Extending the spectrum idea: child personality, parenting and psychopathology

Abstract

The spectrum hypothesis, postulating that differences between referred and non‐referred samples are confined to mean level differences, is elaborated by exploring whether the covariation between child problem behaviour and its predictors—child personality and parenting, rated by mothers—is similar in referred (N = 205) and non‐referred (N = 596) children and whether personality by parenting interactions can be generalized across samples. Results showed significant mean level differences for all the variables. Both personality and parenting explained problem behaviour, with some differences in strength of the effects across samples. Parenting by personality interactions mainly predicted externalizing behaviour, with benevolence and conscientiousness as the most prominent moderators. Results confirmed that moderators of problem behaviour operate similarly in the two samples, thus corroborating the spectrum hypothesis. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The Role of Temperament and Personality in Problem Behaviors of Children with ADHD

“…Based on previous research on diagnostic trait profiles in ADHD, we expect that substantial Level 1 mean differences will differentiate children with ADHD from the comparison sample. Based on the emergent but only partial empirical support for the spectrum hypothesis (based on heterogeneous referred and nonreferred samples; Van Leeuwen et al, 2007), we hypothesize that no substantial differences will be found in Level 2 and Level 3 comparisons and hence, that differences between children with ADHD and comparison children will be limited to quantitative differences.…”

“…This question poses a second, more fundamental challenge for current research assessing traits in ADHD: Inquiring to what extent temperament and personality, as viable concepts for the study of typical development, are relevant for the study of clinical syndromes such as ADHD. Although this concern has -to our knowledge -not yet been explicitly raised for ADHD, the generalizability has been assessed and debated for other clinical groups, both for adults and youngsters (De Pauw, Mervielde, Van Leeuwen, & De Clercq, in press;Eisenberg et al, 2010;O'Connor, 2002;Shiner & Caspi, 2003;Van Leeuwen, Mervielde, De Clercq, & De Fruyt, 2007).…”

“…The classic version of the spectrum hypothesis (Shiner & Caspi, 2003) postulates that differences between clinical and non-clinical samples are mainly quantitative (O'Connor, 2002;Van Leeuwen et al, 2007). This implies that differences between both types of samples are restricted to mean-level differences.…”

“…Van Leeuwen et al (2007) applied this framework to compare a heterogeneous sample of children referred for psychological counseling and therapy (N = 205) to a large nonreferred community sample (N = 596) in terms of personality and problem behavior. Their study generally supported the spectrum hypothesis revealing mainly mean-level differences and few Level 2 or 3 differences.…”

“…This implies that differences between both types of samples are restricted to mean-level differences. Recently, Van Leeuwen et al (2007) developed a hierarchical framework to examine whether differences between clinical and non-clinical samples could be considered as mainly qualitative or rather quantitative.…”