The role of temperament and personality in problem behaviors of children with ADHD

This study describes temperament, personality, and problem behaviors in children with Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) aged 6 to 14 years. It targets differences between an ADHD sample (N = 54; 43 boys) and a large community sample (N = 465; 393 boys) in means and variances, psychometric properties, and covariation between traits and internalizing and externalizing problems. Parents rated their children on Buss and Plomin’s and Rothbart’s temperament models, a child-oriented five-factor personality model and also on problem behavior. Relative to the comparison group, children with ADHD presented with a distinct trait profile exhibiting lower means on Effortful Control, Conscientiousness, Benevolence and Emotional Stability, higher means on Emotionality, Activity, and Negative Affect, but similar levels of Surgency, Shyness, and Extraversion. Striking similarities in variances, reliabilities and, in particular, of the covariation between trait and maladjustment variables corroborate the spectrum hypothesis and suggest that comparable processes regulate problem behavior in children with and without ADHD

Mothering, substance use disorders and intergenerational trauma transmission : an attachment-based perspective

Background: A growing body of research underlines that interpersonal trauma in childhood leads to heightened susceptibility for substance use disorders (SUDs) in later life. Little research has been conducted on parenting experiences of mothers in recovery from substance use, taking into account their own upbringing as a child and the potential aftermath of interpersonal childhood trauma. Methods: Through in-depth qualitative interviews, 23 mothers with SUDs reflected on parenting experiences and parent-child bonding, related to both their children and parents. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and data were analyzed adopting thematic analysis. Results: Throughout the narratives, consequences of trauma on mothers' sense of self and its subsequent impact on parenting arose as salient themes. Five latent mechanisms of intergenerational trauma transmission were identified: 1) early interpersonal childhood trauma experiences in mothers; 2) trauma as a precursor of substance use; 3) substance use as a (self-fooling) enabler of parental functioning; 4) continued substance use impacting parental functioning; and 5) dysfunctional parental functioning and its relational impact upon offspring. Discussion: Findings suggest disruptive attachment can increase the vulnerability for SUDs on the one hand, but can be an expression of underlying trauma on the other, hence serving as a covert mechanism by which trauma can be transmitted across generations. Results indicate the need for preventive, attachment-based and trauma-sensitive interventions targeted at disruptive intergenerational patterns

Temperaments- en persoonlijkheidsdiagnostiek in typische en atypische ontwikkeling

Sander is druk, Oona is spontaan, Yurin is verlegen, Mira is gevoelig. Het beschrijven van de unieke, typerende eigenschappen van kinderen en jongeren heeft een centrale plaats in onze omgangstaal, maar ook in de professionele hulpverlening. Dit hoofdstuk beantwoordt de vraag hoe we de unieke persoonskenmerken die kinderen en jongeren reeds op vroege leeftijd vertonen, best kunnen omschrijven en meten. Zowel in het huidige wetenschappelijke onderzoek als in de diagnostische praktijk worden twee ‘talen’ (Tackett, 2006) gebruikt om de adaptieve, individuele verschillen bij kinderen en jongeren te beschrijven: temperament en persoonlijkheid. Het eerste luik van dit hoofdstuk biedt een overzicht van de meest toonaangevende temperaments- en persoonlijkheidsmodellen en evalueert kritisch de instrumenten die momenteel beschikbaar zijn voor het Nederlandstalig taalgebied. In een tweede luik geven we praktische richtlijnen voor een meer optimale trekdiagnostiek van kinderen en jongeren in de hulpverleningspraktijk

Parents’ need-related experiences when raising an adolescent with cerebral palsy

Objectives: Raising a child with cerebral palsy (CP) has been shown to strongly affect parents’ well-being and is often described as challenging or complex. Although quantitative studies have shown that these parents are at risk for increased levels of stress, a more comprehensive and in-depth insight into their experiences is needed in order to better understand these parents and to effectively support them. By relying on a self-determination theory perspective, this qualitative study puts the basic psychological needs for autonomy, relatedness, and competence forward as a structuring framework to explore both possibilities for need-satisfying experiences as well as risks for need-frustrating experiences when raising an adolescent with CP. Methods: Nine parents of adolescents with CP, aged 10 to 18 years, participated in an in-depth interview concerning their need-related experiences in raising their son or daughter with CP. The data were analyzed with deductive thematic analysis. Results: Parents’ experiences were classified into five themes and nine subthemes. Next to the need-related themes, the themes “accepting the diagnosis” and “uncertainty about the future” were also identified as essential to capture parents’ experiences. Conclusions: Although raising an adolescent with CP entails threats for parents’ need for autonomy, relatedness, and competence, it can also offer opportunities to feel closely connected with others and to feel effective when achieving unexpected goals. In order to fully capture parents’ experiences, we also need to take into account their acceptance of the diagnosis and their worries about the future

Relations between problem behaviors, perceived symptom severity and parenting in adolescents and emerging adults with ASD : the mediating role of parental psychological need frustration

Research in parents of youngsters with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) increasingly documents associations between children's problem behaviors and symptom severity and more dysfunctional and less adaptive parenting behaviors. However, the mechanisms underlying these associations have not been examined thoroughly. This study examines the mediating role of parental need frustration in the relation between child maladjustment (i.e., problem behavior and autism severity) and parenting behavior (i.e., controlling and autonomy-supportive parenting). The sample included 95 parents of adolescents/emerging adults with ASD (M _age_ = 18.8 years, _SD_ = 2.3). Parents completed questionnaires assessing their parenting strategies and psychological need frustration as well as the internalizing and externa

No differential susceptibility or diathesis stress to parenting in early adolescence : personality facets predicting behaviour problems

This multi-sample study investigated the main and interactive effects of parenting (responsiveness, over-reactivity) and young adolescents' personality traits (negative-affectivity: irritability and anxiety; and orienting-sensitivity) on behaviour problems during adolescence. Data from two samples (N1 = 222; girls 45.5%; Mean age = 11.54 years; N2 = 252; girls 50.4%; Mean age = 10.85 years) were analysed using a multivariate approach. Parenting and young adolescents' personality traits were assessed at Time-1 and behaviour problems were assessed 2 to 3 years later. Mothers rated their overreactive parenting practices with the Parenting-Scale (both samples); parental responsiveness was measured with the Louvain-Adolescent-Perceived-Parenting-Scale (sample-1) and the Parenting-Practices-Questionnaire (sample-2). Adolescents reported on their behaviour problems with the overlapping items of the Brief-Problem-Monitor (sample-1) and the Youth-Self-Report (sample-2). Young adolescents' personality traits were measured with the Hierarchical-Personality-Inventory-for-Children rated by mothers in sample-1 and by fathers in sample-2. No evidence supporting diathesis stress or differential susceptibility was found. Analyses revealed one interaction suggesting that adolescents with high irritability (>= 1.4 SD; 9%) with more overreactive mothers presented less internalizing behaviour, when their mothers used less overreactive parenting they showed more internalizing behaviour. High-anxiety predicted internalizing behaviour. High-irritability and low-anxiety predicted externalizing behaviour. High-irritability and orienting sensitivity predicted attention problems. No main effects of parenting on behaviour problems were observed

Long-Term Developmental Changes in Children's Lower-Order Big Five Personality Facets

__Objective:__ This study examined long-term developmental changes in mother-rated lower-order facets of children's Big Five dimensions. __Method:__ Two independent community samples covering early childhood (2-4.5 years; N=365, 39% girls) and middle childhood to the end of middle adolescence (6-17 years; N=579, 50% girls) were used. All children had the Belgian nationality. Developmental changes were examined using cohort-sequential latent growth modeling on the 18 facets of the Hierarchical Personality Inventory for Children. __Results:__ In early childhood, changes were mostly similar across child gender. Between 2 and 4.5 years, several facets showed mean-level stability; others changed in the direction of less Extraversion and Emotional Stability, and more Benevolence and Imagination. The lower-order facets of Conscientiousness showed opposite changes. Gender differences became more apparent from middle childhood onward for facets of all dimensions except Imagination, for which no gender differences were found. Between 6 and 17 years, same-dimension facets showed different shapes of growth. Facets that changed linearly changed mostly in the direction of less Extraversion, Benevolence, Conscientiousness, Emotional Stability, and Imagination. Changes in facets for which nonlinear growth was found generally moved in direction or magnitude during d

International comparisons of behavioral and emotional problems in preschool children: parents’ reports from 24 societies

International comparisons were conducted of preschool children’s behavioral and emotional problems as reported on the Child Behavior Checklist for Ages 1½–5 by parents in 24 societies (N¼19,850). Item ratings were aggregated into scores on syndromes; Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders–oriented scales; a Stress Problems scale; and Internalizing, Externalizing, and Total Problems scales. Effect sizes for scale score differences among the 24 societies ranged from small to medium (3–12%). Although societies differed greatly in language, culture, and other characteristics, Total Problems scores for 18 of the 24 societies were within 7.1 points of the omnicultural mean of 33.3 (on a scale of 0–198). Gender and age differences, as well as gender and age interactions with society, were all very small (effect sizes<1%). Across all pairs of societies, correlations between mean item ratings averaged .78, and correlations between internal consistency alphas for the scales averaged .92, indicating that the rank orders of mean item ratings and internal consistencies of scales were very similar across diverse societies