Exploration of the Factor Structure of ADHD in Adolescence through Self,Parent, and Teacher Reports of Symptomatology

Factor analytic studies of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in children and adults have shown that second-order and bifactor models better represent ADHD symptoms than two- or three-factor models, yet there is far less evidence for a bestfitting model of ADHD in adolescence. Thus, the current study examined the factor structure of ADHD in adolescence and further evaluated the external validity of the best fitting model. Participants were 588 adolescents (22 % female; 366 with a childhood ADHD diagnosis; mean age 15.9 years) from the 8-year assessment of the Multimodal Treatment Study of Children with ADHD (MTA). ADHD symptoms were assessed via adolescent self-report, parent report, and teacher report on the SNAP-IV scale. Potential factor structures for the 18 symptoms of ADHD were tested for each informant, which included traditional one-factor, two-factor, and three-factor models of ADHD, as well as second-order factor (specific factors loading onto general factor) and bifactor (items loading onto both specific and general factors) models. Unique associations between external criteria and the identified factors of each informant’s best fitting model were examined. Although several of the proposed models exhibited good fit, the second-order two-factor model best accounted for ADHD in adolescence according to self-report and parent report, and the second-order three-factor model was optimal according to teacher report. Several key measurement issues emerged for the hierarchical bifactor models, such as numerous Heywood cases and out-of-bound parameter estimates, which rendered them unfit as optimal representations of ADHD in adolescence. These findings and the implications of the best fitting model of ADHD in adolescence suggest that a possible reorganization of this disorder may eventually aid clinicians in the accurate diagnosis of ADHD in adolescents.     

Maternal Psychosocial Maladjustment and Child Internalizing Symptoms: Investigating the Modulating Role of Maternal Sensitivity

In light of evidence suggesting that maternal adaptation may impact early child emotional development, this study investigated the interactive effects of maternal psychosocial maladjustment and maternal sensitivity on child internalizing symptoms, with the aim of investigating the potentially protective function of maternal sensitivity. Families (N?=?71 to 106 across measures, with gender spread almost evenly: number of boys?=?31 to 51 across measures) took part in four assessments between child ages 1 and 3 years. Mothers completed measures of parental stress, psychological distress, and marital satisfaction when their children were between 12 and 15 months. A composite score of maternal psychosocial maladjustment was derived from these measures. Maternal sensitivity was rated by trained observers at 12 months following a home visit. Child internalizing symptoms were assessed by both parents when the child was 2 and 3 years old. Hierarchical regressions revealed that increased maternal psychosocial maladjustment was related to more internalizing symptoms in children, however only among children of less sensitive mothers. In contrast, children of more sensitive mothers appeared to be protected. This was observed with maternal reports at 2 years, and both maternal and paternal reports at 3 years. These results suggest that young children may be differentially affected by their parents’ emotional adjustment, while highlighting the pivotal protective role of maternal sensitivity in this process.     

Personality trait scores among occupationally active bullied persons and witnesses to bullying

There is little research on the personalities and emotional stability of persons who report being bullied or witnessing bullying at work. Men and women (N = 247) from 19 to 64 years of age and in manual labour completed a questionnaire concerning the psychosocial work climate, bullying and personality. Three groups were defined: bullied (N = 14), witnesses (N = 31) and non-bullied respondents (N = 202). The Swedish universities Scale of Personality was used to assess personality traits related to the three major dimensions of neuroticism, extraversion, and aggressiveness. Bullied persons had higher scores on all six scales within the neuroticism dimension as well as higher irritability (aggressiveness dimension) and impulsiveness scores (extraversion dimension), when compared with their non-bullied work colleagues. To conclude, bullied persons display a self-image that is dominated by mistrust and embitterment as well as irritability and impulsiveness. Accordingly, when dealing with bullying at work, the need for ego-supportive actions should be considered in conjunction with more organisational, collective oriented action.     

Suppressing visual feedback in written composition: Effects on processing demands and coordination of the writing processes

The goal of this experiment was to investigate the role of visual feedback during written composition. Effects of suppression of visual feedback were analyzed both on processing demands and on on‐line coordination of low‐level execution processes and of high‐level conceptual and linguistic processes. Writers composed a text and copied it either with or without visual feedback. Processing demands of the writing processes were evaluated with reaction times to secondary auditory probes, which were analyzed according to whether participants were handwriting (in a composing and a copying task) or engaged in high‐level processes (when pausing in a composing task). Suppression of visual feedback increased reaction time interference (secondary reaction time minus baseline reaction time) during handwriting in the copying task and not during pauses in the composing task. This suggests that suppression of visual feedback only affected processing demands of execution processes and not those of high‐level conceptual and linguistic processes. This is confirmed by analysis of the quality of the texts produced by participants, which were little, if at all, affected by the suppression of visual feedback. Results also indicate that the increase in processing demands of execution related to suppression of visual feedback affected on‐line coordination of the writing processes. Indeed, when visual feedback was suppressed, reaction time interferences associated with handwriting were not reliably different in the copying task or the composing task but were significantly different when visual feedback was not suppressed: They were lower in the copying task than in the composition task. When visual feedback was suppressed, writers activated step‐by‐step execution processes and high‐level writing processes, whereas they concurrently activated these writing processes when composing with visual feedback.     

Visual similarity in short-term recall for where and when

Two experiments examined the effects of visual similarity on short-term recall for where and when in the visual spatial domain. A series of squares of similar or dissimilar colours were serially presented at various locations on the screen. At recall, all coloured squares were simultaneously presented in a random order at the bottom of the screen, and the locations used for presentation were indicated by white squares. Participants were asked to place the colours at their appropriate location in their presentation order. Performance for location (where) and order (when) was assessed separately. Results revealed that similarity severely hinders both memory for what was where and memory for what was when, under quiet and articulatory suppression conditions. These results provide further evidence that similarity has a major impact on processing relational information in memory.     

Lateral foot-movement times in sitting and standing postures

This study examined the effects of foot-side, sex, movement amplitude, and target width on lateral and nonvisually controlled foot-movement time with a reciprocal foot-tapping task in sitting and standing postures. 9 male and 9 female right-foot dominant undergraduates (ages 20 to 25 years) with no reported physical and health problems with their lower limbs voluntarily participated. Analysis indicated foot-movement time in a standing posture was much faster than that in a sitting posture. Target width and movement amplitude had significant effects on foot-movement time, while the effects of foot-side and sex were not significant. Multiple regression models with inclusion of the significant factors were examined which should be useful in predicting foot-movement time required for different tasks in sitting and standing postures. Possible applications of the results may be made to the design of work and foot controls in terms of the related task factors for person-machine interfaces with two or more pedals.     

Associations between maternal mind-mindedness and infant attachment security: investigating the mediating role of maternal sensitivity

In the last 20 years, three meta-analyses suggested that the relation between maternal sensitivity and infant attachment security was lesser in magnitude than originally believed. This led to a search for other parental behaviors likely to contribute to the development of attachment security. Based on previous theoretical propositions and empirical findings suggesting that maternal mind-mindedness may contribute to infant attachment security by favoring maternal sensitivity, the aim of this study was to examine whether sensitivity mediates the relation between maternal mind-mindedness and infant attachment security. Fifty mother-infant dyads took part in two home visits (12 months and 15 months), allowing for assessment of maternal sensitivity (T1), mind-mindedness (T1), and infant attachment (T2). The results confirmed that maternal sensitivity mediates the relation between mind-mindedness and infant attachment. The findings are discussed in light of the assessments used in this and previous studies.     

Verbal, visual, and spatial working memory in written language production

College students wrote definitions of either abstract or concrete nouns in longhand while performing a concurrent working memory (WM) task. They detected either a verbal (syllable), visual (shape), or spatial (location) stimulus and decided whether it matched the last one presented 15-45s earlier. Writing definitions of both noun types elevated the response time to verbal targets above baseline. Such interference was observed for visual targets only when defining concrete nouns and was eliminated entirely with spatial targets. The interference effect for verbal targets was the same whether they were read or heard, implicating phonological storage. The findings suggest that language production requires phonological or verbal WM. Visual WM is selectively engaged when imaging the referents of concrete nouns.     

Contribution of the visual perception and graphic production systems to the copying of complex geometrical drawings: A developmental study

The aim of this study was to determine the contribution of the visual perception and graphic production systems [Van Sommers, P. (1989). A system for drawing and drawing-related neuropsychology. Cognitive Neuropsychology, 6, 117–164] to the manifestation of the “Centripetal Execution Principle” (CEP), a graphic rule for the copying of drawings consisting of embedded simple geometric shapes from the outside shape to the inside shape. Children aged 4–8 years copied two types of model that differed in the visual salience of one of the simple geometric shapes (drawn in bold or normal weight lines), producing the drawings either by graphic execution (freehand) or by superimposing the simple geometric shapes. The results indicated that the frequency of CEP depended both on the type of model and on the drawing context in the youngest children. They suggest that the CEP is determined by the structure of the representation of the models and the planning of the execution of the drawings. The developmental differences in the effects of visual salience and execution context are discussed in the light of the development of representational flexibility and planning abilities. These data are consistent with a dissociation between the visual perception and graphic production systems and account for their interaction.     

The development of context sensitivity in children's graphic copying strategies

The authors report on a series of 5 experiments in which 462 5- to 10-year-old children and 109 adults were required to copy geometric figures either with no constraints or following prior exposure to primes consisting of different parsings of the figures. The analysis focused on the graphic strategies adopted by the participants to copy the models. Three developmental steps were revealed in the baseline copying condition. Priming experiments demonstrated that the age-developmental step correspondence varied as a function of the type of prime used. However, the impact of priming differed according to age. It was limited at 6 years, whereas its size was noticeable at the other ages. These results are discussed in the light of developmental models that hypothesize a major role either for endogeneous factors in cognitive development or for exogeneous and contextual factors.