Objective: ADHD is a commonly diagnosed neurodevelopmental disorder in the U.S., with symptoms including hyperactivity, inattention, and impulsivity. These symptoms can lead to increased engagement in unhealthy behaviors. The current study examined the associations between health risk factors and ADHD among a community-based sample of 345 students…

Introduction: Youth with intellectual disabilities (ID) demonstrate higher rates of disruptive behavior disorders (DBDs) than youth with typical development (TD). DBDs such as oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) predict higher rates of delinquency during adolescence. Yet, few studies have examined risk-taking and delinquency among youth with ID.…

This study examined whether the links between children's ADHD symptom severity and academic and social functioning varied based on their aerobic fitness levels. Hierarchical regression models were used to examine the main and interactive effects of inattentive and hyperactive/impulsive (HI) symptom severity and aerobic fitness levels on academic…

Mental disorders are among the most common and disabling conditions affecting children and adolescents. Patterns of school attendance among students with and without mental disorders were examined using data from the 2013-2014 Australian Child and Adolescent Survey of Mental Health and Wellbeing. One in seven school students had a mental disorder…

Background: Changes in reward processing are thought to be involved in the etiology of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), as well as other developmental disorders. In addition, different forms of therapy for ADHD rely on reinforcement principles. As such, improved understanding of reward processing in ADHD could eventually lead to…

Inconsistent parental discipline is a robust correlate of child attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms, but few studies have considered the role of inconsistent "positive" parenting on ADHD, as well as the effects of stress on negative and positive parental consistency. This study advanced a novel ecological momentary…

Youth who exhibit externalizing problems during childhood and adolescence are at an increased risk for a wide range of detrimental life outcomes. Despite the profound consequences of externalizing problems for children, their families, and their communities, we know less about the precise trajectory of externalizing symptoms across late childhood…

The current study was a 7-year follow-up of 74 6-12 year old children with Pervasive Developmental Disorder-Not Otherwise Specified. We examined the rates and 7 year stability of comorbid psychiatric diagnoses as ascertained with the Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children: Parent version at ages 6-12 and again at ages 12-20. Also, we examined…

Data was collected in 2014 and 2015 by principle investigator Dr. Lorraine Kubicek, Ph.D. as part of the Project to Learn about Youth--Mental Health (PLAY-MH). The study was funded by the Disability Research and Dissemination Center, University of South Carolina School of Medicine and the Center for Disease Control. Parents of 250 students…

This study examined the lifetime prevalence of physical dating violence, including victimization, perpetration, and the overlap between the two (mutual violence), among a population sample of 551 reservation/reserve residing Indigenous (i.e., American Indian and Canadian First Nations) adolescents in the upper-Midwest of the United States and…

The current study evaluated the initial efficacy of three intervention programs aimed at improving school readiness in preschool children with externalizing behavior problems (EBP). Participants for this study included 45 preschool children (76% boys; M[subscript age] = 5.16 years; 84% Hispanic/Latino background) with at-risk or clinically…

Two studies tested hypotheses about the distinctive psychological consequences of children's patterns of responding to interparental conflict. In Study 1, 174 preschool children (M = 4.0 years) and their mothers participated in a cross-sectional design. In Study 2, 243 preschool children (M = 4.6 years) and their parents participated in 2 annual…

Using latent class analysis (LCA), this study identified a dyadic taxonomy of delinquent youth categorized by varying types of maternal-youth reporting discrepancies (i.e., youth < maternal, youth > maternal) within a sample of 764 14-year-old high-risk youth. Four distinctive subgroups of youth were identified, two of which reported more…

This study examined how ADHD symptoms in mothers of children with ADHD relate to their behavior during parent-child interactions and to their children's disruptive behavior. Findings indicated that mothers' retrospective self-ratings of ADHD symptoms were related to their present negativity during parent-led play. Mothers' self-ratings of current…

Building on empirical documentation of children's involvement in interparental conflicts as a weak predictor of psychopathology, we tested the hypothesis that involvement in conflict more consistently serves as a moderator of associations between children's emotional reactivity to interparental conflict and their psychological problems. In Study…