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Biomedical subjects

W N Friedrich

Publications and source records attributed to W N Friedrich.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1994

Autoerotic asphyxia: the development of a paraphilia.

The authors studied five adolescent male practitioners of autoerotic asphyxia to determine contributors to its etiology. Extensive histories including detailed sexual histories were obtained from each boy. Their life histories suggested an early history of choking, in combination with physical or sexual abuse, was related to the development of autoerotic asphyxia. Each boy appeared to have paired choking with sexual arousal, and autoerotic asphyxia was a persisting behavior pattern for four of five boys. This sample is the largest study of living practitioners of this behavior and suggests the heretofore unmentioned history of either choking or abuse.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1994

Pediatric cancer: predicting sibling adjustment.

Within the context of a coping model, the present study attempted to determine variables associated with good and poor adjustment for siblings (N = 129) of pediatric cancer patients. Family cohesion and adaptability were found to mediate the impact of pediatric cancer on the healthy sibling. Specifically, high levels of family cohesion and adaptability were associated with better adaptation for siblings. Some support also was found for Folkman, Schaefer, and Lazarus' (1979) coping model, as the following variables, proposed by the model, predicted sibling adjustment to pediatric cancer: health/energy/morale, social support, and utilitarian resources. Results from this study stress the need to examine the child in a variety of ecological contexts (e.g., parental and familial functioning; neighborhood/community support).

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1993

Cognitive abilities and lipomyelomeningocele.

Ten children with lipomyelomeningocele were evaluated with the WISC--R, the Wide Range Achievement Test--Revised, the Developmental Test of Visual-motor Integration, and the Child Behavior Checklist. These children were consecutive referrals to a birth defects clinic. Unlike their meningomyelocele counterparts, as a group these children appear to be average in their intellectual, academic, and behavioral characteristics. However, they exhibited low average perceptual motor skills, a feature more commonly seen in meningomyelocele.

Child↗
PubMed1992

Health risk behaviors and medical sequelae of childhood sexual abuse.

The relationship between childhood sexual abuse and subsequent health risk behaviors and medical problems was examined in 511 women who had used a family practice clinic in a rural midwestern community during a 2-year period (1988 and 1989). These women completed a questionnaire that assessed various health risk behaviors--smoking, drinking, drug abuse, number of sexual partners, and age at first intercourse--and a medical symptom checklist that assessed 38 medical problems related to major systems of body function, the somatization scale from the SCL-90, a screen for sexual abuse, and a brief measure of social support. The results indicated that sexually abused women, who represented 22.1% of the sample, reported significantly more medical problems, greater levels of somatization, and more health risk behaviors than did the nonabused women. More severe abuse (for example, penetration or multiple abusers) correlated with more severe problems. Extent of social support correlated inversely with the number of gynecologic problems reported in the sexually abused group. Fewer than 2% of the sexually abused women had discussed the abuse with a physician. To identify and assist victims of sexual abuse, physicians should become experienced with nonthreatening methods of eliciting such information when the medical history is obtained.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1991

Mothers of sexually abused children: an MMPI study.

Thirty-seven mothers of sexually abused children were contrasted with 41 mothers who were receiving outpatient psychotherapy and with 76 women with no history of psychiatric disturbance on the MMPI. The groups were matched on age and socioeconomic status, and significant between-group differences were noted. Outpatients and mothers of sexually abused children were significantly more elevated than the normal comparison group on the majority of the scales. Mothers of sexually abused children differed from psychiatric outpatient mothers on several scales. The 4-3 and spike 4 MMPI code-types were significantly more common in mothers of sexually abused children than in outpatient mothers. Differences in the child's sexual abuse characteristics were related to MMPI scales of the mother.

Adult↗
PubMed1991

Hypnotherapy with traumatized children.

The psychological impact of trauma can include cognitive, affective, and behavioral components. The degree to which a child is either overwhelmed by or unable to access the traumatic event can make the working through of the event in therapy difficult. Hypnotherapy is a useful modality not only for alleviating symptoms but also for uncovering the traumatic event(s) with associated affects, integrating and making sense of the experience. 4 case studies are reported to illustrate the utility of hypnotherapy with young, traumatized children.

Child↗
PubMed1991

Cognitive abilities and achievement status of children with myelomeningocele: a contemporary sample.

Designed study as a conceptual replication of Shaffer, Friedrich, Shurtleff, and Wolf (1985). Intelligence, school achievement, and perceptual motor skill data from 73 children with uncomplicated myelomeningocele were examined to determine their deviation from test norms. The respective impact of shunting and functional motor level was also assessed. The sample as a whole functioned below WISC-R and VMI norms. On the WRAT, deviation from the norms was evident only for the Arithmetic subtest. Partial replication of the Shunt X Motor level interaction reported by Shaffer et al. (1985) was obtained. Limitations of small-sample studies are discussed.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1991

Normative sexual behavior in children.

A large-scale, community-based survey was done to assess the frequency of a wide variety of sexual behaviors in normal preadolescent children and to measure the relationship of these behaviors to age, gender, and socioeconomic and family variables. A sample of 880 2- through 12-year-old children screened to exclude those with a history of sexual abuse were rated by their mothers using several questionnaire measures. The frequency of different behaviors varied widely, with more aggressive sexual behaviors and behaviors imitative of adults being rare. Older children (both boys and girls) were less sexual than younger children. Sexuality was found to be related to the level of general behavior problems, as measured by the Achenbach Internalizing and Externalizing T scores and to a measure of family nudity. It was not related to socioeconomic variables.

Age Factors↗
PubMed1989

Psychological functioning and behavior of sexually abused girls.

The psychological functioning and behavior of 46 sexually abused girls (ages 6-14) was compared with that of 46 nonabused girls who were matched on age, race, family income, and family constellation. Sexually abused children demonstrated heightened sexual preoccupation and behavior problems, lower cognitive abilities and school achievement, and more stressful past histories.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1985

Personality and psychophysiological variables in abusive, neglectful, and low-income control mothers.

This study was designed to systematically investigate personality, psychophysiological, and cognitive appraisal variables in three groups of mothers, i.e., abusive (N = 14), neglectful (N = 13), and low-income control (N = 15). All subjects completed a Mini-Mult, the Repression-Sensitization Scale, the Group Embedded Figures Test, the Multiple Affect Adjective Checklist, and the Socialization scale of the California Psychological Inventory. They listened to an audiotape sequence of white noise, tone, and infant's cry sounds while cardiovascular and skin resistance measures were recorded. The mothers also rated six dimensions of the infant's cry on a semantic differential. The three groups of mothers differed on a variety of personality variables, e.g., on F, Depression (D), Psychopathic Deviate (Pd), Psychasthenia (Pt), and Schizophrenia (Sc) from the Mini-Mult, on their cognitive appraisal of the infant's cry, and on skin resistance measures. A combination of personality, psychophysiological, and cry rating variables was entered in a discriminant analysis that was successful in discriminating 80% of the subjects. The two significant discriminant functions were defined primarily by the Pd scale and a cognitive appraisal measure.

Acoustic Stimulation↗
PubMed1985

Coping resources and parenting mentally retarded children.

Four broad dimensions of coping resources (utilitarian resources, energy/morale, general and specific beliefs, and social support) were assessed with a sample of 140 mothers of mentally retarded children. The dimensions were related to a measure of the adequacy of parental coping, i.e., Questionnaire on Resources and Stress-Friedrich Factor 1, Parent and Family Problems. Three of the four categories of coping resources were significant contributors in a regression analysis and contributed additional variance beyond that of behavioral and physical problems of the child. For validational purposes, 104 of these mothers were reexamined 10 months later. The original analysis was supported, and changes in marital satisfaction were related to an increase in parent and family problems over the elapsed time span.

Adolescent↗