Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology

Fergusson, David; Lynskey, Michael; Horwood, L.

2005 Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology

doi: 10.1007/BF01670099pmid: 8956083

The relationships between disruptive behaviors in middle childhood (7 to 9 years) and conduct disorder in adolescence (14 to 16 years) were studied in a birth cohort of New Zealand children. Latent class analysis suggested strong behavioral continuity, with children showing early disruptive behaviors having odds of adolescent conduct disorder that were over 16 times higher than children who did not display early disruptive behavior. Nonetheless, in the region of 12% of children showed a discontinuous history, with 5% of children showing an early onset of conduct problems and later remission while 7% showed later onset conduct problems. Children showing discontinuous histories of behavior problems came from backgrounds in which levels of risk were intermediate between those of children who showed a persistent pattern of conduct problems and those who were consistently nonproblem children. Peer factors played an influential role in behavioral change in adolescence, with individuals showing late onset of conduct problems having high rates of affiliation with delinquent peers but those showing remission of problem behaviors in adolescence having relatively low rates of such affiliations.

Arnold, L.

2005 Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology

doi: 10.1007/BF01670100pmid: 8956084

Clinical samples of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) have been dominated by males. Consequently, female manifestations and sex differences have been relatively neglected in the extensive ADHD research. Because ADHD is so common (3% to 5% of school children) and chronic (lifelong in many cases), even a small proportion of females multiplied by such a large base means hundreds of thousands of girls and women with ADHD, a significant public health problem. An NIMH conference concluded that research is needed not only on sex differences related to ADHD, but also on manifestations of ADHD in females as such. Areas of focus should include differences in life course (sex-differential age effects); effects of hormones; effects of ADHD parenting (in utero and postnatal) on the next generation; response to and implications for design of psychosocial treatment; effects of differential comorbidity; normative “background” sex differences that influence the manifestation of ADHD; differences in development of verbal fluency and social behavior; possible interactions of sex and ethnicity; a prospective study of both sex offspring of ADHD adults; and such methodological issues as appropriate instruments and diagnostic thresholds, power to prevent false negatives, valid impairment measures, validity and reliability of child self-reports, and more inclusive samples (all three subtypes: inattentive, hyperactive-impulsive, and combined).

August, Gerald; Realmuto, George; MacDonald, Angus; Nugent, Sean; Crosby, Ross

2005 Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology

doi: 10.1007/BF01670101pmid: 8956085

In the context of a school-based prevention of conduct disorder program, 7,231 first- through fourth-grade children were screened for cross-setting disruptive behavior. Frequencies of DSM-III-R psychiatric disorders and patterns of comorbidity were assessed. We also examined the association of psychiatric diagnosis with child and parent characteristics to determine differential risk based on diagnostic subgroups. Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and oppositional-defiant disorder (ODD) were the most frequent diagnoses. Mood and anxiety disorders were infrequent as single diagnoses. Patterns of comorbidity demonstrated that both externalizing and internalizing disorders commonly cooccurred with ADHD. More severe degrees of psychopathology and psychosocial risk accrued to the subgroup of youths with ADHD plus a comorbid externalizing disorder.

Stanger, Catherine; MacDonald, Virginia; McConaughy, Stephanie; Achenbach, Thomas

2005 Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology

doi: 10.1007/BF01670102pmid: 8956086

This study sought to identify which syndromes of initial problems predicted later syndromes among children and youths referred for mental health services. Standardized parent reports on the Child Behavior Checklist obtained at intake were compared to standardized parent, teacher, and self-reports obtained at follow-up. There were 1,103 subjects (774 males and 329 females) 4 to 18 years old, followed up an average of 6 years after referral. High quantitative and categorical stability was found for cross-informant syndromes within samples of younger and older subjects. Throughout childhood and into young adulthood, parent ratings of most syndromes at the time of referral predicted the counterpart cross-informant syndrome construct at follow-up, controlling for other types of problems at referral. There were multiple additional independent predictors of many syndromes, including Delinquent Behavior, Aggressive Behavior, and Shows Off for young adult males. Time 1 Social Problems and Attention Problems independently predicted diverse problems at Time 2 for younger males. A wide variety of problems also predicted younger males' self-ratings of withdrawal, anxiety, and depression. The stability of problems for the referred sample was similar to that found for demographically matched nonreferred subjects drawn from a national sample.

Stark, Kevin; Schmidt, Kristen; Joiner, Thomas

2005 Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology

doi: 10.1007/BF01670103pmid: 8956087

Evaluating the relationship between children's depressogenic thinking, children's depressive symptoms, parents' depressogenic thinking, and perceived parental messages about the self, world, and future was the primary objective of this investigation. Children (n =133) from grades 4 to 7 completed measures of depression and anxiety, including a semistructured clinical interview, a measure of their cognitive triad, and a measure of perceived parental messages about the self, world, and future. Mothers (n =112) and fathers (n =95) completed a measure of their own cognitive triad. Results of a series of regression analyses revealed that (1) children's views of self, world, and future (cognitive triad) are related to severity of depression; (2) mothers' but not fathers' cognitive triads are related to their children's cognitive triads; (3) perceived parental messages to the children about the self, world, and future are predictive of the children's cognitive triads and ratings of depression; and (4) the relationship between perceived parental messages and depression is completely mediated by children's cognitive triads. Analyses of covariance indicated that the obtained mediational relationship between children's views of self, world, and future, perceived parental messages, and children's depressive symptoms was specific to depressive versus anxious symptomatology. Impfications for existing theory and research are discussed.

Krusch, Deborah; Klorman, Rafael; Brumaghim, Joan; Fitzpatrick, Patricia; Borgstedt, Agneta; Strauss, Jaine

2005 Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology

doi: 10.1007/BF01670104pmid: 8956088

A Sternberg memory search task was administered under placebo and methylphenidate to 42 children with cross-situational attention deficit disorder (ADD), 31 children with cross-situational ADD plus oppositional features, and 25 patients with marginal ADD. Overall, stimulant medication enhanced accuracy and speed. In addition, patients reacted faster on correct responses not preceded by an error than on errors (especially false alarms) or on correct responses following an error. The slowness during error reactions may reflect decreased confidence or confusion during stimulus classification. This uncertainty may also lead subjects to respond with greater caution, hence more slowly, on correct responses following errors. Notably, methylphenidate increased the slowing of reactions on error trials as well as on correct reactions following an error. Stimulant medication may augment subjects' persistence when they are uncertain or confused, thereby heightening caution and promoting accuracy on succeeding trials. Consistent with previous reports of the generality of enhancement of performance by stimulant medication, the impact of methylphenidate was comparable for the three subtypes of ADD studied.

Groot, Astrid; Koot, Hans; Verhulst, Frank

2005 Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology

doi: 10.1007/BF01670105pmid: 8956089

Exploratory factor analyses on 569 Youth Self-Reports and 1,221 Teacher's Report Forms of clinically referred Dutch children revealed six and eight factors respectively, very similar to the eight YSR and TRF cross-informant syndromes derived by Achenbach (1991c, 1991d). Mean cross-cultural correlations were .89 for YSR syndromes and .95 for TRF syndromes. In confirmatory factor analyses of the Dutch and American YSR and TRF factor models in cross-validation samples of 570 YSRs and 1,221 TRFs, goodness-of-fit indices were only slightly better for Dutch factor models. The American cross-informant Social Problems and Attention Problems syndromes had the poorest fit. The application of the eight American cross-informant syndromes to Dutch self-and teacher reports was supported.

El-Sheikh, Mona; Cummings, E.; Reiter, Stephanie

2005 Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology

doi: 10.1007/BF01670106pmid: 8956090

Children's past experiences with interadult conflict are likely to influence their responses to ongoing arguments. Preschoolers' (4- to 5-year-olds) responses to interadult conflict were examined as a function of experimentally manipulated histories of exposure to resolved and unresolved arguments. Children were presented with two live arguments that were either resolved or unresolved, then they were presented with a third argument that was interrupted in progress (i.e., unresolved), and they were interviewed next. Children's overt-behavioral responses were videotaped and coded for distress level. The results support the notion that past experiences with conflict resolution ameliorate children's distress responses to ongoing arguments. In comparison to children previously exposed to unresolvedconflict, those exposed to a history of resolveddisputes were morelikely to (a) exhibit lowered behavioral distress, (b) predict a lower likelihood of a conflictual outcome for the couple's argument, (c) report less negative perceptions of the arguing adults, and were lesslikely to (d) endorse intervention in conflict through attempts to stop the disputes; (c) and (d) pertained only to girls.