Showing papers by "Michael Rutter published in 1976"

Adolescent turmoil: fact or fiction?

Abstract: Summary The concept of adolescent turmoil is considered in the context of findings from a total population epidemiological study of Isle of Wight 14–15-yr-olds. It is concluded that parent child alienation is not a common feature unless the adolescents are already showing psychiatric problems. Inner turmoil, however, as represented by feelings of misery and self-depreciation is quite frequent. Psychiatric, conditions are only slightly commoner during adolescence than in middle childhood but the pattern of disorders changes in terms of an increase in depression and school refusal. Many adolescent psychiatric problems arise in early childhood but conditions arising for the first time during adolescence differ in important respect from those with an earlier onset.

Isle of Wight Studies, 1964–1974

Abstract: The Isle of Wight Studies began in 1964–65 with a series of epidemiological studies of educational, psychiatric and physical disorders in 9- to 11-year-old children. These early studies were financed by the Department of Education and Science and the Foundation for Child Development (then the Association for the Aid of Crippled Children). The findings were fully reported in two books (Rutter, Tizard & Whitmore, 1970; Rutter, Graham & Yule, 1970) and only brief details are included here.

Differences between mentally retarded and normally intelligent autistic children

Abstract: 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.

Cycles of disadvantage

Abstract: The fact that roughly 3.4 million children – or 27% of the child population – are living in poverty is a critical policy issue. Much has been made of the government's commitment to reducing child poverty, particularly its first target of a 25% fall in the numbers in poverty between 1998/99 and 2004/05, which has just been narrowly missed. This concern about child poverty relates not just to the immediate effects of poverty. More importantly, the experience of poverty in childhood may influence social, economic and health outcomes throughout later life, leading to the 'persistence' of poverty into adulthood and consequences for the next generation. In order to investigate the long-term impact of growing up in poverty, we need to observe children's family circumstances and then return to see how they are doing later in life. Such information can be found in the two British cohort studies: the National Child Development Study and the British Cohort Study. The availability of these two data sources – one a cohort born in 1958, the other a cohort born in 1970 – allows us to compare the fortunes of people who were teenagers in the 1970s and the 1980s. Our initial estimates of the persistence of poverty compare the poverty rates of people in their early thirties between those who grew up in poverty and those who did not: ■ Of people whose families were poor when they were 16 in the 1970s, 19% were poor in their early thirties and 81% were not. So the 'odds' against growing up to be poor if your parents were poor were over four-to-one. ■ Of people whose families were not poor when they were 16 in the 1970s, 90% were not poor in their early thirties while 10% were poor. So the 'odds' against growing up to be poor if your parents were not poor were about nine-to-one. Persistence of poverty can be measured by dividing the odds of being poor if one's parents were poor by the odds of being poor if they were not – a number called the 'odds ratio'. Calculations of this odds ratio show that for a teenager in the 1970s, the odds of being poor as an adult were doubled if his or her parents were poor. Similar calculations for the later cohort who were teenagers in the 1980s show that the odds of being poor in adulthood were …

Child psychiatry : modern approaches

Abstract: Recently several new textbooks have been reviewed in the columns of this journal. Why the current interest? Child psychiatry is facing difficult yet exciting times. We have moved from reports of clinical cases, important as they may be, to a wider spectrum of interest: child development, biochemical studies, reevaluation of treatment modalities, epidemiology, outcome studies, and a clear delineation of clinical syndromes, to name only a few. Training in child psychiatry has maintained diversity and alternative educational directions are being considered. The scientific base has become more solid and knowledge in the field is burgeoning. Exciting times indeed! Thus, there is a need for codification of new knowledge and systematic review of old concepts. No textbook is complete, and there is a need to update as knowledge impinges on the field. It is also rare that an encyclopedia achieves its goal. The authors state, "our aim has been to provide an accurate and comprehensive account of the current state of knowledge through the integration of research approaches and findings with the understanding which comes from clinical experience and practice. Each chapter scrutinizes existing information and emphasises areas of growth and fresh ideas on a particular topic in a rigorous and critical fashion but also in a practical vein to help clinicians meet the needs of individual families" (p. xiii). What a pleasure, therefore, to find that our English colleagues from the Institute of Psychiatry, Maudsley Hospital, have brought forth a volume that is tightly edited, abounds with scholarship, and is generally complete. Twenty-three authors (two American) have contributed to the 41 chapters of this volume. The editors, renowned child psychiatrists Michael Rutter and Lionel Hersov, have organized this textbook to be useful to clinical and academic practitioners in the field. Each chapter is a review of the subject. Most helpful are the excellent bibliographies that accompany each chapter. The volume is divided into five sections: Influences on Development,

Institute of Psychiatry Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry

Abstract: There has been a child psychiatry research group within the Institute of Psychiatry since 1952. At first it constituted a section of the Department of Psychiatry and for a while it formed part of the MRC Social Psychiatry Research Unit. However, in 1973 London University established a Chair of Child Psychiatry and since that time there has been a separate Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. The research in this field undertaken up to 1967 has been described previously (Rutter, 1968a) and the present report brings the account up to date with a summary of work carried out during the last eight years.