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Vol. 19, No. 1, January 2003
1. Keep Your Eye On... parental smoking provides "prompts"
2. Insecure attachment a risk factor for depression

Keep Your Eye On... parental smoking provides "prompts"
Parents who smoke may be encouraging their children to smoke, according to findings presented to a conference of the American College of Chest Physicians (ACCP). The researchers found that seventh and eighth graders were more likely to have tried cigarettes if their parents gave them "smoking prompts." Prompts included asking children to light cigarettes for their parents, asking them to take cigarettes to their parents or sending them to the store to buy cigarettes. The researchers also found that children who had easy access to cigarettes were at a greater risk of smoking. The findings were based on a survey of 3,624 seventh and eighth graders in San Diego. [ACCP]

Keep Your Eye On... parental smoking provides "prompts"

Parents who smoke may be encouraging their children to smoke, according to findings presented to a conference of the American College of Chest Physicians (ACCP). The researchers found that seventh and eighth graders were more likely to have tried cigarettes if their parents gave them "smoking prompts." Prompts included asking children to light cigarettes for their parents, asking them to take cigarettes to their parents or sending them to the store to buy cigarettes. The researchers also found that children who had easy access to cigarettes were at a greater risk of smoking. The findings were based on a survey of 3,624 seventh and eighth graders in San Diego. [ACCP]

Insecure attachment a risk factor for depression
Insecure attachment to parents may be linked to the development of serious depressive symptoms among young adolescents, Dutch researchers reported recently. Researchers Anne Mari Sund, M.D., and Lars Wichstrm of the Norwegian University of Science and Technology examined a representative sample of 2,360 adolescents ages 12 to 14 years to determine whether insecure attachment to parents predicts future depressive symptoms. Participants were assessed at two time points one year apart by the Mood and Feelings Questionnaire (MFQ) and the Inventory of Parent and Peer Attachment (IPPA). Other measures included stressful life events and various sociodemographic factors. The researchers found a threefold increase in depressive symptoms among adolescents from baseline to the one-year follow-up (3.4% vs. 10.9%, p<0.001). This findings was true for both girls and boys alike (p<0.001). Additionally, multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that being female was associated with a fourfold risk of having depressive symptoms at follow-up; having severe depressive symptoms the preceding year was associated with a more than fivefold risk. For each stressful life event, the odds for being a high scorer increased by 11 percent. Analysis also revealed that each quartile of increments in insecure attachment to parents assessed by the IPPA increased the odds of being a high scorer on the MFQ by 36 percent. The researchers conclude, "Insecure attachment to parents may contribute to the development of severe depressive symptoms among young adolescents." They note, "Improving the adolescent-parent relationship could be a focus of interventions both in community services and in clinical work." Sund AM, Wichstrm L: Insecure attachment as a risk factor for future depressive symptoms in early adolescence. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry 2002; 41(12):1478-1485. Correspondence to: Dr. Sund, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, 7489-Trondheim, Norway; e-mail: Anne.M.Sund@medisin.ntnu.no

Insecure attachment a risk factor for depression

Insecure attachment to parents may be linked to the development of serious depressive symptoms among young adolescents, Dutch researchers reported recently.

Researchers Anne Mari Sund, M.D., and Lars Wichstr

m of the Norwegian University of Science and Technology examined a representative sample of 2,360 adolescents ages 12 to 14 years to determine whether insecure attachment to parents predicts future depressive symptoms. Participants were assessed at two time points one year apart by the Mood and Feelings Questionnaire (MFQ) and the Inventory of Parent and Peer Attachment (IPPA). Other measures included stressful life events and various sociodemographic factors.

The researchers found a threefold increase in depressive symptoms among adolescents from baseline to the one-year follow-up (3.4% vs. 10.9%, p<0.001). This findings was true for both girls and boys alike (p<0.001). Additionally, multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that being female was associated with a fourfold risk of having depressive symptoms at follow-up; having severe depressive symptoms the preceding year was associated with a more than fivefold risk. For each stressful life event, the odds for being a high scorer increased by 11 percent. Analysis also revealed that each quartile of increments in insecure attachment to parents assessed by the IPPA increased the odds of being a high scorer on the MFQ by 36 percent.

The researchers conclude, "Insecure attachment to parents may contribute to the development of severe depressive symptoms among young adolescents." They note, "Improving the adolescent-parent relationship could be a focus of interventions both in community services and in clinical work."

Sund AM, Wichstr

m L: Insecure attachment as a risk factor for future depressive symptoms in early adolescence. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry 2002; 41(12):1478-1485. Correspondence to: Dr. Sund, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, 7489-Trondheim, Norway; e-mail: Anne.M.Sund@medisin.ntnu.no

The Brown University Child and Adolescent Behavior Letter, January 2003
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