Parent ADHD and Evidence-Based Treatment for Their Children: Review and Directions for Future Research

One fourth to one half of parents of children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) have ADHD themselves, complicating delivery of evidence-based child behavioral and pharmacological treatments. In this article, we review the literature examining the relation between parent ADHD and outcomes following behavioral and pharmacological treatments for children with ADHD. We also review research that has incorporated treatment of parent ADHD (either alone or in combination with child treatment) with the goal of improving parenting and child outcomes. Finally, we offer recommendations for future research on the relation between parent ADHD and evidence-based treatment outcomes for their children, with the purpose of advancing the science and informing clinical care of these families.     

Suffering, Sympathy, and (Environmental) Security: Reassessing Rorty’s Contribution to Human Rights Theory

This article reassess Rorty’s contribution to human rights theory. It addresses two key questions: (1) Does Rorty sustain his claim that there are no morally relevant transcultural facts? (2) Does Rorty’s proposed sentimental education offer an adequate response to contemporary human rights challenges? Although both questions are answered in the negative, it is argued here that Rorty’s focus on suffering, sympathy, and security, offer valuable resources to human rights theorists. The article concludes by considering the idea of a dual approach to human rights, combining Rorty’s emphasis on sentiment with an analysis of patterns of responsibility for the underfulfilment of human rights.     

Illustration of MIMIC-Model DIF Testing with the Schedule for Nonadaptive and Adaptive Personality

This research provides an example of testing for differential item functioning (DIF) using multiple indicator multiple cause (MIMIC) structural equation models. True/False items on five scales of the Schedule for Nonadaptive and Adaptive Personality (SNAP) were tested for uniform DIF in a sample of Air Force recruits with groups defined by gender and ethnicity. Uniform DIF exists when an item is more easily endorsed for one group than the other, controlling for group mean differences on the variable under study. Results revealed significant DIF for many SNAP items and some effects were quite large. Differentially-functioning items can produce measurement bias and should be either deleted or modeled as if separate items were administered to different groups. Future research should aim to determine whether the DIF observed here holds for other samples.     

The clock as a focus of selective attention in those with primary insomnia: An experimental study using a modified Posner paradigm

Espie and colleagues [(2006). The attention-intention-effort pathway in the development of psychophysiological insomnia: a theoretical review. Sleep Medicine Reviews, 10, 215-245] propose a route into psychophysiological insomnia along the attention-intention-effort pathway which focuses on the inhibition of sleep-wake automaticity. A contributing factor to this is selective attention to sleep (alongside explicit intention to sleep and effort in the sleep engagement process). Following on from previous work on selective attention to sleep [Marchetti, L. M., Biello, S. M., Broomfield, N. M., MacMahon, K. M. A., & Espie, C. A. (2006). Who is pre-occupied with sleep?. A comparison of attention bias in people with psychphysiological insomnia, delayed sleep phase syndrome and good sleepers using the induced change blindness paradigm. Journal of Sleep Research, 15, 212-221; MacMahon, K., Broomfield, N., Macphee, L., & Espie, C. A. (2006). Attention bias for sleep related stimuli in primary insomnia and delayed sleep phase syndrome using the dot-probe task. Sleep, 29, 11] and considering the importance of monitoring both internal and external cues in the maintenance of insomnia, as highlighted in the cognitive model of insomnia [Harvey, A. G. (2002). A cognitive model of insomnia. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 40, 869-893], a cognitive probe task was employed to investigate further the role of the clock as a focus of selective attention in those with primary insomnia.A 2 × 2 between participants design comparing reaction time of individuals with primary insomnia (n = 22) and normal sleepers (n = 22) on a modified Posner paradigm. Responses obtained from a computer task presenting times which fall within a normal sleep period were analysed.Individuals with primary insomnia demonstrated delayed disengagement to the clock (F(1,84) = 6.9, p < 0.05) which is taken as further support for previous research demonstrating that individuals with primary insomnia exhibit an attentional bias to sleep related stimuli.These results lend support to the attention-intention-effort model (Espie et al., 2006) and the cognitive model (Harvey, 2002) both of which recognise the importance of selective attention towards salient stimuli in the maintenance of insomnia. Possible clinical implications of attentional bias to sleep as a marker of psychopathology progression and treatment efficacy are discussed.     

The use of aggression in primary school boys' decisions about inclusion in and exclusion from playground football games

Background Sociometric studies have shown that some aggressive boys are popular, perceived as popular or cool, dominant, and central in the peer group ( Estell, Cairns, Farmer, & Cairns, 2002 ; Milich & Landau, 1984 ; Prinstein & Cillessen, 2003 ; Rodkin, Farmer, Pearl, & Van Acker, 2006 ). This is not predicted by social information processing (SIP) models which see aggression as socially incompetent, resulting from distorted understanding of the social world (e.g. Crick & Dodge, 1994 ). However, sociologists of childhood have argued that some aggressive boys are popular because they use aggression to gain status and dominance, to undermine those of lower status, and to achieve hegemonic masculinity ( Adler & Adler, 1998 ; Ferguson, 2000 ; Renold, 2007 ). Aims This study aims to connect psychological and sociological literatures, asking whether social processes of status formation contribute to the link between popularity and aggression identified sociometrically. Sample The paper describes case studies of three boys, aged between 8 and 10 years, attending a London primary school. Methods Sociometric data on liking, disliking, and aggression are combined with ethnographic and interview data for each case study. Results The data show that one way in which aggression aids popularity and dominance is through boys' strategic use of aggression to enforce decisions about inclusion and exclusion in desirable activities. It can be difficult for individual boys to achieve acceptance without resorting to aggression. Conclusions The data provide support for sociological explanations of aggression in terms of status and inclusion, and challenge the SIP claim that aggressive children are socially incompetent and biased.     

Speaking Your Mind: Large Inarticulateness Constitutional and Circumstantial

When someone is asked to speak his mind, it is sometimes possible for him to furnish what his utterance appears to have omitted. In such cases we might say that he had a mind to speak. Sometimes, however, the opposite is true. Asked to speak his mind, our speaker finds that he has no mind to speak. When it is possible to speak one's mind and when not is largely determined by the kinds of beings we are and by the kinds of resources we are able to draw upon. In either case, not speaking one's mind is leaving something out whose articulation would or could matter for the purposes for which one was speaking in the first place. Inarticulation is no fleetingly contingent and peripheral phenomenon in human thinking and discourse. It is a substantial and dominant commonplace. In Part One I attempt to say something about what it is about the human agent that makes inarticulateness so rife. In Part Two, I consider various strategies for making the unarticulated explicit, and certain constraints on such processes. I shall suggest, among other things, that standard treatments of enthymematic reconstruction are fundamentally misconceived.     

Progressive locomotor recalibration during blind walking

Blind walking has become a common measure of perceived target location. This article addresses the possibility that blind walking might vary systematically within an experimental session as participants accrue exposure to nonvisual locomotion. Such variations could complicate the interpretation of blind walking as a measure of perceived location. We measured walked distance, velocity, and pace length in indoor and outdoor environments (1.5-16.0 m target distances). Walked distance increased over 37 trials by approximately 9.33% of the target distance; velocity (and to a lesser extent, pace length) also increased, primarily in the first few trials. In addition, participants exhibited more unintentional forward drift in a blindfolded marching-in-place task after exposure to nonvisual walking. The results suggest that participants not only gain confidence as blind-walking exposure increases, but also adapt to nonvisual walking in a way that biases responses toward progressively longer walked distances.     

A test of the sensorimotor account of vision and visual perception

Two theories define the relationship between sensory experience and perception of location. The doctrine of specific nerve energies relies on hard-wired, genetically specified relationships between stimulation and perception, modifiable only within limits by adaptation. In a newer sensorimotor account, experience tunes the relationship between stimulation and perception. The perception of pressure phosphenes can differentiate the two theories, because the phosphene appears at a location predicted by physiological optics and in a modality predicted by specific nerve energies. Moving a finger vertically along the outer orbit of the eye while pressing gently on it through the lid during nasally directed gaze results in apparent motion of the phosphene out of phase with the finger, therefore in contradiction to information from motor efference to the finger, tactile sense at the fingertip, eyelid and bulb, joint receptors, and proprioception from muscles driving the finger. A test of the sensorimotor theory giving it every advantage had six observers in darkness moving their fingers along the eye and observing phosphenes for 1 h and 2400 motion cycles; the phosphene always obeyed the doctrine of specific nerve energies, never adapting or changing modality as the sensorimotor theory predicts.     

Detection of aberrant responding on a personality scale in a military sample: an application of evaluating person fit with two-level logistic regression

Person-fit assessment is used to identify persons who respond aberrantly to a test or questionnaire. In this study, S. P. Reise's (2000) method for evaluating person fit using 2-level logistic regression was applied to 13 personality scales of the Schedule for Nonadaptive and Adaptive Personality (SNAP; L. Clark, 1996) that had been administered to military recruits (N = 2,026). Results revealed significant person-fit heterogeneity and indicated that for 5 SNAP scales (Disinhibition, Entitlement, Exhibitionism, Negative Temperament, and Workaholism), the scale was more discriminating for some people than for others. Possible causes of aberrant responding were explored with several covariates. On all 5 scales, severe pathology emerged as a key influence on responses, and there was evidence of differential test functioning with respect to gender, ethnicity, or both. Other potential sources of aberrancy were carelessness, haphazard responding, or uncooperativeness. Social desirability was not as influential as expected.     

Age and Body Satisfaction Predict Diet Adherence in Adolescents with Inflammatory Bowel Disease

The aim of the current study was to determine whether age and body satisfaction predict dietary adherence in adolescents with Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD), and whether older females are less adherent than younger males and females. Forty-four participants aged 10–21 with IBD were recruited. Participants provided informed consent and demographics. Body satisfaction was measured by a questionnaire and a task in which participants selected their current and ideal body image out of silhouettes depicting bodies ranging from underweight to obese. Adherence was measured by marking a 100 mm visual analog scale, the 1-week completion of a dietary log, and a questionnaire evaluating coping strategies used for overcoming obstacles to dietary adherence. Age was related to dietary adherence, with younger children being more likely to adhere. Participants more satisfied with their body reported better dietary adherence. Findings remained consistent across multiple measures of body satisfaction and adherence. Healthcare providers and parents should be informed of these findings in order to improve adherence.