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The article presents a study which investigates whether data assessing attention problems were able to provide distinct subtypes of attention problems (AP). The study gathered data containing attention problems from the maternal ratings on the Child Behavior Check List (CBCL). It suggests that the CBCL AP syndrome demonstrates that children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are at the extreme of continuum.

Objective: Studies on 3-, 7-, and 10-year-old twins' internalizing and externalizing problems have emphasized the importance of understanding sources of agreement and disagreement between maternal and paternal ratings. A psychometric model that assumes that each parent assesses rater-specific aspects of the child's behavior provided the best explanation for parental disagreement. This study investigates two models that have been used to explain the agreement and disagreement between mothers and fathers in the ratings of their children. Method: Child Behavior Checklists filled in by mothers and fathers were collected for a sample of 1,481 twelve-year-old twin pairs. Genetic and environmental influences on Internalizing and externalizing problems were estimated using models that corrected for rater bias, rater-specific effects, and unreliability. Results: The psychometric model fitted the data significantly better than a rater bias model. Significant influences of genetic, shared, and nonshared environmental factors were found for internalizing and externalizing behavior. Parent-specific views, rater bias, and unreliability were significant. Conclusions: The best-fitting model implies that disagreement between parents is due to the fact that mothers and fathers provide information from their own perspective. This information should be seen as important and adding to the diagnostic formulation rather than as a point of disagreement. The finding that internalizing and externalizing problems are influenced by genetic and environmental factors fosters the understanding that it is the interaction of nature and nurture that puts children at risk for common behavioral disorders. Key Words: parental rating; rater bias; problem behavior; twins. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Previous studies have demonstrated substantial genetic influences on many child psychiatric disorders, including autism. In this study the authors attempted to quantify the degree to which genetic influences on deficits in reciprocal social behavior (a defining feature of pervasive developmental disorders) are shared with genetic influences on other domains of behavior in children. Method: Child Behavior Checklists (CBCL) and Social Responsiveness Scales (SRS) were completed for an epidemiological sample of 219 pairs of male twins. The SRS (formerly known as the Social Reciprocity Scale) is a measure of social impairment that distinguishes children with autism spectrum disorders from those with other child psychiatric disorders. Results: Regression analysis indicated that CBCL syndromes account for 43% of the variance in SRS scores. Bivariate analyses revealed that SRS scores are affected, in part, by phenotypic influences from the CBCL Social Problem syndrome. Forty-four percent of the causal influences on SRS scores, however, are independent from those on CBCL syndromes and are genetic in nature (90% confidence interval: 0.38-0.49). Conclusion: These results support the existence of a continuous distribution of deficits in reciprocal social behavior in the population, which are substantially genetically independent from other domains of child psychopathology. J. Am. Acad. Child Adolesc. Psychiatry, 2003, 42(4):458-467. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: To compare the prevalence and agreement of DSM-IV diagnoses based on Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children Version IV (DISC-IV) and clinician assignment for youths receiving public mental health services between 1996 and 1997 and to examine potential predictors of diagnostic agreement. Method: Participants included 240 youths aged 6-18 years. Past-year prevalence rates and κ statistics were calculated for four diagnostic categories: anxiety, mood, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and disruptive behavior disorders (DBD). Potential predictors of diagnostic agreement were examined with logistic regression analysis. Results: The prevalence of ADHD, DBD, and anxiety disorders was significantly higher based on the DISC-IV, while the prevalence of mood disorders was significantly higher based on clinician assignment. Diagnostic agreement was poor overall. The κ values ranged from -0.04 for anxiety disorders to 0.22 for ADHD. Significant predictors of agreement varied by diagnosis and included symptom severity, comorbidity, youth age and gender, and school-based problem identification. Conclusions: Consistent with previous findings of poor diagnostic agreement between structured interviews and clinicians, these results call for a better understanding of factors affecting diagnostic assignment across different methods. This is especially important if researchers continue to use structured interviews to determine prevalence, establish diagnosis-based treatment guidelines, and disseminate evidence-based treatments to community mental health settings. J. Am. Acad. Child Adolesc. Psychiatry, 2003, 42(3):349-356. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Provides information on a study which examined the ways diagnostic techniques may bias the results of a twin behaviors study. Estimation of genetic, environmental, and rater contrast which may have influenced parental report on behavioral problems in twin pairs; Analysis of the parental report on the Child Behavior Checklist.

Performs latent class analyses (LCA) of items from the Attention Problems scale of the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) to test whether problems in children are continiously distributed or categorically discrete. Merits of categorical versus continous approaches in psychiatric diagnosis; Factor analysis as one advantage of LCA to other approaches; Description of LCA as a statistical technique.

An abstract of the article "Early Environmental Exposures as Shared and Unique Risk Factors in Childhood Mental Illness: Results From Large-Scale Epidemiological Studies" by Dorothy E. Grice and colleagues is presented.

Objective: Clinically, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is characterized by hyperactivity, impulsivity, and inattention and is among the most common childhood disorders. These same traits that define ADHD are variable in the general population, and the clinical diagnosis may represent the extreme end of a continuous distribution of inattentive and hyperactive behaviors. This hypothesis can be tested by assessing the predictive value of polygenic risk scores derived from a discovery sample of ADHD patients in a target sample from the general population with continuous scores of inattention and hyperactivity. In addition, the genetic overlap between ADHD and continuous ADHD scores can be tested across rater and age. Method: The Psychiatric Genomics Consortium has performed the largest genome-wide analysis (GWA) study of ADHD so far, including 5,621 clinical patients and 13,589 controls. The effects sizes of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) estimated in this meta-analysis were used to obtain individual polygenic risk scores in an independent population-based cohort of 2,437 children from the Netherlands Twin Register. The variance explained in Attention Problems (AP) scale scores by the polygenic risk scores was estimated by linear mixed modeling. Results: The ADHD polygenic risk scores significantly predicted both parent and teacher ratings of AP in preschool- and school-aged children. Conclusion: These results indicate genetic overlap between a diagnosis of ADHD and AP scale scores across raters and age groups and provides evidence for a dimensional model of ADHD. Future GWA studies on ADHD can likely benefit from the inclusion of population-based cohorts and the analysis of continuous scores. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a review of a longitudinal, population-based cohort that studied children from fetal life onward known as the Generation R (Rotterdam) Study. Special attention is paid to the role of the functional polymorphism (5-HTTLPR) in the promoter of the serotonin transporter gene in interacting with prenatal and postnatal maternal anxiety to influence children's emotional development.

The article presents a 14-year follow up study which investigates the adult outcomes of children with severe self-regulation problems in Dutch population. The study conducted Child Behavior Checklist-Dysregulation Profile (CBCL-DP) among 2,076 from 13 birth cohorts 4 to 6 years of age. Results reveal the link between anxiety and disruptive behavior disorders with the CBCL-DP remains after controlling co-occurring disorders in adulthood.

The article reports on the result of the study conducted, which investigates the relation of empirically defined temperament phenotypes with psychopathology and wellness in children. The inquiry was done through Juvenile Temperament and Character Inventory Assessment, as well as an evaluation of wellness and psychopathology using the Child Behavior Checklist, among a number of juveniles from the northeastern area of the U.S. A latent profile analysis in the study revealed that there was a strong link between the steady class, higher functioning and lower levels of psychopathology, whereas the disengaged class showed the opposite associations. The study concluded that temperament may be illuminative in identifying children with the same traits.

An abstract of the article "Predictive Utility of Child Adversity Ratings: Differences Across Informants" by Hannah Holbrook is presented.

An abstract of the article "Relationship Between Adverse Childhood Experiences and Metabolic and Psychiatric Outcomes Using the Yale-Vermont Adversity in Childhood Scale" by Bailey Holt-Gosselin and colleagues is presented.

The article focuses on the impact of conflict of interest on the content and quality of medical research. Although a conflict of interest is not itself an ethical violation, ethical violations involving conflict of interest occur when the conflicted individual/s bias the scientific process by distorting research methods, presentation of data, and/or the interpretation of results. Such violations can have a significant negative impact on the assessment and treatment of children with psychiatric disorders. It is noted that biased publications undermine clinical judgment, mislead physicians about treatment options, negatively affect public opinion about science and medicine, and cause distrust in physician-patient relationships.

The article discusses the mission statement and advocacy of the "Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry." Accordingly, the periodical's mission statement, which will be incorporated in every issue, is focused on the advancement of research on pediatric mental health and the promotion of mental care among youth and their families. The periodical aims to promote awareness on the mental health needs of children, adolescents and its families in handling human advancement mysteries. The author stresses that the new mission statement will serve as a reminder and inspiration for people to persist and strive hard in achieving knowledge on how to provide proper care to mentally ill people.