Disruptive Disorders (disruptive + disorders)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


Executive functioning deficits in relation to symptoms of ADHD and/or ODD in preschool children

INFANT AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT, Issue 5 2006
Lisa B. Thorell
Abstract The present study investigated the relation between executive functioning and symptoms of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD) in children aged 4,6. A population-based sample (n=201) was used and laboratory measures of inhibition, working memory and verbal fluency and teacher ratings of disruptive behaviour problems were collected. Both group differences and linear relations were studied and comorbidity was controlled for dimensionally. In both categorical and dimensional analyses, executive functioning was associated with symptoms of ADHD, but not with symptoms of ODD when controlling for comorbidity, and no significant interactive effects of ADHD and ODD symptoms were found. Effect sizes for significant effects were generally in the medium range. Regarding sex differences, the control for comorbid ODD symptoms appeared to affect the relation between ADHD symptoms and executive functioning somewhat more for girls compared with boys. In conclusion, poor executive functioning in preschool appears to be primarily related to symptoms of ADHD, whereas the relation to symptoms of ODD can be attributed to the large overlap between these two disruptive disorders. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


Mothers' maximum drinks ever consumed in 24 hours predicts mental health problems in adolescent offspring

THE JOURNAL OF CHILD PSYCHOLOGY AND PSYCHIATRY AND ALLIED DISCIPLINES, Issue 9 2010
Stephen M. Malone
Background:, The maximum number of alcoholic drinks consumed in a single 24-hr period is an alcoholism-related phenotype with both face and empirical validity. It has been associated with severity of withdrawal symptoms and sensitivity to alcohol, genes implicated in alcohol metabolism, and amplitude of a measure of brain activity associated with externalizing disorders in general. In a previous study we found that the maximum number of drinks fathers had ever consumed in 24 hrs was associated with externalizing behaviors and disorders in preadolescent and adolescent children. The purpose of the present study was to determine whether maternal maximum consumption has similar correlates. Method:, We examined associations between maternal maximum consumption and alcohol dependence, respectively, and disruptive disorders and substance-related problems in two large independent population-based cohorts of 17-year-old adolescents. Results:, Maximum consumption was associated with conduct disorder, disruptive disorders in general, early substance use and misuse, and substance disorders in adolescent children regardless of sex. Associations were consistent across cohorts, providing internal replication. They also paralleled our previous findings regarding paternal status. They could not be explained by maternal alcohol dependence, effects of drinking during pregnancy, or paternal maximum consumption. They were not simple artifacts of the fact that maximum consumption is a continuous measure while alcohol dependence is dichotomous. Conclusions:, Despite deriving from a single question about lifetime behavior, parental maximum consumption appears to reflect vulnerability for mental health problems, especially substance-related ones, more directly than a diagnosis of alcohol dependence. [source]


Research Review: A new perspective on attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: emotion dysregulation and trait models

THE JOURNAL OF CHILD PSYCHOLOGY AND PSYCHIATRY AND ALLIED DISCIPLINES, Issue 9 2009
Michelle M. Martel
Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a common example of developmental psychopathology that might be able to be better understood by taking an emotion regulation perspective. As discussed herein, emotion regulation is understood to consist of two component processes, emotion (e.g., positive and negative emotionality) and regulation (e.g., effortful and reactive forms of control), which interact with one another at the behavioral level. Review of work to date suggests that the heterogeneous behavioral category of ADHD may encompass two distinct kinds of inputs: inattentive ADHD symptoms may be primarily associated with breakdowns in the regulation side, whereas hyperactivity-impulsive ADHD symptoms may be associated with breakdowns in the emotionality side. It is argued that breakdowns in control may be a signature for ADHD specifically, while increased negative emotionality may serve as non-specific risk factors for disruptive behavior disorders, explaining their comorbidity. Increased understanding of the interrelations and interactions of component emotion regulation processes may elucidate developmental, sex, and neural mechanisms of ADHD and associated comorbid disruptive disorders. [source]


Applications of Taxometric Methods to Problems of Comorbidity: Perspectives and Challenges

CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY: SCIENCE AND PRACTICE, Issue 4 2001
Irwin D. Waldman
We share Meehl's view that taxometric procedures hold considerable promise for elucidating questions regarding psychiatric comorbidity. Drawing on examples from the domain of childhood disruptive disorders, we discuss why the issues raised by Meehl are scientifically and pragmatically important and outline several profitable applications of taxometric methods to questions of comorbidity (e.g., estimating the statistical relations between latent taxa). We explain why taxometric methods and other sophisticated latent variable methods are needed to answer such questions and provide examples of how certain statistical methods have been used to make erroneous inferences regarding taxonicity. Several important unresolved issues bearing on the use of taxometric procedures and their application to questions of comorbidity are delineated, including (a) the distributional assumptions of taxometric methods, (b) the construct validation of provisional taxa identified by taxometric analyses, (c) the relation of taxometric methods to other latent variable techniques (e.g., latent class analysis), (d) the potential existence of spurious taxa, (e) the question of "fuzzy taxonicity," and (f) "configural taxa." We conclude with a discussion of analytic methods for characterizing and understanding the covariation between latent dimensions as opposed to taxa. [source]