Examining Alternative Explanations of the Covariation of ADHD and Anxiety Symptoms in Children: A Community Study

Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is comorbid with a range of other disorders, including anxiety disorders. The aim was to examine different explanations for the covariation of these symptom domains in children according to the framework provided by (Lilienfeld, S. O. Comorbidity between and within childhood externalizing and internalizing disorders: Reflections and directions. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 2003). The covariation of ADHD symptoms and anxiety symptoms were examined over a 12-month period in a community sample of 499 children aged 8-13; 91% were retained at 12-month follow-up. Dimensional assessments were conducted using questionnaires given to children, parents and teachers, with results analyzed via structural equation modeling. Positive associations between ADHD and anxiety symptoms were linked with inattention symptoms, were particularly pronounced for girls, and were linked via temperament and behavioral problems. No support for the hypothesis that ADHD symptoms predicted the development of anxiety symptoms over time or vice versa. ADHD symptoms (particularly inattention) and anxiety symptoms are covarying phenomena that are linked with an irritable temperament and disruptive behavior.     

Differential effects of regulatory fit on category learning

Motivation affects the degree to which people engage in tasks as well as the processes that they bring to bear. We explore the proposal that a fit between a person’s situationally induced self-regulatory focus and the reward structure of the task that they are pursuing supports greater flexibility in processing than does a mismatch between regulatory focus and reward structure. In two experiments, we prime regulatory focus and manipulate task reward structure. Our participants perform a rule-based learning task whose solution requires flexible strategy testing as well as an information-integration task for which flexible strategy use hinders learning. Across two experiments, we predict and obtain a three-way interaction between regulatory focus, reward structure, and task. Relative to a mismatch, a match leads to better rule-based task performance, but worse performance on the information-integration task. We relate these findings to other work on motivation and choking under pressure.     

Ability and Personality Predictors of Salary,Perceived Job Success,and Perceived Career Success in the Initial Career Stage

Using longitudinal data from a sample of recent college graduates, we examined the effects of ability (general mental ability and emotional intelligence) and personality (Big Five and proactive personality) on extrinsic (i.e., salary) and intrinsic (i.e., perceived job and career success) indicators of career success. Results from regression analyses indicated that gender, extroversion, and agreeableness were the strongest predictors of salary. Emotional stability and proactive personality predicted perceived job success, while extroversion was significantly related to perceived career success. Neither of the ability measures significantly predicted our indicators of extrinsic or intrinsic career success. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.     

Constructs, operational definition, and operational analysis

We argue that a certain picture of the relationship between language and the world informed Meehl’s outlook on how science worked. That picture authorized talk about constructs and has led to construct proliferation and other problems. Operational analysis offers an alternative view and suggests that a major shortcoming of soft psychology is its lack of disciplined limits on acceptable verbal behavior.     

Appetitive instrumental learning is impaired by inhibition of cAMP-dependent protein kinase within the nucleus accumbens.

The medium spiny neurons of the nucleus accumbens receive a unique convergence of dopaminergic and glutamatergic inputs from regions associated with motivational, cognitive, and sensory processes. Long-term forms of plasticity in the nucleus accumbens associated with such processes as appetitive learning and drug addiction may require coactivation of both dopamine D1 and glutamate N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptors. This notion implies that an intracellular mechanism is likely to be involved in these long-term neuroadaptive processes. The present series of experiments examined the effects of intra-accumbens microinfusion of protein kinase inhibitors on acquisition of an instrumental task, lever-pressing for food. Male Sprague-Dawley rats were bilaterally implanted with chronic indwelling cannulae aimed at the nucleus accumbens core. Following recovery, animals were food-restricted and subsequently trained for operant responding. The broad-based serine/threonine kinase inhibitor H-7 (5 or 27 nmol per side) dose-dependently impaired learning when infused immediately after testing on days 1-4. Rp-cAMPS, a cAMP-dependent protein kinase (PKA) inhibitor, also impaired learning regardless of whether it was infused immediately before (5 or 20 nmol) or immediately after (10 nmol) testing on days 1-4. Rp-cAMPS (10 nmol) also inhibited learning when infused 1 h after testing, though to a lesser extent than when administered before or immediately after testing. The PKA stimulator Sp-cAMPS (5 or 20 nmol) also impaired learning when infused before testing, suggesting that there is an optimal level of PKA activity required for learning. None of the drugs used produced nonspecific motor or feeding effects. These results provide evidence supporting the involvement of nucleus accumbens PKA in appetitive learning and suggest that this kinase may be involved in long-term changes associated with this and other motivationally based neuroadaptive processes.     

VERB™ Summer Scorecard: Findings from a Multi-level Community-based Physical Activity Intervention for Tweens

The benefits of physical activity for adolescents are well established. Multi-level interventions may be especially effective in establishing and sustaining health-enhancing behaviors. This study explored the influences of a multi-level community intervention aimed at increasing physical activity among tweens (youth 9–13). Two Florida school districts far apart served as intervention and comparison sites in a quasi-experimental post-test design. Youth in grades 5 through 8 in the intervention community (n = 1,253) and comparison community (n = 866) completed an anonymous post-intervention survey. An intent-to-treat analysis did not show any statistically significant group differences for the physical activity outcomes examined. However, a subset analysis revealed that students who reported participating in the intervention were more likely to be physically active than youth in the comparison group, as well as youth in the intervention community who reported not participating. Participating in the intervention was significantly related to meeting recommendations for vigorous physical activity (OR = 2.08, P = 0.0259), being physically active on weekends (OR = 1.84, P = 0.0017), and reporting more days of trying a new game or sport (OR = 1.49, P = 0.046) after controlling for grade, gender, race/ethnicity, and SES. These findings support the efficacy of multi-level interventions to create effective health behavior change, especially when linkages among community, media, schools, and the home are present.     

Putting Social Psychology into Serious Games

Video or computer gaming is quickly becoming a significant part of many people's lives. We review several emerging themes in both the social psychological literature and popular culture that show the potential for a productive integration of social psychology and video gaming. In particular, we examine the growing impact of serious games and outline some social psychological principles that could be implemented in the context of games for social cognitive training.     

Stability of masculinity-femininity scores over an eleven-year period

The Gough Femininity Scale was administered to students in an introductory psychology class at an urban community college over an 11-year period. Means for male and female students maintained the same relative difference for the 11 years and were not different from Gough's 1952 standardization sample.     

Adult smoking in the home environment and children's IQ

In a sample of 3- and 5-yr.-old children, smoking in the home was found to be significantly and inversely related to IQ. Children of normal birth weight and without neurological impairment had been enrolled in a longitudinal study of child development. Analyses were conducted with sex, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, educational stimulation in the home, day care, and mother's intelligence controlled. Significant results were obtained for scores on the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-Revised at age three years and on the major Stanford-Binet Fourth Edition scales at ages three and five years. All effects were for the mother, not the father, smoking in the home.     

A test of the regulatory fit hypothesis in perceptual classification learning

This article builds a bridge between research on regulatory focus in motivation and classification learning. It tests the hypothesis that a fit between the situational regulatory focus and the reward structure of the task leads to greater cognitive flexibility than does a mismatch between situational focus and the reward structure and that the fit between the regulatory-focus-induced processing characteristics and the nature of the environment influences performance. In Experiment 1, we used a classification task for which cognitive flexibility should be advantageous and examined both gains (Experiment 1A) and losses (Experiment 1B) reward structures. In Experiments 2 and 3, we used a classification task for which cognitive flexibility should be disadvantageous. In Experiment 2, we used a gains reward structure, and in Experiment 3, we used a losses reward structure. As was predicted, when cognitive flexibility was advantageous, the participants in a regulatory fit showed faster learning and more quickly shifted toward the optimal response strategy. Also as was predicted, when cognitive flexibility was disadvantageous, the participants in a regulatory mismatch showed faster learning and more quickly shifted toward the optimal response strategy. Implications for current theories of motivation and classification learning are discussed.