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Emotion dysregulation is a common social functioning deficit in children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Little is known about how teachers rate irritability in school-aged children with ADHD. We examined irritability and disruptive behaviour in clinic-referred school-aged children (n = 145) with ADHD. Children in this cross-sectional study were 6-12 years old (M[subscript age] = 9.2 years, 16.6% female). We obtained ratings from children themselves as well as their mothers, fathers, and teachers at the baseline of a family intervention program. Descriptive statistics and multilevel regression models were employed. Children displayed increased irritability, such as frequent temper outbursts, when compared with population sample peers. Children's proneness to anger was strongly associated with perceived peer difficulties particularly in teacher ratings. Findings highlight the significance of home- and school-based support when considering social functioning in children with neurodevelopmental conditions.

Introduction: In this prospective cohort study over 40 years we investigated the effect of childhood attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and subthreshold ADHD on cognitive performance in adulthood. Methods: The cohort comprised individuals with mild perinatal risks. Childhood ADHD group (cADHD, n = 39) was compared to a group with subthreshold childhood attention or hyperactivity symptoms (cAP; n = 79), a group with similar perinatal risks but no ADHD symptoms (n = 255), and to controls without ADHD symptoms or perinatal risks (n = 69). The groups were assessed with multiple neuropsychological measures in domains of verbal reasoning, perceptual skills, memory, working memory, attention, executive functions, and speed. Grouplevel differences and frequencies of deficient functioning were analyzed. Results: Overall, the groups' performance differed in all cognitive domains at age 40. Verbal reasoning, perceptual skills, memory, and speed had the largest effect sizes (0.51-0.62). The cADHD group's performance was lower than the other groups' on 13 out of 21 measures. The cAP group performed poorer than controls on five measures. In the cADHD group, 23% had three or more deficient cognitive domains, compared to 4-6% in the other groups. Discussion: Childhood ADHD is associated with impaired cognitive functioning in adulthood on several cognitive domains whereas childhood subthreshold ADHD is linked to fewer cognitive deficits. Task complexity was linked to poorer performance within the ADHD group. Our results add to the scarce longitudinal evidence of cognitive outcomes related to childhood ADHD and subthreshold symptoms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Implicating particular genes in the generation of complex brain and behavior phenotypes requires multiple lines of evidence. The rarity of most high-impact genetic variants typically precludes the possibility of accruing statistical evidence that they are associated with a given trait. We found that the enrichment of a rare chromosome 22q11.22 deletion in a recently expanded Northern Finnish sub-isolate enabled the detection of association between TOP3B and both schizophrenia and cognitive impairment. Biochemical analysis of TOP3β revealed that this topoisomerase was a component of cytosolic messenger ribonucleoproteins (mRNPs) and was catalytically active on RNA. The recruitment of TOP3β to mRNPs was independent of RNA cis-elements and was coupled to the co-recruitment of FMRP, the disease gene product in fragile X mental retardation syndrome. Our results indicate a previously unknown role for TOP3β in mRNA metabolism and suggest that it is involved in neurodevelopmental disorders.

Objective: A lower level of education often co-occurs with alcohol problems, but factors underlying this co-occurrence are not well understood. Specifically, whether these outcomes share part of their underlying genetic influences has not been widely studied. Educational level also reflects various environmental influences that may moderate the genetic etiology of alcohol problems, but gene-environment interactions between educational attainment and alcohol problems are unknown. Method: We studied the two nonmutually exclusive possibilities of common genetic influences and gene-environment interaction between alcohol problems and low education using a population-based sample (n = 4,858) of Finnish young adult twins ([M.sub.age] = years, range: 22.8-28.6 years). Alcohol problems were assessed with the Rutgers Alcohol Problem Index and self-reported maximum number of drinks consumed in a 24-hour period. Years of education, based on completed and ongoing studies, represented educational level. Results: Educational level was inversely associated with alcohol problems in young adulthood, and this association was most parsimoniously explained by overlapping genetic influences. Independent of this co-occurrence, higher education was associated with increased relative importance of genetic influences on alcohol problems, whereas environmental factors had a greater effect among twins with lower education. Conclusions: Our findings suggest a complex relationship between educational level and alcohol problems in young adulthood. Lower education is related to higher levels of alcohol problems, and this co-occurrence is influenced by genetic factors affecting both phenotypes. In addition, educational level moderates the importance of genetic and environmental influences on alcohol problems, possibly reflecting differences in social-control mechanisms related to educational level. (J. Stud. Alcohol Drugs, 72, 210-220, 2011), EDUCATIONAL LEVEL IS A KEY COMPONENT of socioeconomic status and strongly relates to a multitude of medical conditions, health behaviors, and mortality (Adler et al., 1994). Substance use disorders, including [...]

To purchase or authenticate to the full-text of this article, please visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-6494.2006.00440.x Byline: Jan-Erik Lonnqvist (1,2), Sampo Paunonen (3), Annamari Tuulio-Henriksson (2), Jouko Lonnqvist (2,4), Markku Verkasalo (1) Abstract: ABSTRACT The purpose of the present series of studies was to evaluate whether Paulhus's (1991) Self-Deceptive Enhancement (SDE) and Communion Management (CM) socially desirable responding (SDR) scales should be interpreted as response set measures, response style measures, or measures of substantive individual differences in personality. In Study 1 (N=57) and Study 2 (N=62), army officer trainees were tested as applicants to their program and retested as incumbents 3 years later. Although participants generally responded to the situation by showing higher SDR scores in the applicant conditions, they also showed considerable rank-order stability across time. In Study 3 (N=70), self-reports on both SDR scales were corroborated by spouse reports, and, furthermore, SDE scores correlated with spouse reports of low Neuroticism and high Extraversion. Our data are interpreted as suggesting that both the CM and SDE scales are, in some varying amounts, measures of response set, response style, and substantive individual differences in personality. Implications of our findings for personality assessment and personnel selection are discussed. Author Affiliation: (1)University of Helsinki, Department of Psychology, Finland (2)National Public Health Institute, Department of Mental Health and Alcohol Research, Finland (3)University of Western Ontario, Canada (4)University of Helsinki, Department of Psychiatry, Finland Article note: Correspondence concerning this paper should be sent to Jan-Erik Lonnqvist, Department of Psychology, University of Helsinki, PO BOX 9, 00014 University of Helsinki, Finland. E-mail: jelonnqu@mappi.helsinki.fi.