Search

This paper examines the psychometric properties of the Children's Somatization Inventory (CSI) in 600 10-12-year old children in Kyiv, Ukraine, replicating and extending the original findings from a sample in Nashville, Tennessee (J. Garber et al. 1991). The Kyiv children had significantly lower CSI total scores and reported significantly fewer symptoms than the American children. The Kyiv mothers, however, reported significantly more somatization symptoms in their children than did the American mothers. A factor analysis of the children's data yielded four similar factors encompassing pseudoneurologic, cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, and pain/weakness symptoms. Consistent with the findings from the Nashville study, the CSI was significantly related to the children's self-reports of health and depressive and anxiety symptoms and to maternal reports of child depression and anxiety symptoms. In addition, although more children with the highest CSI scores (25+) reported various illness experiences than those with 0-1 symptoms, no differences were found in the school absentee records. Thus, the results were congruent with the findings of the Nashville study, indicating that the CSI reliably measured somatization in this Ukrainian sample. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Relaxation techniques can lead to symptom reduction and improved pulmonary functioning in asthmatics, although the mechanism is not clear. One possibility is by influencing cortisol secretion, as cortisol is implicated in inflammatory processes and relaxation has been shown to alter cortisol secretion in healthy individuals. This study explored the effect of relaxation training on cortisol levels and cortisol reactivity to stress in asthmatics. Twenty adult asthmatics participated for 21 days in their natural environment, and received relaxation training halfway through the study. Cortisol was assessed from saliva five times per day for three weeks. Relaxation training was successful, but did not lead to the hypothesized reduction in overall cortisol levels. Participants using corticosteroid medication showed increases in cortisol after relaxation, whereas those not using corticosteroids showed decreases in cortisol (p< .05). Relaxation altered the cortisol reactivity to stress (p= .007); before relaxation training cortisol levels increased after a stressor, whereas following relaxation training cortisol levels decreased after a stressor. This study suggests that relaxation training can influence cortisol secretion in asthmatics, but that these effects differ from those observed in healthy individuals and may be influenced by corticosteroid medication use.

Objective: This study used a parent-completed, DSM-IV-referenced rating scale to examine prevalence rates of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) behaviors and differences between subtypes in 10- to 12-year-old Ukrainian children., Method: During 1997, a total of 600 parents and children residing in Kyiv, Ukraine, and their teachers participated in extensive clinical assessments using standard Western measures., Results: The screening prevalence rate of ADHD behaviors was 19.8%: 7.2% for inattentive (I), 8.5% for hyperactive-impulsive (HI), and 4.2% for combined (C). Post hoc comparisons indicated a number of significant (p < .05) group differences. Mothers of children with ADHD symptoms reported higher rates of disruptive behavior, negative mother-child interactions, and physical punishment than the non-ADHD group. Teachers rated children with ADHD as more hyperactive and inattentive, but only the HI subtype was rated more oppositional than non-ADHD students. The I subtype was less academically proficient and socially adept (but less likely to have behavior problems). The C subtype was the most behaviorally disruptive (mother ratings), and their fathers were more likely to be aggressive and abuse alcohol. The HI subtype also had problems with disruptive behavior but were less socially impaired., Conclusions: Although symptom prevalence rates are higher in Ukraine than the United States, this study provides additional evidence supporting DSM-IV ADHD subtypes as distinct clinical entities.

This paper examines the cognitive and neuropsychological functioning of children who were in utero to age 15 months at the time of the Chornobyl disaster and were evacuated to Kyiv from the 30-kilometer zone surrounding the plant. Specifically, we compared 300 evacuee children at ages 10-12 with 300 non-evacuee Kyiv classmates on objective and subjective measures of attention, memory, and school performance. The evacuee children were not significantly different from their classmates on the objective measures (grades; Symbolic Relations subtest of the Detroit Test; forms 1 and 2 of the Visual Search and Attention Test; Benton Form A; Trails A; Underline the Words Test) or on most of the subjective measures (the attention subscale of the Child Behavior Checklist completed by mothers; the attention items of the Iowa Conners Teacher's Rating Scale; mother and child perceptions of school performance). The one exception was that 31.3% of evacuee mothers compared to 7.4% of classmate mothers indicated that their child had a memory problem. However, this subjective measure of memory problems was not significantly related to neuropsychological or school performance. No significant differences were found in comparisons of evacuees and classmates who were in utero at the time of the explosion, children from Pripyat vs. other villages in the 30-kilometer zone, and children manifesting greater generalized anxiety. For both groups, children with greater Chornobyl-focused anxiety performed significantly worse than children with less Chornobyl-focused anxiety on measures of attention. The results thus fail to confirm two previous reports that relatively more children from areas contaminated by radiation had cognitive deficits compared to controls. Possible reasons for the differences in findings among the studies are discussed.