[Personality Models in the Context of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry - Development, Change, Stability and Research Perspectives]. / Persönlichkeitsmodelle im Kontext der Kinder- und Jugendpsychiatrie ­ Entwicklung, Veränderung, Stabilität und Forschungsperspektiven.

Personality models play an important role for the etiological understanding of abnormal development in clinical settings. In this selective review, relevant personality models are presented and, in particular, their developmental dynamics and adaptability over the life span, starting in childhood, are considered in detail. The focus is on the developmental psychopathological perspective of processes of ego-resiliency and self-regulation between the poles of disposition and social environment. This is particularly obvious in the discussion of developmental path models of personality dysfunction with experiences of abuse or disorganized attachment in the child's history. Psychopathologically, an ongoing impairment of self-regulation often results in stable patterns of maladaptation, which leads in the case of purely symptomatic treatment usually only to temporary behavioral modifications. On the other hand, the changeability of pathological personality traits through the use of targeted intervention approaches will favour of a positive outcome and contradicts a deterministic stability of personality characteristics. For future research perspectives in developmental psychopathology, various theoretical personality constructs are discussed and linked to clinical observations.

[Personality Assessment as Contribution to Diagnostic Differentiation Between ADHD and RAD in Middle Childhood]. / Persönlichkeitserfassung als Beitrag zur Differentialdiagnostik zwischen Patienten mit ADHS und Bindungsstörung in der mittleren Kindheit.

Personality Assessment as Contribution to Diagnostic Differentiation Between ADHD and RAD in Middle Childhood Early and prolonged social and emotional deprivation can result in symptoms of both ADHD and attachment disorder (RAD). The present study compares children between 7 and 13 years of age diagnosed with either ADHD or RAD, regarding their disorder specific behavior by using the Conners Rating Scale, a RAD screening scale, the overall psychopathology in the CASCAP-D, and the children's personality using the California Child-Q-sort (CCQ). The RAD group showed an increased overall psychopathology score and both increased ADHD and RAD symptomatology. In addition, they also were characterized as lower in self-regulatory personality characteristics (e. g. ego-resiliency). The results suggest that children with a RAD diagnosis do not show two comorbid disorders (RAD plus ADHD) but are characterized by an even more intense deficit of self-regulation in social and emotional contexts, compared to the children of the pure ADHD group. This should be considered in diagnosis and treatment.