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Biomedical subjects

A J Sameroff

Publications and source records attributed to A J Sameroff.

17 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1992

Child and family factors that ameliorate risk between 4 and 13 years of age.

Protective processes in at-risk children between 4 and 13 years of age were examined in a longitudinal study. A multiple risk index was used at 4 years to identify 50 high-risk children and 102 who were at low risk. Cognitive and social-emotional status were measured at each time point. The following indicators of protective processes were related to positive change in cognitive and/or social-emotional function in the high-risk children between 4 and 13 years: mother-child interaction; child perceived competence, locus of control, life events, and social support; and maternal parenting values, social support, depression, and expressed emotion. Many of these factors were also related to improvement in the low-risk children. Some variables showed an interaction effect, where impact was substantially higher in the high-risk group compared with the low-risk group. The utility of multiple risk constructs and process oriented approaches to protective factors are discussed.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1991

Positive effects of interaction coaching on infants with developmental disabilities and their mothers.

Modification of maternal responsivity was attempted in a study of the effects of interaction coaching. Twenty-three mothers and their infants with developmental disabilities participated in an interaction coaching component that consisted of six sessions of providing feedback to mothers about incidence of overstimulation observed on videotapes. Suggestions were given for ways to interact in a more contingently responsive manner. Compared with a control group of 17 mother-infant pairs, the interaction coaching group mothers increased responsibility and decreased stimulation. The infants were less fussy and performed better on standardized developmental assessments.

Arousal↗
PubMed1989

Family context in pediatric psychology: a transactional perspective.

The degree to which the family is seen as a significant contributor to child health conditions impacts directly on the successful functioning of the pediatric psychologist. A transactional model of family functioning is proposed for pediatric psychology. Development is considered to be the result of a three-part process that starts with child behavior that triggers family interpretation that produces a parental response. Family interpretation is presented as part of a regulatory system that includes family paradigms, family stories, and family rituals. Corresponding to the proposed three-part regulation model, three forms of intervention are discussed: remediation, redefinition, and reeducation. Clinical decision making based on this model is outlined with examples given from different treatment approaches. Implications for the treatment of families in pediatric psychology are discussed.

Child↗
PubMed1987

Intelligence quotient scores of 4-year-old children: social-environmental risk factors.

Verbal IQ scores in a socially heterogeneous sample of 215 4-year-old children were highly related to a cumulative environmental risk index composed of maternal, family and cultural variables. Different combinations of equal numbers of risk factors produced similar effects on IQ, providing evidence that no single factor identified here uniquely enhances or limits early intellectual achievement and that cumulative effects from multiple risk factors increase the probability that development will be compromised. The multiple risk index predicted substantially more variance in the outcome measure than did any single risk factor alone, including socioeconomic status. High-risk children were more than 24 times as likely to have IQs below 85 than low-risk children.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1985

Defining environmental risk: multiple dimensions of psychological vulnerability.

Children participating in a longitudinal study of risk for serious mental disorder were assessed at 48 months of age. Six risk factors were defined: negative life events, e.g., illness/injury to the child; maternal hospitalizations, for all reasons; number of children in the family; maternal psychiatric status; maternal cognitive orientation toward child-rearing; and single-parent family. The results show that the number of risk factors is negatively related to social and intellectual adjustment; a rigid conforming maternal cognitive orientation is associated with diminished intellectual and social performance; maternal psychiatric status is associated with lessened social performance. Additionally, the combination of a rigid conforming maternal cognitive orientation with negative life events is associated with diminished social adjustment. A discussion examines these results in a context defined by developmental and crisis theory.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1978

IV. Issues in grouping items from the Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale.

The various analyses of the NBAS that we have described do not permit any simple understanding of the significance of the scales. We have shown that other variables associated with the scale may have more significance than the scales themselves. Predominant state appears to be one of these variables. When the NBAS scores are correlated with behavior only 4 months later, only tiny relationships are evident, and, what is more, many of these relationships do not make obvious sense. In recent times there has been growing evidence that infant behavior shows little consistency or continuity over time (McCall, Eichorn, & Hogarty 1977). These data from the Brazelton NBAS seem to conform that notion. The message we want to end with is that we have still not reached the point where we can adequately understand the behavior of the human newborn. Simple relations between antecedent and consequent behaviors assessed by simple statistical procedures will not solve our problem. Bridging the gap between our global theorizing about newborn behavior and concrete deomonstrations of those theories will require a complex interplay of common sense and statistical sophistication.

Age Factors↗
PubMed1975

Childbirth education, maternal attitudes, and delivery.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of a childbirth education program (patterned after the Lamaze procedure) on maternal attitudes and the delivery process. Dependent variables included axniety as measured by the anxiety scale of the IPAT, scores on the Maternal Attitudes to Pregnancy Inventory (MAPI), the duration of labor, and the amounts of premedication and anesthesia administered during delivery. Three groups of pregnant women were used as subjects: 70 primiparous and 48 multiparous women taking a 6 week childbirth education course and 41 multiparous women delivery at the same hospitals but not taking the course. In addition the data on labor duration and amount of medication administered to 1,400 multiparous and 1,015 primiparous patients delivery at one of the same hospitals as the other three groups were examined for comparison purposes. No differences were found between groups on the anxiety measure or on duration of labor. Some differences favoring women who had the childbirth education course were found on the MAPI and the medication and anesthesia measures. It was concluded that the childbirth education course had some beneficial effects.

Anesthesia, Obstetrical↗