the HIV disease continuum
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 1996
DOI: 10.1016/0277-9536(95)00099-2
Abstract: Our knowledge of the problems or adaptive demands associated with HIV infection has largely been derived from clinical history taking and qualitative research of persons with AIDS. This study uses a behaviour-analytic approach to systematically describe and quantify the specific adaptive demands encountered by persons with HIV across the disease continuum. Ninety six HIV-infected gay men and 33 seronegative comparison group participants were interviewed in depth. Participants were ided into three groups representing the disease continuum: seronegative, HIV asymptomatic and HIV symptomatic groups. Responses to a Problem Checklist were statistically and content analysed. Distressing emotions, relationship difficulties and HIV-related symptoms were the three most frequently endorsed problems and were also the three most frequently reported problems of most concern. Overall there was a trend for instrumental difficulties to increase with disease progression, whereas emotional and existential problems did not vary as a function of HIV stage. The behaviour-analytic approach to the specification of problems related to HIV infection has implications for both clinical and research endeavours. The specification of problems provided a means for accurately identifying common problems to target and could, therefore, provide the basis for developing suitably matched interventions for use with HIV-infected persons.
Exploring the role of intra-nasal oxytocin on the partner preference effect in humans
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 04-2013
DOI: 10.1016/J.PSYNEUEN.2012.07.009
Abstract: Previous studies with prairie voles suggest that the hormone oxytocin is crucial for bond formation - indicated when a partner preference is formed towards the target vole. In this study, we conduct the first empirical test of whether oxytocin likewise promotes partner preferences in humans. Seventy-six undergraduate students received either oxytocin or placebo before being introduced to a male and female persona (via pre-recorded videoclips). One day later, participants were assessed for a partner preference towards the personae: across three situations, participants were asked to choose as company one of the personae they had been introduced to, or an opposite- or same-gendered person they had not been introduced to before participants were additionally offered a choice to have no company. We found evidence suggesting oxytocin increases preference for persons introduced under the influence of oxytocin however, this was not targeted at persons of the opposite-gender, and was found in only one aspect of social interaction (finding out more information about the person, but not in choice of company to work with or for a date). Taken together, our findings suggest that oxytocin might not promote human bond formation in ways analogous to prairie voles - that is, by inducing a partner preference effect.
Behavioural problems in children with Down's syndrome and their siblings
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 05-1992
DOI: 10.1111/J.1469-7610.1992.TB00910.X
Abstract: Reports of problem behaviour in children with Down's syndrome and their siblings were gathered from mothers, fathers and teachers. Twenty-one sibling pairs were included in the study. The Revised Behavior Problem Checklist (Quay & Peterson, 1983) was used to gather information on total problem behaviour and on five specific problem areas. Children with Down's syndrome were reported to display more problem behaviours overall and to show significantly more attentional problems than their siblings by all rater groups. Sisters of children with Down's syndrome were reported to be more conduct disordered than were brothers by mothers, fathers and teachers. Measures of depression and marital satisfaction found both parent groups to be in the non-distressed range on these instruments. Depression contributed significantly to both parents' reports of problems in the siblings while marital satisfaction was important for mothers' reports of problems in children with Down's syndrome.
The Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children, Adolescents, and Parents: Initial reliability and validity data
Publisher: Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Date: 09-1999
Abstract: This study evaluated the psychometric properties of the Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children, Adolescents and Parents (DISCAP Holland & Dadds, 1995), for DSM-IV anxiety disorders in children and adolescents. Two studies were conducted to examine the reliability and validity of the DISCAP. In the first study, the DISCAP and the Youth Self Report (YSR Achenbach, 1991c) were administered to 120 nonclinical adolescents aged 12 through to 14 years. In the second study, the DISCAP and Child Behaviour Checklist (CBCL Achenbach, 1991b) were administered to parents of 57 clinical children and adolescents aged 6 through to 16 years. Inter-rater reliability data was collected, and both concurrent and discriminant validity of the DISCAP were assessed against the YSR and CBCL. Inter-rater agreements for primary diagnoses were high, and rating scale data supported the concurrent and discriminant validity of the DISCAP diagnoses. Results suggest that the DISCAP can be used to facilitate reliable and valid diagnoses of childhood anxiety disorders.
Children's Perceptions of Time Out and Other Maternal Disciplinary Strategies: The Effects of Clinic Status and Exposure to Behavioural Treatment
Publisher: Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Date: 12-1987
DOI: 10.1017/S0813483900008275
Abstract: Behaviour therapy is now beginning to assess the social validity, along with efficacy, of its treatments. Literature dealing with the social validity of parent-training programs is reviewed. The aim of this investigation was to obtain acceptability ratings of the “time out” procedure from the perspective of behaviour problem and non-problem children. The study looked at acceptability ratings of five maternal behaviours/disciplinary techniques (permissiveness, physical punishment, directed discussion, quiet time, time out) across four different situations (non-compliance with an initiating instruction, aggression toward others, non-compliance with a terminating instruction, non-compliance with known rule) by s les of clinical (problem behaviour) children and control children. Both groups were alike in rating permissiveness as less acceptable than any of the other behaviours across most situations and rating it as unacceptable in absolute terms. Time out was rated equally acceptable with physical punishment, directed discussion and quiet time. The results support previous findings that young children prefer interventionist to permissive parents, including the use of exclusionary time out. In a second study, ratings were taken from two clinical groups, treatment and waitlist, both at pre- and post-treatment. Despite large in idual differences in the treatment group, no change in acceptability ratings was found at post-treatment. Thus, experiencing time out did not change the children's evaluation of this procedure. Possible reasons for these findings and their practical implications are discussed.
Family treatment of childhood anxiety: A controlled trial.
Publisher: American Psychological Association (APA)
Date: 1996
Is Callous Always Cold? A Critical Review of the Literature on Emotion and the Development of Callous–Unemotional Traits in Children
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 07-01-2020
DOI: 10.1007/S10567-019-00309-W
Abstract: Low emotional responsiveness is considered a core feature of callous-unemotional (CU) traits in childhood and, in the context of antisocial behavior, a precursor of psychopathic traits in adulthood. However, recent findings suggest that CU traits are not always characterized by low emotional responsiveness and the evidence base requires review. This review asks a fundamental question- 'Is callous always cold?'-with a specific focus on emotional responsiveness and CU traits in children with conduct problems (CPs). PRISMA review protocols were followed to identify literature reporting on emotional responsiveness for children 3-18 years with CPs and varying (high and low) CU traits. Results from eligible studies were contrasted by age (children 3-11 years, adolescents 12-18 years), emotional responsive measurement type (physiological, behavioral, self-report), emotion-eliciting stimuli type (interactive activities, static imagery, film) and socio-emotional context of the stimuli (other-orientated, self-orientated, neutral). This review highlights considerable variation in results across studies: reduced emotional responsiveness was not synonymous with participants demonstrating high CU traits. A more consistent picture of reduced emotional responsiveness in participants with high CU traits was found when studies used physiological measures, when stimuli were other-orientated in socio-emotional context, and in older, adolescent s les. In conclusion, this paper advocates for a more nuanced understanding of the relationship between high CU traits and the specific factors involved in emotional responsiveness, ultimately suggesting that callous is not always cold. Given that emotional responsiveness is central to theories of moral development, these findings may suggest innovative approaches to early intervention.
Behaviour Modification in Australia: A Quantitative Review of the Last Decade
Publisher: Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Date: 12-1988
DOI: 10.1017/S0813483900007865
Abstract: This paper presents a quantitative description of the activity of the Australian Behaviour Modification Association, as reflected in conference presentations from 1978 to 1987 and publications in Behaviour Change from its inception to 1988. The results reveal a number of pleasing and displeasing aspects of behavioural research and other activities over the past ten years. These findings are discussed with reference to the next decade, with specific suggestions for directions and priorities.
Psychosocial adjustment along the hiv disease continuum
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 11-1995
The role of parental anxiety in the treatment of childhood anxiety
Publisher: American Psychological Association (APA)
Date: 1998
I Know What to Do; I Can Do It; It Will Work: The Brief Parental Self Efficacy Scale (BPSES) for Parenting Interventions
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 25-08-2023
DOI: 10.1007/S10578-023-01583-0
Abstract: Parental self-efficacy predicts outcomes for parenting interventions for child behaviour problems, but there is a need for a brief measure that can be repeated over treatment and applies to a wide age range. The present study describes the development of such a measure, the Brief Parental Self-Efficacy Scale (BPSES). The psychometrics of the BPSES is presented across a wide age range from preschool to late adolescent in a s le comprised of four different intervention contexts. Evidence for structural validity, internal consistency, content validity, configural measurement invariance (equivalent factor structure) and test–retest reliability is presented alongside convergent validity against measures of parental self-efficacy, child behaviour problems, as well as self-report and observed parenting styles. Finally, lower levels of BPSES at baseline predicted increased disengagement from an intensive, in idualised family therapy intervention for antisocial youth, while higher baseline levels predicted increased response to a group parenting programme for primary school aged children. The BPSES shows promise as a measure that can be used across a wide age-range, for a variety of parenting interventions for disruptive behaviour problems and which is sufficiently brief to be used as a routine outcome measurement during treatment.
Mapping the developmental pathways of child conduct problems through the neurobiology of empathy
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 08-2018
DOI: 10.1016/J.NEUBIOREV.2017.03.016
Abstract: The notion that antisocial behavior reflects failures of empathy has a long history in the clinical literature, yet only recently has evidence emerged to support neuroscientific accounts of empathy and the development of child conduct problems. Much of this evidence has come from research into callous-unemotional traits, which correspond to the affective component of psychopathy and therefore encompass deficits in empathy within a broader cluster of emotional impairments. In this review we integrate current evidence concerning the biobehavioral bases of empathy and callous-unemotional traits, and discuss how it may inform models of heterogeneous subgroups of in iduals with early onset conduct problems. We argue that somewhat distinct failures of empathy map onto distinct risk pathways to early onset conduct problems, and that these pathways may be best understood by examining empathy in terms of cognitive and environmental prerequisites and the various neurochemical systems implicated therein.
A randomized controlled trial of the effect of d-cycloserine on exposure therapy for spider fear
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 09-2007
DOI: 10.1016/J.JPSYCHIRES.2006.05.006
Abstract: Previous research [Hofmann SG, Meuret AE, Smits JA, Simon NM, Pollack MH, Eisenmenger K, et al. Augmentation of exposure therapy for social anxiety disorder with D-cycloserine. Archives of General Psychiatry 2006 :298-304 Ressler KJ, Rothbaum BO, Tannenbaum L, Anderson P, Graap K, Zimand E, et al. Cognitive enhancers as adjuncts to psychotherapy: use of d-cycloserine in phobic in iduals to facilitate extinction of fear. Archives of General Psychiatry 2004 :1136-44] suggests that d-cycloserine (DCS) facilitates the reduction of clinical fear in humans. We used a well established intervention to evaluate the effectiveness of administering DCS as an adjunct to exposure therapy in a heightened, but sub-clinical, fear population. Over two studies, 100 spider-fearful participants were allocated to DCS or placebo before treatment and were assessed at pre-, immediate post-, and 3.5 weeks post-treatment. Significant treatment effects and return of fear was observed at follow-up, particularly in non-treatment contexts however, both studies failed to demonstrate any enhancing effects of DCS (50 or 500 mg). DCS did not enhance the reduction of spider fears or the generalisation of treatment of a single session of exposure-based therapy. These results suggest that DCS may not enhance loss of non-clinical levels of fear in human populations.
The effects of planned activities and child management procedures in parent training: An analysis of setting generality
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 09-1982
Family Drawings before and after Treatment for Child Conduct Problems: Fluidity of Family Dysfunction
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 31-07-2017
Successes and challenges in preventing conduct problems in Australian preschool-aged children through the Early Impact (EI) Program
Publisher: Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Date: 06-2006
Abstract: This article reports on the initial effects of the Early Impact (EI) Program, a preventative program that includes home and school components designed to arrest the development of conduct problems in preschool-aged children. Participants included 455 preschool-aged children enrolled across 10 schools. Schools were randomly assigned to either EI or control conditions. All participants were screened at the commencement of the academic year to determine those children considered more at risk for ongoing conduct problems. Following screening n = 66 children were identified in the intervention group and n = 69 in the control. The intervention commenced in the second term of the academic year and ran over a 10-week period. Teachers involved in the intervention were highly engaged and satisfied with the program design. Improvements were reported at the school level at post-intervention with mixed evidence of durability of change at 6-month follow-up. Parent participants were more difficult to engage and reported no changes in the behaviour of children in the home. The study provides initial evidence of the efficacy of the EI intervention as a means of preventing conduct problems in young children at the school level however, issues associated with parental engagement and home-based change remain to be solved.
Sequential Growth in Cognitive-behavioral Emotion-processing: A Laboratory Study
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 25-06-2008
Love, eye contact and the developmental origins of empathy v. psychopathy
Publisher: Royal College of Psychiatrists
Date: 03-2012
DOI: 10.1192/BJP.BP.110.085720
Abstract: A propensity to attend to other people's emotions is a necessary condition for human empathy. To test our hypothesis that psychopathic disorder begins as a failure to attend to the eyes of attachment figures, using a ‘love’ scenario in young children. Children with oppositional defiant disorder, assessed for callous–unemotional traits, and a control group were observed in a love interaction with mothers. Eye contact and affection were measured for each dyad. There was no group difference in affection and eye contact expressed by the mothers. Compared with controls, children with oppositional defiant disorder expressed lower levels of affection back towards their mothers those with high levels of callous–unemotional traits showed significantly lower levels of affection than the children lacking these traits. As predicted, the former group showed low levels of eye contact toward their mothers. Low eye contact was not correlated with maternal coercive parenting or feelings toward the child, but was correlated with psychopathic fearlessness in their fathers. Impairments in eye contact are characteristic of children with callous–unemotional traits, and these impairments are independent of maternal behaviour.
An Exploration of the Serotonin System in Antisocial Boys with High Levels of Callous-Unemotional Traits
Publisher: Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Date: 15-02-2013
Marital Discord and Treatment Outcome in Behavioral Treatment of Child Conduct Disorders
Publisher: American Psychological Association (APA)
Date: 1987
Attention to the eyes and fear-recognition deficits in child psychopathy
Publisher: Royal College of Psychiatrists
Date: 09-2006
DOI: 10.1192/BJP.BP.105.018150
Abstract: The ability to recognise fear is impaired in people with damage to the amygdala and, interestingly, in adult psychopathy. Here we confirm that deficits in recognising fear exist in children with psychopathic traits. We show for the first time that, as with patients with amygdala damage, this deficit can be temporarily corrected by simply asking them to focus on the eyes of other people. These data support models of psychopathy that emphasise specific dysfunction of the amygdala and suggest an innovative approach for intervening early in the development of psychopathy.
The Role of Family Intervention in the Treatment of Child Anxiety Disorders: Some Preliminary Findings
Publisher: Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Date: 09-1992
DOI: 10.1017/S0813483900006318
Abstract: Anxiety and fear are among the most common and distressing problems reported by children and adolescents. However, these problems have received little attention from behavioural family theorists and therapists. In this paper, we argue that more attention needs to be paid to evaluating the role of family interaction processes in the development and treatment of child anxiety disorders. A program of research is described including a treatment outcome study in which family processes and behavioural family intervention are evaluated with 7- to 14-year-old children with overanxious, separation anxiety, and avoidant disorders. The family treatment focuses on how parents interact with their child during displays of anxiety, their management of emotional upsets, and family communication and problem-solving skills. Preliminary results of the family treatment are presented.
Cognitive–behavioral treatment of anxiety disorders in children: Long-term (6-year) follow-up.
Publisher: American Psychological Association (APA)
Date: 2001
Parenting and Conduct Problems in Children: Australian Data and Psychometric Properties of the Alabama Parenting Questionnaire
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 2003
Emotions, Imagination, and Moral Reasoning
Publisher: Psychology Press
Date: 04-05-2012
What is it to discipline a child: What should it be? A reanalysis of time-out from the perspective of child mental health, attachment, and trauma.
Publisher: American Psychological Association (APA)
Date: 10-2019
DOI: 10.1037/AMP0000449
Abstract: Parental discipline strategies are a necessary and critical aspect of positive child development. Their qualities confer risk versus protection for the development of mental health problems. Time-out from positive reinforcement is now one of the most common and well-researched discipline procedures across the world, with overwhelming evidence to support its efficacy and acceptability. It has also recently attracted considerable criticism from writers evoking child well-being considerations based on attachment theory. The main concern is that the removal of a child to time-out exposes the child to a break in attachment security and, for children with trauma histories, potentially causes harm. Here, we consider what a discipline strategy should be from a mental health perspective and, utilizing the best available models of developmental mental health and psychopathology, derive five axioms for judging and guiding the worth and acceptability of any particular discipline strategy. We then use these axioms to evaluate and specify how time-out can be used in a way that maximizes positive child outcomes, and then review its use with children who have experienced complex trauma. We show that time-out, when conceptualized and enacted consistently with contemporary models of learning, attachment, self-regulation, and family systems theory, is actually a positive perturbation to these systems that can rapidly remediate problems the child is experiencing, and thereby generally enhances child well-being. Clinical, research, and policy implications are briefly discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).
Toward evidence-informed child rearing: Measurement of time-out implementation in a community sample
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 08-02-2022
DOI: 10.1177/13591045221076644
Abstract: Time-out (TO) is a widely used parental discipline strategy with strong research support in programmes that promote positive child development. Concerns have been raised, however, regarding adverse impact on child mental health (CMH) in part driven by evidence of widespread variability in appropriate implementation. There are no existing measures of TO. We present the first measure of procedural implementation of TO in a community s le of parents of children aged 6–8 years. A nationally representative s le ( N = 474) of parents completed a survey on the implementation of TO, parent-child relationships, and emotional and behavioural difficulties. The scale of TO use was used to test the convergent validity between TO implementation and parenting practices/family adjustment and CMH. Consistent with international research, % of parents have used TO with their children. There was high variability in the levels of appropriate implementation of TO. Scale reliability (Cronbach’s alpha) was acceptable and tests of convergent validity indicated that as expected, less appropriate implementation of TO was associated with worse CMH and poorer parenting and family adjustment. The current findings suggest that the scale is a psychometrically sound instrument for measuring the appropriate procedural implementation of TO with young children.
Perspectives on ParentWorks: Learnings from the development and national roll-out of a self-directed online parenting intervention
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 03-2019
A universal prevention trial of anxiety and depressive symptomatology in childhood: Preliminary data from an Australian study
Publisher: Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Date: 04-2001
DOI: 10.1375/BECH.18.1.36
Abstract: This paper describes the development and preliminary findings of a program designed to prevent the development of anxiety and depressive symptoms in children aged 10 to 13 years. Using a universal prevention approach, a total of 594 children were randomly assigned on a class-by-class basis to either a 10-session family group CBT program (FRIENDS) routinely implemented as part of the school curriculum, or to a comparison group. Pre-post intervention changes were examined universally, and for children who scored above the clinical cut-off for anxiety at pretest. Results revealed that children in the FRIENDS intervention group reported fewer anxiety symptoms, regardless of their risk status, than the comparison group at posttest. In terms of reported levels of depression, only the high anxiety group who completed the FRIENDS intervention evidenced improvements at posttest. Overall, these preliminary results appear to support the benefits of a school-based universal cognitive-behavioural intervention program. Implications of this study are discussed, and long-term follow-up measures are currently underway.
Population cost-effectiveness of the Triple P parenting programme for the treatment of conduct disorder: an economic modelling study
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 29-12-2017
Imagery in human classical conditioning
Publisher: American Psychological Association (APA)
Date: 1997
DOI: 10.1037/0033-2909.122.1.89
Abstract: Many clinical strategies use patients' imagery to explore and treat phobic and posttrauma reactions, however little attention has been paid to the underlying assumption that imagery of relevant stimuli may help maintain conditioned behavior. In this article, the authors examine the premise that mental images can potentiate and substitute for physical stimuli in human classical conditioning. The authors review empirical evidence to detail the role of images of conditioned stimuli (CS) and unconditioned stimuli (US) during pre-exposure to stimuli, the actual pairing of the CS and US, and extinction when the CS is presented alone. The evidence suggests that mental imagery can facilitate or diminish the outcome of classical conditioning in humans and, more tentatively, that mental images can substitute for actual US and CS in autonomic conditioning. They argue that researchers should explore the role of mental imagery in conditioning through the use of advances in the measurement of imagery. Finally, they analyze anxiety and trauma reactions as ex les of how applied areas can be used to explore and benefit from developments in this area.
Amygdala Response to Preattentive Masked Fear in Children With Conduct Problems: The Role of Callous-Unemotional Traits
Publisher: American Psychiatric Association Publishing
Date: 10-2012
DOI: 10.1176/APPI.AJP.2012.12020191
Abstract: In children with conduct problems, high levels of callous-unemotional traits are associated with amygdala hypoactivity to consciously perceived fear, while low levels of callous-unemotional traits may be associated with amygdala hyperactivity. Behavioral data suggest that fear processing deficits in children with high callous-unemotional traits may extend to stimuli presented below conscious awareness (preattentively). The authors investigated the neural basis of this effect. Amygdala involvement was predicted on the basis of its role in preattentive affective processing in healthy adults and its dysfunction in previous studies of conduct problems. Functional MRI was used to measure neural responses to fearful and calm faces presented preattentively (for 17 ms followed by backward masking) in boys with conduct problems and high callous-unemotional traits (N=15), conduct problems and low callous-unemotional traits (N=15), and typically developing comparison boys (N=16). Amygdala response to fearful and calm faces was predicted to differentiate groups, with the greatest response in boys with conduct problems and low callous-unemotional traits and the lowest in boys with conduct problems and high callous-unemotional traits. In the right amygdala, a greater amygdala response was seen in boys with conduct problems and low callous-unemotional traits than in those with high callous-unemotional traits. The findings were not explained by symptom levels of conduct disorder, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, anxiety, or depression. These data demonstrate differential amygdala activity to preattentively presented fear in children with conduct problems grouped by callous-unemotional traits, with high levels associated with lower amygdala reactivity. The study's findings complement increasing evidence suggesting that callous-unemotional traits are an important specifier in the classification of children with conduct problems.
Callous‐unemotional traits in children and mechanisms of impaired eye contact during expressions of love: a treatment target?
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 09-10-2013
DOI: 10.1111/JCPP.12155
Abstract: We previously hypothesised that the early development of psychopathy is associated with a failure to attend to the eyes of attachment figures, and we have presented preliminary data from a parent-child 'love' scenario in support of this. Here, we confirm the association in a larger s le and test mechanisms of impaired eye contact during expressions of love in control and behaviourally disturbed children. Oppositional defiant disorder children, assessed for callous-unemotional (CU) traits, and controls, were observed in a brief interaction task where the mother was asked to show love to her child. Eye contact and affection were measured for each dyad. As predicted, there were no group differences in affection and eye contact expressed by mothers levels of CU traits predicted low levels of eye contact towards their mothers across all groups of children. As expected, low eye contact was correlated with psychopathic fearlessness in their fathers, and maternal reports of negative feelings towards the child. Independent observations showed that child's behaviour largely drives the low eye contact associated with CU traits, and low eye contact was not associated with independent observations of the quality of attachment-related behaviours in mothers. Impaired eye contact is a unique characteristic of children with CU traits these impairments are largely independent of maternal behaviour, but associated with psychopathic traits in the fathers. These impairments should be tested for functional significance and amenability to change in longitudinal and treatment studies.
Examining Practitioner Competencies, Organizational Support and Barriers to Engaging Fathers in Parenting Interventions
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 18-05-2017
Developmental and gender differences in the language for emotions across the adolescent years
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 11-2004
Methylation of the oxytocin receptor gene and oxytocin blood levels in the development of psychopathy
Publisher: Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Date: 23-09-2014
DOI: 10.1017/S0954579413000497
Abstract: Child conduct problems (CPs) are a robust predictor of adult mental health the concurrence of callous–unemotional (CU) traits confers specific risk for psychopathy. Psychopathy may be related to disturbances in the oxytocin (OXT) system. Evidence suggests that epigenetic changes in the OXT receptor gene ( OXTR ) are associated with lower circulating OXT and social–cognitive difficulties. We tested methylation levels of OXTR in 4- to 16-year-old males who met DSM criteria for a diagnosis of oppositional–defiant or conduct disorder and were stratified by CU traits and age. Measures were DNA methylation levels of six CpG sites in the promoter region of the OXTR gene (where a CpG site is a cytosine nucleotide occurs next to a guanine nucleotide in the linear sequence of bases along its lenth, linked together by phosphate binding), and OXT blood levels. High CU traits were associated with greater methylation of the OXTR gene for two cytosine nucleotide and guanine nucleotide phosphate linked sites and lower circulating OXT in older males. Higher methylation correlated with lower OXT levels. We conclude that greater methylation of OXTR characterizes adolescent males with high levels of CU and CPs, and this methylation is associated with lower circulating OXT and functional impairment in interpersonal empathy. The results add genetic evidence that high CU traits specify a distinct subgroup within CP children, and they suggest models of psychopathy may be informed by further identification of these epigenetic processes and their functional significance.
Effects of oxytocin on human social approach measured using intimacy equilibriums
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 11-2012
DOI: 10.1016/J.YHBEH.2012.09.002
Abstract: Research in animals and humans suggests a role of oxytocin in social approach to strangers. We tested this by introducing undergraduate students to opposite-gendered strangers, with each member of the pair having taken either oxytocin or placebo. One hundred and four undergraduate students were paired up and engaged in a face-to-face conversation structured with a series of intimate topics for discussion. We found that oxytocin increased conversational intimacy in female but not male participants, but that this was matched with compensatory decreases in eye-contact (relative to placebo). Argyle and Dean (1965) conceptualise intimacy as a function of physical distance, eye-contact, and conversational intimacy, such that equilibrium is maintained when increases in one domain are matched by compensatory decreases in another domain. Based on this notion, our results suggest that oxytocin does not facilitate social approach by increasing the intimacy equilibrium between two strangers.
Family care and schizophrenia: The effects of a supportive educational program on relatives’ personal and social adjustment
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 12-1987
DOI: 10.3109/00048678709158927
Abstract: In the aftermath of deinstitutionalisation and the move to community management of schizophrenia, relatives play an increasing role in the management of the illness. Families often complain of being misinformed and ill equipped to aid in the treatment. A supportive/educational intervention for relatives is described and evaluated. Seven parents with a schizophrenic offspring participated in a descriptive pilot study employing a pre-post-treatment design. To test the hypotheses that treatment would impact on participants' distress, burden, family conflict, isolation and knowledge of schizophrenia, before and after measures were taken on self-report indices utilising these features. Generalisation effects on family coping were assessed via tri-weekly telephone interviews for the duration of the study. The intervention included information and sharing sessions. There was a substantial reduction in distress symptoms, anxiety, depression, burden and the amount of family conflict there was an increase in the duration of home visits, out of home excursions and knowledge of schizophrenia. Most of the subjects' needs were met by the intervention. These gains were achieved with a high level of consumer acceptance. It was concluded that this kind of education has an important role in psychosocial intervention with relatives of the mentally ill.
Nasal oxytocin for social deficits in childhood autism: A randomized controlled trial
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 26-07-2014
DOI: 10.1007/S10803-013-1899-3
Abstract: The last two decades have witnessed a surge in research investigating the application of oxytocin as a method of enhancing social behaviour in humans. Preliminary evidence suggests oxytocin may have potential as an intervention for autism. We evaluated a 5-day 'live-in' intervention using a double-blind randomized control trial. 38 male youths (7-16 years old) with autism spectrum disorders were administered 24 or 12 international units (depending on weight) intranasal placebo or oxytocin once daily over four consecutive days. The oxytocin or placebo was administered during parent-child interaction training sessions. Parent and child behaviours were assessed using parent reports, clinician ratings, and independent observations, at multiple time points to measure side-effects social interaction skills repetitive behaviours emotion recognition and diagnostic status. Compared to placebo, intranasal oxytocin did not significantly improve emotion recognition, social interaction skills, or general behavioral adjustment in male youths with autism spectrum disorders. The results show that the benefits of nasal oxytocin for young in iduals with autism spectrum disorders may be more circumscribed than suggested by previous studies, and suggest caution in recommending it as an intervention that is broadly effective.
Social desirability and self-reported anxiety in children: An analysis of the RCMAS lie scale
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 1998
Abstract: There are important applied and theoretical reasons for research into the association between social desirability and self-reported anxiety in young people. The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between anxiety and social desirability in a large normative s le of 7- to 14-year-olds (N = 1,786). Participants completed the Revised Children's Manifest Anxiety Scale and their teachers rated children as anxious-not anxious according to specified descriptions. Results indicated that anxiety and lie scores do not correlate for either gender or age grouping. However, anxiety scores interacted with lie scores differently for males and females in terms of the agreement between children's and teacher's ratings of anxiety. Indications are that social desirability levels may in part explain the consistent discrepancies found between child and adult reports of anxiety in young people.
Growing up with a father with PTSD: The family emotional climate of the children of Australian Vietnam veterans
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 10-2018
DOI: 10.1016/J.PSYCHRES.2018.06.071
Abstract: A non-clinical s le of male Australian Vietnam veterans, their wives, and adult offspring were interviewed in-person in a national epidemiological study to assess the relationship between the mental ill-health of veterans and the emotional climate of the family while the children were growing up. Veterans were assessed 17 years before their children using standardised psychiatric diagnostic interviews. Family emotional climate was assessed using offspring ratings of parental attachment, and codings of positive and negative family relationship styles based on five minute speech s les provided by the offspring. Sons and daughters had different views of their mothers and fathers, and were less positive towards their fathers particularly if he had posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Veteran PTSD and depression significantly negatively impacted the family emotional climate, while mothers' mental health was not related. Veteran PTSD symptoms were lowest in secure attachment to the veteran and highest in inconsistent attachment for both sons and daughters, but were not related to attachment to the mother. Veteran PTSD was related to daughters' but not sons' perceptions of family emotional climate. The impact of veterans' PTSD on their families' emotional climate is more marked for daughters than sons.
Home visiting intervention for vulnerable families with newborns: Follow-up results of a randomized controlled trial
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 11-2000
DOI: 10.1016/S0145-2134(00)00193-9
Abstract: This study aimed to: (1) Assess the community utility of a screening tool to identify families with child abuse or neglect risk factors in the immediate postnatal period (2) Determine the social validity and effectiveness of a home visiting program using community child health nurses and offering social work services for identified families, and (3) Identify factors in the immediate postnatal period associated with the child's environment that predict poor adjustment to the parenting role. A randomized controlled trial using a cohort of 181 families was undertaken to evaluate the impact of a home visiting program. Mothers were recruited in the immediate postnatal period and allocated either into the home visiting program or into a comparison group. The research design required self-identification into the study by providing positive responses to a range of risk factors. A repeated measures design was used to test parenting stress and maternal depression from the immediate postnatal period to 12-month follow-up and physical child abuse potential to 18-month follow-up. To test whether measures taken in the immediate postnatal period were predictive for poor adjustment to the parenting role, a linear regression model was used. The screening procedure was shown to have utility in the context of recruitment to a research trial and mothers were willing to accept the home visiting program examined by this study from the immediate postnatal period. From as early as 6 weeks the program demonstrated ability to impact positively on maternal, infant, family, and home environment variables (testing 90 randomly allocated intervention vs. 91 comparison families). At follow-up, parental adjustment variables were not significantly different between groups (testing the remaining 68 (75.5%) intervention vs. 70 (76.9%) comparison families) and home environment assessment scores had converged. Predictive analysis of factors measured in the immediate postnatal period revealed an absence of any predictive value to demographic characteristics, which secondary prevention efforts typically target. Follow-up evaluation did not demonstrate a positive impact on parenting stress, parenting competence, or quality of the home environment confirming the need to test early program success on longer term outcomes. Further, thestudy not only demonstrated that there was a relationship between maternal, family and environmental factors identified in the immediate postnatal period. and adjustment to the parenting role, but also challenged demographic targeting for child abuse and neglect risk. At the same time, the immediate postnatal period presented an exciting window of opportunity to access high-risk families who may otherwise have become marginalized from traditional services.
Family processes in child and adolescent anxiety and depression
Publisher: Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Date: 12-1996
DOI: 10.1017/S0813483900004836
Abstract: Anxiety and depression tend to run in families. This paper reviews some of the family processes that are implicated in the development, maintenance, and treatment of these problems in children and adolescents. Empirical studies and our theoretical review show that social learning processes within the context of intimate relationships are important in the development of anxiety and depression. Family processes have been shown to be important in the treatment of anxiety disorders but parallel evidence is lacking with regard to depression in adolescents. Two models are shown to have demonstrated explanatory power and empirical support: social learning theory and attachment theory. Ex les are given of how these models can be contrasted and integrated at both clinical and theoretical levels.
A national child mental health literacy initiative is needed to reduce childhood mental health disorders
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 17-01-2019
Abstract: Half of all lifetime mental health disorders emerge in childhood, so intervening in the childhood years is critical to prevent chronic trajectories of mental health disorders. The prevalence of child mental health disorders is not decreasing despite the increased availability of evidence-based interventions. One key reason for the high prevalence and low treatment uptake may be low levels of child mental health literacy in the general community. Mental health literacy refers to knowledge and beliefs about mental health disorders that aid in their recognition, prevention and management. There is emerging evidence of poor recognition of child mental health problems in the community and low levels of parental knowledge about how to seek help, along with high levels of stigmatising attitudes. Although Australia has been a world leader in research and practice in improving mental health literacy for adolescent and adult mental health disorders, particularly depression and anxiety, mental health literacy for childhood disorders has been largely overlooked. In order to improve knowledge of child mental health disorders, reduce stigma, improve appropriate help-seeking and impact on the prevalence of child mental health disorders, we argue that a national initiative focussing on increasing mental health literacy for childhood disorders is urgently needed.
Revisiting the treatment of conduct problems in children with callous-unemotional traits
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 10-04-2013
Abstract: This study examined whether the diminished treatment response previously reported for children with conduct problems and high levels of callous-unemotional (CU) traits is evident when these traits are indexed using multi-informant data collected from mothers, fathers, and teachers. It also tested whether treatment outcomes associated with CU traits are independent of overlap between CU traits and autism spectrum disorder (ASD) symptoms. Diagnostic data on oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) severity were collected pre-treatment (time 1) and at 6-month follow-up (time 2) in a s le of children ( N = 95 67 boys, 28 girls) aged 3–9 years with clinic-referred conduct problems and comorbid symptoms in a range of diagnostic domains. Time 1 measures of CU traits and ASD symptoms were tested as predictors of time 2 ODD severity using structural equation modeling, with multi-informant ratings of CU traits modeled as a single latent variable. Compared to children with low levels of CU traits, those with high levels exhibited more severe ODD symptoms at follow-up ( β = 0.33, SE = 0.08, p 0.05), after controlling for pre-treatment severity, socio-economic status, other demographics (age, gender), and parameters of treatment (number of treatment sessions, medication status). Although CU traits and ASD symptoms were positively correlated, ASD symptoms showed no association with change in ODD severity from pre-treatment to follow-up. Likewise, the association between CU traits and ODD outcomes held when controlling for covariation between CU traits and ASD symptoms. Our findings replicate previous evidence that CU traits are uniquely associated with poor clinical outcomes among children treated for conduct problems, and show for the first time that this association is not accounted for by symptoms of ASD.
The Generalization of Treatment Effects in Parent Training with Multidistressed Parents
Publisher: Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Date: 10-1987
DOI: 10.1017/S0141347300012696
Abstract: This paper presents two studies which attempt to clarify the processes by which families who have multiple problems respond to behavioural parent training procedures. Study 1 assessed a range of parent and child behaviours in erse home and community childcare settings during baseline, child management training and 3-month follow-up. Results show that while treatment gains occurred in the home training setting with the therapist present, little generalization of therapeutic effects to other settings was found. At follow-up, the gains made in the training setting had largely reverted to baseline levels. Study 2 assessed the same parent and child behaviours across settings for another group of multidistressed families during baseline, child management training, generalization training (consisting of planned activities and a social-marital support intervention) and at follow-up. Results indicated that the generalization training was associated with further improvements in non-training settings for parent and child behaviour, and that these results had maintained or further improved at follow-up. The results are interpreted and discussed with reference to future research and clinical work with conduct disordered children and their families.
Polymorphisms in the oxytocin receptor gene are associated with the development of psychopathy
Publisher: Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Date: 23-09-2014
DOI: 10.1017/S0954579413000485
Abstract: The co-occurrence of child conduct problems (CPs) and callous–unemotional (CU) traits confers risk for psychopathy. The oxytocin (OXT) system is a likely candidate for involvement in the development of psychopathy. We tested variations in the OXT receptor gene ( OXTR ) in CP children and adolescents with varying levels of CU traits. Two s les of Caucasian children, aged 4–16 years, who met DSM criteria for disruptive behavior problems and had no features of autism spectrum disorder, were stratified into low versus high CU traits. Measures were the frequencies of nine candidate OXTR polymorphisms (single nucleotide polymorphisms). In S le 1, high CU traits were associated with single nucleotide polymorphism rs1042778 in the 3′ untranslated region of OXTR and the CGCT haplotype of rs2268490 , rs2254298 , rs237889 , and rs13316193 . The association of rs1042778 was replicated in the second rural s le and held across gender and child versus adolescent age groups. We conclude that polymorphic variation of the OXTR characterizes children with high levels of CU traits and CPs. The results are consistent with a hypothesized role of OXT in the developmental antecedents of psychopathy, particularly the differential amygdala activation model of psychopathic traits, and add genetic evidence that high CU traits specify a distinct subgroup within CP children.
Parenting practices and prospective levels of hyperactivity/inattention across early- and middle-childhood
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 03-02-2013
Early intervention and prevention of anxiety disorders in children: Results at 2-year follow-up
Publisher: American Psychological Association (APA)
Date: 1999
Measuring Parenting in Community and Public Health Research Using Brief Child and Parent Reports
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 18-07-2010
THE EFFECTS OF SOCIAL CONTEXT AND VERBAL SKILL ON THE STEREOTYPIC AND TASK‐INVOLVED BEHAVIOUR OF AUTISTIC CHILDREN
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 09-1988
DOI: 10.1111/J.1469-7610.1988.TB01887.X
Abstract: Twelve autistic children's rates of Stereotypy, Task Involvement and Non Involvement were observed in three settings representing levels of interpersonal contact: In idual Attention, Group Attention and Play. The children were assigned in two groups reflecting high and low verbal skills and overall level of autistic disturbance was used as a covariate. Results showed that the highest levels of Task Involvement and the lowest levels of Stereotypy and Non Involvement were associated with the highest level of interpersonal contact. Verbal skill level predicted higher rates of prosocial behaviour overall, and interacted with the setting measures for Stereotypic behaviours, indicating that the low verbal children tended to self-stimulate most when no demands were made on their behaviour. Implications for further research and educational practice are briefly discussed.
Cone of direct gaze as a marker of social anxiety in males
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 11-2013
DOI: 10.1016/J.PSYCHRES.2013.05.020
Abstract: The fear of being scrutinised is a core feature of social anxiety disorder and socially anxious in iduals overestimate being 'looked at'. A recent development in the vision sciences is a reliable psychophysical index of the range of eye gaze angles judged as being directed at oneself (Cone of Direct Gaze: CoDG). We tested the CoDG as a measure of "being looked at" in social anxiety. Participants were stratified into high/low social anxiety groups and asked to judge whether they were being 'looked at' by computerised male faces varying in eye gaze deviation and facial emotion. High socially anxious males had a wider CoDG than low socially anxious males high and low socially anxious females did not differ. Fearful faces elicited narrower cones than neutral or angry faces however, the effect size was small and not evident for the high socially anxious males. Measures of subjective reactions to the study, and to being looked at in general, indicated that the results may be in part due to males suffering more discomfort when being looked at. The results show that measures derived from psychophysics, in this case, the CoDG, have potential as clinical and research tools for measuring anxiety about being scrutinised.
A review of safety, side-effects and subjective reactions to intranasal oxytocin in human research
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 09-2011
DOI: 10.1016/J.PSYNEUEN.2011.02.015
Abstract: Human research investigating the impact of intranasal oxytocin on psychological processes has accelerated over the last two decades. No review of side effects, subjective reactions and safety is available. A systematic review of 38 randomised controlled trials conducted between 1990 and 2010 that investigated the central effects of intranasal oxytocin was undertaken. A systematic search for reports of adverse reactions involving intranasal oxytocin was also completed. Since 1990, research trials have reported on N=1529 (79% male) of which 8% were participants with developmental or mental health difficulties. Dosages ranged from 18 to 40 IU, mainly in single doses but ranged up to 182 administrations. Diverse methods have been used to screen and exclude participants, monitor side effects and subject reactions. Side effects are not different between oxytocin and placebo and participants are unable to accurately report on whether they have received oxytocin and placebo. Three case reports of adverse reactions due to misuse and longer-term use of intranasal oxytocin were reported. The evidence shows that intranasal oxytocin: (1) produces no detectable subjective changes in recipients, (2) produces no reliable side-effects, and (3) is not associated with adverse outcomes when delivered in doses of 18-40 IU for short term use in controlled research settings. Future research directions should include a focus on the dosage and duration of use, and application with younger age groups, vulnerable populations, and with females.
Disentangling the underlying dimensions of psychopathy and conduct problems in childhood: A community study
Publisher: American Psychological Association (APA)
Date: 06-2005
A randomized, controlled trial of nurse home visiting to vulnerable families with newborns
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 06-1999
DOI: 10.1046/J.1440-1754.1999.00348.X
Abstract: This project aimed to evaluate the impact of a home visiting programme that targeted families where the child, for environmental reasons, was at great risk of poor health and developmental outcomes. Women in the immediate postpartum period were recruited to a randomized double-blind controlled trial on the basis of self-reported vulnerability factors and were randomly assigned to receive either a structured programme of nurse home visiting, supported by a social worker and paediatrician (n = 90), or assigned to a comparison group receiving standard community child health services (n = 91). Parenting stress and maternal depression were measured at enrollment and at 6 weeks. Preventive health behaviour, service satisfaction and home environment outcomes were tested at 6 weeks, as were child health outcomes. At six weeks, women receiving the home-based programme had significant reductions in postnatal depression screening scores as well as improvements in their experience of the parental role and improvement in the ability to maintain their own identity. Maternal-infant interactions were more likely to be positive, with significantly higher (better) scores in aspects of the home environment related to optimal development in children, particularly maternal-infant secure attachment. Intervention group mothers were significantly more satisfied with the community child health service. This form of intervention for families is effective in promoting secure maternal-infant attachment, preventing maternal mood disorder and is welcomed by the families receiving it. These findings may predict long-term benefits for the healthy development of children otherwise at risk of a range of poor health and development outcomes.
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