The First Year with the Scandinavian Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychology

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Background: Individuals with autism exhibit typical recognition memory performance, but they show a reduced use of context and relational processing in more complex memory tasks. It is unclear whether the same is true for autistic individuals with exceptional memory skill for whom superior rote memory skill has been assumed.
Objective: In this study, we investigated recognition memory for high and low associative stimuli in autistic memory experts. In accord with the rote memory notion, we expected an equal recognition performance for high and low associative stimuli and superior memorizing of nonsense material compared to control participants.
Method: Seven autistic memory experts and seven typically developed control subjects, matched according to age, sex, handedness, and full-scale intelligence quotient (IQ), were examined on a continuous old-new recognition paradigm, including high or low associative pseudowords and shapes. Memory expertise was characterized as a currently present outstanding memory skill above the subject’s general level of ability and above the general population and was validated through direct clinical observation or some form of credible evidence.
Results: Our hypotheses were partially corroborated with autistic memory experts recognizing high and low associative shapes equally well in contrast to control participants who showed superior recognition of high associative shapes. However, memory experts did not outperform control participants in the recognition of low associative shapes. There were no differences for the recognition of pseudowords.
Conclusions: Findings do not indicate enhanced memory for nonsense material, but a failure to make use of semantic features of abstract stimuli as assumed for autism as a whole.

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Recognition Memory for High and Low Associative Stimuli in Autistic Individuals with Outstanding Memory Skill

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Background: <italic toggle="yes">Child abuse</italic> is a broad term that includes physical, sexual, and emotional (e.g., psychological, verbal) abuse. There are huge variations with regard to the level of severity and the consequences of abuse. Because child abuse is such a sensitive topic, it is a challenging task to conduct studies concerning this subject.
Objective: The aim of the study was to identify areas that could be improved to offer better health care services to patients. Therefore, routine assessments, the characteristics of the cases, and the types of follow up were emphasized.
Method: The Norwegian Ministry of Health and Care Services provided an exception from the principle of informed consent so that this study could be conducted. We had access to the medical records of all children between the ages of 0 and 14 years old who were referred to the regional child abuse management unit in 2006 and 2007. A descriptive, cross-sectional study was performed.
Results: One hundred and six children were referred to the child abuse management unit. For the majority of these patients (80.2%), sexual abuse was the only concern. The children presented diverse psychological and somatic symptoms and problems. Psychosocial functioning was in general not properly described in the records. Four out of five of the children were referred to services for follow up after the first examination in the child abuse management unit. Only 36% of the children were referred to child protective services.
Conclusion: This study revealed that psychosocial functioning is seldom documented and that psychological symptoms could be described more reliably and in more detail. A systematic approach may be helpful for health care providers, and we suggest the implementation of valid evidence-based instruments, such as the Child Behavior Checklist and the Children’s Global Assessment Scale.
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Child Abuse Management Units: How can Mental Health Services be Further Improved?

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Objectives: The objective of this study was to identify naturally occurring typologies of Faroese adolescents on the basis of their exposure to traumatic and negative life events. It was hypothesized that underlying typologies of trauma and negative life events would be uncovered. Furthermore, it was hypothesized that males would be overrepresented in classes characterized by the endorsement of a wide range of trauma and negative life events. On the basis of prior research, it was also hypothesized that females had endorsed more traumas of a sexual nature and that males had endorsed more traumas of a violent nature. Finally, post-traumatic stress, negative affectivity, and somatization were examined in the different typologies.
Methods: Latent class analyses were conducted with the use of data collected from a self-report questionnaire survey from 687 Faroese eighth graders (85% response rate). The questionnaire included a traumatic and negative life event list, the Harvard Trauma Questionnaire—Part IV, and the Trauma Symptom Checklist.
Results: Three classes of adolescents were identified on the basis of their exposure to potentially traumatic and negative life events. The baseline class (81.3%) had a low probability of the endorsement of all potentially traumatic and negative life events, except threats of violence and bullying. This group had low scores for post-traumatic symptoms, negative affectivity, and somatization. Class 2 (13.7%) comprised mainly males and had the highest probability of endorsement of threats of violence, physical assault, and bullying; this group also had high scores for post-traumatic stress symptoms, negative affectivity, and somatization. Finally, Class 1 (5.0%) consisted of adolescents with a relatively high risk of exposure to all potentially traumatic events and negative life events, except threats of violence. This group had the highest scores for post-traumatic stress symptoms, negative affectivity, and somatization.
Conclusions: The present study can be said to be a concise picture of trauma exposure and its consequences among Faroese adolescents, and it is thereby a valuable tool for the national planning of preventive and interventional strategies and for empirically founded economic prioritization. These results emphasize the importance of choosing a trauma-informed strategy in various disciplines, such as pediatrics, child and adolescent psychiatry, social work, and school psychology when the aim is to provide the appropriate intervention.
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Modeling Patterns of Negative Life Events and Mental Health in Faroese Adolescents

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Scandinavian Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychology

 We are pleased to inform you that Scandinavian Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychology has been selected for coverage in Clarivate Analytics products and services. Beginning with V. 5 2017, this publication will be indexed and abstracted in Emerging Sources Citation Index.    The Journal Citation Indicator 2022 - 0.31   ICV 2020 = 100.00    From volume 2019 the journal is published in a continous format.   The journal owner and founding editor is Ole Jakob Storebø.   Focus and Scope   The Scandinavian Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychology (SJCAPP) is an international scientific journal of research and practice covering a broad scope of high value articles in the field of child and adolescent psychiatry and psychology. The journal publishes quantitative and qualitative research on: diagnosis, assessment, psychotherapeutic and psychopharmacological treatments, behavior, cognition, epidemiology, development, training, cross cultural issues, neuroscience and genetic aspects related to mental disorders in children, adolescents and families. The journal also welcomes interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary submission if relevant for childhood psychopathology. The journal’s readership covers all disciplines relevant to the field, and thus publishes concise and well written papers only, avoiding jargon and technicism. The Journal publishes short and full length original papers, systematic and narrative reviews, case studies, letters, theoretical articles including perspectives and debate, and book reviews.   Publication fee   SJCAPP is a non-profit journal, but we will have to start charging a publication fee to cover our direct publication costs. The article processing charges (APCs) will be 600 Euro per article. All the editorial functions are based on voluntary work. No other charges apply.   Peer Review Process   All papers will undergo editorial screening. Original articles, reviews, and case studies will be blindly peer- reviewed by at least two peer reviewers. Peer reviewers are asked to submit their review within three (3) weeks. All articles will be fast-tracked through the peer-review and editorial process and we will endeavour to publish accepted papers within 2 weeks of final acceptance.   Publication Frequency   SJCAPP publishes accepted papers online immediately after completion of peer-review and editorial processes. Papers will subsequently be collated as quarterly editions for indexing and citation purposes.   Open Access Policy   This journal provides immediate open access to its content under the Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 license on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge. Under the CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 license users are free to share the work (copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format), if the contribution is properly attributed and used for non-commercial purposes. The material published in the journal may not be altered or built upon.   Journal History   The Scandinavian Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychology (SJCAPP) was founded in 2012 by a group of researchers and clinicians from Psychiatric Research Unit, Region Zealand, Denmark. Their aim was to establish an open-access, peer-reviewed, and fast-track outlet for child and adolescent psychiatry and psychology which would engage clinicians and researchers in a constructive dialogue and offer readers interested in child and adolescent psychiatry and psychology free access to high quality, scientific information in all areas of the discipline.     Rejection rate: 2022: 41%   Archiving   Sciendo archives the contents of this journal in Portico - digital long-term preservation service of scholarly books, journals and collections.   Plagiarism Policy   The editorial board is participating in a growing community of Similarity Check System's users in order to ensure that the content published is original and trustworthy. Similarity Check is a medium that allows for comprehensive manuscripts screening, aimed to eliminate plagiarism and provide a high standard and quality peer-review process. 