Background: Frailty is a relatively new geriatric concept referring to an increased vulnerability to stressors. Various definitions have been proposed, as well as a range of multidimensional instruments for its measurement. More recently, a frailty phenotype that predicts a range of adverse outcomes has been described. Understanding frailty is a particular challenge both from a clinical and a public health perspective because it may be a reversible precursor of functional dependence. The Lausanne cohort Lc65+ is a longitudinal study specifically designed to investigate the manifestations of frailty from its first signs in the youngest old, identify medical and psychosocial determinants, and describe its evolution and related outcomes.

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The study investigates associations between attachment cognitions and depression symptoms in 71 15-25-year-olds, 26 of whom have eating disorders, and 20 of whom are drug misusers. Attachment cognitions were measured with the CaMir Q-sort, which provides indexes for secure, avoidant, and preoccupied attachment, as well as scores on 13 dimensions. The BDI-13 was used to measure depressive symptomatology. Consistent with the literature, BDI scores were associated with cognitions of preoccupied attachment. They were also related to cognitions of avoidant attachment, confirming Bowlby's theory on defensive exclusion. For participants with eating disorders, depressive symptomatology was related to preoccupation and parental interference, whereas for drug misusers, it was negatively related to security, preoccupation, parental support, and lack of parental concern. These findings help understand how attachment cognitions may participate in depressive symptomatology, namely in youth whose behavior problems may be associated with specific attachment experiences.

The possible implications ofthe experience ofnon parental care on cognitive development and on behaviour problems are considered in interaction with individual and contextual variables. A sample of 47 Swiss children who experienced varying kinds of care arrangements were studied longitudinally between 1 and 5 years ofage. The effects of the experience of care were related to mothers' reports of behavioral problems (CBCL, with subscales of internalizing and of externalizing problems) at age 5, and to cognitive developmental quotients (at 1, 2 and 5 years). Several variables were considered for their potential interaction with the experience of care, such as the pattern of attachment to the mother (observed at 21 months of age in the "Strange Situation "}, characteristics ofthe experience ofcare (duration and type of care), its quality (relationship with non parental caregivers), the socio-economic status ofthe family, etc. The effect ofnon parental care on behaviour problems (5 years) happened to be mediated by the the pattern of attachment to the mother: insecurely attached children had some risk to be reported as having externalizingproblems, but this didn't occur when they had an extended experience of non parental care, and when non parental care was mainly family-based. The effect of non parental care on cognitive development was mediated by the quality of care: children with a positive contact with the caregivers had greater cognitive gains between 2 and 5 years; the relationship with the caregivers itself was influenced by the quality of the relationship with the mother. The limited size and origin of the sample restricts generalization, however these data might contribute to the notion that non parental care can have varying effects depending of the type of care, the quality of the relation with the caregivers, the age and personal traits ofthe child.

In high-functioning older persons, low falls efficacy was associated with vulnerability, even after controlling for gait performance and falls history. Whether low falls efficacy is a potential target on the pathway leading to frailty should be further examined prospectively.

This exploratory study shows that several types of adverse life events frequently occur at age 65-70, with gender differences both in the frequency of reporting and consequences of these events. However, information on this topic is limited and studies based on different populations and designs are needed to better understand the impact of such events.

One hundred and six families of 2-year-old children, having experienced either family day care or centre-based day care, took part in this study. Parents’ and day care providers’ representations and values concerning their ideal definition of child care were assessed, and direct observations of child care settings conducted, using a time-sampling procedure. The instruments concerning both representations and observations have a seven dimension structure: caregiver availability, stimulation, firmness, warmth, autonomy, achievement, and organisation. When children were 3 years of age, the families were contacted again (16% drop out) for an evaluation of various outcomes: parental reports of child behaviour problems (CBCL) and egoresiliency (CCQ), assessments of child developmental quotient (McCarthy), and of attachment representations (ASCT). The day care variables (care providers’ representations and observed variables of the setting), unexpectedly explained the variance of the dependent variables (especially behaviour problems) more than the corresponding parental variables. These results contrast with other studies in the field. Apparently, they can be attributed to the relatively wide span of dimensions, as well as to the variety of child care settings considered. Non-parental and parental care had some selective effects on the different dependent variables. The effects of representations were globally stronger than those of observed characteristics. These data point to the importance of child care quality, emphasise the idea that quality is multidimensional, and stress the significance of caregivers’ representations and values.