Suicidal thoughts and behaviors in depressed hospitalized preschoolers

The authors explored the depressive symptomatology in 9 hospitalized preschool children with suicidal thoughts and behaviors and compared them with 16 suicidal and 16 behavior-disordered outpatient preschoolers. Results indicate that suicidal preschool-age inpatients show significantly more morbid ideas, depressed mood, weepiness, and parental psychopathology than the suicidal and behavior-disordered preschool outpatients. Two of the children did not suppress cortisol post-dexamethasone.     

Suicidal behavior in children and adolescents with developmental disorders.

Children and adolescents with developmental disorders exhibit a wide range of self-destructive behaviors. Interestingly, suicidal ideation and gestures have been underreported in this population. This study was designed to examine suicidality in a clinically referred sample. The medical records of all individuals assessed in a specialized program during a 1-year period were reviewed looking at the incidence, the type and the clinical characteristics of any suicidal behavior. Forty-seven patients (20%) experienced either suicidal ideation, threats, or attempts with hanging being the most frequent method considered. Suicidality was more often encountered in individuals diagnosed with oppositional defiant disorder, depressive disorders, and post traumatic stress disorder, and less often in the autistic and the severely/profoundly mentally retarded groups. Suicidal behaviors were frequently encountered in children and adolescents with developmental disabilities. Prospective studies should be conducted to examine rigorously the variables associated with suicidality in this population.     

Psychotic symptoms and suicidal behavior in hospitalized children.

Association of psychotic symptoms with suicidal behavior was studied in 90 hospitalized prepubertal children. Children with psychotic symptoms were more likely to have threatened or attempted suicide. The association of visual hallucinations with suicidal behavior was stronger than that of auditory hallucinations or psychotic ideation. The authors speculate that psychosis in general and visual hallucinations especially may be indicators of suicide risk among children.     

Recurrent abdominal pain in children: psychiatric diagnoses and parental psychopathology

Approximately 12% of children report recurrent episodes of abdominal pain. In only about 10% of these cases, however, can an organic etiology be identified, and therefore it often is assumed that these children have emotional problems. To test this hypothesis, children with recurrent abdominal pain (RAP) with no identifiable organic cause were compared to children with an organic diagnosis for their abdominal pain, children with psychiatric disorders, and healthy controls. Both groups of children with abdominal pain had significantly more psychiatric disorders (predominantly anxiety and depression) than did the healthy group. Both RAP and psychiatric children had significantly higher Child Behavior Checklist internalizing scores; psychiatric children were rated as significantly more maladjusted on the Children's Global Assessment Scale. Mothers of RAP children were significantly more anxious than mothers of organic pain and healthy children. Psychiatric children were significantly more likely than the other three groups to underreport their psychiatric symptoms relative to their mothers.     

Risk factors for parental psychopathology: a study in families with children or adolescents with psychopathology

European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry - The parents of children with psychopathology are at increased risk for psychiatric symptoms. To investigate which parents are mostly at risk, we...     

Bipolar disorder and parental psychopathology

Purpose

Few population-based studies have examined the association between parental psychopathology and bipolar disorder (BPD) in offspring. One limitation is lack of control for potential confounding by indicators of parental socio-economic status or maternal smoking during pregnancy. Furthermore, none of them included analyses restricted to parental diagnoses received prior to the birth of the offspring. Associations could not be affected by child-related factors affecting the parent in such analyses. This study explores associations between those parental psychiatric disorders diagnosed at any point of time as well as those diagnosed before offspring birth, and BPD in offspring.

Methods

In this nested case–control study, we identified 1,861 cases, age up to 25 years, 3,643 matched controls, and their parents from Finnish national registers. The associations were examined using conditional logistic regression, calculating odds ratios (OR) and adjusting for region of birth, parental age and education and mother’s smoking during pregnancy.

Results

Anytime diagnosed parental disorders associating with BPD in offspring (95 % confidence interval) were BPD [OR (maternal) 5.2 (2.52–10.62); OR (paternal) 8.1 (3.77–17.26)], schizophrenia and related psychoses [OR (maternal) 3.1 (1.69–5.84); OR (paternal) 4.5 (1.97–10.27)], other affective disorders [OR (maternal) 3.0 (2.08–4.21); OR (paternal) 3.0 (1.97–4.47)] and maternal anxiety disorders OR 2.6 (1.08–6.42). Statistically significant associations were also found for parental schizophrenia and related psychoses, and other affective disorders, diagnosed before offspring birth.

Conclusions

BPD is associated with many parental psychiatric disorders, particularly BPD and schizophrenia and related psychoses. The associations must be partially due to child-independent factors. Covariate adjustments had only a minor impact on the associations.     

Suicidal ideation and attempts: a longitudinal investigation of children of depressed and well mothers.

OBJECTIVE: This study uses a prospective longitudinal design to examine suicidality (ideation, plans, attempts, and completions) in children and adolescents, to compare suicidality in the offspring of depressed and well mothers, and to identify correlates and predictors of suicidality. METHOD: Two children (n = 192) from each of the families in an ongoing longitudinal study of the offspring of mothers with major depressive disorder (n = 42), with bipolar disorder (n = 26), or without past or current psychiatric diagnosis (n = 30) were studied. Assessment of suicidality, based on diagnostic interviews, was made when the younger of the sibling pairs were approximately 6, 9, and 14 years of age and older siblings were approximately 6, 9, 13, and 18 years of age. RESULTS: Children of depressed mothers were more likely to report suicidal thoughts or behaviors than were children of well mothers (particularly the older sibling cohort). Developmental trajectories of suicidality differed for offspring of mothers with major depressive disorder and bipolar disorder. Links were found between lifetime reports of suicidality and the adolescent's mood problems (e.g., hypomanic behavior), coping strategies, and parental rejection. Also, child's and mother's suicidality were related. CONCLUSIONS: These findings have implications for planning interventions targeted at preventing suicide in youth.     

Comorbidity of other psychiatric disturbances in depressed, psychiatrically hospitalized children

Twenty-five (16%) of 160 psychiatrically hospitalized children were given diagnoses of depressive disorders. None of 12 diagnostic categories from DSM-III axes I and II occurred significantly more frequently among these depressed children than among the non-depressed children in this sample.     

Childhood parental death and adult psychopathology

Childhood parental death has frequently been linked with adult mental disorders--mostly depression. The authors found no association with psychiatric diagnosis among 72 inpatients who had experienced the death of a parent when they were children, compared with 460 other patients in the Chestnut Lodge Follow-Up Study. The patients with a childhood parental death did, however, have significantly greater family pathology and impaired social and heterosexual functioning. These results refute the view that childhood parental death is singularly casual of adult psychopathology but support its role in a multidetermining matrix of contributing factors.     

Targeting parental psychopathology in child anxiety

The increased risk of anxiety in children of parents with psychopathology is a significant public health problem, as early-onset is associated with a variety of difficulties later in life. The aim of this article is to determine if treating parents is associated with improvements in child anxiety through the review of both top-down (parent identified for treatment) and family-focused child anxiety treatment studies. The authors present conclusions based on the state of the current literature, discuss implications for research and clinical practice, and propose utilizing a family-based model for treating parental psychopathology, parental behavior, and child anxiety.     

Serum cholesterol and aggressive behavior in psychiatrically hospitalized children

The relationship between serum cholesterol and a number of measures of impulsiveness and aggression was examined in 38 prepubertal, psychiatrically hospitalized children. Although care was taken to use reports and direct observations of both variables within 2 weeks of admission and 8 weeks later, no consistent relationship was found. The reasons for these findings are discussed.     

Father's and mother's perceptions of parenting styles as mediators of the effects of parental psychopathology on antisocial behavior in outpatient children and adolescents

The aim was to examine the potential mediating role of father’s and mother’s parenting styles in the association between parental psychopathology and antisocial behavior in children, and whether this pathway was moderated by child’s sex. Participants included both parents and 338 Spanish outpatient children between 8 and 17 years (56.5% boys). Parenting style had a mediating effect on the studied relationships. Maternal psychopathology was positively associated with antisocial behavior in children, either directly or partially by parenting style, while paternal psychopathology was positively associated with offspring antisocial behavior only through the mediator role of parenting style. Child’s sex did not moderate these relationships. Parenting style could be a target for prevention and intervention of antisocial behavior in the offspring of parents with mental health problems.     

Impact of severity and chronicity of parental affective illness on adaptive functioning and psychopathology in children

We report on the impact of specific indexes of the severity and chronicity of parental depression, measures of familial discord, and demographic variables as predictors of impaired adaptive functioning and psychopathology in children. Seventy-two children and their mothers from 37 families were interviewed in person. At least one biological parent in each family had a depressive disorder but neither parent had a history of mania, schizophrenia, or schizoaffective disorder. Almost every measure of severity and chronicity of depression in the biological parents has a statistically significant association with currently impaired adaptation and the presence of a DSM-III-diagnosed disorder in the children, as do the measures of increased discord among married or separated parents. Depression in the mother is more strongly associated with increased psychopathology in the children than is depression in the father.