Developmental Changes in Response to Frustration among Physically Handicapped Children

Methods of coping with frustration were examined in handicapped and nonhandicapped children at three different age levels, by means of the Rosenzweig P-F Study. While an extrapunitive approach was predominant in both groups and did not differ between the groups, significant differences were found in the use of secondary coping strategies. When compared with nonhandicapped counterparts, handicapped six year olds were more likely to minimize or deny frustration. At 10 years, handicapped Ss were more likely than nonhandicapped Ss to be intropunitive or self-blaming. There was a developmental tendency for handicapped Ss to make greater use of intropunitive responses with increasing age.     

Assessing Parental Response Patterns in the Treatment of Noncompliance in Children

Child noncompliance is one of the most frequently reported behavior problems in clinic-referred children. One difficulty with treating noncompliance in the clinic is that the demand characteristics of the situation may alter the rates of child compliance. The observation of parent-child interactions, with an emphasis on parent behaviors, may be a more meaningful way to assess parent training programs. In the current study, the parents of three children each showed a distinctive pattern in their responding to their children's compliant and noncompliant behaviors. An in vivo direct instruction procedure, that involved the therapist working directly with the parent to provide immediate consequences was used. Following training, improvements in correct responding were evident for al parents. Particularly noteworthy was that child compliance was not an accurate indicator when assessing parents' initial skill levels.     

The Validity of a Frustration Paradigm to Assess the Effect of Frustration on Cognitive Control in School-Age Children

Irritability refers to a proneness for anger, and is a symptom of internalizing and externalizing psychopathology. Since irritability is associated with significant cross-sectional and longitudinal impairments, research on the behavioral and neural correlates of pediatric irritability in populations at risk for significant irritability is of paramount importance. Irritability can be assessed in the laboratory using behavioral paradigms that elicit frustration. Few behavioral frustration paradigms have been designed to measure the effects of frustration on cognitive control. Therefore, the goal of the present study was to validate a behavioral frustration paradigm for use in school-age children which addressed some of the limitations of prior research. Participants included children, ages 8–12 years, who were either typically developing (TD; n = 38) or diagnosed with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD; n = 67), which provided a sample of children with a range of baseline irritability. All participants completed the Frustration Go/No-Go (GNG) task, and self-reported irritability was assessed using the Affective Reactivity Index. Results showed that across participants, self-reported frustration, commission error rate, and tau all increased with the addition of frustration, with similar effect sizes in ADHD and TD groups. Further, self-reported irritability, moreso than ADHD symptoms, predicted changes in self-reported frustration during the task. Together, these results support the construct validity of the Frustration GNG task as a means of assessing the effect of frustration on cognitive control. Clinical applications and future directions are discussed.     

Factor-analytic Procedures for Assessing Response Pattern Scalability

This paper proposes procedures for assessing the fit of a psychometric model at the level of the individual respondent. The procedures are intended for personality measures made up of Likert-type items, which, in applied research, are usually analyzed by means of factor analysis. Two scalability indices are proposed, which can be considered as factor-analytic counterparts of the lo and lz IRT-based person-fit indices. The present indices can be derived both as likelihood-based measures and as residual measures, and this makes it possible to relate them with previous methodologies such as Bollen's residual analysis and Lanning's scalability index. The indices are intended to be used mainly as exploratory devices, and a factor-analytic version of the person response curve is also proposed as a tool for obtaining further information about the possible causes of misfit. The behavior of the procedures is assessed by means of simulation studies. Finally, an empirical example in personality measurement shows how the procedures can be used in applied research.     

An Observational Technique for Preschool Children

Summary

A method for direct observational study of early peer-social and objectdirect behavior for human subjects was designed to be articulated with techniques widely used in studies of social behavior in infrahuman primates.

Occurrence of behavior fitting the definitions of each of six categories of object behavior and nine categories of social behavior is noted once during each 15-second interval. The number of recorded intervals in a 15-minute session provides the basic scoring unit.

Observer reliabilities were estimated from paired data and four observers. Thirty-eight Negro and white children ages three through five years were observed in three child play groups. Median reliabilities of .95 (range .63 to .98) and .81 (range .69 to .94) were obtained for object and social behavior categories respectively.     

Assessing the Incremental Algorithm: A Response to Krahmer et al.

This response discusses the experiment reported in Krahmer et al.’s Letter to the Editor of Cognitive Science. We observe that their results do not tell us whether the Incremental Algorithm is better or worse than its competitors, and we speculate about implications for reference in complex domains, and for learning from ‘‘normal” (i.e., non‐semantically‐balanced) corpora.     

Assessing Item Fit for Unidimensional Item Response Theory Models Using Residuals from Estimated Item Response Functions

Residual analysis (e.g. Hambleton & Swaminathan, Item response theory: principles and applications, Kluwer Academic, Boston, 1985; Hambleton, Swaminathan, & Rogers, Fundamentals of item response theory, Sage, Newbury Park, 1991) is a popular method to assess fit of item response theory (IRT) models. We suggest a form of residual analysis that may be applied to assess item fit for unidimensional IRT models. The residual analysis consists of a comparison of the maximum-likelihood estimate of the item characteristic curve with an alternative ratio estimate of the item characteristic curve. The large sample distribution of the residual is proved to be standardized normal when the IRT model fits the data. We compare the performance of our suggested residual to the standardized residual of Hambleton et al. (Fundamentals of item response theory, Sage, Newbury Park, 1991) in a detailed simulation study. We then calculate our suggested residuals using data from an operational test. The residuals appear to be useful in assessing the item fit for unidimensional IRT models.     

Assessing False-Belief Understanding in Children with Autism Using a Computer Application: A Pilot Study

We have developed a False-Belief (FB) understanding task for use on a computer tablet, trying to assess FB understanding in a less social way. It is based on classical FB protocols, and additionally includes a manipulation of language in an attempt to explore the facilitating effect of linguistic support during FB processing. Specifically, the FB task was presented in three auditory conditions: narrative, silent, and interference. The task was assumed to shed new light on the FB difficulties often observed in Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Sixty-eight children with ASD (M?=?7.5 years) and an age matched comparison group with 98 typically developing (TD) children were assessed with the FB task. The children with ASD did not perform above chance level in any condition, and significant differences in success rates were found between the groups in two conditions (silent and narrative), with TD children performing better. We discuss implications, limitations, and further developments.     

Assessing the Readability of Mental Health Internet Brochures for Children and Adolescents

We investigated the readability of seven mental health brochures on mental, emotional, and behavioral disorders in children that were selected from a website developed by the Center for Mental Health Services at http://www.mentalhealth.org. The reading grade levels of the brochures ranged from 11.1 to 14.8 (mean 13.23), considerably higher than the 8th grade level recommended for educational material by the U. S. Department of Education (1986). On other readability variables, assessed using the Readability Assessment Instrument (RAIN; Singh, 1994), all brochures met criterion on most variables but failed on those for new words (audience appropriateness) and print size. This is a favorable result in comparison with other studies that have assessed readability of mental health information on the Internet using the RAIN, although less so with reading grade levels.     

Managing Frustration for Children (MFC) Group Intervention for ADHD: An Open Trial of a Novel Group Intervention for Deficient Emotion Regulation

Deficient emotion regulation is a common and impairing area of difficulty among children with ADHD. Few interventions specifically address deficient emotion regulation. The Managing Frustration for Children With ADHD (MFC) group treatment was developed to specifically target deficient emotion regulation deficits common to children with ADHD. The MFC was developed as a 12-week multisystemic intervention for emotion regulation deficits among children with ADHD. An open trial assessed the effectiveness of the MFC as an adjunctive treatment for deficient emotion regulation among children with ADHD. Fifty-two children with ADHD ages 9–11 (42 boys, 10 girls) were enrolled in the MFC, with 44 completing treatment. The majority (71.2%) of participants had at least one comorbid internalizing, externalizing, or learning disorder. Intent-to-treat repeated-measures ANCOVA suggested significant decreases in emotion regulation deficits, mood difficulties, and externalizing difficulties following completion of treatment. More than half (53%) of children who completed treatment experienced reliable and clinically significant improvement in at least one area of functioning. The MFC demonstrated promising initial effectiveness in addressing the emotion regulation deficits of children with ADHD.     

A Scale for Measuring Persistence in Children

Persistence and its assessment have been studied since the 1920s. One common approach in measuring persistence has been through testing the subject's ability to solve difficult or monotonous problems. Another approach has been through questionnaires. Although persistence is very important in academic achievement and in the general development of personality, no questionnaires have been developed for measuring persistence in children. The present research concerns the development of such a scale. It includes 40 items and was tested on 322 Israeli children aged 7-13. The internal reliability of the scale (Cronbach alpha) was .66, and the test-retest reliability after 6 months was .77. The scale differentiated active gymnasts from nongymnasts as well as persistent gymnasts from dropout gymnasts. In addition, significant correlations were found between the scale and the need-persistence measure of the Rosenzweig Picture Frustration Study, Locus of Control, and other measures. We discuss these findings along with the significance of persistence in everyday life.     

Assessing Relational Learning Deficits in Perspective-Taking in Children With High-Functioning Autism Spectrum Disorder

The Psychological Record - Perspective-taking, or the ability to demonstrate awareness of informational states in oneself and in others, has been of recent interest in behavioral psychology. This...     

A Multiple-Task Measurement Framework for Assessing Maximum-Typical Performance

This study presents a novel measurement framework for assessing and predicting maximum and typical performance. The proposed measurement approach addresses the need for organizations to assess maximum and typical performance changes over time in complex job settings requiring coordination of multiple tasks with changing priorities. We present results of an experiment in which participants engaged in a complex task with multiple task elements and instructions to either maximize a different task element in each of four performance blocks (variable-priority condition) or treat all task elements with equal priority (stable-priority condition). We estimated growth curves corresponding to each task element and calculated the area under each growth curve as a summary performance index. Growth curves corresponding to the maximized, high-priority task element in the variable-priority condition reflected maximum performance, whereas those corresponding to the deemphasized, lower priority elements reflected typical performance. We compared the shape of the maximum and typical growth curves in the variable-priority condition to their corresponding performance trajectories in the stable-priority condition. In addition, we tested the moderating influence of individual differences in action-state orientation on the obtained maximum and typical performance estimates. Results indicated support for the proposed measurement framework in terms of its usefulness for inducing sustained levels of maximum performance and for identifying and correcting sources of the maximum-typical performance discrepancy.     

A Behavioral Interactional Model for Assessing Family Relationships

A behavioral interactional model (B.I.M.) of the family is described, which is based upon Bertalanffy's definition of a “system.” The model has a logical structure derived from the formal properties of dyads. The features of dyadic interaction, combined with the “constituent analysis” of protocols, provide a method of analyzing and comparing views about family relationships. The method is illustrated by analyzing two parents' views of their family.     

Initial Psychometric Properties of a Brief Parent-Report Instrument for Assessing Tic Severity in Children with Chronic Tic Disorders

This article describes the development and initial psychometric properties of the Parent Tic Questionnaire (PTQ)—a new measure assessing the number, frequency, and intensity of motor and vocal tics in children and adolescents with Chronic Tic Disorder (CTD). Parents of 40 children with a CTD completed the PTQ as part of a larger assessment battery. Results show the PTQ to have excellent internal consistency and good to excellent 2-week test-retest reliability. The motor tic severity subscale, vocal tic severity subscale, and total severity score of the PTQ correlated highly with the corresponding scales of the gold-standard clinician-rated Yale Global Tic Severity Scale (YGTSS), indicating excellent convergent validity. Correlations between the YGTSS and PTQ remained strong after controlling for measures of obsessive-compulsive disorder and inattention, suggesting good discriminant validity. The PTQ is a promising supplement to current methods for assessing tic severity and further research on the validity, reliability, and clinical utility of the scale are warranted.     

Novel Measures of Response Performance and Inhibition in Children with ADHD

Fifteen children with ADHD aged 8 to 12 years and age and gender matched controls performed two different stopping tasks to examine response performance and inhibition and their respective moment-to-moment variability. One task was the well-established stop-signal task, while the other was a novel tracking task where the children tracked a spaceship on the screen until an alarm indicated they should stop. Although performance was discrete in the stop signal task and continuous in the tracking task, in both tasks latencies to the stop signal were significantly slowed in children with ADHD. Go performance and variability did not significantly differ between ADHD and control children in either task. Importantly, stopping latency in the novel spaceship tracking task also was more variable in children with ADHD. As stopping variability cannot be measured using the standard stop signal task, the new task offers compelling support for the heretofore untested prediction that stopping is both slowed and more variable in children with ADHD. The results support a response inhibition impairment in ADHD, whilst limiting the extent of an intra-trial variability deficit.