How well do measures of inhibition and other executive functions discriminate between children with ADHD and controls?

The aim of the present study was to evaluate the usefulness of Barkley's (1997a) model of inhibition and executive functioning in describing the deficits associated with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Besides group differences, the present study addressed the question of independent effects of inhibition and the other executive functions in discriminating between children with ADHD and controls and how well, in terms of sensitivity and specificity, these measures can classify the children into the correct group. The results showed that children with ADHD differed significantly from controls with regard to measures of inhibition as well as all other executive function measures, except repetition of hand movements. In logistic regression models, three different measures tapping inhibition, working memory and emotion regulation were shown to be significant independent predictors of group membership. The sensitivity for these three variables as a set was 76.2, the specificity was 90.5, with a total of 86% of the sample correctly classified. When excluding the parental rating of emotion regulation, the overall classification rate decreased some, but was still relatively high in comparison with previous studies within this area of research.     

An observational measure of children's behavioural style: Evidence supporting a multi‐method approach to studying temperament

This study demonstrates the potential utility of the Behavioural Style Observational System (BSOS) as a new observational measure of children's behavioural style. The BSOS is an objective, short and easy to use measure that can be readily adapted to a variety of home and laboratory situations. In the present study, 160 mother–child dyads from the Concordia Longitudinal Risk Project (CLRP) were observed during an 11‐min behavioural sample. Videotaped interactions were coded using the BSOS for children's mood, activity level, vocal reactivity, approach to toys, mood consistency and adaptability. Comparisons between the BSOS observational ratings and mothers' ratings of the child on the EAS Temperament Survey (EAS) provided support for modest congruence between these two measurement systems, and revealed a differential predictive pattern of children's functioning. Specifically, the observation‐based BSOS predicted children's cognitive performance and adaptive behaviour during testing, whereas the mother‐rated EAS predicted maternal ratings of children's internalizing and externalizing behaviour problems. Both measures were found to independently predict mothers' ratings of parenting stress. Overall, the findings imply that neither observational measures nor maternal ratings alone are sufficient to understand children's behavioural style, and that comprehensive evaluations of children's temperament should optimally include both types of measures. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Epidemiology of “Regrettable Kinship”: Gender, Epidemic, and Community in Todd Haynes' [Safe] and Richard Powers' Gain

In “The Epidemiology of ‘Regrettable Kinship’: Gender, Epidemic, and Community in Todd Haynes' [Safe] and Richard Powers' Gain,” the author analyzes two contemporary cultural texts about women and environmentally-linked illnesses to rethink commonplace understandings of the relationship between gender, disease, and community formation. By reading these narratives side by side, Lynch is able to address difficult issues about gendered subjectivity and the fragile construction of collective political identity. While the female protagonists in the texts Lynch examines relate differently to their illnesses, both portray the ways in which women negotiate the potential and limitations of “illness communities.”     

Child Discipline and Physical Abuse in Immigrant Latino Families: Reducing Violence and Misunderstandings

This article examines common areas of misunderstanding between professionals and low‐income Latino families concerning issues of physical abuse. It argues that low‐income immigrant children deserve the same protection from harsh physical punishment as all other children. This ar ticle suggests culturally competent ways for counselors to work with Latino families to eliminate all forms of violence toward children including corporal punishment. Finally, this article argues that the systemic stresses on low‐income Latino immigrant families must be acknowledged and reduced when addressing child discipline and abuse.     

A Multilevel Contextual Model of Family Conflict and Deviance

This paper presents a multiple-group multivariate hierarchical specification of family problem behaviors across ethnicities using structural equation modeling techniques which explicitly model the individual-level and family-level covariance matrices in familial problem behavior. Analyses were conducted across White and African American ethnic groups. The sample (N = 1,168; 647 White and 521 African Americans) comprised children and their parents from 392 families. In addition to relations between family conflict and deviant behaviors, covariates were included at each level of analysis: neighborhood desirability at the family (between) level, and age and gender at the individual (within) level. At the between level, neighborhood desirability influenced family conflict and family conflict influenced family levels of deviance. At the within level, conflict was significantly related to individual levels of deviance. Discussion focuses on the substantive results as well as the application of multilevel analyses to contextual influences of family problem behavior.     

Adaptive skills and executive function in autism spectrum disorders.

There is active debate regarding the nature of executive dysfunction in autism. Additionally, investigations have yet to show a relationship between deficits in executive function and the everyday behavioral difficulties that may originate from them. The present study examined the relationship between executive abilities and adaptive behavior in 35 children with Autism Spectrum Disorders, using two parent reports of everyday functioning, the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales (VABS) and the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF). Results found several relationships: The Initiate and Working Memory domains were negatively correlated with most domains of adaptive behavior. Also, the Communication and Socialization domains of the VABS were negatively correlated with several areas of executive functioning, suggesting that impairments in executive abilities are strongly associated with the deficits in communication, play and social relationships found in children with autism.     

Meta-analyses of Big Six Interests and Big Five Personality Factors

This article presents a series of meta-analyses examining the 24 samples to date that have revealed the overlap of the three most widely used measures of Holland's Big Six domains of vocational interest, namely the Self-Directed Search (Holland, 1985a), the Strong Interest Inventory (Hansen & Campbell, 1985; Harmon, Hansen, Borgen, & Hammer, 1994), and the Vocational Preference Inventory (Holland, 1985b), with the most widely accepted measure of the Big Five personality factors, namely the Revised NEO Personality Inventory (Costa & McCrae, 1992). The meta-analyses showed the mean effect sizes for each of the 30 correlations between the six interest dimensions and the five personality dimensions. Of the 30 correlations, 5 appeared to be substantial for both women and men and across the interest measures. They are Artistic-Openness (r=.48), Enterprising-Extraversion (r=.41), Social-Extraversion (r=.31), Investigative-Openness (r=.28), and Social-Agreeableness (r=.19).     

Probing the Will of God: Bonhoeffer and Discernment

Like the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius, the spiritual discernment of Dietrich Bonhoeffer seeks to bring one’s life into conformity (Gleichgestaltung) with Christ. Such conformation makes discipleship costly, but it also overflows with the fullness of life.     

Cross‐level,three‐way interactions among work‐group climate,gender, and frequency of harassment on morale and withdrawal outcomes of sexual harassment

We examined the effects of gender and work‐groups' perceptions of climate for sexual harassment on the relationship between individuals' sexual harassment experiences and job‐related outcomes (namely, job satisfaction, affective organizational commitment, work withdrawal, and job withdrawal). Drawing from a variety of theories, we proposed that a beneficial climate would buffer men from negative outcomes, but would intensify negative outcomes for women. Significant three‐way interactions were found for job satisfaction, affective organizational commitment, and job withdrawal. Results indicated that beneficial work‐group climate perceptions buffered men from decrements in job satisfaction and work withdrawal, but intensified decrements in all three outcomes for women. Implications for research and practice are discussed.     

The Origin of Biases in Face Perception

ABSTRACT— Experience with certain types of faces during the first year of development defines which types of faces are more efficiently recognized later in life. In work described here, we found that infants who learned to recognize six monkey faces individually (i.e., each face was individually labeled) over a 3-month period maintained the ability to discriminate monkey faces. However, infants who learned these same six faces categorically (i.e., all faces were labeled "monkey") or were simply exposed to these faces (i.e., faces were not labeled) showed a decline in the ability to discriminate monkey faces. These results suggest that experience individuating faces from 6 to 9 months of age, via labeling, critically shapes the perceptual representation that is responsible for later recognition and discrimination of faces.