In an upcoming issue of the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry a team of researchers from the University of Toronto in Canada conducted a large epidemiological examination of firesetting among 3,965 Canadian children and adolescents in grades 7 to 12. The authors examined the correlates of 4 types of firesetters:

1. No history of fire setting
2. Desisters: History of firesetting but none during the past year
3. Low frequency (1-2 during past year)
4. High frequency (3+ times during the past year)

The authors then examined the following variables:

• sex
• age
• school level
• grades
• is family intact?
• welfare involvement?
• difficulty with peers
• daily smoking
• binge drinking
• cannabis use
• other illicit drug use
• delinquent behaviors
• Ritalin use
• high sensation seeking personality
• psychological distress
• suicidal ideation

The Results:

1. 72% of the sample had either never engaged in fire setting (32%) or had engaged sometime during their lives but not during the past year (40.5%)
2. 27% reported engaging in firesetting during the past 12 months.

While controlling for other variables:

3. When compared to those with no history of firesetting, the “desisters” were were more likely to be male, older, smokers, cannabis  users, high sensation seekers, and have high levels of psychological distress.
4. When compared to those with no history of firesetting, the high frequency fire setters were more likely to be male, have low parental monitoring, be binge drinkers, cannabis users, illicit drug users, have a history of delinquent behaviors, be sensation seeking, have high levels of psychological distress, and have suicidal ideation.  This profile was almost identical to the profile of low frequency firesetters.

One way to conceptualize these findings is to examine the factors that predicted high/low frequency firesetters but die no predict ‘desisters’. For example, low parental monitoring was associated with low/high frequency firesetters but not with desisters. This suggests that low parental monitor is a risk factor in more chronic firesetting behaviors and that parental monitoring may not have an impact on isolated events of firesetting that do not become chronic. Cannabis was associated with all groups, so it’s not that informative. This is not surprising given that cannabis use is very frequent among teens. However, other illicit drug use was associated with frequent fire setting only, likely reflecting the severity of behavior problems among these teens. This is supported by the finding that only the low and high frequency fire setters, and not the desisters, were more likely to have a history of delinquent behaviors.

The Reference: MacKay, S., Paglia-Boak, A., Henderson, J., Marton, P., & Adlaf, E. (2009). Epidemiology of firesetting in adolescents: mental health and substance use correlates Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry DOI: 10.1111/j.1469-7610.2009.02103.x

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This past week, police officers in Florida arrested an 18-year-old kid as prime suspect in a wave of cat killings and mutilations. The killing and torturing of animals for pleasure (excluding traditional hunting) is one of the strongest signs of serious psychopathology. Firesetting is likely a close second, with most adults and adolescents who engage in arson also have a history of childhood firesetting. But until now, most studies have not been able to accurately examine what type of firesetting is predictive of later problems? For example, some children who engage in firesetting do not engage in arson or have serious psychopathology. So what are the characteristics (severity, duration, etc) that are associated with such ‘transitional’ or ‘phase’ firesetting versus a firesetting behavior that is more chronic and potentially pathological?

In an upcoming issue of the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry a team of researchers from the University of Toronto in Canada conducted a large epidemiological examination of firesetting among 3,965 Canadian children and adolescents in grades 7 to 12. The authors examined the correlates of 4 types of firesetters:

1. No history of fire setting
2. Desisters: History of firesetting but none during the past year
3. Low frequency (1-2 during past year)
4. High frequency (3+ times during the past year)

The authors then examined the following variables:

• sex
• age
• school level
• grades
• is family intact?
• welfare involvement?
• difficulty with peers
• daily smoking
• binge drinking
• cannabis use
• other illicit drug use
• delinquent behaviors
• Ritalin use
• high sensation seeking personality
• psychological distress
• suicidal ideation

The Results:

1. 72% of the sample had either never engaged in fire setting (32%) or had engaged sometime during their lives but not during the past year (40.5%)
2. 27% reported engaging in firesetting during the past 12 months.

While controlling for other variables:

3. When compared to those with no history of firesetting, the “desisters” were were more likely to be male, older, smokers, cannabis  users, high sensation seekers, and have high levels of psychological distress.
4. When compared to those with no history of firesetting, the high frequency fire setters were more likely to be male, have low parental monitoring, be binge drinkers, cannabis users, illicit drug users, have a history of delinquent behaviors, be sensation seeking, have high levels of psychological distress, and have suicidal ideation.  This profile was almost identical to the profile of low frequency firesetters.

One way to conceptualize these findings is to examine the factors that predicted high/low frequency firesetters but die no predict ‘desisters’. For example, low parental monitoring was associated with low/high frequency firesetters but not with desisters. This suggests that low parental monitor is a risk factor in more chronic firesetting behaviors and that parental monitoring may not have an impact on isolated events of firesetting that do not become chronic. Cannabis was associated with all groups, so it’s not that informative. This is not surprising given that cannabis use is very frequent among teens. However, other illicit drug use was associated with frequent fire setting only, likely reflecting the severity of behavior problems among these teens. This is supported by the finding that only the low and high frequency fire setters, and not the desisters, were more likely to have a history of delinquent behaviors.

The Reference: MacKay, S., Paglia-Boak, A., Henderson, J., Marton, P., & Adlaf, E. (2009). Epidemiology of firesetting in adolescents: mental health and substance use correlates Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry DOI: 10.1111/j.1469-7610.2009.02103.x

Thank you for subscribing to the RSS feed of Child-Psych.org. Please visit our website to join the conversation.

The authors examined data from the Scottish Health Survey, a nationally representative study of multiple psychosocial factors.  The data for this analysis included 1,486 Children age 4 to 12 with a mean age of 8.5, who were assessed in 2003.  The Strengths and Difficulties questionnaire was used to assess for psychological distress. Specifically, the total difficulties score incorporates responses to subscales that examine hyperactivity, emotional distress, conduct problems, and peer problems.  The authors also obtained the parents’ reports of the kids’  total weekly hours of television viewing, and the frequency of sports or active play during the week.  The authors were primarily interested in exploring whether TV viewing and/or activity level were associated with psychological distress.

The results:

1. On average, kids watched a total of 2.4 hours of television per day
2. Television viewing was associated with sports activity in that those who watched most television were also those with the lowest level of sports activity.
3. Those with the highest levels of television viewing also had the lowest level of fruit intake, and the highest levels of sweets and sugar drink intake.
4. High levels of Television viewing and low levels of physical were both independently associated with psychological distress.
5. An additive effect was found in that the combination of high television viewing and low physical activity was associated with the highest levels of psychological distress.

We can write entire books and a year worth of blog posts discussing the many possible explanations for these findings. The most salient, but not necessarily correct, is that television viewing likely limits other behaviors that are associated with psychological well-being, and that physical activity also promotes psychological well-being directly (physiologically) and indirectly (through the effects on the kid’s social development). Yet, it is possible that these two findings do not cause distress, but are a reflection of distress.  For example, relatively recently, researchers have began to extend the concept of prodrome from general medicine to psychiatric disorders. Prodrome refers to a conglomeration of symptoms that reflect the disease process at an early stage, usually before it displays the symptoms that we usually associate with the disease. A prodrome is not a symptom that leads to the disease. The prodrome is the disease itself already evolving.

I’m currently working with Dr. Maria Kovacs on a upcoming invited theoretical paper on  prodromes in child depression, and during the writing process I’ve been considering the implications of prodromes to past longitudinal and cross-sectional “predictive” research. That is, how many of the factors that have been found to predict a condition are actually not predictors (causes) of the condition but the condition itself?

Back to the TV viewing/physical activity study; the authors found significantly elevated levels of psychological distress in 4% of the sample. Yet these were not clinical cases with specific diagnoses. It is possible then that the authors were tapping at a subgroup of kids with specific psychiatric problems at the prodrome level (depression for example) which would result in increased levels of anhedonia and reduced motor mobility. This would in turn lead to more ‘just laying on the couch staring at the TV’ and reduced interest in outside sporting events.

The reference:
Hamer, M., Stamatakis, E., & Mishra, G. (2009). Psychological Distress, Television Viewing, and Physical Activity in Children Aged 4 to 12 Years PEDIATRICS, 123 (5), 1263-1268 DOI: 10.1542/peds.2008-1523

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Most of you probably saw a wave of news media reports about a recent study showing that television exposure in infancy and early childhood may lead to a delay in language development. In a recent study also published in Pediatrics, a group of researchers from the University college London in the UK examined the effects of television viewing and physical activity on psychological distress among children of various ages. This study is very interesting, not only because of the provocative findings, but because it opens the door for a discussion of the concept of “Prodrome.”

The authors examined data from the Scottish Health Survey, a nationally representative study of multiple psychosocial factors.  The data for this analysis included 1,486 Children age 4 to 12 with a mean age of 8.5, who were assessed in 2003.  The Strengths and Difficulties questionnaire was used to assess for psychological distress. Specifically, the total difficulties score incorporates responses to subscales that examine hyperactivity, emotional distress, conduct problems, and peer problems.  The authors also obtained the parents’ reports of the kids’  total weekly hours of television viewing, and the frequency of sports or active play during the week.  The authors were primarily interested in exploring whether TV viewing and/or activity level were associated with psychological distress.

The results:

1. On average, kids watched a total of 2.4 hours of television per day
2. Television viewing was associated with sports activity in that those who watched most television were also those with the lowest level of sports activity.
3. Those with the highest levels of television viewing also had the lowest level of fruit intake, and the highest levels of sweets and sugar drink intake.
4. High levels of Television viewing and low levels of physical were both independently associated with psychological distress.
5. An additive effect was found in that the combination of high television viewing and low physical activity was associated with the highest levels of psychological distress.

We can write entire books and a year worth of blog posts discussing the many possible explanations for these findings. The most salient, but not necessarily correct, is that television viewing likely limits other behaviors that are associated with psychological well-being, and that physical activity also promotes psychological well-being directly (physiologically) and indirectly (through the effects on the kid’s social development). Yet, it is possible that these two findings do not cause distress, but are a reflection of distress.  For example, relatively recently, researchers have began to extend the concept of prodrome from general medicine to psychiatric disorders. Prodrome refers to a conglomeration of symptoms that reflect the disease process at an early stage, usually before it displays the symptoms that we usually associate with the disease. A prodrome is not a symptom that leads to the disease. The prodrome is the disease itself already evolving.

I’m currently working with Dr. Maria Kovacs on a upcoming invited theoretical paper on  prodromes in child depression, and during the writing process I’ve been considering the implications of prodromes to past longitudinal and cross-sectional “predictive” research. That is, how many of the factors that have been found to predict a condition are actually not predictors (causes) of the condition but the condition itself?

Back to the TV viewing/physical activity study; the authors found significantly elevated levels of psychological distress in 4% of the sample. Yet these were not clinical cases with specific diagnoses. It is possible then that the authors were tapping at a subgroup of kids with specific psychiatric problems at the prodrome level (depression for example) which would result in increased levels of anhedonia and reduced motor mobility. This would in turn lead to more ‘just laying on the couch staring at the TV’ and reduced interest in outside sporting events.

The reference:
Hamer, M., Stamatakis, E., & Mishra, G. (2009). Psychological Distress, Television Viewing, and Physical Activity in Children Aged 4 to 12 Years PEDIATRICS, 123 (5), 1263-1268 DOI: 10.1542/peds.2008-1523

Thank you for subscribing to the RSS feed of Child-Psych.org. Please visit our website to join the conversation.