Dissecting daily distress in mothers of children with ADHD: an electronic diary study.

It is well known that parents of children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) experience elevated levels of caregiver stress, but little is known about the ebb and flow of parental distress as it happens, or the degree of synchrony between short-term oscillations in child behaviors and maternal distress. Electronic diaries (eDiaries) were used to dissect daily distress in natural settings. Across 7 days during nonschool hours, half-hourly eDiaries were completed independently by mothers and their 8- to 12-year-old children (51 receiving medication for ADHD and 58 comparison peers).

Atomoxetine versus stimulants in the community treatment of children with ADHD: an electronic diary study.

Objective: To compare the morning and afternoon/evening functioning of children with ADHD treated in the community with either atomoxetine or long-acting stimulants and reported to be doing well.

Method: 109 8- to 12-year-olds and their mothers participated in one of three groups: stimulants (STIM, N = 26), atomoxetine (ATMX, N = 25), or comparison (COMP, N = 58). Mothers completed morning and evening electronic diaries installed on personal digital assistants throughout an entire week, rating the child's behaviors and moods as well as their own moods and perceptions.

ADHD and anger contexts: electronic diary mood reports from mothers and children.

Objective: Using electronic diaries (eDiaries), this study examined temporal links between child and maternal anger, as well as positive mood and perceived stress, in children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) versus comparison peers.

Methods: Across 7 days, half-hourly eDiaries were completed independently by mothers and their 8-12-year-old children (51 receiving medication for ADHD and 58 comparison peers).

Results: Cross-informant analyses revealed systematic patterns of negative maternal moods in relation to child anger in both groups along with evidence of slower recovery in the ADHD group.

Toward mapping daily challenges of living with ADHD: maternal and child perspectives using electronic diaries.

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) has an impact on the family as well as the affected child. This study developed and tested an electronic diary for mapping the challenges of everyday family life in a sample of children with ADHD being treated with pharmacotherapy. Across 7 days, mothers and children (27 ADHD; 25 non-ADHD) independently reported their moods, behaviors, and social contexts every 30 min during nonschool hours.

An electronic diary study of contextual triggers and ADHD: get ready, get set, get mad.

Objective: This study was designed to examine context effects or provocation ecologies in the daily lives of children with ADHD.

Method: Across 7 days, mothers and children (27 children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder [ADHD] taking stimulant medication; 25 children without ADHD; ages 7-12 years) provided electronic diary reports every 30 +/- 5 minutes during non-school hours. Child and maternal perceptions of behaviors, moods, and interaction quality during preparatory and transitional ("getting ready") activities were compared with those during other activities.

Using ecologic momentary assessment to measure physical activity during adolescence.

Objective: Examine the validity of using high-density electronic ecologic momentary assessment (EMA) to assess physical activity. EMA was further used to explore within- and between-subject variability in adolescent physical activity (PA) patterns.

Methods: Adolescents (n=526, 51% male) participated in EMA waves occurring approximately every 6 months between the 9th and 12th grade.

Adolescents react to the events of September 11, 2001: focused versus ambient impact.

This study examined the perceived impact of the events of September 11, 2001, on adolescents distant from the disaster sites and compared these perceptions with changes in everyday moods. A survey of reactions to September 11 was completed 2-5 months after the events by 171 adolescents participating in a longitudinal study of stress and health. Electronic diary ratings of contemporaneous moods before and after the attacks were also compared.

The ADHD spectrum and everyday life: experience sampling of adolescent moods, activities, smoking, and drinking.

Using an experience sampling methodology, the everyday lives of 153 adolescents with low, middle, or high levels of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) characteristics as assessed by either parent or teen were examined. Twice each hour, across two 4-day recording intervals, participants in a longitudinal study of stress and health risks logged their behaviors, moods, and social contexts. Those with high, in contrast to low, ADHD symptom levels recorded more negative and fewer positive moods, lower alertness, more entertaining activities relative to achievement-oriented pursuits, more time with friends and less time with family, and more tobacco and alcohol use.

Is there a link between adolescent cigarette smoking and pharmacotherapy for ADHD?

There is continuing concern that pharmacotherapy for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) may raise the risk of smoking (the gateway hypothesis). Alternatively, unmedicated people with ADHD may use nicotine to improve attentional and self-regulatory competence (the self-medication hypothesis). From a community sample of 511 adolescents participating in a longitudinal health study, 27 were identified as having ADHD, and 11 of these were receiving pharmacotherapy.

Anxiety, affect, and activity in teenagers: monitoring daily life with electronic diaries.

Objective: The everyday experiences of a community sample of adolescents differing in anxiety level were compared by means of electronic diaries.

Method: One hundred fifty-five ninth-grade adolescents completed electronic diaries every 30 minutes for two 4-day intervals, reporting their moods, activities, social settings, dietary intake, smoking, and alcohol use. Teenagers were stratified into low-, middle-, or high-anxiety groups on the basis of diary ratings and, separately, questionnaire scores.

Smoking and moods in adolescents with depressive and aggressive dispositions: evidence from surveys and electronic diaries.

Surveys and electronic diaries were used to examine depressive and extemalizing dispositions as they relate to smoking and moods in 170 early adolescents. Negative moods were prevalent, with anger and anxiety reported on 26%-60% and sadness on 16%-40% of occasions. The risk of smoking, urges to smoke, and alcohol intake were elevated in teens with aggressive and depressive dispositions, as were diary reports of feeling hassled, angry, and sad.

Expressed emotion, parenting stress, and adjustment in mothers of young children with behavior problems.

Expressed Emotion (EE), a measure of the emotional climate of the family, predicts subsequent adjustment of adults with mental disorder (Leff & Vaughn, 1985). Despite the acknowledged importance of the family in childhood disorders, there have been relatively few studies of expressed emotion with adolescents and school-aged children and virtually none focused on preschoolers. The present study utilized the Five Minute Speech Sample (FMSS) to examine how Expressed Emotion relates concurrently and longitudinally to child problem status in a community sample of 112 preschool-aged children.

The role of ethnicity and parental bonding in the eating and weight concerns of Asian-American and Caucasian college women.

Objectives: The purpose of this research was to explore the associations among ethnicity, parental bonding, acculturation, and eating disturbance in Asian-American and Caucasian weight-concerned college women.

Methods: Twenty-five Asian-American and 26 Caucasian weight-concerned women were administered the Eating Disorder Examination interview, the Parental Bonding Instrument, and three subscales of the Eating Disorder Inventory. Asian-American subjects also filled out the Suinn-Lew Asian Self-Identity Acculturation Scale questionnaire.

Fear, anxiety and perceived control in children of agoraphobic parents.

Sixteen children (M = 11 years) of agoraphobic parents were compared with 16 children of parents with no history of psychopathology, matched on age, gender and socioeconomic status. The majority (68%) of children of agoraphobic parents met DSM-III-R diagnostic criteria, anxiety disorders being most common. They reported more fear and anxiety and less control over various risks than did comparison children.

Worldly and workday worries: contemporary concerns of children and young adolescents.

Top-of-the-head worries were elicited young people, grade 4 to 8, both before and after they completed quantitative risk assessments of specific health and environmental problems. Results revealed that many students carry a substantial worry burden that includes not only personal matters such as grades and social relations, but also concerns about death and about global issues such as homelessness and environmental degradation. The gender and grade differences that emerged were consistent with a developmental extension from self to societal perspectives.

Optimism in children's judgments of health and environmental risks.

Although optimistic bias has been well documented for adults, little is known about how children view their own risks vis-à-vis those of their peers. Two studies of 6th graders examined optimism and the degree of differentiation in perceived risks across diverse health, lifestyle, and environmental problems. The findings revealed perceptions of relative invulnerability and highly differentiated risk assessments.

Preadolescents' perceptions of AIDS before and after Earvin Magic Johnson's announcement.

Compared sixth graders' AIDS concerns before and after Magic Johnson announced that he tested HIV-positive. Examined perceptions of self/other vulnerability (optimistic bias) using questionnaires (Study A) and interviews (Study B). Also examined AIDS worries mentioned in open-ended interviews (Study C).

Malleability of social impressions of hyperactive children.

The role of adults' social cognitions in mediating judgments of hyperactive children's medication-related behavior change was explored. Two hundred eight-eight undergraduates observed two videotaped excerpts of a hyperactive "target" boy playing a group game with two peers. Each target was taking either methylphenidate (0.

Perceptions of methylphenidate effects on hyperactive children's peer interactions.

The behavioral constructs that emerge from observers' open-ended impressions of methylphenidate effects on the social behaviors of hyperactive children were examined. Ninety-six undergraduates observed videotapes of two different hyperactive "target" boys, each playing an interaction game with three peers. One target was taking methylphenidate and the other was taking placebo.

Prosocial behavior in hyperactive boys: effects of stimulant medication and comparison with normal boys.

To clarify the effects of stimulant medication on hyperactive (ADHD) children's prosocial as well as aversive behaviors toward peers, 19 hyperactive boys, aged 7-12, were observed as they acted as "leaders" for groups of 2-4 unfamiliar younger children. In a double-blind crossover design, subjects were observed twice, once on placebo and again on a moderate (0.6 mg/kg) dose of methylphenidate (Ritalin).

Messages of medication: effects of actual versus informed medication status on hyperactive boys' expectancies and self-evaluations.

After 15 boys with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) were informed that they had taken either medication or placebo, they completed computer tasks, self-assessments, and causal judgments. The boys predicted better performance when told they were on medication versus placebo. For self-evaluations, medication status and information interacted, with boys actually taking placebo rating themselves more positively when told they had taken medication versus placebo.

Social impact of stimulant treatment for hyperactive children.

Most children diagnosed with ADHD have extensive and enduring problems in the social arena. Despite its limitations, the standard stimulant treatment regimen for children with ADHD is a useful therapeutic modality as well as an heuristic tool for increasing our understanding of both optimal and problematic interpersonal functioning. This article explores the social impact of stimulant treatment, delineating documented improvements, identifying elusive domains and puzzling patterns, and highlighting unintended and potentially undesirable outcomes.

Therapies for hyperactive children: comparisons, combinations, and compromises.

Comparative treatment studies of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are impeded by methodological quandaries, constricted focus, and the heterogeneity of ADHD children, research designs, measures, and treatment responsiveness. Comparisons are drawn among three major treatment modalities for ADHD: stimulant treatments, primarily methylphenidate; behavioral treatments, including contingency management and parent training; and cognitive-behavioral or self-regulation therapies. We identify a dozen ".

Social judgment processes in hyperactive boys: effects of methylphenidate and comparisons with normal peers.

Although there is consensus that ADHD children have serious social problems, there is little understanding of the mechanisms underlying or accompanying such problems. To examine the possibility of atypical or faulty social reasoning, we presented ADHD and normal boys with a social perception task that entailed evaluating the behaviors of unknown peers. ADHD "judges" participated under both methylphenidate and placebo conditions, and on each occasion they evaluated an unfamiliar ADHD "target" in each medication state.

Externalizing behavior disorders, situational generality, and the type A behavior pattern.

Measures of the Type A Behavior Pattern (TABP) in children have demonstrated good sensitivity but problematic specificity. Using the most popular measure of childhood TABP, a teacher rating scale called the MYTH, we sought to (a) replicate earlier findings of extensive overlap between TABP and externalizing behavior problems, (b) further distinguish between and extend the empirical networks for the positive (Competition) and negative (Impatience-Aggression) components of TABP, and (c) explore cross-situational generality. Normal boys and those with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) were assessed on multiple instruments in diverse contexts.