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Biomedical subjects

P A Gustafsson

Publications and source records attributed to P A Gustafsson.

10 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2001

Self-reported competencies and problems among Swedish adolescents: a normative study of the YSR. Youth Self Report.

The aim of the study was to provide a standardisation of self-reported competencies and emotional/behavioural problems among Swedish adolescents, using the Youth Self-Report (YSR). The YSR was completed by 2522 adolescents aged 13-18 years, recruited from secondary and upper secondary schools in different regions in Sweden. The results showed that effects of gender and age were small but significant with girls scoring higher than boys on most problem scales, and 15- to 16-year-olds scoring higher than younger and older adolescents on the problem scales. Small effects were also found for residence as well as for parental SES. The correlations between internalising and externalising problems were 0.51 for boys and 0.49 for girls, whereas the correlation between competence and problem scores was low. We conclude that the individual variation in YSR-scores is much greater than can be attributed to factors such as gender, age, SES, or residential area. Consequently, the YSR has the potential to serve as an instrument for assessing individual adolescents' self-reported competencies and problems in Sweden. Given the almost orthogonal relation between self-reported competencies and problems, the competence scale is surprisingly little used in psychopathology research.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1995

Preschoolers' sexual behavior at daycare centers: an epidemiological study.

The frequency of sexual behaviors in a population of preschoolers (n = 251) attending Swedish daycare centers was studied using a questionnaire given to the staff. Some behaviors turned out to be frequently occurring, like searching for body contact and responding to such contact. However, several behaviors were very uncommon (1% or fewer): touching an adult's genitals; attempting to make the adult touch the child's genitals; using objects against own or other child's genitals/anus; to masturbate obsessively, without pleasure or in a way that caused pain. Other behaviors occurred more frequently but were still uncommon (less than 2% of the children displayed such a behavior "sometimes" or "often/daily"): exhibiting own genitals; playing sexually explorative games; initiating games with a similarity to adult sexual activity; using sexual words; attempting to touch a woman's breast. Only masturbation and clinging body contact were positively correlated with behavioral disturbance. The correlations between age and single behaviors may be summarized as manifestations of the process of socialization. The results offer an incipient frame of reference for statistically normal expected sexual behaviors in preschoolers at daycare centers. The rarity of certain behaviors implies that their occurrence in an individual case may necessitate special clinical attention.

Child↗
PubMed1994

Family dysfunction in asthma: a prospective study of illness development.

The role of psychosocial factors in the development of wheezing was studied prospectively in 100 infants with a strong family history of allergy. The entire family participated in a standardized family test when the children were 3 and 18 months of age. The ability to adjust to demands of the situation ("adaptability") and the balance between emotional closeness and distance ("cohesion") were assessed from videotapes by independent raters. Families rated as functional in both aspects were classified as "functional" and otherwise as "dysfunctional." Based on records of symptoms kept by the parents and on results of physical examinations at 6 and 18 months of age, the children were classified as healthy or as having recurrent wheezing, recurrent infections, or eczema. An unbalanced family interplay was common (37%) at 3 months but did not predict development of illness. If the child remained healthy and the family did not experience any further stress, family interaction was functional 15 months later. If, however, the child acquired anxiety-provoking symptoms, such as wheezing, a high proportion of families continued or began to have dysfunctional interaction patterns. When the healthy children were 18 months of age, only 12% of their families were dysfunctional, compared with 26%, 46%, and 52%, respectively, of the families of children with eczema, recurrent infections, and obstructive symptoms (p < 0.01). We conclude that dysfunctional family interaction seems to be a result rather than the cause of wheezing in infancy.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1987

Family interaction and metabolic balance in juvenile diabetes mellitus. A prospective study.

Family interaction was assessed in 30 children with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM) of at least 2 years' duration using video-tapes of standardised family tasks. The relationship between measures of family interaction and metabolic balance (HbA1) was investigated 1 and 5 years after the task performance. No significant relationship between family interaction and HbA1 was found after 1 year, but HbA1 values 5 years after the family assessments were significantly higher in the children who belonged to families in which family interaction was considered disturbed (P less than 0.05). If family interaction was used as a predictor of metabolic control, 67% of the cases were correctly classified. In the group with disturbed family interaction HbA1 increased during the observation period in 44% of cases while in the group with functional interaction this occurred in only 11% of the cases. When the children were divided according to age, significantly higher HbA1 values were found only in the younger group (less than 18 years at the 5-year evaluation) of the children of families with disturbed family interaction (P = 0.025). Here a correlation between disturbed family interaction and HbA1 was found (rs = 0.46, p = 0.03). In conclusion, certain family interaction patterns seem to influence metabolic balance in IDDM in children during adolescence, but not during pre-adolescence and early adulthood.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1987

Asthma and family interaction.

Patterns of family interaction were compared in the families of 22 children with chronic asthma, 30 children with diabetes mellitus, and six healthy children. The groups were similar in terms of age (range 4-14 years and mean 10.2 years). Peak expiratory flow and signs of allergy were correlated with family interaction in the subjects with asthma. The following significant findings were made. Family interaction was more disturbed in asthma compared with both the diabetic and the healthy groups. In most of the disturbed families interaction patterns were rigid and enmeshed, but a few showed chaotic and disengaged patterns. There was a negative correlation between peak expiratory flow and disturbed cohesion in non-steroid dependent cases. The severely ill children with asthma living in families with a normal cohesion score had higher IgE concentrations than children living in disturbed families. It is concluded that family interaction should be considered to be an important dimension in the investigation of severe childhood asthma.

Asthma↗
PubMed1986

Family therapy in the treatment of severe childhood asthma.

Eighteen children with severe, chronic bronchial asthma were randomly divided into two groups. The families in one group received family therapy while the others served as a control group in a controlled family therapy study. Later the control families were also offered therapy in a before-after therapy design. All children were followed for 3 1/2 yr. Asthma symptoms, functional impairment and the use of drug (from diaries) were rated in ten different ways during eight months before and eight months after the family therapy. Improvement in the clinically most important variable, i.e. general pediatric assessment, was greater in the children in the family therapy group compared to the control group (p less than 0.05) Twelve children who received family therapy showed significant improvement after treatment concerning general pediatric assessment (p less than 0.01), clinical grading (p less than 0.05), peak expiratory flow (p less than 0.05), days with functional impairment/yr (p less than 0.05), no. of doses of inhaled Beta-2-agonists/month (p less than 0.01) and nights when Beta-2-agonists were inhaled (p less than 0.05). The children who only received conventional medical treatment showed no significant change in asthma symptoms. We draw the conclusion that family therapy may represent a valuable therapeutic tool in the management of severe asthma.

Adolescent↗