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Biomedical subjects

M Rutter

Publications and source records attributed to M Rutter.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources
PubMed1978

Hyperkinetic disorder in psychiatric clinic attenders.

Sixty-eight boys (age-range five to 11 years), referred to a child psychiatric clinic, were studied in order to determine the validity of a broadly-based concept of hyperkinetic syndrome, as generally employed in the USA. Hyperactivity was measured on the Conners' Teacher Questionnaire, the Conners' Parent Questionnaire and by systematic time-sampled observations of each child's behaviour during psychological testing. There were low and statistically insignificant correlations between these different measures of hyperkinesis. On the other hand, overactivity correlated highly with conduct disturbance. Psychiatrically abnormal children with and without hyperkinesis were compared on cognitive functioning, perinatal history, neurological examination, congenital anomalies and psycho-social circumstances. Few differences were found, and it was concluded that there was no evidence for the validity of a broad concept of hyperkinetic syndrome. Nevertheless, a small number of children were found who were overactive in all situations studied. These children had a variety of clinical diagnoses but differed significantly from their peers--matched for age, IQ and diagnosis--with respect to neurological anomalies, erratic responses on the Matching Familiar Figures Test, and early onset of hyperkinesis. It is suggested that this less common clinical picture of hyperkinesis may have some validity, but it remains uncertain whether it constitutes a distinct syndrome or rather a constitutional risk factor.

Attention↗
PubMed1977

Compliance and resistance in autistic children.

The study was designed to explore factors related to negativism in autistic children, where negativism was defined as the consistent avoidance of a correct response in a multiple choice discrimination task. A design employed in an earlier study of autistic children (Cowan, Hodinott, & Wright, 1965) was modified to allow a more detailed examination of patterning of the child's responses. A positive relationship was found between use of spoken language and successful performance of the task. However, no child was negativistic. Of the 27 children tested, 18 had a near perfect performance and 9 scored at chance level. A subsequent exact replication of the Cowan et al. method still failed to produce any negativism. A further study using a more difficult discrimination task produced a higher rate of errors but still no negativism. Possible reasons for the failure to replicate are discussed.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1977

Cognitive characteristics of parents of autistic children.

The parents of 15 autistic boys with a nonverbal IQ of at least 80 were compared with a matched group of parents of normal boys on the Goldstein-Scheerer Object Sorting Test and the Bannister-Fransella Grid Test of Thought Disorder. It was necessary to control for social class effects as abnormal scores on the thought disorder tests were more frequent in parents of manual social class. It was found that (a) there was a lack of agreement between the two tests of thought disorder, (b) the parents of autistic children showed thought disorder scores closely comparable to those of the parents of normals, and (c) there was no consistent association between thought disorder and anxiety. The methodological and substantive implications of the findings are discussed in relation to the results of previous investigations.

Anxiety↗
PubMed1977

Families of autistic and dysphasic children. II. Mothers' speech to the children.

This paper tests various hypotheses about deviance in the communication of mothers to their autistic children. The language of mothers of 13 autistic boys is compared to the language of mothers of 13 boys with developmental receptive dysphasia. The two groups of boys are of similar age, nonverbal intelligence, and language level. The language samples come from hour-long taped interactions between the mothers and their children in their homes. Aspects of maternal communication that are examined include: the amount of language used, the frequency usage of different types of utterances, the syntactic complexity of utterances, the grammaticality of utterances, the clarity of communication, and the tones of voice used. No differences were found between the two groups of mothers in level of language usage, pattern of functional interaction, or in overall clarity of communication. In conclusion, the findings of this study provide no support for the suggestion that autism is due wholly or in part to deviant patterns of mother-child communication.

Adult↗
PubMed1977

A comparative study of infantile autism and specific developmental receptive language disorders. III. Discriminant function analysis.

A psychometric, observational, and interview study was undertaken with 47 boys, aged 4 1/2 to 10 years, with nonverbal IQs of 70+ and a severe developmental disorder of language comprehension. Separate discriminant function analyses, based on behavioral, language, or cognitive features, showed little overlap between clinically defined autistic and dysphasic subgroups. Moreover, the discrimination could be made as clearly on language or cognitive characteristics as on social or behavioral critera. Language abnormalities and behavioral features also intercorrelated within the autistic subgroup. It is concluded that autism and dysphasia differ in important ways and that a cognitive deficit is an essential part of the syndrome of autism.

Autistic Disorder↗
PubMed1977

Bias resulting from missing information: some epidemiological findings.

The biases resulting from missing information were examined in three psychiatric epidemiological studies. In each study, cases with missing information could be compared with the main sample because data were available from several sources or at several points in time through a longitudinal study. In almost all instances, cases with missing data differed systematically in terms of variables crucial to the questions being studied. In general, they tended to include a higher proportion with problems of various kinds--such as, behavioural deviance, reading backwardness, child or adult psychiatric disorder, and marital discord. The characteristics or circumstances of those giving information were generally more strongly associated with co-operation in testing or interviewing than the characteristics of those about whom information was sought. In some situations, the nature and degree of distortion resulting from missing information could lead to biased results.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1976

Differences between mentally retarded and normally intelligent autistic children.

Autistic children with an IQ below 70 and with an IQ above 70 were systematically compared. The two groups differed somewhat in the pattern of symptoms, but were closely similar in terms of the main phenomena specifically associated with autism. However, the low IQ and high IQ autistic children differed more substantially in terms of other symptoms such as self-injury and stereotypies and there were major differences in outcome. The possibility that the nature of the autistic disorder may differ according to the presence or absence of associated mental retardation needs to be taken into account in planning studies of etiology.

Achievement↗
PubMed1976

An evaluation of an interview assessment of marriage.

An interview assessment of marriage relationships is described. It is shown to have good inter-rater reliability, high consistency across the accounts of both marriage partners and to be resistant to methodologic bias. A four-year follow-up study demonstrated high predictive validity to later marriage breakdown. The marriage measure also showed a strong association with behavioural deviance in the children. The intercorrelations between individual measures of various aspects of the marriage and the summary are given. A shortened version of the interview is described and preliminary findings are given on its validity.

Adult↗