A hypothesized need to form and maintain strong, stable interpersonal relationships is evaluated in light of the empirical literature. The need is for frequent, nonaversive interactions within an ongoing relational bond. Consistent with the belongingness hypothesis, people form social attachments readily under most conditions and resist the dissolution of existing bonds. Belongingness appears to have multiple and strong effects on emotional patterns and on cognitive processes. Lack of attachments is linked to a variety of ill effects on health, adjustment, and well-being. Other evidence, such as that concerning satiation, substitution, and behavioral consequences, is likewise consistent with the hypothesized motivation. Several seeming counterexamples turned out not to disconfirm the hypothesis. Existing evidence supports the hypothesis that the need to belong is a powerful, fundamental, and extremely pervasive motivation.

The need to belong: Desire for interpersonal attachments as a fundamental human motivation.

A novel behavioural screening questionnaire, the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ), was administered along with Rutter questionnaires to parents and teachers of 403 children drawn from dental and psychiatric clinics. Scores derived from the SDQ and Rutter questionnaires were highly correlated; parent-teacher correlations for the two sets of measures were comparable or favoured the SDQ. The two sets of measures did not differ in their ability to discriminate between psychiatric and dental clinic attenders. These preliminary findings suggest that the SDQ functions as well as the Rutter questionnaires while offering the following additional advantages: a focus on strengths as well as difficulties; better coverage of inattention, peer relationships, and prosocial behaviour; a shorter format; and a single form suitable for both parents and teachers, perhaps thereby increasing parent-teacher correlations.

https://acamh.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1469-7610.1997.tb01545.x

The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire: A Research Note

Background Little is known about the general population prevalence or severity of DSM-IV mental disorders. Objective To estimate 12-month prevalence, severity, and comorbidity of DSM-IV anxiety, mood, impulse control, and substance disorders in the recently completed US National Comorbidity Survey Replication. Design and Setting Nationally representative face-to-face household survey conducted between February 2001 and April 2003 using a fully structured diagnostic interview, the World Health Organization World Mental Health Survey Initiative version of the Composite International Diagnostic Interview. Participants Nine thousand two hundred eighty-two English-speaking respondents 18 years and older. Main Outcome Measures Twelve-month DSM-IV disorders. Results Twelve-month prevalence estimates were anxiety, 18.1%; mood, 9.5%; impulse control, 8.9%; substance, 3.8%; and any disorder, 26.2%. Of 12-month cases, 22.3% were classified as serious; 37.3%, moderate; and 40.4%, mild. Fifty-five percent carried only a single diagnosis; 22%, 2 diagnoses; and 23%, 3 or more diagnoses. Latent class analysis detected 7 multivariate disorder classes, including 3 highly comorbid classes representing 7% of the population. Conclusion Although mental disorders are widespread, serious cases are concentrated among a relatively small proportion of cases with high comorbidity.

/pdf/prevalence-severity-and-comorbidity-of-12-month-dsm-iv-54fahxwd1s.pdf

Prevalence, Severity, and Comorbidity of 12-Month DSM-IV Disorders in the National Comorbidity Survey Replication

So far in this course we have dealt entirely with the evolution of characters that are controlled by simple Mendelian inheritance at a single locus. There are notes on the course website about gametic disequilibrium and how allele frequencies change at two loci simultaneously, but we didn’t discuss them. In every example we’ve considered we’ve imagined that we could understand something about evolution by examining the evolution of a single gene. That’s the domain of classical population genetics. For the next few weeks we’re going to be exploring a field that’s actually older than classical population genetics, although the approach we’ll be taking to it involves the use of population genetic machinery. If you know a little about the history of evolutionary biology, you may know that after the rediscovery of Mendel’s work in 1900 there was a heated debate between the “biometricians” (e.g., Galton and Pearson) and the “Mendelians” (e.g., de Vries, Correns, Bateson, and Morgan). Biometricians asserted that the really important variation in evolution didn’t follow Mendelian rules. Height, weight, skin color, and similar traits seemed to

Human biochemical genetics

This chapter suggests that delinquency conceals two distinct categories of individuals, each with a unique natural history and etiology: A small group engages in antisocial behavior of one sort or another at every life stage, whereas a larger group is antisocial only during adolescence. According to the theory of life-course-persistent antisocial behavior, children's neuropsychological problems interact cumulatively with their criminogenic environments across development, culminating m a pathological personality. According to the theory of adolescence-limited antisocial behavior, a contemporary maturity gap encourages teens to mimic antisocial behavior in ways that are normative and adjustive. There are marked individual differences in the stability of antisocial behavior. The chapter reviews the mysterious relationship between age and antisocial behavior. Some youths who refrain from antisocial behavior may, for some reason, not sense the maturity gap and therefore lack the hypothesized motivation for experimenting with crime.

/pdf/adolescence-limited-and-life-course-persistent-antisocial-52vil00qlw.pdf

Adolescence-limited and life-course-persistent antisocial behavior: A developmental taxonomy.

The extent of developmental deficit and catch-up following adoption after severe global early privation was examined at 4 years in a sample of 111 Romanian children who came to the U.K. before the age of 2 years, and compared with respect to their functioning at the same age to a sample of 52 U.K. adopted children placed before the age of 6 months. The measures at 4 years included height, head circumference, and general cognitive level (assessed on both the McCarthy and Denver Scales). The children from Romania were severely developmentally impaired at the time of U.K. entry, with about half below the third percentile on height, on weight, on head circumference, and on developmental quotient. Many were also in a poor physical state with recurrent intestinal and respiratory infections. The catch-up in both physical growth and cognitive level appeared nearly complete at 4 years for those children who came to the U.K. before the age of 6 months, despite the fact that their background prior to U.K. entry was similar to the children who came to the U.K. when older. The developmental catch-up was also impressive, but not complete, in those placed after 6 months of age. The mean McCarthy General Cognitive Index was 92 compared with 109 for the within-U.K. adoptees. The strongest predictor of level of cognitive functioning at 4 years was the children's age at entry to the U.K. It was concluded that the remaining cognitive deficit was likely to be a consequence of gross early privation, with psychological privation probably more important than nutritional privation. A further follow-up at age 6 years will determine whether there is continuing recovery after 4 years.

https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/26793922DC4257D64DF39BBB1AC65E2C/S0021963098002236a.pdf/div-class-title-developmental-catch-up-and-deficit-following-adoption-after-severe-global-early-privation-div.pdf

Developmental Catch-up, and Deficit, Following Adoption after Severe Global Early Privation

Resilience to adult psychopathology following childhood maltreatment: Evidence from a community sample

A Neuropsychiatric Study in Childhood. By MICHAEL RUTTER,PHILIP GRAHAM, andWILLIAMYULE. (Pp. vi + 272; illustrated. C3.75.) London: Spastics International Medical Publications. 1971. Studies sired by the Institute of Psychiatry, University of London, traditionally bear the hallmarks of erudite authority, unimpeachable method, and meticulous attention to detail. This study is no exception. It forms part of the large-scale epidemiological survey of schoolchildren resident on the Isle of Wight undertaken by Michael Rutter and his colleagues. In this, the entire population of statutory school age (almost 12,000) was screened for a variety of handicapping conditions, including neuroepileptic disorder contrasted with lesions below the brainstem, these being compared with chronic diseases not involving the CNS, e.g. asthma, diabetes, and cardiac states, the whole yielding a uniquely comprehensive compendium of clinical data. The present section, published as a double volume in the series Clinics in Developmental Medicine, deals with organic brain dysfunction in its relation to child psychiatric disorder. Does such dysfunction predispose to psychological disturbance and, if so, can this be solely attributed to the presence of physical handicap, or is it specifically related to disorder of the brain? Are there, in fact, specific pattems of psychiatric disorder associated with organic brain lesions ? These, and related areas of inquiry, are explored, for we are reminded that few hard facts have so far emerged in this sphere despite a plethora of papers which are both skilfully and critically reviewed. The point is also made that as the acute field of paediatric disease comes progressively under control, more and more emphasis will be laid upon this more chronic group of neuroepileptic disorders and especially upon their social, educational, and behavioural concomitants, as reflected in recent legislation. The volume is introduced by Professor Birch of Yeshiva University, New York, as fulfilling the need for 'a detailed body of normative information on the neurological and behavioural characteristics of a representative ... population of children'. In so doing, it 'provides a model for (extended) neuro-behavioural enquiry'. The book should, therefore, be of interest to a variety of disciplines: paediatricians, neurologists, psychiatrists, psychologists, educationalists, and sociologists, each of whom must surely find something of value among the wealth of data presented and the conclusions that emerge, some at variance with traditional views. Though perhaps a shade expensive, the publication is beautifully produced, and the sections on neurological and psychiatric assessment, which detail the clinically based schemata adopted in the survey, may well be regarded as an additional bonus, to be read with profit by clinicians (medical and non-medical) involved in this sphere of work. To them, in particular, the hnnlr IQ isnreservedlv rnmmended. Progress in Mental Retardation. Vol. II. Edited by JOSEPH WORTIS. (Pp. vii + 228; figs. + tables. $14.75.) New York and London: Grune and Stratton. 1970. This volume is the second in a series of annual reviews on Mental Retardation. Some chapters, like Brian Kirman's on 'Clinical Aspects' and Kytja Voeller's on 'Neurology', mainly recount very recent developments. Others, like L. I. Woolf's on phenylketonuria and phenylalaninaemia, provide a more overall view of a subject. The editor, J. Wortis, introduces the book with a lucid and helpful article entitled 'What is Mental Retardation ?' He makes the rather surprising remark that 'Medical clinical practice would do well to focus its interest mainly on the biological types of retardation and limit its involvement with psychosocial types to differential diagnostic tasks'. Happily this implied withdrawal of the doctor from the social and community aspects of mental retardation is not reflected in Dr. Wortis's choice of chapters for this book, which include 'Pedagogy' (a singularly unfelicitous choice of title for an excellent article); 'Nutrition', 'Social Work', 'Parent Organizations', and 'Architecture'. The last is a remarkable chapter opening with the words 'If you wouldn't design it for your own home and family, don't design it for the retarded.' The illustrations should make us hang our heads in shame at much of the provision for the retarded in this country. The impression left by this generally excellent volume is profoundly encouraging; one feels that the last few years have seen a collective pulling up of socks by everyone working in this field. The approach to it has become at once more scientific, human, lively, and hopeful. We look forward to further volumes in this series.

A neuropsychiatric study in childhood

1 Introduction 2 Identifying the most useful research 3 Concepts and measures of crime 4 Historical trends 5 Varieties of antisocial behaviour 6 The role of individual features 7 The role of psychosocial features 8 Society-wide influences 9 Gender differences 10 From child to adult: persistence and desistance 11 Prevention and intervention I: principles and concepts: application at the predelinquency stage 12 Prevention and intervention II: applications at the postdelinquency phase 13 Conclusions

Antisocial behavior by young people.

Background
The etiology of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) has been recently debated due to emerging findings on the importance of shared environmental influences. However, two recent twin studies do not support this and instead re-affirm strong genetic effects on the liability to ASD, a finding consistent with previous reports. This study conducts a systematic review and meta-analysis of all twin studies of ASD published to date and explores the etiology along the continuum of a quantitative measure of ASD.

Methods
A PubMed Central, Science Direct, Google Scholar, Web of Knowledge structured search conducted online, to identify all twin studies on ASD published to date. Thirteen primary twin studies were identified, seven were included in the meta-analysis by meeting Systematic Recruitment criterion; correction for selection and ascertainment strategies, and applied prevalences were assessed for these studies. In addition, a quantile DF extremes analysis was carried out on Childhood Autism Spectrum Test scores measured in a population sample of 6,413 twin pairs including affected twins.

Results
The meta-analysis correlations for monozygotic twins (MZ) were almost perfect at .98 (95% Confidence Interval, .96–.99). The dizygotic (DZ) correlation, however, was .53 (95% CI .44–.60) when ASD prevalence rate was set at 5% (in line with the Broad Phenotype of ASD) and increased to .67 (95% CI .61–.72) when applying a prevalence rate of 1%. The meta-analytic heritability estimates were substantial: 64–91%. Shared environmental effects became significant as the prevalence rate decreased from 5–1%: 07–35%. The DF analyses show that for the most part, there is no departure from linearity in heritability.

Conclusions
We demonstrate that: (a) ASD is due to strong genetic effects; (b) shared environmental effects become significant as a function of lower prevalence rate; (c) previously reported significant shared environmental influences are likely a statistical artefact of overinclusion of concordant DZ twins.

Michael Rutter

Papers

Developmental Catch-up, and Deficit, Following Adoption after Severe Global Early Privation

Resilience to adult psychopathology following childhood maltreatment: Evidence from a community sample

A neuropsychiatric study in childhood

Antisocial behavior by young people.

Heritability of autism spectrum disorders: a meta‐analysis of twin studies