The Role of Temperament and Personality in Problem Behaviors of Children with ADHD

This study describes temperament, personality, and problem behaviors in children with Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) aged 6 to 14 years. It targets differences between an ADHD sample (N = 54; 43 boys) and a large community sample (N = 465; 393 boys) in means and variances, psychometric properties, and covariation between traits and internalizing and externalizing problems. Parents rated their children on Buss and Plomin’s and Rothbart’s temperament models, a child-oriented five-factor personality model and also on problem behavior. Relative to the comparison group, children with ADHD presented with a distinct trait profile exhibiting lower means on Effortful Control, Conscientiousness, Benevolence and Emotional Stability, higher means on Emotionality, Activity, and Negative Affect, but similar levels of Surgency, Shyness, and Extraversion. Striking similarities in variances, reliabilities and, in particular, of the covariation between trait and maladjustment variables corroborate the spectrum hypothesis and suggest that comparable processes regulate problem behavior in children with and without ADHD.     

Changes in ecological momentary assessment reported affect associated with episodes of nonsuicidal self-injury

Although emotion regulation deficits have been frequently implicated in the incidence of nonsuicidal self-injurious behavior (NSSI), no research to date has examined in vivo change of affect associated with real-world NSSI behavior. The present study employed Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) to assess change in affect associated with episodes of experienced NSSI in a sample of 36 college students with a self-reported history of NSSI. Results indicated that individuals who reported NSSI behavior over the course of the study experienced increases in negative affect prior to an episode of NSSI that peaked during the episode and faded gradually in the hours following the episode, with affect change roughly approximating a quadratic curve. These changes in affect were detected only at times in which individuals engaged in NSSI and were absent for individuals who did not report NSSI over the course of the study. Moreover, changes in negative affect associated with NSSI were, on average, detectable hours prior to the NSSI event. These findings suggest that episodes of NSSI may be predicted through a careful examination of affect change long before actual NSSI behavior occurs.     

False reports from patients with frontotemporal dementia: delusions or confabulations?

Patients with behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD) can make false statements consistent with delusions or confabulations. It is unclear whether bvFTD is primarily associated with either delusions or with confabulations and whether they can be explained by the pathophysiology of this disease. In order to clarify this, we retrospectively surveyed the records of 48 patients with bvFTD for the presence of any false reports and identified four patients. Their false reports included continued interaction with a favorite but dead relation, fictitious marriages with movie stars, and two who claimed that their partner was having an affair. When confronted with the falsity of their statements, the patients conveyed a lack of certainty regarding their external or internal source but persisted in the constancy of their reports. On functional neuroimaging, the patients had predominant frontal involvement. This report found that patients with bvFTD can have both fantastic, wish fulfilling confabulations and typical content-specific delusions. We propose that both phenomena result from known disturbances of ventromedial prefrontal cortex in bvFTD, including deficits in source monitoring and in activating an automatic "doubt tag" for false reports.     

Orienting attention to locations in mental representations

Many cognitive processes depend on our ability to hold information in mind, often well beyond the offset of the original sensory input. The capacity of this visual short-term memory (VSTM) is limited to around three to four items. Recent research has demonstrated that the content of VSTM can be modulated by top-down attentional biases. This has been demonstrated using retrodictive spatial cues, termed "retro-cues," which orient subjects' attention to spatial locations within VSTM. In the present article, we tested whether the use of these cues is modulated by memory load and cue delay. There are a number of important conclusions: (1) Top-down biases can operate on very brief iconic traces as well as on older VSTM representations (Exp. 1). (2) When operating within capacity, subjects use the cue to prioritise where they initiate their memory search, rather than to discard uncued items (Exps. 2 and 3). (3) When capacity is exceeded, there is little benefit to top-down biasing relative to a neutral condition; however, unattended items are lost, with there being a substantial cost of invalid spatial cueing (Exp. 3). (4) These costs and benefits of orienting spatial attention differ across iconic memory and VSTM representations when VSTM capacity is exceeded (Exp. 4).     

Mapping One Strong ‘Ohana: Using Network Analysis and GIS to Enhance the Effectiveness of a Statewide Coalition to Prevent Child Abuse and Neglect

Network analysis and GIS enable the presentation of meaningful data about organizational relationships and community characteristics, respectively. Together, these tools can provide a concrete representation of the ecological context in which coalitions operate, and may help coalitions identify opportunities for growth and enhanced effectiveness. This study uses network analysis and GIS mapping as part of an evaluation of the One Strong ‘Ohana (OSO) campaign. The OSO campaign was launched in 2012 via a partnership between the Hawai‘i Children’s Trust Fund (HCTF) and the Joyful Heart Foundation. The OSO campaign uses a collaborative approach aimed at increasing public awareness of child maltreatment and protective factors that can prevent maltreatment, as well as enhancing the effectiveness of the HCTF Coalition. This study focuses on three elements of the OSO campaign evaluation: (1) Network analysis exploring the relationships between 24 active Coalition member organizations, (2) GIS mapping of responses to a randomized statewide phone survey (n = 1,450) assessing awareness of factors contributing to child maltreatment, and (3) Combined GIS maps and network data, illustrating opportunities for geographically-targeted coalition building and public awareness activities.     

Psychodrama: Rehearsal for Living

Abstract

The current study examined therapist characteristics that are related to the use of spiritual and religious interventions in group therapy and to perceived barriers to attending to spirituality in group therapy among a sample of experienced group therapists. Results demonstrated that greater therapist spirituality was associated with more frequent use of both spiritual and religious interventions, as well as lower perceived barriers to attending to spirituality in group therapy. Religious commitment was only uniquely related to perceived barriers, such that therapists with higher religious commitment actually perceived greater barriers. Training in religion and spirituality and comfort with spiritual discussions was also related to therapists’ use of religious and spiritual interventions and perceived barriers.     

Language: The art of therapeutic communication

Abstract

This article shares insights into the processes of suggestibility in the interaction between client and therapist. The article also draws on the work of Yapko and Langs and the insights of the author himself in order to make suggestions on how clinical practice and its supervision could be improved by greater scrutiny of the content of client-therapist interactions.     

Development of a Children's Version of the SCORE Index of Family Function and Change

The Systemic Clinical Outcome and Routine Evaluation (SCORE) Index of Family Function and Change is a recently developed outcome measure. It was designed to be acceptable to adults and children aged 12 and over. Thus far no research has been conducted using the SCORE in children under the age of 12. The aim of this study was to pilot a children's version of the SCORE. An existing 29‐item version of the SCORE was completed by a sample of seven children aged 8–10. Time was allowed for group discussion with the children. Feedback from this stage of the study was used to develop a draft version of the SCORE for children. An expert panel of clinicians and researchers were also consulted. A pilot version of the Child SCORE was administered to 80 children aged 7–10 in an inner London primary school. Thirty‐five children also completed the measure for a second time, 1 week later. Findings suggested that the Child SCORE was acceptable to children in the 8–11 age range. Values for internal reliability and test–retest reliability were good. The Child SCORE appears to be a promising instrument. Further research is required to confirm its acceptability to clinical populations, and to demonstrate sensitivity to change.     

Quantum Biology and Psychology

Female college students (N = 112) completed a test battery of personality scales and performance tasks at home over four consecutive evenings, under one of eight combinations of the following experimental conditions: Schedule Source (experimenter versus self) × Scheduled Starting Time (strict versus lenient) × Plausibility of the Experiment. Delay in starting, summed over four evenings, constituted the measure of behavioral procrastination. This measure was moderately correlated with high test anxiety scores and low self-regulation. Procrastination was exacerbated when subjects were permitted to schedule the time of their expected completion of the test battery. Significant interactions of specific experimental conditions and specific personal traits demonstrated the situational requirements for trait-behavior relationships to emerge. Findings supported the internal consistency and construct validity of the behavioral procrastination measure. The practical and heuristic applications of a stimulus-organism-response (S-O-R) design and the theory-coordinated choice of experimental manipulation and corresponding organismic variable are recommended for future investigations of procrastination.