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Biomedical subjects

R Seifer

Publications and source records attributed to R Seifer.

45 records · Page 3Linked to original sources
PubMed1989

Is major depressive disorder in childhood a distinct diagnostic entity?

One approach to validation of the construct of major depressive disorder in childhood was examined. Multivariate analyses of parents' responses on the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) were undertaken to determine whether a depressive symptom component would emerge and whether a group of children with pure depressive disorder could be isolated. The study involved 284 children (91 inpatients and 193 outpatients) aged 6 to 11 years. Principal components analyses identified a weak depression component among the CBCL items. Other components were aggressive, anxious, withdrawn, and immature. Cluster analyses designed to isolate a group of children with pure depressive disorder did not accomplish that goal. The results suggest that current enthusiasm for the diagnosis of major depressive disorder in children may be misplaced, and that a dimensional dysthymic syndrome that accompanies many other problems may better explain patterns of symptoms in children. The importance of the use of multiple methods to validate important psychiatric diagnoses is discussed.

Child↗
PubMed1989

Attachment behavior, attachment security, and temperament during infancy.

In summary reviews and empirical research, investigators have suggested that attachment classifications derived from the Ainsworth Strange Situation may reflect variations along dimensions of temperament as well as, or perhaps instead of, individual differences with respect to infant-mother attachments. In this study, relations between temperament dimensions from the Infant Temperament Questionnaire (Revised) and Strange Situation behaviors were evaluated. Relations between the behavioral style scores and the categories of attachment quality were also tested. The hypothesis that temperamental difficulty would be related to negative emotionality, as indexed by infant distress during separation (but not during the reunions), was tested and supported. Neither the behavioral style dimensions nor the temperamental diagnoses (e.g., "easy" vs. "difficult") were associated significantly with attachment classifications. The results are consistent with previous findings that temperament measures do not predict attachment security. Nevertheless, certain behaviors indexing negative emotionality that may be observed in the context of the Strange Situation are related to temperamental variability.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1987

Early indicators of developmental risk: Rochester Longitudinal Study.

Early indicators of schizophrenic outcomes were sought in a group of children of chronically ill schizophrenic women. A sample of pregnant women with varying degrees of mental illness were examined during the perinatal period and recruited into a 4-year longitudinal evaluation, which included cognitive, psychomotor, social, and emotional assessments at birth, 4, 12, 30, and 48 months of age. The mothers varied on mental health dimensions of diagnosis, severity of symptomatology, and chronicity of illness. Other factors included in the analyses were socioeconomic status (SES), race, sex of child, and family size. Hypotheses were tested to determine the relative impact of three sets of variables on the child's behavior: (1) specific maternal psychiatric diagnosis, (2) severity and chronicity of disturbance independent of diagnosis, and (3) general social status. We found that a specific maternal diagnosis of schizophrenia had the least impact. Neurotic-depressive mothers produced worse development in their children than schizophrenic or personality-disordered mothers. Both social status and severity/chronicity of illness showed a greater impact on development. Children of more severely or chronically ill mothers and lower-SES black children performed most poorly. These results do not support etiological models based on simple biological or environmental transmission of schizophrenia. The role of social and family environmental factors in predicting child cognitive and social-emotional competence was further evaluated using a multiple risk index. Children with high multiple environmental risk scores had much worse outcomes than children with low multiple risk scores.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1987

Intelligence quotient scores of 4-year-old children: social-environmental risk factors.

Verbal IQ scores in a socially heterogeneous sample of 215 4-year-old children were highly related to a cumulative environmental risk index composed of maternal, family and cultural variables. Different combinations of equal numbers of risk factors produced similar effects on IQ, providing evidence that no single factor identified here uniquely enhances or limits early intellectual achievement and that cumulative effects from multiple risk factors increase the probability that development will be compromised. The multiple risk index predicted substantially more variance in the outcome measure than did any single risk factor alone, including socioeconomic status. High-risk children were more than 24 times as likely to have IQs below 85 than low-risk children.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1985

Defining environmental risk: multiple dimensions of psychological vulnerability.

Children participating in a longitudinal study of risk for serious mental disorder were assessed at 48 months of age. Six risk factors were defined: negative life events, e.g., illness/injury to the child; maternal hospitalizations, for all reasons; number of children in the family; maternal psychiatric status; maternal cognitive orientation toward child-rearing; and single-parent family. The results show that the number of risk factors is negatively related to social and intellectual adjustment; a rigid conforming maternal cognitive orientation is associated with diminished intellectual and social performance; maternal psychiatric status is associated with lessened social performance. Additionally, the combination of a rigid conforming maternal cognitive orientation with negative life events is associated with diminished social adjustment. A discussion examines these results in a context defined by developmental and crisis theory.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1983

Familial risk and child competence.

Components of familial risk are examined in the context of a 4-year longitudinal study of children with mentally ill mothers. The risk factors examined are parental mental health, social status, parental perspectives, and family stress. The interactions among the risk factors were found to be complex in nature and different for child cognitive and social-emotional competence. These findings are discussed in the context of a systems approach to development in general, and to the development of children at risk in particular. Parental beliefs, attitudes, and coping abilities are hypothesized to be important mediators between environmental stress and child competencies.

Child Rearing↗
PubMed1982

Sociocultural variability in infant temperament ratings.

The interaction between the temperament of children and their caretaking environment is thought to be an important factor in the etiology of childhood behavior deviance. Most recent research in infant temperament has used a maternal questionnaire. Scores from these questionnaires have been subject to low concurrent validity. Also, there have been indications that maternal characteristics such as anxiety level influence child temperament ratings. The present study examined mother characteristics, child behavior, and mother's temperament ratings when their babies were 4 months old. The social status, anxiety level, the mental health status of the mother were all related to temperament ratings on the Carey Infant Temperament Questionnaire. However, child behavior measured in the home and laboratory were sporadically related to temperament, and these relations were of small magnitude. Hierarchical multiple regression analysis demonstrated that mother effects were powerful than child effects. These results supported the notion that individual differences in mothers, rather than differences in infants, may be the major contributor to early ratings of temperament.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Maternal interaction patterns and preschool competence in high-risk children.

BACKGROUND: The influence of specific maternal interaction patterns as compensatory mechanisms in promoting development of medically high-risk children has been understudied. OBJECTIVES: To investigate the association of three maternal interaction patterns, maternal responsivity, involvement, and control style, with preschool competency in a medically heterogeneous sample. METHOD: Children (N= 184) and their mothers participating in a prospective longitudinal study were assessed in a laboratory protocol and home visit. The methods of measurement were maternal self-report, global rating scales, interview, and nationally standardized instruments. RESULTS: Evidence of a maternal compensatory mechanism was exhibited in mothers' higher involvement with their children who were born at high medical risk (F(1,183) = 6.26, p = .01). Mothers of the most competent children demonstrated higher maternal responsivity, involvement, and more appropriate control than mothers of children who were not as competent. In hierarchical regression models, the three maternal interaction patterns were significant predictors after perinatal risk and maternal education were controlled explaining 29-37% of the variance in child competence scores. CONCLUSION: These findings imply that differential child outcomes are associated with specific maternal interaction patterns. It suggests that a combination of diverse information revealed in specific maternal interaction pattern is needed to predict cognitive, linguistic, and problem-solving competencies. Future research should consider individual differences in mother-child interaction patterns in order to isolate their significance for optimal child development.

Adult↗