Difference between Children's Self-Reports on Depression and Parents' Assessment of Children's Behaviors

OBJECTIVES: Childhood is a critical period involving various developmental tasks that need to be accomplished. Childhood depression has overall negative implications for certain areas of development, including cognition, emotion, social skills, academic achievement, and ability to cope with stress. Yet, because depression can be "masked" by accompanying behavioral problems, early detection and diagnosis of childhood depression is somewhat challenging. In this study, using the Korean version of the Child Behavior Checklist (K-CBCL), we evaluated the association between children's self reports on depression and parents' assessment of children's behaviors. METHODS: Subjects were recruited from the S city, a cohort comprising a non-random convenience sample of 226, 10-year-old ethnic Koreans in their fourth year of elementary school and their parents. All participants underwent several tests, including Children's Depression Inventory (CDI) and K-CBCL. RESULTS: A total of 226 children, including 166 boys (73.5%) and 60 girls (26.5%), participated in the study. The average CDI for the participants was 14.57 (SD=7.54). Two items on the K-CBCL, total scale of adjustment scale and social withdrawal problems, showed a close association with the CDI. CONCLUSION: Although much remains to be elucidated, after controlling for covariates, the results of this study suggested that behavioral problems observed in children may be closely associated with depression.

Superficial Punctate Keratitis

Thygeson(1950) reported the specific type of superficial punctate keratitis and suspected this probably come from viral origin. Braley(1953) described and illustrated well about the superficial punctate keratitis in his article. According to his paper, its diagnostic features can be summarized as follows; 1) Appearance as a chronic, bilateral punctate epithelial keratitis. 2) Long duration. 3) Eventual healing without scar. 4) Lack of response to systemic or topical antibiotics or sulfonamide, or to removal of corneal epithelium. 5) Striking symptomatic response to topical steroids. These diagnostic features form the basis for this report. 249 cases of this disease has been observed during the period of this study(October, 1960-July, 1962). 25 cases were available for detailed clinical and laboratory analysis. Following observations were made. 1) Corneal punctate opacity is strictly epithelial and located mostly in lower quadrant in chronic cases without associated conjunctivitis. 2) None of the cases gave a history of acute onset. 3) Long duration with remission and exacerbation. 4) No response to topical antibiotics or sulfonamide, or to removal of corneal epithelium. Remarkable symptomatic response to topical steriod. 5) No seasonal and professional relationship with this disease. 6) Normal conjunctival bacterial flora in simple culture. None of them showed inclusion bodies or significant cytological changes. No lesions developed in rabbit cornea inoculartion using scraping from conjunctiva and cornea. 7) Healing without scar. 8) Further detailed virological studies are needed for determinning the etiological agent.