Do boys with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder have positive illusory self-concepts?

One hundred ninety-five boys with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) were compared with 73 comparison boys (M = 9.83 years, SD = 1.30) on self-perceptions relative to a teacher-rated criterion. Emphasis was placed on ADHD subgroup comparisons according to level of aggression, academic achievement, and depression compared with control boys. Consistent with the authors' prediction, ADHD boys overestimated relative to teacher report, more than did controls, in the scholastic competence, social acceptance, and behavioral conduct domains. Examination of discrepancy scores (child rating - teacher rating) by comorbidity subgroups suggested that aggressive and low-achieving ADHD boys tended to overestimate their competence the most in the domains in which they were the most impaired. Results are discussed in terms of prior literature on "positive illusions" in ADHD children.     

Family Processes and Treatment Outcome in the MTA: Negative/Ineffective Parenting Practices in Relation to Multimodal Treatment

To elucidate processes underlying therapeutic change in a large-scale randomized clinical trial, we examined whether alterations in self-reported parenting practices were associated with the effects of behavioral, medication, or combination treatments on teacher-reported outcomes (disruptive behavior, social skills, internalizing symptoms) in children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Participants were 579 children with Combined-type ADHD, aged 7–9.9 years, in the Multimodal Treatment Study of Children with ADHD (MTA). We uncovered 2 second-order factors of parenting practices, entitled Positive Involvement and Negative/Ineffective Discipline. Although Positive Involvement was not associated with amelioration of the school-based outcome measures, reductions in Negative/Ineffective Discipline mediated improvement in children's social skills at school. For families showing the greatest reductions in Negative/Ineffective Discipline, effects of combined medication plus behavioral treatment were pronounced in relation to regular community care. Furthermore, only in combination treatment (and not in behavioral treatment alone) was decreased Negative/Ineffective Discipline associated with reduction in children's disruptive behavior at school. Here, children in families receiving combination treatment who showed the greatest reductions in Negative/Ineffective Discipline had teacher-reported disruptive behavior that was essentially normalized. Overall, the success of combination treatment for important school-related outcomes appears related to reductions in negative and ineffective parenting practices at home; we discuss problems in interpreting the temporal sequencing of such process-outcome linkages and the means by which multimodal treatment may be mediated by psychosocial processes related to parenting.     

Synthesizing single-case studies: A Monte Carlo examination of a three-level meta-analytic model

Numerous ways to meta-analyze single-case data have been proposed in the literature; however, consensus has not been reached on the most appropriate method. One method that has been proposed involves multilevel modeling. For this study, we used Monte Carlo methods to examine the appropriateness of Van den Noortgate and Onghena's (2008) raw-data multilevel modeling approach for the meta-analysis of single-case data. Specifically, we examined the fixed effects (e.g., the overall average treatment effect) and the variance components (e.g., the between-person within-study variance in the treatment effect) in a three-level multilevel model (repeated observations nested within individuals, nested within studies). More specifically, bias of the point estimates, confidence interval coverage rates, and interval widths were examined as a function of the number of primary studies per meta-analysis, the modal number of participants per primary study, the modal series length per primary study, the level of autocorrelation, and the variances of the error terms. The degree to which the findings of this study are supportive of using Van den Noortgate and Onghena's (2008) raw-data multilevel modeling approach to meta-analyzing single-case data depends on the particular parameter of interest. Estimates of the average treatment effect tended to be unbiased and produced confidence intervals that tended to overcover, but did come close to the nominal level as Level-3 sample size increased. Conversely, estimates of the variance in the treatment effect tended to be biased, and the confidence intervals for those estimates were inaccurate.     

Is the Positive Illusory Bias Illusory? Examining Discrepant Self-Perceptions of Competence in Girls with ADHD

It has been claimed that excessively positive self-perceptions of competence are a key risk factor for concurrent and subsequent impairments in youth with attention-deficit/ hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). We examined whether girls with ADHD demonstrate positive illusory self-perceptions in scholastic competence, social acceptance, and behavioral conduct domains. We then tested, across a five-year longitudinal span, whether (a) such self-perceptions versus (b) the constituent informant ratings or test scores were more strongly predictive of adolescent impairment and positive adjustment. Participants included an ethnically diverse sample of 140 girls with ADHD and 88 comparison girls, aged 6-12 at baseline (M?=?9.0, SD?=?1.7). Girls with ADHD rated themselves as more positive than indicated by external ratings, but these self-reports were still in a negative direction (comparison girls rated themselves as less positive than these indicators). ADHD subtypes were not related to discrepancy scores. Higher rates of depression symptoms were associated with attenuated discrepancy scores. Crucially, measures of actual competence were more strongly associated with adolescent impairment and positive adjustment than were "illusory" self-perceptions for girls with ADHD. Our findings challenge the view that, at least in girls with ADHD, overly positive and "illusory" appraisals of competence are strongly associated with future impairment and adjustment. The key psychometric point is that, in difference or discrepancy scores, the individual components of such scores should be separately examined.     

Profiles of anger control in second-grade children: examination of self-report, observational, and physiological components

The current study used latent profile analysis (LPA) to examine anger control in 257 second-grade children (∼8 years of age). Anger was induced through losing a game and prize to a confederate who cheated. Three components of anger control were assessed: self-report of awareness of anger, observed intensity of angry facial expressions, and skin conductance reactivity. These components served as indicators in an LPA conducted to determine whether distinct groups of children who differed in anger control profiles would emerge. Five groups were found: (a) Physiology-and-Expression Controllers (high self-report, low expression, low physiological arousal), (b) Expression-Only Controllers (high self-report, low expression, high physiological arousal), (c) Non-controllers (high self-report, high expression, medium physiological arousal), (d) Non-reactive (low self-report, low expression, low physiological arousal), and (e) Non-reporters (low self-report, medium expression, medium physiological arousal). These findings are discussed in terms of implications for the assessment of children’s anger control skills and intervention programs for children’s anger management.     

ADHD Behaviors and Social Functioning in Preschool Children: The Moderating Role of Emotion Recognition

This study examined the moderating role of emotion recognition on the association between preschoolers’ ADHD behaviors and social functioning outcomes. Sixty preschoolers (48.3% female; M_age?=?3.94, SD_age?=?.56) were recruited from Head Start-affiliated classrooms. Teacher-rated ADHD behaviors and an objective measure of children’s emotion recognition were assessed at the beginning of the school year. Teacher ratings of social functioning outcomes were obtained approximately three months after the start of school. Hierarchical regressions examined the unique and interactive effects of ADHD behaviors and emotion recognition on preschoolers’ social functioning outcomes (i.e., oppositional behaviors, peer behavior problems, and social-emotional school readiness). The interaction between ADHD behaviors and emotion recognition predicted oppositional behaviors, peer behavior problems and social-emotional school readiness such that higher levels of emotion recognition appear to buffer the negative association between ADHD behaviors and adaptive social functioning. Preliminary considerations for interventions aimed at promoting preschoolers’ social functioning are discussed.

     

State-based versus reward-based motivation in younger and older adults

Recent decision-making work has focused on a distinction between a habitual, model-free neural system that is motivated toward actions that lead directly to reward and a more computationally demanding goal-directed, model-based system that is motivated toward actions that improve one’s future state. In this article, we examine how aging affects motivation toward reward-based versus state-based decision making. Participants performed tasks in which one type of option provided larger immediate rewards but the alternative type of option led to larger rewards on future trials, or improvements in state. We predicted that older adults would show a reduced preference for choices that led to improvements in state and a greater preference for choices that maximized immediate reward. We also predicted that fits from a hybrid reinforcement-learning model would indicate greater model-based strategy use in younger than in older adults. In line with these predictions, older adults selected the options that maximized reward more often than did younger adults in three of the four tasks, and modeling results suggested reduced model-based strategy use. In the task where older adults showed similar behavior to younger adults, our model-fitting results suggested that this was due to the utilization of a win-stay–lose-shift heuristic rather than a more complex model-based strategy. Additionally, within older adults, we found that model-based strategy use was positively correlated with memory measures from our neuropsychological test battery. We suggest that this shift from state-based to reward-based motivation may be due to age related declines in the neural structures needed for more computationally demanding model-based decision making.