Clinical Population Of Children Research Articles

Parent and child causal attributions during clinical interviews.

Attributions made by children and their parents for the cause of the child's clinical problem were monitored during assessment interviews. Results support previously observed differences obtained through questionnaires, with parents making more attributions than their children to characteristics of the child. This pattern was affected by variations in interview format. Parents and children differed in the locus of their attributions when interviewed individually, but these differences were not present when families were interviewed with both parents and children present. Implications for the methodology of attribution research with child-clinical populations are highlighted.

Parent and child causal attributions related to the child's clinical problem.

Parents and children were asked to give causal attributions related to the child's learning or behavior problems and an area of success. Actor-observer differences and tendencies of actors to make differential attributions for their positive and negative outcomes were examined. A significant number of parents and children were in disagreement regarding the cause of the child's problem. Parents made significantly more internal than external attributions for children's presenting problems. In contrast, children were evenly distributed in problem attributions. Both parents and children made significantly more internal success attributions. Research with clinical child populations is highlighted as a valuable way to validate, expand, and refine attribution theory while clarifying its practical applications.

The Minnesota Child Development Inventory ad an aid in the assessment of developmental disability.

Parents' reports on their children's functioning were obtained from the Minnesota Child Development Inventory (MCDI) during a review of 132 cases. These data were found to be highly correlated (r = .92) with mental ages obtained during formal psychometric evaluation. The data support the use of the MCDI as an additional tool in the assessment of clinical population of children suspected of having developmental disabilities.

Behavior Disorders of Childhood and Adolescence, by Richard J. Jenkins, M.D. Springfield, Illinois: Charles C Thomas, 1973, 140 pp., $6.95

This monograph is written to describe and classify the disorders of childhood and adolescence that lie between the mild transient situational disturbances and the more severe pychoses, neuroses and personality disorders of this period. After outlining the problem with which the monograph is concerned—behavior inappropriate to the situation—the author devotes a chapter to the statistical approach to child psychiatry, and then describes the types of disordered individuals encountered in a large clinic population of children and adolescents.

Encephalopathy Following CNS Prophylaxis in Childhood Lymphoblastic Leukemia

In our clinic population of children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia an increased frequency of encephalopathy occurred during a 12-month period. During the same period no encephalopathy was observed in 23 leukemic children who had not received prophylactic central nervous system treatment but were receiving systemic chemotherapy. The reason for this high incidence of encephalopathy is far in excess of what has been reported from other centers employing similar CNS prophylaxis. Whether this reflects geographical differences in virus infection or other factors is not clear. Encephalopathy in a leukemic child must be differentiated among infection, meningeal leukemia, toxic effects of intrathecal methotrexate, or unknown causes. Concurrent respiratory or gastrointestinal symptoms, normal intraspinal pressure, pleocytosis with no evidence of "blast" cells on careful examination of the cerebrospinal fluid, and exclusion of bacteria and fungal infection by appropriate stains and culture suggest a viral, protozoan, mycoplasma, or unknown etiology. Erroneous treatment with intrathecal methotrexate or irradiation may inhibit spontaneous recovery. In most cases the meningoencephalopathy is self-limited and requires only supportive care. With the advent of new approaches to the therapy of childhood leukemia which have prolonged survival, complications and toxicities of therapy not previously appreciated will probably become apparent. Observation and reporting of such complications will be of benefit and interest to pediatricians who care for leukemic children and to their patients.