The current investigation compared the fit of three models of internalizing in middle childhood: (1) a unitary factor model, (2) a two-factor model corresponding to the DSM-IV Anxiety/Depression distinction, and (3) a two-factor model corresponding to the Fear/Distress distinction observed in structural studies of adult psychopathology (Krueger, 1999; Slade & Watson, 2006). Mothers of 344 children (50.6% female, mean age = 9.97, SD = .82) reported on childhood internalizing symptoms and personality traits. Confirmatory factor analyses revealed acceptable fit indices for all three models. The unitary factor model provided the most parsimonious fit to the data. Although the structural analyses suggested that internalizing subfactors were not differentiated in middle childhood, hierarchical regression analyses revealed that personality dimensions uniquely predicted fear and distress disorders. These results suggest that personality foreshadows later psychopathology structure before it is manifest at the symptom level.

The current investigation compared the fit of three models of internalizing in middle childhood: (1) a unitary factor model, (2) a two-factor model corresponding to the DSM-IV Anxiety/Depression distinction, and (3) a two-factor model corresponding to the Fear/Distress distinction observed in structural studies of adult psychopathology (Krueger, 1999; Slade & Watson, 2006). Mothers of 344 children (50.6% female, mean age = 9.97, SD = .82) reported on childhood internalizing symptoms and personality traits. Confirmatory factor analyses revealed acceptable fit indices for all three models. The unitary factor model provided the most parsimonious fit to the data. Although the structural analyses suggested that internalizing subfactors were not differentiated in middle childhood, hierarchical regression analyses revealed that personality dimensions uniquely predicted fear and distress disorders. These results suggest that personality foreshadows later psychopathology structure before it is manifest at the symptom level.

Childhood obesity is a growing concern for practitioners and researchers. In addition to obesity being a risk factor for cardiovascular disease, children classified as obese are more likely to demonstrate other risk factors associated with cardiovascular disease. Furthermore, children classified as obese are more likely to be victims of bullying and discrimination. This dissertation tested a dynamic cascade model of the development of childhood obesity. It was hypothesized that externalizing behaviors and internalizing problems would lead to increased body mass index. This model was tested in Mplus v7 (Muthén & Muthén, 1998) using data from the NICHD Study of Early Child Care. This dissertation used parent report of externalizing behaviors and internalizing behaviors, teacher report of externalizing behaviors, and body mass index to examine several different ways in which developmental psychopathology related to childhood obesity. The results suggested that body mass index predicts the development of internalizing problems in late childhood. However, externalizing behaviors were not directly or indirectly associated with body mass index. These findings suggested that the assessment of children with internalizing problems should include an assessment of their weight and weight related concerns.

Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) is a serious psychiatric disorder characterised by turbulent interpersonal relationships, impaired self image, impulsivity, and a recurrent pattern of unstable affect which is usually evident by early adulthood. It has a community prevalence rate of two per cent, and approximately nine per cent of people diagnosed with BPD commit suicide. This suggests that BPD has one of the highest lethality rates of all psychiatric disorders. The course of the disorder shows a steady improvement over the course of early adulthood with the majority of cases remitting by middle age. This positive but incomplete long-term recovery is thought to be a naturalistic outcome that is independent of treatment effect. The reported study sought to test selected components of a multidimensional developmental neuropsychological model of executive functioning in BPD. The model proposed that BPD is characterised by impairments to four neuropsychological executive functions. These include working memory, response inhibition, affective-attentional bias, and problem-solving. The model further proposed that impaired executive functioning in BPD occurs as a result of the failure of ‘experience-dependent’ maturation of orbitofrontal structures. These structures are closely associated with the development of the ‘cognitive executive’. The study incorporated a cross-sectional design to analyse data from a BPD group, a Depressed Control Group, and a Medical Control Group. The overall findings of the study returned limited support for the original hypotheses. There was no evidence of deficits in working memory, response-inhibition, or problem-solving. In contrast, the BPD group returned some evidence of deficits in affective-attentional bias. Therefore, the results suggest that executive functioning remains largely intact in BPD. This also suggests that people with BPD have the working memory resources necessary to facilitate abstract cognition, have the capacity to effectively plan and execute future-oriented acts, and are able to perform appropriate problem-solving functions. These problem-solving returns are also particularly significant because a number of the tasks utilised in the study are known to be associated with so-called ‘frontal-executive’ function. These unremarkable findings challenge the view that people with BPD might experience some form of subtle neurological impairment associated with frontal-lobe compromise. The Stroop measure of affective-attentional bias provided the only supportive evidence for the proposed model, and these findings can be accounted for by at least two different explanations. The first suggests that BPD might be characterised by a hypervigilant attentional set. The specific cause of hypervigilance in BPD is unknown, but some candidate factors appear to be the often-reported abuse histories of borderlines, insecure attachment histories, and deficits in parental bonding. The second interpretation suggests that the Stroop findings reflect a form of ‘response conflict’ in which BPD participants experience difficulties overriding tasks that rely on the enunciation of automatic neural routines. As a result of these findings, further research on the role of arousal, priming, hypervigilance, and response-conflict in BPD is required. It is likely that the Stroop findings reflect a basic, ‘hard-wired’ attentional mechanism that consolidates by early adolescence at the latest. As a result, the Stroop findings have implications for both the prevention and treatment of BPD. A number of prevention strategies could be developed to address the attentional issues identified in the present study. These include assisting children to more effectively regulate arousal and affect, and assisting parents to communicate affectively with children in order to enhance self-regulation. The treatment implications suggest that interventions directed at affective-attentional processes are required, and further suggest the need for new pharmacotherapies and psychological treatments to modify dysfunctional attentional process. Affective neuroscience will have an increasingly important role to play in the understanding of BPD, and the next quarter century is likely to witness exciting advances in understanding this most problematic of disorders.

abstract: Family adaptation to child developmental disability is a dynamic transactional process that has yet to be tested in a longitudinal, rigorous fashion. In addition, although children with developmental delays frequently have behavior problems, not enough research has examined possible underlying mechanisms in the relation between child developmental delay, adaptation and behavior problems. In the current study, factor analysis examined how best to conceptualize the construct of family adaptation to developmental delay. Also, longitudinal growth curve modeling tested models in which child behavior problems mediated the relation between developmental risk and indices of family adaptation. Participants included 130 typically developing children and their families (Mental Development Index [MDI] > 85) and 104 children with developmental delays and their families (MDI < 85). Data were collected yearly between the ages of three and eight as part of a multi-site, longitudinal investigation examining the interrelations among children's developmental status, family processes, and the emergence of child psychopathology. Results of the current study indicated that adaptation is best conceptualized as a multi-index construct. Different aspects of adaptation changed in unique ways over time, with some facets of adaptation remaining stable while others fluctuated. Child internalizing and externalizing behavior problems were found to decrease over time for both children with developmental delays and typically developing children. Child behavior problems were also found to mediate the relation between developmental risk and family adaptation for over half of the mediation pathways. Significant mediation results indicated that children with developmental delays showed higher early levels of behavior problems, which in turn was associated with more maladaptive adaptation. These findings provide further evidence that families of children with developmental delays experience both positive and more challenging changes in their families over time. This study implies important next steps for research and clinical practice in the area of developmental disability. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Psychology 2011

No description available.

Research has shown that children displaying conduct problems (CP) early in life are at greater risk for severe CP and other negative outcomes later in life. However, not all children with early-onset CP will develop severe CP over the life-course. Thus, it is important to identify those at greater risk, preferably as early as possible, in order to adequately prevent a negative development. Psychopathic traits have received much attention in research on risk for severe CP, involving attempts to extend these traits, and their association to CP to childhood. However, research has thus far mainly focused on one dimension of psychopathic traits, that is callousunemotional (CU) traits, to some extent neglecting two other dimensions of traits commonly included in a psychopathic personality: an interpersonal, and a behavioural dimension. Hence, we still do not know if a full psychopathic personality is identifiable in early childhood, and if and how it is related to the development of severe and persistent CP. The aim of this dissertation was to examine if a psychopathic personality could be identified in early childhood, if psychopathic traits are stable over time, and if and how the psychopathic personality is related to childhood CP. Overall, the results show that psychopathic traits, as well as the display of a psychopathic personality, could be identified in early childhood. These traits were stable over time, and they were clearly and strongly related to childhood CP. Additionally, the combination of early-onset CP and a full psychopathic personality seems to be the most precarious for severe and persistent CP, even more so than the combination of CP and CU traits. With careful consideration to ethical aspects, these results are discussed both in relation to a developmental psychopathology perspective on CP, as well as in relation to diagnostic practice as it is framed today.

Child abuse and neglect is a significant social issue with long term consequences for affected children and young people, including increased risk of emotional and social difficulties. Models of the impacts of maltreatment outline a developmental process in which maltreating parent-child relationships affect the development of neural networks, which in turn undermine developing cognitive processes, including emotion regulation and social understanding, thereby increasing risk of emotional and social difficulties. This study explores a subset of these cognitive processes in a sample of adolescents in long-term out-of-home care as a result of maltreatment, relative to a sample of non-maltreated peers, including situation selection (conditioned avoidance and risk-taking), attentional deployment (attention biases and attention control) and cognitive change (interpretation bias), as well as aspects of social understanding (mentalising, emotion understanding and prosocial responding). Further, the relative effects of maltreatment factors, and the relationship between emotion regulation and social understanding with adolescent adjustment was also explored. Results demonstrated maltreatment-related effects in conditioned avoidance, risk-taking, attention processes and social understanding, and explored the relative effect of exposure to physical abuse on the development of these processes, differences in such processes did not appear to significantly predict poor or normative adjustment of maltreated adolescents. These results are discussed with respect to models of maltreatment, emotion regulation and social understanding, with implications for the development and implementation of interventions.

Bérgamo, L. P. D. (2011). Trajetória dos maus-tratos infantis: um estudo na perspectiva da Psicopatologia do Desenvolvimento. Tese de Doutorado, Departamento de Psicologia e Educação, Universidade de São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto - SP. Esta pesquisa teve por objeto de estudo o fenômeno dos maus-tratos contra crianças, norteando-se pela hipótese da existência de uma trajetória dessa problemática, caracterizada por sua continuidade no tempo, baseando-se numa articulação entre fase desenvolvimental - tipo de maltrato - tipo de consequência para a criança. Adotou-se como referencial a Psicopatologia Desenvolvimental, onde fenômeno ocorreria por problemas no sistema cuidador(es)-criançaambiente, associados a fatores de risco nos contextos \"desenvolvimental\" (características do cuidador e da criança), \"interacional\" (características da relação cuidador-criança e na família) e o \"mais amplo\" (características do entorno e percepção do apoio social). O objetivo geral foi verificar a existência de uma trajetória dos maus-tratos, buscando compreender sua constituição e manutenção no tempo. Especificamente, objetivou-se conhecer como os maustratos se manifestam em diferentes fases do desenvolvimento infantil e identificar as variáveis associadas, funcionando como risco ou proteção, nos três contextos. Trata-se de uma pesquisa de abordagem qualitativa, com delineamento transversal. Três grupos de participantes/mães foram constituídos, cujos casos foram notificados aos Conselhos Tutelares de Ribeirão Preto/SP, considerando as seguintes faixas etárias: 0-3, 4-6 ou 7-11 anos. Realizou-se um levantamento nos prontuários dos Conselhos, seguindo o critério de amostragem utilizado em estudos de casos múltiplos. Na coleta de dados, utilizou-se: (a) Questionário de Caracterização Sócio-Demográfica, visando caracterizar o cuidador, a criança, a família e o contexto em que se encontram; (b) Roteiros de Entrevista sobre o Desenvolvimento Infantil e da Interação Cuidador-Criança, visando informações sobre o desenvolvimento infantil, a interação mãe-criança e as práticas parentais adotadas, assim como sobre as situações de maus-tratos; (c) Child Behavior Checklist - CBCL, visando a obtenção de dados sobre o comportamento da criança. Referente à análise dos dados, o conjunto de informações concernente a cada caso foi estudado e analisado, observandose padrões de repetição no interior de cada um, de modo a compreender sua dinâmica e, dentro disso, os maus-tratos. Numa segunda etapa, procedeu-se à comparação dos \"casos\", visualizandose convergências e divergências, possibilitando a constituição de três agrupamentos, por meio dos quais chegou-se a diferentes categorias analíticas sobre o fenômeno. Uma das categorias descreve uma Trajetória persistente de dificuldades no sistema mãe-criança-ambiente - maustratos recorrentes, refletindo a continuidade dos maus-tratos no tempo e dos elementos associados à sua manutenção. Nesse sentido, encontrou-se fatores de risco estáveis nos três contextos analisados, além das crianças apresentarem problemas comportamentais significativos. A outra categoria a que se chegou é Dificuldades no sistema mãe-criança-ambiente condicionadas a determinadas circunstâncias / circunscritas no tempo - maus-tratos ocasionais, na qual os maus-tratos se manifestam devido a fatores no contexto interacional, além das crianças apresentarem alguns problemas comportamentais, geralmente internalizantes. A última categoria - Ausência de dificuldades significativas no sistema mãe-criançaambiente - ausência de maus-tratos - sintetiza as características de um grupo no qual não se identificou fatores de risco específicos, mas sim, diversos fatores de proteção. Assim, podese dizer que a hipótese estabelecida para o estudo foi comprovada. Os resultados, entretanto, trouxeram informações adicionais, indicando haver situações de maus-tratos que parecem mais circunscritas no tempo. Ainda, apresenta-se um modelo descritivo envolvendo os elementos associados à manutenção do fenômeno no tempo, bem como das características mais proeminentes em cada faixa etária, dando pistas sobre as variáveis que estão atreladas à origem dos maus-tratos e das que podem mantê-lo no tempo. / Bérgamo, L. P. D. (2011). Trajectory of child abuse: a study on Development Psychopathology perspective. Tese de Doutorado, Departamento de Psicologia e Educação, Universidade de São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto - SP. This research had as object of study the occurrence of child abuse, guided by the hypothesis of the existence of a trajectory to this problem, characterized by its continuity in time, based on an articulation between the development phase - type of abuse - type of consequence to the child. Developmental psychopathology was adopted as referential , in which the phenomena would occur due to problems in the system caregiver - child - environment, associated to risk factors in the context of \"development\" (characteristics of the caregiver and the child), \"interaction\" (characteristics of the relation caregiver - child and in family) and the \"broader\" (characteristics of the surrounding and perception of social support). The general goal was to verify the existence of a trajectory of the abuse, seeking to understand its constitution and maintenance in time. Specifically, the goal was to know how the abuse manifests in different phases of child development and identify the variables associated to them, working as risk or protection, in the three contexts. It is a research with a qualitative approach, and transversal delineation. Three groups of participants/mothers were formed, whose cases were notified to the child protection service of Ribeirão Preto/SP, considering the following ages: 0-3, 4-6 or 7-11 years old. A study of the child protection´s Record books was performed, following the sample criteria used in multiple case studies. It was used for data collection: (a) Social-demographic characterization questionnaire, to characterize the caregiver, the child, the family and the context they are in; (b) Interview routines about child development and caregiver - child interaction, to obtain information about child development, mother - child interaction and parental practices adopted, as well as abuse situations; (c) Child Behavior Checklist - CBCL, to obtain data about child behavior. Concerning data analysis, the information referring to each case was studied and analyzed, observing repetition patterns in each one, in order to understand their dynamics and the abuse in them. In a second phase a case comparison was carried out, observing divergences and convergences, enabling the constitution of three groups, by which three different analytical categories of the event were found. One of the categories describes a persistent trajectory of difficulties in the mother-child-environment - recurrent abuse, reflecting the continuity of the abuse in time and the elements associated to its maintenance. In that sense, stable risk factors were found in the three analyzed contexts, in addition, the children presented significant behavior problems. The other category found is difficulties in the mother-child-environment system conditioned to certain circumstances / limited in time - occasional abuse, in which the abuse manifests due to factors in the interactional context, in addition, the children presented some behavior problems, generally internalizing ones. The last category - Absence of significant difficulties in the mother-child-environment system - absence of abuse - summarizes the characteristics of a group in which no specific risk factors were found, but protection factors were. Therefore one may say that the hypothesis established for the study was proved. The results, however, brought additional information, indicating the existence of abuse situations that seem to be limited in time. Also, it presents a descriptive model involving the elements associated to the maintenance of the occurrence in time, as well as the most prominent characteristics of each age range, giving clues about the variables that are connected to the origin of the abuse and the ones that may sustain it in time.

This study applied a contemporary dynamic systems methodology (state space grids) to examine how the structure of parent-child coping interactions, above and beyond the content of such interactions, influences adjustment (i.e., internalizing problems, externalizing problems, and coping efficacy) over time in middle childhood. A community sample of children (N = 65) completed a stressful laboratory task with a parent present, during which parent and child behavior were observed. Parent behavior during the task was coded using a socialization of coping framework. Parents' verbal suggestions to their child about how to cope with the stressful task were coded as primary control engagement suggestions (i.e., suggestions encouraging the child to directly address and attempt to change the stressor or the child's associated emotions), secondary control engagement suggestions (i.e., suggestions encouraging the child to change their own reaction to their stressor), or disengagement suggestions (i.e., suggestions encouraging the child to take their attention away from the stressor). Child coping verbalizations and behavior during the task was coded as either engaging with the stressor or disengaging from the stressor. The structure of the parent-child coping interaction was measured in two ways: (a) dyadic flexibility, defined as the dispersion of parent and child behavior across all possible behaviors and the number of transitions between different parent or child behaviors during the task, and (b) attractor (i.e., parent-focused, child-focused, or dyad-focused interaction pattern) strength, defined as the number of visits, duration per visit, and return time to that interaction pattern. Child adjustment outcomes were measured using parent-report (internalizing and externalizing problems) and child-report (coping efficacy) at baseline and a 6-month follow-up. Linear regression analyses were conducted examining dyadic flexibility and the proposed attractors as predictors of child adjustment, while accounting for demographic variables, attractor content, and adjustment at baseline. Findings suggested that dyadic flexibility in the parent-child coping interaction was largely adaptive for child adjustment, whereas attractor strength demonstrated a more complex relationship with child adjustment outcomes. This study demonstrates the utility of applying state-space grids to examine the structure of parent-child coping interactions, in addition to content, as predictors of child adjustment. Furthermore, this study offers novel, detailed information about coping interactions in families with children in middle childhood. Clinical implications, limitations, and future directions are discussed.