Michael Rutter

Bio: Michael Rutter is an academic researcher from King's College London. The author has contributed to research in topics: Autism & Conduct disorder. The author has an hindex of 188, co-authored 676 publications receiving 151592 citations. Previous affiliations of Michael Rutter include VCU Medical Center & Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences.

Using Natural Experiments to Test Environmental Mediation Hypotheses

Abstract: Concepts of causation are discussed, as are alternative explanations of an association other than causation Nine types of genetically sensitive natural experiments are described, together with their assumptions and limitations Social selection biases can be dealt with by designs involving the universal introduction or removal of risks The use of instrumental variables is discussed in relation to early puberty, China's one-child policy, and Mendelian randomization Regression discontinuity designs are described as a way of dealing with confounders We end by considering whether natural experiments are really needed, and we conclude that they are We note that natural experiment opportunities are widely available and do not constitute a discrete number of designs Keywords: social selection; genetic mediation; reverse causation; confounding variable; multivariate twin designs; discordant twin pairs; discordant sib pairs; children of twins (CoT) design; extended children of twins (eCoT) design; longitudinal twin and parent design; adoption studies; assisted reproduction technologies; maternal versus paternal smoking; migration strategies; twin–singleton comparison; time-series design; universal risk design; instrumental variables; Mendelian randomization; regression-discontinuity design

A tribute to Lee Nelken Robins: from colleagues and friends

Abstract: On September 25, 2009, Lee Nelken Robins, Ph.D., professor emeritus of Social Science in Psychiatry at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, died peacefully at her home, after a long battle with cancer. On that day, the field lost a world leader in psychiatric epidemiology. Born August 29, 1922, in New Orleans, Robins earned a doctoral degree from Harvard University/Radcliffe College in 1951. She joined the faculty at Washington University School of Medicine in 1954 as a research assistant in psychiatry and rose to the rank of full professor in 1968. From 1957 until 1963, she also served as a lecturer and an adjunct associate professor of Sociology; from 1969 to 1991, she served as professor of Sociology, and was professor in the Program for Social Thought and Analysis from 1991 until her retirement from the University in 2001. She founded and directed the Master’s Program in Psychiatric Epidemiology at the School of Medicine, a one of a kind graduate program for mental health and addiction researchers that flourishes today. In addition to her own prolific and significant work, she collaborated with her husband Eli Robins, a major figure in A note from the editor in chief: Lee Robins was for several years on the board of Social Psychiatry, as this journal then was, and her work has continuing and central relevance to our subject. This is clear from what is written below, which serves as a journey round scientific developments of crucial importance in the last five decades. On a personal note, it is strange to read about this greatly distinguished woman and her legacy, and then to remember the down-to-earth person I used to kidnap and take to the pub whenever she was over at the Institute of Psychiatry. She had a most un-academic laugh. She and Eli were kindness itself when I was asked to give the 1987 Eli Robins lecture in St. Louis. We are pleased and honored to publish this selection of tributes to the late Lee Robins.

Sex Differences in Antisocial Behaviour: Do girls who develop antisocial behaviour surmount a higher threshold of risk than their male counterparts?

Abstract: For a long time, many researchers have been attracted to the hypothesis that females who develop antisocial behaviour surmount a higher threshold of risk than males and are therefore more severely afflicted. This hypothesis goes by many names, including group resistence, the threshold effect, and the gender paradox. Because the hypothesis holds such wide appeal, it is worth revisiting the logic behind it. The hypothesis is built on the factual observation that fewer females than males act antisocially. Because this is true, then the deduction is made that some factor has raised the threshold that females must pass before they convert antisocial attitudes, feelings, or motives into actual antisocial actions. A higher threshold implies that the few females who have indeed passed their high threshold were pushed over it by stronger causes than were the males who passed their low threshold. Generally the female threshold is presumed to be raised by gender-role socialization of females against aggression, at the level of the culture. The push over the threshold is presumed to come from psycho-biological or developmental factors, at the level of the individual. The hypothesis is typically addressed empirically by comparing the strength of aetiological variables across groups of antisocial females and males, looking for evidence of more severe aetiology among females. If more severe aetiology is found for girls, then the inference is made that a higher threshold for girls exists. The criminologist Thorsten Sellin (1938) referred to this line of reasoning as the ‘group resistence’ hypothesis.

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

Abstract: 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 Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire: A Research Note

Abstract: 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.

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

Abstract: 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.

Human biochemical genetics

Abstract: 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

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

Abstract: 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.