| 1. |
- Heiervang, Einar, et al.
(författare)
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Psychiatric disorders in Norwegian 8- to 10-year-olds: an epidemiological survey of prevalence, risk factors, and service use.
- 2007
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Ingår i: Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. - : Elsevier BV. - 0890-8567 .- 1527-5418. ; 46:4, s. 438-447
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- OBJECTIVE: The Bergen Child Study is a longitudinal study of child mental health from the city of Bergen, Norway. We present methods and results from the first wave of the study, focusing on prevalence of disorders, associations with risk factors, and the use of services. METHOD: The target population included all 9,430 children attending grades 2 to 4 in Bergen schools during the academic year 2002/2003. The main screening instrument was the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire, whereas diagnoses were based on the Development and Well-Being Assessment. Information about child and family risk factors and service use was also obtained in this second stage. RESULTS: In the first phase, the teacher Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire was obtained for 9,155 (97%) of the target children and the matching parent Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire for 6,297 (67%); 1,011 children (11%) were assessed with the Development and Well-Being Assessment in the second phase. The weighted prevalence for any DSM-IV psychiatric disorder was 7.0% (95% confidence interval 5.6%-8.5%). Disorders were associated with age, gender, learning difficulties, family type, and poverty. Although 75% of children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder had been in contact with specialist mental health services, this was true for only 13% of those with pure emotional disorders. CONCLUSIONS: The overall prevalence of psychiatric disorders in children is relatively low in this Norwegian sample, when assessed with the Development and Well-Being Assessment. Children with emotional disorders have limited access to specialist services.
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| 2. |
- Hysing, Mari, et al.
(författare)
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Chronic physical illness and mental health in children. Results from a large-scale population study.
- 2007
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Ingår i: Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, and Allied Disciplines. - : Wiley. - 0021-9630 .- 1469-7610. ; 48:8, s. 785-792
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- BACKGROUND: The aim of the present study was to evaluate the sensitivity and specificity of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) in detecting emotional and behavioural problems among children with chronic illness (CI). METHODS: Parents and teachers of a population of primary school children in Norway (n = 9430) completed a questionnaire including the SDQ, and a question about chronic illness. A total of 74% (n = 7007) of the parents participated. A sub-sample (n = 1040) was given a psychiatric diagnostic evaluation according to the Development and Well-Being Assessment (DAWBA). RESULTS: According to parent reports, 537 (8%) children had a CI. The SDQ revealed an increased risk of emotional and behavioural problems in children with CI as compared with non-CI peers, both among boys (OR = 2.10 CI 95% 1.56-2.83) and girls (OR = 2.11 CI 95% 1.49-2.99). Children with CI also showed an increased risk of psychiatric disorder as assessed by the DAWBA (OR = 1.70 CI 95% 1.04-2.85). Both the sensitivity and specificity of the SDQ in predicting a psychiatric diagnosis were high, even when only information from parents was included. CONCLUSION: Children with CI in the general population are at increased risk of behavioural and emotional problems and psychiatric disorders. Given its high sensitivity and specificity the SDQ might work well as a screening instrument for behaviour/emotional problems and psychiatric disorder in children with CI.
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| 3. |
- Hysing, Mari, et al.
(författare)
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Emotional and behavioural problems in subgroups of children with chronic illness: results from a large-scale population study.
- 2009
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Ingår i: Child: Care, Health and Development. - : Wiley. - 0305-1862 .- 1365-2214. ; 35:4, s. 527-533
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- BACKGROUND: Children with chronic illness are known to have an increased risk of emotional and behavioural problems. In the present population-based study children with asthma, neurological disorders and other chronic illnesses were compared with children without chronic illnesses to assess differences in psychological presentation across illness groups. METHODS: A total of 537 children with parent-reported chronic illness in the Bergen Child Study were categorized into three groups: asthma, neurological disorders and other chronic illnesses. Emotional and behavioural problems were assessed by the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire. RESULTS: All three illness groups had an increased rate of emotional and behavioural problems, as well as increased probability of a psychiatric disorder compared with children without a chronic illness. Most children with asthma and other chronic illnesses did not have emotional and behavioural problems, and effect sizes were small in both groups. In children with neurological disorders the effect sizes ranged from moderate to large, with emotional problems, inattention hyperactivity and peer problems being the most frequent problems. CONCLUSIONS: The increased rate of emotional and behavioural problems in children with chronic illness, especially neurological disorders, emphasizes the importance of early detection of mental health problems in these children.
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| 4. |
- Lundervold, Astri. J., et al.
(författare)
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Intellectual function in children with teacher reported language problems.
- 2008
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Ingår i: Scandinavian Journal of Psychology. - : Wiley. - 0036-5564 .- 1467-9450. ; 49:2, s. 187-193
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We predicted that teacher reported language problems are associated with low IQ, even when gender and behavior-emotional disorders are controlled for. All subjects were participants in a population based study. In stage 1, teachers completed a questionnaire containing four items pertaining to language function. A case-control sample (n= 294) was assessed using WISC-III and Kiddie-SADS-PL. A child was defined with "language problems" (LP) if s/he obtained a score indicating severe problems on at least one item. Teacher reported LP was found in 9.9% of the population sample and 20.7% of the case-control sample, with a three-fold higher risk for boys than girls. The LP group obtained significantly lower scores on all WISC-III factors compared with the non-LP group. The differences were not accounted for by the presence of behavioral-emotional disorders. When primary school teachers report LP, further assessment of the child's cognitive function is warranted.
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| 5. |
- Posserud, Maj-Britt, et al.
(författare)
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Autistic features in a total population of 7-9-year-old children assessed by the ASSQ (Autism Spectrum Screening Questionnaire).
- 2006
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Ingår i: Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, and allied disciplines. - : Wiley. - 0021-9630 .- 1469-7610. ; 47:2, s. 167-75
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- BACKGROUND: The prevalence of autism is reported to be on the rise worldwide. Change of diagnostic criteria and a broadening of the concept of autism have been mentioned as contributing factors. Further studies of general populations are needed. The present study assessed the distribution of autistic features in a total population of children 7-9 years of age, and explored the impact of age, gender, informant, and participation bias on symptom report. METHODS: Teacher and parent forms of the Autism Spectrum Screening Questionnaire (ASSQ) were used in the "Bergen Child Study", a total population study of 9430 children aged 7-9 years. Completed teacher forms were returned for 97% and parent forms for 71% of the children. High-scorers were defined according to the ASSQ validation study by Ehlers, Gillberg, and Wing (1999). RESULTS: The distribution of ASSQ scores was found to be almost continuous. Of the children with both a teacher and a parent form, 2.1% were defined as high-scorers. Children without parent informed consent (i.e., anonymous children) obtained significantly higher teacher scores than those who had questionnaires completed by both parent and teacher. Adjusting prevalence for the anonymous children, the prevalence of high-scorers was 2.7% of the total population. Age did not affect symptom scores. Boys scored higher and parents reported more symptoms, particularly in girls. Agreement between informants was low to moderate. CONCLUSIONS: Autism symptoms are not uncommon in the general population of children. Our findings are consistent with the concept of autism as a spectrum. Non-responders had a higher load of autism symptoms than identified children, indicating that reports on the prevalence of autism in a responder group underestimate true prevalence. Large differences across informants suggested the need to gather information both from families and from schools when screening for autism spectrum disorders.
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| 6. |
- Posserud, Maj-Britt, et al.
(författare)
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Factor analysis of the Autism Spectrum Screening Questionnaire.
- 2008
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Ingår i: Autism. - : SAGE Publications. - 1362-3613 .- 1461-7005. ; 12:1, s. 99-112
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The present study investigated the factor structure of parent and teacher Autism Spectrum Screening Questionnaire (ASSQ) in a population of 7-9 years old children. For validation purposes, factors derived were correlated with results on the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ). A three-factor solution was identified on both parent and teacher ASSQ. Most of the variance was explained by one factor including measures of social function, validated by a high correlation with the SDQ peer problems scale. The second factor included measures of autism-associated problems. The items allocated to the third factor were more specific for a cognitive style typically found in high-functioning individuals with autism/Asperger syndrome. This factor did not correlate highly with any of the SDQ subscales. The results indicated that the screening efficiency of ASSQ could be increased by closer examination of the individual profile of factor scores.
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| 7. |
- Posserud, Maj-Britt, et al.
(författare)
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Validation of the autism spectrum screening questionnaire in a total population sample.
- 2009
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Ingår i: Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0162-3257 .- 1573-3432. ; 39:1, s. 126-134
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- There is a lack of instruments validated for screening of autism spectrum disorders (ASD) in general populations and primary care settings. The Autism Spectrum Screening Questionnaire (ASSQ) has previously been shown to have good screening properties in clinical settings. We used the ASSQ to screen a total population of 7-9 year-olds (N = 9430) for ASD in the Bergen Child Study. Parents and teachers filled in the ASSQ, and high-scorers were invited for clinical assessment, along with a large group of screen negative children. We found that the ASSQ was well suited as a general population screen. Combining parent and teacher ASSQ and using cut-off score of >/=17 provided the most efficient screen with sensitivity of 0.91 and specificity of 0.86.
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| 8. |
- Stormark, Kjell Morten, et al.
(författare)
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Predicting nonresponse bias from teacher ratings of mental health problems in primary school children.
- 2008
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Ingår i: Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0091-0627 .- 1573-2835. ; 36:3, s. 411-419
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The impact of nonresponse on estimates of mental health problems was examined in a prospective teacher screen in a community survey of 9,155 7-9 year olds. For 6,611 of the children, parents consented to participation in the actual study (Responders), while for 2,544 children parental consent was not obtained (Nonresponders). The teacher screen involved assessment of a broad set of symptoms of mental health problems and functional impairment. Calculations of non-response coefficients, a function of effect sizes and non-response proportion, revealed only ignorable nonresponse bias for both mean scores and correlations. However, the results from binary logistic regressions revealed that children ascribed signs of mental health problems by their teachers were less likely to participate. This was most frequent among children with only moderate symptoms. However, it also involved children with high symptom scores related to inattention, hyperactivity, emotions and peer relationship problems. These findings suggest that measures based on effect size can underestimate the magnitude of non-response bias and that a logistic regression approach may be more appropriate for studies geared at estimating prevalence of mental health problems in children.
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| 9. |
- Tillman, Carin, et al.
(författare)
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Intellectual deficits in children with ADHD beyond central executive and non-executive functions
- 2009
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Ingår i: Archives of clinical neuropsychology. - : Oxford University Press (OUP). - 0887-6177 .- 1873-5843. ; 24:8, s. 769-782
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This study aimed to specify the deficit in intellectual ability in children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), by studying the mediating role of impairments in central executive function (EF)-related components (working memory, inhibition, sustained attention) and non-EFs (short-term memory and processing speed). Two hundred and thirty children aged 8-11 years from a population-based sample were assigned to either the ADHD group, the clinical comparison group, or the normal comparison group. The results showed that children with ADHD had poorer fluid and crystallized intelligence, relative to both comparison groups. Further, regarding fluid intelligence, these deficits were not fully mediated by, but rather went beyond, poorer functioning on the studied EF-related components and non-EFs. We tentatively interpret these fluid deficits in children with ADHD as representing deficiencies in a general intellectual resource reflecting executive attentional processes. Concerning crystallized ability, in contrast, the deficit signified impairment in the studied cognitive functions, as indicated by the significant full mediation effect.
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| 10. |
- Tillman, Carin M., et al.
(författare)
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Intelligence and Specific Cognitive Abilities in Children
- 2009
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Ingår i: Journal of Individual Differences. - : Hogrefe Publishing Group. - 1614-0001 .- 2151-2299. ; 30:4, s. 209-219
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This community-based study investigated the relationships between measures of specific cognitive functions (such as working memory [WM] and interference control) and intelligence in 283 8- to 11-year-old children, including 124 children who fulfilled criteria for a psychiatric diagnosis. A hierarchical regression analysis was used to overcome issues of overlapping predictor constructs. The results generally showed that measures of processing speed, WM, as well as inhibitory interference control entered in the order of presentation, each contributed uniquely to the explanation of fluid intelligence performance. The results for crystallized intelligence performance generally showed that the measures of processing speed, short-term memory ( STM), WM, and sustained attention-entered in that order-made significant independent contributions. While effect sizes varied somewhat for contributions in the whole sample compared with the subgroup not meeting criteria for a psychiatric diagnosis, there were no significant differences. The findings therefore should be broadly representative in indicating that the unique aspects of these cognitive functions are important in the explanation of intelligence. The findings also demonstrate important independent features of the functions used as predictors.
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