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Biomedical subjects

M Rutter

Publications and source records attributed to M Rutter.

68 records · Page 4Linked to original sources
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↗
PubMed1976

Early hospital admissions and later disturbances of behaviour: an attempted replication of Douglas' findings.

This study confirms the findings of Douglas (1975) that single hospital admissions of children for up to a week carry no increased risk of later emotional or behavioural disturbance. The study also confirms Douglas' finding that repeated hospital admissions are significantly associated with disturbance in later childhood. The association probably applies to both emotional and conduct disorders, is most marked in the case of children from disadvantaged homes, and it may well reflect a causal influence. The validity of the finding is strengthened by the fact that detailed psychiatric assessments gave rise to much the same findings as did teacher questionnaire scores. However, in both cases, repeated hospital admissions are associated with only a small minority of disorers and account for little of the variance in children's behaviour.

Age Factors↗
PubMed1975

Psychiatric outcome of localized head injury in children.

Previous studies have shown a high prevalence of psychiatric disturbance in children with brain injury. Studies on localized lesions have suggested that injury to the young organism carries a better prognosis for recovery of function than injury at a later age. The present study was designed to investigate these phenomena systematically. A representative sample of children (n = 98) who had been hospitalized for treatment of a compound depressed fracture, associated with a dural tear and visible damage to the underlying cortex, was identified from the records of neurosurgical units throughout the United Kingdom. The children were aged between 3 months and 12 years at the time of injury and between 5 and 15 years at the time of examination. The interval between injury and examination varied but the sample was designed to include only children who had been injured at least two years before examination. The children were examined neurologically and psychometrically, a detailed account of their current psychiatric state was obtained from one or both parents, and their mental state was assessed in a standard psychiatric examination. Preliminary data are presented which relate psychiatric, educational and intellectual status at the time of examination to site and severity of injury, age at injury, and to a number of psychosocial variables.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1975

Psychological disorders in crippled children. A comparative study of children with and without brain damage.

A detailed standardised study was made of all crippled children aged between five and 15 years and of normal intelligence on the local-authority lists of handicapped children in three London boroughs. Psychiatric disorder was twice as common in children whose crippling was due to cerebral disease or damage rather than some peripheral lesion. As the groups were well matched in terms of physical incapacity and social background, it was concluded that brain damage was responsible for the children's increased vulnerability to emotional problems. Brain damage was also associated with a marked increase in reading difficulties and a lowering of intelligence within the normal range. Psychiatric disorder was found to be related not only to cerebral injury but also to various types of family disturbance. It is concluded that emotional and behavioural disturbance stemmed from both an increased biological vulnerability and psychosocial hazards.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1975

Attainment and adjustment in two geographical areas. II--The prevalence of specific reading retardation.

Specific reading retardation was found to occur in a minimum of 9-9 per cent of ten-year-old 'indigenous' children in one inner London borough. This rate was nearly three times that (3-9 per cent) in Isle of Wight children. There was a comparably higher rate of general reading backwardness in London (19-0 per cent vs 8-3 per cent). Since the same epidemiological methods were followed in the two areas, and since the reading-retarded children had similar psychological characteristics in both cases, it is concluded that there is a real difference between London and the Isle of Wight in the prevalence of reading retardation and of reading backwardness.

Achievement↗
PubMed1975

Attainment and adjustment in two geographical areas: III--Some factors accounting for area differences.

It was found that emotional disorders, conduct disorders and specific reading retardation were all twice as common in ten-year-old children attending schools in an inner London borough as in children of the same age on the Isle of Wight. The correlates of these disorders in the two areas were investigated in order to explore possible reasons for these differences in prevalence. It was possible to identify four sets of variables (family discord, parental deviance, social disadvantage and certain school characteristics) which were associated with child disorder and deviance within both the two areas. As in almost all cases these same adverse factors were more commonly found in London, it may be concluded that the high rates of psychiatric disorder and specific reading retardation in London ten-year-olds are due in part to the fact that a relatively high proportion of London families experience marital discord and disruption, that many of the parents show mental disorder and antisocial behaviour, that families often live in poor social circumstances, and that the schools are more often characterized by a high rate of turnover in staff and pupils. The evidence suggests that these problems stemmed from living in an inner London borough, but further research is required to identify what it is about life in a metropolitan area that predisposes to the development of disorder and deviance.

Affective Symptoms↗