BACKGROUND Little is known about the predictive validity and clinical significance of chronic irritability during early childhood. This prospective, longitudinal study examined associations of preschool chronic irritability with psychiatric disorders, functional impairment, and service use at age nine in a large community sample. METHODS Four hundred and forty-six children were assessed at ag...

Anxiety disorders are common among parents of anxious children and have been found to impede child treatment outcomes, yet it is unclear whether it is parental anxiety that needs to be targeted in therapy or associated parental behaviours. Twenty-two children (6-12 years) with a current anxiety disorder and their mothers received cognitive-behavioural treatment (CBT) for child anxiety. In addit...

Separation anxiety disorder (SAD) is the most commonly diagnosed and impairing childhood anxiety disorder. Given that SAD symptoms in early childhood have been linked to later psychopathology, early identification and treatment of it is critical. The aim of the present study was the examination of validity and reliability of separation anxiety assessment scale-parent version (SAAS-P) (Hahn, Haj...

Oxytocin (Oxt) acting through its single receptor subtype, the Oxtr, is important for the coordination of physiology and behavior associated with parturition and maternal care. Knockout mouse models have been helpful in exploring the contributions of Oxt to maternal behavior, including total body Oxt knockout (Oxt -/-) mice, forebrain conditional Oxtr knockout (Oxtr FB/FB) mice, and total body ...

BACKGROUND Many studies have identified associations between qualities of maternal-child relationships and childhood asthma, but few have examined associations with childhood atopic dermatitis (AD), a common precursor to asthma. Moreover, maternal psychological distress, including prenatal and postnatal depression, anxiety and stress, may increase risk, while social support from partners may re...

This study explored the relationships between maternal modelling of eating behaviours with reported symptoms of maternal eating psychopathology, anxiety and depression. Mothers (N = 264) with a child aged 1.5 to 8 years completed three self-report measures designed to assess modelling of eating behaviours, eating psychopathology and levels of anxiety and depression. The study found that higher ...

OBJECTIVE To investigate whether maternal anxiety in the third trimester is associated with an increased uterine artery resistance index. DESIGN Cohort based study. SUBJECTS 100 pregnant women, with a mean gestation of 32 weeks. OUTCOME MEASURES Self rating Spielberger questionnaire for state anxiety and trait anxiety, and uterine blood flow waveform patterns as assessed by colour Doppler...

The most frequently used animal models of early weaning (EW) in rodents, maternal deprivation and pharmacological inhibition of lactation, present confounding factors, such as high stress or drug side effects, that can mask or interact with the effects of milk deprivation per se. Given these limitations, the development of new models of EW may provide useful information regarding the impact of ...