Effects of methylphenidate and expectancy on performance, self-evaluations, persistence, and attributions on a social task in boys with ADHD.

This study examined the effects of 0.3 mg/kg methylphenidate (MPH) and expectancy regarding medication on the performance and persistence of 137 boys with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in a get-acquainted dyadic interaction with a peer, using a balanced-placebo design. Boys in 4 groups—administered placebo or MPH crossed with being told they received placebo or MPH—interacted with child confederates in experimental situations in which social success and failure were manipulated. In contrast with studies of academic persistence, MPH did not affect boys' task persistence or performance. Boys gave more positive self-evaluations and talked more in the success condition as compared with the failure condition. Boys attributed success to effort and ability and failure to task difficulty, and neither MPH nor expectancy affected this pattern. These findings are consistent with other studies in failing to find debilitating effects of MPH or medication expectancies on ADHD boys' attributions or self-evaluations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of methyphenidate and expectancy on children with ADHD: Behavior, academic performance, and attributions in a summer treatment program and regular classroom settings.

Pharmacological and expectancy effects of 0.3 mg/kg methylphenidate on the behavior and attributions of boys with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder were evaluated. In a within-subject, balanced-placebo design, 136 boys received 4 medication-expectancy conditions. Attributions for success and failure on a daily report card were gathered. Assessments took place within the setting of a summer treatment program and were repeated in boys' regular classrooms. Expectancy did not affect the boys' behavior; only active medication improved their behavior. Boys attributed their success to their effort and ability and attributed failure to task difficulty and the pill, regardless of medication and expectancy. Results were generally equivalent across the two settings; where there were differences, beneficial effects of medication were more apparent in the school setting. The findings were unaffected by individual difference factors. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Maternal attributions and child oppositional behavior: A longitudinal study of boys with and without attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.

The authors examined changes over a 1-year period in mothers' attributions for child behavior and child oppositional behavior among 53 mothers and nonproblem sons and 44 mothers and sons with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Boys averaged 8 years of age (SD = 11 months) at Time 1. Families were primarily of European Canadian cultural background and most were middle to upper middle class. Initial levels of child oppositionality did not predict changes in mothers' attributions over time. However, initial levels of mothers' attributions of oppositional child behavior to internal, stable, and global causes positively predicted child oppositional behavior, controlling for ADHD versus nonproblem status and the child's initial level of oppositional behavior. Although initial levels of overreactive and nonresponsive parenting also positively predicted child oppositional behavior, the contribution of mothers' attributions remained significant even with parenting variables controlled. Results suggest that mothers' attributions of child oppositional behavior to internal, stable, and global causes may contribute to maintenance of child problems over time and that these parenting cognitions have importance as intervention targets. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Lower task persistence in smokers with schizophrenia as compared to non-psychiatric control smokers.

One contributing factor to difficulty in quitting smoking may be task persistence, which can be viewed as a behavioral manifestation of distress tolerance, and describes the act of persisting in a difficult or effortful task. Task persistence was assessed in smokers with schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder (SZ/SA; N = 71) and non-psychiatric controls (N = 78) before a quit attempt. These data support the hypothesis that smokers with SZ/SA display less task persistence than do non-psychiatric controls when persistence is measured via mirror tracing and a 2-item persistence measure. Lower persistence may partially explain the reduced smoking cessation successes of smokers with SZ/SA as compared to the general population. These data also replicate findings regarding relationships between histories of ability to quit smoking and task persistence and expand them to a new population of smokers. The absence of a diagnostic status by length of previous abstinence interaction suggests that the contribution of task persistence to smoking cessation is similar for smokers with and without schizophrenia. Future studies should evaluate the ability of task persistence to predict abstinence from cigarettes prospectively among smokers with schizophrenia. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Retrospective ratings of ADHD symptoms made at young adulthood by clinic-referred boys with ADHD-related problems, their brothers without ADHD, and control participants.

Retrospective childhood attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms are required to diagnosis adult ADHD, but the validity of self-rated symptoms across time is questionable. Here, boys with ADHD-related problems, their brothers without ADHD, and former schoolmates rated themselves during young adulthood for ages 9, 14, and 19. Brothers rated probands retrospectively at the same ages. The young adults referred as children for ADHD (a) acknowledged childhood symptoms; (b) described improvement over time; (c) did not differ from brothers or controls on most self-ratings of young adult symptoms; (d) rated themselves as more symptomatic at age 9, but less symptomatic at age 19, than their brothers rated them; and (e) agreed only to some degree with brothers' ratings of probands' aggression (median correlation = .22). Probands' ratings showed limited agreement with judges' symptom ratings (median correlation = .16) and young adult follow-up examiners' ratings (median correlation = .14). These findings are not accounted for solely by changes in informants, nor by the course of ADHD psychopathology. They suggest some stability but limited internal consistency and validity for retrospective ADHD ratings by probands and brothers. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Motivation in a task situation as a function of ability and control over the task.

102 psychology students participated in the task of constructing and validating an "academic aptitude test." Training (level of ability) and amount of control over the task were manipulated in a 2 X 2 factorial design. For untrained Ss, performance was positively related to control. The performance of trained Ss was negatively related to control, contrary to prediction. This reversal was tentatively attributed to unintended "side effects" of the training manipulation. As predicted, expected success was positively related to training, perceived ability, and perceived control. A manipulation of success and failure in the task led to results consistent with predictions: Success produced incerases in satisfaction and perceived ability, while failure led to decreases in perceived ability. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of methylphenidate and expectancy on ADHD children's performance, self-evaluations, persistence, and attributions on a cognitive task.

The effects of 0.3 mg/kg methylphenidate (MPH) and expectancy regarding medication on the performance and task persistence of 60 boys with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) were investigated. In a balanced-placebo design, boys in 4 groups (received placebo–drug crossed with told placebo–drug) completed the task in success and failure conditions. Medication improved participants' task persistence following failure. Participants' task performance was not affected by whether they thought they had received medication or placebo. Children made internal attributions for success and made external attributions for failure, regardless of medication or expectancy. These findings confirm previous reports that it is the pharmacological activity of MPH that affects ADHD children's self-evaluations and persistence. The results contradict anecdotal reports that MPH causes dysfunctional attributions and confirm previous studies showing that medication does not produce adverse effects on the causal attributions of children with ADHD. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The role of task persistence in young adolescence for successful educational and occupational attainment in middle adulthood.

The main purpose of the present study was to investigate the importance of task persistence in young adolescence for successful educational and occupational attainment in middle adulthood. Data from age 13 (N = 1,092) and adult age (age 43 for women, N = 569 and age 47 for men, N = 393) were taken from the Swedish longitudinal research program entitled “Individual Development and Adaptation.” In line with previous research, task persistence was found to be related to changes in grades between age 13 and age 16, over and above other childhood factors. Task persistence at age 13 was also a significant predictor of both income and occupational level in middle adulthood for the men, controlling for a number of childhood factors (including intelligence), and even when educational attainment in adulthood was taken into account. Finally, task persistence was related to educational attainment in adulthood. The authors suggest that task persistence is a second fundamental factor besides general mental ability, influencing attainment within the area of working life and education. The influence of task persistence is discussed in form of personality–environment selection mechanisms. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Preschool executive control on the Shape School task: Measurement considerations and utility.

Executive functions (EF) necessary for purposeful goal-directed activities undergo rapid change and development during the preschool years. However, of the few psychometrically valid measures of EF suitable for use with preschoolers, information on task sensitivity and predictive validity is scant. The neurodevelopmental correlates of early executive difficulties are also largely unknown. In this study, the discriminant and predictive validity of the recently developed Shape School task (Espy, Bull, Martin, & Stroup, 2006) was examined with data from a regional sample of 209 preschool children at age 4 years. A 2-tiered measurement approach was used, with task completion examined in addition to efficiency. Children's performance was also examined in relation to functioning in a range of neurodevelopmental domains. The Shape School task showed some usefulness in capturing expected differences between at-risk and typically developing children. Performance loaded heavily on language and global cognitive abilities. However, several other factors were also implicated, including attention, motor skills, and ocular control. In addition, task completion and efficiency scores appeared to reflect different aspects of performance, and their associations with neurodevelopmental function and later academic achievement on the Woodcock-Johnson Tests of Achievement at age 6 years also differed. Implications for the application of the Shape School task are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Understanding performance ratings: Dynamic performance, attributions, and rating purpose.

The present two studies integrate and extend the literatures on dynamic performance, performance attributions, and rating purpose, making several important contributions. First, examining attributions of dynamic performance, Study 1 predicted that performance mean and trend would affect judged ratee ability and effort and that performance variation would affect locus of causality; both predictions were supported by the results. Second, investigating the interaction between dynamic performance and rating purpose, Study 2 predicted that performance mean would have a stronger impact on administrative than on developmental ratings, whereas performance trend and variation would have a stronger impact on developmental than on administrative ratings; again, both predictions were borne out by the results. Third, both studies found that performance trend interacted with performance mean and variability to predict overall ratings. Fourth, both studies replicated main effects of dynamic performance characteristics on ratings in a different culture and, in Study 2, a sample of more experienced managers. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

African Americans and boys: Understanding the literacy gap, tracing academic trajectories, and evaluating the role of learning-related skills.

In this study, the authors examined the racial and gender gap in the academic development of African American and White children from kindergarten to 5th grade. Their main goal was to determine the extent to which social and behavioral factors, including learning-related skills, problem behaviors, and interpersonal skills, explain these gaps and shed light on the academic difficulties specifically experienced by African American boys. The authors utilized the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study–Kindergarten Cohort (ECLS-K) sample and applied growth curve modeling. Learning-related skills explained the literacy development of African American boys over and above the effects of problem behaviors, socioeconomic status, and home literacy environment. Results suggest that emphasis placed on the behavior problems and the social risk factors associated with African American boys needs to be refocused and should be accompanied by increased efforts to improve learning-related skills in the classroom context and beyond. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Predicting inept discipline: The role of parental depressive symptoms, anger, and attributions.

Relations among parents' psychological difficulties (i.e., depressive symptoms, overt anger), dysfunctional attributions for child misbehavior, and inept discipline were investigated in a representative community sample of 451 mothers and 449 fathers. Depressive symptoms and anger were hypothesized to relate to discipline via their link with parents' attributions. Path analyses revealed that depressive symptoms predicted parent-centered causal attributions (i.e., stable, global, and dispositional), which, in turn, related to laxness. Depressive symptoms also predicted child-centered responsibility attributions (i.e., controllable, intentional, and negative), which, in turn, related to overreactivity. Anger predicted overreactivity directly. The patterns of relations were similar for fathers and mothers. The importance of addressing parents' psychological difficulties and dysfunctional attributions in interventions for families with disruptive children is discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of interpersonal control, perspective taking, and attributions on older mothers' and adult daughters' satisfaction with their helping relationships.

Older mother-adult daughter dyads (N?=?44) were interviewed separately about 3 variables hypothesized to affect satisfaction with the help provided to mothers by their daughters: feelings of interpersonal control, perspective-taking abilities, and attributions made about the self and other dyad member during positive and negative helping interactions. The most important predictors of partner satisfaction were mothers' and daughters' ability to accurately perceive the partner's feelings about the helping relationship and their feelings of interpersonal control. The most salient predictors of mothers' and daughters' own satisfaction were the attributions they made about the partner during a negative helping situation and their feelings of interpersonal control. These findings underscore the importance of considering interpersonal psychological variables in research concerned with helping relationships in later life. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Big tales and cool heads: Academic exaggeration is related to cardiac vagal reactivity.

Students who exaggerate their current grade point averages (GPAs) report positive emotional and motivational orientations toward academics (Gramzow & Willard, 2006; Willard & Gramzow, 2007). It is conceivable, however, that these self-reports mask underlying anxieties. The current study examined cardiovascular reactivity during an academic interview in order to determine whether exaggerators respond with a pattern suggestive of anxiety or, alternatively, equanimity. Sixty-two undergraduates were interviewed about their academic performance. Participants evidenced increased sympathetic activation (indexed with preejection period) during the interview, suggesting active task engagement. Academic exaggeration predicted parasympathetic coactivation (increased respiratory sinus arrhythmia). Observer ratings indicated that academic exaggeration was coordinated with a composed demeanor during the interview. Together, these patterns suggest that academic exaggeration is associated with emotional equanimity, rather than anxiety. The capacity for adaptive emotion regulation--to keep a cool head when focusing on academic performance--offers one explanation for why exaggerators also tend to improve academically. These findings have implications for the broader literature on self-evaluation, emotion, and cardiovascular reactivity. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Academic control and action control in the achievement of college students: A longitudinal field study.

A contradiction to the typical pattern of academic success occurs when bright, enthusiastic high school students fail after entering university. Two measures, perceived academic control and action control (i.e., preoccupation with failure) were administered to 524 college students at the beginning of a 2-semester course. Achievement-related cognitions, emotions, motivation, and final grades were measured at the end of the course. High-academic-control students exerted more effort, reported less boredom and anxiety, were more motivated, used self-monitoring strategies more often, felt more in control of their course assignments and of life in general, believed they performed better, and obtained higher final grades. Failure-preoccupied students received higher final grades, which corroborated their self-reported performance. Of note, high-control, high-failure-preoccupied students outperformed the other 3 groups by 1 to 2 letter grades. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The persistence of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder into young adulthood as a function of reporting source and definition of disorder.

This study examined the persistence of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) into young adulthood using hyperactive (N=147) and community control (N=71) children evaluated at ages 19-25 years. ADHD was rare in both groups (5% vs. 0%) based on self-report but was substantially higher using parent reports (46% vs. 1.4%). Using a developmentally referenced criterion (+2 SD), prevalence remained low for self-reports (12% vs. 10%) but rose further for parent reports (66% vs. 8%). Parent reports were more strongly associated with major life activities than were self-reports. Recollections of childhood ADHD showed moderate correlations with actual parent ratings collected in childhood, which suggests some validity for such recollections. The authors conclude that previous follow-up studies that relied on self-reports might have substantially underestimated the persistence of ADHD into adulthood. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Task preparation and task repetition: Two-component model of task switching.

The switch cost (the disadvantage of performing a new task vs. a repeated task) has been attributed to lack of preparation for the switched task or priming of the repeated task. These sources were examined by manipulating foreknowledge of task transition (repeat or switch), response-to-stimulus interval (RSI), and practice level. Regardless of foreknowledge, the cost decreased with RSI and practice. The reduction was greater with foreknowledge than with no foreknowledge, and the amount of switch cost did not depend on foreknowledge. These results suggest that the switch cost with foreknowledge may consist of both inadequate preparation and repetition benefit but the switch cost with no foreknowledge may reflect repetition benefit only. An ACT-R (adaptive control of thought-rational) model was proposed, accommodating both preparation and priming effect with 2 independent processes: conflict resolution among productions and decay of chunk activation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Commitment to legal claiming: Influences of attributions, social guidance and organizational tenure.

This study investigates antecedents of individuals' commitment to the legal-claiming process. Individuals were surveyed as they entered a district office of the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to file an employment discrimination claim. Respondents' attributions regarding who they blamed for their grievance, the social guidance received, their organizational tenure, and their commitment to legal claiming were assessed. Results showed that individuals who made strong external attributions had a higher commitment to legal claiming than did those who made weak external attributions. Social guidance and organizational tenure were significant moderators of the attribution-claiming relationship. Specifically, commitment to legal claiming was more strongly related to external attributions when social guidance was low and organizational tenure was high. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The role of feedback, casual attributions, and self-efficacy in goal revision.

An important issue in work motivation is how, when, and why individuals revise their goals up or down over time. In the current study, the authors examine feedback, causal attributions, and self-efficacy in this process. Although self-efficacy has frequently been suggested as a key explanatory variable for goal revision, its role has yet to be directly evaluated. Additionally, although attributions have been shown to influence goal revision following failure, the extent to which attributions influence goal revision following success remains unclear. In the current study, the authors address these issues by experimentally manipulating goal progress via performance feedback and tracking the resulting changes in self-efficacy and goal revision over time. In so doing, the authors also address several interpretive ambiguities present in the existing research. Results support the hypothesized model, finding that performance feedback and attributions interactively influenced self-efficacy, which in turn influenced goal revision. These results suggest that interventions targeting attributions, and self-efficacy more directly, may have meaningful influences on goal setting and pursuit, particularly following feedback. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The relationship of persistence at a task to expectation of success and achievement related motives.

This investigation examines the effects of S's motivation to achieve success or avoid failure (measured from TAT), his preception of the degree of difficulty of the task, and his probability of success upon continued attempts (persistence) to solve a given problem. Substantiating hypotheses derived from Atkinson's theory (1957, 1958), the results indicated that persistence occurs when motivation to achieve and anticipation of success are high, or when motivation to avoid failure and anticipation of failure are high. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)