Affective decision-making and externalizing behaviors: the role of autonomic activity.
We tested a conceptual model involving the inter-relations among affective decision-making (indexed by a gambling task), autonomic nervous system (ANS) activity, and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) symptoms in a largely impoverished, inner city sample of first through third grade children (N=63, 54% male). The present study hypothesized that impaired affective decision-making and decreased sympathetic and parasympathetic activation would be associated with higher levels of ADHD and ODD symptoms, and that low sympathetic and parasympathetic activation during an emotion-inducing task would mediate the relation between affective decision-making and child externalizing symptoms. In support of our model, disadvantageous decision-making on a gambling task was associated with ADHD hyperactivity/impulsivity symptoms among boys, and attenuated sympathetic activation during an emotion-inducing task mediated this relation. Support for the model was not found among girls.
Bubier
Jennifer L
JL
Department of Psychology, Temple University, Weiss Hall, 1701 North 13th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19122-6085, USA. jbubier@temple.edu
Drabick
Deborah A G
DA
D000339:Affect; D001289:Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D002648:Child; D003657:Decision Making; D003710:Demography; D005260:Female; D006339:Heart Rate / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012919:Social Behavior; D013564:Sympathetic Nervous System / Q000502:physiology