Family Functioning in Pediatric Trichotillomania

Little is known about how pediatric trichotillomania (TTM), a clinically significant and functionally impairing disorder, is impacted by, and impacts, family functioning. We explored dimensions of family functioning and parental attitudes in a sample of children and adolescents who participated in an Internet-based survey and satisfied conservative diagnostic criteria for TTM (ages 10–17, n = 133). Analyses reveal trends toward higher levels of dysfunction in families of TTM youth relative to normative samples, although no differences achieved statistical significance. However, scores on the Family Assessment Measure and the Attitudes Toward My Child scales were similar to those in clinical samples of youth with cystic fibrosis, an eating disorder, or an anxiety disorder. While these results indicate that family functioning and parental attitudes in TTM were not generally or extremely problematic, family issues may nevertheless warrant particular clinical evaluation and attention in more severe TTM cases.     

Parent-Collected Behavioral Observations: An Empirical Comparison of Methods

Treatments for disruptive behaviors are often guided by parent reports on questionnaires, rather than by multiple methods of assessment. Professional observations and clinic analogs exist to complement questionnaires, but parents can also collect useful behavioral observations to inform and guide treatment. Two parent observation methods of child aggression and noncompliance were compared: the Parent Daily Report (PDR) and Behavior Record Cards (BRC). Parents tracked misbehavior for 2 weeks using the PDR or BRC. BRC data proved to be more accurate, though both systems yielded strong reliability and moderate validity. The BRC is recommended to clinicians on empirical and conceptual grounds.     

Parental Emotion Coaching: Associations With Self-Regulation in Aggressive/Rejected and Low Aggressive/Popular Children

This study investigated associations between maternal and paternal emotion coaching and the self-regulation skills of kindergarten and first-grade children. Participants were 54 children categorized as either aggressive/rejected or low aggressive/popular by peer reports. Findings indicated a statistical trend for fathers of low aggressive/popular children to engage in more emotion coaching than fathers of aggressive/rejected children. Paternal emotion coaching accounted for significant variance in children's regulation of attention. Maternal emotion coaching moderated the relation between children's status and regulation of emotion. Findings suggest that interventions focused on parental emotion coaching may prove beneficial for increasing the self-regulation and attention skills of children with social and conduct problems.     

The Attention and Executive Function Rating Inventory (ATTEX): Psychometric properties and clinical utility in diagnosing ADHD subtypes

Klenberg, L., Jämsä, S., Häyrinen, T., Lahti‐Nuuttila, P. & Korkman, M. (2010). The Attention and Executive Function Rating Inventory (ATTEX): Psychometric properties and clinical utility in diagnosing ADHD subtypes. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 51, 439–448. This study presents a new inventory, the Attention and Executive Function Rating Inventory (ATTEX), and examines the psychometric properties and the clinical utility of ATTEX in indentifying the attention deficit hyperactivity disorder combined type (ADHD‐C) and the ADHD predominantly inattentive type (ADHD‐I) in school environments. A normative sample of Finnish 7‐ to 15‐year‐old children and adolescents (N = 701) and a clinical sample consisting of children with ADHD‐C (N = 190) and ADHD‐I (N = 25) were examined with the ATTEX and the ADHD Rating Scale‐IV. The ATTEX and its scales had good internal consistency reliability (0.67–0.98) and criterion validity (0.68–0.95). Normative data was provided for the total normative sample and for boys and girls separately. Gender differences were noted in the ATTEX scores, boys having consistently higher scores on all ATTEX scales. The effect of age was significant only for one of the ten scales, the Motor hyperactivity scale, 7‐year‐olds having more problems of hyperactivity than 14‐year‐olds. Lower parent education level and the child’s learning difficulties were related to higher ratings of EF problems in ATTEX. When different cutoff scores for boys and girls were applied, ATTEX was sensitive in identifying children with attention deficit disorders. In addition, ATTEX was accurate in differentiating children with ADHD‐I from children with ADHD‐C. In this Finnish sample, ATTEX showed solid psychometric properties and could be used as a reliable tool in the diagnostic evaluation of ADHD‐C and ADHD‐I.     

Predictors of Multiple Suicide Attempts among Suicidal Black Adolescents

Psychopathology, social support, and interpersonal orientation were studied in relation to suicide attempt status in acutely suicidal, psychiatrically hospitalized Black adolescents and a matched sample of White adolescents. In the total sample, multiple attempters were differentiated by lower perceived support. Within the Black youth subsample, social comparison and positive stimulation from others differentiated multiple attempters from single attempters/ideators. Only suicidal ideation predicted multiple attempts among White youth and only higher interpersonal orientation predicted multiple suicide attempts within Black adolescents.     

Impulsivity Mediates the Relationship between Future Orientation and Juvenile Deviancy

Both future orientation and impulsivity are intrinsic parts of an adolescent’s self-control, and empirical evidence clearly establishes them as crucial features on the origin of juvenile deviant behavior. However, we do not yet fully understand how these variables relate in explaining deviant conduct. In the present study, we tested a mediation model between these variables among 126 Portuguese adolescents. Findings support the mediation model in analysis, namely that impulsivity fully mediates the effect of future orientation on deviant behavior. In conclusion, our results suggest that lesser future orientated youth develop impulsive behavior which, in turn, explains their higher deviant conduct.     

Inside the Thompson laboratory during the "cerebellar years" and the continuing cerebellar story

This paper is based on the talk by one of the authors (DL) given at the symposium for the retirement of RF Thompson (RF Thompson: A bridge between 20th and 21st century neuroscience). We first make some informal observations of the historical times and research conditions in the Thompson laboratory when the cerebellum was found to play a critical role in eye lid classical conditioning, the "cerebellar years". These conditions influenced our collaborative international program on the phenomenon known as "transfer of training" or "savings". Our research shows that the appearance of "savings" is an artifact of the order of testing, and depends upon the functioning of the contralateral interpositus nucleus (IPN) in a way that is complementary to the role of the IPN in normal eyelid classical conditioning.