Parent psychopathology, including parental depression, anxiety, substance abuse, personality disorders, and ADHD, has been shown to be related to children's behavior development (Chronis et al., 2003). However, much of the research on the relationship between parent psychopathology and children's behavior problems has not considered children with different subtypes of behavior problems (e.g., those with hyperactivity versus those with oppositional-defiance), has focused on children of elementary school-age and older, and has focused on maternal psychopathology. The present study examined how mothers' and fathers' psychopathology is related to subtypes of behavior problems among preschool-aged children. Participants included 215 children, who were between 38 and 50 months, and their mothers and fathers, who were participating in a longitudinal study of young children with behavior problems. Children's behavior problems and parent psychopathology were measured using parental questionnaires and interviews. A series of ANOVAs and Chi-square analyses were run. As expected, parents of comorbid behavior problem children reported greater levels of psychopathology, alcohol abuse, and personality disorders than did parents of nonproblem children, and parents of both purely hyperactive children and comorbid behavior problem children reported greater levels of their own history of childhood ADHD than did parents of non-problem children. Exploratory analyses examined the moderating effects of child gender, child ethnicity, and parent education. This study has implications for understanding the importance of studying subtypes of preschool children's behavior problems, as well as the contribution of parent psychopathology to the maintenance and exacerbation of behavior problems from preschool age to elementary school age.

There is a need for an objective measure for matching psychiatric patients with outpatient community settings. The Current Behavior Inventory has been developed to meet this need. This study uses data from 50 patients at two outpatient settings in New York State to examine the reliability and validity of the CBI. The effect of a measure of likeability is also examined. Four measures were used: the Current Behavior Inventory-Clinician Form, to identify the skills demonstrated by the patients in the study; the Current Behavior Inventory-Provider Form, to identify the skills required by the settings and those skills that enhance success at the settings; Level of Success-Ranking, a forced ranking of the 25 patients from each setting used in the study; and Likeability, a 5 point Likert-type scale. Ten patients were rated by independent raters to examine interrater reliability. The percent of the skills identified as required by the settings that were demonstrated by each patient was calculated and the percent of the skills identified as enhancing success by the settings demonstrated by each patient was calculated. Significant correlations were found between the percent of the required skills demonstrated by patients and Level of Success-Ranking, and the percent of enhancing skills demonstrated and Level of Success-Ranking. There was no significant correlation between Likeability and Level of Success-Ranking. There was a significant correlation between the skill measures and Likeability. The findings suggest that the CBI is useful in predicting success for patients in these settings. The interrater reliability was shown to be good.

Adolescents exposed to violence and life threat often experience symptoms of post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). One would think that adolescent males are exposed to more violence and therefore would demonstrate higher rates of PTSD, however, higher rates of PTSD and distress symptoms have been found in females. Rates of exposure, psychological factors and cognitive style may mediate the experience of violence in children and adolescents. Attention to these variables might help to clarify whether there is a difference across sex in the experience of PTSD. This study examined a sample of male and female adolescents who reported exposure to community violence, in order to determine whether the males in the sample report more exposure to violence and less PTSD symptomatology, and to explore the contribution of coping strategies, cognitive developmental style, and type of victimization to differential experience of PTSD symptoms. Results indicate that male adolescents may not experience greater exposure to violence, and they meet criteria for PTSD less often than female adolescents. Differences across sex in coping strategies appear to be related to this phenomenon. The data failed to support the idea that differential experience of sexual victimization across sex is related to the difference in PTSD diagnostic status; however, this area deserves further study. Support for a relationship between cognitive style and sex as a factor in differential experience of PTSD was neither supported nor invalidated. Initial data indicate a range of cognitive styles. more sophisticated research regarding trauma recovery process is required to further explore these phenomena.