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Biomedical subjects

W E Pelham

Publications and source records attributed to W E Pelham.

At least 73 records · Page 4Linked to original sources
PubMed1989

The differential validity of teacher ratings of inattention/overactivity and aggression.

The ability of school-based measures of child behavior to predict differentially the IOWA Conners teacher rating scale Inattention/Overactivity (IO) and Aggression (A) factors was evaluated in a sample of 71 school-aged boys. Multiple measures and multiple methods of assessment were utilized to provide a comprehensive assessment of social and academic behavior. These included direct observations of children in the classroom and on the playground, examination of the organization of children's desks, measures of academic performance, peer nominations of popularity and rejection, and sociometric ratings using the Pupil Evaluation Inventory. Despite moderately high correlations between the teacher rating factors (r = .60), considerable evidence was provided for differential validity on measures of academic performance, peer rating measures, and measures of disruptive or inappropriate classroom and playground behavior. These differences between IO and A factors indicated that the factors were logically independent in important ways, supporting prior work validating separate hyperactivity and aggression dimensions.

Achievement↗
PubMed1989

Attention-deficit hyperactivity disordered boys' evaluations of and attributions for task performance on medication versus placebo.

The present study examined the effects of stimulant medication on the self-evaluations of and attributions for task performance of 26 attention-deficit hyperactivity disordered boys. Each boy performed a continuous performance task twice, once while on medication and once while on placebo. Immediately following the completion of the task, the boys were asked a series of questions concerning their self-evaluations of, and attributions for, their performance. Two findings of note were obtained. First, medication, compared with placebo, increased the correspondence between the boys' self-evaluations and their performance. Second, the boys did not use medication as a frequent explanation for their performance, as others have predicted. In fact, the boys picked medication as an explanation for their successes significantly less often than either effort or ability.

Achievement↗
PubMed1989

Levels of adult alcohol consumption induced by interactions with child confederates exhibiting normal versus externalizing behaviors.

Investigated levels of distress and alcohol consumption in Ss interacting with problematic vs non-problematic child confederates. Social drinkers were randomly assigned to interact with boys trained to enact behaviors characteristic of either normal or attention-deficit disorder/conduct disorder (ADD/CD) children. Mood data were collected before and after the interaction. Ss engaged in ad lib beer consumption for 20 min, while anticipating another interaction with the same boy. Children in the ADD/CD role produced comparably distressed moods for both male and female Ss. However, only men drank to higher blood-alcohol levels in the ADD/CD vs. normal child condition. Results suggest that higher rates of drinking observed in fathers of ADD/CD children may be partly a function of their particular response to the distress associated with interactions with such children.

Adult↗
PubMed1989

Comparative effects of methylphenidate on ADD girls and ADD boys.

The effects of 0.3 mg/kg methylphenidate were compared for 12 ADD boys and 12 ADD girls participating in a summer treatment program for children with behavior and/or learning problems. Previous investigations have suggested that ADD girls may differ from ADD boys in some important respects. No information exists regarding whether the effects of the most common treatment for these children, methylphenidate, has comparable effects on boys and girls. The boys and girls were matched for age and IQ. The results revealed equivalent and beneficial effects of methylphenidate for both boys and girls. Methylphenidate therefore would appear to be as useful a treatment for ADD girls as for ADD boys.

Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity↗
PubMed1988

A psychometric study of positive and negative nominations and the pupil evaluation inventory.

Two peer evaluation measures, the Pupil Evaluation Inventory (PEI) and positive and negative nominations were compared in a sample of 260 children in grades 1 to 5. Stabilities of the measures were assessed over a 4-month period. In the total sample, PEI factors and negative nominations were more stable than positive nominations, and PEI Aggression and Withdrawal scores were more stable than negative nominations. PEI Aggression and Withdrawal scores were more stable in grades 3 and 5 than in grade 1, and the Likability factor was more stable in grades 2 to 5 than in grade 1. Negative nominations were most strongly correlated with the PEI Aggression factor, and positive nominations were more strongly correlated with Likability than with Aggression. Implications for the use of these nomination measures are discussed.

Aggression↗
PubMed1987

Sustained release and standard methylphenidate effects on cognitive and social behavior in children with attention deficit disorder.

Two studies were conducted to investigate the relative effects of sustained release methylphenidate (Ritalin [SR-20]) and standard methylphenidate (Ritalin, 10 mg, administered twice daily). In the first study, 13 boys with attention deficit disorder participating in a summer treatment program went through a double-blind, within-subject trial of each form of methylphenidate and placebo. Measures of social and cognitive behavior were gathered in classroom and play settings. Although group analyses of the data showed that both drugs were effective and there were few differences between them, standard methylphenidate was superior to SR-20 on several important measures of disruptive behavior. Furthermore, analyses of individual responsivity showed clearly that most boys responded more positively to standard methylphenidate than to SR-20. The second study involved a partially overlapping group of nine boys with attention deficit disorder participating in the same summer treatment program. Also double-blind, within-subject, and placebo controlled, this study tracked the time courses of the two forms of methylphenidate. Both were shown to have similar time courses on the Abbreviated Conners Rating Scale and other measures, but SR-20 had a slower onset than did the standard drug form on a continuous performance task. Effects of SR-20 were still evident eight hours after ingestion.

Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity↗
PubMed1985

Methylphenidate and children with attention deficit disorder. Dose effects on classroom academic and social behavior.

The short-term, dose-response effects of methylphenidate hydrochloride were evaluated on academic and social classroom measures in 29 children with attention deficit disorder. In a double-blind, cross-over design with order randomized, children received a placebo for two weeks and three doses of methylphenidate hydrochloride (0.15 mg/kg, 0.3 mg/kg, and 0.6 mg/kg) for one week each. Dependent measures included the output and accuracy of performance in grade-appropriate reading comprehension workbooks and arithmetic problems, spelling word acquisition, and observations of disruptive and on-task behavior. Beneficial drug effects and linear dose-response curves on all dependent measures were found. The results suggest that beneficial methylphenidate effects on classroom behavior may be accompanied by enhanced academic achievement in some hyperactive children.

Achievement↗
PubMed1985

Peer relationships in ADDH and normal children: a developmental analysis of peer and teacher ratings.

Peer and teacher perceptions of younger and older ADDH and normal children were compared. Peer nominations on the Pupil Evaluation Inventory revealed that ADDH children received more nominations on the Aggression factor and fewer on the Likability factor. ADDH boys received more nominations on the Withdrawal factor. Generally, older children received fewer nominations, but age did not interact with diagnosis; that is, younger and older ADDH children were perceived by peers as equally deviant. Discriminant analyses showed that peer ratings were useful in discriminating between ADDH and normal boys, but not between ADDH and normal girls. Teacher ratings of peer behavior suggested that older ADDH girls were perceived as less disturbed than younger girls. However, teacher ratings of boys revealed no age by diagnosis interactions. Low to moderate correlations were found between peer and teacher ratings of ADDH boys, and the pattern of relationship varied with age.

Age Factors↗
PubMed1985

A comparison of objective classroom measures and teacher ratings of Attention Deficit Disorder.

Children identified as Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) on the basis of teacher ratings using the SNAP Rating Scale were compared to non-ADD children on objective classroom measures including observations of classroom behavior, examination of the organization of children's desks, and scoring of daily academic work. Analyses provided some support for the ability of the objective measures to differentiate between teacher-identified ADD and non-ADD children, though there was considerable overlap on the distributions of most variables between groups. Six measures chosen by a discriminant analysis combined to predict teacher ratings in 83% of the cases. The inclusion of academic, observational, and desk measures in the discriminant function indicates the importance of a multivariate assessment of this construct.

Attention↗
PubMed1984

Selective attention and rehearsal in the auditory short-term memory task performance of poor and normal readers.

The performance of poor and normal sixth-grade readers was compared on an auditory short-term memory task in two studies. In the first study, the effects of distraction, list length, and speed of stimulus presentation were investigated to test the hypothesis that the performance of the poor readers is affected by deficits in selective attention. Group differences in performance, however, were obtained for both distraction and no-distraction conditions. The second experiment examined the hypothesis that group differences may reflect differences in the use of rehearsal. In the second experiment, half the reading-disabled children and half the controls were provided with rehearsal training prior to completing the same short-term memory task a second time. Rehearsal training resulted in improved performance relative to children who were not trained; however, there was no rehearsal training X reading group interaction. The poor readers continued to show deficits in performance relative to the performance of control children. The results of these two studies suggest that deficits observed for poor readers on short-term memory tasks may reflect processing difficulties in some area that precedes rehearsal and affects performance under both distraction and no-distraction conditions.

Attention↗