CHILDREN OF WEST INDIAN IMMIGRANTS–I. RATES OF BEHAVIOURAL DEVIANCE AND OF PSYCHIATRIC DISORDERRutter, Michael; Yule, William; Bercer, Michael; Yule, Bridget; Morton, Janis; Baoley, Chrjstopher
doi: 10.1111/j.1469-7610.1974.tb01250.xpmid: 4459416
SUMMARY A total population survey was made of all 10 yr old children in an inner London borough. Teachers' questionnaires were completed on all children, and teachers and parents of a representative subsample were interviewed using standardised and previously Lested methods. As part of this study, comparisons were made between children born to West Indian migrants and children from non‐immigrant families, and within the West Indian group between children born abroad and those born in this country. It was found that West Indian children showed rather more behavioural difficulties at school but they did not differ from other children in terms of disorder shown at home, nor did they differ in terms of emotional disturbance in any setting. The findings are discussed in terms of the children's life experiences.
DIRECT OBSERVATION IN THE INFANT‐SCHOOL CLASSROOMCooper, E. S.; Ingleby, J. D.
doi: 10.1111/j.1469-7610.1974.tb01251.xpmid: 4459417
SUMMARY A method for measuring certain aspects of classroom behaviour using video recording equipment is described: its purpose was to investigate the behavioural correlates of teachers' overall ratings on first‐year schoolchildren, and differences between types of school. The methodological problems of filming and coding are discussed in detail, are results from a small sample (N= 14) are presented which show that the measures developed are reliable and sufficiently sensitive to reveal significant correlates of teachers’ratings and school types.
SUICIDE IN CHILDHOOD AND EARLY ADOLESCENCEShaffer, David
doi: 10.1111/j.1469-7610.1974.tb01252.xpmid: 4459418
SUMMARY A survey, using contemporary medical and educational data, was carried out on all childhood suicides in England and Wales over a 7 yr period. No deaths were reported before the age of 12. All the cases studied were aged 12–14, there were more than twice as many boys as girls and the group included more tall children and more children of superior intelligence than would be expected in the general population. Antisocial behaviour had been reported in most of the children before death. Suicide was most often precipitated by a disciplinary crisis and often took place after a period away from school. Previous suicidal behaviour was noted in 40 per cent of the cases, but this may be an underestimate. There was a high incidence of depression and suicidal behaviour amongst the children's parents and siblings.
SPECIFIC MOTOR DISABILITIES IN DOWNS SYNDROMEFrith, Uta; Frith, Christopher D.
doi: 10.1111/j.1469-7610.1974.tb01253.xpmid: 4282089
SUMMARY Children with Down's syndrome (Mongolism) were compared with severely subnormal autistic children and with normal children on two simple motor tasks: pursuit rotor tracking and finger tapping. Although the groups were matched on initial tracking performance, Down's syndrome children failed to show any improvement after a 5 min rest, while both comparison groups showed a very marked improvement. Furthermore, in the finger tapping task, Down's syndrome children were abnormally slow compared to the other groups. Neither the level of mental development nor the degree of general mental retardation can account for these deficits. It is hypothesised that Down's syndrome is associated with specific difficulties in using long term motor programmes and that mongol children may therefore be dependent on simple feedback processes to perform motor tasks.
TRAINING IN LOGICAL THINKING AND ITS EFFECTS ON THE GROUPING STRATEGIES OF EIGHT‐YEAR‐OLD CHILDRENBurke, Elizabeth
doi: 10.1111/j.1469-7610.1974.tb01254.xpmid: 4459419
SUMMARY An investigation into the effects of training in symbolic logic on the grouping strategies of 8‐yr‐old children is reported, Bruner's tests of equivalence (verbal and non‐verbal) being used as criteria. Generally the training was found to be beneficial for the boys, but not for the girls, the training x sex interaction being significant for performance in the verbal test. Again, for both tests, more of the experimental group displayed above‐average groupings in the functional and nominal categories, the difference from the controls being statistically significant. The implications of these findings are discussed.
EMOTIONAL AND MEDICAL FACTORS IN CHILD DENTAL ANXIETYSermet, O.
doi: 10.1111/j.1469-7610.1974.tb01255.xpmid: 4459420
SUMMARY This paper reports part of an investigation into the aetiology of child dental anxiety, and in particular considers the role of emotional and medical factors in this respect. One hundred dentally anxious children and 100 dentally non‐anxious children were seen and information about them obtained through a semi‐structured interview with the mother and by her completion of Rutter's Child Scale A Questionnaire. The results showed significant differences between the two groups of children in their emotional disorders and their medical experiences.
BOOK REVIEWSdoi: 10.1111/j.1469-7610.1974.tb01258.xpmid: N/A
Children in Distress. (2nd Edn.). Alec Clegg and Barbara Megson. Piaget: Dictionary of Terms. A. M. Battro (Translated by E. Rutschi‐Hermann and S. F. Campbell). Dyslexia and the Individual. Patrick Meredith. Maternal Deprivation Reassessed. Michael Rutter. The School Counsellor. Ken Williams. Annual Review of the Schizophrenic Syndrome. Vol. 2. Ed, Robert Cancro. The Psychoanalytic Study of the Child. Eds. Ruth S. Eissler, Anna Freud, Marianne Kris and Albert J. Solnit. The Institutionalized Severely Retarded–A Study of Activity and Interaction. Richard H. Wills. Charles C. Thomas