This Annotation highlights recent research on the role of peer group and friendship factors in the development of psychopathology in childhood and adolescence. Several processes are considered, including peer rejection (e.g., exclusion and victimization), social withdrawal and avoidance of peer interaction, and the socialization of deviant behavior and internalizing problems. The mediating influences of several proximal components are examined, including cognitive-perceptual factors and emotion regulation. In addition, the moderating influences of close friendship, age, gender, ethnicity, and group norms are considered. Several promising avenues for future directions in research are highlighted, including the examination of heterogeneity in developmental processes, further investigation of gender-based norms, and the application of multi-level modeling techniques and gene-environment process models.

This study investigated the longitudinal stability of sociometric classification in two groups of children aged 8 to 10 years over a 2-year period. Two simple, but sensitive and valid forced-choice sociometric measures were completed by 41 children with moderate learning difficulties (MLD) and 375 mainstream children. On both occasions and on both measures (one using a ‘‘work with’’ and one a ‘‘play with’’ sociometric criterion) MLD pupils were significantly less likely to be classified as popular and more likely to be classified as rejected. Over the 2-year period just over half of the children, whether MLD or mainstream, were classified in the same sociometric category. However, the stability coefficients for the rejected and popular sociometric status groups were found to be higher in the included sample than in the mainstream sample. The results of this study are compared with previous longitudinal studies in the area that have focused on mainstream pupils, and implications for the use of sociometric measures in evaluating the outcomes of inclusion are discussed.

The last decades have shown a rapid increase in nonresponse rates. For this reason it is important to study nonresponse and think about it critically. In this article we investigated whether nonresponse affected estimates of the levels of adjustment problems in children and the correlations between these outcomes. The nonresponse was caused by parents who refused permission to interview their children at school, parents who did not return a questionnaire, teachers who did not complete the questionnaire, and parents who refused to participate in an in-depth study, with nonresponse rates of 9%, 69%, 25%, and 46% respectively. The sample consisted of 1282 children aged 4–5 years and the dependent measures were peer-rated sociometric status, self-rated wellbeing at school, and teacher-rated behaviour problems. Despite considerable nonresponse in some conditions our results showed hardly any evidence for bias. This suggested that bias cannot simply be inferred from the amount of nonresponse and that standard rules such as ‘‘nonresponse rates higher than 50% are not acceptable’’ lack a scientific basis. Instead, we argue that to assess nonresponse bias the specific conditions and analyses of the study will need to be considered and special measures may be required.

The aim of the present study was to follow up the long-term course of adolescent-onset anorexia nervosa by repeated assessment, to analyze the association between the course of the eating disorder and psychiatric comorbidity, and to evaluate psychosocial outcome. The sample consisted of 39 inpatients who were reinvestigated 3, 7, and 10 years after discharge. The patients and 39 controls matched for age, gender, and occupational status were assessed with structured interviews on DSM-III-R eating disorders, additional axis I and axis II psychiatric disorders, and psychosocial functioning. Results showed that 69% of the original subjects met the criteria for full recovery at the 10-year follow-up. One patient (3%) still exhibited the full syndrome of restrictive anorexia nervosa, two patients (5%) the full syndrome of bulimia nervosa. None of the patients had died. Of the subjects, 51% currently had an axis I psychiatric disorder and 23% met the full criteria for a personality disorder. Apart from the eating disorder, anxiety disorders and avoidant-dependent and obsessive-compulsive personality disorders were the most common psychiatric diagnoses. There was a significant association between psychiatric comorbidity and the outcome of the eating disorder and between outcome and psychosocial adaptation. With regard to psychiatric morbidity and psychosocial functioning, long-term recovered patients did not differ significantly from normal controls. It is concluded that in most patients adolescent anorexia nervosa takes a prolonged course, although it seems to be more favorable than in adult-onset forms. Those who achieve complete recovery from the eating disorder have a good chance of overcoming other psychiatric disorders and to adapt to social requirements.

The aim of this study was to assess prospectively the long-term outcome in a representative sample of teenage-onset anorexia nervosa (AN) in respect of psychiatric disorders and overall outcome. Fifty-one AN cases, recruited by community screening, with a mean age of onset of 14 years, was contrasted with 51 matched comparison cases at a mean age of 24 years (10 years after AN onset). All 102 cases had been examined at ages 16 and 21 years. At 24 years all probands were interviewed regarding psychiatric disorders (SCID-I) and overall outcome (Morgan-Russell assessment schedule, the GAF). There were no deaths at 10-year follow-up. One in four in the AN group had a persisting eating disorder (ED), including three who still had anorexia nervosa. Lifetime diagnoses of affective disorders and obsessive-compulsive disorder were over-represented in the AN group. Outcome according to Morgan-Russell was poor in 27%, intermediate in 29%, and good in 43%. According to the GAF, half the AN group had a poor psychosocial functioning. These were subjects with either a persisting ED or lifelong problems with social interaction or obsessive-compulsive behaviour. Ten-year outcome of teenage-onset AN is favourable in the majority of cases; most individuals have recovered from their ED and have no other axis I disorder. However, half the AN group reported poor psychosocial outcome, in most cases explained by a persisting ED or chronic obsessive-compulsive behaviour/social interaction problems.

The effects of postnatal depression on cognitive test scores at 20 months and 4;8 years of age as well as the timing (onset in the early postnatal period versus later), severity, number of episodes, duration of longest phase, recency, and chronicity of material depression on children's cognitive scores at 6;3 years was investigated. In South Bavaria, Germany, 1329 mothers of singletons were screened when the children were 6;3 years of age for the presence of depressive symptoms since the birth of their infant. A standard interview (SADS-L) was used to ascertain DSM-IV diagnosis and details of depressive episodes. Ninety-two mothers were diagnosed as having suffered DSM-IV defined depression (7%). Seven hundred and twenty-one mothers had no depressive episodes or symptoms from their children's birth until 6;3 years and were used as control group. The children had been assessed with the Griffiths Scales of Babies' Abilities (20 months), the Columbia Mental Maturity Scales (CMM) at 4;8 years, and the Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children (K-ABC) at 6;3 years. No significant main effects of severity, timing of onset, duration, or chronicity of depression of the child's cognitive development were found. Significant interactions of gender with chronicity of maternal depression (i.e. early-onset major and repeated episodes) were detected. Low SES boys or boys born at neonatal risk of mothers with chronic depression had lower Achievement Scores in the K-ABC at 6;3 years than children of mothers with less severe depression or controls. It is concluded that maternal depression per se has negligible effects on children's cognitive development. Long-term effects may be found when maternal depression is chronic, the child is a boy and neonatal risk-born, or the family suffers other social risks.

This study investigated predictors of attachment security in a play context using a sample of 71 mothers and their 6-month-old infants. We sought to rethink the concept of maternal sensitivity by focusing on mothers' ability accurately to read the mental states governing infant behaviour. Five categories were devised to assess this ability, four of which were dependent on maternal responses to infant behaviours, such as object-directed activity. The fifth, mothers' Appropriate mind-related comments, assessed individual differences in mothers' proclivity to comment appropriately on their infants' mental states and processes. Higher scores in this fifth category related to a secure attachment relationship at 12 months. Maternal sensitivity and Appropriate mind-related comments were independent predictors of attachment security at 12 months, respectively accounting for 6·5% and 12·7% of its variance. We suggest that these findings are in line with current theorising on internal working models of attachment, and may help to explain security-related differences in mentalising abilities.

The current study examined the predictors of parent-child relationship quality and developmental change in a sample of children adopted into the U.K. following severe early privation, and in a comparison sample of nondeprived, within-country adoptees. One hundred and fifty-eight children adopted from Romania and 52 U.K. adoptees were assessed at age 6 years; longitudinal data (age 4 and 6 years) were available on the 110 Romanian adoptees placed into U.K. homes before 24 months of age and all U.K. adoptees. Ratings of parent-child positivity and negativity during a semistructured interaction task were obtained from coders who were blind to the child's background. Results indicated that adoptive parent-child relationship quality was related to duration of deprivation and that cognitive/developmental delay mediated this association. The magnitude of this effect was modest and diminished over time. Longitudinal analyses revealed that positive change in parent-child relationship quality was most marked among children who exhibited cognitive catch-up between assessments. The direction of effects appeared to be primarily child to parent. The findings underscore the need for further research on the long-term impact of early experiences on psychosocial development.

The relationship between child- and parent-reported quality of life (QOL) and the effects of parental mental health, illness stressors, and child vulnerability was explored using two measures of QOL: the Pediatric Cancer Quality Life-32 (Varni et al., 1998a) and the Disquol (Eiser, Cotter, Oades, Seamark, & Smith, 1999). Thirty-two children with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (mean age = 8·92 years) and 36 parents completed measures of QOL when attending routine clinic. In addition, parents also completed the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-28), perception of the child's vulnerability, and illness-related stressors. Significant correlations were found between the overall scores on the two child-completed QOL measures, with a range of poor, moderate to good correlations found between the individual subscales. Poor to moderate concordance was found between child and parent reports. Children who self-reported poorer QOL had mothers who were more depressed. Parents who reported poorer QOL for their child reported more illness stressors and perceived their child as being more vulnerable. Assumptions that concordance between child and parent ratings of QOL is a necessary requirement for new measures of QOL are challenged.

This study addressed three questions: (1) Do adolescents undergoing plastic surgery have a realistic view of their body? (2) How urgent is the psychosocial need of adolescents to undergo plastic surgery? (3) Which relations exist between bodily attitudes and psychosocial functioning and personality? From 1995 to 1997, 184 plastic surgical patients aged 12 to 22, and a comparison group of 684 adolescents and young adults from the general population aged 12 to 22 years, and their parents, were interviewed and completed questionnaires and standardised rating scales. Adolescents accepted for plastic surgery had realistic appearance attitudes and were psychologically healthy overall. Patients were equally satisfied with their overall appearance as the comparison group, but more dissatisfied with the specific body parts concerned for operation, especially when undergoing corrective operations. Patients had measurable appearance-related psychosocial problems. Patient boys reported less self-confidence on social areas than all other groups. There were very few patient-comparison group differences in correlations between bodily and psychosocial variables, indicating that bodily attitudes and satisfaction are not differentially related to psychosocial functioning and self-perception in patients than in peers. We concluded that adolescents accepted for plastic surgery have considerable appearance-related psychosocial problems, patients in the corrective group reporting more so than in the reconstructive group. Plastic surgeons may assume that these adolescents in general have a realistic attitude towards their appearance, are psychologically healthy, and are mainly dissatisfied about the body parts concerned for operation, corrective patients more so than reconstructive patients. Introverted patients may need more attention from plastic surgeons during the psychosocial assessment.

The present study investigated longitudinal pathways from specific early preschool behavioral problems (ages 2–3 years) to internalizing and externalizing problems in preadolescence (ages 10–11 years), and the role of social problems at school entry (ages 4–5 years) in such pathways. Path analyses were performed using both parent and teacher reports in a sample of 251 to 346 children from the general population, depending on the availability of parent and teacher data at each time of assessment. Structural equation modeling revealed homotypic internalizing and externalizing pathways, predictions from early preschool externalizing problems to later internalizing problems, and negative predictive paths from early internalizing problems to externalizing problems in preadolescence. Cross-informant predictions spanning 8 years were found between parent-reported aggression and overactivity at ages 2–3 years and teacher-reported externalizing problems at ages 10–11 years. Further, results showed that boys' pathways were more complex and showed greater predictive validity than pathways for girls, and that social problems at school entry played a significant role in pathways to internalizing problems, but only for boys. The results are discussed from a developmental psychopathology perspective.

The present study compared the sensitivity to pre- and post-reward delays of children with and without DSM-IV combined type ADHD. Thirty-six children with DSM-IV combined type ADHD and 36 controls completed a signal-detection task. Correct identification of one stimulus produced an immediate reward and then a 3·5 s delay before the next trial (immediate reward). Correct identification of the other stimulus was associated with a 3·5 s delay before reward was delivered (delayed reward). Group differences emerged in response bias toward the immediately rewarded alternative. Children in the ADHD group showed a greater bias toward immediate reward than the controls. Children in the control group showed different patterns of response bias and discriminability following immediate and delayed rewards. For these children discriminability was lower and response bias was greater on trials following delayed reward. Both groups responded more slowly on trials following delayed reward. These findings support the hypothesis that children with ADHD are unusually sensitive to pre-reward delays.