The aim of the study was to identify early behavioural abnormalities in children later diagnosed with autistic disorder. Accurate identification of such deficits has implications for early diagnosis, intervention and prognosis. The parents of 153 children with autistic disorder completed a questionnaire asking them to describe early childhood behaviours of concern and to recall the age of onset. Core deficit-linked behaviours were then identified and the ontogeny of their development was noted. Behaviour categories were: (1) gross motor difficulties, (2) social awareness and play deficits, (3) language and communication difficulties, and (4) unusual preoccupations. The findings supported the notion that the nature and prevalence of these deficits depend on age. Consistent with past research, there was a significant interval between parents first noticing abnormalities and the making of a definitive diagnosis. The implications for this delay are discussed.

The ability of a school-based program with training in both cognitive and social skills to prevent depressive symptoms in children (the Penn Prevention Program) was evaluated. Research conducted in Australia has failed to replicate the success of the program in the United States. Also evaluated was the ability of the program to reduce the symptoms of anxiety, the assumption that changes in social skills and cognitive style would be associated with changes in symptoms of depression and anxiety, and the relative merits of the cognitive and social components of the program. Sixty-three children in fifth and sixth grades were randomly allocated to intervention and control groups. There was no evidence that the Penn Prevention Program had any impact on the variables measured at the end of the program or at the 8-month follow-up assessment. Limitations and implications of the present findings are discussed.

The mental-health literature highlights the importance of improved quality of life as an explicit goal of the mental-health service. Recent work indicates that assessment of subjective quality of life can be feasible and meaningful in individuals with psychiatric disorders. Although a number of studies have examined the influence of demographic variables on subjective quality of life in individuals with psychiatric disorders, there remains a paucity of studies that have made comparisons between diagnoses in inpatient populations. We used the WHOQOL-BREF to examine the influence of different psychiatric diagnoses on quality of life and investigated whether the relationship between demographic variables and quality of life was the same across diagnoses. We found that the relationship between demographic and illness variables was complex, with inconsistent effects across WHOQOL-BREF domains. Certain domains of the WHOQOL-BREF were more sensitive to the influence of psychiatric diagnosis than others.