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.

Achievements and challenges in the biology of environmental effects.

Abstract: The starting point for the study of adverse experiences is that some have enduring consequences that continue after the period of exposure to the adversity. That raises four basic issues: whether social adversities can be considered homogeneous, whether the crucial effect lies in the “objective” or subjectively perceived “effective” environment, whether the effects are environmentally mediated, and whether the form of biological embedding involves psychological or health consequences. The findings in the literature are discussed in relation to the biological effects of supposedly positive or normal experiences, the use of natural experiments to determine the causal effects of early experience, the heterogeneity of social adversity, the possible mediators of the biological embedding, gene–environment interdependence, and remaining challenges.

Age as an Ambiguous Variable in Developmental Research: Some Epidemiological Considerations from Developmental Psychopathology

Abstract: Intra-individual change in behaviour with age constitutes the essential element in developmental research but, unless age is broken down into its component parts, age is devoid of meaning. The issues involved are discussed from the perspective of epidemiology as applied to developmental psychopathology. Methodological concerns are discussed with respect to continuities and discontinuities in development (with special reference to the cumulative emergence of skills and variable consistency over the life span), secular trends, and the distinction between individual and groupaggregated age trends. The different components of chronological age are considered in terms of cognitive level, different types of biological maturity, and the duration of type of life experiences. The same components are discussed with respect to the issues involved in the study of differential effects of experiences according to their timing in the developmental sequence, and maturational delay.

Familial aggregation for conduct disorder symptomatology: the role of genes, marital discord and family adaptability.

Abstract: Background There is extensive evidence of statistical associations between family discord/ maladaptation and antisocial behaviour in the children, but questions remain on the extent to which the psychopathological risks are genetically or environmentally mediated Methods Twin pairs (N = 1,350), aged 8 to 16 years, in the general population-based Virginia Twin Study of Adolescent Behavioral Development were assessed using the Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Assessment interview administered separately to both twins and both parents Structured interviews for parental lifetime psychiatric disorders were also administered to the mothers and fathers Maternal reports on Olsson's Family Adaptability and Cohesiveness questionnaire and the Dyadic Adjustment Scale were used as indices of the family environment A path analytical model based on an extended twin-family design was used to test hypotheses about parent offspring similarity for conduct disorder symptomatology Results Family discord and maladaptation, which intercorrelated at 063, were associated with a roughly two-fold increase in risk for conduct disorder symptomatology When parental conduct disorder was included in the model the environmental mediation effect for family maladaptation remained, but that for family discord was lost Conclusion It is concluded that there is true environmental mediation from family maladaptation, operating as a shared effect, which accounts for 35 % of the phenotypic variance The assumptions underlying this genetic research strategy are made explicit, together with its strengths and limitations

Prevention of children's psychosocial disorders: myth and substance

Abstract: A critical appraisal of primary prevention of children9s psychosocial disorders indicates that our knowledge on this topic is limited and that there are few interventions of proven value. Nevertheless, there are possibilities for effective prevention. Myths associated with unwarranted claims for the value of prevention are reviewed in terms of unproven assumptions that: (1) prevention cuts costs; (2) prevention in childhood will improve adult health; (3) improved living standards will reduce mental illness; (4) sensible interventions can only be beneficial; (5) providing people with information leads to preventive action; (6) the main issue in prevention is implementing what we know; (7) the best approach is to tackle the basic cause; and (8) the crucial issue is to identify that one basic cause. Principles of causation are discussed and a model of causative influences is used to consider potentially effective primary prevention policies with respect to those directed at (a) individual predisposition; (b) ecologic factors; (c) influences on opportunity and situation; and (d) current stresses and strengths. It is concluded that a good deal is known about risk factors and the areas in which primary prevention might be effective, but that less is known concerning precisely how to intervene in order to bring about the desired results. There is a potential for effective primary prevention but, so far, it remains largely unrealized.

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.