Research article summary (published 30 Aug 2007):

Neuropsychological abilities of preschool-aged children who display hyperactivity and/or oppositional-defiant behavior problems.

Full Abstract

This study focused on gaining a better understanding of the neuropsychological abilities of preschool-aged children who show elevated levels of hyperactivity and oppositional-defiance. It examined the performance of children aged 48 to 67 months on tests of attention/executive function, language, memory, and sensorimotor abilities, as measured by the NEPSY and Conners' K-CPT. Two hundred thirty-seven children were divided into four subgroups based on mothers' report of behavior using rating scales and a diagnostic interview: hyperactive only (HYP), oppositional-defiant only (OD), hyperactive and oppositional-defiant (HYP/OD), and nonproblem. Children in the HYP/OD group scored significantly worse than nonproblem children on four of nine subtests on the NEPSY, including one test of executive function, one test of language comprehension, and both tests of short-term verbal memory. However, only the test of executive function (Statue) showed significant predictive power, and, while specificity of this subtest was good, sensitivity was poor. On the K-CPT, a continuous performance test, children in both the HYP and HYP/OD groups performed worse than children in the OD and nonproblem groups. When the NEPSY Statue subtest and the K-CPT were used together, overall predictive power was .74. Results suggest that neuropsychological deficits can be observed among preschool children with hyperactivity, particularly when comorbid oppositional-defiance is present; however, moderate predictive power suggests that these tests should be used in conjunction with other methods of assessment.

Author information

Author/s: Youngwirth, Sara D (SD); Harvey, Elizabeth A (EA); Gates, Elizabeth C (EC); Hashim, Rebecca L (RL); Friedman-Weieneth, Julie L (JL);

Affiliation: School of Education, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 01003, USA.

Grants: R01MH60132 (Agency:NIMH NIH HHS)

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Evaluation Studies; Journal Article; Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

Journal: Child neuropsychology : a journal on normal and abnormal development in childhood and adolescence (Child Neuropsychol), published in Netherlands. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2007-Sep; vol 13 (issue 5) : pp 422-43

Dates: Created 2007/09/06; Completed 2007/12/11;

PMID: 17805995, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 2/18/2009, IMS Date: )

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

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MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

Attention Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity - diagnosis; epidemiology; psychology Attention Deficit and Disruptive Behavior Disorders - diagnosis; epidemiology; psychology Child Behavior - psychology Child, Preschool Cognition Cognition Disorders - diagnosis; epidemiology; psychology Comorbidity Comprehension Female Humans Language

Language Language Tests - statistics & numerical data Longitudinal Studies Male Massachusetts - epidemiology Memory, Short-Term Mothers - psychology Neuropsychological Tests - statistics & numerical data Predictive Value of Tests Psychomotor Performance Reproducibility of Results Sensitivity and Specificity

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