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An emerging body of mental health research provides evidence that callous-unemotional (CU) traits explain significant and meaningful variance among children with disruptive behavior disorders. However, the classroom behavior of students with CU traits has not yet been adequately studied. This study examined this issue using teacher-recorded classroom rule violations (RVs). Participants were 648 children (346 boys; M age = 8.14) from 28 classrooms (kindergarten-sixth grade) distributed across three schools participating in a schoolwide behavioral intervention. Teachers completed rating scales approximately 4 to 6 weeks after the start of the school year, prior to initiating the schoolwide intervention. After completing ratings, teachers recorded daily frequency counts of RVs for each student in their classroom for the remainder of the school year. Growth curve modeling analyses indicated that (a) CU traits were associated with elevated rates of RVs at the start of the school year even after taking attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and oppositional defiant disorder/conduct disorder (ODD/CD) into account and (b) CU traits were associated with a significant decrease in rates of RVs across the school year. CU traits appear to explain significant and important variance in classroom RVs among elementary school age students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sixty-three children between ages 6 and 12 who were enrolled in a summer treatment program for children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) participated in a study designed to measure the relationship between social behaviors, athletic performance, and peer acceptance. Children were assessed on sport-specific skills of three major sports (basketball,soccer, and softball),general fitness tests (i.e., 50-yard dash and sit-ups), and social behavioral measures. Predictors were standardized and separated into three broad domains:athletic performance, negative social behavior, and positive social behavior. Both negative behavior and athletic performance significantly predicted children's sociometric status regardless of outcome measure. Positive behavior was a significant predictor only when considering positive peer nominations. The direction and magnitude of the predictor varied by type of outcome measured. Clinical implications and future directions are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Some researchers who have studied children with behavior problems have suggested that depressed mothers distort reports of deviance in their children, perhaps contributing to misdiagnoses; however, investigations studying mothers with current or past depression have not clearly indicated such a bias. Because some of this equivocation may be due to the confounding effects of the mother­child history, the present study examined maternal ratings of the standardized behavior of child confederates, thereby providing an objective standard from which bias could be determined. Maternal lifetime diagnoses of depression and contemporary reports of depressive symptomatology were also evaluated. Mothers of 4- to 12-year-old sons with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) interacted with and rated boys in the same age range whose behavior was carefully scripted to represent either ADHD or the absence of any disorder. Forty-four of these mothers had a history of clinical depression, and the entire sample represented a range of depressive symptomatology. Analyses revealed no significant differences in ratings of the child confederates' behaviors as a function of maternal history of depression or current depressive symptomatology. These findings thus call into question at least some of the prior assertions of maternal bias in the reporting of behavior problems in children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Behavioral classroom interventions are an empirically supported treatment for attention-deficit/ hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). This case study reports how modifications to an existing behavior management plan improved the behavioral intervention of a third-grade boy diagnosed with ADHD. A multiple baseline design across settings was used to demonstrate the effectiveness of the modified intervention. Behavioral observations indicated improvement in on-task behavior and reductions in disruptive behavior. The treatment was judged to be socially valid as the teachers overwhelmingly accepted it and modified the participant's behavior to normative classroom behavior limits.This case study illustrates the importance of evaluating and modifying existing behavioral treatments for ADHD in the classroom to increase treatment effectiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]