ABSTRACT
We evaluated the validity of a profile typology for the Personality Inventory for Children (PIC), a parent-informant measure of child psychiatric status. For referred children, we studied (a) the convergence of PIC profile types with diagnoses according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (3rd ed., American Psychiatric Association, 1980) and (b) the incremental validity of the PIC over diagnoses in the prediction of symptom ratings completed by teachers and clinicians. We found a high diagnosis-PIC correspondence only for developmentally disordered children; the overlap for children with emotional-conduct problems was poor. For the latter group, however, the correlation of diagnoses with symptom ratings was low, but the incremental validity of the PIC over diagnoses was high. We discuss the use of this profile typology in the clinical evaluation of children and present a case example.
Subject(s)
Child Behavior Disorders/diagnosis , Mental Disorders/diagnosis , Personality Assessment/statistics & numerical data , Personality Inventory/statistics & numerical data , Child , Child Behavior Disorders/psychology , Female , Humans , Male , Mental Disorders/psychology , Psychometrics , Reproducibility of Results , Social EnvironmentABSTRACT
This study identified psychosocial factors that differentiated 19 adolescent female suicide attempters from 21 demographically similar nonattempters in a low income, urban area. Adolescents and their parents independently completed questionnaires and participated in structured and semistructured interviews. Attempters expressed significantly higher levels of suicidal ideation and were described by their parents as displaying higher levels of depressed mood and delinquent behavior problems than nonattempters. Attempters also identified fewer support persons, were less likely to be living with their mothers, were less likely to describe confiding relationships with parents/guardians, and had less active and affectionate relationships with mother figures than nonattempters. Finally, attempters reported more undesirable life stresses than nonattempters.
Subject(s)
Gender Identity , Identification, Psychological , Suicide, Attempted/psychology , Urban Population , Adolescent , Depressive Disorder/psychology , Female , Humans , Life Change Events , Michigan , Personality Tests , Risk FactorsABSTRACT
Examined the development of memory strategy knowledge and spontaneous use of strategy by 6- to 12-year-old boys with ADD-H. Metamemory knowledge of 12 ADD-H boys, unmedicated for study participation, and 12 matched control Ss was compared using a structured interview. Use of categorization was assessed using free recall of word lists differing in category composition (acoustic vs semantic categories) and list organization (clustered by category vs unclustered). Interview data indicated no difference between groups in development of metamemory knowledge. Analysis of free recall performance showed that ADD-H Ss were less likely than controls to benefit from that knowledge when strategy was less salient and involved effortful reorganization of stimuli (p less than .05). The results were consistent with a production deficiency. Developmental trends and implications for remediation are discussed.
Subject(s)
Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity/psychology , Child Development , Memory , Mental Recall , Attention , Child , Humans , Male , Verbal LearningABSTRACT
This study examined the relationship of self-reported marital distress to parental descriptions of emotional or behavioral disturbance of their children using two multidimensional measures of relationship satisfaction and personality functioning in children and adolescents. Data were collected from three independent samples of couples in marital therapy, parents of psychiatrically hospitalized children or adolescents, and nonclinic couples from the general population. Using a split-half cross-validation procedure, parents' reports of their children's emotional or behavioral difficulties were consistently and positively related to their descriptions of dissatisfaction with the parent-child relationship and with reports of spousal conflict over childrearing, but not with measures of global marital distress or spousal conflict in areas not related to childrearing. Discrepancies in spouses' descriptions of their marriage or child were unrelated to individual measures of relationship functioning or child/adolescent psychopathology. Implications for clinical assessment and future research are discussed.
Subject(s)
Child Behavior Disorders/psychology , Family Therapy , Family , Adolescent , Child , Child, Preschool , Communication , Female , Humans , Male , Marriage , Parent-Child Relations , Problem Solving , Psychological Tests , Psychopathology , Risk Factors , Social DesirabilityABSTRACT
This study investigates the relationship between maternal psychopathology and the validity of the Personality Inventory for Children (PIC). Specifically, we tested the hypothesis that psychopathology in the parent informant limits the ability of the resulting scale scores to predict actuarially derived descriptions of child emotional and behavior disorders. Mothers of 223 children and adolescents who had been referred for an evaluation to a child psychiatry service completed the PIC. These mothers also completed the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI). The sample of mothers and their children was divided into two subsamples according to the mother's MMPI profile: within normal limits and clinically elevated. Nineteen factor dimensions scores derived from these separate behavior rating forms served as external criteria. Analyses indicated that maternal psychopathology, as represented by MMPI scale elevations, did not moderate or limit the predictive accuracy of PIC scales.
Subject(s)
Mothers/psychology , Personality Disorders/diagnosis , Personality Inventory , Adolescent , Adult , Affective Symptoms/diagnosis , Child , Child Behavior Disorders/diagnosis , Female , Humans , MMPI , Male , Personality Disorders/psychology , Psychopathology , Referral and ConsultationABSTRACT
Mothers' and fathers' responses on the Personality Inventory for Children (PIC) were compared for 360 clinic-referred children and adolescents. Interparent agreement was measured by several different indices. Correlations between parental pairs of scale T-scores derived from each parent averaged .66 for 13 of the profile scales; 9 of the scales exceeded this value. In contrast, mothers and fathers agreed in the classification of the presence of clinical significance an average of 77% of the time across these 13 scales, and pairs of parental PIC profiles contained an average of 3 scales in disagreement. The type of index used to measure interparent agreement was found to affect the results. The discussion examines the nature of interparent disagreement and addresses the implications regarding the use of fathers as informants on this instrument.
Subject(s)
Mental Disorders/diagnosis , Parents , Personality Inventory , Adolescent , Adult , Aged , Child , Child, Preschool , Fathers , Female , Humans , Male , Middle Aged , MothersSubject(s)
Mental Disorders/diagnosis , Personality Inventory , Adolescent , Child , Female , Humans , Male , Statistics as TopicABSTRACT
Several actuarial interpretive systems have been constructed utilizing medical records as the source of criterion data. The present study compared adjective frequencies tabulated on a 100-item checklist from two samples of behaviorally disturbed children and adolescents employing different data collection procedures. Frequencies for the medical record sample (n = 79) were obtained by raters who reviewed case history materials and completed the checklist. The checklist sample (n = 79) was comprised of subjects matched on sex, age, and race and on whom the checklist was completed following a diagnostic evaluation. Significant differences in adjective frequencies were obtained on more than one-third of the items. When descriptors reflected syndrome-specific behaviors, minimal or no differences were found. However, consistent under-reporting of less diagnostically specific though clinically relevant characteristics was indicated in the medical record sample. This was attributed to the lack of systematic review of potential correlates. The implications for the development of actuarial systems, conduct of retrospective investigations, and construction of empirical classification systems based on medical record data were discussed.
