Halo Effects in Ratings of ADHD and ODD: Identification of Susceptible Symptoms

Hartung, Cynthia M.; Lefler, Elizabeth K.; Tempel, Ashley B.; Armendariz, Monica L.; Sigel, Benjamin A.; Little, Carolyn S.

doi:10.1007/s10862-009-9135-3

Cited by 23 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 11 publications

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“…First, we replicated the findings from several previous studies showing that the presence of oppositional behaviors increases ratings of ADHD symptoms in the child (e.g., Abikoff et al 1993;Hartung et al 2006Hartung et al , 2010Freeman et al 1997). We also demonstrated that the presence of anxious behaviors has a similar effect.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 88%

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The Effects of Instructions on Mothers’ Ratings of Child Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder Symptoms

Johnston

Weiss

Murray

et al. 2011

J Abnorm Child Psychol

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We examined whether instructional materials describing how to rate child ADHD symptoms would improve the accuracy of mothers' ratings of ADHD symptoms presented in standard child behavior stimuli, and whether instructions would be equally effective across a range of maternal depressive symptoms and family incomes. A community sample of 100 mothers with 5 to 12 year old sons were randomly assigned to either receive or not receive the instructions. All mothers watched standard video recordings of boys displaying nonproblem behavior, ADHD symptoms, ADHD plus oppositional behaviors, or ADHD plus anxious behaviors, and then rated the ADHD symptoms of the boys in the videos. These ratings were compared to ratings of the boys' ADHD symptoms made by objective coders. Results indicated an interaction such that the instructional materials improved the agreement between mothers' and coders' ratings, but only for mothers at lower family income levels. The instructional materials improved all mothers' open-ended responses regarding knowledge of ADHD. All mothers rated more ADHD symptoms in boys with comorbid oppositional or anxious behaviors, and this effect was not reduced by the instructional materials. The potential utility of these instructions to improve the accuracy of ratings of child ADHD symptoms is explored.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 88%

“…Several studies have shown that ratings of ADHD symptoms are inflated for children who exhibit both ADHD and oppositional defiant behaviors (e.g., Abikoff et al 1993;Freeman et al 1997;Hartung et al 2006;Hartung et al 2010;Jackson and King 2004). However, the influence of other comorbid behaviors has not been examined.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

The Effects of Instructions on Mothers’ Ratings of Child Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder Symptoms

Johnston

Weiss

Murray

et al. 2011

J Abnorm Child Psychol

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“…Findings in several studies (e.g., Abikoff, Courtney, Pelham, & Koplewicz, 1993) have demonstrated that teachers often rate children with Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD) as having elevated levels of inattention and hyperactivity even when no behaviors directly indicative of these symptoms have been displayed. This bias, referred to as the halo effect , appears to be bi-directional such that teachers also rate children with ADHD characteristics with elevated oppositional scores (Hartung et al, 2010). These findings suggest a bias that may inflate teacher-ratings of ADHD in children with other comorbid behavior problems.…”

Section: Behavioral Ratingsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Multi-method assessment of ADHD characteristics in preschool children: Relations between measures

Sims

Lonigan

2012

Early Childhood Research Quarterly

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Several forms of assessment tools, including behavioral rating scales and objective tests such as the Continuous Performance Test (CPT), can be used to measure inattentive and hyperactive/impulsive behaviors associated with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). However, research with school-age children has shown that the correlations between parent ratings, teacher ratings, and scores on objective measures of ADHD-characteristic behaviors are modest at best. In this study, we examined the relations between parent and teacher ratings of ADHD and CPT scores in a sample of 65 preschoolers ranging from 50 to 72 months of age. No significant associations between teacher and parent ratings of ADHD were found. Parent-ratings of both inattention and hyperactivity/impulsivity accounted for variance in CPT omission errors but not CPT commission errors. Teacher ratings showed evidence of convergent and discriminant validity when entered simultaneously in a hierarchical regression. These tools may be measuring different aspects of inattention and hyperactivity/impulsivity.

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“…It is important to consider the possibility that the correlations among dimensions of psychopathology are partly due to global rater biases in which the presence of some symptomatic behaviors increase the likelihood of inflated reports of symptoms of other disorders. This issue has not been studied extensively, but there is replicated evidence from controlled experiments that adults tend to rate children who engage in only oppositional behaviors as exhibiting symptoms of ADHD disorder, and perhaps vice versa (Abikoff, Courtney, Pelham, & Koplewicz, 1993; Hartung et al., 2010). Because assessments of psychopathology are almost exclusively conducted using self‐ and other‐reports of symptoms, rater bias could inflate comorbidity at every level of analysis, from the studies of the bivariate comorbidity of any pair of mental disorders to the general psychopathology factor identified by Lahey et al.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Annual Research Review: Phenotypic and causal structure of conduct disorder in the broader context of prevalent forms of psychopathology

Lahey

Waldman

2011

Child Psychology Psychiatry

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Background A better understanding of the nature and etiology of conduct disorder (CD) can inform nosology and vice-versa. We posit that any prevalent form of psychopathology, including CD, can be best understood if it is studied in the context of other correlated forms of child and adolescent psychopathology using formal models to guide inquiry. Methods Review of both cross-sectional and longitudinal studies of the place of CD in the phenotypic and causal structure of prevalent psychopathology, with an emphasis on similarities and differences between CD and oppositional defiant disorder (ODD). Papers were located using Web of Science by topic searches with no restriction on year of publication. Results Although some important nosologic questions remain unanswered, the dimensional phenotype of CD is well defined. CD differs from other disorders in its correlates, associated impairment, and course. Nonetheless, it is robustly correlated with many other prevalent dimensions of psychopathology both concurrently and predictively, including both other “externalizing” disorders and some “internalizing” disorders. Based on emerging evidence, we hypothesize that these concurrent and predictive correlations result primarily from widespread genetic pleiotropy, with some genetic factors nonspecifically influencing risk for multiple correlated dimensions of psychopathology. In contrast, environmental influences mostly act to differentiate dimensions of psychopathology from one another both concurrently and over time. CD and ODD share half of their genetic influences, but their genetic etiologies are distinct in other ways. Unlike most other dimensions of psychopathology, half of the genetic influences on CD appear to be unique to CD. In contrast, ODD broadly shares nearly all of its genetic influences with other disorders and has little unique genetic variance. Conclusions CD is a relatively distinct syndrome at both phenotypic and etiologic levels, but much is revealed by studying CD in the context of its causal and phenotypic associations with other disorders over time. Advancing and refining formal causal models that specify the common and unique causes and biological mechanisms underlying each correlated dimension of psychopathology should facilitate research on the fundamental nature and nosology of CD.

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Halo Effects in Ratings of ADHD and ODD: Identification of Susceptible Symptoms

Cited by 23 publications

References 11 publications

The Effects of Instructions on Mothers’ Ratings of Child Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder Symptoms

The Effects of Instructions on Mothers’ Ratings of Child Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder Symptoms

Multi-method assessment of ADHD characteristics in preschool children: Relations between measures

Annual Research Review: Phenotypic and causal structure of conduct disorder in the broader context of prevalent forms of psychopathology

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