published_or_final_version / Public Health / Master / Master of Public Health

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The present study was undertaken to determine the relationship between perinatal complications and subsequent development of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and other behavioral characteristics. The biological mothers of 74 children diagnosed with ADHD and 77 children displaying no characteristics of the disorder completed the Maternal Perinatal Scale (MPS), the Behavior Assessment System for Children-Parent Rating Scales (BASC-PRS), and a demographic survey. In addition, the biological mothers of 120 children with no characteristics of ADHD or any other behavior disorders completed only the MPS so that exploratory factor analysis of the MPS could be completed.Following factor analysis, stepwise discriminant analysis of the resulting five factors was utilized to explore the nature of the relationship between such perinatal factors and ADHD. Results of this analysis indicated that emotional factors, or the amount of stress encountered during pregnancy and the degree to was planned, were the items that maximized the separation between the ADHD and Non-ADHD groups. Additional discrimination between the groups was attributed to the extent of insult or trauma to the developing fetus and the outcome of prior pregnancies. ADHD children were also found to have experienced twice as many behavioral, social, or medical problems, and were more likely to reach developmental milestones with delays.Stepwise discriminant analysis also revealed the Attention Problems and Hyperactivity scales of the BASC-PRS were most significant in differentiating between the ADHD and Non-ADHD subjects. Using the BASC-PRS resulted in approximately 90% of the total sample being correctly classified as ADHD or NonADHD. Canonical correlation analysis indicated that emotional factors and the general health of both the mother and the developing fetus were the best predictors of later behavioral patterns reported on the BASC-PRS. / Department of Educational Psychology

The present study investigated the use of the Maternal Perinatal Scale (MPS) as an instrument for predicting group membership among normal versus emotionally handicapped children. An examination of neurological symptoms as they relate to specific behavioral factors within the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) was conducted, as well as an investigation of the relationship between factors within the MPS as predictors of specific behaviors within the CBCL. Subjects included 119 EH students and 211 normal subjects with a mean age of 10 years, 3 months. Samples were collected from a suburban midwestern area of approximately 800,000 population.Results of discriminant analyses indicated that the MPS items were able to predict group membership with 85.5% accuracy when the mother's history was included and 88.2% when the Childhood Checklist was added as additional data. Out of 66 possible factors, 22 yielded correlations which were significant at the .01 level.A significant relationship between the total number of neurological symptoms observed in a child and the degree of behavioral deviance as reported with the CBCL was an outstanding feature of this study. Nine of ten factors on the CBCL were correlated with the total NSI score at the .01 level of significance, with Attention Problems demonstrating the greatest degree of relationship. Canonical analysis of the MPS factors as predictors of specific CBCL subscales yielded vague results. Although several correlations were significant, the pattern of variance provided a minimal degree of interpretive utility.Future research stemming from these results would include further examination of the nature of relationships between perinatal factors and mother's history, as well as the incorporation of strategies to provide early intervention to infants and children at risk for future placement in the EH category. The MPS appears to offer promise as a tool for bringing consistency and replicability into the area of perinatal research, as well as serving to assist in the early identification of at-risk children. The prospect of predicting specific behavioral factors from perinatal variables continues to be a viable direction for future study. / Department of Educational Psychology

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Nevada, Reno, 2006. / "August, 2006." Includes bibliographical references (leaves 89-94). Online version available on the World Wide Web. Library also has microfilm. Ann Arbor, Mich. : ProQuest Information and Learning Company, [2006]. 1 microfilm reel ; 35 mm.

Thesis (M.Sc.)--Acadia University, 2000. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 116-127). Also available on the Internet via the World Wide Web.

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Thesis (Ph. D.)--West Virginia University, 2001. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains xii, 150 p. : ill. Vita. Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 131-150).

This thesis examines the behavioral, structural, cellular, and epigenetic changes observed in offspring exposed to different prenatal stressors. A number of questions were answered in this thesis that contribute to a basic understanding of the mechanisms by which early experiences alter long-term outcomes. These include: 1) What epigenetic modifications are associated with prenatal stress? 2) What are the structural and cellular changes in the brains of offspring that correspond to prenatal stress exposure? 3) How do these epigenetic and structural changes manifest as behavioral changes? And 4) What are the consequences of varying the level of prenatal stress?The key findings were that not all prenatal stress is the same. Variations to the intensity and nature of the stress dramatically alter offspring outcomes. Second, prenatal stress produces changes at many levels and these changes can be functionally related. Expression changes were identified in genes involved in altering dendritic morphology, which in turn modifies behaviour. For the first time, a comprehensive examination of brain plasticity occurred following prenatal stress. Additionally, this thesis demonstrated that brain changes related to prenatal stress are age-dependent and sex-dependent. The effects of prenatal stress on the pre-weaning brain are dramatically different than those observed in adulthood. Also, the sex of the offspring significantly influences neuroanatomical and epigenetic modifications. This finding is of critical importance because a majority of prenatal stress research is conducted on male offspring only. Taken together these discoveries emphasize that perturbations to development during the prenatal period produce persistent changes in the structure and functioning of the brain that will influence all subsequent experiences / xx, 201 leaves ; 29 cm