童年贫困与晚年认知老化：加速还是延缓?

童年贫困与晚年认知老化的关系尚存争议。有的研究表明, 童年贫困会加速个体的认知老化, 但是也有研究发现童年贫困会延缓个体的认知老化, 这与社会流动性起到的调节作用有关。对于童年贫困个体, 低稳定或者社会经济地位的向下流动(即长期贫困)会使逆境产生的消极影响不断累积, 从而加速个体的认知老化; 而心理韧性高的童年贫困个体, 可能会促使社会经济地位向上流动, 这会增加个体的认知储备, 并提升特定认知能力, 进而延缓认知老化。今后该领域的研究应该探讨童年主观贫困与认知老化之间的关系以及童年贫困对不同认知能力老化的影响, 也应关注童年贫困与晚年认知老化关系研究中的幸存者偏差效应。     

Class Identification and Psychological Variables Related to Well-being and Social Mobility

It has been reported in the literature that the socioeconomic level of subjects often does not correspond to their class identification, and that the latter is a better predictor of physical and psychological health variables. The objectives of this study were to provide evidence that class identification is largely independent of the socioeconomic level of subjects, and to verify the extent to which class identification is related to psychological factors (self-esteem, social support networks, strategies for coping with stress, depression, locus of control, achievement motivation and subjective well-being), and to the probability of experiencing upward social mobility. Participating in the study were 918 subjects, of whom 346 were extremely poor, 260 moderately poor and 312 were not poor. City districts in Mexico City and the larger metropolitan area were selected randomly. The results indicated a weak relationship between objective indicators of socioeconomic level and the class identification of subjects and a relationship between class identification and some of the psychological factors measured, and between the upward social mobility.     

Childhood Aggression and Unconventionality: Impact on Later Academic Achievement,Drug Use,and Workforce Involvement

The interrelation of childhood aggression, unconventionality, academic orientation, work involvement, and drug use was explored. Data were obtained for the research participants when they were 5 to 10 years old. Follow-up interviews were conducted when the participants were 15 to 20 years old and again at 21 to 26 years old. Latent variable causal analysis was used, and the findings reveal long-term relations between early childhood aggression and adolescent problem behavior in the academic and occupational areas. The findings also indicate that adolescent drug use generates an early involvement with adult role behaviors, such as work at the expense of further education. Implications of the findings for prevention are discussed.     

Thirty-year secular trends in the cognitive abilities of Danish male school-leavers at a high educational level

A nationally representative sample of Danish males finishing school in 1989, or shortly before, with a studentereksamen (the highest qualification in the Danish school system) was found to score generally lower on a battery of four cognitive tests than a comparable sample of Danish males who had taken the same tests shortly after finishing school in the late 1950s or early 1960s. This decline appears attributable to the increasing proportions of students who obtain the stundentereksamen and is quite compatible with an overall increase in test scores, also found in our data, for the general population over the same time period. For those who obtain the stundentereksamen , the decline has been most marked in a test of verbal analogies. It has been smaller for tests of logical and spatial reasoning, and scores on a test of numerical ability have actually improved over the 30 years. This differential pattern may be the result of both student changes and auricular changes within Danish schools.     

Education and the Importance of Religion in Decision Making: Do Other Dimensions of Religiousness Matter?

The relationship between education and the importance of religion in everyday decision making is examined using data from two national surveys of American adults. People who have higher levels of education are less likely to rely on the Bible and the teachings of their place of worship for guidance in their decision making. However, previously undocumented contingencies attenuate the effect of education: (1) attending religious services regularly; (2) involvement in religious activities; (3) praying more frequently; (4) believing in the literal interpretation of the Bible; and (5) greater certainty in one's personal faith. These patterns hold net of income, which is also negatively associated with religious‐based decision making—and only the socially integrative aspects of religiousness attenuate that association.     

Potential Moderators of Racial Differences in Responses to Traumatic Events

Research regarding the influence of race on outcomes after trauma has been mixed, and we aimed to identify potential moderators of the relation between race and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD)–related outcomes. We conducted a secondary analysis of data from 477 participants in the Collaborative Psychiatric Epidemiology Surveys. African American individuals reported a shorter duration of and less frequent PTSD symptoms than Caucasian individuals, and also endorsed a greater number of reexperiencing and avoidance symptoms. Education, socioeconomic status, and social support did not significantly moderate relations between age of worst trauma and PTSD-related outcomes. Clinical and research implications are discussed.     

Home environmental influences on children's language and reading skills in a genetically sensitive design: Are socioeconomic status and home literacy environment environmental mediators and moderators?

This twin study examined how family socioeconomic status (SES) and home literacy environment (HLE) contributes to Chinese language and reading skills. It included 312 Chinese twin pairs aged 3 to 11. Children were individually administered tasks of Chinese word reading, receptive vocabulary and reading‐related cognitive skills, and nonverbal reasoning ability. Information on home environment was collected through parent‐reported questionnaires. Results showed that SES and HLE mediated shared environmental influences but did not moderate genetic influences on general language and reading abilities. Also, SES and HLE mediated shared environmental contributions to receptive vocabulary and syllable and rhyme awareness, but not orthographic skills. The findings of this study add to past twin studies that focused on alphabetic languages, suggesting that these links could be universal across languages. They also extend existing findings on SES and HLE's contributions to reading‐related cognitive skills.     

低社会经济地位影响自我调节的神经机制

自我调节是个体为了实现目标并适应不断变化的环境而监控和调节自己的认知、情绪和行为的能力, 在成就、人际交往和健康等各个领域发挥着作用, 被视为是人类成功和幸福的关键。然而, 大量研究发现个体的社会经济地位越低, 自我调节能力越差。为了提高低社会经济地位者的自我调节能力, 必须深入考察低社会经济地位影响自我调节的机制。神经科学为此提供了独特而重要的信息：低社会经济地位改变了背外侧前额叶皮层、扣带回、腹内侧前额叶、杏仁核、海马体、腹侧纹状体的结构和功能, 进而影响了自我调节的各个成分(认知调节、情绪调节、行为调节)。未来研究除了对神经机制中每条因果链进行更严格地考察外, 还应将神经生物学与发展心理学联系起来深入揭示不同发展阶段低社会经济地位对自我调节的独特影响机制, 并关注低社会经济地位者在神经和行为层面特定反应的适应性, 在此基础上开发出系统、持续、有效的干预方案。     

Academic achievement and popularity in low-socioeconomic status black children

The literature suggests that popularity may have different correlates depending on the ethnic, racial, and/or socioeconomic characteristics of the peer group. This study therefore investigated the relationship between peer popularity and academic achievement in low-socioeconomic status urban black children, a population in which this relationship had not previously been examined. Two hundred ninety-six children in grades 4, 6, and 8 completed three sociometric rating scales, indicating the popularity of each of their same-sex classmates as a workmate, playmate, and best friend. These ratings were subjected to a multivariate analysis of variance in which gender and academic achievement (high vs. low achievement test scores) were factors. Consistent with previous research, high achievement was associated with greater popularity as a workmate for an academic task at all three grade levels examined. Popularity as a playmate and as a best friend, however, was inversely related to achievement among fourth graders and unrelated to achievement among eighth graders. These findings suggest that, although high achievement may be recognized for its adaptive value in a work-related context, it may actually be something of a social liability among younger children choosing partners for social and athletic activities. The results support a conceptualization of popularity as a multidimensional construct and highlight the importance of the use of multiple measures.The authors express their appreciation to the children, parents, and staff of the Orleans Parish Schools for their cooperation and participation in the study and to Rex Forehand and Ben Lahey for helpful comments on the design and analysis.     

Diverse middle school students’ future career autobiographies and socioeconomic status factors: A content analysis

The future career autobiography (FCA) is a narrative, discovery-based career intervention designed to assess individuals’ career hopes and dreams. In total, 134 low-income, ethnically and racially diverse middle school students participated in an FCA intervention through a yearlong grant-funded career development initiative. Using content analysis, we analyzed participants’ FCAs for socioeconomic status factors and lifestyle indicators. We found that participants articulated occupational and lifestyle factors more than education and income, and that there were differences based on biological sex, race, and ethnicity. We present pertinent results and discuss implications for counseling practice and future research.     

Why Socioeconomic Status Affects the Health of Children

Abstract— This article provides an overview of research on socioeconomic status (SES) and physical health in childhood. SES has a gradient relationship with children's health, such that for each incremental increase in SES, there is a comparable benefit in children's health. In this article, I discuss psychosocial mechanisms underlying this association and argue that it is important to utilize knowledge about how the relationship between SES and health changes with age to inform a developmentally plausible search for mediators of this relationship. Furthermore, SES at different points in a child's lifetime may have different effects on health. I advocate an interdisciplinary approach to searching for mediators that would allow researchers to understand how characteristics of society, the neighborhood, the family, and the individual child are involved in the processes linking SES and children's health.