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 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)     

Drug interactions in human neuropathic pain pharmacotherapy

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.     

Methylphenidate and attributions in boys with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder.

In Exp 1, 28 attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) boys underwent a double-blind, placebo-controlled medication assessment in a summer day-treatment program. Daily, boys were asked questions to assess their attributions for and evaluations of their behavior. Objective measures showed improved behavior with methylphenidate; however, boys tended to attribute their performance to effort rather than to medication, particularly when medicated. Exp 2 involved 38 ADHD boys the following summer and replicated the procedures in Exp 1, with the addition of a no-pill condition and a comparison of attributions for success and failure outcomes. Simply taking a pill (no-pill vs placebo comparison) did not show significant effects, whereas the results of Exp 1 were replicated with placebo–methylphenidate comparisons. Across drug conditions a self-enhancing attributional pattern was obtained; the majority of attributions for success were to ability or effort, whereas attributions for failure were to the pill or to counselors. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Self-fulfilling effects of stigmatizing information on children's social interactions.

The stigmatizing effects of negative expectancies were examined in observations of interactions between children with and without a behavior problem. Ss were 68 pairs of unacquainted boys in Grades 3–6. In each dyad, a normal boy was either told that his partner had a behavior problem or given no expectancy; this expectancy manipulation was crossed with the partner's actual diagnostic status with respect to hyperactivity. The perceiver's expectancy that their partner had a behavior problem as well as the actual diagnostic status of the target adversely affected the boys' interactions. Behavioral data suggest how the expectancies were communicated to the target. The processes underlying interpersonal expectancy effects and the ways in which a childhood stigma can act as a self-fulfilling prophecy are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Predicting boys' early-onset substance abuse from father's alcoholism, son's disruptiveness, and mother's parenting behavior.

Sons of male alcoholics (SOMAs) are said to be at risk for alcoholism. The present study examined 4 groups of 13-year-old boys: SOMAs with and without disruptive behaviors, disruptive boys who were not SOMAs, and control participants. The classification of disruptive was based on 7-year longitudinal data, and father's alcoholism was determined by standardized tests. Mothers' nurturance and promotion of autonomy were assessed in a laboratory setting; boys' substance abuse was measured by self-report methods in the same year as the observation. Boys with disruptive behaviors showed the most substance abuse; no effect of father's alcoholism was found. Disruptive boys' mothers were significantly less nurturant and demanded obedience rather than promoted autonomy. A multiple regression analysis revealed that the boys' disruptive behavior and the mother's lack of nurturance predicted early-onset substance abuse. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Attention-deficit hyperactivity disordered boys' evaluations of and attributions for task performance on medication versus placebo.

The present study examined the effects of stimulant medication on the self-evaluations of and attributions for task performance of 26 attention-deficit hyperactivity disordered boys. Each boy performed a continuous performance task twice, once while on medication and once while on placebo. Immediately following the completion of the task, the boys were asked a series of questions concerning their self-evaluations of, and attributions for, their performance. Two findings of note were obtained. First, medication, compared with placebo, increased the correspondence between the boys' self-evaluations and their performance. Second, the boys did not use medication as a frequent explanation for their performance, as others have predicted. In fact, the boys picked medication as an explanation for their successes significantly less often than either effort or ability. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effect of expectancy inductions on rejected children's acceptance by unfamiliar peers.

Examined the role of interpersonal expectations in rejected children's social difficulties by inducing a positive expectancy prior to their joining unfamiliar peers and assessing whether this influenced their group entry behavior and the opinions that new peers formed of them. Rejected boys receiving the expectancy induction were preferred by new peers over control, rejected boys, but no behavioral effects were found. Rejected girls who received the induction were again better liked than controls and behaved more competently. These results indicate that rejected children can make better impressions on peers when they expect interpersonal success and suggest that rejected children's interpersonal expectations should be considered in interventions designed to improve their peer relationships. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Development of sex-typed play behavior in toddlers.

Conducted naturalistic observations of the play of 52 14–35 mo old toddlers (28 girls and 24 boys) with a set of socially stereotyped masculine, feminine, and neutral toys in a daycare setting over 14 mo. In addition, 2 potential influences on toy choice were investigated: parental expectations of play and Ss' gender knowledge. Results show that Ss played more often with toys stereotyped for their own gender than with the other toys. Girls' play with feminine toys increased with age, but boys' play with masculine toys did not vary with age, partly because even the youngest boys chose masculine toys frequently. Parents provided same-sex-typed toys for their children and made sex-typed predictions of their children's toy choices, but these measures were not clearly related to children's play. Cognitive change in understanding of gender was related to toddler boys' early sex-typed behavior. (17 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Antecedents and consequences of boys' depression and aggression: Family and school linkages.

This study, conducted with 246 mothers and sons, examined the influences of change in marital conflict and mother–son aggression on boys' aggression and depression and how boys' aggression and depression contributed to their being disliked by their peers. There was also interest in how boys' family and peer experiences contributed to their subsequent behavior. Boys who experienced increases in marital conflict were more depressed, whereas boys who experienced negative interactions with their mothers were more aggressive. Boys who were either depressed or aggressive were more disliked by their peers, and being disliked was associated with aggressive behavior subsequently. However, being depressed appeared to attenuate the negative effect of being disliked by one's peers. The association between boys' earlier aggression and their subsequent aggression with their peers was mediated by dislike by their peers. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sex differences in learned helplessness: II. The contingencies of evaluative feedback in the classroom and III. An experimental analysis.

Girls show greater evidence than boys of learned helplessness in achievement situations with adult (but not peer) evaluators: They attribute their failures to lack of ability rather than motivation and thus show impaired performance under failure. Two studies are reported linking sex differences in attributions to adults' use of evaluative feedback. Study 1, with 52 4th graders and 27 5th graders, revealed that both the contingencies of feedback in classrooms and the attributions made by teachers were ones that would render negative evaluation more indicative of ability for girls than boys. For example, negative evaluation of girls' performance referred almost exclusively to intellectual inadequacies, whereas 45% of boys' work-related criticism referred to nonintellectual aspects. Moreover, teachers attributed the boys' failures to lack of motivation significantly more than they did the girls' failures. In Study 2, with 60 5th graders, teacher–boy and teacher–girl contingencies of work-related criticism observed in classrooms were programmed in an experimental situation. Both boys and girls receiving the teacher–girl contingency were more likely to view subsequent failure feedback from that evaluator as indicative of their ability. Implications for developmental theories and for development are addressed. (26 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Children's achievement-related expectancies as a function of academic performance histories and sex.

60 male and 60 female 1st and 3rd graders, classified by teacher ratings as high, average, and low achievers, were compared on (a) their expectations for success prior to an anagrams task, (b) their subsequent perceptions of the cause of failure on the task, and (c) their expectations for future success. Results indicate that boys with a history of low academic success in school had lower expectations for success on the task and tended to be more likely to attribute failure to lack of ability than boys with a history of average or high academic success. In contrast, high-achieving girls had lower expectations for success than low- and average-achieving girls. Furthermore, Ss who attributed failure to low ability reported relatively low expectations for future success. This finding suggests that children's perceptions of the causes of past performance outcomes mediate their subsequent expectations, as is claimed by attribution theorists. (18 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Motivational and gender differences: Sixth-grade students' mathematical problem-solving behavior.

Differences in boys' and girls' mathematical problem-solving behavior were studied in relation to 2 types of mathematics tasks: computations and applications. Participants were 79 boys and 79 girls of the 6th grade from 12 regular schools. In 2 separate individual sessions, cognitive and motivational variables were examined before, during, and after task execution. Differences in mathematical problem-solving behavior were dependent on the contents of the mathematics tasks and on gender. Interactions between type of task and gender were also noted. With respect to applied problem solving, girls rated themselves lower on confidence than boys and attributed bad results more often to lack of capacity and to the difficulty of the task. No gender differences were observed in relation to computations. Unexpectedly, girls had higher persistence than did boys, but only during applied problem solving. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Development course of parental stimulation and its relationship to mastery motivation during infancy.

As part of a longitudinal study on the environmental origins of mastery motivation, 68 infants were observed at home with each parent separately and their motivational characteristics were assessed in a laboratory setting at ages 6 and 12 mo. Differential relationships between 2 aspects of parental stimulation and the infants' mastery motivation were found. At 6 mo, parental sensory stimulation was found to be associated with boys' and girls' persistence at problem solving. Mothers' sensory stimulation and attention focusing was related to a broader range of mastery motivational behaviors for boys than for girls. At 12 mo, the significant relationships were confined to the boys' persistence at practicing sensorimotor skills, with the father being the major contributor. Results suggest that the associations between the animate environment and infant behavior are a function of the child's age, sex, type of stimulation, and parental sex. (40 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Aggressive, prosocial, and nonsocial behavior in hyperactive boys: Dose effects of methylphenidate in naturalistic settings.

Given the importance of interpersonal interactions for hyperactive children, we evaluated the impact of methylphenidate on specific categories of social behavior in 25 boys, aged 6–12, with attention deficit–hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). These children participated in a 3-week, double-blind, crossover trial with placebo and low (0.3 mg/kg) and moderate (0.6 mg/kg) dosages of methylphenidate during a naturalistic summer research program. Fifteen comparison boys, without problems in attention and behavior, were also observed. In addition to decreasing noncompliance, methylphenidate reduced a combined category of physical and verbal aggression for the ADHD boys, with a significant linear trend across dosages. The medication decreased aggression to levels comparable with those of the comparison boys. There were no medication effects on the frequency of nonsocial or prosocial behaviors. Results are discussed in light of the need to effect durable change in both the quantity and quality of social behavior for hyperactive children. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Causal attributions, expectations, and task performance.

College students' performance on each of 2 chemistry tests (n?=?253 on the 1st test and 233 on the 2nd test) was classified as a success (or failure) if it met (or failed to meet) a minimum criterion of success that each S set prior to taking each test. Using a paired-comparison technique, Ss attributed their performance on each test to ability, effort, luck, and task difficulty. Among Ss who succeeded on the tests, expected and actual future performance were positively related to attributions to high ability and negatively related to attributions to good luck. Among Ss who experienced failure, expected performance was positively related to attributions to low effort and negatively related to attributions to low ability. Results of these analyses are related to D. T. Hall's (1976) model of psychological success. In addition, although expectations were strongly related to subsequent performance, the relationship was substantially weakened when prior performance and ability attributions were held constant. The implications of this finding for understanding expectancy perceptions are discussed. (16 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sex differences in learned helplessness: IV. An experimental and naturalistic study of failure generalization and its mediators.

Tested the hypothesis that attributions for failure can mediate the generalization of failure effects across situations: When perceived causal factors remain present in otherwise novel situations, failure effects should transfer; when perceived causal factors are removed, failure effects should be attenuated. Specifically, it was predicted that sex differences in attributions would result in differential transfer to novel situations, with boys showing greater recovery of success expectancies when the evaluator changes, but girls showing greater recovery of success when the ability areas change. Two studies are reported: one a field study (40 female and 40 male 5th graders) examining changes in expectancy of academic success over the school year, and the other a laboratory analog (171 female and 143 male 4th–6th graders) examining directly the effects of evaluator and task change. Results provide strong support for the hypothesis and suggest an explanation for sex differences in long-term academic achievement. (14 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of medication, behavioral, and combined treatments on parents' and children's attributions for the behavior of children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder.

Seventy-four mothers and 41 fathers and their 6 to 13 year old sons with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) watched videos of child ADHD symptoms, compliance, and noncompliance. Participants were told either that the child was receiving medication, behavioral treatment, a combination of the two, or was not receiving treatment and were asked to rate the cause of the behavior. Parents attributed less control but greater stability to positive child behaviors when the child was receiving medication. However, for negative behaviors, medication increased attributions of control but diminished stability. With behavior management, compliance was seen as more external and stable and noncompliance as more controllable but less stable. For all treatments, boys reported increased control over ADHD symptoms and noncompliance. The implications of these treatment-related attributions for parenting and children's self-perceptions are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of competitive reward structure and valence of outcome on children's achievement attributions.

Studied how success and failure outcomes occurring under competitive and noncompetitive reward structures influenced children's attributional and affective responses. 40 5th-grade boys solved sets of achievement-related puzzles, working in pairs in which one succeeded and one failed at the task. Results show that the reward structure of the performance setting was an important determinant of self- and interpersonal evaluations. Competitive conditions caused self-punitive behavior for failure outcomes and some ego-enhancing strategies for success outcomes. Failing Ss expressed strong negative affect and perceived themselves as less capable than their successful partners, while successful Ss perceived themselves as more deserving of reward than their failing partners. No differences in self-other attributions or affect were found in noncompetitive conditions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Marital aggression, observed parental hostility, and child behavior during triadic family interaction.

This study used direct observation to examine how a history of exposure to interparental aggression relates to children's behavior during conflict with both parents present. Ninety 2-parent families with a child 9–13 years of age participated. Consistent with a sensitization hypothesis, results indicated that exposure to interparental physical aggression during the previous year was related to child withdrawal, anxiety, and distraction during a family discussion task. In addition, the interaction between reported interparental aggression and observed child-directed hostility accounted for significant variance in boys' behavior. Follow-up correlation analyses revealed that boys who had been exposed to physical marital aggression were more anxious and distracting when their parents were more hostile toward them during the discussion, whereas boys who had not been exposed withdrew more. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)