Empirically Derived Subtypes of Child Academic and Behavior Problems: Co-Occurrence and Distal Outcomes

The aim of this study was to identify classes of children at entry into first grade with different patterns of academic and behavior problems. A latent class analysis was conducted with a longitudinal community sample of 678 predominantly low-income African American children. Results identified multiple subclasses of children, including a class with co-occurring academic and behavior problems. Gender differences were found in relation to the number of identified classes and the characteristics of academic and behavior problems for children. Several of the identified classes, particularly the co-occurring academic and behavior problems subclass for both genders, predicted negative long-term outcomes in sixth grade, including academic failure, receipt of special education services, affiliation with deviant peers, suspension from school, and elevated risk for conduct problems. The finding that subclasses of academic and behavior problems predict negative long-term outcomes validates the importance of the identified classes and the need to target interventions for children presenting with the associated class characteristics. Implications for early identification, prevention, and intervention for children at risk for academic failure and disruptive behavior problems are discussed.     

The genetics and evolution of the general factor of personality

Three studies tested the hypothesis that a general factor of personality (GFP) underlies diverse individual differences including altruism, the Big Five factors of Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Emotional Stability, and the EAS temperament traits of Emotional Stability, Activity, and Sociability. In Study 1, 214 university students completed 36 personality scales. In Study 2, 322 pairs of monozygotic (MZ) and dizygotic (DZ) twins completed 29 5-point rating scales plus questionnaires. In Study 3, 575 pairs of 2- to 9-year-old Korean twins were rated by their mothers on 25 temperament scales. Factor analyses revealed a hierarchical organization with GFP at the apex and the Big Five and/or EAS temperament scales intermediate. The twin data show GFP has an early age of onset with 50% of the variance attributable to non-additive (dominance) genetic influence and 50% to unique, non-shared environmental influence. We discuss a life history matrix encompassing brain size, maturational speed, and longevity, plus emotional intelligence and the personality disorders, and suggest natural selection acted directionally to endow people with more cooperative and less contentious personalities than their archaic ancestors, or nearest living relatives, the chimpanzees.     

Attentional training of the appetitive motivation system: Effects on sensation seeking preferences and reward-based behavior

Motivation is seen to guide selective attention in favor of motivation-consistent stimuli. However, such links may be bi-directional in nature, such that selective attention processes may also bias and determine one’s motivational state. In the present study, we examined the latter direction of influence by randomly assigning participants to one of two conditions designed to train selective attention either toward or away from rewarding word stimuli. The effects of this manipulation were examined in terms of approach-related intentions, emotional state, and reward-reactive behavior. It was found that the selective attention manipulation influenced preferences and behavior, but not conscious emotional state. Findings are discussed in relation to implications for motivation, cognition, and emotion.

Convergent Validity with the BERS-2 Teacher Rating Scale and the Achenbach Teacher’s Report Form: A Replication and Extension

In the present study, we sought to extend instrument validation research for a strength-based emotional and behavior rating scale, the Teacher Rating Scale of the Behavior and Emotional Rating Scale-Second Edition (BERS-2; Epstein, M. H. (2004). Behavioral and emotional rating scale (2nd ed.). Austin, TX: PRO-ED) through the use of convergent validation techniques. The associations between the strength-based domains of the BERS-2 were examined in relation to problem syndrome subscales of the Teacher’s Report Form (TRF; Achenbach, T. M. (1991b). Manual for the teacher’s report form and 1991 profile. Burlington: University of Vermont, Department of Psychiatry). Both measures were conducted with 58 students with emotional disturbance in grades 2 through 12. The overall convergent validity of the BERS-2 and the TRF was strong, particularly for TRF externalizing problems and associated syndromes. However, less evidence emerged for the convergence of domain subscales characterized by behaviors of an internalizing nature. These results provide further support for the use of the BERS-2 in the assessment of the social and behavioral functioning of students with emotional disturbance.     

Clinically Referred ODD Children with or without CD and Healthy Controls: Comparisons Across Contextual Domains

This study compares 6–11-year-old, clinically referred boys and girls diagnosed with Oppositional Defiant Disorder, either with (ODD + CD, n = 40) or without Conduct Disorder (ODD only; n = 136), to a matched sample of healthy control children (HC; n = 69). Multiple informants completed intake diagnostic interviews and self-reports to evaluate constructs examining the child’s functioning and contextual influences on functioning (e.g., parent, family, peer, community). ODD + CD and ODD only children were each distinguished from HCs by greater exposure to delinquent peers and lowered parental self-efficacy. In further comparisons to the HC group, ODD only status was associated with parental use of psychological aggression and more stressful life events, whereas ODD + CD status was associated with greater parental hostility. Relative to ODD alone status, ODD + CD status was comparable on all but one variable (greater parental hostility). Similar findings were reported using a subset of girls only. The characteristics that distinguish children with DBDs from controls and, in particular, ODD + CD from ODD only, bear implications for understanding and treating both CD and ODD.

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Nicotinic modulation of tone-evoked responses in auditory cortex reflects the strength of prior auditory learning

Nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) contribute to sensory-cognitive function, as demonstrated by evidence that nAChR activation enhances, and nAChR blockade impairs, neural processing of sensory stimuli and sensory-cognitive behavior. To better understand the relationship between nAChR function and behavior, here we compare the strength of nAChR-mediated physiology in individual animals to their prior auditory behavioral performance. Adult rats were trained on an auditory-cued, active avoidance task over 4 days and classified as “good,” “intermediate” or “poor” performers based on their initial rate of learning and eventual level of performance. Animals were then anesthetized, and tone-evoked local field potentials (LFPs) recorded in layer 4 of auditory cortex (ACx) before and after a test dose of nicotine (0.7 mg/kg, s.c.) or saline. In “good” performers, nicotine enhanced LFP amplitude and decreased response threshold to characteristic frequency (CF) stimuli, yet had opposite effects (decreased amplitude, increased threshold) on responses to spectrally distant stimuli; i.e., cortical receptive fields became more selective for CF stimuli. In contrast, nicotine had little effect on LFP amplitude in “intermediate” or “poor” performing animals. Nicotine did, however, reduce LFP onset latency in all three groups, indicating that all received an effective dose of the drug. Our findings suggest that nicotinic regulation of cortical receptive fields may be a distinguishing feature of the best-performing animals, and may facilitate sensory-related learning by enhancing receptive field selectivity.     

Using the Step it UP! Game to increase physical activity during physical-education classes

The Step it UP! Game is an interdependent group reinforcement contingency based on the Good Behavior Game. We evaluated the effects of the Step it UP! Game on the number of steps taken by 3rd-grade students during physical-education (PE) classes at a local public elementary school. We divided the class into 2 teams and awarded a “Step it UP! Champ” badge to the members of the team with the highest mean step totals at the end of each game. We used a reversal design to compare the mean number of steps taken while playing the game and during regular PE classes. Overall, participants took more steps while playing the game than they did during class periods without the game. When given the opportunity to choose playing the Step it UP! Game or having regular PE class during a follow-up session, 16 of 18 participants voted to play the game.     

An analysis of hope as a psychological strength

Psychologists have placed an increased emphasis on identifying psychological strengths that foster healthy development. Hope, as operationalized in Snyder's hope theory Snyder, C. R., Hoza, B., Pelham, W. E., Rapoff, M., Ware, L., & Danovsky, M., et al. (1997). The development and validation of the children’s hope scale. Journal of Pediatric Psychology, 22, 399-421], is one such cognitive-motivational construct that has received recent attention as a potential psychological strength that may serve as a protective factor for adolescents in the face of adverse life events. This longitudinal study, involving middle and high school students, provided evidence of (1) stability of hope reports of adolescents over a 1-year period, (2) predictive validity of adolescent hope reports, and (3) hope's functional role as a moderator in the relationship between stressful life events and adolescent well-being. Taken together, the results provide support for consideration of hope as a key psychological strength in youth. The findings are consistent with theories of motivation in which individual differences in hopeful thinking are conceptualized to play a functional role in linking life events and psychological well being.     

An Ecological View of School Satisfaction in Adolescence: Linkages Between Social Support and Behavior Problems

This study investigated the relationships among school satisfaction, social support, and problem behaviors in adolescents. Modest associations were found between school satisfaction and the demographic variables of gender, race, age, and grade level. Support from teachers, parents, and classmates contributed unique variance to ratings of school satisfaction; with teacher support contributing the most unique variance. School satisfaction mediated the relationship between social support and internalizing and externalizing behaviors. School satisfaction did not moderate the relationship between social support and problem behavior; however, it did serve as a protective factor across all levels of social support. Implications are discussed, including suggestions for developing interventions that focus on increasing support for adolescents in efforts to improve school satisfaction and reduce problem behaviors.