Appetitive and psychological phenotypes of pediatric patients with obesity.

BACKGROUND: Obesity is a heterogeneous disease with variable treatment response. Identification of the unique constellation of contributors to obesity may allow for targeted interventions and improved outcomes. OBJECTIVE: Identify empirically derived phenotypes of pediatric patients with obesity based on appetitive and psychological correlates of obesity. METHODS: This cross-sectional study included patients aged 5-12 years who were treated in a weight management clinic and completed standard intake questionnaires including Child Eating Behavior Questionnaire (CEBQ), Vanderbilt ADHD Scale and Pediatric Symptom Checklist. Phenotypes were elicited using latent profile analysis of 12 indicators: eight CEBQ subscales, inattention, hyperactivity/impulsivity, internalizing and externalizing symptoms. RESULTS: Parents/guardians of 384 patients (mean age 9.8 years, mean BMI 30.3 kg/m2 ) completed the intake questionnaires. A 4-phenotype model best fits the data. Hedonic Impulsive phenotype (42.5%) exhibited high food enjoyment and hyperactivity/impulsivity. Inattentive Impulsive phenotype (27.4%) exhibited overall low food approach and high food avoid behaviours, and highest inattention. Hedonic Emotional phenotype (20.8%) scored the highest on food enjoyment, internalizing and externalizing symptoms. Picky Eating phenotype (9.3%) scored the lowest on food approach, inattention, hyperactivity/impulsivity, internalizing and externalizing symptoms. CONCLUSION: Appetitive traits and psychological symptoms appear to cluster in distinct patterns, giving rise to four unique phenotypic profiles, which, if replicated, may help inform the development of tailored treatment plans.

Predictive Value of Developmental Assessment in a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) Follow-Up Clinic.

OBJECTIVE: Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) Follow-Up programs vary in the duration for which they monitor child development and neurocognitive outcomes. This study explores the early predictive value of a widely used developmental measure for intellectual functioning during early childhood to better inform whether there is value added in continued monitoring. METHODS: Participants were 209 children who had at least two assessments between the ages of 1 and 6 years old as part of NICU Follow-Up clinic. The Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development, Third Edition (Bayley-III) was administered when children were 1 and 2 years old and the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence, Fourth Edition (WPPSI-IV) was administered when children were 3 years and older. RESULTS: The Bayley-III at 1 year of age was a significant predictor of Bayley-III performance at age 2. Similarly, Bayley-III at ages 1 year and 2 years were significant predictors of WPPSI-IV performance. Strength of prediction was moderate with the majority of variance unexplained. Exploratory analyses examining whether early developmental abilities as assessed on the Bayley-III could identify patients at risk for poorer WPPSI-IV performance indicated appropriate specificity but inadequate sensitivity. CONCLUSIONS: This study supports ongoing assessment of children who were born with perinatal complications into at least early childhood. Assessing development only during the infant and toddler years did not sufficiently identify children who went on to have lower cognitive functioning in preschool and the early school years.

Validity of the Adult Eating Behavior Questionnaire for adolescents treated in a weight management clinic.

BACKGROUND: The Child and Adult Eating Behavior Questionnaires (CEBQ, AEBQ) are established measures of eating behaviors. However, no similar measure is available for adolescents. Prior research has validated the AEBQ in adult samples, and one study has explored using the measure with adolescents. However, no studies to date have examined the validity of the AEBQ in adolescent clinical populations. Furthermore, no studies have examined associations between the AEBQ and indicators of health status in adolescents. METHODS: A total of 280 adolescents (12-17 years old, 60% female) seen in a pediatric weight management clinic completed the AEBQ at intake. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was conducted with AEBQ items to evaluate the model fit of one-, two-, seven-, and eight-factor structures. Intercorrelations between scale scores from AEBQ Food Approach and Food Avoidance domains were calculated. Associations of AEBQ scales with body mass index (BMI) and binge-eating behaviors were examined using Spearman Rho correlations and independent t-tests. RESULTS: CFAs revealed that the best fitting model was a seven-factor structure excluding the Hunger scale, although overall model fit was only marginally acceptable (X2 = 980.94, CFI = 0.925, TLI = 0.915, RMSEA = 0.074). Intercorrelation analyses indicated that all Food Approach scales were significantly associated with one another (r = 0.243-0.654); Food Avoidance scales were inconsistently correlated (r = 0.034-0.439). No AEBQ scales were correlated with BMI (r = -0.101-0.082). Stronger links were found with binge eating; higher frequency binge-related behaviors were associated with higher Food Approach scores. CONCLUSIONS: The seven-factor structure of AEBQ demonstrates a marginally acceptable fit for treatment-seeking adolescents with obesity. The Food Approach scales demonstrated more convergent validity than the Food Avoidance scales. The Food Approach scales also exhibited some clinical utility for identifying patients with increased risk for binge eating, which is a common target for behavioral intervention. Implications for maximizing the AEBQ's potential for assessing eating behaviors in adolescents with obesity are discussed.

Peer Victimization and Poor Academic Outcomes in Adolescents With ADHD: What Individual Factors Predict Risk?

Objective: Examine individual factors associated with peer victimization (PV) in adolescents with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and to examine the association between PV and educational outcomes. Method: Participants were 121 adolescents (Mage = 13.62, SD = 1.03; 89% boys) with diagnosed ADHD. Using path analysis, we tested whether general adolescent factors (ADHD symptoms, comorbid autism spectrum disorder, cognitive and social functioning, and age) were associated with experiences of PV, and associations between PV and academic outcomes. Results: Deficits in working memory (WM) and peer relationship problems were weakly and moderately associated with PV, respectively. PV was in turn was associated with adolescents' attitudes about school, academic competence, and academic achievement. Conclusion: Adolescents with poor social skills and/or WM difficulties who have ADHD may be particularly vulnerable to being victimized by peers. Failure to identify and manage PV during early adolescence may be connected to poor educational outcomes.

Prevalence, Patterns, and Predictors of Sleep Problems and Daytime Sleepiness in Young Adolescents With ADHD.

Objective: The primary objective of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of multiple types of sleep problems in young adolescents with ADHD. Method: Adolescents comprehensively diagnosed with ADHD (N = 262) and their caregivers completed well-validated measures of sleep problems and daytime sleepiness. Participants also completed measures related to medication use, comorbidities, and other factors that could predict sleep problems. Results: Daytime sleepiness was by far the most common sleep problem, with 37% of adolescents meeting the clinical threshold according to parent report and 42% according to adolescent report. In contrast, prevalence rates for specific nighttime sleep problems ranged from 1.5% to 7.6%. Time spent in bed, bedtime resistance, ADHD inattentive symptoms, and Sluggish Cognitive Tempo (SCT) symptoms were significant in the final model predicting daytime sleepiness. Conclusion: Adolescents with ADHD commonly experience problems with daytime sleepiness that may significantly affect their functioning, but this may not be directly attributable to specific sleep problems.

Intraindividual variability of sleep/wake patterns in adolescents with and without attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.

BACKGROUND: Prior studies examining the sleep of adolescents with and without attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) have relied on mean values such as average sleep duration, which masks intraindividual variability (IIV). The objective was to investigate whether adolescents with ADHD have greater IIV of sleep/wake patterns than adolescents without ADHD using actigraphy and daily sleep diaries. METHOD: Adolescents (ages 13.17 ± 0.40 years; 45% female) with (n = 162) and without (n = 140) ADHD were recruited from middle schools at two sites. Participants wore actigraphs and completed sleep diaries for an average of 2 weeks. RESULTS: Multilevel models were conducted with sex, sleep medication use, ADHD medication use, number of days with data, and social jetlag controlled for in analyses. For actigraphy, adolescents with ADHD had greater variability for time in bed, sleep onset and offset, and wake after sleep onset than adolescents without ADHD. For sleep diary data, adolescents with ADHD had greater variability in bedtime, wake time, sleep duration, sleep onset latency, sleep quality, and night wakings than adolescents without ADHD. Social jetlag was a significant predictor of variability in sleep measures based on both actigraph and daily diaries; however, ADHD status was not associated with social jetlag. CONCLUSIONS: This is the first study to show that adolescents with ADHD have more variable sleep/wake patterns than their peers using both objective and subjective sleep measures. IIV of sleep/wake patterns may be important for clinicians to assess and monitor as part of treatment. Research is needed to understand the mechanisms underlying increased IIV of sleep/wake patterns in adolescents with ADHD and potential consequences for daytime functioning.

Predictors and Trajectories of Response to the Homework, Organization, and Planning Skills (HOPS) Intervention for Adolescents With ADHD.

The goal of the present study was to evaluate the relative importance of adolescent and parent skills acquired during participation in the Homework, Organization, and Planning Skills (HOPS) intervention in predicting intervention response. A sample of 111 middle school students with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (66% male; Mage = 11.99, SD = 1.05) received the HOPS intervention, which includes 16 brief sessions with the adolescent and two parent meetings. Each session, school mental health providers completed checklists measuring students' acquisition of homework recording, materials organization, and time management skills. Parents provided information on whether they monitored and used contingencies to reinforce skills use at home. Outcome measures included parent and teacher ratings of homework problems and organizational/time management skills postintervention. Grade point average and assignment completion were also evaluated as objective outcomes. Regressions found accurate homework recording and time management to be unique predictors of parent-reported homework and organizational skills outcomes. Growth mixture models examining organizational skills trajectories throughout the intervention significantly predicted parent- and teacher-reported outcomes, GPA, and assignment completion; homework recording trajectories predicted parent-reported outcomes and GPA. Sixty-eight percent of participants displayed high acquisition of organization and homework recording skills. Parent-reported use of monitoring and contingencies to support adolescent skills implementation was not associated with outcomes. Results highlight the importance of examining individual differences in school-based intervention studies targeting organization, time management, and planning. Importantly, for a school-based adolescent-focused intervention, improvement in outcomes does not appear to be dependent upon parent skills implementation.

Factor Structure and Convergent Validity of the Stress Index for Parents of Adolescents (SIPA) in Adolescents With ADHD.

Parenting stress is common in families with an adolescent with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The Stress Index for Parents of Adolescents (SIPA) was developed to assess parenting stress but has not been validated outside of the original development work. This study examined the factor structure and sources of convergent validity of the SIPA in a sample of adolescents diagnosed with ADHD (Mage = 12.3, N = 327) and their caregivers. Three first-order models, two bifactor models, and one higher order model were evaluated; none met overall model fit criteria but the first-order nine-factor model displayed the best fit. Convergent validity was also assessed and the SIPA adolescent domain was moderately correlated with measures of family impairment and conflict after accounting for ADHD symptom severity. Implications of these findings for use of the SIPA in ADHD samples are discussed along with directions for future research focused on parent stress and ADHD.

Brief homework intervention for adolescents with ADHD: Trajectories and predictors of response.

In the present study, we sought to examine response trajectories to brief (11-week) school-based homework interventions and factors that may help schools predict responses. Participants included 222 middle-school students (72% boys; Mage = 12.00 years, SD = 1.02) who had been diagnosed with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and had received either a contingency-management or skills-based intervention for homework problems. Both interventions included 16 20-min student meetings with a school counselor and two parent meetings. Trajectories of response for ratings of homework problems and assignment completion were examined from baseline to a 6-month follow-up using growth-mixture models. Baseline variables routinely measured in school settings, including grade-point average (GPA), math and reading achievement, and externalizing and internalizing symptoms, were examined as predictors of treatment-response trajectories. The majority of students (68-81%) showed positive treatment response across outcomes. However, trajectories of students who did not respond to intervention were identified for each outcome. Baseline GPA significantly predicted trajectories for all outcomes and achievement scores significantly predicted trajectories of teacher-reported homework performance and parent-reported homework problems, such that youth with relatively higher baseline GPAs and achievement were most likely to respond. In contrast, neither externalizing nor internalizing symptoms were significant predictors of response trajectories. Schools can use GPA and academic-achievement data to determine whether brief school-based interventions for homework problems are likely to succeed. Students with ADHD who display severe academic impairment (i.e., GPA lower than 2.0 at baseline) may benefit from a more long-term, intensive intervention. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Identifying and Integrating Parent Priorities for Psychosocial Support Services in a Pediatric Cystic Fibrosis Clinic.

Engaging parents early in the development of psychosocial support programs in cystic fibrosis (CF) clinics may enable services and care team recommendations to be tailored appropriately. This pilot study identified psychosocial priorities of parents of children with CF related to treatment adherence, parent/child mental health, and CF-related communication. Forty parents of children with CF (2 months to 17 years) completed an anonymous 17-item survey during routine clinic visits that assessed priorities related to psychosocial services. Elements of a quality improvement framework were used to develop the survey and determine recommendations based on findings. Parents reported the most interest in support related to improving adherence to respiratory therapies and helping children complete treatments independently. Other priority areas included services that helped children cope with feelings of isolation or abnormality due to CF and strategies to improve communication with the care team. Additionally, the majority of families indicated that they preferred receiving psychosocial services during routine clinic visits, followed by periodic parent workshops. Based on survey results, the psychosocial team at our center developed a survey/response model (e.g., roundtables, workshops) that may serve useful for other CF care teams as they identify the priorities of parents and adapt to their needs.

Ethical Considerations for Assessing Parent Mental Health during Child Assessment Services.

Parents play an integral role in the mental health service provision of children and adolescents, and they can have significant effects on the outcomes of youth. A growing body of research has linked parents' own mental health status to numerous outcomes for their children, and recent guidelines have emerged recommending the assessment of parent psychopathology when treating child patients. However, these recommendations present a range of ethical considerations. Mental health professionals must determine if the assessment of a parent is empirically supported and that an assessment procedure appropriate for parents can be feasibly implemented. They must also respect the autonomy and confidentiality of parents while ensuring that assessment findings can be translated to meaningful benefits for child patients. This article details and discusses each of these concerns within the context of the relevant principles and standards of the 2016 American Psychological Association's Code of Ethics. Further, it provides guidelines, relevant clinical examples, and an applied model for mental health professionals to consider the ethical implications of assessing parent mental health when serving child patients.

The importance of therapeutic processes in school-based psychosocial treatment of homework problems in adolescents with ADHD.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the importance of therapeutic processes in two brief school-based psychosocial treatments targeting homework problems in adolescents with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) as delivered by school mental health professionals. METHOD: A sample of 222 middle school students (72% male; Mage = 12.00 years, SD = 1.02) diagnosed with ADHD was randomized to receive either a contingency-management or a skills-based treatment for homework problems. Both treatments included 16 individual sessions (20-min each) and 2 parent/family meetings. Adolescents and school mental health professionals reported on the working alliance in the middle of the treatment; professionals rated adolescent involvement at each of the 16 sessions, parent involvement during both parent meetings, and parent commitment to carry out the established homework plan. Attendance at parent meetings was also recorded. RESULTS: Therapeutic processes predicted objective, parent-reported, and teacher-reported academic outcomes. Parent engagement was particularly important for the contingency-based treatment, whereas working alliance and adolescent involvement were most important for the skills-based treatment. CONCLUSIONS: Therapeutic processes such as developing a strong working alliance and engaging parents and students are key elements of treatment delivery and receipt in school-based mental health programming and should be explicitly trained and monitored. (PsycINFO Database Record

Longitudinal Evaluation of the Cognitive-Behavioral Model of ADHD in a Sample of College Students With ADHD.

OBJECTIVE: The primary aim of this study was to evaluate longitudinal pathways to impairment as outlined in the cognitive-behavioral model of ADHD in a sample of 59 college students diagnosed with ADHD. METHOD: Serial mediation models were used to test whether underachievement, defined as prior year GPA, would longitudinally predict self-reported impairment at the end of the next school year, through negative self-concept and associated changes in symptoms of anxiety and depression, while controlling for baseline impairment and changes in ADHD symptoms. RESULTS: Findings supported the cognitive-behavioral model of ADHD. The association between prior year GPA and overall impairment at the end of the year was fully mediated through self-concept and symptoms of depression. CONCLUSION: These results help explain why impairment often persists even when ADHD symptoms remit and suggests that internalizing symptoms may be an important target for intervention in college students with ADHD.

Evaluating the Structure of Sluggish Cognitive Tempo Using Confirmatory Factor Analytic and Bifactor Modeling With Parent and Youth Ratings.

The primary goals of this study were to evaluate the dimensionality of the Penny et al. Sluggish Cognitive Tempo Scale and to compare model fits for parent- and youth self-report versions. Participants were 262 young adolescents (ages 10-15) comprehensively diagnosed with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Both confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and bifactor modeling were used to determine if the proposed three-factor structure previously identified through exploratory factor analysis could be confirmed. Results showed that although the three-factor CFA had better fit statistics than a one- or two-factor CFA, the bifactor model was the best-fitting model for both parent report and self-report. This implies that Sluggish Cognitive Tempo Scale is best conceptualized as having an underlying general factor, with three specific factors that may represent different etiologies. Importantly, results also showed low-to-moderate correlations between raters and equivalent or better fit statistics for self-report in comparison with parent report.

Factor structure and predictive validity of a homework motivation measure for use with middle school students with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

Many students with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) exhibit deficits in motivation to pursue long-term goals. Students with ADHD have particular difficulty with motivation to complete homework-related tasks and often fail to complete assignments. Although these problems are common and may impact academic performance, no homework-motivation measures have been validated for use with students with ADHD. The primary goal of the present study was to evaluate the factor structure and predictive validity of a homework-motivation measure based upon the expectancy-value theory of achievement motivation. A sample of 285 middle school students with ADHD completed the measure, and confirmatory factor analysis was used to evaluate the proposed factor structure and associations with parent and teacher ratings of homework performance. A 2-factor structure emerged, and model fit was excellent. Further, student-rated ability-expectancy beliefs demonstrated significant associations with parent-rated homework problems and performance and with teacher-rated homework performance and percentage of assignments turned in above and beyond ADHD symptoms. Future directions for studying the importance of motivation in students with ADHD are provided, with particular attention to the role that reward sensitivity may play in motivation. (PsycINFO Database Record

Overcoming the research-to-practice gap: A randomized trial with two brief homework and organization interventions for students with ADHD as implemented by school mental health providers.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effectiveness of 2 brief school-based interventions targeting the homework problems of adolescents with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)-the Homework, Organization, and Planning Skills (HOPS) intervention and the Completing Homework by Improving Efficiency and Focus (CHIEF) intervention, as implemented by school mental health providers during the school day. A secondary goal was to use moderator analyses to identify student characteristics that may differentially predict intervention response. METHOD: Two-hundred and eighty middle school students with ADHD were randomized to the HOPS or CHIEF interventions or to waitlist, and parent and teacher ratings were collected pre, post, and at a 6-month follow-up. RESULTS: Both interventions were implemented with fidelity by school mental health providers. Participants were pulled from elective periods and sessions averaged less than 20 min. Participants in HOPS and CHIEF demonstrated significantly greater improvements in comparison with waitlist on parent ratings of homework problems and organizational skills and effect sizes were large. HOPS participants also demonstrated moderate effect size improvements on materials management and organized action behaviors according to teachers. HOPS participants made significantly greater improvements in parent- and teacher-rated use of organized actions in comparison with CHIEF, but not on measures of homework problems. Moderation analyses revealed that participants with more severe psychopathology and behavioral dysregulation did significantly better with the HOPS intervention as compared to the CHIEF intervention. CONCLUSIONS: Brief school-based interventions implemented by school providers can be effective. This type of service delivery model may facilitate overcoming the oft cited research-to-practice gap. (PsycINFO Database Record

Using task performance to inform treatment planning for youth with ADHD: A systematic review.

The role that neuropsychological task performance plays in the assessment of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is currently ambiguous, and findings are mixed regarding whether tasks have validity for diagnosing the disorder. Irrespective of their validity for diagnosing ADHD, neuropsychological tasks could provide valuable information to mental health professionals if they can inform recommendations for treatment targets and modalities. Therefore, this review sought to synthesize the available evidence related to the use of neuropsychological task performance as a tool for informing treatment planning for youth with ADHD. Reviewed studies focused on examinations of associations between task performance and academic, social, and health outcomes, as well as response to treatment. Twenty-five relevant studies using samples of youth diagnosed with ADHD in clinical, community, and school settings were identified. Review of the evidence suggests that task performance may be useful in identifying individuals with ADHD at risk for academic impairment. However, the evidence is less compelling for identifying youth at risk for impaired social functioning or poor health outcomes. The review also found that task performance is likely useful for predicting response to treatment with methylphenidate. Across studies, evidence indicated that interpreting task performance in an integrated manner, such as a factor score or mean score, was more consistently useful for predicting outcomes of interest than interpreting performance from a single task. Implications for the use of tasks in ADHD assessments are discussed, and future directions are outlined for further examining the clinical utility of task performance.

Evaluating the Factor Validity of the Children's Organizational Skills Scale in Youth with ADHD.

Children and adolescents with ADHD often have difficulties with organization, time management, and planning (OTMP) skills, and these skills are a common target of intervention. A limited array of tools for measuring these abilities in youth is available, and one of the most prominent measures is the Children's Organizational Skills Scale (COSS). Although the COSS fills an important need, a replication of the COSS factor structure outside of initial measure development has not been conducted in any population. Given that the COSS is frequently used in ADHD research, the current study evaluated the factor structure of the parent-rated COSS in a sample (N = 619) of adolescents with ADHD. Results indicated that the original factor structure could be replicated, although the use of item parcels appeared to affect model fit statistics. An alternative bi-factor model was also tested that did not require the use of parcels, with results suggesting similar model fit in comparison to the original factor structure. Exploratory validity tests indicated that the domain-general factor of the bi-factor model appears related to broad executive functioning abilities.