Preschool Oppositional Defiant Disorder: A Disorder of Negative Affect, Surgency, and Disagreeableness.

Oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) is conceptualized as a disorder of negative affect and low effortful control. Yet empirical tests of trait associations with ODD remain limited. The current study examined the relationship between temperament and personality traits and Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (5th ed.) ODD symptom domains and related impairment in a preschool-age sample. Participants were 109 children ages 3-6 (59% male), overrecruited for ODD from the community, and their primary caregivers (87% mothers). ODD symptoms and impairment were measured using the Kiddie-Disruptive Behavior Disorder Schedule, temperament traits were measured using parent report on the Child Behavior Questionnaire and the Laboratory Temperament Assessment Battery, and personality traits were measured using examiner report on the California Child Q-Sort. Results suggest that high negative affect was associated with all three ODD symptom domains, whereas low agreeableness was specifically associated with the angry/irritable ODD symptom domain, and high surgency was associated with the argumentative/defiant and vindictive ODD symptom domains. Negative affect and surgency interacted with agreeableness to predict impairment, but not symptoms: Low agreeableness was associated with high impairment, regardless of other trait levels, whereas high negative affect and high surgency predicted high impairment in the presence of high agreeableness. Overall, results suggest ODD is a disorder of high negative affect. Furthermore, low agreeableness is differentially associated with affective ODD symptoms, and high surgency is associated with behavioral ODD symptoms. These traits interact in complex ways to predict impairment. Therefore, negative affect, agreeableness, and surgency may be useful early markers of ODD symptoms and impairment.

Longitudinal Prediction of the One-Year Course of Preschool ADHD Symptoms: Implications for Models of Temperament-ADHD Associations.

Despite the fact that Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is often conceptualized as an extreme trait, there remains controversy about the best way to understand associations between temperament traits and ADHD. The current study examines longitudinal associations between temperament traits and ADHD during early childhood in order to critically examine vulnerability and spectrum models of trait-ADHD associations. Study participants were 109 children between the ages of 3 and 6 and their primary caregivers and teachers/daycare providers, community-recruited for ADHD-related problems. Primary caregivers completed the Kiddie Disruptive Behavior Disorders Schedule semi-structured diagnostic interview at the initial appointment and one year later. At the initial appointment, primary caregivers completed the Child Behavior Questionnaire as a measure of child temperament traits. Results from the initial time point indicated that high neuroticism and high surgency were associated with inattentive and hyperactive-impulsive ADHD symptoms, and low effortful control was associated with hyperactive-impulsive ADHD symptoms. However, none of these traits predicted the one-year course of ADHD symptoms. Results are more consistent with a spectrum (vs. vulnerability) model of trait-psychopathology associations, suggesting that traits, but may not influence longitudinal course during early childhood.