Faculty Bibliography

AIMS AND METHODS: Using a birth cohort, these secondary analyses document the prevalence and correlates of depressive symptoms in mothers of young children, as well as the rates and predictors of persistent and incident elevated depressive symptoms at a 1-year follow-up. RESULTS: At the initial survey, approximately 17% of women with young children had elevated depressive symptoms. Forty-six percent of women with initial elevated depressive symptoms continued to have elevated depressive symptoms at the 1-year follow-up. Results of adjusted regression models indicated that elevated initial symptoms were associated with such factors as comorbid anxiety symptoms, parenting distress, poor physical health, financial strain, stressful life events, low social support, low family expressiveness, and younger child age. For the subset of women with partners (n = 860), quality of the relationship with the partner and partner involvement were significant correlates of initial elevated depressive symptoms. Persistent elevated depressive symptoms were significantly associated with high anxiety symptoms, high family conflict, and low maternal education. Predictors of incident cases of elevated depressive symptoms indicated that in addition to sociodemographic correlates, education and maternal race/ethnicity, physical health, parenting distress, and parent and child life events are related to the development of elevated symptoms. CONCLUSIONS: Elevated depressive symptoms are common, and almost one half of the women in our sample with elevated depressive symptoms at the initial assessment also had elevated symptoms at the 1-year follow-up. Persistent and incident elevated depressive symptoms had different predictors, suggesting that identification and treatment of maternal depression must continue beyond the immediate postpartum period to prevent negative consequences of depression for mothers and their young children.

This study explored the factor structure and developmental trajectory of effortful control (EC), its relations with child adjustment, and the moderating role of age and gender in 75 4- to 6-year-old children at risk for psychopathology. Confirmatory factor analyses revealed two subcomponents of effortful control: Suppress/Initiate (the ability to inhibit a dominant response while initiating a new response) and Motor Control (inhibiting fine and gross motor activity). EC performance improved with age, and both subcomponents were associated with greater social competence at all ages. Associations with internalizing problems were moderated by child age such that greater EC was linked to fewer problems at age 4 but did not relate to problems at ages 5 or 6

PURPOSE: Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are characterized by early impairments in language and related social communication skills. This investigation explored whether scores on the MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventory (CDI) at ages 2 and 3 years predict outcome at age 9 years in children with ASD and developmental delay (DD). METHOD: Sixty-two children referred for possible autism at age 2 years, and 19 children with DD, were followed to age 9 years. Vocabulary, prespeech, and gestures scores on CDIs administered at ages 2 and 3 years were used to predict follow-up IQ, language, adaptive skills, and scores on diagnostic measures. RESULTS: CDI scores at ages 2 and 3 did not predict outcome for the DD group. For the ASD sample, CDI receptive and expressive language and late gestures at ages 2 and 3 years predicted a number of follow-up variables, although scores at age 3 years were generally more predictive than scores at age 2 years. CONCLUSIONS: The CDI yielded scores that were predictive of outcome, suggesting that this parent report measure may be a quick and informative assessment of early verbal and nonverbal skills in children with ASD

In the first examination in a juvenile justice setting, associations between the DISC Predictive Scales (DPS) and the Voice Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children in identifying mental health concerns were investigated. Assessment center youth (N = 195) completed computerized versions of both instruments. Psychometric properties and logistic regression estimates for diagnostic clusters were examined, and DPS summary subscales to derive cut points for incarcerated youths were created. DPS consistently identified higher percentages of youths. At the cluster level, there was considerable concordance, with agreement higher for the same diagnostic constructs, even after statistical adjustment. Summary subscale cut points identified >=82% of disordered youths. Given recommendations for universal screening in corrections, the DPS offers advantages over existing screens as a component of mental health assessment. (journal abstract)

Gaze direction signals another's focus of social attention. Here, we recorded event-related potentials to a multiface display where a gaze aversion created three different social scenarios involving social attention, mutual gaze exchange, and gaze avoidance. N170 was unaffected by social scenario. P350 latency was the shortest in social attention and mutual gaze exchange, whereas P500 was thelargest for gaze avoidance. Our data suggest that neural activity after 300 ms poststimulus may index processes associated with extracting social meaning, whereas that earlier than 300 ms may index processing of gaze change independent of social context.

From early embryonic life to death, estrogen is a primary regulator of brain neurogenesis and cell number, synaptogenesis and synaptolysis, multiple cognitive and autonomic functions, vascular function, immune responses and defense measures against brain lesions and dystrophy. Although recent attention has focused on the roles of estrogen during the climacteric, knowing estrogen's role in brain development and reproductive function is necessary to understand what happens when this powerful influence is removed during the climacteric. This review will therefore address the full picture, with stress on the later-life role of estrogen in the brain

Early disruption of steroids affects the development of mammalian neural circuits underlying affective processes. In humans, patients with classic congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) can serve as a natural model to study early hormonal alterations on functional brain development. CAH is characterized by congenital glucocorticoid insufficiency, leading to altered hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) function, and hyperandrogenism. Using fMRI, we compared fourteen adolescents with CAH to 14 healthy controls on amygdala response to a face viewing task. In response to negative facial emotions, CAH females activated the amygdala significantly more than healthy females, whereas CAH males did not differ from control males. Furthermore, females with CAH showed a similar pattern of amygdala activation to control males, suggesting virilized amygdala function in females with CAH. These findings suggest a prominent effect of early hyperandrogenism on the development and function of the amygdala in females with CAH, whereas no effects were detected in males with CAH. This study provides data that can be further tested in a model of the neurobiological mechanisms underlying early androgen organizational effects on amygdala function.