No abstract

Because we used the DISC-IV to apply DSM-IV criteria, the study yielded prevalence rates that are generally comparable with those found in previous surveys. The inclusion of diagnosis-specific impairment criteria reduced rates slightly. When global impairment criteria were imposed, the rates were reduced by approximately half.

Our findings lend cross-cultural generalizability to recent reports that gender does not interact with correlates for ADHD overall, but that it may play a role in subtypes.

Asthma is a serious and vexing problem for many children and their families. Asthma, like most syndromes, has many symptoms and potential causes and effects. Studies have shown that pediatric asthma is associated with psychiatric disorders, but the specificity and temporality of these relations is not well known. This study examined the associations between any and specific psychiatric disorders and both childhood asthma and other childhood chronic illnesses. The study used the Methods for the Epidemiology of Child and Adolescent Mental Disorders data, a four-site, community-based study of 1,285 pairs of youths and caretakers. Psychiatric disorders were assessed using the Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children (DISC 2.3). Methods for the Epidemiology of Child and Adolescent Mental Disorders was also used to assess individual characteristics, parental reports of asthma, and other chronic illnesses. Asthma and 'other' chronic illnesses were associated with different psychiatric disorders. In particular, having a history of asthma was associated with having an anxiety disorder, after adjustment for potential confounding, but was not associated with having an affective disorder. Having a chronic illness other than asthma or cancer was associated with having any affective disorder and dysthymia but not anxiety disorder. These results call for more mechanistic research that explores the specific relations between childhood anxiety disorder and asthma and between affective disorder and other pediatric chronic illnesses.

Evaluated the effects of a theoretically derived program to prevent mental health problems in children who had experienced the death of a parent. The program was designed to improve variables in the family environment which were specified as mediators of the effects of parental death on child mental health. The evaluation design involved the random assignment of families to either an intervention or control group. The program led to parental ratings of increased warmth in their relationships with their children, increased satisfaction with their social support, and the maintenance of family discussion of grief-related issues. The program also led to parent ratings of decreased conduct disorder and depression problems and overall problems in older children. Significant correlations between the family environment variables and child mental health problems provided further empirical support for the theory underlying the program. Implications for program redesign were derived by reconsidering the adequacy of the program components to change theoretically mediating variables.