Thesis (D.Phil. (Social Work))--University of Pretoria, 2006. / Includes summary in Afrikaans and English. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.A.)--State University of New York at Binghamton, Department of Psychology, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references.

It has been suggested that adult attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) may reflect affective temperaments, which involve mild manic and/or depressive traits as part of one’s personality. Such innate traits are associated with poor attention. Stimulant medications, given for ADHD, can worsen manic symptoms, thereby worsening attentional symptoms paradoxically, by worsening the underlying mood condition that causes poor attention. This study examines the nature of response to stimulant medication in subjects with affective temperament (Cyclothymia, Hyperthymia, Dysthymia). A retrospective cohort study was conducted of 87 subjects from Tufts Medical Center Mood Disorders Program. Subjects were included if they had ever been prescribed stimulant medications. Prior diagnosis of adult ADHD, or not, also was assessed. This sample was assessed using TEMPS-A scale to measure affective temperaments, and the CGI-I scale to assess clinical change in mood/anxiety and attention/cognition. Data analysis was conducted using descriptive statistics and stratification. This study has several limitations. Researchers and subjects were not blinded; all subjects received stimulants, with no non-stimulant control group; and treatment response was assessed retrospectively. Nonetheless, no such data exist in the scientific literature previously, and thus this pilot data adds to our present knowledge. 61% of the sample had an affective temperament (using the strictest definition of 75% or more TEMPS items endorsed). Of these, the most common was cyclothymic (40%) followed by hyperthymic (24%). The main treatment results were that most patients (55%) had no effect on mood/anxiety, but a large number (43%) had worsening mood/anxiety symptoms. 37% had mild or moderate improvement in cognition. Stratified by ADHD diagnosis, stimulant effects were somewhat better with, than without, ADHD diagnosis, for cognition but not for mood/anxiety. In ADHD subjects, 49% had worsening mood and/or anxiety symptoms, while 44% had some improvement in cognition/attention. In non-ADHD subjects, 30% had worsening mood and/or anxiety symptoms, while 30% had some improvement in cognition/attention. In conclusion, we found that most people (61%) treated with amphetamine stimulants identified in a mood specialty clinic were diagnosable with affective temperaments, especially cyclothymia. Amphetamine stimulant worsened mood/anxiety symptoms in about one-half of subjects, and improved cognition symptoms only about one-third subjects. Prior ADHD diagnosis was associated with somewhat improved cognitive, but not mood/anxiety, outcomes. These results suggest that amphetamine stimulant treatment in an affectively ill population may have harmful mood/anxiety effects, and has only partly beneficial cognitive effects.

This study explored the stability and heritability of novelty seeking, defiance, and rule-breaking in early childhood using a twin sample. Parent reports of novelty seeking were assessed at ages 3 and 4, parent reports of rule-breaking were assessed at ages 5 and follow-up (6-16), and observer reports of defiance were assessed at age 5. Results showed that novelty seeking increased between ages 3 and 4, and rule-breaking remained stable from age 5 to follow-up (6-16). All constructs demonstrated significant heritability. Finally, neither novelty seeking nor defiance predicted 5-year-old rule-breaking. Defiance was the only construct that significantly predicted follow-up rule-breaking. Defiance and rule-breaking in early childhood were predictive of later rule-breaking, indicating that children may benefit from early intervention to reduce later rule-breaking behaviors.

This study explored the relationship between anxiety and the social information processing (SIP) model. Children’s responses to several stages of the SIP model were assessed after children had undergone anxious mood induction procedures, and similarities and differences between anxious and aggressive children were examined. Furthermore, temperament and heritability were investigated in relation to anxiety and stages of the SIP model. Data were collected from 45 families within the Southern Illinois Twins/Triplets and Siblings Study (SITSS). Results showed that children’s anxiety was related to generating avoidant responses in one stage of the SIP model, whereas children’s aggression was not significantly associated with any SIP stage. Children’s worried and angry mood states predicted avoidant and aggressive responses, respectively. Temperament was not significantly related to anxiety or stages of the SIP model. Lastly, there was evidence of heritability for child-rated anxiety, but not for parent-rated anxiety or stages of the SIP model. Overall, this study provides important information about possible contributors to children’s maladaptive social behavior.

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Fetal Movement (FM) has been studied as a prenatal manifestation of activity level, a core dimension of many temperament theories. However, there has been little research exploring the significance of variability in the pattern of FM. The current study uses hierarchical linear modeling to compute the developmental function of FM in the third trimester. This study also examined how variability in the pattern of FM, in contrast to mean FM, predicted infant development. The following hypotheses were tested: 1. Mean FM will predict infant development at 3 and 6 months; 2. The developmental function of FM will display an inverted-U shape with significant variability; and 3. The pattern of FM will predict infant outcome at 3 and 6 months. Thirty-three mothers were asked to provide weekly counts of FM. Infant temperament, mental development, and motor development were assessed at 3 and 6 months. The best-fitting pattern describing FM was a piecewise linear function with FM increasing until 34 weeks gestation and thereafter decreasing, but variability was noted. The overall mean FM and pattern of FM were differentially associated with infant development. Higher mean FM was associated with increases in negative affect and decreases in orienting/regulation across 3 to 6 months. Mean FM also predicted infant size. The pattern of FM was related to different outcome variables. Increases in FM early and decreases in FM late in the third trimester were associated with less activity and greater emotional tone and attention at 3 months. This same pattern of FM was related to weighing more at 6 months, decreasing in extraversion from 3 to 6 months, and becoming more active from 3 to 6 months of age. The results indicate that the pattern of FM provides information about subsequent development that is different from mean FM. Whereas mean FM was associated with aspects of difficult temperament, the pattern of FM predicted more positive outcomes. These findings suggest that the pattern of FM may be useful as a prenatal assessment of postnatal development.

No description available.

Temperamental shyness is a trait characterized by fear and avoidance in response to situations of social novelty and/or perceived social-evaluation. Although there has been an abundance of research examining the psychosocial correlates of childhood shyness, we know considerably less about the developmental and biological origins of shyness and its subtypes. Chapters 2 to 5 of this dissertation include empirical studies that examine the developmental and biological foundations of temperamental shyness in general, and Chapter 6 examines subtypes of shyness in particular. In Chapter 2, I found that individuals who were born extremely premature and also exposed to exogenous corticosteroids prenatally displayed a stable trajectory of high shyness from childhood to adulthood, possibly due to the programming of threat sensitivity. In Chapter 3, I found that children who had greater relative right frontal brain activity at rest (a neural correlate of fear and avoidance) demonstrated increases in shyness across the early school age years. In Chapters 4 and 5, I examined patterns of autonomic physiology among shy children during two types of social threat processing. I demonstrated that shy children show stability in autonomic arousal while viewing socio-affective threat from age 6 to 7.5 years (Chapter 4), and that shy children show arousal and excessive regulation on autonomic and affective levels during the anticipation of socio-evaluative threat (Chapter 5). Finally, Chapter 6 reports that the developmental onset of shyness is associated with distinct behavioral and biological correlates in shy children. Children with early-developing shyness showed greater relative right frontal brain activity at rest, while children with later-developing shyness showed greater salivary cortisol production to a socio-evaluative task. Collectively, the studies and findings from this dissertation highlight that shyness is related to distinct developmental and biological processes associated with avoidance and threat processing, which may underlie fear in novel social contexts. / Dissertation / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / Shyness is a trait that is characterized by fear and nervousness during new social situations or in situations of perceived social evaluation. Although there has been an abundance of research examining the psychosocial correlates of childhood shyness, we know considerably less about the developmental and biological origins of shyness. In this dissertation, I examined individual differences in the biology, developmental onset, and developmental trajectory of shyness. This work illustrated that shyness is a heterogenous phenomenon, with individual differences in the developmental onset and developmental course. As well, this work provided evidence that shy children tend to be more sensitive to perceiving threat in social situations, and their brain and body may be “primed” to overreact when they are faced with this perceived social threat. Shy children may have a biological profile associated with avoidance and threat processing, which may be one factor underling their fear in new social contexts.