Abstracts 211

The problems of management are great. First, physicians have anemotional problem in accepting the idea that parents could injuretheir children. Next they have trouble reporting the possibility to theproper authorities because of the risk of legal suit, and also becauseof the legal difficulties in protecting children in the custody of theirparents.

WHEN YOUR TEEN-AGER STARTS DRINKING. G. Oppenheim. Medical Eco-nomics) 39:94, 1962.

Although directed to the doctor as a parent, there are suggestionswhich the physician may usc to help other parents, as well as teen-agepatients. These include the general quality of parent-child relation­ships, the value of example, the value of meaningful education refer­able to the present rather than dire warnings about the future, andthe value of psychiatric help in severe cases.

WHAT DID YOU SAY) DOCTOR? M. Eugenia Ceib.]. Arner, Med. Women'sAssn., 17:498-501,1962.

Of interest to all physicians who work largely on a referral basis is thisdiscussion of how patients distort not only their own histories andexperiences but also the advice of their previous or referring physi­cian. Although a wide variety of medical examples is given, the onemost pertinent to child psychiatry concerns the reasons for dissatis­faction with medical advice given by the parents of retarded children.The author suggests research with tape recordings to compare a pa­tient's report of medical advice with the advice actually given.

MOTHERS' REA(;TION TO THEIR NEWBORN BABIES. Niles Newton andMichael Newton. ].A.M.A.) 181: 122-126, 1962.

The authors review the literature concerning both animal and humanmothering responses to newborn offspring. They then describe a studymade in the service section of a university hospital obstetrical depart­ment. The mothers' responses on first seeing their babies were ob­served, mostly by medical students. Of the 192 women, 53 per cent"smiled a little," evidence of weak acceptance; 31 per cent were"greatly pleased," whereas the remainder were mostly indifferent, anda very small group showed disgust. The "greatly pleased" motherstended to be calm and relaxed during labor and cooperated with at­tendants, who in turn gave them more solicitous attention. They alsomore often wanted to breast feed their babies, and statistically tendedto be white and have more than a tenth-grade education. The oppo­site characteristics were found in the rejecting mothers. These moth­ers' attitude showed relatively little relationship to the traumatic phys­ical experience of labor.