Multimodal Assessment of Emotion Dysregulation in Children with and without ADHD and Disruptive Behavior Disorders.

OBJECTIVE: We sought to explore if specific domains of emotion dysregulation (emotion regulation [EREG], emotional reactivity/lability [EREL], emotion recognition/understanding [ERU], and callous-unemotional [CU] behaviors) were uniquely associated with diagnostic classifications. METHOD: This study utilized a multimodal (parent/teacher [P/T] reports and behavioral observations) approach to examine emotion dysregulation in a sample of young children (68.7% boys; mean age = 5.47, SD = 0.77, 81.4% Latinx) with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD Only; n = 46), ADHD + disruptive behavior disorders (ADHD+DBD; n = 129), and typically developing (TD) children (n = 148). RESULTS: All three diagnostic groups were significantly different from one another on P/T reports of EREG, EREL and CU. For the ADHD+DBD group, P/T reported worse EREG and EREL, and higher mean scores of CU, compared to both ADHD Only and TD groups. The ADHD+DBD group also performed significantly worse than the TD group (but not the ADHD Only group) on observed measures of EREG, EREL and ERU. P/T reported EREG, EREL and CU for the ADHD Only group were significantly worse than the TD group. Using multinomial logistic regression, P/T reported EREG, EREL, and CU were significantly associated with diagnostic status above and beyond observed measures of emotion dysregulation. The model successfully classified children with ADHD+DBD (91.3%) and TD (95.9%); however, children in the ADHD Only group were correctly identified only 45.7% of time. CONCLUSION: Our findings suggest that measures of emotion dysregulation may be particularly helpful in correctly identifying children with ADHD+DBD, but not necessarily children with ADHD Only.

Evaluating the Simple View of Reading for Children With Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder.

The 'simple view of reading' is an influential model of reading comprehension which asserts that children's reading comprehension performance can be explained entirely by their decoding and language comprehension skills. Children with ADHD often exhibit difficulty across all three of these reading domains on standardized achievement tests, yet it is unclear whether the simple view of reading is sufficient to explain reading comprehension performance for these children. The current study was the first to use multiple indicators and latent estimates to examine the veracity of key predictions from the simple view of reading in a clinically-evaluated sample of 250 children with and without ADHD (ages 8-13, Mage=10.29, SD=1.47; 93 girls; 70% White/Non-Hispanic). Results of the full-sample structural equation model revealed that decoding and language comprehension explained all (R2=.99) of the variance in reading comprehension for children with and without ADHD. Further, multigroup modeling (ADHD, Non-ADHD) indicated that there was no difference in the quantity of variance explained for children with ADHD versus clinically-evaluated children without ADHD, and that the quantity of explained variance did not differ from 100% for either group. Sensitivity analyses indicated that these effects were generally robust to control for monomethod bias, time sampling error, and IQ. These findings are consistent with 'simple view' predictions that decoding and language comprehension are both necessary and together sufficient for explaining children's reading comprehension skills. The findings extend prior work by indicating that the 'simple view' holds for both children with ADHD and clinically-evaluated children without ADHD.

Early intervention for families experiencing homelessness: A pilot randomized trial comparing two parenting programs.

OBJECTIVE: As part of a larger community-based, service-driven research project, the primary purpose of this pilot randomized study was to examine the feasibility and acceptability of delivering time-limited adaptations of parent-child interaction therapy (PCIT) and child-parent psychotherapy (CPP) within a sample of children experiencing homelessness. The secondary goal was to examine the promise of both interventions in improving parent/child outcomes. METHOD: One hundred forty-four young children (18 month-5 years old; Mage = 3.48, SD = 1.09; 43.1% female; 78.5% Black/African American; 27.1% Hispanic) and their mothers were recruited from a women's homeless shelter and randomly assigned to 12 weeks of either PCIT or CPP delivered by shelter clinicians on-site. Attendance, fidelity, and program satisfaction were obtained. Families completed pre- and postintervention assessments, including observational data on maternal verbalizations during a child-led play session. RESULTS: Both time-limited PCIT and time-limited CPP were successfully implemented with similarly high levels of intervention fidelity (>90%) and satisfaction by mothers (85%). Completion rates were similar across both time-limited PCIT (76.6%) and time-limited CPP (71.4%). Both time-limited CPP and PCIT resulted in decreases in children's posttraumatic stress, parental stress, and increases in maternal positive verbalizations. Only time-limited PCIT resulted in significant improvements in externalizing behavior problems in children and reductions in maternal negative verbalizations. CONCLUSIONS: Time-limited PCIT and CPP are acceptable, feasible, and hold significant promise for helping families within a homeless shelter environment and by extension, other transitional and/or shelter environments. A full randomized trial is warranted to determine which program may offer a more effective intervention. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Examining the Efficacy of Online Administration of a Time-Limited School Readiness Intervention in the Face of COVID-19.

Although the efficacy of online administration of behavioral parent training (BPT) programs is well-established, such programs address a single risk factor (behavioral functioning) for school readiness difficulties (comprised of academics, cognitive skills, and social, emotional, and behavioral functioning). The current study aims to examine the feasibility, acceptability, and efficacy of a telemedicine delivery of the School Readiness Parenting Program (SRPP), an integrative adaptation of PCIT designed to address the behavioral and academic domains of school readiness. The present study takes the first step towards validating an online administration of the SRPP as a treatment for early childhood disruptive behavior. Data were collected for 64 children ages 2-6 years (Mage = 4.63, SD = 0.86; 78.1% Hispanic/Latinx) and their families, who received either in-person administration of time-limited PCIT (PCIT-TL; n=30) or online administration of SRPP (n=34). A series of repeated measures ANOVAS were conducted to examine within and between group effects. Results revealed that both SRPP and PCIT-TL significantly reduced inattention (d's = -0.54 to -0.88), aggression (d's = -0.55 to -1.06), and behavioral symptomology (d's = -0.55 to -0.85) and produced significant gains in parental skills (d's = -1.47 to 2.99). Notably, online SRPP demonstrated greater improvement in positive parental verbalization, whereas PCIT-TL demonstrated greater reductions in parental stress. Overall, findings support the utility of online SRPP for addressing behavioral school readiness concerns.

Are Reading Interventions Effective for At-Risk Readers with ADHD? A Meta-Analysis.

OBJECTIVE: Utilizing a multi-level meta-analytic approach, this review is the first to systematically quantify the efficacy of reading interventions for school-aged children with ADHD and identify potential factors that may increase the success of reading-related interventions for these children. METHOD: 18 studies (15 peer-reviewed articles, 3 dissertations) published from 1986 to 2020 (N = 564) were meta-analyzed. RESULTS: Findings revealed reading interventions are highly effective for improving reading skills based on both study-developed/curriculum-based measures (g = 1.91) and standardized/norm-referenced achievement tests (g = 1.11) in high-quality studies of children with rigorously-diagnosed ADHD. Reading interventions that include at least 30 hours of intervention targeting decoding/phonemic awareness meet all benchmarks to be considered a Level 1 (Well-Established) Evidence-Based Practice with Strong Research Support for children with ADHD based on clinical and special education criteria. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings collectively indicate that reading interventions should be the first-line treatment for reading difficulties among at-risk readers with ADHD.

"Factor structure and utility of the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function-Preschool Version": Correction.

Reports an error in "Factor structure and utility of the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function-Preschool Version" by Jamie A. Spiegel, Christopher J. Lonigan and Beth M. Phillips (Psychological Assessment, 2017[Feb], Vol 29[2], 172-185). In the original article, paraphrased references to the BRIEF-P test items originally provided in Table 2 have been removed by request of the copyright holder due to discrepancies between the APA guidelines and the copyright holder's internal policies. The online version of this article has been corrected. (The following abstract of the original article appeared in record 2016-22451-001). Executive function (EF) is a domain general cognitive construct associated with a number of important developmental outcomes. The Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function-Preschool version (BRIEF-P) is intended to assess 5 distinct components of EF in preschool age children. In this study, a series of factor analyses was conducted with teacher-reported EF of 2,367 preschool students to assess the structure of the BRIEF-P, and the predictive relations between the resulting factors and children's academic abilities and behavioral self-regulation were assessed to test the construct and convergent validity of the BRIEF-P scores. Results yielded mixed findings concerning the structure of the BRIEF-P and validity of its resultant scores. Results of the factor analyses indicated that the items of the BRIEF-P did not map onto factors in the way that would be expected based on its item-to-subscale mapping. The best solutions were a 4-factor and a bifactor model. The 4-factor solution revealed substantial correlations between factors, and although the bifactor solution identified a General Self-Regulation factor that explained variance in responses across items, this general factor did not account for all of the overlap among specific factors. Analyses of the relations for the factors from the correlated-factors and the bifactor models indicated that the majority of the factors had limited convergent validity with academic ability or with a measure of behavior self-regulation. Overall, these findings call into question the validity of aspects of BRIEF-P. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Individual Differences in Germ Spreading Behaviors Among Children With Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder: The Role of Executive Functioning.

OBJECTIVE: Infectious diseases, such as coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), are commonly transmitted by respiratory droplets and contact with contaminated surfaces. Individuals with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are more likely to be infected with COVID-19 and experience more hospitalizations than individuals without ADHD. The current study investigated the role of ADHD symptomatology and executive functioning (EF) in germ spreading behavior frequency among young children with and without ADHD and parenting responses to these behaviors. METHODS: Participants included 53 children diagnosed with ADHD and 47 typically developing (TD) children between the ages of 4-5 years (76% male; Mage = 4.62; 86% Hispanic/Latinx). Parents and teachers reported on children's ADHD symptomatology and children completed three EF tasks. Germ spreading behavior frequency (direct contact of hand to face and toy in mouth) and parenting responses (verbal and nonverbal behaviors) were observed during a 5-min parent-child play situation. RESULTS: Negative binomial regression analyses indicated that both ADHD diagnostic status and poor metacognition predicted both higher rates of toy to mouth (ß = 1.94, p < .001; ß = 0.03, p = .004) and face touching frequency (ß = 0.60, p = .03; ß = 0.03, p = .004), respectively. Additionally, poor attention and worse cognitive flexibility only predicted higher rates of toy to mouth frequency (ß = 0.09, p < .001; ß = -0.04, p = .001), respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Young children with ADHD are at high risk for spreading germs via putting toys in their mouth and touching their face. Particularly, high levels of inattention and poor EF appear to be associated with higher rates of germ spreading behaviors.

Addressing Mental Health and Trauma-Related Needs of Sheltered Children and Families with Trauma-Focused Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT).

Children and adolescents ("youth") experiencing homelessness are at a disproportionately high risk of exposure to potentially traumatic events (PTE). However, limited evidence exists as to what interventions are effective when implemented with this high-risk population. The purpose of this study was to (1) document the mental health and trauma-related needs of sheltered youth and their mothers, and (2) examine the feasibility/effectiveness of Trauma-Focused Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT) administered within the context of a homeless shelter. Three hundred and twenty-one youth (Mage = 10.06 years, SD = 3.24 years, 56.4% male, 70.1% Black/African American, 34.6% Hispanic/Latinx) and their mothers were recruited from a homeless shelter and provided 10 weeks of TF-CBT, with the option for up to eight additional weeks of therapy based on clinical need. Families completed pre- and post-intervention assessments. Results demonstrated clinically elevated pre-intervention PTSD symptoms and rates of exposure to PTE in sheltered youth well above those previously reported in the general population. TF-CBT resulted in substantial reductions in both maternal and self-reported severity of youth PTSD symptomology, which were largely attributable to reductions in re-experiencing and arousal. Effectiveness of TF-CBT varied by age and the number of exposures to PTE. Overall, these findings illustrate the importance of assessing and addressing the mental health and trauma-related needs of sheltered youth and the feasibility and efficacy of embedding an evidence-based trauma-focused treatment protocol within a shelter environment. Additional implications of these findings are discussed.

Does preschool children's self-regulation moderate the impacts of instructional activities? Evidence from a randomized intervention study.

There is strong evidence linking children's self-regulation with their academic and behavioral outcomes. These relations have led to the development of interventions aimed at improving academic outcomes by promoting self-regulation, based in part on the idea that self-regulation promotes the development of academic skills. Although a considerable number of studies have examined the degree to which interventions designed to improve aspects of self-regulation have a positive impact on academic outcomes, only a few studies have examined the degree to which children's self-regulation moderates the effects of academic interventions. The goal of this study was to examine whether self-regulation, indexed by a direct assessment of executive function and teacher-rated attention, moderated the uptake of early literacy interventions for 184 children (average age = 58 months, SD = 3.38; 66% Black/African American, 28% White; 59% male) at risk for reading difficulties who participated in a randomized controlled trial examining the efficacy of Tier 2 interventions in preschool. Multilevel models were used to examine the degree to which children's self-regulation moderated the impacts of the interventions. The results of this study provided little evidence that self-regulation moderated the impacts of the interventions and call into question the likelihood of a causal relation between self-regulation and academic achievement.

Executive functions and writing skills in children with and without ADHD.

OBJECTIVE: Pediatric attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) has been associated with impairments in executive functioning and academic writing skills. However, our understanding of the extent to which these children's writing difficulties are related to their underdeveloped executive functions-and whether this relation is attributable to specific executive functions-is limited. METHOD: A clinically-evaluated and carefully-phenotyped sample of 91 children ages 8-13 (M = 10.60, SD = 1.25; 37 girls) were administered multiple, counterbalanced tests of the three core executive functions (working memory, inhibitory control, set shifting), assessed for ADHD symptoms via multiple-informant reports, and completed standardized, norm-referenced testing of three core writing skills (written expression, spelling, writing fluency). RESULTS: Bias-corrected, bootstrapped conditional effects modeling indicated that underdeveloped working memory exerted significant direct effects on all three writing skills, as well as indirect effects on written expression and spelling via the ADHD symptoms pathway (all 95% CIs exclude 0.0). In contrast, inhibitory control uniquely predicted spelling difficulties only, set shifting was not associated directly or indirectly with any assessed writing skill, and ADHD symptoms failed to uniquely predict writing skills after controlling for working memory. This pattern of results replicated across informants (parent vs. teacher ADHD symptom ratings), and was robust to control for age, sex, socioeconomic status (SES), majority/minority race/ethnicity status, intellectual functioning (IQ), decoding skills, language skills, and learning disability status. CONCLUSION: These findings suggest multiple pathways to writing skill difficulties in children with ADHD, while suggesting that their overt behavioral symptoms may be less involved in their writing difficulties than their underlying neurocognitive vulnerabilities. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Relations between executive functions and academic outcomes in elementary school children: A meta-analysis.

The primary goal of this study was to examine developmental patterns among the relations between components of executive function (EF; working memory [WM], inhibitory control, shifting), and academic outcomes (reading, mathematics, language) in elementary school-age children. These relations were examined within the context of the development of EF and of academic skills utilizing an extension of the unity and diversity, intrinsic cognitive load, and dual process theories. Using meta-analytic methods, we summarized results from 299 studies from 293 articles/dissertations, representing 65,605 elementary school-age children (42-191 months old [M = 101 months, SD = 24.49 months]). Results indicated that accounting for general EF (by including the correlations among EF tasks in meta-analytic path models and accounting for effects between all three EF components and academic outcomes simultaneously) produced weaker relations between EF and academic skills than the bivariate relations which have been reported in prior meta-analytic reviews. However, although reduced, all relations between EF and academic outcomes remained significant throughout elementary school. Whereas WM was consistently moderately associated with reading, math, and oral language across development, the developmental trends for the relations between inhibitory control and shifting with academic outcomes varied based upon the academic skill examined. On the academic side, whereas the relations between reading and language skills with EF components varied throughout elementary school, few developmental changes were found in the relations between EF components and math skills across elementary school. Future directions and implications of findings for the conceptualization of the impact of EF on academics are discussed within the context of relevant theoretical models. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Preloss grief in family members of COVID-19 patients: Recommendations for clinicians and researchers.

Researchers have long examined grief-related reactions to the diagnosis of a loved one with a terminal illness, including preloss grief (PLG), which is the experience of grief symptoms prior to the loss of a loved one. Families face novel challenges when loved ones with COVID-19 become critically ill-most notably mandated physical separation-and may experience a wide range of PLG responses. This commentary examines the existing literature related to PLG as a means for understanding the psychological impact of COVID-19 deaths, identifies factors professionals can assess for and address when working with a family member of COVID-19 patients, and identifies areas for future research related to COVID-19 and PLG. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Working memory and short-term memory deficits in ADHD: A bifactor modeling approach.

Objective: Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) has been associated with large magnitude impairments in working memory, whereas short-term memory deficits, when detected, tend to be less pronounced. However, confidence in these findings is limited due to task impurity combined with methodological and statistical limitations of the current evidence base. Method: A well-characterized, clinically evaluated sample of 172 children ages 8-13 years (M = 10.30, SD = 1.42; 72 girls; 64% White/non-Hispanic) were administered multiple, counterbalanced working memory tests. Bifactor-(s-1) modeling was used to characterize the presence and magnitude of central executive working memory, phonological short-term memory, and visuospatial short-term memory deficits in pediatric ADHD. Results: ADHD status was associated with very large magnitude impairments in central executive working memory that are present in most pediatric cases (d = 1.63-2.03; 75%-81% impaired), and these deficits covaried with ADHD inattentive and hyperactive/impulsive symptom severity based on both parent and teacher report. There was also evidence for a unique, albeit significantly smaller, impairment in visuospatial short-term memory (d = 0.60; 38% impaired); however, visuospatial short-term memory abilities did not covary with ADHD symptom severity. There was no evidence linking ADHD with phonological short-term memory deficits across either the dimensional or categorical analyses. Conclusion: These findings provide strong evidence that ADHD is associated with marked central executive working memory deficits that covary with their behavioral symptom presentation across settings. In contrast, visuospatial short-term memory deficits, when present, are likely epiphenomenal, and the most parsimonious conclusion appears to be that phonological short-term memory is intact in pediatric ADHD. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

What cognitive processes are "sluggish" in sluggish cognitive tempo?

OBJECTIVE: Sluggish cognitive tempo refers to a constellation of symptoms that include slowed behavior/thinking, reduced alertness, and getting lost in one's thoughts. Despite the moniker "sluggish cognitive tempo," the evidence is mixed regarding the extent to which it is associated globally with slowed (sluggish) mental (cognitive) information processing speed (tempo). METHOD: A well-characterized clinical sample of 132 children ages 8-13 years (M = 10.34, SD = 1.51; 47 girls; 67% White/non-Hispanic) were administered multiple, counterbalanced neurocognitive tests and assessed for sluggish cognitive tempo symptoms via multiple-informant reports. RESULTS: Bayesian linear regressions revealed significant evidence against associations between sluggish cognitive tempo and computationally modeled processing speed (BF01 > 3.70), and significant evidence for associations with slower working memory manipulation speed. These findings were consistent across parent and teacher models, with and without control for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder inattentive symptoms and IQ. There was also significant evidence linking faster inhibition speed with higher parent-reported sluggish cognitive tempo symptoms. CONCLUSIONS: These findings provide strong evidence against characterizing children with sluggish cognitive tempo symptoms as possessing a globally sluggish cognitive tempo. Instead, these symptoms appear to be related, to a significant extent, to executive dysfunction characterized by working memory systems that are too slow and inhibition systems that are too fast. Behaviorally, these findings suggest that requiring extra time to rearrange the active contents of working memory delays responding, whereas an overactive inhibition system likely terminates thoughts too quickly and therefore prevents intended behaviors from starting or completing, thereby giving the appearance that children are absent-minded or failing to act when expected. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Do Working Memory Deficits Underlie Reading Problems in Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)?

Reading problems are common in children with ADHD and show strong covariation with these children's underdeveloped working memory abilities. In contrast, working memory training does not appear to improve reading performance for children with ADHD or neurotypical children. The current study bridges the gap between these conflicting findings, and combines dual-task methodology with Bayesian modeling to examine the role of working memory for explaining ADHD-related reading problems. Children ages 8-13 (M = 10.50, SD = 1.59) with and without ADHD (N = 78; 29 girls; 63% Caucasian/Non-Hispanic) completed a counterbalanced series of reading tasks that systematically manipulated concurrent working memory demands. Adding working memory demands produced disproportionate decrements in reading comprehension for children with ADHD (d = -0.67) relative to Non-ADHD children (d = -0.18); comprehension was significantly reduced in both groups when working memory demands were increased. These effects were robust to controls for foundational reading skills (decoding, sight word vocabulary) and comorbid reading disability. Concurrent working memory demands did not slow reading speed for either group. The ADHD group showed lower comprehension (d = 1.02) and speed (d = 0.69) even before adding working memory demands beyond those inherently required for reading. Exploratory conditional effects analyses indicated that underdeveloped working memory overlapped with 41% (comprehension) and 85% (speed) of these between-group differences. Reading problems in ADHD appear attributable, at least in part, to their underdeveloped working memory abilities. Combined with prior cross-sectional and longitudinal findings, the current experimental evidence positions working memory as a potential causal mechanism that is necessary but not sufficient for effectively understanding written language.

Neurocognitive and behavioral predictors of social problems in ADHD: A Bayesian framework.

OBJECTIVE: Social problems are a key area of functional impairment for children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and converging evidence points to executive dysfunction as a potential mechanism underlying ADHD-related social dysfunction. The evidence is mixed, however, with regard to which neurocognitive abilities account for these relations. METHOD: A well-characterized group of 117 children ages 8-13 (M = 10.45, SD = 1.53; 43 girls; 69.5% Caucasian/Non-Hispanic) with ADHD (n = 77) and without ADHD (n = 40) were administered multiple, counterbalanced tests of neurocognitive functioning and assessed for social skills via multi-informant reports. RESULTS: Bayesian linear regressions revealed strong support for working memory and cross-informant interfering behaviors (inattention, hyperactivity/impulsivity) as predictors of parent- and teacher-reported social problems. Working memory was also implicated in social skills acquisition deficits, performance deficits, and strengths based on parent and/or teacher report; inattention and/or hyperactivity showed strong correspondence with cross-informant social problems in all models. There was no evidence for, and in most models strong evidence against, effects of inhibitory control and processing speed. The ADHD group was impaired relative to the non-ADHD group on social skills (d = 0.82-0.88), visuospatial working memory (d = 0.89), and phonological working memory (d = 0.58). In contrast, the Bayesian ANOVAs indicated that the ADHD and non-ADHD groups were equivalent on processing speed, IQ, age, gender, and socioeconomic status (SES). There was no support for or against group differences in inhibition. CONCLUSIONS: These findings confirm that ADHD is associated with impaired social performance, and implicate working memory and core ADHD symptoms in the acquisition and performance of socially skilled behavior. (PsycINFO Database Record

Are Episodic Buffer Processes Intact in ADHD? Experimental Evidence and Linkage with Hyperactive Behavior.

Working memory deficits are present in a substantial proportion of children with ADHD, and converging evidence links these deficits with ADHD-related behavioral and functional impairments. At the same time, working memory is not a unitary construct, and evidence is lacking regarding the role of several components of this system in ADHD. Preclinical behavioral studies are needed to fractionate the multicomponent working memory system, determine which specific subcomponent(s) are impaired in ADHD, and more importantly link these subcomponent(s) with specific ADHD-related behavioral symptoms/functional impairments. The current study reflects one piece of that puzzle, and focuses on the episodic buffer component of working memory. Across multiple testing days, a well-characterized sample of 86 children ages 8-13 (M=10.52, SD=1.54; 34 girls; 64% Caucasian/Non-Hispanic) with ADHD (n=49) and without ADHD (n=37) completed three counterbalanced working memory tests that were identical in all aspects except the key subcomponent process (phonological, visuospatial, episodic buffer). Gross motor movement during these and control tasks were measured using 4 high-precision actigraphs. There was no evidence of group differences in gender, age, SES, or IQ. Bayesian mixed-model ANOVAs indicated that the ADHD group performed significantly worse on all three working memory tests (d=1.17-1.44) and was significantly more hyperactive than controls (d=0.66-1.05) during the visuospatial and episodic buffer tests. In contrast, the ADHD and Non-ADHD groups were equivalent with regard to effects of episodic buffer demands on performance and hyperactive behavior. The most parsimonious conclusion is that the episodic buffer is likely intact in ADHD, and unrelated to ADHD hyperactivity symptoms.

Does Preschool Self-Regulation Predict Later Behavior Problems in General or Specific Problem Behaviors?

Findings from prior research have consistently indicated significant associations between self-regulation and externalizing behaviors. Significant associations have also been reported between children's language skills and both externalizing behaviors and self-regulation. Few studies to date, however, have examined these relations longitudinally, simultaneously, or with respect to unique clusters of externalizing problems. The current study examined the influence of preschool self-regulation on general and specific externalizing behavior problems in early elementary school and whether these relations were independent of associations between language, self-regulation, and externalizing behaviors in a sample of 815 children (44% female). Additionally, given a general pattern of sex differences in the presentations of externalizing behavior problems, self-regulation, and language skills, sex differences for these associations were examined. Results indicated unique relations of preschool self-regulation and language with both general externalizing behavior problems and specific problems of inattention. In general, self-regulation was a stronger longitudinal correlate of externalizing behavior for boys than it was for girls, and language was a stronger longitudinal predictor of hyperactive/impulsive behavior for girls than it was for boys.

Heterogeneity in ADHD: Neurocognitive predictors of peer, family, and academic functioning.

Childhood attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is associated with impairments in peer, family, and academic functioning. Although impairment is required for diagnosis, children with ADHD vary significantly in the areas in which they demonstrate clinically significant impairment. However, relatively little is known about the mechanisms and processes underlying these individual differences. The current study examined neurocognitive predictors of heterogeneity in peer, family, and academic functioning in a well-defined sample of 44 children with ADHD aged 8-13 years (M = 10.31, SD = 1.42; 31 boys, 13 girls; 81% Caucasian). Reliable change analysis indicated that 98% of the sample demonstrated objectively-defined impairment on at least one assessed outcome measure; 65% were impaired in two or all three areas of functioning. ADHD children with quantifiable deficits in academic success and family functioning performed worse on tests of working memory (d = 0.68 to 1.09), whereas children with impaired parent-reported social functioning demonstrated slower processing speed (d = 0.53). Dimensional analyses identified additional predictors of peer, family, and academic functioning. Working memory abilities were associated with individual differences in all three functional domains, processing speed predicted social functioning, and inhibitory control predicted family functioning. These results add to a growing literature implicating neurocognitive abilities not only in explaining behavioral differences between ADHD and non-ADHD groups, but also in the substantial heterogeneity in ecologically-valid functional outcomes associated with the disorder.

Factor structure and utility of the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function-Preschool Version.

Executive function (EF) is a domain general cognitive construct associated with a number of important developmental outcomes. The Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function-Preschool version (BRIEF-P) is intended to assess 5 distinct components of EF in preschool age children. In this study, a series of factor analyses was conducted with teacher-reported EF of 2,367 preschool students to assess the structure of the BRIEF-P, and the predictive relations between the resulting factors and children's academic abilities and behavioral self-regulation were assessed to test the construct and convergent validity of the BRIEF-P scores. Results yielded mixed findings concerning the structure of the BRIEF-P and validity of its resultant scores. Results of the factor analyses indicated that the items of the BRIEF-P did not map onto factors in the way that would be expected based on its item-to-subscale mapping. The best solutions were a 4-factor and a bifactor model. The 4-factor solution revealed substantial correlations between factors, and although the bifactor solution identified a General Self-Regulation factor that explained variance in responses across items, this general factor did not account for all of the overlap among specific factors. Analyses of the relations for the factors from the correlated-factors and the bifactor models indicated that the majority of the factors had limited convergent validity with academic ability or with a measure of behavior self-regulation. Overall, these findings call into question the validity of aspects of BRIEF-P. (PsycINFO Database Record