The impact of object relations on adjustment in conjugal bereavement was examined. At approximately 6 months postbereavement, 46 midlife bereaved participants engaged in a narrative interview in which they were asked to discuss their past relationship with their deceased spouse. The Westen et al. object relations scoring system was applied to these narratives. Participants also completed depression and grief-specific symptom measures at 6 months and again at 14 and 25 months postbereavement. Object relations correlated differently with grief-specific symptoms and depression; it was more strongly negatively associated with 6 month postloss grief-specific symptoms while more strongly negatively correlated with depression at 25 month postloss. In a growth curve analysis, more mature object relations was also predictive of a faster rate of decrease in depression over time. The results were discussed in terms of current theoretical perspectives on what is required in successful adaptation to conjugal bereavement.

A substantial body of literature suggests that childhood maltreatment is related to negative outcomes during adolescence, including delinquency, drug use, teenage pregnancy, and school failure. There has been relatively little research examining the impact that variation in the developmental stage during which the maltreatment occurs has on these relationships, however. In this paper, we reassess the impact of maltreatment on a number of adverse outcomes when developmentally specific measures of maltreatment—maltreatment that occurs only in childhood, only in adolescence, or in both childhood and adolescence—are considered. Data are drawn from the Rochester Youth Development Study, a broad-based longitudinal study of adolescent development. The analysis examines how maltreatment affects delinquency, drug use, alcohol-related problems, depressive symptoms, teen pregnancy, school dropout, and internalizing and externalizing problems during adolescence. We also examine whether the type of maltreatment experienced at various developmental stages influences the outcomes. Overall, our results suggest that adolescent and persistent maltreatment have stronger and more consistent negative consequences during adolescence than does maltreatment experienced only in childhood.

Six and a half years after adoption, 6- to 12-year-old children reared in Romanian orphanages for more than 8 months in their first years of life (RO, n = 18) had higher cortisol levels over the daytime hours than did early adopted (EA, ≤ 4 months of age, n = 15) and Canadian born (CB, n = 27) children. The effect was marked, with 22% of the RO children exhibiting cortisol levels averaged over the day that exceeded the mean plus 2 SD of the EA and CB levels. Furthermore, the longer beyond 8 months that the RO children remained institutionalized the higher their cortisol levels. Cortisol levels for EA children did not differ in any respect from those of CB comparison children. This latter finding reduces but does not eliminate concerns that the results could be due to prenatal effects or birth family characteristics associated with orphanage placement. Neither age at cortisol sampling nor low IQ measured earlier appeared to explain the findings. Because the conditions in Romanian orphanages at the time these children were adopted were characterized by multiple risk factors, including gross privation of basic needs and exposure to infectious agents, the factor(s) that produced the increase in cortisol production cannot be determined. Nor could we determine whether these results reflected effects on the limbic–hypothalamic–pituitary– adrenal axis directly or were mediated by differences in parent–child interactions or family stress occasion by behavioral problems associated with prolonged orphanage care in this sample.

In this study, women's levels of ego development and their psychological difficulties were examined in relation to feelings in the maternal role. The sample consisted of 91 mothers from diverse socioeconomic backgrounds. Ego development was assessed by the Washington University Sentence Completion Test, and psychological difficulties were operationalized by self-reported global symptomatology, maternal substance abuse, and expressed anger. Outcome variables included feelings of satisfaction, distress, and support in the maternal role, as well as the degree to which negative and positive emotions were integrated in response to hypothetical vignettes of challenging everyday child-rearing experiences. Hypotheses were that women at high levels of ego development would show greater deterioration in the presence versus absence of self-reported adjustment problems than would those at lower levels. A series of interaction effects each indicated trends consistent with the hypotheses. These results add to accumulating evidence that tendencies toward self-examination, characteristic of high developmental levels, do not inevitably serve protective functions but may be linked with heightened reactivity to negative intrapsychic forces.

The study was based on the assumption that stressors in the lives of pregnant and parenting women are processes that affect prenatal, postpartum, and concurrent maternal hormones and emotions and that these processes affect child temperament. The hypotheses were tested in a group of 67 young mothers and their 3-year-old children. Mothers were clustered into groups based on longitudinal patterns of hormones and emotions at prenatal, postpartum, and 3-year follow-up assessments. The analyses focused on relating maternal patterns of hormones and emotions to the child's temperament at age 3 years. Temperament was assessed by questionnaire and observation of behavior during a challenging situation. Illustrative findings included the following. Verbal aggression and nonverbal aggression were significantly higher in children of mothers in the low prenatal hormone cluster than children of mothers in the high prenatal hormone cluster. Children of mothers in the postpartum low testosterone (T), estradiol (E2), and androstenedione (Δ4-A) and medium cortisol (Cort) cluster (mainly low hormone cluster) exhibited significantly more physical aggression than children of mothers in the medium T and Δ4-A, high E2 and low Cort cluster. Maternal patterns of hormones, emotions, and parenting attitudes and practices were related to multiple aspects of temperament when the children were age 3 years. The findings support the important role of maternal biological and psychological processes in the development of child temperament.

Child abuse and neglect have repeatedly been shown to be risks for psychiatric and personality disorders. However, much of this evidence is based on retrospective reports of adults. In addition, little is known about the developmental course of psychopathology among those exposed to child maltreatment. In this study, we report mental disorders assessed from early childhood to adulthood in those later identified as victims of abuse or neglect by official or self-report. Findings show elevated rates of mental disorders and symptoms in each of four groups relative to the normative sample. Groups included those who had been victims of physical abuse or neglect according to official report and those who had been victims of physical or sexual abuse by self-report. As expected, the maltreated groups were quite different demographically from the community comparison sample, especially those with official reports. The group with retrospective self-reports of physical abuse differed only modestly from the comparison group on the symptom and disorder measures, while the sexually abused group showed the most consistently elevated patterns, even after controls for demographic differences were taken into account. The disorder and symptom patterns differed both by group and by age: neglect cases showed a partial remission in adulthood, while official physical abuse cases showed an increasingly consolidated pattern of antisocial and impulsive behavior.

It is well known that individuals from more advantaged social classes enjoy better mental and physical health than do individuals within lower classes. Various mechanisms have been evoked to explain the association between socioeconomic status (SES) and health. One mechanism that has received particular attention in recent years is stress. It has been shown that individuals lower in SES report greater exposure to stressful life events and a greater impact of these events on their life than individuals higher in SES. In order to measure whether the development of the relationship between SES and mental health is sustained by exposure to high levels of glucocorticoids, we measured morning salivary cortisol levels as well as cognitive function (memory, attention, and language) in 307 children (from 6 to 16 years of age) from low versus high SES in the Montreal area in Canada. The results revealed that low SES children from 6 to 10 years old present significantly higher salivary cortisol levels when compared to children from high SES. This difference disappears at the time of school transition, and no SES differences are observed in salivary cortisol levels during high school. However, children from low and high SES do not differ with regard to memory or to attentional and linguistic functions. Also, mothers of low SES children reported higher feelings of depression and more unhealthy behaviors, while mothers of high SES children reported higher stress related to work or family transitions. Altogether, these results show that low SES in young children is related to increased cortisol secretion, although the impact of SES on cortisol secretion is absent after transition to high school. These data are interpreted within the context of the equalization process of class patterning. Four social explanatory factors are suggested to explain the disappearance of SES differences in basal cortisol levels after school transition, taking into account the influence of family environment on the child's secretion of stress hormones.

This study examines short- and long-term maladaptive outcomes in a sample of sexually abused females and a comparison group. The sample consists of intrafamilial sexual abuse victims ages 6–16 years at entry into the study and a demographically similar comparison group. The outcomes examined included measures of behavior and psychological problems such as aggressive behavior, depression, dissociation, and low self-esteem; and measures at two time points, first at entry into the study (median age 11 years) and approximately 7 years later (median age 18 years). The specific questions being addressed were (a) whether subgroups or profiles, based on the specific characteristics of the sexual abuse experienced, can be identified in this sample of abused females; and (b) whether these profile groups predict different patterns of adverse short- or long-term outcomes.

Although an extensive literature has accumulated documenting the maladaptive outcomes associated with childhood victimization, a limited body of knowledge addresses resilience. This paper sought to operationalize the construct of resilience across a number of domains of functioning and time periods and to determine the extent to which abused and neglected children grown up demonstrate resilience. Substantiated cases of child abuse and neglect from 1967 to 1971 were matched on gender, age, race, and approximate family social class with nonabused and nonneglected children and followed prospectively into young adulthood. Between 1989 and 1995, 1,196 participants (676 abused and neglected and 520 controls) were administered a 2-hr in-person interview, including a psychiatric assessment. Resilience requires meeting the criteria for success across six of eight domains of functioning: employment, homelessness, education, social activity, psychiatric disorder, substance abuse, and two domains assessing criminal behavior (official arrest and self-reports of violence). Results indicate that 22% of abused and neglected individuals meet the criteria for resilience. More females met the criteria for resilience and females were successful across a greater number of domains than males. We speculate on the meaning of these findings and discuss implications for the child maltreatment field. Limitations of the study are also acknowledged.

Cortisol regulation was investigated in a sample of school-aged maltreated (n = 175) and demographically comparable low-income nonmaltreated (n = 209) children in the context of a day camp research program. Overall group differences between maltreated and nonmaltreated children were not found for average morning or average afternoon cortisol levels. However, significant variations were found that were based on the subtypes of maltreatment that the children had experienced. Maltreated children who had been both physically and sexually abused (as well as neglected or emotionally maltreated) exhibited substantial elevations in morning cortisol levels; children who had high (>1 SD) cortisol levels in both the morning and afternoon were also overrepresented in the multiple abuse group. Developmental timing of maltreatment did not account for these group differences, whereas the severity of sexual abuse was implicated. In contrast to the multiple abuse group, a subgroup of physically abused children showed evidence of a trend toward lower morning cortisol relative to nonmaltreated children with a significantly smaller decrease in cortisol levels from morning to afternoon. The findings are discussed in terms of the diversity of atypical cortisol regulation patterns that are exhibited among maltreated children.

The purpose of this study was to examine adrenocortical activity (basal, diurnal variation, and responses to social stressors) in adolescents at risk for psychopathology. Salivary cortisol levels were examined in normally developing and at-risk youth with internalizing and externalizing symptoms ranging from subclinical to clinical levels. Adolescents showed expected patterns of diurnal variation, with high early morning cortisol levels and a pattern of decline throughout the day. Females showed higher midday and late afternoon levels than males, and these patterns interacted with risk status. Internalizing problems sometimes were associated with gradual rather than steep declines in basal cortisol production. Both immediate and delayed cortisol reactivity to a social performance stressor were associated with internalizing symptoms. There was no evidence of relations between externalizing problems and underarousal of the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) system. These and other results suggest that gender is an important moderating factor linking psychopathology, development, and context with HPA axis functioning in adolescence.

Adolescence is associated with an increase in the rate of certain psychiatric symptoms, and it is typically the developmental period when prodromal features of the major psychiatric disorders emerge. This is especially true of schizophrenia, with the majority of patients showing a marked postpubertal rise in schizotypal signs that predates the onset of clinical symptoms in early adulthood. Cross-sectional studies of youth have revealed a positive correlation between age and saliva cortisol level, suggesting a normative maturational increase in activity of the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis. It has been hypothesized that this increase may trigger the expression of symptoms in vulnerable individuals. The present longitudinal study measured cortisol secretion and its relation with symptom development in samples of youth with schizotypal personality disorder (SPD), other personality disorders, or no Axis II disorder. The findings indicate moderate stability in cortisol levels across a 2-year period, with a longitudinal increase in cortisol levels over time. Cortisol levels at the first and second assessments were correlated with the severity of SPD symptoms at follow-up. The results are consistent with the notion that the HPA axis undergoes a postpubertal maturational process that moderates the expression of psychiatric symptoms.

Among the adverse mental health consequences of childhood trauma is the risk related to the development of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in adulthood. Other risk factors for PTSD, including parental trauma exposure and parental PTSD, can also contribute to the experience of child trauma. We examined associations between childhood trauma and PTSD in 51 adult children of Holocaust survivors and 41 comparison subjects, in consideration of parental trauma exposure and parental PTSD. We also examined these variables in relation to 24-hr urinary cortisol levels. Adult offspring of Holocaust survivors showed significantly higher levels of self-reported childhood trauma, particularly emotional abuse and neglect, relative to comparison subjects. The difference was largely attributable to parental PTSD. Self-reported childhood trauma was also related to severity of PTSD in subjects, and emotional abuse was significantly associated with 24-hr mean urinary cortisol secretion. We conclude that the experience of childhood trauma may be an important factor in the transmission of PTSD from parent to child.