PARENTING 1998 Parent Personality Traits and Psychopathology Associated With Antisocial Behaviors in Childhood ADHD

8/13/2019 PARENTING 1998 Parent Personality Traits and Psychopathology Associated With Antisocial Behaviors in Childhood ADHD

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/parenting-1998-parent-personality-traits-and-psychopathology-associated-with 1/15

J . Child Psychol . Psychiat . Vol. 39, No. 2, pp. 145–159, 1998Cambridge University Press

1998 Association for Child Psychology and PsychiatryPrinted in Great Britain. All rights reserved

0021–9630 98 $15.00 0.00

Parent Personality Traits and Psychopathology Associatedwith Antisocial Behaviors in Childhood Attention-Decit

Hyperactivity Disorder

Joel T. NiggMichigan State University, East Lansing, U.S.A.

Stephen P. HinshawUniversity of California, Berkeley, U.S.A.

Although a role for family and parent factors in the development of behavioral problems inchildhood is often acknowledged, the roles of specic parental characteristics in relation tospecic child actions need further elucidation. We studied parental ‘‘ Big Five ’’ personalitytraits and psychiatric diagnoses in relation to their children’s antisocial diagnoses andnaturalistically observed antisocial behaviors, in boys with and without the diagnosis of

Attention-Decit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). First, regardless of comorbid antisocialdiagnosis, boys with ADHD, more often than comparison boys, had mothers with a majordepressive episode and or marked anxiety symptoms in the past year, and fathers with achildhood history of ADHD. Second, compared to the nondiagnosed group, boys withcomorbid ADHD Oppositional Deant or Conduct Disorder (ODD CD) had fatherswith lower Agreeableness, higher Neuroticism, and more likelihood of having GeneralizedAnxiety Disorder. Third, regarding linkages between parental characteristics and childexternalizing behaviors, higher rates of child overt antisocial behaviors observed in anaturalistic summer program were associated primarily with maternal characteristics,including higher Neuroticism, lower Conscientiousness, presence of Major Depression, andabsence of Generalized Anxiety Disorder. The association of maternal Neuroticism withchild aggression was larger in the ADHD than in the comparison group. In contrast, higherrates of observed child covert antisocial behaviors were associated solely with paternalcharacteristics, including history of substance abuse and higher Openness. Results provideexternal validation in parent data for a distinction between overt and covert antisocial

behaviorsand support inclusionof parent personality traits in family studies. The interactionof maternal Neuroticism and child ADHD in predicting child aggression is interpreted inregard to a conceptualization of child by parent ‘‘ t.’’

Keywords: Hyperactivity, aggression, conduct disorder, attention decit disorder, familyfactors, personality.

Abbreviations: ADHD: Attention-Decit Hyperactivity Disorder; CBCL: Child BehaviorChecklist; CD: Conduct Disorder; DBD: Disruptive Behaviors Checklist; DIS-3-R:Diagnostic Interview Schedule for DSM-III-R; MMPI: Minnesota MultiphasicPersonality Inventory; NEO-FFI: Neuroticism, Extraversion, Openness Five FactorInventory; ODD: Oppositional Deant Disorder; WURS: Wender Utah Rating Scale.

Introduction

Parent characteristics are one obvious feature of the broader ‘‘ecology’’ of child development(Bronfenbrenner, 1986) to which researchers have oftenturned in order to understand child psychopathology.Yet research on parent factors related to childhood

Reprint requests to : Joel Nigg, Department of Psychology,Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824-1117,U.S.A.

attention-decit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)—whichhas emphasized parenting attitudes and behaviors as wellas parental psychopathology—has not yielded consistentpatterns of results (Frick, 1994). This difficulty may berelated to two issues. First, dimensional and categoricalconceptions of child psychopathology are typicallytreated separately (Jensen et al., 1993), a potential sourceof inconsistency because categorical diagnoses mightcapture varying combinations of disparate child behaviordimensions (Frick et al., 1993). Second, parent per-sonality traits and diagnosed disorders are rarelyexamined together (Watson, Clark, & Harkness, 1994)

145



146 J. T. NIGG and S. P. HINSHAW

but these might contribute differentially to childbehavioral outcomes. To address these issues, we studiedthe contribution of parent psychopathology and per-sonality traits to subtypes of antisocialactivity in childrenwith ADHD.

Because ADHD is one of the most commonlydiagnosed, persistent, and impairing of child disorders,with substantial risk for escalating problems (Klein &

Mannuzza, 1991), a priority is to understand the riskfactors and comorbid conditions that exacerbate itscourse. Comorbidity with antisocial behaviors is salient:ADHD overlaps 40–50% or more with conduct disorder(CD) or oppositional deant disorder (ODD; Abikoff &Klein, 1992). Childhood antisocial behaviors increaserisk for later poor outcomes (Loeber, 1991), but childADHD increases risk of negative outcomes above thatassociated with ODD or CD alone (Farrington, Loeber,& Van Kammen, 1990; Moffitt, 1990). In short, childrenwith ADHD are at high risk of developing antisocialbehaviors and attendant poor later outcomes (Lilienfeld& Waldman, 1990), although the etiology of this risk isnot well understood. Whereas effects of heritability and

nonshared environment are salient for hyperactivity,shared environment effects are also implicated in childantisocial behaviors and for child comorbidity generally(Edelbrock, Rende, Plomin, & Thompson, 1995; Nigg &Goldsmith, in press), suggesting that study of parentcharacteristics might be one fruitful avenue for under-standing antisocial development in ADHD.

Considered as dimensions , childhood antisocialbehaviors are not unitary. First, a distinction between‘‘overt’’ aggression and ‘‘covert’’ antisocial behavior issupported (Hinshaw, Lahey, & Hart, 1993). Thus, beingaggressive does not always covary with such covertactions as lying and stealing (Achenbach, Conners, Quay,Verhulst, & Howell, 1989). A second important dis-

tinction lies between (1) both overt aggression and covertactions and (2) noncompliance (Loeber & Schmaling,1985). Noncompliant behaviors appear to lie at themidpoint of this overt covert bipolar continuum (seealso Hinshaw, Simmel, & Heller, 1995). A key question iswhether these partially independent antisocial behaviordimensions have differential relations with the externalcriterion of family or parent risk factors. In fact,aggression, noncompliance, and covert behaviors differin ways that suggestpossible differential familycorrelates,as we detail after describing specic parent characteristicsbelow.

Parent Psychopathology and PersonalityThe literature suggests well-known adult psychiatric

disorders and several potentially relevant but unstudiedpersonality traits that might be related to differentantisocial behaviors in child ADHD.

Parent psychiatric history . First, the psychiatric fam-ily literature reveals consistently that parent antisocialpersonality disorder, alcoholism, and substance useaggregate with CD or comorbid ODD CD in ADHDsamples (Biederman, Faraone, Keenan, Knee, & Tsuang,1990; Faraone et al., 1995; Lahey et al., 1988), and that aparent history of childhood ADHD is associated withchild ADHD regardless of comorbid CD or ODD

(Faraone, Biederman, Keenan, & Tsuang, 1991; Lahey,Russo, Walker, & Piacentini, 1988). We hypothesizedreplication of this pattern of ndings in our study forcategorical child diagnoses. In contrast, ndings aremixed regarding the possible contributions of parentdepression (cf. Biederman, Faraone, Keenan, & Tsuang,1991; Lahey et al., 1988) and anxiety disorders (cf.Barkley, DuPaul, & McMurray, 1990; Biederman,

Faraone, Keenan, Steingard, & Tsuang, 1991) to child-hood ADHD and associated antisocial behaviors, and sowe examined both lifetime and recent symptoms of theseparental disorders. We checked rates of parent mania asa precaution (Wozniak et al., 1995). In regard todimensions of antisocial behavior, we expected that childovert antisocial behavior would be related to higher ratesof maternal depression. We evaluated competing hy-potheses that parental generalized anxiety disorder wouldserve a protective versus a risk role in relation to overtantisocial behaviors. On the one hand, because anxietydisorders are associated with ADHD and could disruptparenting, anxiety in parents might exacerbate antisocialactions by a child with ADHD. On the other hand,

anxiety is associated in temperament and physiologicalmodels with a tendency to refrain from engaging inrisky or antisocial behavior—antisocial adults are anotoriously low-anxiety population (for a review seeZuckerman, 1991). Thus, parent anxiety might enhancechild ADHD-like symptoms yet be transmitted to a childas a protective factor against antisocial acting out.

Even the most denitive studies (e.g. Faraone et al.,1995) have relied on a maternal report of both child andparent symptoms for children under age 12 and have notdistinguished covert and overt antisocial behaviors, inpart because of reliance on rating scales. One alternative,adopted herein, is to observe child behaviors in anaturalistic setting, allowing better discrimination of

behavior subtypes.Parent personality traits . Although parent person-

ality is thought to relate to the development of childpsychopathology (Hetherington & Martin, 1986), studyof specic parent traits in relation to child ADHD andassociated problems has been relatively neglected.Dimensionally measured personality traits might besensitive to a wider range of variation in functioning thandisorders alone, because unlike disorders (which arefound only in a minority of parents of children withADHD), traits are not conned to the ‘‘extremes’’ of parent functioning. Whereas previous studies addressingthis topic in ADHD have looked at parent personalitywith the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory(MMPI) or the Sensation Seeking Scale (Frick, Kuper,Silverthorn, & Cotter, 1995; Lahey et al., 1989), we choseto view personality through the lens of the popular ‘‘BigFive’’ conception (John, 1990), which offers a compre-hensive, nonpathological formulation of normal-rangetraits. Each Big Five trait is of interest.

First, developmental studies of parent personality linkmaternal Neuroticism to child delinquency (Borduin,Henggeler, & Pruitt, 1985) and more generally to childexternalizing behaviors (Bates, Bayles, Bennet, Ridge, &Brown, 1991). Neither study examined child ADHD,however. The parenting literature also suggests thatparent stress-vulnerability and negative emotions (similar



147PARENT TRAITS AND CHILD ADHD

to Neuroticism) impair parenting effectiveness (Belsky,Crnic, & Gable, 1995; Belsky & Pensky, 1988; O’Leary,1995). We hypothesized that parent Neuroticism wouldbe associated with comorbid ODD or CD and wouldcorrelate with observed overt antisocial child behaviors.Second, Belsky (1984; Belsky et al., 1995) has suggestedthat parental Extraversion may relate to child behaviorproblems. We hypothesized that with activity level and

sociability as major facets of the Big Five version of Extraversion, this trait would relate to ADHD but not toantisocial behaviors. Third, Patterson and colleagues(e.g. Patterson & Capaldi, 1991; Patterson & Dishion,1988) have shown that parental hostile interchanges withchildren predict child antisocial development. Wetheorized that such hostility on the parent side might berelated to low parent Agreeableness (a trait with hostilityas its opposite pole), so that low paternal Agreeablenesswould be found in boys with comorbid ODD or CD.Fourth, longitudinal studies of personality developmenthave linked traits similar to Conscientiousness with laterpositive adult outcomes in a range of behavioral andoccupational domains, such as family stability. These

outcomes, in turn, could inuence child development inthe next generation (e.g. Block, 1971; Caspi & Elder,1988; Clausen, 1993). This literature suggested to us thatlow parent Conscientiousness would be related to bothchild ADHD and comorbid antisocial behaviors. Finally,the Big Five trait of Openness has been linked empiricallywith SensationSeeking in at least one study (Angleitner &Ostendorf, 1994). Sensation Seeking, in turn, has beennominated as a temperamental variable contributing toantisocial behavior (Frick et al., 1995; Zuckerman, 1991).We therefore included Openness forexploratoryanalyses.Despite the possible relevance of all Big Five dimensions,none, to ourknowledge, has been directly assessedamongparents of children diagnosed with ADHD or evaluated

with child antisocial behaviors.At a broader level, we hypothesized that parent

personality traits as just described would contribute tostatistical models independently of parent diagnoses. Weconsidered further how dimensions of child antisocialbehavior might correlate differentially with parentcharacteristics. We hypothesized that covert behaviors ascompared to aggression would correlate with lower levelsof parent social condence (Extraversion), a greater needfor stimulation in the absence of social exchange (Open-ness), and parents’ own covert behavior (indexed asalcohol or cocaine substance abuse dependence). Non-compliance, in contrast with aggression, implies conictwith adults rather than peers and so was expected toreect parental inconsistency (low Conscientiousness).Child aggression was expected to relate specically withmaternal depression and with irritable hostile parentcharacteristics in the form of higher Neuroticism andlower Agreeableness.

Mechanisms

We conned our study to biological parents becausegenetic mechanisms are important for nearly all of thetraits and disorders discussed here. Data support mod-erate heritability (in the range of 4 to 5) for adultExtraversion, Conscientiousness, and Neuroticism (Jang,

Livesley, & Vernon, 1996; Loehlin, 1992) and childADHD (Stevenson, 1992). Data regarding Agreeablenessand Openness are sparse, but the most recent ndingssuggest that they follow similar patterns of moderateheritability (Jang et al., 1996). Varying degrees of heritable inuence are also reported for major depression(Moldin, Reich, & Rice, 1991), generalized anxietydisorder (Kendler, Neale, Kessler, Heath,& Eaves, 1992),

and alcohol abuse and antisocial personality (Gottesman& Goldsmith, 1994). Also, key temperament constructsthat might relate to ADHD, such as activity level andinhibition, are moderately heritable (Goldsmith, 1983;Saudino, McGuire, Reiss, Hetherington, & Plomin,1995). Although these ndings do not mean that standingon relevant traits is genetically determined (for one thing,all heritabilities are far less than 1 0), they do suggest thata mix of biological and adoptive families could createimportant confounds. In fact, as noted above, althoughbehaviour genetic data reveal moderate heritable andnonshared environment effects for most temperamentand personality domains, child antisocial behavior andcomorbid child problems appear to be inuenced also by

shared environment factors, supporting the focus of thepresent study on parent characteristics.The above implies that parent personality could be

linked to child behavior problems through comparativelydirect processes such as modeling of behavior or genetictransmission, or indirectly such as by inuencingparenting style and parent–child interactions. If there is‘‘direct transmission’’ from parent to child of antisocialcharacteristics (as in social modeling or genetic effects),between-group differences would be expected whenparents of children with ADHD are compared to parentsof children without ADHD on a relevant trait. Analternative mechanism, however, derives from con-siderations of stress-diathesis models (Walker, Downey,

& Bergman, 1989) or parent–child t conceptualizations(e.g. Crockenberg, 1987) of the development of psy-chopathology. Such ‘‘t’’ models, which have beenpopular since the classic work of Thomas and Chess(1977), typically imply the interaction of child tempera-ment with some aspect of the rearing environment.Similarly,genotype–environment interactionmodels maybest explain the development of antisocial behaviorsand display of aggression (Cadoret, Yates, Troughton,Woodworth, & Stewart, 1995). In the case of a ‘‘t’’mechanism, one would not necessarily predict ADHDversus non-ADHD group differences in parent traits, butrather an interaction of parent trait with child diagnosticor risk status. For example, a parental trait such as lowConscientiousness or high Neuroticism may be benignwith most children, but may inuence interchange with atemperamentally impulsive (ADHD) child, increasing therisk fordevelopment or maintenance of specic antisocialbehaviors.

The strongest evidence for relevant parent traits inregard to ‘‘t’’ processes comes from the developmentalparenting literature and implicates Neuroticism,Conscientiousness, and Agreeableness. Neuroticism is acandidate because it implies difficulty coping under stress.Hyperactive children would be expected to create unusualstress on parents, so that a vulnerable parent (with highstanding on Neuroticism) might more often experience a




‘‘breakdown’’ in parenting effectiveness (O’Leary, 1995),compounding the hyperactive child’s risk of antisocialdevelopment. Thus, we theorized that high parent Neur-oticismand child ADHD would comprise an unfavorablecombination leading to more child antisocial behaviors.Conscientiousness connotes consistent and planned ac-tivities, and parents high on this trait would be expectedto provide the consistency and monitoring often lacking

in homes of antisocial children (Patterson & Dishion,1988). Finally, low parent Agreeableness might be es-pecially unfortunate if a child is hyperactive, leading tomore severe coercive and hostile parent–child inter-changes (cf. Patterson & Capaldi, 1991). We thuspredicted signicant interactions between (1) childADHD diagnosis and (2) each of parent Neuroticism,Conscientiousness, and Agreeableness in relation tochild overt antisocial behaviors (aggression and non-compliance), with effects expected to be larger in theADHD than in the non-ADHD group. Tests of otherpossible interactions were exploratory.

As a nal note, we emphasize that although hypotheseswere generally framed statistically such that parent traits

predicted child behaviors, parent traits probably do notexert a unidirectional causal inuence on children;instead, bidirectional social inuences are likely (Bell &Chapman, 1986), especially in the development of anti-social behavior (Patterson & Capaldi, 1991).

MethodOverview

Data were gathered for boys with ADHD through summerresearch programs (e.g. Hinshaw et al., 1995), which wereconducted at local public school sites in the summers of 1991,1993, 1994, and 1995. Each program served a new, independentcohortof families andran for5–6 weeks,emphasizingclassroomand playground activities. The four cohorts did not differ abovechance levels on the variables studied. Prior studies (Hinshaw etal., 1995) have used the same sample but this is the rst reportabout parent characteristics in the four-cohort sample. Duringthe summer programs staff observations and ratings of childrenwere completed, providing naturalistic measures of childbehaviors independent from the parent data. After carefultelephone screening and completion of mailed rating scales, butbefore nal enrolment, each family came to campus forassessments, where child diagnosis was conrmed and parentdata obtained.

ParticipantsTwo groups of children and their biological parents partici-

pated in the study. These were (1) 80 boys with ADHD (byDSM-III-R criteria) and 62 boys without ADHD, aged 6–12,and (2) their parents. One boy did not have a biological motheravailable for the study, several did not have biological fathersavailable, and nine sets of brothers participated. Thus, 133families were represented. We assessed 132 mothers (all of whom provided at least some self-report data) and 117 fathers,of whom 93 provided at least some self-report data, with 24having only informant data provided by the mother. We notechanges in results related to excluding those fathers for whomonly informant data were obtained. Adoptive and step-parentswere excluded, except that their ratings of biological parentpersonality traits were used when available. The summer campsincluded boys because ADHD is more common in boys than in

girls and might have different familial and genetic under-pinnings for each sex (James & Taylor, 1990). A broadsocioeconomic spectrum was represented (mean HollingsheadSES index 49 3; range 23 to 66) and the sample was 62 7%White, 14 1% African American, 8 5% Latino, and 14 8%Asian American.

ADHD participants were recruited from area clinics, schools,physicians, and self-help groups. Children were screened in if they had previously been diagnosed with ADHD and, because

medication trials were conducted during the summer programs,been treated with stimulants. Exclusionary criteria included IQbelow 70 and evidence of overt neurological disorder. Childrenwere included in the ADHD group if they surpassed empiricallyestablished cutoffs on at least three of the following fourmeasures: (1) theAttention Problem Scale of theChildBehaviorChecklist (CBCL; Achenbach, 1991), with the validated cutoff of 60 (Chen, Faraone, Biederman, & Tsuang, 1994); (2) theConners Abbreviated Symptom Questionnaire, with the long-established cutoff of 15 (Goyette, Conners, & Ulrich, 1978); (3)a structured parent interview, the Divergent and ConvergentItems (DACI; Loney, 1987), with a cutoff of 5 symptoms; and(4) at least 8 of the 14 ADHD symptoms from the DSM-III-RDisruptive Behaviors Checklist (DBD; American PsychiatricAssociation, 1987; Pelham, Gnagy, Greenslade, & Milich,

1992). Of the 80 boys with ADHD, 67 (84%) met criteria on allfour measures. Of the 59 boys with ADHD with participatingbiological fathers, 50 (85%) met criteria on all four measures.All boys with ADHD had at least a 6-month duration of symptoms and onset at or before the age of 6 years.

Oppositional deant disorder (ODD) was diagnosed usingthe validated DBD checklist (Pelham et al., 1992) as reported bymothers, with the cutoff of 5 9 DSM-III-R symptoms of ODDfor inclusion. Conduct disorder (CD) was diagnosed if 3 9DSM-III-R (1991, 1993, 1994) criteria were met on the maternalDBD or (in 1995) if 3 DSM-IV criteria were endorsed on thematernal Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Childhood. Only18 boys had CD; 31 had ODDbut not CD. Because of the smallnumber of CD cases and because many cases of comorbidADHD ODD will escalate to CD (Hinshaw et al., 1993), we

chose to combine these into the comorbid subgroup. Thisresulted in 49 boys (61%) in the comorbid subgroup and 31(39%) in the ‘‘pure’’ ADHD subgroup, a ratio comparable toother samples (Biederman, Newcorn, & Sprich, 1991). How-ever, we point out in Results when a different pattern of ndingswould have resulted from treating the CD and ODD boys asdifferent groups. Note that the boys in the ‘‘pure’’ ADHDgroup did not have ODD or CD, but may have had othercomorbid diagnoses such as mood or learning disorders, whichwe did not screen out. All data for the boys with ADHD wereobtained while they were receiving placebo medication, after aminimum 24-hour washout period from active medication.

Comparison boys without ADHD were recruited from thecommunity through newspaper advertisements and recruitmentannouncements at area schools. Screened by the same pro-cedures, they were excluded if they met criteria for ADHD(N 1). None met criteria for CD. We included three com-parison boys who met criteria for ODD to avoid an articiallyhealthy comparison group.

Parent MeasuresPsychopathology . The study design required an assessment

of parent history of childhood behavior problems and selectedadult psychiatric disorders. To provide a dimensional andcategorical measure of their childhood history of ADHDsymptoms, parents completed the 61-item self-report WenderUtah Rating Scale (WURS; Wender, 1985). The eld lacks anagreed-upon method for retrospective assessment of ADHD as




a category and a dimension. Although the WURS also includessymptoms of mood and learning problems in addition to classicADHD symptoms (so that it is not a ‘‘pure’’ ADHD measure),it has the advantages of economy and published validity data.Ward, Wender, and Reimherr (1993) suggested empiricalcutoffs using 25 items that best discriminated adults with andwithout a childhood history of ADHD. A score of 46 or higheron their 25-item list served as a categorical denition of pastchildhood ADHD. Total scores on the 25-item scale (mothers,

alpha 93, fathers, alpha 88) served as the dimensional measure of parental childhood ADHD symptoms.Parent adult psychopathology was assessed with selected

modules from the Diagnostic Interview Schedule for DSM-III-R (DIS-3-R). The DIS-3-R is a structured, extensively-studiedNIMH diagnostic interview developed for lay interviewers andwith nonclinical populations in time-limited assessment (Helzer& Robins, 1988; Robins, Helzer, Cottler, & Goldring, 1989). Ithas been used in national prevalence studies of psychiatricdisorder (e.g. Kessler et al., 1994) and has shown moderatetest–retest stability (Helzer, Spitznagel, & McEvoy, 1987;Vandiver & Sher, 1991). The DIS-3-R was administered inperson in 1993, 1994, and 1995, but via telephone to the 1991sample. Data suggest that structured diagnostic interviewsconducted on the telephone yield similar results to in-person

interviews (Wells, Burnam, Leake, & Robins, 1988), which wasalso true for the present sample. (Rates of diagnoses by phoneand in person were compared in the ADHD and comparisongroups; 12 13 chi-square comparisons were nonsignicant,with only maternal alcohol use differing—it was diagnosed lessoften in 1991 [by phone].) We evaluated generalized anxietydisorder, major depressive disorder, mania, alcohol abuse ordependence, cocaine abuse or dependence, and antisocialpersonality disorder (cocaine and mania were not screened in1995 due to cost and time constraints). The DIS-3-R has beenconverted by Robins and colleagues to computer-assistedadministration for use in epidemiological research. Thiscomputer-assisted interview can be restricted to make theearliest decision on each diagnosis, which allowed diagnosticassessment of parents within the time constraints of theassessments. The computer-assisted administration solvesproblems of inter-rater reliability. Relationships between thebrief computer-based interview and a standard interview aregenerally acceptable, with kappa 75 for the diagnoses used inthe present study, except for generalized anxiety disorder, whichhad a poor agreement with the full DIS ( K 07; Bucholz,1995).

Personalityassessment . Parents completedthe Neuroticism,Extraversion, Openness Five Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI;Costa & McCrae, 1985). We administered the 181-item NEO-PIin 1991, 1993, and 1994 and the 60-item NEO-FFI in 1995,retrieving the NEO-FFI factors, which are embedded in bothversions, for all cohorts for the current study. Thus, the NEOscales comprised the same items for all four cohorts. The NEOhas been normed on community samples, has yielded scale andtest–retest reliability coefficients between 85 and 93, anddisplays good external validity in relation to observer ratings(Costa & McCrae, 1985; McCrae & Costa, 1987). The NEO isthe primary instrument associated with the Five-Factor modelof personality, a model derived from an extensive factoranalyticliterature (John, 1990). The primary scales and their scalereliabilities (coefficient alphafor mothers fathers) in oursamplewere Neuroticism ( 86 83), Extraversion ( 75 78), Openness( 75 76), Agreeableness ( 66 69), and Conscientious ( 83 83).

Sole reliance on self-report data in the assessment of personality is recognized as providing a limited perspective ;additional observer ratings completed by persons whoknow thesubject well increase validity (Kenrick & Funder, 1988).Accordingly, parents also rated their spouses on the same vefactors. To avoid an obvious comparison of self with spouse,

these ratings were administeredusing a different form, with a setof 42 items termed the BigFiveInventory (see John, 1990; John,Donahue, & Kentle, 1991). This inventory has excellentconvergent validity with other Big Five measures (John et al.,1991). Spouse-rated scale alpha reliabilities in our sample(mothers being rated fathers being rated) were: Neuroticism( 90 88), Extraversion ( 70 86), Openness ( 81 81),Agreeableness ( 86 88), and Conscientiousness ( 85 88). Theself and spouse ratings showed acceptable convergent and

divergent validity. Self–spouse convergences (mothers fathers)were moderate for Neuroticism ( 44 44), Extraversion( 52 36), Openness ( 34 46), and Conscientiousness ( 52 44),andmarginal for Agreeableness ( 16 33), with 9 of 10 ratings of the same dimensions correlating at p 01. Most of the off-diagonal correlations were nonsignicant (2 20 mother and0 20 father variable pairings reached p 05), and ranged from00– 26 for mothers and 00– 23 for fathers. These ndings were

similar to self-spouse correlations in the personality literature(Costa & McCrae, 1985) and we opted to average the self andspouse ratings to create the personality scores. The vecomposite NEO variables correlated 05– 45 for mothers and05– 39 for fathers.

Child MeasuresObservations of overt antisocial behaviors . Pre-trained ob-

server teams watched children from the ‘‘sidelines’’ of theplayground and classroom 4 days per week in a brief time-sampling procedure. Observers listened through headphones toa pacing tape (3 sec to nd the child, 5 sec to observe, 3 sec torecord), and recorded child behaviors on a checklist, withmultiple cycles of observation per period. Children were listedin multiple sets of randomly varied orders for each observer.The goal was to observe naturalistic class sizes—approximately24 children, half ADHD and half non-ADHD, with 3–4observers per period. As aggression has a low base rate, manytime points were sampled—typically about 15 observation daysand more than 300 time points for the comparison boys, andabout 7 observation days and more than 100 time points for

each of the ADHD boys on placebo. Frequency of eachbehavior divided by total number of observed behaviors yieldeda proportion score that varied between 0 and 1 for physical orverbal aggression (ghting, hitting, kicking, pushing, willfuldestruction of another’s property, threats of aggression) andnoncompliance (disruption, deance, and rule violations). Twoextreme aggression scores ( z 5) were truncated (to 0 5 and 1 0SD ’s beyondthe next highest score, respectively). Overlaps werebuilt into the observer lists for approximately 17 % of theobservations, unknown to the observers, so that inter-rateragreement on behavior observations could be calculated. Givenlow base rates of aggression, chance nonoccurrence agreementswere substantial, deating reliability statistics. Inter-observerKappas across all four summers ranged from 65 to 72,although both base rates of behavior and level of rateragreement varied from summer to summer. Second, becauseour unit of analysis pertained to overall rates of aggressive andnoncompliantbehaviorsacross thedays of thesummer programrather than moment-by-moment sequential interactions, wealso calculated the correspondence between the overall numberof same-category tallies made by each observer within a pair.Thus, if observer A scored 10 instances of aggression butobserver B scored 14, we counted 71% overlap. Across allobserver pairs, the agreement for aggression was 50%, and fornoncompliance was 65%. Despite its marginal reliability, weretained aggression for the regression analysis because of itstheoretical importance. Aggression and noncompliance corre-lated r 51 in the ADHD group and r 44 in the comparisongroup ( r 59 overall). To correct skewed distributions, scoreswere log transformed for the regression models.




Laboratory assessment of covert antisocial behavior . Covertantisocial behavior is difficult to assess objectively in children,precisely because the behavior is covert. Hinshaw and colleagues(e.g. Hinshaw et al., 1992, 1995) developed and validated alaboratory procedure to evaluate covert behaviors. Childrenwere left alone in a room to complete some paper and penciltests; they were tempted by a partially open desk drawercontaining small objects and money (three or four quarters andtwo $1.00 bills). Afterwards, they were debriefed regarding the

procedure. Parents consented to the study in advance; ethicalissues are discussed by Hinshaw et al. (1992). Each child’s extentof stealing and property destruction were scored dimensionallyfrom an immediate room check. Reliability and validity havebeen established (see Hinshaw et al., 1995 for further details).Stealing and property destruction were signicantly correlatedand formed an empirical factor in principal componentsanalysis (Hinshaw et al., 1995); they were combined bysumming unweighted raw scores and log-transforming theresult to form the covert dependent variable for the presentstudy. The covert score correlated r 35 with aggression andr 34 with noncompliance. Using largely the same sample,Hinshaw et al. (1995) reported that aggression loaded on anovert antisocial factor, stealing and property destruction loadedon a separate covert factor, and noncompliance loaded on both

factors, thus appearing to occupy the ‘‘midpoint’’ in factorspace.

ResultsPreliminary Sample Description

Demographic variables are summarized in Table 1.Child groups were equivalent in age and SES. As oftenhappens, the boys with ADHD had lower Verbal IQscores than the comparison boys. The groups differedsubstantially on clinical indices such as the CBCL, with

Table 1Demographic Description of Samples

Variable

Comparison(N 62)

Mean ( SD )

ADHD(N 31)

Mean ( SD )

ADHD ODD CD(N 49)

Mean ( SD ) p

Child age (years) 9 0 (1 8) 9 3 (1 8) 9 2 (1 8) 648Mother age 39 3 (5 9) 41 4 (5 6) 40 0 (4 1) 216Father age 40 8 (7 1) 42 8 (7 9) 42 6 (5 8) 296SES 49 4 (12 1) 51 1 (10 1) 48 0 (10 6) 486Grade 2 8 (1 7) 3 0 (1 8) 2 8 (1 7) 854Reading percentile 73 4 (28 0) a 66 7 (29 1)a 51 1 (33 1)b 001WISC Verbal IQ 114 7 (17 0)a 111 4 (14 7) 105 6 (18 1)b 021CBCL Externalizing 47 3 (8 9)a 58 5 (9 0)b 70 7 (8 0)c 001

CBCL Internalizing 51 2 (8 8)a

61 4 (10 6)b

66 1 (8 7)c

001CBCL Attention 53 2 (4 7)a 70 9 (8 8)b 72 5 (6 9)b 001

Criterion measuresAggression % 0 52 (0 8)a 2 36 (2 9)b 3 74 (4 8)c 001Noncompliance % 5 75 (5 3)a 13 97 (12 5)b 20 06 (13 2)c 001Laboratory covert test 0 20 (0 6)a 0 77 (1 3)b 1 27 (1 7)b 001

Three group comparisons were by one-way ANOVA (dimensional variables) or likelihood ratio chi-quare (categorical variables),with the three-group signicance level shown in the p column. Two-group comparison results are indicated by superscripts, withdiffering superscripts indicating that two groups differ at p 05 (for dimensional variables, this was after the Student-Newman-Keulsmethod of adjusting for multiple tests). Reading percentile Woodcock Johnson Psychoeducational Battery Reading ClusterNational Percentile Score. WISC WISC-R (1991) and WISC-III (1993, 1994, and 1995). CBCL scores reect Child BehaviorChecklist T-scores based on maternal report; results for paternal report were generally the same as maternal report and are notdisplayed.

the comparison youngsters very close to national norms(T 50 is the national mean for CBCL scales), theADHD group approaching the clinical range, and theADHD ODD CD group near or above clinical cutoffs(CBCL, T 70). Conrming the validity of the ADHDdiagnosis in the two clinical groups, the two ADHDgroups did not differ from each other on the CBCLAttention Problem Subscale, whereas both groups scored

higher than the comparison group. Conrming thecomorbid subgroups, all three groups differed signi-cantly on the observational measures of child overtantisocial behavior (aggression and noncompliance); thetwo ADHD groups did not differ signicantly, however,on the covert scale.

Between - group Results

For between-group comparisons, child diagnosticgroup served as the independent variable and parentmeasures served as the dependent variables. One-wayanalysis of variance was computed with continuousparental variables, and chi-square analysis with cat-

egorical parental variables. In each case, the independentvariable had three levels (Comparison, ADHD,ADHD ODD CD). To reduce Type I error in view of thenumberof outcome variables,we followed a Fisherianstrategy by rst conducting three-group omnibus tests foreach dependent variable. Only if an omnibus test wassignicant were two-group simple comparisons conduc-ted (Student-Newman-Keuls procedure for dimensionalvariables and simple chi-square comparison for categ-orical variables). Power to detect Cohen’s ‘‘medium’’effect sizes (d 5) exceeded 80 for maternal data and70 for paternal variables.

We rstdescribe results forparentpsychiatric disorders








Table 4Final Regression Models for Child Antisocial BehaviorsStep Variables R change p-change beta T p

A. Child Aggression as Outcome1. Child group (ADHD Non-ADHD) 39 5 43 001

SES 24 0001 18 2 46 0152. Mother major depression 22 2 88 005

Mother Neuroticism 22 2 67 009Mother alcohol abuse dependence 15 1 40 044Mother generalized anxiety 16 1 96 052Mother childhood ADHD symptoms 17 2 03 058Mother Agreeableness 13 0005 11 1 40 163

3. Neuroticism Group interaction 04 006 98 2 81 0063. SES Group interaction 02 080 59 1 76 0803. All other interaction terms n.s.B. Child Noncompliance as Outcome1. Child group (ADHD Non-ADHD) 44 5 03 001

SES 21 0001 84 0 84 4062. Mother generalized anxiety 32 3 35 001

Mother alcohol abuse dependence 23 2 47 016Mother Conscientiousness 20 2 22 029Mother antisocial personality 17 1 81 074Mother major depression 16 1 71 090Father cocaine abuse dependence 23 0001 10 1 11 272

3. All interactions n.s.C. Child Covert Antisocial Behavior as Outcome1. Child group (ADHD Non-ADHD) 42 4 87 001

SES 22 001 23 2 44 0172. Father Openness 30 3 35 001

Father cocaine abuse dependence 26 2 85 006Father Conscientiousness 17 001 23 2 59 012

3. SES group interaction 04 016 96 2 45 0163. All other interactions n.s.

At step 3, interaction terms were entered as a set. If the set was signicant, then terms were removed and entered one at a time toevaluate the source of interaction. The table shows the result for the terms entered singly at step 3. Thus, for purposes of reading thetable, when one interaction term is in, the others are not in. For aggression, all interaction terms as a set yielded R change 09, p 01. For noncompliance the set was nonsignicant. For covert, the set yielded R change 08, p 02. The beta and individual

p values are taken from the ‘‘full model’’ without the interaction terms.

dimensional maternal variables were considered, Open-ness, Extraversion, and Conscientiousness were elim-inated in the same manner. The maternal modelthus included Major Depression, Generalized AnxietyDisorder, Alcohol Abuse Dependence, Neuroticism,Agreeableness, and childhood ADHD symptoms.

Paternal predictors . Using the same procedure as formothers, the relations of father characteristics to childaggression were evaluated. Although interaction termscould be dropped from the models and residuals plotsindicated delity to regression assumptions, no measuresobtained from fathers were related to child aggression,either alone or in a model with the maternal variables.

Combined maternal and paternal predictors . Becausepaternal variables did not contribute, the nal maternalmodel is displayedin the rst portion ofTable 4 (variablesare listed in order of decreasing magnitude of con-tribution to the model). As the Table illustrates, after SESand child Group (ADHD non-ADHD) were entered atstep 1 (R 24, p 001), the maternal variables enteredat step 2 accounted for an additional 13% of the variancein child aggression ( p 0005). We then enteredgroup predictor product terms as a set at step 3 (Rchange 05, p 05). When examined one at a time, the

Neuroticism Group interaction remained signicantand the SES Group interaction was marginallysignicant. The interactions signify that different re-gression slopes pertain to each group. When groups wereexamined separately, maternal Neuroticism was clearlyrelated to aggression in the ADHD group (beta 44, p 0001)andunrelatedin thecomparison group (beta

13, p 41). Likewise, SES had a noteworthy relationto aggression in the ADHD group (beta 34, p 002)but not in the comparison group (beta 09, p 53).

Observed Child Noncompliance as Outcome

Maternal predictors . Using the same procedures asabove, maternal Mania and Cocaine use were eliminated.When dimensional variables were screened, onlyConscientiousness was retained. Interaction terms wereall nonsignicant. At step 1, child Group and SESaccounted for 27% of the variance ( p 001). At step 2,maternal characteristics accounted foran additional 14%of the variance in child noncompliance ( p change0003).

Paternal predictors . All paternal psychiatricdiagnoses could be dropped from the regression model






normal range personality traits alongside psychopath-ology in family research on child ADHD and associatedantisocial behaviors.

Regarding the hypotheses, support in either the cat-egorical or dimensional analyses was obtained for theimportance in relation to child antisocial behavior of maternal depression, Neuroticism, Conscientiousness,and anxiety disorder (as a protective factor) and paternal

Neuroticism, Agreeableness, Openness, and substanceuse history. Hypotheses were not supported for the roleof paternal alcoholism or paternal antisocial personalitydisorder, and support for maternal antisocial personalitydisorder was weak. The noteworthy latter negativending was partly due to our combining of ODD and CDboys, as noted in the Results, and to an unusually highfrequency of endorsement of antisocial symptoms by thecomparison parents (see Table 2). Parent antisocialpersonality disorder has been linked to child conductproblems in prior family studies (Biederman, Munir, &Knee, 1987; Lahey et al., 1988), and it may be necessaryto restrict analyses to child CD to nd that effect. Also,those studies used clinic-referred samples; perhaps the

most antisocial parents did not volunteer for our study.The conjecture that parent child ‘‘t’’ mechanismsmight best account for the emergence of antisocialbehavior among boys with ADHD received partialsupport concerning the effect of maternal Neuroticism onchild aggression. Although interactions always bearreplication, this interaction has potential theoreticalmerit. As suggested, higher maternal Neuroticism mayinterfere with mothers’ ability to cope resiliently with adifficult child temperament (O’Leary, 1995), differentiallyfacilitating development or maintenance of aggressivebehaviors in at-risk children such as those with ADHD.In showing this association in children specicallydiagnosed with ADHD, the personality data extend prior

ndings that Neuroticism in parents is related to childexternalizing behaviors (e.g. Bates et al., 1991; Belsky &Pensky, 1988; Borduin et al., 1985). Equally important,for mothers the contribution of Neuroticism to childaggressionwas over andabove the statistical contributionof depression.

In contrast, our data failed to support Belsky’s (1984)more speculative proposal that lower parentExtraversionmight be associated with greater child behavior problemsin a clinical sample. One reason for this negative ndingmay be that in the Big Five model Extraversion comprisessuch facets as activity level and sociability, but notimpulsivity, which is instead linked with Conscientious-ness. Maternal Conscientiousness was marginally lowerin the ADHD groups than in the comparison group, andlower maternal Conscientiousness was related to higherlevels of child noncompliance in the nal model. Theprediction that low paternal Agreeableness would relateto child antisocial behaviors was supported in thecategorical comparisons but not in the regression data.Perhaps paternal Agreeableness is related only tosituationally specic antisocial behavior—in this casethat reported by mothers but not that observed in thesummer programs.

Mediating variables such as specic parent–childbehavioral exchanges were beyond the scope of thisstudy. Imagining causal models without addressing the

mediating links between parentpersonality and parentingpractices is difficult, however. Caution is necessary sothat parental traits and parenting behaviors are notconated. Parenting behavior is likely to be inuenced bypersonality—but just as surely, it is not personality alonethat shapes parenting. Parenting attitudes and beliefs,social stressors, and immediate contextual factors arealso likely to contribute to parenting (Belsky, 1984). For

example, among parents with similar levels of Conscientiousness, parenting beliefs and parentingbehaviors vary substantially (Clausen, 1993).

The regression models combined with the LISRELmodel tting results provided external validation fordistinctions between aggression, noncompliance, andcovert antisocial behaviors in children. Overt antisocialactions (aggression) and noncompliance were primarilyrelated to maternal attributes in combined models, butcovert antisocial actions were related solely to paternalcharacteristics. In fact, the placement of noncomplianceon the ‘‘midpoint’’ of the continuum of antisocialbehaviors was supported by its sharing of someassociations with aggression (e.g. maternal anxiety dis-

order) and with covert behaviors (e.g. paternal cocaineuse, marginally, in the father-only model). Also, thespecic suggestion that nonconfrontational (covert) anti-social actions may be ‘‘directly’’ transmitted wassupported by our nding that paternal cocaine abusepredicted child covert behaviors. Although notspecically predicted, our nding that paternal Opennesswas related to child covert behaviors makes sense whenseen alongside a possible link between Sensation Seekingand both Openness and substance use (Zuckerman,1991); it is consistent with studies of Sensation Seeking inrelation to ADHD (e.g. Frick et al., 1995).

The regression data also clarify the association of maternal depression with child aggression. As reviewed

by Richters (1992), many researchers have been con-cerned that maternal depression may cause mothers tooverstate sons’ behavioral problems, yet the best-controlled studies suggest that depressed mothers do notdistort their son’s problems. The present data supportthe nondistortion perspective by showing that indepen-dently observed child aggression in ADHD samples wasstrongly related to maternal history of depression whenmaternal personality traits—notably Neuroticism—werepartialled. The possibility that child-to-mother inuencesaccount for this nding is noteworthy in light of ournding that a recent depressive episode was far morelikely in mothers of children with ADHD ODD CDthan in comparison mothers. In community samples, paternal depression has also been linked to childexternalizing problems, but indirectly via marital distress(Miller, Cowan, Cowan, Hetherington, & Clingempeel,1993). We did not nd an association between paternaldepression and child behaviors in our clinical sample.

Finally, a notable result of the regression analyses wasthat maternal history of generalized anxiety disorder wasassociated with reduced levels of child antisocialbehaviors. Several explanations for this nding arepossible. One possibility is that children with anxiousmothers are less willing to test adult limits than are otherchildren. Or, perhaps anxious mothers are more ap-propriately controlling of their sons and so those sons




develop more self-control. Another possibility is thatchildren diagnosed with ADHD who have anxiousmothers are themselves more internalizing and thereforeless likely to exhibit disruptive behaviors (see Pliszka,1992). Replication is a priority, because anxiety disorderwas the least reliable and valid Q-DIS-3R diagnosis.

Methodological Limitations and Future DirectionsFirst, our study was conned to boys and may not

generalize to girls. An important qualication of ourndings was that paternal characteristics were linkedmore strongly to child behavior problems when ma-ternal report regarding nonparticipating fathers wasconsidered. Although we obtained more direct father-report data than in some prior studies, these inconsistentresults highlight possible method effects. Changes inresults when informant data predominated could relateto the unavailability of the most antisocial fathers or toreporting artifacts. Also, our evaluation of child ADHDin parents relied on the WURS, a measure that does notconform to DSM-IV criteria, because it includes moodand learning items that were not separately evaluated.This composition could limit interpretation of ndingsrelated to parent childhood ADHD.

Further, only direct, linear relationships betweenparentand child variables were assessed. This assumptioncould be misguided, and multivariate path and causalmodels with larger samples would be needed to examinepossible mediators for the associations of parent traits tochild behaviors. Likewise, only additive contributions of risk and protective factors were considered. Multipli-cative relationships among parent traits (e.g. betweenmaternal and paternal traits) raise possibilities that wedid not address (see Belsky et al., 1995).

Third, although power generally exceeded 80 for thenal regression models, preliminary models that includedinteraction terms had lower power and may not replicatein other samples. Also, we did not control other well-known ADHD comorbidities suchas anxiety, depression,and learning disorders, as they were not the focus of thisinvestigation. However, these child disorders could haveexerted unknown effects on the results. Related to thisissue, we did not distinguish different motivationalsubtypes of aggression in the present study. For example,a key distinction has been made between instrumental(proactive) and reactive aggression (Coie, Dodge, Terry,& Wright, 1991), and it is quite conceivable that parentalattributes would relate differentially to this distinction.

Finally, some parent risk factors (e.g. depression) are inall likelihood not specic to ADHD (Weissman et al.,1984), and investigations with other clinical groups areneeded.

Conclusion

We found that parent personality traits differentiatedADHD boys with and without comorbid disruptivebehavior diagnoses and that these were related toobjectively observed antisocial behavior of boys over andabove the information provided by parent psychopath-ology. In various analyses, Neuroticism, Agreeableness,

Conscientiousness, and Openness revealed promise asparent traits to investigate. Integration of parent per-sonality and psychopathology can enrich descriptive andtheoretical models of the development of comorbidantisocial behaviors. These traits are promisingcandidates for understanding the role of shared en-vironment as well as nonshared effects (via ‘‘t’’mechanisms) in the exacerbation of antisocial behaviors

in ADHD. Theories of ADHD need to address possibleinteraction effects between maternal Neuroticism andchild diagnosis in predicting child aggression, as well asthe striking protective effect of maternal anxiety in thedisplay of child overt antisocial behaviors. We also foundthat parent correlates differed for subtypes of childantisocial behavior, providing external validation fordistinctions between aggression, noncompliance, andcovert child behaviors. Examination of models thatincorporate parenting behaviors as well as parent person-ality and psychopathology will be a next step to clarifycausal pathways linking parent traits to the developmentof antisocial behaviors in children with ADHD.

Acknowledgements— Primary work on this investigation wassupported by National Institute of Health Research ServiceAward Fellowship F31 MH10462-01 to Joel T. Nigg, andNational Institute of Mental Health Grant RO1 MH45064 toStephen P. Hinshaw. The authors wish to acknowledge thehelpful comments of Philip A. Cowan, John A. Clausen, andOliver P. John on earlier versions of this work. This article isbased in part on a doctoral dissertation by Joel Nigg at theUniversity of California, Berkeley. We thank the parents andchildren for their enthusiastic participation in the summerprograms and the extensive interviews.

ReferencesAbikoff, H., & Klein, D. F. (1992). Attention-decit hyper-

activity and conduct disorder: Comorbidity and implicationsfor treatment. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology ,60, 881–892.

Achenbach, T. M. (1991). Manual for the Child BehaviorChecklist 4-18 and 1991 prole . Burlington, VT: Universityof Vermont Department of Psychiatry.

Achenbach, T. M., Conners, C. K., Quay, H. C., Verhulst,F. C., & Howell, C. T. (1989). Replication of empiricallyderived syndromes as a basis for taxonomy of childadolescent psychopathology. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology , 17 , 299–323.

American Psychiatric Association. (1987). Diagnostic and stat -istical manual of mental disorders (3rd edn., rev.).Washington, DC: Author.

American Psychiatric Association. (1994). Diagnostic and stat -istical manual of mental disorders (4th edn.). Washington,DC: Author.

Angleitner, A., & Ostendorf, F. (1994). Temperament and thebig ve factors of personality. In C. F. Halverson, G. A.Kohnstamm, & R. P. Martin (Eds.), The developing structureof temperament and personality from infancy to adulthood (pp.69–90). Hillsdale, NJ : Erlbaum.

Barkley, R. A., DuPaul, G. J., & McMurray, M. B. (1990).Comprehensive evaluation of attention decit disorder withand without hyperactivity as dened by research criteria.Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology , 58, 775–789.

Bates, J. E., Bayles, K., Bennet, D. S., Ridge, B., & Brown,M. M. (1991). Origins of externalizing behavior problems at




eight years of age. In D. J. Pepler & K. H. Rubin (Eds.), Thedevelopment and treatment of childhood aggression (pp.93–120). Hillsdale, NJ : Erlbaum.

Bell, R. Q., & Chapman, M. (1986). Child effects in studiesusing experimental or brief longitudinal approaches tosocialization. Developmental Psychology , 22, 595–603.

Belsky, J. (1984). The determinants of parenting: A processmodel. Child Development , 55, 83–96.

Belsky, J., Crnic, K., & Gable, S. (1995). The determinants of coparenting in families with toddler boys: Spousal differencesand daily hassles. Child Development , 66 , 629–642.

Belsky, J., & Pensky, E. (1988). Developmental history,personality, and family relationships: Toward an emergentfamily system. In R. Hinde & J. Stevenson-Hinde (Eds.),Relationships within families: Mutual inuences (pp.193–217). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Bergeman, C. S., Plomin, R., McClearn, G. E., Pederson,N. L., & Friberg, L. T. (1988). Genotype-environment inter-action in personality development: Identical twins rearedapart. Psychology and Aging , 3, 399–406.

Biederman, J., Faraone, S. V., Keenan, K., Knee, D. A., &Tsuang, M. T. (1990). Family-genetic and psychosocial riskfactors in DSM-III attention-decit disorder. Journal of theAmerican Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry , 29,526–533.

Biederman, J., Faraone, S. V., Keenan, K., Steingard, R., &Tsuang, M. T. (1991). Familial association between attentiondecit disorder (ADD) and anxiety disorder. AmericanJournal of Psychiatry , 48, 633–642.

Biederman, J., Faraone, S. V., Keenan, K., & Tsuang, M. T.(1991). Evidence of familial association between attentiondecit disorder and major affective disorders. Archives of General Psychiatry , 48, 633–642.

Biederman, J., Munir, K., & Knee, D. (1987). Conduct andoppositional disorder in clinically referred children withattention decit disorder: A controlled family study. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry ,26 , 724–727.

Biederman, J., Newcorn, J., & Sprich, S. (1991).Comorbidity of attention-decit hyperactivity disorder with conduct, de-pressive, anxiety, and other disorders. American Journal of Psychiatry , 148, 564–577.

Block, J. (1971). Lives through time . Berkeley, CA: BancroftBooks.

Borduin, C. M., Henggeler, S. W., & Pruitt, J. A. (1985). Therelationship between juvenile delinquency and personalitydimensions of family members. The Journal of GeneticPsychology , 146 , 563–565.

Bronfenbrenner, U. (1986). Ecology of the family is a contextfor human development : Research perspectives. Develop-mental Psychology , 22, 723–742.

Bucholz, K. K. (1995). Agreement between the Q -DIS -III -R and T -DIS . Department of Psychiatry, Washington UniversitySchool of Medicine, St. Louis. Unpublished data.

Cadoret, R. J., Yates, W. R., Troughton, E., Woodworth, G.,& Stewart, M. A. (1995). Genetic-environmental interactionin the genesis of aggressivity and conduct disorders. Archivesof General Psychiatry , 52, 916–924.

Caspi, A., & Elder, G. H. (1988). Emergent family patterns:The intergenerational construction of problem behavior andrelationships. In R. Hinde & J. Stevenson-Hinde (Eds.),Relationships within families: Mutual inuences (pp.219–240). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Chen, W. J., Faraone, S. V., Biederman, J., & Tsuang, M. T.(1994). Diagnostic accuracy of the Child Behavior Checklistscales for attention-decit hyperactivity disorder: A receiveroperating characteristics analysis. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology , 62, 1017–1025.

Clausen, J. A. (1993). American lives: Looking back at thechildren of the great depression. New York: The Free Press.

Cohen, J., & Cohen, P. (1983). Applied multiple regressioncorrelation analysis for the behavioral sciences (2nd edn.).Hillsdale, NJ : Lawrence Erlbaum.

Coie, J. D., Dodge, K. A., Terry, R., & Wright, V. (1991). Therole of aggression in peer relations: An analysis of aggressionepisodes in boys’ play groups. Child Development , 62,812–816.

Costa, P. T., & McCrae, R. R. (1985). The NEO personalityinventory manual . Odessa, FL: Psychological AssessmentResources.

Crockenburg, S. (1987). Predictors and correlates of angertowards and punitive control of toddlers by adolescentmothers. Child Development , 58, 964–975.

Edelbrock, C., Rende, R., Plomin, R., & Thompson, L. A.(1995). A twin study of competencies and problem behaviorin childhood and early adolescence. Journal of Child Psy -chology and Psychiatry , 36 , 775–785.

Faraone, S. V., Biederman, J., Chen, W. J., Milberger, S.,Warburton, R., & Tsuang, M. T. (1995). Genetic hetero-geneity in attention-decit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD):Gender, psychiatric comorbidity, and maternal ADHD.Journal of Abnormal Psychology , 104, 334–345.

Faraone, S. V., Biederman, J., Keenan, K., & Tsuang, M. T.(1991). Separation of DSM-III attention decit disorder andconduct disorder: Evidence from a family-genetic study of American child psychiatric patients. Psychological Medicine ,21, 109–121.

Farrington, D. M., Loeber, R., & Van Kammen, W. B. (1990).Long-term criminal outcomes of hyperactivity-impulsivity-attention decit and conduct problems in childhood. In L. N.Robins & M. Rutter (Eds.), Straight and devious pathways from childhood to adulthood (pp. 62–81). Cambridge:Cambridge University Press.

Frick, P. J. (1994). Family dysfunction and the disruptivebehavior disorders: A review of recent empirical ndings. InT. H. Ollendick & R. J. Prinz (Eds.), Advances in clinical child psychology , Vol . 16 (pp. 203–226). New York: PlenumPress.

Frick, P. J., Kuper, K., Silverthorn, P., & Cotter, M. (1995).Antisocial behavior, somatization, and sensation-seekingbehavior in mothers of clinic-referred children. Journal of theAmerican Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry , 34,805–812.

Frick,P. J., Lahey, B. B., Hartdagen, S.,& Hynd, G. W. (1989).Conduct problems in boys: Relations to maternal person-ality, marital satisfaction, and socioeconomic status. Journal of Clinical Child Psychology , 18, 114–120.

Frick, P. J., Lahey, B. B., Loeber, R., Tannenbaum, L., vanHorn, Y., Christ, M. A. G., Hart, E. A., & Hanson, K.(1993).Oppositional deantdisorder: A meta-analytic reviewof factor analyses and cross-validation in a clinical sample.Clinical Psychology Review , 13, 319–340.

Goldsmith, H. H. (1983). Genetic effects on personality frominfancy to adulthood. Child Development , 54, 331–355.

Gottesman, I. I., & Goldsmith, H. H. (1994). Developmentalpsychopathology of antisocial behavior: Inserting genes intoits ontogenesis and epigenesis. In C. A. Nelson (Ed.), Threatsto optimal development: The Minnesota Symposium on Child Development , Vol . 27 (pp. 69–104). Hillsdale, NJ: LawrenceErlbaum.

Goyette, C. H., Conners, C. K., & Ulrich, R. F. (1978).Normative data on Revised Conners Parent and TeacherRating Scales. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology , 6 ,221–236.

Helzer, J. E., & Robins, L. N. (1988). The Diagnostic InterviewSchedule: Its development, evolution, and use. Social Psy -chiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology , 23, 6–16.




Helzer, J. E., Spitznagel, E. L., & McEvoy, L. (1987). Thepredictive validity of lay Diagnostic Interview Schedulediagnoses in the general population: A comparison withphysician examiners. Archives of General Psychiatry , 44,1069–1077.

Hetherington, E. M., & Martin, B. (1986). Family factors andpsychopathology in children. In H. C. Quay & J. S. Werry(Eds.), Psychopathological disorders of childhood (3rd Edn.)(pp. 332–390). New York: John Wiley & Sons.

Hinshaw, S. P. (1987). On the distinction between attentionaldecits hyperactivity and conduct problems aggression inchild psychopathology. Psychological Bulletin , 101, 443–463.

Hinshaw, S. P., Heller, T., & McHale, J. P. (1992). Covertantisocial behavior in boys with attention-decit hyper-activity disorder: External validation and effects of methylphenidate. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psy -chology , 60, 274–281.

Hinshaw, S. P., Henker, B., Whalen, C. K., Erhardt, D., &Dunnington, R. E. (1989). Aggressive, prosocial, andnonsocial behavior in hyperactive boys: Dose effects of methylphenidate in naturalistic settings. Journal of Consultingand Clinical Psychology , 57 , 536–643.

Hinshaw, S. P., Lahey, B. B., & Hart, E. L. (1993). Issues of taxonomy and comorbidity in the development of conductdisorder. Development and Psychopathology , 5, 31–50.

Hinshaw, S. P., Simmel, C., & Heller, T. L. (1995). Multi-method assessment of covert antisocial behavior in children:Laboratory observations, adult ratings, and child self-report.Psychological Assessment , 7 , 209–219.

James, A., & Taylor, E. (1990). Sex differences in the hyper-kinetic syndrome of childhood. Journal of Child Psychologyand Psychiatry , 31, 437–446.

Jang, K. L., Livesley, W. J., & Vernon, P. A. (1996). Heri-tability of the Big Five personality dimensions and theirfacets: A twin study. Journal of Personality , 64, 577–591.

Jensen, P. S., Koretz, D., Locke, B. Z., Schneider, S., Radke-Yarrow, M., Richters, J. E., & Rumsey, J. M. (1993). Childand adolescent psychopathology research: Problems andprospects for the 1990s. Journal of Abnormal Child Psy -chology, 21, 551–580.

John, O. P. (1990). The ‘‘big ve’’ factor taxonomy:Dimensions of personality in the natural language and inquestionnaires. In L. A. Pervin (Ed.), Handbook of person -ality: Theory and research (pp. 66–100). New York: Guilford.

John, O. P., Donahue, E. M., & Kentle, R. L. (1991). The BigFive Inventory: Versions 4a and 54. Technical Report,Institute of Personality and Social Research, University of California, Berkeley.

Kendler, K. S., Neale, M. C., Kessler, R. C., Heath, A. C., &Eaves, L. J. (1992). Generalized anxiety disorder in women.Archives of General Psychiatry , 49, 267–272.

Kenrick, D. T., & Funder, D. C. (1988). Proting from contro-versy: Lessons from the person-situation debate. AmericanPsychologist , 43, 23–34.

Kessler, R. C., McGonagle, K. A., Zhao, S., Nelson, C. B.,Huges, M., Eshleman, S., Wittchen, H. U., & Kendler, K. S.(1994). Lifetime and 12-month prevalence of DSM-III-Rpsychiatric disorders in the United States: Results from theNational Comorbidity Survey. Archives of General Psychiatry , 51, 8–19.

Klein, R. G., & Mannuzza, S. (1991). Long-term outcome of hyperactive children : A review. Journal of the AmericanAcademy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry , 30, 383–387.

Lahey, B. B., Piacentini, J. C., McBurnett, K., Stone, P.,Hartdagen, S., & Hynd, G. (1988). Psychopathology in theparents of children with conduct disorder and hyperactivity.Journal of the American Academy of Child and AdolescentPsychiatry , 27 , 163–170.

Lahey, B. B., Russo, M. F., Walker, J. L., & Piacentini, J. C.(1989). Personality characteristics of the mothers of childrenwith disruptive behavior disorders. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology , 27 , 512–515.

Lilienfeld, S. O., & Waldman, I. D. (1990). The relationshipbetween childhood attention-decit hyperactivity disordersand adult antisocial behavior reexamined: The problem of heterogeneity. Clinical Psychology Review , 10, 699–725.

Loeber, R. (1991). Development and risk factors of juvenile

antisocial behavior and delinquency. Clinical PsychologyReview, 10, 1–41.Loeber, R., & Schmaling, K. B. (1985). Empirical evidence for

overt and covert patterns of antisocial conduct problems: Ameta-analysis. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology , 13,337–352.

Loehlin, J. C. (1992). Genes, environment , and personality .Newbury Park, CA: Sage.

Loney, J. (1987). Hyperactivity and aggression in the diagnosisof attention decit disorder. In B. B. Lahey & A. E. Kazdin(Eds.). Advances in clinical child psychology , Vol . 10 (pp.99–135). New York: Plenum.

Loney, J., & Milich, R. (1982). Hyperactivity, inattention, andaggression in clinical practice. In M. Wolraich & D. Routh(Eds.), Advances in developmental and behavioral pediatrics ,

Vol . 3 (pp. 113–147). Greenwich, CT: JAI Press.McCrae, R. R., & Costa, P. T. (1987). Validation of the ve-factormodelof personality across instruments and observers.Journal of Personality and Social Psychology , 52, 81–90.

Miller, N. B., Cowan, P. A., Cowan, C. P., Hetherington,E. M., & Clingempeel, W. G. (1993). Externalizing inpreschoolers and early adolescents: A cross-study replicationof a family model. Developmental Psychology , 29, 3–18.

Moffitt, T. E. (1990). Juvenile delinquency and attention-decitdisorder: Boys’ developmental trajectories from age 3 to age15. Child Development , 61, 893–910.

Moldin, S. O., Reich, T., & Rice, J. P. (1991). Currentperspectives on the genetics of unipolar depression. BehaviorGenetics , 21, 211–242.

Nigg, J. T., & Goldsmith, H. H. (in press). Developmentalpsychopathology,personality, and temperament: Classic andrecent behavior genetic ndings. Human Biology .

O’Leary, S. G. (1995). Parental discipline mistakes. CurrentDirections in Psychological Science , 4, 11–13.

Patterson, G. R., & Capaldi, D. M. (1991). Antisocialparents: Unskilled and vulnerable. In P. A. Cowan &M. Hetherington (Eds.), Family transitions (pp. 195–218).Hillsdale, NJ : Erlbaum.

Patterson, G. R., & Dishion, T. J. (1988). Multilevel familyprocess models: Traits, interactions, and relationships. InR. Hinde & J. Stevenson-Hinde (Eds.), Relationships within families : Mutual inuences (pp. 283–310). Oxford : ClarendonPress.

Pedhazur, E. J., & Schmelkin, L. P. (1991). Measurement ,design, and analysis : An integrated approach . Hillsdale, NJ:Lawrence Erlbaum.

Pelham, W. E., Gnagy, E. M., Greenslade, L., & Milich, R.(1992). Teacher ratings of the DSM-III-R symptoms for thedisruptive behavior disorders. Journal of the American Acad -emy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry , 31, 210–218.

Pliszka, S. R. (1992). Comorbidity of attention-decit hyper-activity disorder and overanxious disorder. Journal of theAmerican Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry , 31,197–203.

Richters, J. E. (1992). Depressed mothers as informants abouttheir children: A critical review of the evidence for distortion.Psychological Bulletin , 112, 485–499.

Robins, L. N., Helzer, J. E., Cottler, L., & Goldring, E. (1989).NIMH Diagnostic Interview Schedule Version 3 -Revised (DIS -3-R ). St. Louis, MO: Author.




Rutter, M., Cox, A., Tupling, C., Berger, M., & Yule, W.(1975). Attainment and adjustment in two geographicalareas, 1: The prevalence of psychiatric disorders. BritishJournal of Psychiatry , 126 , 493–509.

Saudino, K. J., McGuire, S., Reiss, D., Hetherington, E. M., &Plomin, R. (1995). Parent ratings of EAS temperaments intwins, full siblings, half siblings, and step siblings. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology , 68, 723–733.

Selvin, S. (1994). Practical biostatistical methods . New York:Duxbury Press.

Stevenson, J. (1992). Evidence for a genetic etiology inhyperactivity in children. Behavior Genetics , 22, 337–344.

Thomas, A., & Chess, S. (1977). Temperament and development .New York: Brunner Mazel.

Vandiver, T., & Sher, K. J. (1991). Temporal stability of theDiagnostic Interview Schedule. Psychological Assessment , 3,277–281.

Walker, E., Downey, G., & Bergman, A. (1989). The effects of parental psychopathology and maltreatment on childbehavior: A test of the diathesis-stress model. Child De-velopment , 60, 15–24.

Ward, M. F., Wender, P. H., & Reimherr, F. W. (1993). TheWender Utah Rating Scale: An aid in retrospective diagnosisof childhood attention decit hyperactivity disorder.American Journal of Psychiatry , 150, 885–890.

Watson, D., Clark, L. A., & Harkness, A. R. (1994). Structuresof personality and their relevance to psychopathology.Journal of Abnormal Psychology , 103, 18–31.

Weiss, G., & Hechtman, L. T. (1993). Hyperactive children grown up (2nd edn.). New York: Guilford.

Weissman, M. M., Prusoff, B. A., Gammon, G. D.,Merikangas, K. R., Leckman, J. F., & Kidd, K. K. (1984).Psychopathology in the children (ages 6–18) of depressed andnormal parents. Journal of the American Academy of Child

Psychiatry , 23, 78–84.Wells, K. B., Burnam, M. A., Leake, B., & Robins, L. N.(1988). Agreement between face-to-face and telephoneadministered versions of the depression section of the NIMHDiagnostic Interview Schedule. Journal of Psychiatric Re -search , 22, 207–220.

Wender, P. (1985). The adult questionnaire childhood-characteristics. Psychopharmacology Bulletin , 20, 427–428.

Wozniak, J., Biederman, J., Kiely, K., Ablon, S. J., Faraone,S. V.,Mundy, E.,& Mennin, D. (1995).Mania-like symptomssuggestive of childhood-onset bipolar disorder in clinically-referred children. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry , 34, 867–876.

Zuckerman, M. (1991). Psychobiology of personality . NewYork: Cambridge University Press.

Revised manuscript accepted 18 March 1997

Documents

PARENTING 1998 Parent Personality Traits and Psychopathology Associated With Antisocial Behaviors in Childhood ADHD