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Biomedical subjects

P Mundy

Publications and source records attributed to P Mundy.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1990

The prevalence of psychotic symptoms in homeless adolescents.

This study was designed to gather data on psychotic symptoms in a sample of homeless adolescents. The sample included adolescents who were located in street sites as well as adolescents who were currently using shelter services. Ninety-six adolescents participated in this study (mean age = 16.1 years). The results indicated that 29% of the sample reported the experience of four or more psychotic symptoms on the Diagnostic Interview Schedule psychotic symptom index. These results suggested that the endorsement of psychotic symptoms is a relatively prominent feature of the self-report of psychopathology among homeless adolescents. These symptoms did not only include reports of paranoid ideation, which may be generally elevated as part of the stress of street life, but also included reports of ideas of reference and auditory hallucinations. Moreover, these symptoms were correlated with reports of affective disturbance, abusive life experience, and a particular type of substance use.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1990

Affect and attention in children with Down syndrome.

The association of the affective responsiveness and attention regulation with communication and language skills of children with Down syndrome was examined. Results both replicate and extend previous research on the attentional and affective characteristics of children with Down syndrome. These children tended to look more often to the face of the social partner but less often to nonfocal toys. They also tended to shift affect expressions more frequently but did not differ from MA-matched nonretarded children in overall durations of affect. The association of these variables with communication and language indicated that the more positive affect displayed toward people and the shorter the average looks to the partner's face, the higher the verbal language skills of young children with Down syndrome.

Affect↗
PubMed1989

Social attachments in autistic children.

Social responses of young autistic children to separation from and reunion with their caregivers did not differ from the social responses to similar situations of young mentally retarded nonautistic children. Most autistic children directed more social behaviors to their caregivers than to strangers and increased their preferential behavior after separation. Individual differences in social responses were not associated with the level of representational skills shown by the autistic children.

Anxiety, Separation↗
PubMed1989

Residential instability in adolescent inpatients.

The case records of 225 randomly selected adolescent psychiatric inpatients were reviewed to determine prevalence of residential instability. The study also examined the demographic, family composition, life event, and behavior characteristics associated with residential instability. Approximately 30% of the sample had experienced a high rate of residential instability (i.e., from 5 to 20 domicile moves). Analyses indicated that residential instability was associated with a set of characteristics that included caregiver neglect, caregiver abuse, parental separation, multiple hospitalizations, lower IQ, indices of poor impulse control, and antisocial behavior. The possible contribution of residential instability to treatment resistance and the development of antisocial behaviors in some adolescents is discussed.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1989

Psychometric scatter in retarded, autistic preschoolers as measured by the Cattell.

To determine whether psychometric scatter is characteristic of the developmental profile of young autistic children, the performance of 38 autistic children, as measured by the Cattell, was compared with the performance of MA matched samples of normal, Down's Syndrome and non-Down's Syndrome children with mental retardation. Results indicated significantly more psychometric scatter in the autistic group than in the other groups. Similarly, 66% of the autistic children vs 13, 26 and 32% of the normal, Down's and non-Down's samples, respectively, had significant scatter. Further analyses revealed that autistic children showed consistent relative strength in non-language and weakness in language.

Autistic Disorder↗
PubMed1989

Facial expressions of affect in autistic, mentally retarded and normal children.

This study examined the facial affect expressions of autistic, mentally retarded and normal children. Affect was coded using the Maximally Discriminative Movement Coding System. Results indicated that the autistic children were more flat/neutral in their affect expression than the mentally retarded children. Moreover, they displayed a variety of ambiguous expressions not displayed by any of the other children. This unique pattern may be related to the difficulties that autistic children have in sharing affect, and to the difficulties that others experience in reading their affective signals.

Affect↗
PubMed1988

Caregiver interactions with autistic children.

Caregiver interactions with young autistic children were contrasted with those involving caregivers and developmentally matched mentally retarded and normal infants. Caregivers of autistic children were similar to other caregivers in their responsiveness to child nonverbal communication bids and in their engagement in mutually sustained play. Caregivers of autistic children were similar to caregivers of mentally retarded children in their greater use of control strategies. However, these two groups of caregivers differed in the particular strategies they used to shape their children's behavior. Caregivers of mentally retarded children pointed to objects while caregivers of autistic children spent more time physically holding their children on task. Individual differences within the autistic sample indicated that caregivers regulated their children's behavior less and showed more mutual play and positive feedback to more communicatively able autistic children. These findings suggest that caregivers respond differentially to the specific deficiencies shown by their children.

Autistic Disorder↗
PubMed1988

Nonverbal communication skills in Down syndrome children.

The goal of this research was to examine the nonverbal communication competence of 18-48-month-old Down syndrome children. The results indicated that Downs children displayed strengths and weaknesses in nonverbal communication skills. Relative to MA matched normal children, they displayed a significant strength in nonverbal social interaction skills. However, they also displayed a significant deficit in nonverbal requests for objects or assistance with objects compared to normals. This pattern of strength and weakness in nonverbal skills appeared to be specific to Down syndrome since this pattern was not displayed by a comparison sample of non-Downs mentally retarded children. Nonverbal object-requesting skill was also significantly associated with a measure of expressive language in the Downs sample. This relation was notable because the Downs children also displayed a deficit in expressive language. Thus, the results of this study suggest that a deficit in expressive language is associated with a deficit in earlier-developing nonverbal requesting skill among Down syndrome children.

Child, Preschool↗
PubMed1987

Nonverbal communication and play correlates of language development in autistic children.

The aim of this study was to determine the social and cognitive correlates of language acquisition in autistic children. Functional and symbolic play skills were shown to be associated with language abilities in a sample of young autistic children (mean CA 54.5 months), thereby replicating previous findings. Certain types of nonverbal communication skills were also shown to be significant correlates of language development in this group of autistic children. These involved the ability to use gestures to coordinate visual attention between social partners with respect to objects or events. The play and nonverbal communication variables were not significantly correlated, suggesting that these variables reflect independent psychological factors associated with language development in young autistic children.

Autistic Disorder↗
PubMed1986

Social interactions of autistic, mentally retarded and normal children and their caregivers.

The social interactions of young autistic children and their caregivers were contrasted to interactions involving normal and mentally retarded controls. The autistic children displayed a much lower frequency of attention sharing behaviors, such as pointing to or showing objects. Alternatively, the autistic children directed as much looking, vocalizing and proximity behaviors toward their caregivers as did the other groups. Thus, although the autistic children did not show a clear lack of responsiveness to their caregivers, they did display a significant deficit in indicating behaviors during child-caregiver interaction.

Attention↗
PubMed1986

Defining the social deficits of autism: the contribution of non-verbal communication measures.

Young autistic children were compared to normal and control samples on measures of non-verbal communication skills and object play skills. Deficits in non-verbal indicating behaviors best discriminated the children diagnosed as autistic from the other groups. Although the autistic children also exhibited deficits in object play behavior, these deficits did not add appreciably to the discriminant function based on the non-verbal communication behaviors. These results suggest that a deficit in the development of non-verbal indicating behaviors is a significant characteristic of young children who receive the diagnosis of autism.

Autistic Disorder↗
PubMed1978

Health care professionals: a model for teaching the components of society-culture-personality in the delivery of care.

In recent years, the behavioral sciences have contributed tremendously tot he education of future physicians, dentists, nurses, and other health care professionals. With the inclusion of the behavioral sciences component in the National Board Examination (1972), many medical schools have revised their curricula to include sociology in the training of the future physician. However, the tremendous shortage of qualified social scientists made it difficult to meet the needs of medical schools and health programs in the country.In view of this problem, this paper will present a single conceptual model that can be used as an organizational device for teaching some basic social science concepts to health care students and to assist them in the comprehension of the impact of society-culture-personality (SCP) on the health care institution as a whole. Uses of this model have been presented elsewhere.(1,2)

Culture↗
PubMed1977

A model for teaching health care professionals the components of the family.

With the inclusion of the behavioral sciences component in the National Board Examination (1972), many medical schools have revised their curricula to include sociology in the training of the future physician. In dentistry, the behavioral sciences group of the International Association for Dental Research has increased in membership over the past years. In nursing, courses such as sociology, psychology, and anthropology have already been included in the curricula of various schools. However, the tremendous shortage of qualified social scientists who are capable of relating the behavioral sciences to the health care institution makes it difficult to meet the needs of graduate and professional schools everywhere. In view of this problem, this article will present a simple conceptual model that can be used as an organizational device for teaching the components of the family in relation to the health care institution.

Family↗