IQ and personality traits assessed in childhood as predictors of drinking and smoking behaviour in middle-aged adults: a 24-year follow-up study.

AIMS: The identification of childhood personality predictors of drinking and smoking behaviour in adults. DESIGN: A 24-year follow-up study. SETTING: Prague, the Czech Republic. PARTICIPANTS: Combined cohorts of 220 males and females born of unwanted pregnancies, and 220 control subjects, examined with low attrition rates at ages 9-10, 21-23, 28-31 and 32-35. MEASUREMENTS: In childhood IQ was assessed by the Wechsler Intelligence Scale, Children (WISC), and personality characteristics were rated by teachers, mothers and classmates. In adulthood questionnaires and face-to-face interviews were used to assess drinking and smoking. FINDINGS: Unwanted pregnancy was not related to adult drinking and smoking. The ratings of childhood personality characteristics were condensed into three personality dimensions, i.e. conscientiousness, extroversion and neuroticism, interpreted as three of the Big Five personality dimensions, and found to show some stability into adulthood. Gender, IQ and the three childhood personality traits were used as predictors of adult drinking and smoking behaviour. Adult drinking behaviour was significantly predicted by the block of the three childhood personality traits, low conscientiousness predicting high drinking quantity per occasion (and heavy episodic drinking) whereas extroversion predicted subjects' average daily consumption. Smoking in adulthood was predicted by low IQ and low conscientiousness. CONCLUSIONS: IQ and personality traits in children explain to some degree the drinking and smoking behaviour of adult men and women, but the roles of the different components vary according to the form of substance use.

Children from unwanted pregnancies in Prague, Czech Republic revisited at age thirty.

The results of the fourth wave of the Prague Study of subjects born of unwanted pregnancies (UP) are reported. Of these young adults, 190 were examined at age 30 together with pair-matched control subjects born of accepted pregnancies (AP). Siblings of both UP and AP subjects were also examined. As in the previous data waves the UP subjects manifest less favorable psychosocial development on average than their AP controls, although the differences have narrowed. In some respects the siblings of the UP subjects share the latter's less favorable characteristics. However, there is a gender specific nonshared late effect of unwanted pregnancy: the UP females are more frequently emotionally disturbed than their AP female controls, whereas no such difference occurs between the female siblings of the UP and AP subjects.

Mental and social problems of families with handicapped child.

Studies were carried out in a series of 100 mothers of children with facial clefts who were treated up to the age of 13 to 15 years at the Department for Plastic Surgery. Clefts were used as a model situation for studies into the response of parents--and especially of mothers--to the birth of a child with an inborn malformation. The main results showed: that three quarters of mothers designated the birth of a handicapped child as a mental shock followed by a variety of neurotic symptoms. A certain proportion of mothers suffered from reactive depression which was not diagnosed and therefore not treated. It was confirmed that the poor mental condition of the mother in the predominant part of the series examined persisted up to the adolescence of the affected child and exerted marked negative effects on the mental prosperity of the child. This resulted in a latent or manifest parental attitude of rejection and in the development of mental handicap in their children (impaired self-esteem, impaired sexual identification etc.). The stress situation was increased by factors including manifestation of stigmatization by the familial environment and by the collective of children which had an adverse effect approximately on about three quarters of mothers and children. The discussed forms of medical care and counselling could in the post partum period and later help to reduce the mental stress experienced by the parents, as well as promote the somatic and mental development of the child.

[Psychological and social stress in children with cleft lip and palate]. / Psychický a sociální stres detí s rozstepem rtu a patra.

UNLABELLED: The authors analyzed representative data on the increase of inborn developmental defects in Czechoslovakia; in 1970-1980 the increment was + 50%. Inborn developmental defects are studied from the psychiatric aspect as a stimulus causing a reaction of the family to the breakdown of their parenteral expectations of a healthy child and the problem of continuation of the family. The reaction of the mothers is usually post-partum depression and impaired development of attachment to the child. The handicapped child is stressed by operations, rehabilitation, the awareness of his own insufficiency and problems of parenteral attitudes. The authors investigated the family-history, development of the health status of the children, social status of the children and personality of mother and child. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: children with cleft lip and palate suffer from social stigmatization and specific disorders of self-evaluation. In these children problems associated with adaptation in the child community, manifestations of depression, low self-esteem, impaired ego identity and a tendency of a negative attitude to the world were recorded. These phenomena increase with the severity of the damage and the visibility of the defect. If the mother bagatellizes or refutes the defect to achieve social desirability, the psychic position of the child is even worse. Approximately half the mothers and children expressed the need of special psychological care of problems associated with the defect. Actual areas are defined on which the need of care is focused in different stages of the family life cycle. The authors discuss the need of a realist attitude and acceptance of the defect in the interest of satisfactory adaptation, and the possibility of the paeditrician to assist families.

[Psychological and social problems in families with children with congenital defects]. / Psychické a sociální problémy rodin s poskozeným dítetem.

The authors investigated a group of 109 mothers whose children with a cleft (dg. 749) were up to the age of 13-15 years in the care of the Clinic of Plastic Surgery. The cleft served as a model situation for investigation of the parents' reaction, in particular the mother's reaction, to the birth of the child with a developmental defect. The main findings: three quarters of the mothers described the birth of a damaged child as a psychic shock followed by a series of neurotic symptoms. Some mothers suffered from reactive depression which was not diagnosed and therefore not treated. It was confirmed that the poor mental condition of the mother persist in the majority of the investigated group to the time of the child's adolescence and has a marked effect on its mental prosperity. Latent or manifest negative attitudes of the parents cause mental handicapping phenomena in the children (impaired self-esteem, impaired sexual identification etc.). Aggravating factors are stigmatizing manifestations from the environment of the family and child community, which affect some three quarters of mothers and children. The authors discuss suitable forms of medical and counseling care which after delivery and later would help to reduce the psychic trauma of the parents and promote adequate somatic and mental development of the child.

[Incidence of the minimal brain dysfunction syndrome in children]. / K problému výskytu syndromu lehkých mozkových dysfunkcí u detí.

The paper explains the social need of epidemiological research of the incidence of behavioural and learning disorders associated with the syndrome of minimal brain dysfunction (MBD). The authors draw attention to the continuous incidence of various inborn developmental defects in the population from very severe to mild ones and provide evidence of it on the basis of research in behavioural teratology. They discuss the possible relationship of MBD with psychosocial and chemical influences. They discuss preventive measures to avoid secondary deterioration of the mental and general health status. A specific approach to teaching of these children and psychotherapeutic influencing of parents is essential and one cannot rely only on early therapeutic effects by drugs. To implement preventive measures the latter must be planned on the background of knowledge regarding the incidence in the child population and the severity of the affection. This calls for the elaboration of a screening method for the early diagnosis of MBD. Knowledge of the incidence of MBD in the population along with possible aetiopathogenetic factors, will make more profound research of these association and primary prevention possible.

[Epidemiologic study of symptoms of minimal brain dysfunction. 1. Design and testing of methods--the incidence of symptoms in the study group]. / Epidemiologický výzkum znaku lehkých mozkových dysfunkcí. 1. etapa: konstrukce a overení metody--výskyt znaku ve zkoumaném souboru.

The authors inform on the elaboration of a screening method for recording of symptoms of minimal brain dysfunction and its initial verification in the research problem "Incidence of signs of minimal brain dysfunctions in children in the North Bohemian region". In the first stage a population group of children in the second form of primary school in three districts was examined, a total of 5080 children, and data were assembled from their 9000 parents. The authors describe the elaboration of the method which comprises rating scales which evaluate specific striking features in the behaviour, dysfunction in school skills (the forms were completed by teachers and mothers) and performance tests administered by the children themselves. Results of statistical analyses which confirmed the satisfactory consistency, composition, empirical and postdictive validity of the method are presented. The analyses revealed that the method used detects disorders included under the term of minimal brain dysfunctions and probably also disorders with the incidence of some identical symptoms (disorders of intellect, behavioural disorders in the wider sense of the word). The authors inform on the method of calculation and the ratio of the detected problem child population which was 14.8%. The group comprises 4.8% children which were unable to keep up with the first form of primary school and attend some special school. The method used detected, however, another 10% population with identical values. The authors discuss problems of screening diagnosis of specific developmental learning and behavioural disorders which form part of minimal brain dysfunctions. Problems associated with the evaluation of the assembled findings are discussed.

[Psychosocial maladjustment and antisocial behavior of undesired children]. / Psychosocialni maladaptace a antisocialni jednani u nechtenych deti.

PIP: The results of a long-term study on 220 unwanted children born in Prague, Czechoslovakia, are presented. They indicate that the experience of these children, now in their early twenties, confirms their disadvantaged status, particularly as indicated by their criminality rate and antisocial behavior, when compared with the control group of wanted children. (SUMMARY IN ENG AND RUS)^ieng

[Children born from unwanted pregnancy during early adolescence]. / Deti narozene z nechteneho tehotenstvi.

PIP: This study examines the experiences of 220 children born in Czechoslovakia between 1961 and 1964. These children were born as a result of unwanted pregnancies to mothers who were refused legal abortions. Following these "unwanted children" through adolescence and into adulthood, the authors find evidence of abnormal psycho-social development relative to a control group (SUMMARY IN ENG AND RUS)^ieng

Follow-up study of children born to women denied abortion.

Two hundred and twenty children born in Prague in 1961-63, whose mothers had applied twice for abortion and were refused twice, were matched with children born from accepted pregnancies. The findings when the children were about nine years of age revealed some important differences unfavourable to 'unwanted children'. Boys were significantly more afflicted than girls. Both groups were examined after a further six years. Differences in school achievement, in ratings of the child's personality and in parental attitudes were more pronounced than before. The third follow-up project is under way now, with the initially unwanted children and the control group in their early 20s. Detailed examinations are being made in families that already have children, i.e. children of 'unwanted children'.

Children born to women denied abortion.

'Compulsory childbearing has varied and sometimes unfavorable consequences for the subsequent life of the child.... The higher incidence of illness and hospitalization..., slightly poorer school marks and performance, somewhat worse integrationin the peer group--all point to a higher risk situation for the (unwanted) child and the family, as well as for society.... Boys born from unwanted pregnancies are more endangered in the development of their personalities than girls'.