Thesis PlanB (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Stout, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2000. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 71-78). Also available on the Internet.

Objectives: Available studies largely and consistently indicate that children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) experience significantly impaired quality of life (QoL). More research is required to enable an enhanced understanding of factors which contribute to the QoL of children with this diagnosis. In relation to children with ADHD, this thesis had two main aims: to review the extent to which children and their parents agree in their assessments of the child’s QoL; and to examine the impact of parent stress on the child’s QoL from both parent and child perspectives. Method: A systematic review of studies reporting matched parent-proxy reported and child self-reported quantitative QoL measures is described in journal article 1. Journal article 2 presents the findings from a cross-sectional, quantitative study involving a matched sample of 45 children with a diagnosis of ADHD, and their parents. Correlation and multiple regression analyses examine the relationship between parent stress and each of the informants’ ratings of the child’s QoL. Results: The findings of the systematic review indicated that in a clear majority of studies, children rated their QoL more highly than their parents. However, cautious interpretation is required as some of the studies were of poor methodological quality. In the empirical study, parent stress emerged as a significant predictor of parent proxy-ratings of child QoL, but not of self-rated QoL. Parents who rated their child’s QoL lower that their children had higher perceived stress than parents who rated their child’s QoL higher than their children. There were no significant differences in self-rated or parent-rated QoL between children with ADHD and children with a learning disability or with an Autism Spectrum Disorder. In line with some previous research, agreement was poorer on psychosocial domains than physical domains. However, due to the relatively small sample size, the empirical study requires replication. Conclusions: The results of the systematic review suggest that parent and child ratings of the child’s QoL are not interchangeable in the context of ADHD. Possible explanations for this trend are discussed. The empirical study suggests that parent stress negatively impacts on children with ADHD, and that it is likely that children’s self-reports are affected by their impaired reflective capacity. Clinical implications and recommendations for future research are discussed in relation to both articles.

Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a commonly occurring neurodevelopmental disorder in children, affecting 3-7% of children (APA, 2000). Despite the high prevalence of ADHD, conceptualization of its subtypes, ADHD-PI and ADHD-C, remains under debate. One method of describing psychopathology is through the use of personality traits. The current study evaluated relationships between ADHD subtypes, ADHD symptoms, and the Big Five in 83 children between 8 and 12 years of age. Children with ADHD were consistently rated as having lower Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, and Openness than children without ADHD. Additionally, children with ADHD-PI had the lowest Openness, and children with ADHD-C had the lowest Conscientiousness, although these results differed by rater. When evaluating the symptom domains of ADHD, Extraversion, Conscientiousness, and Emotional Instability were associated with H/I, whereas only Conscientiousness was associated with inattention. Hyperactivity, specifically, was related to Extraversion, Conscientiousness, and Emotional Instability, whereas impulsivity was related to Conscientiousness and Emotional Instability only. Last, connections between the Emotional Regulation, Emotional Instability, and H/I are discussed. Implications regarding the use of personality measures to describe psychopathology in childhood are discussed, as are the challenges of using multiple raters in clinical populations.

Psychology / M.A. (Psychology)

Attention deficit-/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a psychiatric condition that can affect both children and adults. It is characterised by behavioural and attention difficulties. Sleep deficits are a prominent characteristic of the disorder and some of the core symptoms of ADHD are known characteristics of sleep deprivation. The circadian clock is integral to determining the rhythm of the sleep/wake cycle. Furthermore the two main forms of pharmacological treatment for ADHD, namely the psychostimulant methylphenidate, and the non-stimulant atomoxetine, along with the targets of these drugs noradrenaline and dopamine, appear to both interact and be under the regulation of the circadian clock. This thesis aimed firstly to develop a non-invasive technique for the real time RT- PCR quantification of circadian clock gene expression in the human oral mucosa. Secondly to address how circadian clock functioning may be disturbed in adult ADHD via measurement of a number of molecular, endocrine and behavioural markers, for which real-time RT-PCR, ELISA and actigraphy techniques were employed. Thirdly to examine the effects of ADHD medication upon circadian clock protein expression in the rodent brain using immunohistochemistry methods. Here it is demonstrated that disturbances in the rhythmic secretion of endocrine factors that are key outputs and regulators of the master circadian pacemaker, the circadian clock gene expression of a peripheral oscillator and the actigraphic measures of circadian organization of gross behaviour are associated with adult ADHD. Furthermore, both atomoxetine and methylphenidate are shown to effect circadian clock protein expression. Collectively this data suggests a key role for the circadian clock not only in the pathophysiology of adult ADHD but also indicates a role for pharmacological treatments in the modulation of the circadian clock.

Attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is characterised by a range of behaviours that include excessive motor activity and distractibility. Motor coordination problem is often a feature. It is therefore likely that motor control mechanisms are implicated in ADHD and then executive function associated with it. After a literature review on the correlation between cognition and movement (chapter 1), the novel VSWM (chapter 2) and sequential learning (chapter 3) tasks are introduced. Based on the typical Corsi tapping task, participants were instructed to either move their hand to the stimulus presented on the computer screen or tap the keyboard when they saw it, while trying to remember the location and order of the stimuli. The results suggest that movements deteriorate VSWM in both ADHD and control groups (chapter 2) while they had a tendency to improve learning performance in healthy but not ADHD participants (chapter 3). It was posited that the results from both tasks could have been influenced by differences in the ability to concentrate on the task and difficulty in controlling movements. Two other experiments were used to test this assumption and eliminate any confounds from the memory and learning tasks. The results from chapter 4, which looks at divided attention, indicate a significantly higher response rate in the ADHD compared to the healthy participants, while showing no significant deficit in fine motor but rather on the attentional control (chapter 5) in ADHD participants. These findings are summarised in chapter 6 and discussed in terms of 1) the relationship between movement and cognitive function, 2) the causation of the VSWM deficit in ADHD, and 3) the potential use these tasks may have in a clinical setting as an assessment tool or cognitive training program for people with ADHD.

Resumo: Neste trabalho investigamos, por meio de aplicação das Provas Operatórias de Conservação de Quantidades Continuas e Descontinuas do Exame Clinico de Piaget, estruturas cognitivas de 50 crianças, das quais 25 pacientes com idades de 7 a 14 anos com TDAH, seguidos no Ambulatório de Neurologia Infantil da UNESP - Botucatu, e 25 crianças na mesma faixa etária, não TDAH para controle. A equipe multiprofissional avaliou os sujeitos que apresentaram nível intelectual esperado para a faixa etária... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract: This work investigated, through the application of the Operational Tests of Conservation of Continuous and Discontinuous Quantity of Piaget's Clinical Examination, cognitive strutures of 50 children, 25 of them were ADHD patients whose ages ranged between 7 and 14, followed up in the Pediatric Neurology Clinic of UNESP (São Paulo's State University) - Botucatu campus, and the other 25 children, non-ADHD, belonging to the same age group, composed the control group. The subjects were assessed by a multiprofessional team and the intellectual level they presented was expected according to the age group... (Complete abstract, access undermentioned eletronic address) / Orientador: Tamara Beres Lederer Goldberg / Coorientador: Niura Aparecida Ribeiro de Moura Padula / Banca: Simone Aparecida Capellini / Banca: Patrícia Abreu Pinheiro Crenitte / Mestre

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:28:01Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2007-01-30Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T18:32:26Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 campos_lga_me_botfm.pdf: 1198269 bytes, checksum: 2d010ec2d7b52fe2fcdd51442bcb5e10 (MD5) / Neste trabalho investigamos, por meio de aplicação das Provas Operatórias de Conservação de Quantidades Continuas e Descontinuas do Exame Clinico de Piaget, estruturas cognitivas de 50 crianças, das quais 25 pacientes com idades de 7 a 14 anos com TDAH, seguidos no Ambulatório de Neurologia Infantil da UNESP - Botucatu, e 25 crianças na mesma faixa etária, não TDAH para controle. A equipe multiprofissional avaliou os sujeitos que apresentaram nível intelectual esperado para a faixa etária... / This work investigated, through the application of the Operational Tests of Conservation of Continuous and Discontinuous Quantity of Piaget's Clinical Examination, cognitive strutures of 50 children, 25 of them were ADHD patients whose ages ranged between 7 and 14, followed up in the Pediatric Neurology Clinic of UNESP (São Paulo's State University) - Botucatu campus, and the other 25 children, non-ADHD, belonging to the same age group, composed the control group. The subjects were assessed by a multiprofessional team and the intellectual level they presented was expected according to the age group... (Complete abstract, access undermentioned eletronic address)

Studien ämnar undersöka om människor med ADHD uppvisar en högre prevalens av otrygg anknytning (enligt testet ASQ) än normalbefolkningen. Metoden som har använts för att mäta detta är en internetbaserad självskattningsenkät; Attachment Style Questionnaire, ASQ, som är ett test som mäter olika kateogier av relationella mönster baserade på anknytningsteori. Testresultatet indikerar en hög förekomst av otrygg anknytning (95 %) i den undersökta gruppen. Med tanke på begränsningar I validiteten främst på grund av endast användningen av enbart ett test för mätning och på grund av att ASQ mäter relationella aspekter i en individ så undersöker studien först och främst resultatet av relationella mönster i gruppen ADHD. / This study aims is to explore if people diagnosed with ADHD show a higher frequency of insecure attachment (according to the test ASQ) than the normal population. The method used is an internet-based self report survey; Attachment Style Qeustionnaire, ASQ, which is a test that measures different categories of relational patterns based on attachment theory. The test results indicate a high frequency of insecure attachment scores (95%) in the measured sample. Regarding limitations in validity using only one method of measuring, and ASQ beeing a test for measuring relational patterns, the study only claim to present results of ”relational styles” in the AD/HD sample.