Structure and Validity of Sluggish Cognitive Tempo Using an Expanded Item Pool in Children with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder

We evaluated the latent structure and validity of an expanded pool of Sluggish Cognitive Tempo (SCT) items. An experimental rating scale with 44 candidate SCT items was administered to parents and teachers of 165 children in grades 2–5 (ages 7–11) recruited for a randomized clinical trial of a psychosocial intervention for Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, Predominantly Inattentive Type. Exploratory factor analyses (EFA) were used to extract items with high loadings (>0.59) on primary factors of SCT and low cross-loadings (0.30 or lower) on other SCT factors and on the Inattention factor of ADHD. Items were required to meet these criteria for both informants. This procedure reduced the pool to 15 items. Generally, items representing slowness and low initiative failed these criteria. SCT factors (termed Daydreaming, Working Memory Problems, and Sleepy/Tired) showed good convergent and discriminant validity in EFA and in a confirmatory model with ADHD factors. Simultaneous regressions of impairment and comorbidity on SCT and ADHD factors found that Daydreams was associated with global impairment, and Sleepy/Tired was associated with organizational problems and depression ratings, across both informants. For teachers, Daydreams also predicted ODD (inversely); Sleepy/Tired also predicted poor academic behavior, low social skills, and problem social behavior; and Working Memory Problems predicted organizational problems and anxiety. When depression, rather than ADHD, was included among the predictors, the only SCT-related associations rendered insignificant were the teacher-reported associations of Daydreams with ODD; Working Memory Problems with anxiety, and Sleepy/Tired with poor social skills. SCT appears to be meaningfully associated with impairment, even when controlling for depression. Common behaviors resembling Working Memory problems may represent a previously undescribed factor of SCT.     

Validity of the Sluggish Cognitive Tempo Symptom Dimension in Children: Sluggish Cognitive Tempo and ADHD-Inattention as Distinct Symptom Dimensions

This study examined the validity of the sluggish cognitive tempo (SCT) symptom dimension in children. Ten symptom domains were used to define SCT (i.e., (1) daydreams; (2) attention fluctuates; (3) absent-minded; (4) loses train of thought; (5) easily confused; (6) seems drowsy; (7) thinking is slow; (8) slow-moving; (9) low initiative; and (10) easily bored, needs stimulation). Teacher ratings of 366 children (ages 5 to 13 with 56 % girls) along with parent ratings of 703 children (ages 5 to 13 with 55 % girls) indicated that SCT symptom domains one to eight showed convergent validity (i.e., substantial loadings on the SCT factor) and discriminant validity with the ADHD-IN dimension (i.e., higher loadings on the SCT factor than the ADHD-IN factor). Higher scores on this eight-symptom measure of SCT predicted lower levels of academic and social competence even after controlling for ADHD-IN and ADHD-HI. In addition, higher SCT scores still predicted higher anxiety/depression scores after controlling for ADHD-IN and ADHD-HI. Higher SCT scores also predicted lower ADHD-HI scores after controlling for ADHD-IN and anxiety/depression while higher ADHD-IN and anxiety/depression scores predicted higher ADHD-HI scores after controlling for SCT and anxiety/depression or ADHD-IN. SCT also showed a unique negative relationship with ODD while ADHD-IN and anxiety/depression showed unique positive relationships with ODD. This new measure of the SCT dimension was meaningfully independent from the ADHD-IN and anxiety/depression dimensions and suggests that such an SCT dimension may signify a distinct presentation of ADHD or a different (if highly comorbid) disorder altogether.     

Conceptual and Statistical Interactions: An Illustration with the AB5C and CWBs

Purpose

The purpose of this study was to compare the criterion validity of conceptual interactions between the Big Five traits of agreeableness, conscientiousness, and emotional stability to the statistical interactions between these traits. For illustration purposes we focus on linking these interactions to counterproductive work behaviors (CWBs).

Design/Methodology/Approach

Data for Study 1 was obtained from 196 employed students and focuses on the interaction between agreeableness and conscientiousness. Data for Study 2 was obtained from 220 employees and expanded the interaction space examined to include emotional stability.

Findings

All of the circumplex traits representing conceptual interactions were related to CWBs but only the traits most closely associated with conscientiousness showed incremental validity beyond their associated Big Five traits. Dominance analysis highlights increased concurrent validity of the circumplex traits compared to the Big Five statistical interactions in relation to CWBs.

Implications

Understanding the unique circumplex blends of the Big Five traits offers opportunities to enhance the criterion validity of Big Five measures. Results question the similarity between the AB5C circumplex traits and Big Five interactions, with their contributions appearing to be unique but their justification drastically different.

Originality/Value

The validity of the AB5C circumplex traits are relatively unknown. The current results expand this knowledge and directly compare the circumplex traits to interaction terms between agreeableness, conscientiousness, and emotional stability.     

Effects of Applicant Personality on Resume Evaluations

Purpose

This study examined the extent that personality information in resumes impacts hiring judgments through applicant’s resumes. Study 1 examined lay theories regarding relationships between resume cues and the applicant’s personality and hireability. Study 2 examined how the applicant’s personality impacted hiring judgments through resumes.

Design/Methodology/Approach

Data for both studies were collected in the context of a managerial position. For Study 1, participants assessed resume cues in regards to their relationship with personality and hireability. For Study 2, Human Resource personnel evaluated each resume in regards to personality and hireability.

Findings

Results for Study 1 highlight several connections between applicants’ personality and resumes, with strong links between resume content and perceptions of conscientiousness and agreeableness. Results for Study 2 indicate that personality was largely unrelated to ratings of hireability but perceptions of personality were strongly linked to hireability; actual personality was linked to the variability in cue information related to hireability, and conscientiousness was indirectly related to hireability through judgments of conscientiousness.

Implications

Results from these studies suggest that personality and perceptions of personality play a greater role in resume development and screening than has been previously suggested. The pattern of results reported suggest that there are a number of resumes cues that accurately reflect an applicant’s personality and influence perceptions of hireability.

Originality/Value

By taking an exploratory approach, the current studies were able to explore a large variety of cues linked to personality and ratings of hireability. Results have implications for both applicants and HR personnel evaluating resumes.     

Multisource Network and Latent Variable Models of Sluggish Cognitive Tempo,ADHD-Inattentive,and Depressive Symptoms with Spanish Children: Equivalent Findings and Recommendations

Research on Child and Adolescent Psychopathology - Multisource network and latent variable models were used to examine the construct validity of sluggish cognitive tempo (SCT) symptoms relative to...     

A Comparison of Two Flashcard Drill Methods Targeting Word Recognition

Traditional drill and practice (TD) and incremental rehearsal (IR) are two flashcard drill instructional methods previously noted to improve word recognition. The current study sought to compare the effectiveness and efficiency of these two methods, as assessed by next day retention assessments, under 2 conditions (i.e., opportunities to respond held constant across methods, length of instructional session held constant across methods) with 4 first-grade students identified by their teachers as struggling readers. Social validity of the two intervention methods also was evaluated. Results suggested important differences in response to instruction across students. Differences in effectiveness between TD and IR were minimal both when holding opportunities to respond and length of instructional session constant across methods. Minimal differences in efficiency were noted between TD and IR when holding instructional time constant across conditions. However, TD was clearly more efficient than IR for all students when holding opportunities to respond constant across conditions. Social validity data indicated that half of the students preferred the TD method and half preferred the IR method. Limitations and implications of the current study for school-based professionals are discussed.     

Adaptive memory: determining the proximate mechanisms responsible for the memorial advantages of survival processing

J. S. Nairne, S. R. Thompson, and J. N. S. Pandeirada (2007) suggested that our memory systems may have evolved to help us remember fitness-relevant information and showed that retention of words rated for their relevance to survival is superior to that of words encoded under other deep processing conditions. The authors present 4 experiments that uncover the proximate mechanisms likely responsible. The authors obtained a recall advantage for survival processing compared with conditions that promoted only item-specific processing or only relational processing. This effect was eliminated when control conditions encouraged both item-specific and relational processing. Data from separate measures of item-specific and relational processing generally were consistent with the view that the memorial advantage for survival processing results from the encoding of both types of processing. Although the present study suggests the proximate mechanisms for the effect, the authors argue that survival processing may be fundamentally different from other memory phenomena for which item-specific and relational processing differences have been implicated. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved).     

Conscientiousness and Agreeableness as Moderators of the Relationship Between Neuroticism and Counterproductive Work Behaviors: A constructive replication

Several previous studies examining the predictors of counterproductive work behaviors (CWBs) have found positive relationships for neuroticism and negative relationships for conscientiousness and agreeableness. We extend this research by examining whether employee personality traits interact with each other to influence CWBs. Because conscientiousness and agreeableness may suppress one's tendency to engage in CWBs, we hypothesized that the neuroticism–CWB relationship will be weaker among workers who are high in either conscientiousness or agreeableness than among workers who are low in these traits. Data from three independent samples provide support for these hypothesized moderator effects.     

Self‐efficacy in the Workplace: Linking personality to domain‐specific efficacy beliefs

Based on a social cognitive approach to personality, the role of domain‐specific efficacy beliefs were examined in two studies. Study 1 developed a measure of expectations about success in 10 different domains of common work activities with domain‐specific expectancy ratings obtained for 157 individuals along with self‐ and peer ratings of personality. Results showed that predictable relationships emerged, with the traits of the five‐factor model being important determinants of construct‐relevant efficacy beliefs. Study 2 focused on expectations about activities related to conscientiousness as a link between personality and performance across jobs. Results (N = 97) confirmed the proposed relationships and found that efficacy beliefs about trait‐relevant tasks functioned as a mediator linking conscientious and supervisor ratings of performance.     

Are Causal Structure and Intervention Judgments Inextricably Linked? A Developmental Study

The application of the formal framework of causal Bayesian Networks to children’s causal learning provides the motivation to examine the link between judgments about the causal structure of a system, and the ability to make inferences about interventions on components of the system. Three experiments examined whether children are able to make correct inferences about interventions on different causal structures. The first two experiments examined whether children’s causal structure and intervention judgments were consistent with one another. In Experiment 1, children aged between 4 and 8 years made causal structure judgments on a three‐component causal system followed by counterfactual intervention judgments. In Experiment 2, children’s causal structure judgments were followed by intervention judgments phrased as future hypotheticals. In Experiment 3, we explicitly told children what the correct causal structure was and asked them to make intervention judgments. The results of the three experiments suggest that the representations that support causal structure judgments do not easily support simple judgments about interventions in children. We discuss our findings in light of strong interventionist claims that the two types of judgments should be closely linked.