Teasing and social rejection among obese children enrolling in family-based behavioural treatment: effects on psychological adjustment and academic competencies.

OBJECTIVES: The first objective was to determine the prevalence of psychological maladjustment (emotional and behavioural problems), low academic competencies and teasing/social rejection among obese Icelandic children enrolling in a family-based behavioural treatment. A second objective was to explore the degree to which teasing/social rejection specifically contributes to children's psychological adjustment and academic competencies when controlling for other variables, including demographics, children's physical activity, parental depression and life-stress. METHODS: Participants were 84 obese children (mean body mass index-standard deviation score=3.11, age range=7.52-13.61 years). Height and weight, demographics and measures of children's psychological adjustment, academic competencies, teasing/social rejection and physical activity were collected from children, parents and teachers. Parental depression and life-stress was self-reported. RESULTS: Over half the children exceeded cutoffs indicating concern on at least one measure of behavioural or emotional difficulties. Children endorsed significant levels of teasing/social rejection, with almost half acknowledging they were not popular with same-gender peers. Parent reports of peer problems were even higher, with over 90% of both boys and girls being rated by their parents as having significant peer difficulties. However, rates of low academic competencies as reported by teachers were not different from those of the general population. In regression analyses controlling for other variables, self-reported teasing/social rejection emerged as a significant contributor to explaining both child psychological adjustment and academic competencies. CONCLUSIONS: The results indicate that among obese children enrolled in family-based treatment, self-reported teasing/social rejection is quite high and it is associated with poorer psychological adjustment as well as lower academic competencies. Parent reports corroborate the presence of substantial peer difficulties, supporting the need to address peer relations with overweight children both in clinical practice and in public health interventions.

A comparison of social skills in adults with autistic disorder, pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified, and mental retardation.

We examined the social skills of adults with autism, PDDNOS, and mental retardation. All participants were diagnosed with profound mental retardation. Participants in the autism and PDDNOS groups had been previously diagnosed using the Childhood Autism Rating Scale (CARS) and record review. These diagnoses were confirmed by readministering the CARS by one author and an independent rater. Social skills were assessed by using the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales and the Matson Evaluation of Social Skills in the Severely Retarded. Significant differences between the autism and mental retardation groups were found on both measures. The PDDNOS group demonstrated better positive nonverbal social skills than the autism group but not the mental retardation group. Special treatment needs of institutionalized adults with autism appear warranted along with a need to clarify further the differences between PDDNOS and mental retardation.

Effects of verbal elaborations on memory for sentences in adults with mental retardation.

We examined the effects of verbal elaborations on memory for verbal material in adults with mental retardation and a control group of adults of normal intelligence. During acquisition, three types of sentences were presented that differed in elaboration of the subject-adjective relationship: a) non-elaborated base sentences; b) base sentences with arbitrary verbal elaborations; and c) base sentences with explanatory verbal elaborations that clarified the significance of the subject-adjective relationship. At test, we varied the retrieval context by presenting either base sentences alone or base sentences with the verbal elaborations. A three-alternative, forced-choice recognition procedure was used to test memory for the target adjectives. Results yielded a positive effect of retrieval support (elaborations present at study and test) on recognition performance for adults with mental retardation. These data imply that the retrieval context plays an important role in recognition memory for adults with mental retardation.

Parental divorce: long-term effects on mental health, family relations and adult sexual behavior.

Specific long term effects of parental divorce were examined in a sample of 179 Icelanders, 20 to 30 years of age. The participants answered the Borromean Family Index, the Affect Balance Scale and a number of questions on sexual behavior and attitudes towards marriage and divorce. Results showed that compared to adults whose parents remained married, those of divorced parents reported more negative emotional experiences at the time of the study and had looser family ties. They also had greater number of short love affairs, had their first love affair at a younger age, had a greater number of sexual partners, and were younger at the time of their first sexual intercourse than adults whose parents remained married.