Salivary cortisol as a predictor of socioemotional adjustment during kindergarten: a prospective study.

This study, based on a sample of 172 children, examined the relation between average afternoon salivary cortisol levels measured at home at age 4.5 years and socioemotional adjustment a year and a half later, as reported by mothers, fathers, and teachers. Cortisol levels were hypothesized to be positively associated with withdrawal-type behaviors (e.g., internalizing, social wariness) and inversely related to approach-type behaviors, both negative and positive (e.g., externalizing, school engagement). Higher cortisol levels at age 4.5 predicted more internalizing behavior and social wariness as reported by teachers and mothers, although child gender moderated the relation between cortisol and mother report measures. An inverse relation was found between boys' cortisol levels and father report of externalizing behavior. A marginal inverse relation was found between child cortisol levels and teacher report of school engagement. Behavior assessed concurrently with cortisol collection did not account for the prospective relations observed,suggesting that cortisol adds uniquely to an understanding of behavioral development.

Maternity leave, women's employment, and marital incompatibility.

This research investigated the relationship between the length of women's maternity leave and marital incompatibility, in the context of other variables including the woman's employment, her dissatisfaction with the division of household labor, and her sense of role overload. Length of leave, work hours, and family salience were associated with several forms of dissatisfaction, which in turn predicted role overload. Role overload predicted increased marital incompatibility for experienced mothers but did not for first-time mothers, for whom discrepancies between preferred and actual child care were more important. Length of maternity leave showed significant interactions with other variables, supporting the hypothesis that a short leave is a risk factor that, when combined with another risk factor, contributes to personal and marital distress.

Autonomic reactivity and psychopathology in middle childhood.

BACKGROUND: Better indicators are needed for identifying children with early signs of developmental psychopathology. AIMS: To identify measures of autonomic nervous system reactivity that discriminate children with internalising and externalising behavioural symptoms. METHOD: A cross-sectional study of 122 children aged 6--7 years examined sympathetic and parasympathetic reactivity to standardised field-laboratory stressors as predictors of parent- and teacher-reported mental health symptoms. RESULTS: Measures of autonomic reactivity discriminated between children with internalising behaviour problems, externalising behaviour problems and neither. Internalisers showed high reactivity relative to low-symptom children, principally in the parasympathetic branch, while externalisers showed low reactivity, in both autonomic branches. CONCLUSIONS: School-age children with mental health symptoms showed a pattern of autonomic dimorphism in their reactivity to standardised challenges. This observation may be of use in early identification of children with presyndromal psychopathology.

Timing of initial exposure to maternal major depression and children's mental health symptoms in kindergarten.

BACKGROUND: Little is known about the influence on child mental health symptoms of the timing of initial exposure to maternal major depression or whether the timing is associated with 'pure' or co-occurring internalising and externalising symptoms. AIMS: To address these issues, while also taking account of child gender and family socio-economic status. METHOD: In a prospective community-based study, 421 kindergarten teachers rated children's symptoms. Previous assessments of maternal major depression indicated whether children were first exposed during infancy, in the toddler/pre-school period, or never. RESULTS: Exposure during infancy was associated with high internalising symptoms, especially when co-occurring with high externalising symptoms. Initial exposure in the toddler/pre-school years increased the risk of 'pure' externalising symptoms among girls. CONCLUSIONS: The association of child mental health symptoms with the timing of initial exposure to maternal depression highlights the need for effective prevention and intervention strategies addressed to the developmental issues of each period.

Predictors, prodromes and incidence of postpartum depression.

The purpose of this study was to determine the incidence of clinically significant depression occurring between 1 and 4 months postpartum and to investigate whether somatic complaints, subsyndromal depressive symptoms, or birth-related concerns among non-depressed women at 1 month were predictive of postpartum depression. This is a prospective cohort study of 465 women from the Wisconsin Maternity Leave and Health Project (WMLHP). Women who were not depressed at 1 month postpartum were reassessed 3 months later for depression occurring at any time in the interval between 1 and 4 months postpartum. Depression was defined as either meeting the criteria for major depression on the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) Diagnostic interview Schedule (DIS) or scoring above 15 on the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D). Physical symptoms were assessed by an adapted Health Responses Scale. Other measures were developed specifically for the WMLHP. Of 465 women, 27 (5.8%) became clinically depressed between 1 and 4 months postpartum. In a logistic regression analysis, four variables (maternal age, depression during pregnancy, thoughts of death and dying at 1 month postpartum, and difficulty falling asleep at 1 month postpartum) were predictive of depression at 4 months postpartum. Breast-feeding, mode of delivery, family income, parity and mother's education did not predict depression. The existence of subsyndromal depressive symptoms, particularly thoughts of death and dying, may represent a prodromal phase of depression and should alert clinicians to the possibility of future postpartum depression. Women with a history of depression during pregnancy should be monitored for signs of postpartum depression for a minimum of 4 months. Obstetricians are in a unique position during the postpartum check-up to screen women for these predictors of future postpartum depression and possibly to avert the development of a clinically significant depressive episode.

The MacArthur Three-City Outcome Study: evaluating multi-informant measures of young children's symptomatology.

OBJECTIVE: Three sites collaborated to evaluate the reliability and validity of 2 measures, developed in tandem to assess symptomatology and impairment in 4- to 8-year-old children: the Berkeley Puppet Interview Symptomatology Scales (BPI-S) and the Health and Behavior Questionnaire (HBQ). METHOD: In this case-control study, mothers, teachers, and children reported on multiple dimensions of children's mental health for 120 children (67 community and 53 clinic-referred children). RESULTS: The BPI-S and the parent and teacher versions of the HBQ demonstrated strong test-retest reliability and discriminant validity on a majority of symptom scales. Medium to strong effect sizes (Cohen d) indicated that children in the clinic-referred group were viewed by all 3 informants as experiencing significantly higher levels of symptomatology than nonreferred, community children. CONCLUSION: The availability of a set of multi-informant instruments that are psychometrically sound, developed in tandem, and developmentally appropriate for young children will enhance researchers' ability to investigate and understand symptomatology or the emergence of symptomatology in middle childhood.

Derivation and prediction of temperamental types among preschoolers.

The number and nature of temperamental types in 488 children aged 3 years 6 months was examined on the basis of a broad set of temperamental characteristics, including positive and negative emotionality and the attentional and behavioral control domains. Configural frequency analysis methods showed clear support for two temperament types: controlled-nonexpressive and noncontrolled-expressive. These types showed meaningful differences against external criteria related to a wide range of problem behaviors from the emotional, social, and attentional domains. The reports of problem behaviors were obtained contemporaneously from fathers and caregivers. These findings replicated a year later when children were aged 4 years 6 months. Furthermore, the findings showed that infant and toddler-age temperamental characteristics differentiated these preschool-aged types. The authors discuss the implications of the results for a categorical view of temperament-personality.

Recollections of parental behaviour, adult attachment and mental health: mediating and moderating effects.

BACKGROUND: Attachment theory posits links between early experiences with parents, adult relationships and adult mental health, but does not specify whether these are independent, mediating, or moderating effects. METHODS: Associations of parent's behaviour on the Parental Bonding Instrument, adult attachment styles and three dimensions of mental health were investigated in a large sample of women and men. RESULTS: Men and women with secure styles recalled higher levels of care from both parents than those with fearful styles. Maternal and paternal control were more consistent predictors of increased distress for men than for women. Fearful and preoccupied adult styles were associated with higher levels of distress in both men and women. While adult styles had few mediating effects on the association of parental behaviour and mental health, interactions between the fearful style and parental variables suggested that this form of insecurity sometimes accentuated the impact of high parental care or low paternal control on mental health in both men and women; among women, however, the secure style seemed to buffer somewhat the negative effect of high parental control. CONCLUSION: Although the amount of variance explained by either parental behaviour or adult styles was modest, patterns of moderating effects of adult styles on associations between parental behaviour and mental health suggested that both continuity and discontinuity principles can be applied to understanding these links.

Length of maternity leave and quality of mother-infant interactions.

The aim of this study was to assess the association between the length of maternity leave and the quality of mother-infant interactions; 198 employed mothers of 4-month-old infants were interviewed and videotaped in their homes during a feeding time. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses indicated a direct association between shorter length of leave and more negative affect and behavior in maternal interactions with their infants. Infant and mother stressor/protective variables added significantly in predicting the quality of the mother-infant relationship. There were also significant interaction effects between the length of leave and these variables. Mothers who either reported more depressive symptoms or who perceived their infant as having a more difficult temperament and who had shorter leaves, compared with mothers who had longer leaves, were observed to express less positive affect, sensitivity, and responsiveness in interactions with their infants. The public policy implications of the relation between length of maternity leave, maternal and infant individual differences, and the quality of mother-infant interactions are discussed.

Adaptation to community relocation: the interactive influence of psychological resources and contextual factors.

This longitudinal study examined the interactive influences of psychological resources and contextual factors on short-term adaptation to community relocation in a sample of older women (N = 102, mean age = 71.6). The effects of three psychological resources (environmental mastery, autonomy, and personal growth) and three contextual factors (pressure to move, difficulty of the move, and unexpected gains experienced) on emotional reactions to relocation were examined. The pattern of findings suggests that women with greater psychological resources were more resilient in the face of negative circumstances but that the emotional "boost" of unexpected gains was greatest for women with lower premove resources. These results underscore the importance of considering event-relevant psychological resources and contextual factors and including both negative and positive aspects of the adaptational process.

My children and me: midlife evaluations of grown children and of self.

Midlife parents (N = 215, M age = 53.7 years) were interviewed about how their adult children (M age = 27.6 years) had "turned out". These assessments were then related to parents' views of themselves. Perceived accomplishments and adjustment of children were expected to be positively linked with parents' well-being (e.g., self-acceptance, environmental mastery, purpose in life), and social comparisons were hypothesized to contribute to the link between parents' assessments of children and their own well-being. Multiple regression analyses revealed that children's perceived adjustment significantly predicted 6 of 7 well-being outcomes for mothers and fathers. Children's attainment was less strongly linked with parental outcomes. Personal comparisons were significant negative predictors--parents who saw their children as better adjusted than themselves had lower well-being.

The interpretation of life experience and well-being: the sample case of relocation.

Social psychological theories of the self postulate mechanisms through which individuals interpret their life experiences to ensure positive self-evaluation. This framework was applied to a sample of aging women (N = 120, M age = 74.9 years) who had experienced community relocation. The authors measured their reasons for moving (push factors), reasons for selecting the new setting, (pull factors), and interpretive mechanisms, including how they compared with others in their new setting, how they were viewed by significant others following the move, how their behaviors changed following relocation, and whether the above evaluations occurred in life domains central to their sense of self. Regression analyses showed that push-pull factors and interpretive mechanisms accounted for substantial variance in multiple aspects of psychological well-being, particularly environmental mastery, purpose in life, and positive relations with others.

The relationships of coping responses to physical health status and life satisfaction among older women.

This study examined a model specifying the causal links between the physical, functional, and subjective components of physical health status and life satisfaction among older women, and assessed the effects of three coping responses (direct-action, positive-cognitive, and passive-cognitive coping) at each point in the process. Based on interview data with 281 older women, a series of regression analyses indicated that, before the inclusion of the coping variables, physical conditions directly contributed to functional impairment, and both indirectly lowered life satisfaction through their direct negative effects on subjective health assessments. Further analyses indicated that positive-cognitive coping buffered the effects of physical conditions at each point in the model, that passive-cognitive coping generally had deleterious effects on health status, although it prevented negative health assessments from lowering life satisfaction, and that direct-action coping had little effect. These findings emphasize the importance of a multidimensional conceptualization of physical health status in understanding its relationship with life satisfaction as well as the specific functions of coping at different points in the process for older women.

Intimacy and depression in older women.

This study examines the effects of the qualities of intimate relationships on depression in older women. The data are from a study of women over 50, randomly selected from five census tracts in Madison, Wisconsin, who were given questionnaires about depression and the quality of their intimate relationships on two occasions (summer of 1978 and summer of 1979). The results showed that some dimensions of the relationships that the women described with their most significant others predicted depression. The more depressed the women were, the more they felt that (1) the relationship was less friendly, (2) their friendly feelings were not reciprocated by the significant other, (3) their relationship was less consistent and predictable, and (4) there was less time spent with the significant other in the best state. These findings are discussed as partially consistent with Seligman's arguments on the comparability of his "learned helplessness" model and depression and with the focus of cognitive theories of Beck and others on the role of perceptions and expectations in depression.