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Background Dental caries and periodontitis are associated with elevated levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines which may trigger muscle fatigue during exercise, a strong risk factor for sports injuries. Fixed orthodontic appliances (FOA) may cause poor oral health and may disturb proprioceptive inputs of the stomatognathic system. This study aims to explore associations of poor oral health and of use of a FOA with injury frequency and postural stability. Methods One hundred eighty seven Belgian elite junior male soccer players, aged 12–17 years, completed a self-report questionnaire asking about injuries in the past year, oral health problems, use of a FOA, demographics and sports data, and stood in unipedal stance with eyes closed on a force plate to assess postural stability. Results Ordinal logistic regression with number of injuries in the past year as ordinal dependent variable and dental caries and/or gum problems, age and player position as covariates, showed that participants who reported dental caries and/or gum problems and never had had a FOA reported significant more injuries in the past year compared to the reference group of participants who reported no oral health problems and never had had a FOA (adjusted OR = 2.45; 95% CI, 1.19–5.05; p = 0.015). A 2 (temporomandibular joint problems) × 2 (FOA) × 2 (age) ANOVA with postural stabilities as dependent variables, showed a significant FOA x age interaction for the non-dominant (standing) leg. Post-hoc t-tests showed a significant better postural stability for the non-dominant leg (and a trend for the dominant leg) for the older compared with the younger participants in the non-FOA group (p = .002, ES = 0.61), while no age differences were found in the FOA-group. Conclusions These results indicate that poor oral health may be an injury risk factor and that a FOA may hinder the development of body postural stability.

Item does not contain fulltext Self-concept and ego development, two intertwined aspects of self-indicating well-being and social-cognitive maturation, respectively, were examined in a representative sample of deaf adolescents of normal intelligence (N = 68), using translated and adapted versions of Harter's (1988, Manual for the self-perception profile for adolescents. Denver, CO: University of Denver) multidimensional measure of self-concept and Loevinger's (1998, Technical foundations for measuring ego development. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum) measure of ego development. Compared to hearing norm groups, deaf adolescents showed lower levels of self-perceived social acceptance, close friendships and ego development and higher physical appearance. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses controlling for sociodemographic variables showed positive associations of global self-worth with support for signing during childhood and quality of parent-child communication and of ego development with attending a regular school. Cluster analysis identified three social competence profiles: uniformly low competence, uniformly high competence, and low social acceptance with high physical appearance. Cluster membership was associated with school type, ego development, and (past) neurological disorder. The results are discussed in reference to interventions aimed at the well-being of deaf youth. 19 p.

Background: High rates of psychopathology were found amongst deaf adolescents, but little is known about the psychosocial risk factors. This study investigated whether (1) less severe deafness and/or acquired or otherwise complicated deafness, and (2) having mainly contacts with hearing people, each represent chronic stressful conditions that moderate the associations between self-esteem and emotional problems. In addition, the moderating effect of observed peer rejection on the association between social acceptance and behavioural problems was explored. Method: Deaf adolescents of normal intelligence (N = 68) completed the Self Perception Profile for Adolescents. Psychopathology was assessed using a semi-structured interview with adolescents and reports by parents, teachers and expert ratings. Data on moderator variables were collected from school records, parental and teachers’ reports. Results: Emotional mental health problems were negatively associated with self-esteem and positively with peer rejection. The association between self-esteem and emotional problems was moderated by the deafness variable less severe deafness or acquired or otherwise complicated deafness. Behavioural mental health problems were positively associated with social acceptance and peer rejection but negatively with the amount of involvement with hearing people. Peer rejection moderated the association between social acceptance and behavioural problems. Conclusions: The findings emphasise the importance of considering self-concept dimensions, peer problems and deafness- and context-related characteristics when assessing and treating deaf adolescents.

Objectives. This study examined the factor structure of the self-report Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire, paying special attention to the number of factors and to negative effects of reverse-worded items and minor factors within the subscales on model fit. Furthermore, factorial invariance across gender, age, level of education, and ethnicity was investigated. Design. Data were obtained from the Youth Health Monitor Rotterdam, a community-based health surveillance system. Methods. The sample consisted of 11,881 pupils of 11–16 years old. Next to the original five-factor model, a factor model with the number of factors based on parallel analysis and scree test was investigated. Confirmatory factor analysis for ordered-categorical measures was applied to examine the goodness-of-fit and factorial invariance of the factor models. Results. After allowing reverse-worded items to cross-load on the prosocial behaviour factor and adding error correlations, a good fit to the data was found for the original five-factor model (emotional symptoms, conduct problems, hyperactivity–inattention, peer problems, prosocial behaviour) and a model with four factors (emotional symptoms and peer problems, conduct problems, hyperactivity–inattention, prosocial behaviour). Factorial invariance across gender, age, level of education, and ethnicity was found for the final five- and four-factor model, except for the prosocial factor of the four-factor model that showed partial invariance across gender. Conclusions. While support was found for both models, the final five-factor model is theoretically more plausible and gained additional support as the original scales emotional problems and peer problems showed different relations with gender, educational level, and ethnicity.

Little is known about the contribution of technical and relational factors to child outcomes in cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for children with anxiety disorders. This study investigated the association between treatment adherence, the child-therapist alliance, and child clinical outcomes in manual-guided individual- and group-based CBT for youths diagnosed with anxiety disorders. Trained observers rated tapes of therapy sessions for treatment adherence and child-therapist alliance in a sample of 52 children (aged 8 to 12) with anxiety disorders. Self-reported child anxiety was assessed at pre-, mid-, and posttreatment; parent-reported child internalizing symptoms was assessed at pre- and posttreatment. The results showed high levels of treatment adherence and child-therapist alliance in both CBT programs. Neither treatment adherence nor child-therapist alliance predicted traditional measurements of child outcomes in the present study, but a relation between alliance and outcome was found using a more precise estimation of the true pre-post differences. Implications of these findings for expanding our understanding of how treatment processes relate to child outcome in CBT for children with anxiety disorders are discussed.

A substantial percentage of children with anxiety disorders do not respond adequately to Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). Examination of parental factors related to treatment outcome could contribute to a further understanding of treatment outcome responses. This study investigated the predictive value of paternal and maternal emotional warmth, rejection, overprotection, anxiety, and depression for CBT outcome in clinic-referred anxious children (ages 8-12). Levels of maternal emotional warmth, paternal rejection and anxiety, and depressive symptoms predicted treatment success and failure. A higher level of maternal emotional warmth was associated with a less favorable treatment outcome. Higher levels of paternal rejection, anxiety, and depressive symptoms were consistently associated with a less favorable treatment outcome.

Aims: To examine prevalence and correlates of psychopathology in deaf adolescents using a multi-method multi-informant approach. Methods: Data for the study came from checklist assessments by parents (Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL)) and teachers (Teacher's Report Form (TRF)) of 70 deaf adolescents aged 13 to 21 years, from semi-structured clinical interviews of the adolescents (Semi-structured Clinical Interview for Children and Adolescents (SCICA)), and from expert ratings of dossier data. Results: The percentages of Total Problems scores in the borderline clinical range in this population as found with the CBCL, TRF and SCICA are 28%, 32% and 49–63% respectively. Expert dossier ratings identified psychiatric caseness in 49% and DSM-classifications in 46% of the adolescents (primary classifications: emotional disorder 27%, behavioral disorder 11%, other disorder 7%). Cross-informant agreement between single ratings and expert dossier ratings was better than agreement between single ratings. Logistic regression analyses revealed that low IQ, a signing mode of communication and a history of three or more physical disorders were associated with psychiatric caseness. Conclusions: Findings suggest a high prevalence of psychopathology in the population studied and argue for a special focus on the early detection of significant emotional and behavioral problems as well as a multi-informant approach to the assessment of disorder in deaf children and adolescents. The correlational findings support the view that it is not deafness per se that contributes to psychiatric problems.

Background: Although it is well known that oral pathogens can enter the systemic circulation and cause disease, it is largely unknown if poor oral health increases the risk of sports injuries. The purpose of this study is to investigate the association between poor oral health and reinjuries in male elite soccer players, adjusted for psychosocial problems and player characteristics. Methods: 184 Players in premier league soccer clubs and 31 elite, junior soccer players in the Netherlands, Belgium and England, were enrolled in a retrospective cross-sectional study. The Sports Injury Risk Indicator, a self assessed questionnaire, was used to obtain information on reinjuries, age and player position, oral health and psychosocial problems. The number of different types of oral health problems was used as an indicator of poor oral health. (SumDental, range 0-2: 0 = no oral health problems, 1 = one type of oral health problem and 2 = two or more types of oral health problems). Multivariable logistic regression was used to investigate whether SumDental was associated with reinjuries, after adjustment for psychosocial problems and player characteristics. Results: 37% of the players reported no oral health problems, 43% reported one type of oral health problem and 20% reported two or more types of oral health problems. After full adjustment for age, player position and psychosocial problems (i.e. injury anxiety, psychophysical stress, unhealthy eating habits and dissatisfaction with trainer/team), poor oral health (SumDental) was positively associated with all kind of reinjuries whether analyzed as a continuous variable or as a categorical variable. The fully adjusted odds ratios for SumDental analyzed as a continuous variable were: in relation to repeated exercise-associated muscle cramps: 1.82(95% confidence interval (CI): 1.07, 3.12), in relation to muscle or tendon reinjury 1.57 (95% CI: 1.01, 2.45) and in relation to multiple types of reinjury 1.88 (95% CI: 1.19, 2.97). Conclusion: The results from this study justify a thorough examination of the effects of oral health problems on the injury risk of playing elite soccer.

A Dutch translation of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) was made. In the first wave of data collection, self-report data of 11- to 16-yearolds (N = 970) were collected on the SDQ and other measures of psychopathology. In the second wave of data collection, extended versions of the SDQ were completed by 11- to 16-year-olds (N = 268), by parents of 8- to 16-year-olds (N = 300) and by teachers of 8- to 12-year-olds (N = 208); in addition, the Child Behaviour Checklist (CBCL) was completed by the parents and the Youth Self Report (YSR) by the 11- to 16-year-olds. The results reveal that the internal consistency of the teacher SDQ is good; and the parent and self-report SDQ are generally acceptable and comparable with the internal consistencies of CBCL/YSR. The mean inter-informant product-moment correlations of the SDQ scales were satisfactory (parent-teacher 0.38; teacher-self-report 0.27; parent-self-report 0.35) and comparable with the mean inter-informant correlations of the CBCL and YSR (0.34). The inter-informant rank correlations of the impact questions were also satisfactory (mean parent-teacher 0.48; mean parent-self-report 0.24). Concurrent validity with the other measures of psychopathology used in the present study was good.

Results of past factor analytic studies of the Childhood Anxiety Sensitivity Index and Anxiety Sensitivity Index were used to formulate hypotheses about factor models of anxiety sensitivity. Using a nonclinical sample of 767 children and adolescents and confirmatory factor analysis, hypothesized models with 2, 3, and 4 lower order factors (facets) were tested. Goodness-of-fit criteria indicated that a model with 4 facets fits these data well. Support was found for factorial invariance of the 4 facets across age and gender, using nonclinical and clinical samples. Results support a hierarchical factor model in that there was a strong general factor, explaining 71% of the variance. Findings are discussed in the context of anxiety sensitivity theory and research with children and adolescents.

Objective To examine different conceptual models of negative symptoms in Alzheimer's disease. Design Confirmatory factor analysis of cross-sectional data. Subjects Alzheimer patients (n=281) admitted to a psychogeriatric observation ward. Materials Nurses' Behavioural observation scale for psychogeriatric inpatients (GIP). Global clinical ratings of severity of dementia and depression based on the Cambridge Examination for Mental Disorders of the Elderly-Dutch version (CAMDEX-N). Results A unidimensional model of dementia fitted the data poorly. Multidimensional models produced better results. In two- and three-factor models negative symptoms were separated from cognitive impairment and mood disturbances. The more severe the memory impairment, the more socially withdrawn patients were. In this sense negative symptoms may have been secondary to cognitive decline. However, no association was found between negative symptoms and mood disturbances. Conclusions Negative symptoms are a prominent clinical feature of Alzheimer's disease and they are related to memory impairment but not to mood disturbances. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The stability of borderline personality disorder in adolescents is quite uncertain. To determine the persistence of the borderline personality disorder (BPD) and of separate borderline symptoms in adolescents, a follow-up study was conducted of hospitalized adolescents with (n = 14) and without (n = 22) BPD, according to the diagnostic interview for borderline patients (DIB). Of the 14 borderline adolescents, only two cases were again classified as BPD after 3 years, but some of the separate borderline symptoms were still present. In the nonborderline group, no new borderline cases were found after 3 years.

In this study socio-demographic, deafness-related and diagnostic characteristics of hearing impaired children and adolescents referred to a national mental health service for deaf and hard of hearing children and adolescents were examined. Socio-demographic and diagnostic characteristics were compared to corresponding characteristics of hearing referred peers with identified mental health problems. The difference in characteristics between them and hearing referred peers with identified mental health problems was analyzed. A total of 389 deaf and hard of hearing and 3361 hearing children and adolescents was extracted from a database, all first referrals of patients of a center for child and adolescent psychiatry over a 15-year period. With deaf and hard of hearing patients we found higher rates of environmental stress, as indicated by conditions such as more one parent families (38.6% versus 25.8%), and more parents with a low educational level (44.2% versus 31.1%). Moreover, deaf and hard of hearing patients were older at their first referral (10.8 versus 9.4 years) and had higher rates of pervasive developmental disorders (23.7% versus 12.3%) and mental retardation (20.3% versus 3.9%). Within the target group of deaf and hard of hearing patients, most patients were deaf (68.9%; 22.3% was severely hard of hearing), relatively few (13.7%) had a non-syndromal hereditary hearing impairment, and more (21.3%) had a disabling physical health condition, especially those with a pervasive developmental disorder (42.6%). These findings illustrate both the complexity of the problems of deaf and hard of hearing children and adolescents referred to specialist mental health services, and the need for preventive interventions aimed at early recognition.

OBJECTIVES. This study examined the factor structure of the self-report Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire, paying special attention to the number of factors and to negative effects of reverse-worded items and minor factors within the subscales on model fit. Furthermore, factorial invariance across gender, age, level of education, and ethnicity was investigated. DESIGN. Data were obtained from the Youth Health Monitor Rotterdam, a community-based health surveillance system. METHODS. The sample consisted of 11,881 pupils of 11-16 years old. Next to the original five-factor model, a factor model with the number of factors based on parallel analysis and scree test was investigated. Confirmatory factor analysis for ordered-categorical measures was applied to examine the goodness-of-fit and factorial invariance of the factor models. RESULTS. After allowing reverse-worded items to cross-load on the prosocial behaviour factor and adding error correlations, a good fit to the data was found for the original five-factor model (emotional symptoms, conduct problems, hyperactivity-inattention, peer problems, prosocial behaviour) and a model with four factors (emotional symptoms and peer problems, conduct problems, hyperactivity-inattention, prosocial behaviour). Factorial invariance across gender, age, level of education, and ethnicity was found for the final five- and four-factor model, except for the prosocial factor of the four-factor model that showed partial invariance across gender. Conclusions. While support was found for both models, the final five-factor model is theoretically more plausible and gained additional support as the original scales emotional problems and peer problems showed different relations with gender, educational level, and ethnicity.

High rates of psychopathology were found amongst deaf adolescents, but little is known about the psychosocial risk factors. This study investigated whether (1) less severe deafness and/or acquired or otherwise complicated deafness, and (2) having mainly contacts with hearing people, each represent chronic stressful conditions that moderate the associations between self-esteem and emotional problems. In addition, the moderating effect of observed peer rejection on the association between social acceptance and behavioural problems was explored.Deaf adolescents of normal intelligence (N = 68) completed the Self Perception Profile for Adolescents. Psychopathology was assessed using a semi-structured interview with adolescents and reports by parents, teachers and expert ratings. Data on moderator variables were collected from school records, parental and teachers' reports.Emotional mental health problems were negatively associated with self-esteem and positively with peer rejection. The association between self-esteem and emotional problems was moderated by the deafness variable less severe deafness or acquired or otherwise complicated deafness. Behavioural mental health problems were positively associated with social acceptance and peer rejection but negatively with the amount of involvement with hearing people. Peer rejection moderated the association between social acceptance and behavioural problems.The findings emphasise the importance of considering self-concept dimensions, peer problems and deafness- and context-related characteristics when assessing and treating deaf adolescents.

The present study investigated the impact of comorbidity over and above the impact of symptom severity on treatment outcome of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for children with anxiety disorders. Children (aged 8–12, n = 124) diagnosed with an anxiety disorder were treated with a short-term CBT protocol. Severity was assessed with a composite measure of parent-reported behavior problems. Two approaches to comorbidity were examined; “total comorbidity” which differentiated anxiety disordered children with (n = 69) or without (n = 55) a co-occurring disorder and “non-anxiety comorbidity’ which differentiated anxious children with (n = 22) or without a non-anxiety comorbid disorder (n = 102). Treatment outcome was assessed in terms of Recovery, represented by post-treatment diagnostic status, and Reliable Change, a score reflecting changes in pre- to post-treatment symptom levels. Severity contributed to the prediction of (no) Recovery and (more) Reliable Change in parent-reported internalizing and externalizing symptoms and self-reported depressive symptoms. Total and non-anxiety comorbidity added to the prediction of diagnostic recovery. Non-anxiety comorbidity added to the prediction of Reliable Change in parent reported measures by acting as a suppressor variable. Non-anxiety comorbidity operated as a strong predictor that explained all of the variance associated with severity for self-reported depressive symptoms. The results support the need for further research on mechanisms by which treatment gains in children with higher symptom severity and non-anxiety comorbidity can be achieved.

Computerisation of case records has been slow to take place in child psychiatry, partly because of the amount of detailed and sometimes complex information required. A program for storing case records has been developed and it has proved of great value in epidemiological work, for example, regarding patient age structures and family compositions.

To examine prevalence and correlates of psychopathology in deaf adolescents using a multi-method multi-informant approach.Data for the study came from checklist assessments by parents (Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL)) and teachers (Teacher's Report Form (TRF)) of 70 deaf adolescents aged 13 to 21 years, from semi-structured clinical interviews of the adolescents (Semi-structured Clinical Interview for Children and Adolescents (SCICA)), and from expert ratings of dossier data.The percentages of Total Problems scores in the borderline clinical range in this population as found with the CBCL, TRF and SCICA are 28%, 32% and 49-63% respectively. Expert dossier ratings identified psychiatric caseness in 49% and DSM-classifications in 46% of the adolescents (primary classifications: emotional disorder 27%, behavioral disorder 11%, other disorder 7%). Cross-informant agreement between single ratings and expert dossier ratings was better than agreement between single ratings. Logistic regression analyses revealed that low IQ, a signing mode of communication and a history of three or more physical disorders were associated with psychiatric caseness.Findings suggest a high prevalence of psychopathology in the population studied and argue for a special focus on the early detection of significant emotional and behavioral problems as well as a multi-informant approach to the assessment of disorder in deaf children and adolescents. The correlational findings support the view that it is not deafness per se that contributes to psychiatric problems.

Background: The frequently reported decline in the overall frequency and intensity of fears during late childhood and adolescence may mask different developmental patterns for two broad subclasses of fears: fears concerning physical danger and fears concerning social evaluation. It was investigated if physical fears decrease between late childhood and mid-adolescence, while social-evaluative fears increase during this period. It was also studied if changes in both sets of fears are more strongly related to socio-cognitive maturity than to age, which itself is only a proxy measure of maturity. Methods: A non-clinical sample of 882 children and adolescents (ages 8–18) was recruited for study. Fears were assessed using the Ollendick Fear Survey Schedule for Children – Revised (FSSC-R). A Principal Components Analysis (PCA) was conducted to study the factor structure of the Failure and Criticism subscale of the FSSC-R. Level of development was assessed using the Sentence Completion Test for Youth (SCT-Y), a measure of socio-cognitive maturity that is based on Loevinger's model, and measure, of ego development. Results: The PCA of the Failure and Criticism subscale revealed three factors: Social Evaluation, Achievement Evaluation, and Punishment. As predicted, the significant decrease of overall fearfulness obscured two contradictory developmental patterns: (a) fears of physical danger and punishment decreased with age, whereas (b) fears of social and achievement evaluation increased with age. Hierarchical regression analyses showed that the age effect for social-evaluative fears was explained entirely on the basis of developmental differences in socio-cognitive maturity (controlling for verbal ability). In contrast, age was a better predictor of the decrease of physical and punishment fears (although socio-cognitive maturity still added to the predictive value of age). Conclusion: The expression of social evaluation fears during adolescence appears not atypical and might be a corollary of socio-cognitive maturation. At the same time, the natural presence of those fears during adolescence appears to constitute a vulnerability for developing a social anxiety disorder.

Examined the reliability, validity, and factor structure of the Childhood Anxiety Sensitivity Index (CASI; Silverman, Fleisig, Rabian, & Peterson, 1991) in a Dutch sample. Five hundred forty-four Dutch schoolchildren between 8 and 16 years of age completed Dutch translations of the CASI; the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory for Children (Spielberger, Edwards, Lushene, Montuori, & Platzek, 1973); and the Fear Survey Schedule for Children-Revised (Ollendick, 1983). The Dutch CASI was found to have adequate internal consistency for use with children as well as adolescents. Results reveal that the CASI predicted fear beyond a measure of trait anxiety in this Dutch sample. Both exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses comparing different models were undertaken. The model with 3 first-order factors found in previous studies showed an acceptable fit in this cross-validation sample. Loadings on the 3 factors (Physical Concerns, Mental Concerns, and Publicly Observable Concerns) did not differ between children and adolescents. Results are compared with previous research on the CASI. Directions for future research are discussed.

We developed various factor models of the Childhood Anxiety Sensitivity Index [Silverman, W. K., Fleisig, W., Rabian, B. & Peterson, R. A. (1991). Childhood anxiety sensitivity index. Journal of Clinical Child Psychology, 20, 162-168] and tested the goodness of fit of the models in an independent sample. Of primary interest was to examine the question that characterized the factor analytic studies conducted on the adult version of the anxiety sensitivity index, i.e. the ASI [Reiss, S., Peterson, R. A., Gursky, D. M. & McNally, R. J. (1986). Anxiety sensitivity, anxiety frequency and the prediction of fearfulness. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 24, 1-8]: is anxiety sensitivity in children a unidimensional construct, an orthogonal multidimensional construct, or a hierarchical construct? Two independent samples (a clinic sample and a nonclinical sample) were used for development and replication of the factor models. The clinic sample consisted of 258 children (105 girls and 153 boys) who presented to a child anxiety disorders specialty clinic. The unselected, nonclinic sample consisted of 249 children (122 girls and 127 boys) enrolled in an elementary school. The results provided strong empirical support for a hierarchical multidimensional model with either three or four first-order factors. The two factors that emerged that appeared to be robust were Physical Concerns and Mental Incapacitation Concerns. What remains unresolved is whether Control of anxiety symptoms and Social Concerns are to be differentiated (as in the hierarchical model with four first-order factors) or not (as in the hierarchical model with three first-order factors). In addition to discussing this issue, the convergence of the present study's findings with past findings obtained with the ASI is discussed.

Three experiments were conducted aimed at increasing independence via use of modeling procedures in, respectively, two samples of neurotic outpatients and a sample of psychiatric inpatients. Significant gains in independence emerged in all three investigations. Subsidiary findings are reported regarding the operation in clinical contexts of ‘modeling-enhancers’ of demonstrated effectiveness in laboratory settings.