Nadine M. Lambert

Prospective Study of Tobacco Smoking and Substance Dependencies Among Samples of ADHD and Non-ADHD Participants

This study focused on an audience at high risk for heavy use of licit and illicit substances: young adults who as children had attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The participants in this study were part of a longitudinal study of the life histories of 492 children, one third of whom were identified as hyperactive in 1974 and whose childhood symptom ratings and medical histories were used to establish Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (3rd ed., revised; DSM-III-R) ADHD diagnoses (American Psychiatric Association, 1987). The objectives of the study centered on describing (a) developmental history of tobacco use among ADHD and non-ADHD participants in a longitudinal sample, (b) the characteristic adult patterns of tobacco use from early adolescence through early adulthood, and (c) the relationship between ADHD status and tobacco and substance dependence outcomes. Adult data were obtained for 81% of the original 492 participants (77% of the ADHD and 86% of the controls). Lifetime and current tobacco use were assessed from child, adolescent, and adult data, yielding eight measures of smoking status. The study showed that participants with and without ADHD did not differ in age of initiation to smoking, but there was a significant difference in the age they began smoking regularly. By age 17, 46% of all participants with ADHD, as contrasted with 24% of the age-mate controls, reported smoking cigarettes daily. In adulthood, the proportion of participants with ADHD who were current smokers (42%) continued to exceed that of the age-mate controls (26%). Among current adult smokers, 35% with ADHD smoked daily as compared to 16% of the age-mate controls. There were significantly different lifetime tobacco dependence rates—40% compared to 19% for age-mate controls. The rates for cocaine dependence were 21% for participants with ADHD and 10% for age-mate controls. We reported a significant difference in rates of daily smoking and tobacco dependence for those with ADHD who had used stimulant medication in childhood in contrast to controls. Results were interpreted to support a possible link between ADHD treatment histories and levels of tobacco smoking and tobacco dependence in adulthood.

Childhood Conduct Problems, Hyperactivity‐impulsivity, and Inattention as Predictors of Adult Criminal Activity

This study reconsiders the relationship of childhood Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and childhood conduct problems with adult criminal activity by clarifying the role of the cardinal behaviors associated with the DSM-IV ADHD subtypes (inattention and hyperactivity/impulsivity). Since their childhood (average age 9 years), 230 male and 75 female subjects have been followed prospectively and were interviewed as young adults (average age 26 at follow-up). Early childhood behavior ratings by parents and teachers were examined to determine the role of conduct problems, hyperactivity-impulsivity, and inattention in predicting adult criminal involvement as measured by both official arrest records and self-report. Results show that both hyperactivity-impulsivity and early conduct problems independently, as well as jointly, predict a greater likelihood of having an arrest record for males, but not for females. For male subjects with 10 or more self-reported crimes, both early conduct problems and hyperactivity-impulsivity were significant predictors, both alone and in combination. Therefore, it appears that predominantly the symptoms of hyperactivity-impulsivity, but not inattention, contribute to the risk for criminal involvement over and above the risk associated with early conduct problems alone.

MEDICAL FACTORS IN HYPERACTIVE AND NORMAL CHILDREN: Prenatal, Developmental, and Health History Findings

Guided by the goal of documenting the natural course of the life histories of a large sample of hyperactive children and their control counterparts, this research reports the extent to which prenatal, developmental, and health history factors distinguish hyperactive and control groups, as well as the relative contributions of the various medical factors. Results indicate that prenatal factors, rather than those occurring later in the childs medical history, are the best predictors of subsequent hyperactive diagnosis.

PREVALENCE OF HYPERACTIVITY IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CHILDREN AS A FUNCTION OF SOCIAL SYSTEM DEFINERS

This study seeks to reconcile the widely varying estimates of prevalence of hyperactivity in children. Parents, teachers, and physicians were asked to identify hyperactive children in a sample of some 5000 elementary school children. Approximately five percent were considered hyperactive by at least one defining system; only one percent were considered hyperactive by all three definers. Prevalence rates were relatively constant from kindergarten through fifth grade.

PERSISTENCE OF HYPERACTIVITY SYMPTOMS FROM CHILDHOOD TO ADOLESCENCE AND ASSOCIATED OUTCOMES

Hyperactive boys and matched controls from a large-scale epidemiological study, followed for at least three years to age 12, were compared on parent and teacher reports and assessments of attention, achievement, and intellectual functioning. Three outcome groups, based on presence or absence of hyperactivity symptoms, were derived and compared to the DSM-III description of ADD-H. Problem-free adolescents who were hyperactive in childhood were found to be more mature cognitively and behaviorally than those whose problems persisted.

Desk Arrangement Effects on Pupil Classroom Behavior.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate experimentally the effects of desk arrangement on observed pupil behavior. The desk arrangements studied were rows, clusters, and circles. Using a time-sampling observation method, we observed three experimental classrooms of fifthand sixth-grade students during discussion sessions in each of the desk arrangements. Three other classrooms of fifthand sixth-grade students served as controls. In each classroom, male and female students of high and low ability and high and low classroom interaction were observed. Results confirmed hypotheses that students seated in circles engage in significantly more on-task behavior than those in rows and that students seated in clusters engage in more on-task behavior than those in rows but less than those in circles. Observed pupil behavior varied significantly across student types, as was expected.

A comparison of self-report of criminal involvement and official arrest records

Self-reports of arrests and official arrest records were compared for 250 male and 80 female participants in the ongoing Hyperactivity Follow-Up Study of Young Adults at University of California at Berkeley. For males, kappa coefficients indicated good statistical agreement between arrest records and self-report measures for 7 of the 12 types of crimes. Statistical agreement, however, may not be the most meaningful yardstick to judge concordance. Additional analyses reveal that for almost all of the crimes examined, one third or more of those with an arrest record for the crime failed to reveal this information on the self-report measure. Arrests for both some high-frequency, less serious crimes and some low-frequency, more serious crimes were not revealed in the subjects’ self-reports. An examination of the unique information gained from self-reports found that the subjects most often reported committing public disorder crimes for which they were not caught (over 30%) and were least likely to self-report crimes against people (less than 10%). Furthermore, subjects with more convictions were more likely to accurately self-report their criminal involvement. Since both self-report and official records each contribute unique information and reflect different sources of error, it is proposed that a combination of both types of records is the most inclusive indicator of criminal activity in adulthood. Aggr. Behav. 27:44–54, 2001.

Consultation from the consultee's perspective

Abstract School-based and other mental health consultants are confronted with consultees who must adjust to the process of consultation by learning the parameters of the interaction. Consultees must learn how to act in this unique setting, must learn to use the consultant and the process for their own ends, and must learn about ways that they, themselves, contribute to problems which assail them. Consultation is successful to the extent that consultees come to a quick understanding of how to proceed. By being aware of what it is that the consultee must learn, the consultant may expedite the necessary insight.

Preparation of school psychologists for school-based consultation: A training activity and a service to community schools

Abstract Presents a set of training experiences to develop school-based consultation skills in preservice school psychologists and discusses problems in implementing this model of service. Based on their experience in training school psychologists at the University of California, Berkeley, the authors report on preparing students to deal with teacher and principal expectations. Also discussed are methods for mobilizing teachers to plan more precisely to meet the needs of individual pupils in the classroom. A distinction is made in the paper between school-based and community-based mental health consultation.

The school psychologist as a source of power and influence

Abstract This essay reviews the historical role of the school psychologist and examines his impact on educational systems. Past influences of the school psychologist in effecting understanding and acceptance of individual differences of children are examined in relationship to the contemporary need to relate this knowledge to appropriate educational planning for a culturally diverse school population.