Anxiety and cognitive performance in adolescent women with disruptive behavior disorders

Abstract

Comparing 36 disruptive behavior-disordered and 40 normal female adolescents, we found higher levels of anxiety and poorer performance on a measure of verbal fluency in the clinical sample. No group differences were found on a nonverbal measure of reflectivity nor on a measure of interpersonal cognitive problem solving. Nor was evidence found for an hypothesized anxiety-related performance decrement among disruptive behavior-disordered youth. However, anxiety induction facilitated performance across groups on interpersonal cognitive problem solving.

Which Executive Functioning Deficits Are Associated With AD/HD, ODD/CD and Comorbid AD/HD+ODD/CD?

“…Three studies reported poorer performance in children with ODD/CD than in normal control children (Déry et al, 1999;Haggerty et al, 1998;Séguin et al, 1995;Speltz et al, 1999). One study failed to find a difference between children with ODD/CD and normal controls (Toupin et al, 2000).…”

“…In the study by Séguin et al (1995) the results for verbal fluency were reported as part of composite measures of EF. In the studies by Haggerty et al (1998), Séguin et al (1995), and Speltz et al (1999) the impact of comorbid AD/HD remains unclear. Thus, evidence for a verbal fluency deficit in ODD/CD independent of AD/HD is weak.…”