Family Function and Child Adjustment Difficulties in the COVID-19 Pandemic: An International Study.

To estimate specific proximal and distal effects of COVID-19-related restrictions on families on children's adjustment problems, we conducted a six-site international study. In total, 2516 parents from Australia, China, Italy, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America living with a young child (Mage = 5.77, SD = 1.10, range = 3 to 8 years, 47.9% female) completed an online survey between April and July 2020. The survey included the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire and family risk factors (parent distress, parent-child conflict, couple conflict, and household chaos) as well as a scale to index COVID-19-related family disruption. Our analyses also included public data on the stringency of national restrictions. Across the six sites, parental responses indicated elevated levels of hyperactivity, conduct, and emotion problems in children from families characterized by heightened levels of parent distress, parent-child conflict, and household chaos. In contrast, increased peer problems were more strongly related to COVID-19-related social disruption and stringency measures. Mediation models demonstrated that associations between COVID-19 social disruption and child difficulties could be explained by parental distress. Taken together, these results suggest that although the experience of the pandemic differed across countries, associations between COVID-19-related family experiences and child adjustment difficulties were similar in their nature and magnitude across six different contexts. Programs to support family resilience could help buffer the impact of the pandemic for two generations

Self-Regulation in Childhood : Developmental Mechanisms and Relations to ADHD Symptoms

Self-regulation is a multi-faceted construct that concerns goal-directed behaviors, which aid individuals in everyday life and in achieving long-term goals. Self-regulation in believed to progress in a hierarchical fashion, in that simple cognitive functions are integrated into more complex functions across development. Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a heterogeneous childhood-onset disorder, characterized by deficits in various aspects of self-regulation, including core symptoms of inattention and hyperactivity/impulsivity, and comorbidity with externalizing disorders such as oppositional defiant disorder (ODD). The last decade has seen a shift from simple etiological models towards more complex ones, which stress multiple pathways to the disorder. In addition, there is an ongoing search for early markers of the condition, which will increase our understanding, enable early detection, intervention, and perhaps even prevention of the full disorder. Cognitive regulation, aspects of temperament (i.e. negative affect, surgency, and effortful control), and parenting are three areas of importance for self-regulation in general and of ADHD symptoms in particular. Grounded in these three constructs, informed by the hierarchical model of self-regulation development, and a multiple pathway perspective on ADHD, the present thesis aimed to map development of self-regulation, with a special focus on inattention and hyperactivity/impulsivity. Four studies were conducted based on three samples, ranging from infancy to 12 years, including both typically developing children and children diagnosed with ADHD. Study I found that early sustained attention predicted later cognitive regulation, providing support for the hierarchical model of self-regulation development. In addition, maternal sensitivity contributed to higher levels of emotion regulation whereas surgency contributed to lower levels of emotion regulation. Study II gained support for a multiple pathway perspective on ADHD, in that higher temperamental regulation and maternal sensitivity contributed to lower levels of inattention and hyperactivity/impulsivity, and higher surgency contributed to higher levels of hyperactivity/impulsivity. Study III replicated findings from Study II and confirmed early temperament markers of later inattention and hyperactivity/impulsivity, and that early cognitive regulation was a poor predictor of later symptoms. Study IV proposed contributions of multiple regulatory functions to ADHD symptoms and elevated negative affect in ODD. The latter was moderated by parental support, which seemed to be a protective factor for children with high levels of negative affect. In all, the findings point to the importance of both intrinsic and extrinsic factors in the development of self-regulation, which seems to progress in a hierarchical fashion. Aspects of temperament rather than cognitive regulation seem to be valid early markers of later inattention and hyperactivity/impulsivity. Multiple pathways to ADHD symptoms are proposed, with contributions of maternal sensitivity and temperament early in development and different regulatory functions in school-aged children. In addition, elevated negative affect in combination with low parental support seem to be characteristic of ODD rather than of core symptoms of ADHD. The thesis contributes to the complexity and heterogeneity of ADHD and that ADHD is best viewed as a developmental disorder, in that the influence of various regulatory factors change over time

Self-Regulation in Childhood : Developmental Mechanisms and Relations to ADHD Symptoms

Self-regulation is a multi-faceted construct that concerns goal-directed behaviors, which aid individuals in everyday life and in achieving long-term goals. Self-regulation in believed to progress in a hierarchical fashion, in that simple cognitive functions are integrated into more complex functions across development. Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a heterogeneous childhood-onset disorder, characterized by deficits in various aspects of self-regulation, including core symptoms of inattention and hyperactivity/impulsivity, and comorbidity with externalizing disorders such as oppositional defiant disorder (ODD). The last decade has seen a shift from simple etiological models towards more complex ones, which stress multiple pathways to the disorder. In addition, there is an ongoing search for early markers of the condition, which will increase our understanding, enable early detection, intervention, and perhaps even prevention of the full disorder. Cognitive regulation, aspects of temperament (i.e. negative affect, surgency, and effortful control), and parenting are three areas of importance for self-regulation in general and of ADHD symptoms in particular. Grounded in these three constructs, informed by the hierarchical model of self-regulation development, and a multiple pathway perspective on ADHD, the present thesis aimed to map development of self-regulation, with a special focus on inattention and hyperactivity/impulsivity. Four studies were conducted based on three samples, ranging from infancy to 12 years, including both typically developing children and children diagnosed with ADHD. Study I found that early sustained attention predicted later cognitive regulation, providing support for the hierarchical model of self-regulation development. In addition, maternal sensitivity contributed to higher levels of emotion regulation whereas surgency contributed to lower levels of emotion regulation. Study II gained support for a multiple pathway perspective on ADHD, in that higher temperamental regulation and maternal sensitivity contributed to lower levels of inattention and hyperactivity/impulsivity, and higher surgency contributed to higher levels of hyperactivity/impulsivity. Study III replicated findings from Study II and confirmed early temperament markers of later inattention and hyperactivity/impulsivity, and that early cognitive regulation was a poor predictor of later symptoms. Study IV proposed contributions of multiple regulatory functions to ADHD symptoms and elevated negative affect in ODD. The latter was moderated by parental support, which seemed to be a protective factor for children with high levels of negative affect. In all, the findings point to the importance of both intrinsic and extrinsic factors in the development of self-regulation, which seems to progress in a hierarchical fashion. Aspects of temperament rather than cognitive regulation seem to be valid early markers of later inattention and hyperactivity/impulsivity. Multiple pathways to ADHD symptoms are proposed, with contributions of maternal sensitivity and temperament early in development and different regulatory functions in school-aged children. In addition, elevated negative affect in combination with low parental support seem to be characteristic of ODD rather than of core symptoms of ADHD. The thesis contributes to the complexity and heterogeneity of ADHD and that ADHD is best viewed as a developmental disorder, in that the influence of various regulatory factors change over time

Simply the Best : En intervjustudie om hur tre företag arbetar för att behålla sina talanger med hjälp av Talent Management

Problemformulering: Talang är ett diffust begrepp men samtidigt söker många företag specifikt efter talanger till sina traineeprogram. Den stenhårda konkurrensen om en traineeplats gör att det krävs något extra för att antas och på så sätt kan vi påstå att en trainee är en talang. Talent Management handlar om allt från att rekrytera till att lyckas behålla talangfulla medarbetare. Från flera håll höjs dock röster om att svenska företag saknar såväl system som resurser för att behålla sina talanger. Syfte: Syftet med denna uppsats är att beskriva hur före detta traineer, vid tre svenska företag, upplever att deras arbetsgivare arbetar för att behålla dem inom företaget. Metod: En kvalitativ metod där sammanlagt sju intervjuer genomförts med före detta traineer vid tre olika företag. Frågorna utgår från en intervjuguide baserad på en modell som sammanfattar teori om att behålla talang med hjälp av Talent Management. Slutsatser: De intervjuade upplever att deras arbetsgivare arbetar aktivt med att erbjuda karriärmöjligheter, utbildningar samt se till att de före detta traineerna har en passande chef. Arbetsgivarna upplevs inte arbeta lika aktivt med att låta talangerna testa olika roller, anpassa arbetet efter individen samt erbjuda möjligheten att arbeta hemifrån. Det som arbetsgivarna enligt de intervjuade arbetar minst med är att låta dem påverka sina förmåner och se till att de kan prestera på sin absoluta toppnivå

Jakten på det perfekta ledarskapet

What do we really mean when we are talking about the perfect leadership? Does a leadership like that really exist in the world we live in today? Being perfect is something that many people are longing for, but that is hard to achieve. In school, in families and at work: the longing for perfectionism is everywhere. Being a leader is a tough goal to master, being the perfect leader is something impossible. Many managers in Sweden today all want to be successful and perfect at what they do, many of them don’t have the time to reflect over how the perfect leadership should be characterized. So why not give them a helping hand to show them how to achieve their goal as a perfect leader

A multi-factorial perspective on ADHD and ODD in school-aged children : What is the role of cognitive regulation, temperament, and parental support?

Introduction: It is well established that attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a disorder of self-regulation. As such, ADHD is associated with disturbed cognitive regulation, extreme temperament traits, and deficient extrinsic regulation such as parenting. Despite these associations, cognitive regulation, temperament, and parenting have not previously been examined simultaneously in relation to ADHD symptoms in school-aged children. To bridge this gap of knowledge, we examined effects of these important aspects of self-regulation on symptoms of inattention, hyperactivity/impulsivity, and comorbid symptoms of oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) in children with and without a diagnosis of ADHD. Method: The sample consisted of 77 children aged 8 to 12 years (~40% had a diagnosis of ADHD). We assessed cognitive regulation (i.e., complex inhibition and working memory) during a lab visit and parents rated child temperament (negative affect, surgency, and effortful control) and parental support. Parents and teachers rated ADHD and ODD symptoms in the child. We performed continuous analyses, informed by a dimensional perspective on ADHD. Results: Working memory contributed independently to inattention (β = −.19, p < .05). Effortful control contributed independently to inattention and hyperactivity/impulsivity (βs = −.50 and −.49, ps < .01). Negative affect contributed to ODD symptoms as moderated by parental support (β = .58, p < .01). Specifically, for children who received lower levels of parental support there was a significant positive association between negative affect and ODD symptoms. Conclusions: The results propose that both cognitive regulation and effortful control influence ADHD symptoms. Moreover, different factors seem to be involved in ADHD and ODD, with regulatory deficits specifically related to ADHD symptoms, and elevated negative affect specifically related to ODD symptoms. Interestingly, parenting moderated the relationship between negative affect and ODD symptoms, with a suggested protective effect of high parental support for children with high levels of negative affect

The Role of Comorbid Symptoms in Perceived Stress and Sleep Problems in Adolescent ADHD

We examined perceived stress and sleep problems in adolescent ADHD and whether this varies as a function of ADHD presentation and sex. Further, we mapped structural associations between ADHD symptoms, comorbid symptoms, perceived stress, and sleep problems. Participants were 306 adolescents aged 13-19 years (66.8% females, 193 had an ADHD diagnosis, 113 were controls). Parents rated ADHD symptoms, all other constructs were self-rated. Adolescents with ADHD had elevated levels of perceived stress and sleep problems. Girls with ADHD reported the highest levels of perceived stress. Emotional symptoms mediated the effect of inattention whereas conduct problems mediated the effect of hyperactivity/impulsivity on stress and sleep. Perceived stress and sleep problems should be considered when mapping ADHD-related problems. Comorbid symptoms are potential intervention targets that may increase treatment response

Eye-movement indices of arousal predict ADHD and comorbid externalizing symptoms over a 2-year period

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) follows a variable course across childhood. Disrupted arousal has been hypothesized to underlie core symptoms as well as comorbid internalizing and externalizing conditions. The current study examined eye-movement and pupil-dilation metrics indexing arousal as longitudinal predictors of ADHD, externalizing, and internalizing symptoms over a 2-year period. Participants aged 8-13 years (N = 54, 30% with a diagnosis of ADHD) completed a modified version of the gap-overlap task including arousal-inducing auditory warning signals. Parents rated symptoms at the time of testing and at 2 years follow-up. Phasic alerting (reaction-time reduction after alerting cues) is an index of arousal. Here, larger phasic alerting effects predicted higher ADHD-symptom levels 2 years later. Blunted pupil-dilation responses predicted externalizing symptoms at T2, controlling for ADHD and externalizing at T1. Our results support the theory that ADHD is associated with altered arousal. Blunted arousal reactivity may be a longitudinal risk factor for externalizing problems in children with ADHD symptoms