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Intelligence and maturity: meta-analytic evidence for the incremental and discriminant validity of Loevinger's measure of ego development.

This review examined whether Loevinger's measure of personality (ego) development is equivalent to the measurement of intelligence. The authors conducted a meta-analysis of 52 correlations between ego level scores and intelligence test scores (retrieved from 42 studies involving 5,648 participants). The weighted average correlation between ego level and intelligence ranged from.20 to.34, depending on the intellectual ability assessed (e.g., verbal intelligence). Adjusting for measurement unreliability increased these values only minimally. The authors also reviewed 16 studies that examined the association between ego level and various criterion variables (e.g., aggressive behavior) after statistically controlling for the effects of intelligence. Ninety-four percent of the tests revealed significant relations between ego level and criterion variables after controlling for intelligence, indicating that ego development and intelligence are not interchangeable constructs. These findings do not support recent speculations concerning the limited value of stage models of maturity, social development, and moral reasoning.

Adolescent↗

Psychopathological and social status of patients with affective, schizophrenic and schizoaffective disorders after long-term course.

A total of 106 affective, 101 schizoaffective and 148 schizophrenic disorders were investigated after a long-term course of illness (mean follow-up period 25.1 years), employing narrow definitions and using reliable international instruments of evaluation. In addition, the social consequences of the illness were evaluated (upward and downward social and occupational drift, premature retirement and achievement of the expected social development). Considering all aspects of outcome, schizophrenic patients (narrow defined, slightly modified DSM-III criteria) had persistent alterations in several aspects of social life, communication and cognitive functions, in some cases to a very high degree. Although the outcome of affective disorders is not always favourable, it is significantly more favourable than that of schizophrenia. Schizoaffective disorders occupy a position between affective and schizophrenic disorders regarding outcome, but with more similarities to that of affective than to that of schizophrenic disorders.

Adolescent↗

A prospective test of distal and proximal determinants of smoking initiation in early adolescents.

This study tests a broad array of determinants of utility for developing smoking preventive interventions using a population-based cohort of early adolescents. Multivariable logistic regressions using never-smokers at baseline (N=1137; age 11-14) showed a model of distal determinants was more predictive of initiation within the approximate 10 month follow up period than one of proximal determinants. When all determinants were simultaneously considered, lesser academic achievement and fewer environmental impediments to smoking most strongly predicted initiation. The findings are consistent with some current smoking prevention programs, however such programs may be further potent by using theory-based social development approaches and through reducing tobacco availability or social contexts where youth can smoke without another adult knowing.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

Socioeconomic factors that affect international caries levels.

UNLABELLED: Health policy makers have examined the impact of economic policies and a nation's social development on the health of its population. OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this research was to investigate the association between health care expenditures, socioeconomic factors, and caries levels in 109 countries representing an array of social and economic conditions, and to determine how such factors are related to caries experience at different levels of economic development. METHODS: Countries were divided into established market economies and three groups of developing nations, based on their GNP (high, medium, low income). Total health expenditures as percent GDP and as US dollars per capita, public expenditures and aid flow as percent of total health expenditures, dentists per 100,000 population, per capita sugar consumption, and urbanization of the population were compared among these countries. Correlations between these variables, and decayed, missing and filled teeth (DMFT) of 12-year-olds in these countries were assessed. RESULTS: The highest correlations were found between DMFT and public expenditures, sugar consumption, and urbanization. Highly significant differences emerged across nation groups by stages of development on several variables. CONCLUSIONS: The findings suggest that it is important to consider the stage of development of a given country when planning caries prevention policies and programs. Such a contextual approach is more likely to be successful in reducing caries levels.

Child↗

Predictors and characteristics of mental health among men at midlife: a 32-year longitudinal study.

In a prospective, 32-year longitudinal study of 87 young men originally selected for general health, it was found that good physical and mental health were maintained by most. Successful predictors of midlife mental health included satisfactory peer social adjustment, little or no angry behavior, and a mentor relationship in young adulthood. Overall findings suggest that mental health is closely associated with developing social relationships.

Adolescent↗

The radial dysplasia/imperforate anus/vertebral anomalies syndrome (the VATER association): Developmental aspects and eye findings.

The developmental evaluations of four children of different age groups with radial dysplasia/imperforate anus/vertebral anomalies syndrome are presented. These show that although the gross motor behavior is significantly delayed, intelligence, language, and social development are within normal range. Therefore, the patients with this syndrome merit every effort toward rehabilitation. Three of the patients discussed have ophthalmological abnormalities, in addition to their major malformations. It may be that congenital eye defects are another component of this syndrome of morphogenesis.

Abnormalities, Multiple↗

Social capital, family violence, and neglect.

BACKGROUND: Social capital includes collective efficacy, psychological sense of community, neighborhood cohesion, and parental investment in the child. It has been shown to be associated with a variety of health and welfare outcomes and may be useful in understanding and preventing parenting behaviors on the continuum of child abuse and neglect. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this research was to evaluate low social capital as a risk factor for harsh physical punishment, neglectful parenting, psychologically harsh parenting, and domestic violence. METHODS: This study is an analysis of cross-sectional telephone survey data of mothers in North and South Carolina (n = 1435). We constructed a 4-point social capital index reflecting survey responses to items ascertaining neighborhood characteristics, willingness to take personal action, the presence of 2 adults in the household, and regular religious service participation. We assessed the relationship of social capital to inventories of self-reported parenting behaviors and in-home violence. RESULTS: In adjusted analysis, we found that each 1 point increase in a 4-point social capital index was associated with a 30% reduction in the odds of neglectful parenting, psychologically harsh parenting, and domestic violence. There was no relationship between social capital and harsh physical punishment. CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrates that increasing social capital decreases the odds of neglectful parenting, psychologically harsh parenting, and domestic violence but not harsh physical punishment. This supports further investigation into developing social capital as a resource for families.

Child↗

Perspectives from micronutrient malnutrition elimination/eradication programmes.

Micronutrient malnutrition cannot be eradicated, but the elimination and control of iron, vitamin A and iodine deficiencies and their health-related consequences as public health problems are currently the targets of global programmes. Remarkable progress is occurring in the control of goitre and xerophthalmia, but iron-deficiency anaemia (IDA) has been less responsive to prevention and control efforts. Subclinical consequences of micronutrient deficiencies, i.e. "hidden hunger", include compromised immune functions that increase the risk of morbidity and mortality, impaired cognitive development and growth, and reduced reproductive and work capacity and performance. The implications are obvious for human health and national and global economic and social development. Mixes of affordable interventions are available which, when appropriately adapted to resource availability and context, are proven to be effective. These include both food-based interventions, particularly fortification programmes, such as salt iodization, and use of concentrated micronutrient supplements. A mix of accompanying programmes for infection control, community participation, including education, communication and information exchange, and private sector involvement are lessons learned for overcoming deterrents and sustaining progress towards elimination.

Anemia, Iron-Deficiency↗

[Use of the islamic penal code and its effects on the prevention of delinquency (field research)].

The Authors maintain that modern countries, despite their economic and social development, have not been able to find a efficient way to combat crime. In fact, the improvement of the material conditions of human and social life is accompanied by a regression in moral conditions and an increase in crime. But Saudi-Arabia has established a system which has proved itself extremely efficient, both for the improvement of the moral condition of the community, and for the limitation of crime to a minimal level. A comparison of statistical data, in fact, shows that the level of criminality in Saudi-Arabia is lower than that of any other country in the world. This is due to the wisdom and farsightedness of King Abdul Aziz Al-Saud, who, to reorganize the Saudi-Arabian people and establish his sovereignty, adopted the divine law of the Koran, the Sharia, as the only law applicable to control all individual and social relationships and to combat crime. By means of research conducted on the basis of statistical analyses and of interviews with experts chosen amongst the more elderly citizens, the Authors lend proof to their statements. In particular, the subjects interviewed have provided information based on memories of their own personal experience, which has been used to make a comparison between the situation as it was before the establishment of the sovereignty (for which no statistic data are available) and as it is now.

Aged↗

Multiple functions of proximity seeking in infancy.

Multiple functions of proximity seeking by infants are proposed, and the evidence for each is reviewed. Those functions discussed by investigators of mother-infant attachment--alleviation of separation-induced distress, establishment of attachments, and protection from predators--are differentiated in terms of the level of analysis employed. An alternative function, the promotion of environmental learning, is also examined. The evidence suggests that proximity seeking may hold different functions for members of different species, may serve different functions for an individual at different times, and possibly may operate on different functional levels at the same time. It does not appear to be a specialized adaptation with a primary biological function. Nor does it appear to be a reliable index of preference for or attachment to particular individuals. Rather, proximity seeking appears to provide a general means by which infants, are exposed to a variety of objects and events in the social world. Consideration of the evidence for proximity seeking supports current recommendations to move from the individual response class to alternative units of analysis of social development.

Child Behavior↗

Paediatric HIV infection.

HIV and AIDS have made a huge global impact, permeating the social, cultural, and economic fabric of almost all nations. The first cases of HIV infection in children were reported in the late 1980s and numbers have since risen steadily throughout the world, with some of the poorest and least developed countries experiencing the highest prevalence. Combined drug regimes have changed the course of HIV-related illness and brought increased survival to those for whom treatment is available. With this, however, have come fresh concerns relating to drug resistance, treatment adherence, and the risk of second-generation vertical transmission as HIV-infected children now survive into adulthood and beyond. The psychological literature has addressed issues such as the direct effect of HIV on child development, social and cultural attitudes, family functioning and support, affected children and orphans of HIV-infected parents, sexual health education, disclosure of diagnosis, and long-term clinical management. The outcome for those living in wealthier countries is optimistic, but the spread of this virus in the rest of the world and its impact on family life and social and political systems remains of great concern.

Adolescent↗

Do children's attention processes mediate the link between family predictors and school readiness?

The role of attention processes as possible mediators between family environment and school readiness was analyzed with data from 1,002 children and their families. Data on children's sustained attention, impulsivity, and school readiness (i.e., cognitive, achievement, language, and social development) were obtained at 54 months of age, and quality of the family environment was assessed throughout the first 54 months. Mediation tests showed that children's sustained attention partially accounted for the link between family environment and achievement and language outcomes. Impulsivity partially accounted for the link between family environment and achievement, social competence, and externalizing behaviors. The roles of sustained attention and of inhibition of impulsive responding in the relation between family characteristics and school readiness are discussed.

Attention↗

Disorders of face perception and recognition.

Face recognition is one of the most complex visual tasks performed by the human brain. Data from monkeys suggest that area IT may play a key role in identifying faces, and functional imaging research suggests that the human homologue of IT may be located in the medial occipitotemporal cortex, where a FFA has been located. Damage to medial occipitotemporal structures on the right or bilaterally leads to prosopagnosia, the failure to recognize facial identity. Prosopagnosia is not a single functional disorder but a family of dysfunctions, with different patients having different degrees of impairments to various perceptual and memory stages involved in face processing. Understanding the perceptual basis of this disorder and epiphenomena, such as covert recognition, is a goal of current research. Deficits in face perception also may contribute to Capgras syndrome and may be related to the impaired social development of patients with Asperger syndrome. More recently, identified deficits in face processing include the false recognition of unfamiliar faces and the impaired extraction of social information from faces, independent of the recognition of identity. Many of these prosopagnosia and other face processing deficits can be placed in the context of cognitive models of face processing stages, which are being refined continually by data from neurologic patients and functional imaging in normal subjects.

Asperger Syndrome↗

Handicap research in Denmark.

In connection with recent social developments in Denmark increasing interest has been shown in research in the area of handicaps. Three Danish Research Councils (for Medicine, the Humanities and the Social Sciences) appointed a Committee to investigate this area of research. A survey conducted in the relevant fields gave evidence of much activity in this area. Very few research projects, however, integrated educational, psychological, medical, technical and social aspects. The need for more cooperation, information and training was therefore stressed as a prerequisite for better interdisciplinary handicap research in Denmark. Research seminars and workshops held in 1982-83 supported the results of the survey, especially as regards the need for training in the methods of interdisciplinary research and understanding among professionals (nurses, teachers, social workers, therapists, etc.). A formal coordination agency is recommended in order to establish the necessary cooperation among researchers, planners and users in Danish handicap research.

Denmark↗

A prospective study of the precursors to problem drinking in young adulthood.

This study was part of the Jyväskylä Longitudinal Study on Social Development. The subjects (196 males, 173 females) were studied at age 8, 14 and 26. Three components in drinking habits were obtained at age 26: social, problem and controlled drinking. Moderate to severe problem drinking was obtained for 26% of the men and 1% of the women, and mild problem drinking for 23% of the men and 15% of the women. Problem drinking (defined by the CAGE Questionnaire, arrest for alcohol abuse and other indicators of heavy drinking) was directly accounted for by poor school success at age 14 and, for men, by conduct problems and low anxiety. Variables at age 8 that contributed indirectly to adult problem drinking were aggression, low anxiety, low prosociality and poor school success for men, and high anxiety and poor school success for women. Women and men differed in the effect of social anxiety; in men, anxiety was a protective factor against problem drinking; in women, it was a risk factor. Although conduct problems often precede severe problem drinking, other risk factors may exist among sons of alcoholic parents. Parental drinking had a significant threshold effect on male off-springs' drinking: if parental drinking was low, there was less problem drinking among the male offspring than if a mild dependence on alcohol was observed in the parents.

Achievement↗

[Aggressiveness and social status in the class social structure].

Both aggressive behavior and an outsider position in the peer group can be regarded as risk factors for the social development and long-term adjustment of children. The aim of the present investigation was to analyze the influence of these two factors on the social experiences of students in secondary school. The presence of aggressive behavior was determined by means of peer ratings and self-ratings. Classroom climate, i.e. the quality of the sense of community in a class, was considered as a modifying factor. In a first step, from 96 classes in the first and third grades of secondary school two extreme groups of 24 classes each were formed on the basis of student evaluations of the cohesion in the class and the frequency of aggressive arguments between students. At this time the students also rated other aspects of their social experiences at school. In a second step, sociometric data were obtained in the selected classes on the most liked and least liked classmates and on certain behaviors to determine the social position of the students in their peer group and their involvement in aggressive arguments. The social experiences attitudes and values of the students were highly correlated with the frequency of their involvement in aggressive arguments. There were some marked discrepancies between peer ratings and self-ratings of behavior, but both types of rating appear to have some clinical relevance. Beside the social status in the peer group the classroom climate had considerable impact on the social experiences of aggressive children. In addition, there were indications that the classroom climate plays a role in the social status of aggressive students in the class.

Adolescent↗

After-school child care and self-esteem in school-age children.

Although more than 2 million US children are in self-care after school, little is known of the extent to which self-care may adversely affect developmental processes, such as the development of self-esteem. To test the hypothesis that lower self-esteem is associated with being in self-care, 297 subjects in fourth and sixth grades from three ethnically diverse schools in northern California were enrolled in a cross-sectional study during November 1987. Sixty percent of subjects were in adult in-home care, 13% in adult out-of-home care, 19% in self-care, and 8.0% in older sibling care. No significant differences in self-competence scores, as measured by the Harter Self-perception Profile for Children, were observed for children in self-care compared with the three other care groups. However, children who were cared for by older siblings unexpectedly exhibited lower self-competence scores for five of the six self-competence domains, with three domains showing significance at P less than .05. Children in self-care were significantly more isolated socially than children in adult care, reporting fewer opportunities to play outside or have friends visit at their homes. The results indicate that children in sibling care may be at potentially greater risk for negative effects on self-esteem and social development. Children in self-care may also experience more social isolation after school than children in other forms of afterschool care.

Age Factors↗