THE MENTAL HEALTH OF CHILDREN OF WOMEN WITH HIV/AIDS

New School University, New York NY

Investigators

Abstract

DESCRIPTION (Applicant's abstract): The present study will examine the psychological functioning of HIV-negative children (ages 11 to 15 years) of mothers who have HIV/AIDS, drawing from a sample of mothers and their children who are already participating in an on-going longitudinal investigation in New York City (Project Care; Principal Investigator: Laurie Bauman, Ph.D.). The study will specifically examine discrepancies between maternal and child reporting of children's psychiatric difficulties. The children's mental health will be examined not only through self-administered measures completed by both mothers and children, but also through a clinician-based diagnostic interview, The Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia for School-Age Children (K-SADS). This diagnostic interview will provide the information needed to generate a comprehensive spectrum of specific psychiatric diagnoses, assess symptom severity in non-diagnosed conditions, and to clarify discrepancies between maternal and child reports of child mental health. Possible factors that could be associated with discrepancies between maternal and child reports will be examined in order to better understand the nature of these discrepancies. These factors include the types of child psychiatric symptoms being reported, the maternal-child relationship, child social desirability, and maternal psychiatric symptoms and parenting stress. Additionally, information obtained through the self-administered measures will be compared with clinician's ratings from the diagnostic interview to assess both the validity of the reports obtained through these measures and the limitations of these measures in providing comprehensive information about child mental health in this population. Increased understanding of the psychological functioning of children who have mothers with HIV/AIDS can lead to the determination of targets for prevention and treatment.