Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) affects approximately 3%-5% of children in the United States. In the current psychiatric nomenclature, ADHD comprises three subtypes: inattentive, hyperactive-impulsive, and combined. In this study, we used four analytic strategies to examine the association and linkage of the dopamine transporter gene (DAT1) and ADHD. Our sample included 122 children referred to psychiatric clinics for behavioral and learning problems that included but were not limited to ADHD, as well as their parents and siblings. Within-family analyses of linkage disequilibrium, using the transmission disequilibrium test (TDT), confirmed the 480-bp allele as the high-risk allele. In between-family association analyses, levels of hyperactive-impulsive symptoms but not inattentive symptoms were related to the number of DAT1 high-risk alleles. Siblings discordant for the number of DAT1 high-risk alleles differed markedly in their levels of both hyperactive-impulsive and inattentive symptoms, such that the sibling with the higher number of high-risk alleles had much higher symptom levels. Within-family analyses of linkage disequilibrium, using the TDT, suggested association and linkage of ADHD with DAT1 and that this relation was especially strong with the combined but not the inattentive subtype. The relation of DAT1 to ADHD increased monotonically, from low to medium to high levels of symptom severity. Our results replicate and extend previous findings of the association between the DAT1 gene and childhood ADHD. This represents one of the first replicated relations of a candidate gene and a psychiatric disorder in children.

Hundreds of research articles have addressed the relationship between birth order and intelligence. Virtually all have used cross-sectional data, which are fundamentally flawed in the assessment of within-family (including birth order) processes. Although within-family models have been based on patterns in cross-sectional data, a number of equally plausible between-family explanations also exist. Within-family (preferably intact-family) data are prerequisite for separating within- and between-family causal processes. This observation reframes an old issue in a way that can be easily addressed by studying graphical patterns. Sibling data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth are evaluated, and the results are compared with those from other studies using within-family data. It appears that although low-IQ parents have been making large families, large families do not make low-IQ children in modern U.S. society. The apparent relation between birth order and intelligence has been a methodological illusion.

A polymorphism in the dopamine receptor 4 gene (DRD4) has been related to novelty seeking, Tourette's syndrome, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The variability is in a 48-bp repeat in exon 3 of the gene (a transmembrane region). This study examined the relation of the 7-repeat (ie, high-risk) allele to questionnaire-based diagnoses of ADHD (both combined type and inattentive type). Several positive findings were obtained for ADHD-inattentive type. In an association test, the 7-repeat allele occurred more frequently in children with ADHD-inattentive type than in control children. In genetically discordant sibling pairs, the sibling with a greater number of 7-repeat alleles displayed more inattentive symptoms than his/her co-sibling with fewer 7-repeat alleles. For ADHD-combined type, the 7-repeat allele frequency was greater than that in the control sample. However, a quantitative transmission disequilibrium test yielded no significant linkage of the 7-repeat allele with hyperactive-impulsive symptoms. A categorical TDT yielded no significant findings, but the number of transmissions was small, especially for ADHD-inattentive type.

Background: The international Life In Recovery (LiR) surveys have provided an important message to the public and policy makers about the reality of change from addiction to recovery, consistently demonstrating both that there are marked gains across a range of life domains and that the longer the person is in recovery the better their recovery strengths and achievements. However, to date, no attempt has been made to quantify the Life In Recovery scales and to assess what levels of change in removing barriers and building strengths is achieved at which point in the recovery journey. Methods: The current study undertakes a preliminary analysis of strengths and barriers from the Life in Recovery measure, using data from a European survey on drug users in recovery (n=480), and suggests that the instrument can be edited into a Strengths And Barriers Recovery Scale (SABRS). The new scale provides a single score for both current recovery strengths and barriers to recovery. Results: The resulting data analysis shows that there are stepwise incremental changes in recovery strengths at different recovery stages, but these occur with only very limited reductions in barriers to recovery, with even those in stable recovery typically having at least two barriers to their quality of life and wellbeing. Greater strengths in active addiction are associated with greater strengths and resources in recovery. Conclusion: As well as demonstrating population changes in each of the domains assessed, the current study has shown the potential of the Life In Recovery Scale as a measure of recovery capital that can be used to support recovery interventions and pathways.

The authors examine the importance of the person-context nexus in adolescent deviance. Using the nationally representative National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health) data set of more than 20,000 male and female adolescents, the authors are interested in testing whether the relationship between impulsivity and a variety of deviance measures varies as a function of neighborhood disadvantage. Results suggest that whereas levels of impulsivity and deviance vary by level of neighborhood disadvantage, relationships between impulsivity and 511 Downloaded from deviance do not. This same finding is made for both male and female study participants, though there is some modest evidence of moderation in female youth. Together, these results have important implications for social disorganization theory, the general theory of crime, and for personality research on the etiology of crime and deviance.