Are moral judgement maturity and self-serving cognitive distortions or moral disengagement merely opposites, as recently claimed? Self-serving cognitive distortions and moral disengagement constitute (more or less interchangeable) neutralization techniques; they stem from the same theoretical background and refer to the same cognitive processes.…

Conduct disorder (CD) is a pattern of repeated aggression toward others, disregard for the rights of others, and behaviors that violate major social norms at home, in school, and even in society at large (American Psychiatric Association [APA], 2013). Falling under the umbrella of "conduct problems" along with oppositional defiant…

This study investigated the relationships among oppositional defiant attitudes, moral reasoning, moral value evaluation and self-reported delinquent behaviour in adolescents ("N" = 351, "M"[subscript AGE] = 13.8 years, "SD"[subscript AGE] = 1.1). Of particular interest were the moderating effects of age, educational…

Background: Conduct disorder (CD) in female adolescents is associated with a range of negative outcomes, including teenage pregnancy and antisocial personality disorder. Although recent studies have documented changes in brain structure and function in male adolescents with CD, there have been no neuroimaging studies of female adolescents with CD.…

The nature of executive dysfunction in youth with disruptive behavior disorders (DBD) remains unclear, despite extensive research in samples of children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). To determine the relationship between DBD, ADHD, and executive function deficits in aggressive teens, adolescents with DBD and comorbid ADHD…

Children with ADHD and autism have some similar features, complicating a differential diagnosis. The purpose of our study was to determine the degree to which core ADHD and autistic symptoms overlap in and discriminate between children 2-16 years of age with autism and ADHD. Our study demonstrated that 847 children with autism were easily…

Depression is the most common comorbidity among adults with obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), yet little is known about depressive symptoms in childhood OCD. This study examined clinical and cognitive variables associated with depressive symptomatology in 71 youths (62% male, M age = 12.7 years) with primary OCD. Youths presented with a range…

As a group, participants with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are impaired in academic performance and learning. This may be due to a mild intellectual impairment, impaired attention, or inability to allocate sufficient effort. If the latter is the case, this should be evident in the learning strategies applied. Four indices of…

Background: Opponent-process theories of externalizing disorders (ExD) attribute them to some combination of overactive reward processing systems and/or underactive behavior inhibition systems. Reward processing has been indexed by recruitment of incentive-motivational neurocircuitry of the ventral striatum (VS), including nucleus accumbens…

This study examined the self-reported expression of overt aggressive behaviors and covert emotional and cognitive processes in adolescents diagnosed with ADHD and comorbid disruptive behavior disorders (DBDs) during childhood. Methods: Participants were a clinically referred sample of 85 individuals diagnosed with ADHD, initially recruited in the…

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) have both been linked to dysfunction in the cortico-striato-thalamo-cortical circuitry (CSTCC). However, the exact nature of neurocognitive deficits remains to be investigated in both disorders. We applied two neuropsychological tasks that tap into different…

Methylphenidate (MPH) often ameliorates attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) behavioral dysfunction according to "indirect" informant reports and rating scales. The standard of care behavioral MPH titration approach seldom includes "direct" neuropsychological or academic assessment data to determine treatment…

This study examined the moral reasoning of behaviorally disordered (BD) adolescents and the effect of an alternative educational setting upon the development of moral reasoning in students as a function of the number of years of exposure to this environment. Three groups of students were compared: 28 non-BD students from a traditional school…

Some studies of the event-related potentials demonstrated a reduction of the voluntary component P3 (P300 or P3b) in youngsters with the attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) or in conduct disorders (CD), and a reduction of the automatic processing component, mismatch negativity, in patients with both ADHD and CD (ADHD+CD). Recently, a…

Objective: Background: Children with velocardiofacial syndrome (VCFS), a contiguous deletion syndrome, have an increased prevalence of attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Method: The authors compared youth with VCFS+ADHD (from the SUNY Upstate VCFS Research Program) to those with ADHD but not VCFS (from the Massachusetts General…