College students from diverse ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds are at risk for poorer academic outcomes and greater psychopathology and it is important to identify factors that are amenable to intervention and enhance college outcomes. Recent literature has entertained happiness as a potential predictor of various success outcomes and it has been suggested that parsing the concept of happiness into hedonia (seeking pleasure and relaxation) and eudaimonia (seeking meaning) may be particularly useful. This study examined the relations between hedonic and eudaimonic motives for action and student outcomes; that is, academic achievement and their negative emotional states, in an ethnically and socioeconomically diverse urban college population. Undergraduate students (N=119; mean age=21.24 [SD=3.16] years; 59.7 % female) completed self-reported measures of hedonic and eudaimonic motives for action, and depression, anxiety, and stress. Semester GPA was collected from school records. Hedonic motives for action ("Hedonia") were not associated with GPA or students' negative emotional states. Eudaimonic motives for action ("Eudaimonia"), however, were significantly positively associated with GPA, Individuals with high levels of both Hedonia and Eudaimonia (the Full Life) had higher GPAs compared to individuals with low Eudaimonia, but did not differ from students with high Eudaimonia and low Hedonia (Eudaimonic Life). Eudaimonia was also significantly negatively associated with Depression and Stress, and individuals high in Eudaimonia had the lowest levels of both of these outcomes compared to those with low Eudaimonia. Eudaimonic motives may be important for more desirable college outcomes, and interventions that promote development of this domain may hold promise.

Research examining factors linking early temperament and later ADHD is limited by cross-sectional approaches and having the same informant rate both temperament and psychopathology. We used multi-informant/multi-method longitudinal data to test the hypothesis that negative emotionality during preschool is positively associated with ADHD symptom severity in middle childhood, but developing executive control mediates this relation. Children (N=161) with and without ADHD were evaluated three times: Parent and teacher temperament ratings and NEPSY Visual Attention at ages 3–4 years; WISC-IV Working Memory Index and NEPSY Response Set at age 6 years; and ADHD symptoms using the Kiddie-SADS at age 7 years. Parent and teacher ratings of preschoolers’ temperament were combined to form an Anger/Frustration composite. Similarly, an Executive Functioning composite was derived from age 6 measures. Bootstrapping was used to determine whether age 6 Executive Functioning mediated the relation between early Anger/Frustration and later ADHD symptom severity, while controlling for early executive functioning. Preschoolers’ Anger/Frustration was significantly associated with later ADHD symptoms, with this relation partially mediated by age 6 Executive Functioning. Developing executive control mediates the relation between early Anger/Frustration and later ADHD symptom severity, suggesting that Anger/Frustration influences ADHD symptom severity through its impact on developing executive control. Early interventions targeting the harmful influences of negative emotionality or enhancing executive functioning may diminish later ADHD severity.

Children with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) have poorer neuropsychological functioning relative to their typically-developing peers. However, it is unclear whether early neuropsychological functioning predicts later ADHD severity and/or the latter is longitudinally associated with subsequent neuropsychological functioning; and whether these relations are different in children with and without early symptoms of ADHD. This study aimed to examine the longitudinal associations between ADHD severity and neuropsychological functioning among children at high and low risk of developing ADHD. Hyperactive/Inattentive (H/I; N=140) and Typically-developing (TD; N=76) preschoolers (age 3 – 4 years) were recruited (BL) and followed annually for 3 years (F1, F2 and F3). Teachers rated the children’s ADHD severity and impairment using the Behavior Assessment System for Children-2 and the Children’s Problem Checklist, respectively. Parent reports of children’s ADHD severity were obtained using the Kiddie-Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia – Present and Lifetime version. Neuropsychological functioning was assessed using the NEPSY. In the full sample, there were bi-directional longitudinal associations between neuropsychological functioning and ADHD severity between F1 and F3. Among H/I children, neuropsychological functioning at F1 and F2 predicted ADHD severity at F2 and F3, respectively. In contrast, among TD children the only significant relationship observed was that elevated ADHD symptoms at F2 were associated with poorer neuropsychological functioning at F3. Improved neuropsychological functioning may attenuate ADHD symptoms and associated impairment among H/I children during the early school years. Interventions designed to improve neuropsychological functioning among young H/I children may be beneficial in reducing their ADHD severity.