Barbara Henker

Smoking and moods in adolescents with depressive and aggressive dispositions: evidence from surveys and electronic diaries.

Surveys and electronic diaries were used to examine depressive and extemalizing dispositions as they relate to smoking and moods in 170 early adolescents. Negative moods were prevalent, with anger and anxiety reported on 26%-60% and sadness on 16%-40% of occasions. The risk of smoking, urges to smoke, and alcohol intake were elevated in teens with aggressive and depressive dispositions, as were diary reports of feeling hassled, angry, and sad. Girls high in depression and aggression also reported more anxiety, stress, and fatigue and less happiness and well-being than did their peers. For boys, depression seemed to dampen the elevated smoking risks associated with externalizing behaviors. Discussion focuses on gender differences in personality-smoking linkages, adolescent negative affectivity, the unique contributions of survey and diary methods, and the promise of targeted preventive interventions such as affect regulation training.

The social worlds of hyperactive (ADDH) children

Abstract The social realm is particularly problematic for the majority of hyperactive (or attention deficit disordered) children. Typical patterns of social discordance are delineated, with the focus on interpersonal acts that are inept, irritating, immoderate, aggressive, or intense. Next, the status of these children in peer societies is described. Possible mediating mechanisms for dysfunctional social behaviors are also considered, including social cognition processes, interpersonal agendas, behavioral styles, vicarious learning, and reinforcement sensitivity. The unevenness of social skills and the domains in which hyperactive children show normal (and perhaps even superior) functioning are underscored. The final section highlights some clinical implications as well as some critical gaps in empirical knowledge about the interpersonal functioning of hyperactive children.

The ADHD Spectrum and Everyday Life: Experience Sampling of Adolescent Moods, Activities, Smoking, and Drinking

Using an experience sampling methodology, the everyday lives of 153 adolescents with low, middle, or high levels of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) characteristics as assessed by either parent or teen were examined. Twice each hour, across two 4-day recording intervals, participants in a longitudinal study of stress and health risks logged their behaviors, moods, and social contexts. Those with high, in contrast to low, ADHD symptom levels recorded more negative and fewer positive moods, lower alertness, more entertaining activities relative to achievement-oriented pursuits, more time with friends and less time with family, and more tobacco and alcohol use. Fewer associations emerged with parent-defined than with teen-defined subgroups, although the differences in alertness, peer and family contexts, entertainment versus achievement activities, and substance use were consistent across sources. Even at subclinical levels, ADHD characteristics were associated with behavioral patterns and contexts that may promote peer deviancy training, unhealthy lifestyle behaviors, and vulnerability to nicotine dependence.

Causal Attributions of Hyperactive Children and Motivational Assumptions of Two Behavior-Change Approaches: Evidence for an Interactionist Position.

BUGENTAL, DAPHNE BLUNT; WHALEN, CAROL K.; and HENKER, BARBARA. Causal Attributions of Hyperactive Children and Motivational Assumptions of Two Behavior-Change Approaches: Evidence for an Interactionist Position. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1977, 48, 874-884. Childrens causal-attribution systems were predicted to act as mediators of the differential effectiveness of 2 behavior-change programs. Hyperactive boys were tutored individually for 2 months in a classroom setting; half were instructed in self-controlling speech, and half were given contingent social reinforcement. Within each treatment group, half of the children were taking methylphenidate (Ritalin), and half were unmedicated. 2 dependent measures were used: (a) qualitative-error scores on the Porteus Mazes and (b) the Conners Abbreviated Teacher Rating Scale. Measures were obtained for each childs attributions of personal causation for academic success and failure. Significant interactions were found between interventions and (a) child attributions and (b) medication status. The self-control intervention produced significantly greater error reduction on the mazes for (a) children with high perceived personal causality and (b) nonmedicated children. The social-reinforcement intervention produced trends toward greater error reduction for (a) children with low perceived personal causality and (b) medicated children. No significant differences were found on teacher ratings. The efficacy of perfecting the match between the childs attributional system and the attributional assumptions implicit in an intervention approach is discussed.

Hyperactivity and attention deficits.

Substantive progress has been made in our understanding of children considered hyperactive, especially in the interpersonal sphere. Evolving conceptualizations of hyperactivity and attention deficits are reviewed briefly, including changes in clinical diagnostic practices and in knowledge about developmental course. The hypothesis is advanced that the cognitive and social difficulties of hyperactive children may be better understood in terms of motivational and self-regulatory processes than as deficiencies in basic information processing. The role of stimulant medication is emphasized, both as a controversial treatment approach and as an adjunct to research on the childrens problems.

Anxiety, Affect, and Activity in Teenagers: Monitoring Daily Life With Electronic Diaries

OBJECTIVE The everyday experiences of a community sample of adolescents differing in anxiety level were compared by means of electronic diaries. METHOD One hundred fifty-five ninth-grade adolescents completed electronic diaries every 30 minutes for two 4-day intervals, reporting their moods, activities, social settings, dietary intake, smoking, and alcohol use. Teenagers were stratified into low-, middle-, or high-anxiety groups on the basis of diary ratings and, separately, questionnaire scores. RESULTS High-anxiety teenagers, compared with low-anxiety teenagers, expressed higher levels not only of anxiety and stress but also of anger, sadness, and fatigue, along with lower levels of happiness and well-being. They reported fewer conversations and less recreational activity relative to achievement-oriented pursuits, stronger eating and smoking urges, and more tobacco use. There were few gender differences. Despite a tendency to spend less time with peers, high-anxiety teenagers were more likely to show reduced anxiety when in the company of friends. Sharper differentiations among anxiety subgroups emerged when stratification was based on diary reports rather than on questionnaire scores. CONCLUSION Even when anxiety problems fall below diagnostic thresholds, the daily lives of anxious adolescents differ meaningfully from those of their peers in affective, behavioral, and contextual domains.

The role of ethnicity and parental bonding in the eating and weight concerns of Asian-American and Caucasian college women.

OBJECTIVES The purpose of this research was to explore the associations among ethnicity, parental bonding, acculturation, and eating disturbance in Asian-American and Caucasian weight-concerned college women. METHODS Twenty-five Asian-American and 26 Caucasian weight-concerned women were administered the Eating Disorder Examination interview, the Parental Bonding Instrument, and three subscales of the Eating Disorder Inventory. Asian-American subjects also filled out the Suinn-Lew Asian Self-Identity Acculturation Scale questionnaire. RESULTS Contrary to hypotheses, weight-concerned Asian-American women reported more dissatisfaction with body shape than did Caucasian women. Moreover, in the Asian-American group, acculturation was not associated with level of eating disturbance. In both groups, perceptions of low maternal caring were associated with higher levels of eating problems. In regression analyses, maternal care emerged as a better predictor of eating disturbance than did ethnicity. DISCUSSION Results suggest that quality of parent-child relations, particularly the mother-daughter relationship, may be important in the etiology of eating problems, irrespective of ethnicity. Longitudinal investigations will be required to test causal relations.

Social Impact of Stimulant Treatment for Hyperactive Children

Most children diagnosed with ADHD have extensive and enduring problems in the social arena. Despite its limitations, the standard stimulant treatment regimen for children with ADHD is a useful therapeutic modality as well as an heuristic tool for increasing our understanding of both optimal and problematic interpersonal functioning. This article explores the social impact of stimulant treatment, delineating documented improvements, identifying elusive domains and puzzling patterns, and highlighting unintended and potentially undesirable outcomes. Medication-related changes in the behaviors and perceptions of the diagnosed childs adult caretakers are distinguished from those observed in peers, and the need to enhance our understanding of peer cultures is underscored. We present new findings on the effects of stimulant treatment on social cognition and affect, and then discuss the critical need to map the attributional sequelae of any treatment approach. The final sections explore contemporary controversies and improved strategies for balancing the costs, risks, and benefits of stimulant treatment in the service of enhancing interpersonal competence, satisfaction, and harmony.

Optimism in children's judgments of health and environmental risks

Although optimistic bias has been well documented for adults, little is known about how children view their own risks vis-à-vis those of their peers. Two studies of 6th graders examined optimism and the degree of differentiation in perceived risks across diverse health, lifestyle, and environmental problems. The findings revealed perceptions of relative invulnerability and highly differentiated risk assessments. The strongest levels of optimism emerged for controllable and stigmatizing events such as illicit drugs, smoking, and AIDS. The effects of gender, assessment context, and methodological variations were minimal. Discussion focused on the implications for health-promoting interventions with school-age children, the need for developmental information about risk perception processes, and the difficulty of distinguishing realistic from biased optimism.

Cognitive-Behavioral Therapies for Hyperactive Children: Premises, Problems, and Prospects

The impetus for the widespread use of CBT for children with attention deficit disorder (hyperactivity) is examined, followed by an evaluation of various facets of treatment efficacy. The many “unknowns” concerning treatment ingredients, targets of change, domain specificity, individual differences, palatability, and treatment-emergent side effects are then reviewed. The final section focuses on future directions, specifying some reasons for optimism despite the disappointing outcomes to date. Nontraditional uses of CBT are also proposed, including the implementation of cognitive strategies to counteract undesirable emanative effects of extant treatments and to facilitate drug discontinuance in children taking psychoactive medication.