Using confirmatory factor analysis to understand executive control in preschool children: sources of variation in emergent mathematic achievement

Latent variable modeling methods have demonstrated utility for understanding the structure of executive control (EC) across development. These methods are utilized to better characterize the relation between EC and mathematics achievement in the preschool period, and to understand contributing sources of individual variation. Using the sample and battery of laboratory tasks described in Wiebe, Espy and Charak (2008), latent EC was related strongly to emergent mathematics achievement in preschool, and was robust after controlling for crystallized intellectual skills. The relation between crystallized skills and emergent mathematics differed between girls and boys, although the predictive association between EC and mathematics did not. Two dimensions of the child ’s social environment contributed to mathematics achievement: social network support through its relation to EC and environmental stressors through its relation with crystallized skills. These findings underscore the need to examine the dimensions, mechanisms, and individual pathways that influence the development of early competence in basic cognitive processes that underpin early academic achievement.     

The structure of executive function in 3-year-olds

Although the structure of executive function (EF) during adulthood is characterized by both unity and diversity, recent evidence suggests that preschool EF may be best described by a single factor. The latent structure of EF was examined in 228 3-year-olds using confirmatory factor analysis. Children completed a battery of executive tasks that differed in format and response requirements and in putative working memory and inhibitory control demands. Tasks appeared to be age appropriate, with adequate sensitivity across the range of performance and without floor or ceiling effects. Tests of the relative fit of several alternative models supported a single latent EF construct. Measurement invariance testing revealed less proficient EF in children at higher sociodemographic risk relative to those at lower risk and no differences between boys and girls. At 3 years of age, when EF skills are emerging, EF appears to be a unitary, more domain-general process.     

Transdiagnostic internet treatment for anxiety and depression: a randomised controlled trial

Disorder-specific cognitive behavioural therapy programs delivered over the internet (iCBT) with clinician guidance are effective at treating specific anxiety disorders and depression. The present study examined the efficacy of a transdiagnostic iCBT protocol to treat three anxiety disorders and/or depression within the same program (the Wellbeing Program). Seventy-seven individuals with a principal diagnosis of major depression, generalised anxiety disorder, panic disorder, and/or social phobia were randomly assigned to a Treatment or Waitlist Control group. Treatment consisted of CBT-based online educational lessons and homework assignments, weekly email or telephone contact from a clinical psychologist, access to a moderated online discussion forum, and automated emails. Eighty one percent of Treatment group participants completed all 8 lessons within the 10 week program. Post-treatment data were collected from 34/37 Treatment group and 35/37 Control group participants, and 3-month follow-up data were collected from 32/37 Treatment group participants. Relative to Controls, Treatment group participants reported significantly reduced symptoms of anxiety and depression as measured by the Depression Anxiety and Stress Scales-21 item, Patient Health Questionnaire-9 item, and Generalised Anxiety Disorder-7 item scales, with corresponding between-groups effect sizes (Cohen’s d) at post treatment of.56,.58, and.52, respectively. The clinician spent a mean time of 84.76 min (SD = 50.37) per person over the program. Participants rated the procedure as highly acceptable, and gains were sustained at follow-up. These results provide preliminary support for the efficacy of transdiagnostic iCBT in the treatment of anxiety and depressive disorders.     

Prenatal tobacco exposure: developmental outcomes in the neonatal period

Smoking during pregnancy is a persistent public health problem that has been linked to later adverse outcomes. The neonatal period--the first month of life--carries substantial developmental change in regulatory skills and is the period when tobacco metabolites are cleared physiologically. Studies to date mostly have used cross-sectional designs that limit characterizing potential impacts of prenatal tobacco exposure on the development of key self-regulatory processes and cannot disentangle short-term withdrawal effects from residual exposure-related impacts. In this study, pregnant participants (N = 304) were recruited prospectively during pregnancy, and smoking was measured at multiple time points, with both self-report and biochemical measures. Neonatal attention, irritable reactivity, and stress dysregulation were examined longitudinally at three time points during the first month of life, and physical growth indices were measured at birth. Tobacco-exposed infants showed significantly poorer attention skills after birth, and the magnitude of the difference between exposed and nonexposed groups attenuated across the neonatal period. In contrast, exposure-related differences in irritable reactivity largely were not evident across the 1st month of life, differing marginally at 4 weeks of age only. Third-trimester smoking was associated with pervasive, deleterious, dose–response impacts on physical growth measured at birth, whereas nearly all smoking indicators throughout pregnancy predicted level and growth rates of early attention. The observed neonatal pattern is consistent with the neurobiology of tobacco on the developing nervous system and fits with developmental vulnerabilities observed later in life.     

Examining children in English High Courts with and without implementation of reforms authorized in Section 28 of the Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act

This study examined whether the implementation of Section 28 of the Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act (1999) improved lawyers' questioning strategies when examining child witnesses in England. The government's Section 28 pilot study involved judges holding Ground Rules Hearings, during which restrictions and limitations were placed on the duration, content, and manner of questions to be asked. Afterwards, children's cross‐examinations were pre‐recorded and later played as part of their evidence at trial. The current study compared cases involving 6‐ to 15‐year‐old alleged victims of sexual abuse in which Section 28 was (n = 43) and was not (n = 44) implemented. Defence lawyers in Section 28 cases asked significantly fewer suggestive questions and more option‐posing questions than defence lawyers in Nonsection 28 cases. Younger children complied more with defence lawyers' suggestive questions. Ground Rules Hearings improved lawyers' questioning strategies, regardless of the case's involvement in the Section 28 pilot study.     

Conservative protestants and engagement with sexual minorities living with HIV: the role of disgust and recategorizing contact

Conservative Protestants in the United States have historically distanced themselves from gay men, lesbians, and transgender persons living with HIV based largely on fears of moral contamination which are propagated by disgust. We argue how disgust can implicitly reify social divides that engender condemnation and subjugation. However, we will propose that it is achievable to safeguard the traditional tenets of sexuality and gender among conservative Protestants and actively oppose misapplications of those tenets to exclude persons living with HIV. We will support our thesis by describing the work of a medical clinic founded on conservative Protestant ideology that serves hijras and kotis living with HIV in India. We will introduce how applications of recategorizing contact, cognitive consistency, and cultural scaffolding are formative in maintaining one’s ideological integrity without enacting exclusion based on fear and disgust.     

The influence of peers on young adult substance use.

Data collected from 294 young adults, ages 19 to 25, and both a same- and an opposite-gender best friend or mate across 3 annual assessments were analyzed to examine the similarity to and influence of the peer on the young adult's substance use. The authors found similarity across time between both peers and the young adult in cigarette use, alcohol use, binge drinking, and, in most cases, marijuana use. In prospective analyses, peer use predicted young adult cigarette use, binge drinking, and problem use by the young adults. Results were generally consistent across gender and for both same- and opposite-gender peers. Findings emphasize peer influence contribution to young adult substance use and suggest the design of interventions that involve both young adults and their peers.     

Memory for autobiographical facts and events: a comparison of women reporting childhood sexual abuse and non‐abused controls

Although there is evidence that many adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse (CSA) have a period when they forget their abuse, existing research is equivocal about whether such individuals show other autobiographical memory impairments. The present study addressed some of the sampling and measurement problems apparent in previous studies and compared 74 women reporting a history of CSA with 60 non‐abused controls on their ability to recall facts and events from childhood. The results showed that the CSA group did not differ from the controls in the quality of their memories for autobiographical incidents. However, they were significantly less able than controls to recall specific facts about their personal history, such as significant addresses and names of significant individuals, after controlling for educational level, depression and childhood address changes. CSA group participants reporting a period of abuse forgetting appeared more impaired than those with continuous abuse memories in their recall of personal semantic facts, but were similar in their recall of autobiographical incidents. The findings suggest that experiencing a period of abuse forgetting is a more influential factor in predicting the ability to recall personal semantic facts than abuse status alone. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Self-esteem in schizophrenia: relationships between self-evaluation,family attitudes,and symptomatology

Participants with schizophrenia (N = 59) were assessed on self-evaluation, symptomatology, and positive and negative affect (expressed emotion) from significant others. An interview-based measure of self-evaluation was used and two independent dimensions of self-esteem were derived: negative and positive evaluation of self. As predicted, negative self-evaluation was strongly associated with positive symptoms, a more critical attitude from family members was associated with greater negative self-evaluation, and analyses supported a model whereby the impact of criticism on patients' positive symptoms was mediated by its association with negative self-evaluation. The interview-based method of self-esteem assessment was found to be superior to the questionnaire because its predictive effects remained after depressed mood was accounted for.     

Interviewee coaching, preparation strategies, and response strategies in relation to performance in situational employment interviews: an extension of Maurer, Solamon, and Troxtel (1998)

Voluntary attendance at an interview coaching session was positively related to situational interview performance, controlling for job knowledge, motivation to do well, race, and sex of 213 candidates applying for promotion into several police and fire department jobs in a large city. Discrete preparation strategies (e.g., participation in study groups, participation in role-playing) were related to participation in coaching and also were related to interview performance beyond what could be accounted for by coaching participation, shedding some light on the potential efficacy of specific preparation strategies for enhancing success in situational interviews. Most notably, coaching attendance and preparation by interviewees were positively associated with a tendency to use strategies in the interview that enhanced the organization of interviewees' answers, and this organization was positively associated with performance in the interview.