Search

The characteristics of suicide attempters were ascertained in a sample of 9393 Dutch students aged 14-20. Broken homes and use of drugs and alcohol were found more often among attempters. Attempters more frequently lived with a single parent, in children's homes or foster homes, were disproportionately of female sex, reported more deaths of friends or relatives, and more often had an unemployed father. Thoughts of suicide and of death were reported more frequently, they were more depressed and hopeless, and had less self-esteem. They were less rational and perceived relationships with parents as poor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

433 medical and menial health institutions in the Netherlands took part in an investigation into the incidence of suicide and suicide attempts in children. The investigation is also concerned with the form that suicidal behaviour takes and an attempt is made to identify demographic and social characteristics of the children involved. The results show that suicide attempts do nut constitute a very large problem in children aged 5-14; attempts hardly occur at all in children under the age of 11, but the incidence increases with age. It is also clear that children who make suicide attempts live in a problematic background situation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT: From nearly 10,000 secondary education students in The Netherlands, aged 14-20, data were collected on the prevalence of suicide attempts and recent thoughts about suicide and death. In this sample, 3.3% of the girls and 1.3% of the boys indicated that they had attempted suicide. The youngest students already reported as many attempts as the eldest, which is remarkable. Differences between boys and girls and between various types of schools were not substantial. We also found that 5.2% of the girls and 2.2% of the boys currently had thoughts of suicide. Again, there was no substantial difference as regards sex, type of school, and age. There was, however, a (small) difference between boys and girls concerning thoughts of death-namely, 9.3% of the girls versus 4.8% of the boys. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: This study examined (1) the effects of type of malformation, sex of ratee, and sex of rater on facial attractiveness and facial impairment ratings, and (2) the reliability of judgments on facial attractiveness and facial impairment and the association between these two constructs., Setting: A university hospital for children., Participants: Raters were eight volunteers from the student population in a university, four men and four women., Main Outcome Measures: Raters judged frontal and lateral view slides of children with various types of craniofacial malformations both on a 5-point facial attractiveness scale and on a 5-point facial impairment scale., Results: Main effects were found for type of malformation, sex of ratee, and sex of rater. No interaction effects were found among type of malformation, sex of ratee, and sex of rater. Interrater reliability was moderate to high, both for attractiveness ratings and for impairment ratings. The correlation between facial attractiveness and facial impairment was also moderate to high. CONCLUSIONS; Both condition parameters (type of malformation) as well as social parameters (sex of rater and sex of ratee) seem to influence judgments on attractiveness and impairment. Facial attractiveness and facial impairment can be rated reliably in children with (cerebro)craniofacial dysplasias. Raters consider these concepts to be very similar but not identical.

Behavioural, cognitive, and affective aspects of social functioning of 107 children with a chronic illness were studied. The aim of the study was twofold: (1) to describe peer interaction of children with a chronic illness in comparison with normative data of healthy children; (2) to examine whether peer interaction was related to the illness characteristics physical restrictions and pain. Peer interaction was assessed with measures of social activities (CBCL), parent-reported social skills (CABS), child-reported social skills (MESSY), social self-esteem (SPPC), and social anxiety (SASK). Results showed no differences between diagnosis groups, suggesting that the social consequences of chronic illness are not diagnosis specific. Compared with healthy norms, chronically ill children reported less aggressive behaviour. The parent-report measures suggested a similar trend. Children with chronic illness also tended to display more submissive behaviour than healthy norms, as perceived by their parents. With regard to illness characteristics, both physical restrictions and pain were associated with restricted social activities, but not with other measures of social peer interaction. Children who display submissive behaviour and children who are restricted in their social activities should receive extra attention because they are especially vulnerable for problems in their social development.

Objective: To inventory the reasons adolescents give for their perceptions of events, thoughts, and feelings in the last days and hours before and during the attempt., Method: A semistructured interview also included the administration of an instrument that contained the formulation of reasons., Results: The most frequently mentioned reasons for attempting suicide concerned the cessation of (an unbearable) consciousness. The motivation most frequently named for "crossing the bridge" between thinking about and attempting suicide involved an escalation of frustration and tension., Conclusions: Special emphasis should be given to family relationships, relationships with peers and friends, frustration tolerance, and the way in which adolescents handle their problems.

Differences in social support, behavioral characteristics and life events between four groups of adolescents were investigated, one group consisting of suicide attempters and depressed adolescents showing problematic psychological scores and high risk for attempting suicide, and three other groups with lower risk and other (combinations of) psychological characteristics. The high-risk group distinguished itself from the psychologically most "normal" group by reporting less support and understanding from siblings and relations outside the family, more changes in living situation (life-time), more changes in caretaker and physical abuse during childhood, more changes in living situation and sexual abuse during adolescence, and more siblings leaving home during the preceding year. On a behavioral level, they reported consuming more alcohol and running away more often. The only exception to this was support and understanding from other relations: high-risk adolescents experienced more, especially in the last year. A possible explanation is that these subjects, due to the turmoil in their families, relied more on persons outside their families. Differences between the high-risk group and the other two groups are described in terms of the relation between the dependent variables and the psychological characteristics. Implications for assessments in emergency rooms is discussed.

Using a semistructured interview, psychological characteristics were gathered from three groups of adolescents: 48 suicide attempters, 66 depressed, and 43 nondepressed adolescents who never attempted suicide. Various characteristics reported in literature discriminated the attempters from the normal group but not from the depressed group. These characteristics probably are not specific for adolescent suicide attempters. Even when a discriminant analysis was applied, the suicide attempters showed many similarities with the depressed adolescents, although both these groups could be separated from the normal group. Using follow-up data, the quadrants created by the axes appeared to have more implications for prevention than for the a priori group membership.

A pilot-study was carried out on support measures chosen by 40 families having a subsequent child after their experience with a cot-death infant. Cardio-respiratory monitors were used in one group and weighing scales in the other. General support measures given to both groups included the keeping of symptom charts and weekly visits by health-nurses. Parents who used a home-monitor relied upon the medical-technical approach of the problem, while parents using scales were mainly given confidence by the personal attention of the health-nurse. Monitor-parents more often called the paediatrician for advice than parents using weighing-scales. Especially parents who used weighing-scales commented on the great value of the symptom diary and the weekly home-visit of the health-nurse.

Objective: Although the relationship between experience of problematic life events and adolescent suicidal behavior has frequently been recognized during the past decade, few studies of life events have been initiated that discriminated between adolescent suicide attempters and depressed adolescents. Therefore, the authors compared adolescent suicide attempters with both depressed and nondepressed adolescents who never attempted suicide with respect to life events that happened in two periods: childhood (defined as the period up to age 12 years) and adolescence (age 12 and older)., Method: Using a semistructured interview, the authors gathered life event data about childhood and adolescence from three groups of adolescents: 48 suicide attempters, 66 depressed adolescents who had never made a suicide attempt, and 43 nondepressed adolescents who had never made a suicide attempt., Results: The group of adolescents who attempted suicide differed from both of the other groups in that they had experienced more turmoil in their families, starting in childhood and not stabilizing during adolescence. During adolescence, they were more often sexually abused. During the last year before the attempt, further social instability, such as changes in residence and having to repeat a class, occurred., Conclusions: For suicidal adolescents, the suicide attempt seems embedded not just in the problems every adolescent has to deal with but in greater turmoil in their families, rooted in childhood and not stabilizing during adolescence, in combination with traumatic events during adolescence and social instability in the year preceding the attempt.

The subject of this study is the effects of transcultural sojourn and culture shock on the psycho-social development and school achievement of Dutch children. One hundred and three Dutch children in the age range 6-17 years who stayed abroad with their parents for at least two years and returned to Holland were compared with 81 Dutch classmates of the same age and sex. The class teacher and parent(s) were the informants. The transcultural group showed more behavioural problems on the Dutch version of the Child Behavior Checklist developed by Achenbach. Parents of the transcultural group regarded their children on a modified Graham & Rutter questionnaire as less happy than the control parents. However, no differences were found for academic achievement or problem behaviour at school as assessed by the teacher version of the CBCL, the 'Teacher's Report Form' (TRF). Organizations which send their employees abroad should direct more attention to employees' children. Attention given by parents and teachers to language problems and school performance should not pre-empt close attention to the psycho-social development of children.

This article deals with the care and treatment of the adolescent in hospital. As a result of changes in society and alterations in the biological and psychological patterns of growth adolescents are being increasingly regarded as a distinct and separate group. In the authors' opinion medical care in the Netherlands is still not sufficiently adapted or geared to the needs of the adolescent. The authors propose that special facilities be created for adolescents in hospitals and out-patient departments, along the lines of those currently available in the U.S.A. The establishment of special adolescent units in children's hospitals and general hospitals requires considerable organisation and the recruitment of suitably qualified staff; in addition, medical students and nurses must be given factual and scientifically accurate information about adolescence during their training courses.

In the Netherlands home-monitoring of infants has been used since 1978, although not as widely as in other countries. For years it has been discussed whether a cardio-respiratory monitor can prevent SIDS. Controversies still exist about the criteria for home-monitoring and the reliability of the device. In this article, the history of debates on home-monitoring since 1972 is reviewed as well as current opinions and controversies.

With the help of a questionnaire and the study of 25 cases of child abuse from 1973 to 1976, the course of assistance given by various services and social workers involved was followed and the extent of the coordination between them was assessed. The starting point was the fact that when child abuse has reached the crisis stage many different bodies give immediate assistance to both the child and his parents. Later on, however, as help continues, it is not clear which of the persons or bodies concerned is really in charge of the case. The following conclusions were drawn: Abused children came from multiproblem families who often already have had contact with care or welfare services though no steps had been taken to intervene before ill-treatment was verified. Many parents confessed to ill-treatment of their child and desired help. Abused children were subjected to longer than usual hospital stays due to lack of reception facilities outside the hospital. Most ill-treated children abused enough to be hospitalized, were placed away from home although half of the parents did not agree with that decision. Of those later returned to their parents, over half had to be removed later for renewed ill-treatment and neglect. The need for one body to coordinate and be responsible for execution of plans for treatment was stressed.