Search

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), depression and general learning disabilities (LD) are common difficulties for British primary school children. It has been found that characteristics associated with these difficulties can result in negative attitudes and stigma from other children, causing problems with peer relationships. Furthermore, problematic peer relations can intensify the difficulties associated with these disorders. Packages such as "Tackling Stigma: A Practical Toolkit" aim to combat stigma in schools. However, these packages have not been based on evidence regarding children's attitudes towards different disorders. This study aims to explore children's attitudes towards ADHD, depression and LD from a conative (measure of social distance) and cognitive (measure of positive or negative attributes ascribed to a person) perspective. Participants were 273 children (M = 9.2 years). Vignettes were used to describe a child with ADHD, depression, or LD or a "normal" child. The Shared Activities Questionnaire was utilised to assess conative attitudes, and the Adjective Checklist was utilised to assess cognitive attitudes. Results showed that children generally displayed more negative attitudes to vignettes describing mental health difficulties (MHD) (ADHD and depression) than LD. Children had more negative attitudes towards the ADHD (externalising disorder) vignette than the depression vignette (internalising disorder). Younger children had more positive conative attitudes than older children. Those who had previous contact with children with ADHD, depression and LD had more positive attitudes. These findings can enhance current stigma reduction interventions through contributing a deeper understanding of children's attitudes towards the most common MHD and LD in childhood.

Background: The aim of the study was to explore the validity of the social-moral awareness test (SMAT) a measure designed for assessing socio-moral rule knowledge and reasoning in people with learning disabilities. Comparisons between Theory of Mind and socio-moral reasoning allowed the exploration of construct validity of the tool. Factor structure, reliability and discriminant validity were also assessed. Materials and Methods: Seventy-one participants with mild-moderate learning disabilities completed the two scales of the SMAT and two False Belief Tasks for Theory of Mind. Results: Reliability of the SMAT was very good, and the scales were shown to be uni-dimensional in factor structure. There was a significant positive relationship between Theory of Mind and both SMAT scales. Conclusions: There is early evidence of the construct validity and reliability of the SMAT. Further assessment of the validity of the SMAT will be required. (Contains 5 tables and 3 pictures.)

Research with anxious and depressed adults has suggested that anxiety is related to an increased anticipation of both negative memories and negative expectancies whereas depression is related to a reduction in positive memories and expectancies. The present study examined whether anxiety and depression in 123 school-aged adolescents would show the same pattern. Small groups completed a memory and future thinking task in which they were asked to generate future and past, positive and negative events. Adolescents with higher levels of depression and those with higher levels of anxiety reported significantly more negative events relative to controls, but neither group generated fewer positive events. The results provide support for the involvement of cognitions in mood disturbance although do not support the idea that these cognitions are different in anxiety and depression.