The behavioral and emotional well-being of school-age children with different birth weights.

Objective: To describe the mental and emotional well-being of children born at different birth weights assessed at school age and to identify neonatal, intervening health, and sociodemographic and environmental factors associated with mental and emotional well-being.

Methods: To address this issue, we used a prospective cohort study involving two previously studied cohorts, which were recontacted at 8 to 10 years of age to provide a multisite sample of 247 children weighing 1000 g or less at birth, 364 weighing 1001 to 1500 g, 724 weighing 1501 to 2500 g, and 533 weighing more than 2500 g. Maternal reports were obtained on three standardized measures of mental and emotional well-being (the Rand General Well-being Scale, the Behavior Problem Index, and the Harter Scale of Child Competence) and on intervening health, sociodemographic, and environmental variables.

Maternal rating of child health at school age: does the vulnerable child syndrome persist?

Objectives: To assess the extent to which parental ratings of child health, including perceived vulnerability to illness, are associated with current and past health events and sociodemographic characteristics of the family and the child.

Design: Prospective cohort study of children aged 8 to 10 years previously assessed in infancy in two multi-site studies.

Setting: Thirteen sites largely in eastern United States.

When you're only a phone call away: a comparison of the information in telephone and face-to-face interviews.

Telephone interviews offer an economical method of obtaining information, but little published experience addresses the use of telephone interviews for the sometimes lengthy questionnaires composed of scales with multiple-category items often required in developmental and behavioral research. In a study of the outcomes of very low birth weight infants, circumstances required that we administer a questionnaire, including seven scales composed of several Likert-type items each, to a substantial portion of the study population. Those contacted by telephone (n = 1067) differed from those responding face-to-face (n = 822) in being less likely to have a very low birth weight child and more likely to be white and of higher maternal education.

Birth weight and illness severity: independent predictors of neonatal mortality.

Background: Low birth weight is a major determinant of neonatal mortality. Yet birth weight, even in conjunction with other demographic markers, is inadequate to explain the large variations in neonatal mortality between intensive care units. This variation probably reflects differences in admission severity.

Hospitalization of very low birth weight children at school age.

Objective: To assess whether very low birth weight (VLBW) increases the risk of hospitalization at school age.

Design: Prospective, multisite cohort study.

Participants: Selected from a previous multisite, hospital-based trial, 611 VLBW children, and, from a prior representative sample, 724 children who weighed 1501 to 2500 gm and 533 who weighed > 2500 gm.

Neonatal therapeutic intervention scoring system: a therapy-based severity-of-illness index.

Severity-of-illness scales have proven valuable in assessing clinical outcomes and resource consumption in adult and pediatric intensive care, but they have been less extensively developed for neonatal care. The National Therapeutic Intervention Scoring System (NTISS) was created by modifying the Therapeutic Intervention Scoring System (TISS). From the 76 original TISS items, 42 were deleted and 28 added to form the NTISS.

The health and developmental status of very low-birth-weight children at school age.

Objective: To assess the effect of improved survival of increasingly premature infants by examining the outcomes at school age of a large group of children born at different birth weights.

Design: Inception cohort.

Setting/participants: Participants were selected from two previously studied multisite cohorts: very low-birth-weight (less than or equal to 1500 g) children referred to participating intensive care units and heavier birth-weight children drawn from a stratified random sample of births in geographically defined regions.

Cohort reconstruction: which infants can be restudied at school age?

Longer-term follow-up of infants with specific health concerns, such as low birthweight, is critical to assessing the effect of medical interventions. This report examines the approach of reconstructing previously studied cohorts in terms of the factors discriminating between respondents and non-respondents. Follow-up was attempted during 1987-1988 for 1875 children born during a 6-month period in 1978 in three geographically defined regions in the United States, for whom 1-year assessments of health and developmental status were obtained at 1 year of age as part of a previous study.

How stressful is retirement? Findings from the Normative Aging Study.

The stressfulness of retirement both as a transitional event experienced during the past year and as a life stage was investigated. Transitional stress was assessed using a life events approach, and stage stress using a "hassles" approach. Respondents were 1,516 male participants in the Normative Aging Study, 45% of whom were retired.

The MAC scale in a normal population: the meaning of "false positives".

The MAC scale has been very successful in identifying alcoholics and, in studies of clinical populations, is often considered a test for predisposition to alcoholism. MacAndrew, however, holds that the MAC scale assesses a more general personality trait characterized by sociability, boldness, rebelliousness and pleasure seeking. The present study examines the distribution of MAC scale scores in a normal population and tests for correlates of high MAC scores other than alcohol-related problems (e.

Differences in social support among retirees and workers: findings from the Normative Aging Study.

Cross-sectional differences between retirees and workers in the importance of coworkers as a source of support, as well as in general quantitative support (social networks and frequency of interaction) and qualitative support (confidants and the perceived reliability of support) were examined. The sample consisted of 1,513 older men (mean age = 61), participants in the Normative Aging Study. Half (56%) were working, and the rest were retired.

Childhood problem behavior and neuropsychological functioning in persons at risk for alcoholism.

The relationship of childhood hyperkinetic and minimal brain dysfunction (Hk-MBD) to neuropsychological functioning was examined in three groups of young adults. Nonalcoholic offspring of an alcoholic parent (N = 21) and of nonalcoholic parents (N = 21) were examined. A comparison group of similar age alcoholic patients (N = 21) was also studied.

Effect of major depression and antisocial personality on alcoholism: course and motivational patterns.

Major depression and antisocial personality are two diagnoses often associated with alcoholism. The relationship of these two diagnoses to the course of alcoholism and on the motivation for alcohol use was examined in a sample of 321 persons receiving inpatient treatment for alcoholism. Major depression did not alter the course of alcoholism in either men or women.