The Chinese University of Hong Kong enrolled 72 female Chinese ADOLESCENTS WITH MILD MENTAL RETARDATION in a Western style program designed to enhance safety skills, This multimodal instruction pathway included SEXUAL ABUSE PREVENTION TRAINING. (American Journal on Mental Retardation 103, 2; pp. 105-116, 1998) Enrollees exhibited less fear of objects, people and situations after completing the prevention program, and some gains were maintained two months after the program ended. The subjects demonstrated greater knowledge of sexual abuse and self protection skills. This suggests that a sexual abuse program for this target population should include general sexuality education, as well as instructional sessions using the types of people familiar to those with mental retardation, e.g., teachers, social workers, and staff of special schools.

DOES ATTENTION DEFICIT DISORDER REMAIN STABLE THROUGH CHILDHOOD? (J. Child Psychol Psychiatr 39,6; pp. 841-851, 1998) A sample of 112 preschool boys (mean age of 46 months) consisting of 42 teacher identified problem boys, 43 classroom controls, and 27 parent identified problem boys were recruited. They were assessed on laboratory measures of inattention, impulsivity, and hyperactivity at ages 4, 6 and 9. Symptoms characteristic of attention deficit disorder emerged more clearly over time between the ages of 6 and 9. Do we really need, therefore, to have so many 4 year olds on Ritalin?

Malingering research has studied the difference between real and faked hallucinations. But are there qualitative DIFFERENCES AMONG auditory HALLUCINATIONS AS EXPERIENCED BY PSYCHIATRIC PATIENTS AND NON-PATIENTS? (The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease 186, 10; pp. 646-51, 1998) Nonpatient voices carried predominantly positive subject themes, however, those suffering from dissociative disorders or schizophrenia heard of negative subject matter. Voices of the latter group disturb daily lives and exert some measure of control over those who experience them. The onset of voices in the schizophrenic or dissociative disordered patient can correlate with some sort of childhood trauma. In all three groups voices are felt to be about as often inside as outside the head. Most important is support for the notion that nonpsychiatric patients can hear voices, disturbing long held beliefs on psychiatric symptoms.

Which witness gives you better detail? HIGH AND LOW TRAIT ANXIOUS PARTICIPANTS WHO RETRIEVED MEMORIES to anxiety related, neutral and positive cue word were then asked to recall the original cue words. (Cognition and Emotion 12, 5;pp.625-634 1998) half the participants were given instructions to relate in detail the facts of the experience, whereas the other half were instructed to relate in detail the emotions of the experience. The emotions group recalled more cue words on average at free recall than the facts group. Low anxious people recalled more memories overall than high anxious participants.

HOW RELEVANT IS DIAGNOSIS FOR HOSPITALIZATION OF CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS? (J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry 37:10, pp. 1030-1037, October 1998) Danger to self or others is usually linked to suicide and/or assaultive behaviors but may include running away, drug and/or alcohol abuse, firesetting, and excessive risk-taking. These authors studied 653 admissions in 2 suburban counties and sections of two urban counties. Each enrollee was followed for a six-month period. The authors concluded that diagnostic factors predicted hospitalization before and after controlling for danger. The theoretical decision making admission model which included both danger and diagnosis or danger.

DOES ALCOHOL CONSUMPTION MAKE MURDER-SUICIDE INCIDENTS MORE LIKELY THAN SUICIDE UNACCOMPANIED BY MURDER OR ATTEMPTED MURDER? Cantor et al. (Psychological Reports 83; pp. 261-262, 1998) studied all murder-suicides occurring in Queensland, Australia between 1990 and 1995 (n=34). Cases were extracted from the Queensland Suicide Register. They were then matched on the basis of sex, age and method with a group of suicides occurring during the same period where blood alcohol level was known. Alcohol was no more likely to cause murder-suicide than either of the other two outcomes.

WHAT DIFFERENCE DOES LEGALIZED GAMBLING MAKE IN CRIME RATES? Psychological Reports presented a study that examined which of 22 types of gambling activities were associated with property crime rates in the 48 contiguous states of America (83, p. 382,1998). Lester tentatively concluded that not all types of gambling were associated with increases in crime rates, and these associations between gambling and crime may be the result of a joint association with other social characteristics of the states where the data were gathered.