Background: Although impaired sensory processing accompanies various clinical conditions, the question of its status as an independent disorder remains open. Our goal was to delineate the comorbidity (or lack thereof) between childhood psychopathology and sensory over-responsivity (SOR) in middle childhood using phenotypic and behavior-genetic…

Impulsivity and inattention are key constructs at the interface of temperament and domains of childhood behavioral problems, such as ADHD and ODD. A multi-method, multi-source assessment of impulsivity and inattention was conducted with 256 families of twins at a mean age of 8-9 years from an epidemiologically defined community sample. Analysis of…

Objective: To explore the genetic and environmental influences on DSM-IV conduct disorder (CD) aggressive and nonaggressive subscales, taking into account age and sex differences. Method: A community sample of 1,100 twin pairs (ages 11-18) was interviewed using the Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children. Bivariate analyses, using variable…

Emerging evidence suggests that some individuals may be simultaneously more responsive to the effects from environmental adversity "and" enrichment (i.e., differential susceptibility). Given that parenting behavior and a variable number tandem repeat polymorphism in the 3'untranslated region of the dopamine transporter (DAT1) gene are…

Background: Changes in reward processing are thought to be involved in the etiology of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), as well as other developmental disorders. In addition, different forms of therapy for ADHD rely on reinforcement principles. As such, improved understanding of reward processing in ADHD could eventually lead to…

Background: Although distinctive neuropsychological impairments have been delineated in children with chromosome 22q11 deletion syndrome (22q11DS), social skills and social cognition remain less well-characterised. Objective: To examine social skills and social cognition and their relationship with neuropsychological function/behaviour and…

Objective: To examine whether COMT (catechol-O-methyltransferase) polymorphism modulates aspects of sleep in children diagnosed with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Method: Nightly sleep actigraphic recordings during a double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover clinical study (1 week of 0.5 mg/kg MPH; 1 week of placebo) were…