Longitudinal Effects of Family Variables and Illness Severity on Cognitive Functioning in Children with HIV Infection

Although HIV/AIDS is the 9th leading cause of death in African-American children, 80% of HIV-infected children in the U.S. live into school-age years. This study focuses on associations between HIV illness severity, family factors, and long-term cognitive functioning of these children. Participants...

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Main Author: Clark, Heather Jordon
Format: Others
Published: Digital Archive @ GSU 2005
Subjects:
HIV
Online Access:http://digitalarchive.gsu.edu/psych_diss/9
http://digitalarchive.gsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1008&context=psych_diss
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spelling ndltd-GEORGIA-oai-digitalarchive.gsu.edu-psych_diss-10082013-04-23T03:24:25Z Longitudinal Effects of Family Variables and Illness Severity on Cognitive Functioning in Children with HIV Infection Clark, Heather Jordon Although HIV/AIDS is the 9th leading cause of death in African-American children, 80% of HIV-infected children in the U.S. live into school-age years. This study focuses on associations between HIV illness severity, family factors, and long-term cognitive functioning of these children. Participants included 42 perinatally HIV-infected children (mean age = 72.4 months), 93% of whom were African-American. Mean intellectual functioning was more than one standard deviation below the normative mean; whereas, overall language and attention functioning were generally not different from the normative sample. First, this study described changes in functioning over time and/or between genders. Analyses of variance were conducted for five outcome variables (i.e., full scale IQ, verbal IQ, performance IQ, expressive and receptive one word picture vocabulary test). Expressive language scores increased over time. For receptive language, males’ skills improved significantly over time, while the decline in females’ skills did not reach significance. Second, the associations between Time Two illness severity (i.e., viral load), and Time One familial variables (i.e., adult-to-child ratio in the home, number of caregivers lost to death, number of months since caregiver death), with outcome variables at Time Two (i.e., intellectual, language, and attentional/hyperactivity functioning) were examined. For intellectual and expressive language, only the respective Time One functioning independently contributed a significant amount to Time Two functioning. For receptive language, Time One receptive language and the adult-to-child ratio in the home significantly predicted Time Two functioning. As the number of adults per child increased, there was an improvement in receptive language functioning. For both measures of language, the interaction between Time Two illness severity and Time One months since caregiver death significantly predicted Time Two functioning. With no loss of caregiver, more ill children demonstrated better language abilities than less ill children. Across illness groups, children performed similarly after a recent caregiver death. With greater time since caregiver death, the less ill children performed better than their more ill peers. For attention/hyperactivity, no predictor variables were significant. Interventions that consider family factors, as well as medical information, as potential influences on future child functioning may aid in the battle against this chronic illness. 2005-08-08 text application/pdf http://digitalarchive.gsu.edu/psych_diss/9 http://digitalarchive.gsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1008&context=psych_diss Psychology Dissertations Digital Archive @ GSU longitudinal family cognitive functioning children HIV Psychology
collection NDLTD
format Others
sources NDLTD
topic longitudinal
family
cognitive functioning
children
HIV
Psychology
spellingShingle longitudinal
family
cognitive functioning
children
HIV
Psychology
Clark, Heather Jordon
Longitudinal Effects of Family Variables and Illness Severity on Cognitive Functioning in Children with HIV Infection
description Although HIV/AIDS is the 9th leading cause of death in African-American children, 80% of HIV-infected children in the U.S. live into school-age years. This study focuses on associations between HIV illness severity, family factors, and long-term cognitive functioning of these children. Participants included 42 perinatally HIV-infected children (mean age = 72.4 months), 93% of whom were African-American. Mean intellectual functioning was more than one standard deviation below the normative mean; whereas, overall language and attention functioning were generally not different from the normative sample. First, this study described changes in functioning over time and/or between genders. Analyses of variance were conducted for five outcome variables (i.e., full scale IQ, verbal IQ, performance IQ, expressive and receptive one word picture vocabulary test). Expressive language scores increased over time. For receptive language, males’ skills improved significantly over time, while the decline in females’ skills did not reach significance. Second, the associations between Time Two illness severity (i.e., viral load), and Time One familial variables (i.e., adult-to-child ratio in the home, number of caregivers lost to death, number of months since caregiver death), with outcome variables at Time Two (i.e., intellectual, language, and attentional/hyperactivity functioning) were examined. For intellectual and expressive language, only the respective Time One functioning independently contributed a significant amount to Time Two functioning. For receptive language, Time One receptive language and the adult-to-child ratio in the home significantly predicted Time Two functioning. As the number of adults per child increased, there was an improvement in receptive language functioning. For both measures of language, the interaction between Time Two illness severity and Time One months since caregiver death significantly predicted Time Two functioning. With no loss of caregiver, more ill children demonstrated better language abilities than less ill children. Across illness groups, children performed similarly after a recent caregiver death. With greater time since caregiver death, the less ill children performed better than their more ill peers. For attention/hyperactivity, no predictor variables were significant. Interventions that consider family factors, as well as medical information, as potential influences on future child functioning may aid in the battle against this chronic illness.
author Clark, Heather Jordon
author_facet Clark, Heather Jordon
author_sort Clark, Heather Jordon
title Longitudinal Effects of Family Variables and Illness Severity on Cognitive Functioning in Children with HIV Infection
title_short Longitudinal Effects of Family Variables and Illness Severity on Cognitive Functioning in Children with HIV Infection
title_full Longitudinal Effects of Family Variables and Illness Severity on Cognitive Functioning in Children with HIV Infection
title_fullStr Longitudinal Effects of Family Variables and Illness Severity on Cognitive Functioning in Children with HIV Infection
title_full_unstemmed Longitudinal Effects of Family Variables and Illness Severity on Cognitive Functioning in Children with HIV Infection
title_sort longitudinal effects of family variables and illness severity on cognitive functioning in children with hiv infection
publisher Digital Archive @ GSU
publishDate 2005
url http://digitalarchive.gsu.edu/psych_diss/9
http://digitalarchive.gsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1008&context=psych_diss
work_keys_str_mv AT clarkheatherjordon longitudinaleffectsoffamilyvariablesandillnessseverityoncognitivefunctioninginchildrenwithhivinfection
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