Assessing exposure to violence in urban youth.

This study reports on the development of a structured interview, My Exposure to Violence (My ETV), that was designed to assess child and youth exposure to violence. Eighty participants between the ages of 9 and 24 were assessed. Data from My ETV were fit to a Rasch model for rating scales, a technique that generates interval level measures and allows the characterization of both chronic and acute exposure. Results indicated that the fit statistics for six scales, covering both lifetime and past year victimization, witnessing of violence, and total exposure, were all good. These scales were found to have high internal consistency (r = .68 to .93) and test-retest reliability (r = .75 to .94). Evidence of construct validity was provided by the item analysis, which revealed a theoretically sensible ordering of item extremity, and also by analysis of bivariate associations. As expected, younger subjects generally reported less exposure to violence than did older subjects, males reported more exposure than did females, African-American subjects reported higher levels of exposure than did White subjects, violent offenders reported more exposure than did non-offenders, and those living in high crime areas reported more exposure than did those residing in low crime areas. Future areas of investigation and the potential contribution to studies of antisocial behavior and post-traumatic stress disorder are discussed.

Longitudinal patterns of heart rate and fighting behavior in 9- through 12-year-old boys.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the temporal stability of heart rate and to examine its relationship with fighting behavior. METHOD: Heart rate at ages 9 through 12 was compared to a composite measure of fighting behavior in three cohorts of low socioeconomic status boys (n = 138; two cohorts of boys who had been rated as having disruptive behavior problems in kindergarten and one normative cohort) while controlling for body size, pubertal status, and level of family adversity. RESULTS: Heart rate showed moderate stability at 1- and 2-year intervals in two of the three cohorts. The composite fighting score was related to heart rate for 11-year-old boys in the normative cohort and 12-year-old boys in one of the disruptive cohorts. CONCLUSION: These data support the conclusion that there is a relationship between heart rate and aggression even within a low socioeconomic status sample.

Lateralized brain injury and behavior problems in children.

This study investigated the types of behavior problems found in children with lateralized brain lesions. Children referred for neuropsychological assessment were assigned to dominant (DH) or nondominant (NDH) groups on the basis of history of neurological disease or injury, findings on neurological examination, functional and structural laboratory findings, and neuropsychological assessment. Over two-thirds fell into the clinical range of behavior problems by parental report on the Achenbach Child Behavior Checklist. Degrees of pathology were nearly equal. DH children showed more externalizing than internalizing symptomatology. NDH children showed more internalizing than externalizing behavior problems. Results are discussed in terms of symptom formation based on lateralization of lesion.

Neuropsychological impairment in Duchenne muscular dystrophy.

Fourteen younger (ages 6 to 10 years) and 11 older (ages 11 to 16 years) Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD) patients were tested with the WISC-R and neuropsychological language, visual-motor, and motor tasks. Older boys had an average IQ; younger boys were in the low average IQ range. Younger DMD boys were inferior to the older DMD group on tasks requiring some language and attentional-organizational skills, but not on visual-motor tasks. Older DMD boys were inferior on motor tasks. Results suggest that the reported low cognitive skills in DMD patients are not fixed or global, but reflect selective deficits in the younger boys. Possible bases for age differences in performance are discussed.