Increased leptin messenger RNA and serum leptin levels in children with Prader-Willi syndrome and nonsyndromal obesity

To study the potential role of the ob gene pathway in childhood obesity, we have investigated leptin mRNA levels in s.c. adipose tissue obtained from nonobese prepubertal children (n = 20), obese nonsyndromal children (n = 6), and children with Prader-Willi syndrome (n = 6) by in situ hybridization histochemistry. We have also investigated the fasting serum leptin levels in such children. Compared with nonobese children, leptin mRNA expression was higher both in children with Prader-Willi syndrome and in children with nonsyndromal obesity (p < 0.01). Furthermore, the serum leptin levels were also significantly higher in both children with Prader-Willi syndrome and nonsyndromal obesity compared with the nonobese children (p < 0.001). However, no significant differences in adipose tissue leptin mRNA or serum leptin levels were observed between children with Prader-Willi syndrome and nonsyndromal obese children. As expected both fasting serum leptin levels and leptin mRNA expression levels correlated to body mass index (rs = 0.80 and 0.73, respectively, p < 0.005). No difference in leptin expression between Prader-Willi syndrome and nonsyndromal childhood obesity could be revealed in the present study. However, differences in the hypothalamic response to leptin between the two forms of obesity cannot be excluded.     

Familial risk factors to oppositional defiant disorder and conduct disorder: Parental psychopathology and maternal parenting.

In a sample of 177 clinic-referred children (aged 7–13 yrs), an association was found between a diagnosis of conduct disorder (CD) and several aspects of family functioning: maternal parenting (supervision and persistence in discipline) and parental adjustment (paternal antisocial personality disorder and paternal substance abuse). Children with oppositional defiant disorder were intermediate to families of children with CD and clinic control children on all variables, but differed from control children only in having a higher rate of paternal substance abuse and paternal antisocial personality disorder (APD). When both parental APD and deviant maternal parenting were entered into 2?×?2 logit-model analyses predicting CD, only parental APD was significantly associated with CD, and no interactions between parental adjustment and maternal parenting were found. The importance of these findings for understanding the etiology of CD and for disentangling correlated risk factors in future studies is discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Security, emotionality, and parental depression: A commentary.

New studies suggest that changes in family environments due to parental depression increase children's risk for psychopathology. However, some aspects of family and child functioning may not be adversely affected. Future directions include (a) more precise definition of the response processes that are at risk in children and (b) differentiation of response processes linked with different dysfunctional family processes (e.g., parenting, marital conflict). Little elaboration of conceptual models has occurred in response to recent findings. Emotional security provides an explanatory construct for how certain family environments associated with parental depression increase children's risk for psychopathology. New directions are outlined for the study of relations between family environments associated with parental depression and children's emotional security. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Development of a typology of dual-earner families: A window into differences between and within families in relationships, roles, and activities.

A typology of dual-earner families based on mothers' and fathers' reports of work hours, job prestige, role overload, and job involvement was developed with a sample of 85 dual-earner couples with school-aged children. Three groups emerged that were distinguished by both between-groups and within-couple differences in the clustering variables: (a) high-status dual-earner families, (b) low-stress dual-earner families and (c) main–secondary provider families. Group membership was related not only to demographic variables (e.g., parental education and income) but to marital quality, family roles, and parental monitoring of children's activities. Analyses conducted to replicate the typology revealed that similar groups emerged in data collected a year later. Group membership was stable over time for all groups except the main–secondary provider group; this category appears to represent a transitional status for employed mothers. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Origins of familial similarity in parenting: A study of twins and adoptive siblings.

Parents of young children completed questionnaires that assessed attitudes toward parenting and specific parenting practices, the emotional atmosphere of the home, and parental personality. These parents were themselves either identical twins (n?=?90), fraternal twins (n?=?56), or adoptive siblings (n?=?40). Model-fitting results implicate modest genetic effects on affect-related aspects of parenting, such as parental warmth. The results add new dimensions to the growing body of literature that documents genetic influences on measures of the family environment and suggest that childrearing variables are significantly related to the major factors of parental personality. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Family risk factors, parental depression, and psychopathology in offspring.

Associations between parents' poor marital adjustment, parent–child discord, affectionless control, low family cohesion, and parental divorce and Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-III) diagnoses were explored in a study of 220 offspring of parents with and without major depression. Family risk factors were more prevalent among offspring of depressed parents. Risk factors were associated with major depression and any diagnosis for children of nondepressed parents; they were associated with conduct disorder for both groups. Parental depression was more important than family risk factors in models predicting major depression, anxiety disorders, and any diagnosis. Both parental depression and family risk factors were significant predictors of conduct disorder. Implications for the etiology of psychopathology and for analytic strategies are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Treatment issues in genetic mental retardation syndromes.

Because of genetic advances and radical shifts in service delivery, psychologists in community mental health and social service agencies increasingly serve clients with mental retardation syndromes. Persons with specific genetic mental retardation syndromes often differ in their behavioral strengths and weaknesses and in their predispositions to psychiatric disorders. Although genetic breakthroughs are sparking more research on these so-called behavioral phenotypes, researchers have yet to systematically translate phenotypic data into guidelines for therapy and intervention. Using fragile X syndrome, Williams syndrome, and Prader-Willi syndrome as examples, this article shows how the behavioral phenotypes of mental retardation syndromes can inform clinical practice. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Parental divorce, parent–child bonds, and adult attachment orientations among college students: A comparison of three racial/ethnic groups.

Despite evidence indicating that race/ethnicity and parental divorce may respectively affect perceptions of family and other intimate relationships, the conjoint influences of these sociodemographic variables on self-reports of both early (parent–child) and current (intimate adult) attachment relationships have not been investigated. In the present study, the authors examined (a) the contributions of parental marital status and race/ethnicity to scores on these measures and (b) the relative abilities of parental bonds to predict adult attachment orientations among students from different family backgrounds (i.e., intact and divorced) and from different racial/ethnic groups (i.e., White, Black, and Hispanic/Latino). Results indicated that race/ethnicity and parents' marital status had significant effects on the attachment measures, and that the extent to which parental bonds predicted adult attachment orientations varied among students with different family backgrounds and race/ethnicity. Implications of these findings to the conceptualization of college students' psychosocial development are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Parental affective style risk and the family system: A social relations model analysis.

Social relations model analysis was used to clarify family dynamics associated with parental affective style, an index of parent-to-child behavior associated with severe psychopathology in the child. Results from 70 families who had sought clinical services for an adolescent family member (39 girls and 31 boys) suggest (1) that adolescents elicit the negative parental affective style that puts them at risk and (2) that elicitation of negative parental affect is strongly tied to adolescents' expression of negative affect toward their parents (i.e., a reciprocity effect). The findings support the views that children contribute to their own risk of psychopathology and that parent–child behavior ought to be interpreted in the broader context of the family system. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Attachment styles and personality disorders: their connections to each other and to parental divorce, parental death, and perceptions of parental caregiving

Attachment theory was explored as a means of understanding the origins of personality disorders. We investigated whether adult attachment styles and personality disorders share a common underlying structure, and how both kinds of variables relate to family background factors, including parental death, parental divorce, and current representations of childhood relationships with parents. A nonclinical group of 1407 individuals, mostly adolescents and young adults, were surveyed about their attachment styles, parental marital status, parental mortality status, perceptions of treatment by parents in childhood, and 13 personality disorders. Results indicated substantial overlap between attachment and personality-disorder measures. Two of the personality-disorder dimensions are related to the two dimensions of the attachment space; that is, there is a two-dimensional space in which both the attachment patterns and most of the personality disorders can be arrayed. The one personality-disorder factor that is unrelated to attachment appears akin to psychopathy. Both personality disorders and attachment styles were associated with family-of-origin variables. Results are discussed in terms of encouraging further research to test the idea that insecure attachment and most of the personality disorders share similar developmental antecedents.     

Greater reinforcement from alcohol for those at risk: Parental risk, personality risk, and sex.

The effects of a high dose of alcohol (1 g ethanol/kg body weight) on physiological and self-report responses to two stressors (electric shock and self-disclosing speech) were compared with the effects of a placebo in three groups of nonalcoholic subjects considered to be at heightened risk for alcoholism by virtue of their (a) having an alcoholic parent (parental risk) or (b) matching a prealcoholic personality profile (personality risk), or (c) having an alcoholic parent and matching a prealcoholic personality profile. These high-risk groups were contrasted with a low-risk group that had neither risk factor. Male and female subjects were tested in each group with appropriate controls for drinking experience and, for female subjects, phase of menstrual cycle. Results indicated that a potentially reinforcing effect of alcohol (its capacity to attenuate physiological responses to stress) was more pronounced in high-risk subjects than in low-risk subjects. This relation was found for both parental risk and personality risk factors and in both male and female subjects. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Special feature: family-genetic research strategies for personality disorders

Personality disorders (PD) might be considered as extremes of personality dimensions varying in the general population or as attenuated variants of major psychiatric disorders. Both personality variation and major psychiatric disorders have been shown in twin and adoption studies, to be influenced by genes. Hence, it is likely that personality disorders are also under genetic control. However, direct evidence for influential familial and genetic factors is scarce. Various research strategies in this area are described and current evidence is reported. Gene-oriented approaches seem to be particularly promising. This strategy is illustrated for personality disorders in obligate carriers of mutations in the fragile-X gene.     

School, occupation, culture, and family: The impact of parental schooling on the parent–child relationship.

Hypothesized that among the enduring effects of schooling on the individual are certain behavioral dispositions that determine how he/she will behave as a parent. As a result, parental behavior will have important consequences for a child's development of specific cognitive skills, learning strategies, and personality characteristics. In several studies, attempts were made to determine whether parental schooling, parental occupational status, and maternal employment each had a distinct pattern of influences on educationally related aspects of the parent–child relationship. The inquiry was conducted in the context of issues regarding ethnic diversity, individual variability within ethnic groups, and educational and occupational equity, giving particular attention to Chicano families. The findings regarding linkages between parental schooling and the parent–child relationship suggest plausible explanations of the frequent scholastic failure observed among the members of certain ethnic minorities in the US. A broad theoretical model is presented that causally links parental schooling, family interaction processes, and children's scholastic performance. (78 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Dynamics of childhood and adolescent personality traits and adolescent drug use.

Examined the relative impact of childhood and adolescent personality/behavioral attributes on the adolescent's stage of drug use. Mothers of 356 youngsters were interviewed concerning their child's personality, behavior, development and childrearing techniques, family structure, family health, and demographics when the child was 5–20 yrs of age (Time 1 [T1]) and again when the child was 13–18 yrs old (Time 2 [T2]). Adolescents also completed a self-report questionnaire concerning their personalities, behavior, and drug use at T2. As hypothesized, findings support a mediational model as best depicting the interrelation of the domains of childhood and adolescent personality and stage of drug use. Childhood personality attributes were related to adolescent personality attributes, which in turn were related to adolescents' stage of drug use. Across-time personality correlations suggested that substantial continuity exists in personality traits. However, there was also some evidence for the malleability of these traits. Results suggest the positive effects of protective (i.e., nondrug-conducive) personality traits in children can be weakened by the presence of risk factors during adolescence, leading to higher T2 drug stage, and that the negative impact of childhood risk personality traits can be ameliorated by protective personality traits during adolescence, resulting in lower drug stage. (48 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Williams syndrome--the Singapore General Hospital experience

Williams syndrome first described in 1961 is generally characterised by mental deficiency, gregarious personality, unusual "elfin" facies, supravalvular aortic stenosis and idiopathic infantile hypercalcaemia. Patients with Williams syndrome show a hemizygous submicroscopic deletion of 7q11.23 detectable by fluorescent in-situ hybridisation (FISH). The deleted portion of the chromosome corresponds to the Elastin gene. We report 3 girls with characteristics of Williams syndrome in whom the diagnosis was confirmed by demonstration of the hemizygous deletion of 7q11.23 in the karyotype by FISH. These patients, aged 6, 7 and 10 years, showed the characteristic facies and gregarious personalities. Some developmental delay with mild mental deficiency and dysmorphic facies were prominent features in the initial presentation. Cardiac lesions found in these patients were small patent ductus arteriosus which closed, pulmonary valvular stenosis and mitral valve prolapse associated with mitral regurgitation respectively. Hypercalcaemia was not documented in these patients. Learning difficulty was a major issue and all patients required special schooling. Chromosome analyses done on peripheral blood were found to be normal in all patients. FISH using the Elastin Williams Syndrome Chromosome Region (WSCR) probes (oncor) showed the hemizygous deletion of 7q11.23. Diagnosis of Williams syndrome can now be confidently confirmed with the help of FISH.     

Genomic imprinting and its role in Prader-Willi and Angelman syndromes

Published and our own data, included in the CHRODYS database, on the dependence of phenotypic abnormalities in mono-, di-, and trisomics at human chromosome 15 on its parental origin are reviewed. The concept is confirmed that Prader-Willi and Angelman syndromes result from the combined effect of gene or chromosome mutations impairing the expression of syndrome-specific genes and from genomic imprinting, i.e., repression of corresponding genes received from one of the parents.     

Parental monitoring and perceptions of children's school performance and conduct in dual- and single-earner families.

Relationships between parental monitoring and children's school performance and conduct were examined in 77 dual- and 75 single-earner families in which the eldest child was between 9 and 12 years old. During home interviews, mothers, fathers, and children reported on children's school grades, perceived academic competence, and perceived conduct. Parental monitoring (i.e., parents' knowledge about children's daily experiences) was assessed in 7 evening telephone interviews. Results indicated that less well-monitored boys received lower grades than did other children. Less well-monitored boys in dual-earner families perceived their conduct more negatively than did other children, a pattern corroborated by parents' reports. The findings are discussed with regard to the importance of examining family processes in contrasting family ecologies. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Parent, family, and child characteristics: Associations with mother- and father-reported emotion socialization practices.

The present research examined parental beliefs about children’s negative emotions, parent-reported marital conflict/ambivalence, and child negative emotionality and gender as predictors of mothers’ and fathers’ reported reactions to their kindergarten children’s negative emotions and self-expressiveness in the family (N = 55, two-parent families). Models predicting parents’ nonsupportive reactions and negative expressiveness were significant. For both mothers and fathers, more accepting beliefs about children’s negative emotions were associated with fewer nonsupportive reactions, and greater marital conflict/ambivalence was associated with more negative expressiveness. Furthermore, interactions between child negative emotionality and parental resources (e.g., marital conflict/ambivalence; accepting beliefs) emerged for fathers’ nonsupportive reactions and mothers’ negative expressiveness. In some instances, child gender acted as a moderator such that associations between parental beliefs about emotions and the emotion socialization outcomes emerged when child and parent gender were concordant. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Relations among perceived parental control, warmth, indulgence, and family harmony of Chinese in mainland China.

In clarifying the relation between parent–child relationship and parental control, previous research has shown that parental warmth was associated positively with order-keeping parental organization and negatively with dominating parental control. The present study, with separate analyses for fathers and mothers, further examined the relations among adult perceptions of parental dominating control, warmth, indulgence, and family harmony. The subjects were 925 educated Chinese in mainland China, who were asked to recall the child-rearing pattern of their parents. As in previous research, it was found that greater perceived parental dominating control was related to less perceived parental warmth. Results also showed that greater parental warmth and less parental control were related to greater perceived family harmony. These relations were found in analyses for both fathers and mothers. Similarities in the relations among perceived parental behaviors between sons and daughters, and differences in the perceived paternal and maternal treatment of children, are also discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)