J. Behav. Ther. & Exp. Psychiat.

41 (2010) 234237

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Journal of Behavior Therapy and

Experimental Psychiatry
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jbtep

How to increase academic performance in children with oppositional deant

disorder? An implicit theory effect
D. Da Fonseca a, c, *, F. Cury b, A. Santos c, P. Sarrazin d, F. Poinso a, c, C. Deruelle c
a

Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Unit, Sainte Marguerite Hospital, 270 Bd Sainte Marguerite, 13009 Marseille, France
CNRS University of Provence and South University of Toulon Var, France
c
Mediterranean Institute of Cognitive Neurosciences, CNRS, UMR 6193, Marseille, France
d
University of Grenoble, France
b

a r t i c l e i n f o

a b s t r a c t

Article history:
Received 17 February 2009
Received in revised form
21 January 2010
Accepted 25 January 2010

The aim of the present study was to determine whether the implicit theory effect extends to children
with oppositional deant disorder (ODD), with academic difculties. Twenty-ve male children, aged 8
11 years with ODD were randomly assigned to one of two experimental conditions (Incremental Theory
highlighting the possibility of self-improvement vs. control). An increase of cognitive performance (IQ)
was found for children with ODD in the incremental condition, but not in the control condition. This
cognitive improvement could be viewed as a protective factor for children and adolescents with ODD on
academic setting.
2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords:
Mental disorders
Oppositional deant disorder
Children
Implicit theories of intelligence
CBT
IQ

1. Introduction
In the last decade, several studies have suggested that it is
possible to increase academic performance of normally developing
adolescents by manipulating their ability beliefs (Aronson, Fried, &
Good, 2002; Cury, Elliot, Da Fonseca, & Moller 2006; Good, Aronson,
& Inzlicht, 2003; Henderson & Dweck, 1990). In these studies,
a selection of participants was informed that the ability in question
was highly malleable (incremental theory), whereas others were
informed that this ability was xed (entity theory). Interestingly,
this belief manipulation was found to predict performance in normally developing adolescents with higher levels of performance for
subjects in the malleable ability condition than for those in the
xed condition (Dweck & Molden, 2005).
To date only one study has addressed this issue in adolescents
with mental disorders, which generally have poor academic
performance relative to their normally developing peers. Recently,
Da Fonseca et al. (2008) have demonstrated that belief manipulations affect IQ-test performance of adolescents with generalized
* Corresponding author. Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Unit, Sainte Marguerite
Hospital, 270 Bd Sainte Marguerite, 13009 Marseille, France. Tel.: 33 4 91 74 62 53;
fax: 33 4 91 74 42 62.
E-mail address: david.dafonseca@ap-hm.fr (D. Da Fonseca).
0005-7916/$ see front matter 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.jbtep.2010.01.008

anxiety disorders (GAD; Da Fonseca et al., 2008). This study

revealed that, relative to a control condition, incremental theory
has a positive effect on IQ-test performance controlled for a baseline level. In other words, when young adolescents are confronted
with a context in which intelligence is highly malleable, they tend
to show substantial IQ performance improvement as compared to
a control condition.
The aim of the present study was to determine whether this
implicit theory effect extends to young adolescents with mental
disorders other than GAD, such as those with oppositional deant
disorders, which also present substantial academic difculties.
Importantly, we used exactly the same experimental design as that
used by Da Fonseca et al. (2008).
Oppositional deant disorder (ODD) is one of the most
common childhood psychiatric disorders with a pattern of negative, hostile and deviant behaviour that is severe enough to impair
the childs functioning (American Psychiatric Association, 1994;
Burke, Loeber, & Birmaher, 2002). Indeed, these behaviours
interfere with learning and school adjustment as children with
ODD having signicantly lower grades than typically developing
children. Also, children with ODD are more likely to be placed in
special classes at school than are children with other psychiatric
disorders (Greene et al., 2002). Early intervention in children with
ODD should thus target a reduction of risk factors, such as

D. Da Fonseca et al. / J. Behav. Ther. & Exp. Psychiat. 41 (2010) 234237

repetitive failures, and an increase of protective factors, such as

academic competence. This could constitute an important step to
prevent academic failure and behaviour problems in later school
years.
The present study aims to investigate whether a new cognitive
therapy, such as the implicit theory manipulation, could be of
benet for children with ODD. Based on previous ndings
showing that this belief-altering intervention is effective not only
for typically developing adolescents but also for adolescents with
GAD, we hypothesized that the incremental theory effect would
have a positive inuence on IQ-test performance relative to
performance on a control condition in clinically referred children
with ODD.
2. Method
2.1. Participants and design
Twenty-ve male children with ODD voluntarily accepted to
participate in the experiment. They were aged 811 years
(M 112; SD 12.96 months) and were all diagnosed by a trained
psychiatrist on the basis of the DSM-IV (A.P.A., 1994) diagnosis
criteria. Clinical assessment also comprised a semi-structured
clinical diagnostic interview (Schedule for Affective Disorders
and Schizophrenia for School-Age Children-Present and Lifetime
Version; K-SADS-PL: Kaufman, Birmaher, Brent, Rao, & Ryan, 1997)
conducted separately with the parents and the child. Children
with ODD were recruited from a sample of patients who had been
referred in the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at
the Sainte Marguerite Hospital in Marseille. Children were
excluded from the study for any of the following reasons: conduct
disorder, mental retardation, selective mutism, associated pervasive developmental disorder, schizophrenia or other psychotic
disorders, major depressive disorder, major bipolar disorder,
organic mental disorders, or absence of parental consent. Eight
children had ADHD (4 in each group) in addition to ODD. At the
time of testing, all children were free of any treatment involving
psychotropic medication. Children in the sample were of diverse
ethnic and socio-economic backgrounds. The ODD participants
were randomly assigned to one of two experimental conditions
(Incremental Theory vs. control).
2.2. Procedure and manipulations
Participants were individually tested in a quiet room at the
Sainte Marguerite Hospital by a male experimenter who was
unaware of the hypotheses being tested. They were rst
presented with a target task the Coding subtest of the Wechsler
Intelligence Scale for Children III (WISC-III, Wechsler, 1996).
This test requires participants to complete pairs using a series of
digit-symbol codes as quickly as possible during 2 min. This test
aims at assessing visualmotor coordination, concentration,
speed of information processing, and rote learning. According to
Mayes, Calhoun, Bixler, and Zimmerman (2009), the Coding
subtest is one of the strongest predictors of math achievement in
children.
All participants were informed that this task is generally used
to assess IQ, attentional capacity and speed of information processing in children and adolescents. Participants were given 2 min
to complete the task. Performance on this test was used as
a baseline measure of performance (i.e., Time 1 performance).
Following this test, the experimental manipulation was introduced, with half of the participants being presented with the
incremental theory condition and the other half with a control
condition.

235

In the incremental theory condition, the experimenter provided

participants with a written form of the implicit theory manipulation: In multiple studies, scientists have shown that: 1) Everyone
demonstrates a certain level of this type of ability, but it can be
changed substantially in many ways, 2) This type of ability does not
depend on gifts or qualities that one has from birth, 3) If one makes
an effort, one can change ones level of ability, and 4) This type of
ability is modiable.
A gure displaying longitudinal data of coding performance
that clearly supported the malleability position was then shown.
Finally, participants were informed: In conclusion, today we want
to test you on a certain ability that is a factor in teen intelligence.
This ability is relatively unstable, so it is capable of being
changed.
In the control condition, participants were tested without the
implicit theory manipulation but the condition otherwise followed
the same procedure as the incremental theory group.
Following this, all participants completed an implicit theory
manipulation check measure. They were then given 5 min to
practice on a similar coding problem following which they were
asked to complete the Coding test again for 2 min (i.e., Time 2
performance). Finally, the experimenter scored the tests and gave
positive feedback to all participants. Participants were then thoroughly debriefed. The experimenter remained blind to the participants implicit theory condition throughout the experimental
session.
2.3. Measures
2.3.1. Manipulation check
An incremental theory item (The purpose of this session is to
test an ability that is relatively unstable and not that difcult to
change) and an entity theory item (The purpose of this session
is to test an ability that is relatively stable and difcult to
change) were used to verify the effectiveness of the implicit
theory manipulation (Cury et al., 2006). Participants responded
using a 7-point scale, where (1) meant do not agree and (7)
meant totally agree. A signicant negative correlation was
found between scores on the two items (r .85). Then, the
entity theory score was reversed and added to the incremental
score, and the total was averaged (a .89) to form an implicit
theory index.
2.3.2. Performance
Participants scores on the Coding test of the WISC-III (Wechsler,
1996) at Time 1 and Time 2 were used as an indicator of IQ
performance.
3. Results
3.1. Preliminary analyses
An independent sample t-test revealed no signicant differences between the two groups (incremental vs. control groups) at
baseline testing (T1 performance) indicating that the randomly
assignment was correctly carried out, t (22) 0.66, p .51. To
examine the efcacy of the implicit theory manipulation, an
additional t-test was done on the implicit theory index, t
(22) 3.00, p .006. Results show that participants placed in
the incremental theory condition (M 5.7) perceived the purpose
of the session as a test of an ability that is relatively unstable and
not difcult to change more than those in the control condition
(M 4.1). This demonstrates that the implicit theory manipulation was effective.

236

D. Da Fonseca et al. / J. Behav. Ther. & Exp. Psychiat. 41 (2010) 234237

3.2. Performance1
Our performance related hypothesis was tested using a 2
(conditions: incremental theory vs. control)  2 (times: T1 performance vs. T2 performance) ANOVA with repeated measures on the
last variable. The main effect of Time was found to be signicant [F
(1, 22) 66.22, p < .001], indicating that both groups progressed on
average between the two tests, while the main effect of Condition
was not signicant [F (1, 22) 2.60 p > .05]. Most importantly, the
Condition by Time interaction was signicant [F (1, 22) 8.90,
p < .05], indicating that the performance evolution was different
depending on group membership.
In order to compare the improvement of the performance in
each condition, we computed the difference between T1 and T2 for
each group, and obtained an improvement index. A t-test of the
index scores revealed that, in the implicit condition, participants
increased their performance more than did control participants, t
(22) 3.62, p .0014. Table 1 presents the mean performance for
the experimental conditions as a function of the times of measure.

4. Discussion
The aim of the current study was to replicate and to extend the
ndings of Da Fonseca et al. (2008) in children with ODD. Results of
this study suggest that implicit theory effects are relevant for
children with ODD. An increase of cognitive performance (IQ) was
found for children with ODD in the incremental condition, but not
for those in the control condition. This suggests that this implicit
theory has a positive effect on performance, which may in turn
increase the academic achievement of children with ODD.
Findings of this study do not indicate that this cognitive strategy
should be considered as the only major treatment for children with
ODD. Indeed, the efcacy of parent management trainings (PMT),
which aim at teaching parents to better manage disobedience or
behaviour problems (Sanders, Markie-Dadds, Tully, & Bor, 2000;
Webster-Stratton, Reid, & Hammond, 2004) has been proven in
a wide variety of clinical trials in children with ODD (Barkley,
Edwards, Laneri, Fletcher, & Metevia, 2001; Nixon, 2002; McCart,
Priester, Davies, & Azen, 2006). However, the cognitive strategy
presently investigated may help to prevent school problems and
academic failure, which signicantly contribute to the well-known
negative reputation of children with ODD as related to academic
performance (Reid, Webster-Stratton, & Hammond, 2003). The
present treatment may also better serve the needs of children with
ODD in academic settings. Thus, the cognitive improvement found
here could be viewed as a protective factor against the detrimental
effects of ODD in children and adolescents across multiple domains
of functioning.
Moreover, our ndings suggest that the implicit theory effect is
relevant in children with inappropriate levels of deant, disobedient, and hostile behaviour toward authority. This procedure may
be particularly interesting because it allows one to indirectly
modify beliefs of children with contrary attitudes. We can suppose
that a direct request to modify beliefs would be less effective
because the child feels compelled to react against that request,
especially in front of peers. However, by manipulating only the
context, children with ODD may be less deant and able to increase
their cognitive performance.

1
We calculated the effect size value for the performance dependent variable. The
estimate reached the large effect size standard recommended by Cohen (1988):
Cohens d .90 for the T2 performance certifying that the present study had an
appropriate effect size.

Table 1
Mean performances for the experimental conditions as a function of the times of
measure.
Group

Performances
Time 1
Time 2

Incremental (N 12)

Control (N 12)

SD

SD

9.00
12.41

3.33
3.14

8.20
9.50

2.74
3.26

Nevertheless, the current study presents some limitations. First,

it did not include a psychological processes assessment, which
might have contributed for the performance increase. However,
according to Dweck & Molden (2005), incremental theorists have
a strong tendency to attribute negative outcomes to a lack of effort.
Therefore, we can suppose that ODD adolescents benetting from
incremental manipulation were more focused on processes such as
perseverance. Moreover, this study did not assess anxiety.
However, in three previous experiments using the same procedure
and the same task (coding test), we demonstrated that the incremental effect was effective in decreasing anxiety (Cury et al., 2006;
Cury, Da Fonseca, Zahn, & Elliot, 2008; Da Fonseca et al., 2008). We
can also suppose that anxiety could be a signicant mediator of
implicit theory effect for ODD adolescents. Thus, it would be
interesting to determine the mediator role of these variables in the
relationship between the implicit theory effect and performance.
Furthermore, measuring the mediator role of other variables more
specic to adolescents with ODD such as opposition would also be
of interest.
Another limitation of our study was the performance measure.
Indeed, we used the coding subscale which cannot be representative of all cognitive abilities related to school achievement. It would
be interesting to assess the impact of the implicit effect on all the
subtests which composed the IQ test. Indeed, many of them are also
related to academic achievement such as block design matrix
reasoning, vocabulary and similarities. For example Mayes et al.
(2009) have demonstrated that the Digit span was related to
word reading abilities. In addition, further studies are also required
to test this same effect directly on academic achievement.
In summary, the implicit theory effect seems to be effective not
only in typically developing children but also in children with GAD
or ODD. Taken together, the ndings of the present study, in
highlighting the possibility of self-improvement, suggest that this
innovative cognitive strategy might be an efcient therapeutic
strategy for children with mental disorders, especially those associated with learning difculties.
Finally, evidence for a positive implicit theory effect on cognitive
performance may contribute to the design of new prevention and
treatment programs for children and adolescents with academic
difculties. This strategy can be implemented in cognitive
restructuring programs that help children change their way of
thinking regarding their abilities and help them understand that
their abilities are more malleable than they believe them to be.
Furthermore, this strategy can be used by parents as well as by
teachers. Transversal interventions are necessary in order to
change inappropriate beliefs not only at home but also at school.
Indeed, cross-situational strategies appear more effective at
providing children with greater opportunities for reaching their full
potential.
References
American Psychiatric Association. (1994). Diagnostic and statistical manuel of mental
disorders. (DSM-IV) (4th ed.). Washington, DC: APA.

D. Da Fonseca et al. / J. Behav. Ther. & Exp. Psychiat. 41 (2010) 234237

Aronson, J., Fried, C. B., & Good, C. (2002). Reducing the effects of stereotype threat
on African American college students by shaping theories of intelligence.
Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 38, 113125.
Barkley, R. A., Edwards, G., Laneri, M., Fletcher, K., & Metevia, L. (2001). The efcacy
of problem-solving communication training alone, behavior management
training alone, and their combination for parentadolescent conict in teenagers with ADHD and ODD. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 69,
926941.
Burke, J. D., Loeber, R., & Birmaher, B. (2002). Oppositional deant disorder and
conduct disorder: a review of the past 10 years, part II. Journal of American
Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 41, 12751293.
Cury, F., Da Fonseca, D., Zahn, I., & Elliot, A. (2008). Implicit theories and IQ
performance. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 44, 783791.
Cury, F., Elliot, A., Da Fonseca, D., & Moller, A. C. (2006). The social cognitive model
of achievement motivation and the 2X2 achievement goal framework. Journal of
Personality and Social Psychology, 90, 666679.
Da Fonseca, D., Cury, F., Fakra, E., Rufo, M., Poinso, F., Bounoua, L., & Huguet, P. (2008).
Implicit theories of intelligence and IQ test performance in adolescents with
Generalized Anxiety Disorder. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 46, 529536.
Dweck, C. S., & Molden, D. C. (2005). Self-theories: their impact on competence and
acquisition. In A. Elliot, & C. Dweck (Eds.), The handbook of competence and
motivation (pp. 122140). NY: Guilford Press.
Good, C., Aronson, J., & Inzlicht, M. (2003). Improving adolescents standardized test
performance: an intervention to reduce the effects of stereotype threat. Applied
Developmental Psychology, 24, 645662.
Greene, R. W., Biederman, J., Zerwas, S., Monuteaux, M. C., Goring, J. C., &
Faraone, S. V. (2002). Psychiatric comorbidity, family dysfunction, and social
impairment in referred youth with oppositional deant disorder. American
Journal of Psychiatry, 159, 12141224.

237

Henderson, V., & Dweck, C. S. (1990). Motivation and achievement. In S. S. Feldman,

& G. R. Elliot (Eds.), The developing adolescent (pp. 308329). Cambridge, MA:
Harvard University Press.
Kaufman, J., Birmaher, B., Brent, D., Rao, U., & Ryan, N. (1997). Schedule for affective
disorders and schizophrenia for school-age children-Present and Lifetime
Version (K-SADS-PL): initial reliability and validity data. Journal of American
Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 36, 980988.
McCart, M. R., Priester, P. E., Davies, W. H., & Azen, R. (2006). Differential effectiveness of behavioral parent-training and cognitivebehavioral therapy for
antisocial youth: a meta analysis. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 34,
527543.
Mayes, S. D., Calhoun, S. L., Bixler, E. O., & Zimmerman, D. N. (2009). IQ and neuropsychological predictors of academic achievement. Learning and Individual
Differences, 19, 238241.
Nixon, R. D. V. (2002). Treatment of behavior problems in preschoolers: a review of
parent training programs. Clinical Psychological Review, 22, 525546.
Reid, M. J., Webster-Stratton, C., & Hammond, M. (2003). Follow-up of children
who received the incredible years intervention for oppositionai-deant
disorder: maintenance and prediction of 2-year outcome. Behavior Therapy,
34, 471491.
Sanders, M. R., Markie-Dadds, C., Tully, L. A., & Bor, W. (2000). The triple P-positive
parenting program: a comparison of enhanced, standard, and self-directed
behavioral family intervention for parents of children with early-onset
conduct problems. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 68, 624640.
Webster-Stratton, C., Reid, M. J., & Hammond, M. (2004). Treating children with
early-onset conduct problems: intervention outcomes for parent, child and
teacher training. Journal of clinical child and adolescent psychology, 33, 105124.
Wechsler, D. (1996). Echelle dIntelligence de Wechsler pour enfants Troisie`me Edition
(Wechsler intelligence scale for children-III). Paris: ECPA.