“Sleeper effects” in development: Fact or artifact?

The evolution of the concept of “sleeper effects” is traced from the work of J. Kagan and H. A. Moss (Birth to Maturity. New York: Wiley, 1962) to the present time. The phenomenon was originally inferred, without cross-validation, in the domain of personality, from correlations with early events which were stronger late in development than earlier. More recently it has been extended to account for long-term attainment differences associated with the presence or absence of preschool intervention. It seems possible that the original evidence may have capitalized upon chance fluctuations of few among many correlations. What is more certain, however, is that as currently used the term is imprecise, usually unjustified, and irrelevant to the supposed later effects of brief early intervention.     

Mothers', fathers' and children's perceptions of parents' expectations about children's family obligations in nine countries

Children's family obligations involve assistance and respect that children are expected to provide to immediate and extended family members and reflect beliefs related to family life that may differ across cultural groups. Mothers, fathers and children (N = 1432 families) in 13 cultural groups in 9 countries (China, Colombia, Italy, Jordan, Kenya, Philippines, Sweden, Thailand and United States) reported on their expectations regarding children's family obligations and parenting attitudes and behaviours. Within families, mothers and fathers had more concordant expectations regarding children's family obligations than did parents and children. Parenting behaviours that were warmer, less neglectful and more controlling as well as parenting attitudes that were more authoritarian were related to higher expectations regarding children's family obligations between families within cultures as well as between cultures. These international findings advance understanding of children's family obligations by contextualising them both within families and across a number of diverse cultural groups in 9 countries.     

Around the world,adolescence is a time of heightened sensation seeking and immature self‐regulation

The dual systems model of adolescent risk‐taking portrays the period as one characterized by a combination of heightened sensation seeking and still‐maturing self‐regulation, but most tests of this model have been conducted in the United States or Western Europe. In the present study, these propositions are tested in an international sample of more than 5000 individuals between ages 10 and 30 years from 11 countries in Africa, Asia, Europe and the Americas, using a multi‐method test battery that includes both self‐report and performance‐based measures of both constructs. Consistent with the dual systems model, sensation seeking increased between preadolescence and late adolescence, peaked at age 19, and declined thereafter, whereas self‐regulation increased steadily from preadolescence into young adulthood, reaching a plateau between ages 23 and 26. Although there were some variations in the magnitude of the observed age trends, the developmental patterns were largely similar across countries.     

An Evidence-Based,Community-Engaged Approach to Develop an Interactive Deliberation Tool for Pediatric Neuromuscular Trials

Duchenne/Becker muscular dystrophy (DBMD) and spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) are rare neuromuscular disorders that present challenges to therapeutic and clinical trial decision making. We developed an interactive, evidence-based online tool designed to encourage thoughtful deliberation of the pros and cons of trial participation and to inform meaningful discussions with healthcare providers. Prior research demonstrates the importance of tool availability at the time each family is considering trial participation, which may be prior to the informed consent process. The tool is intended to be easily modified to other pediatric disease communities. Tool development was informed by prior qualitative research, literature reviews, and stakeholder input. Specific items were derived based on an online exploratory questionnaire of parents whose children participated in a trial for DBMD or SMA to understand motivations for participation. Parent participants in the exploratory survey reported strong impact of altruistic and individual benefit motivations and placed much greater emphasis on anticipated trial benefits than on harms when making participation decisions. We used this data to develop the evidence-based deliberation tool using a community-engaged approach. We initially targeted the tool for DBMD while using SMA survey data to evaluate ease of transition to that population. We conducted two iterative sets of activities to inform development and refinement of the tool: (1) community engagement of key stakeholders and (2) user experience testing. These activities suggest that the tool may increase deliberation and the weighing of benefits and harms. Ongoing evaluation will determine the acceptability and efficacy of this online intervention.     

Fearful Inhibition,Inhibitory Control,and Maternal Negative Behaviors During Toddlerhood Predict Internalizing Problems at Age 6

Many, but not all, young children with high levels of fearful inhibition will develop internalizing problems. Individual studies have examined either child regulatory or environmental factors that might influence the level of risk. We focused on the interaction of regulation and environment by assessing how early fearful inhibition at age 2, along with inhibitory control and maternal negative behaviors at age 3, interactively predicted internalizing problems at age 6. A total of 218 children (105 boys, 113 girls) and their mothers participated in the study. Results indicated a three-way interaction among fearful inhibition, inhibitory control, and maternal negative behaviors. The correlation between fearful inhibition and internalizing was significant only when children had low inhibitory control and experienced high levels of maternal negative behaviors. Either having high inhibitory control or experiencing low maternal negative behaviors buffered against the adverse effect caused by the absence of the other. These findings highlight the importance of considering associations among both within-child factors and environmental factors in studying children’s socioemotional outcomes.     

Finding character strengths through loss: An extension of Peterson and Seligman (2003)

People can experience positive changes even in the midst of adversity and loss. We investigated character strengths following three recent shooting tragedies. Using an Internet database of respondents to the Values in Action Inventory of Strengths (VIA-IS), we compared responses from three groups of participants (N?=?31,429) within close proximity of each event: those who completed it eight months prior to the event, and one month and two months after. Results suggested that for one of the events, participants who completed the VIA-IS after the event showed slightly different levels of self-reported character strengths compared to participants who completed the VIA-IS before the event, with some mean levels higher and others lower. The observed differences in character strengths were inconsistent across follow-up periods, and effect sizes were small (d values from –0.13 to 0.15). These findings raise questions about whether and how tragedies might catalyze differences in character strengths.     

When Practice Does Not Make Perfect: Effects of Strategic Cognitive Processes on Errors During Skill Development

This study looked at the contribution of strategic cognitive processes such as frequency gambling and speed and accuracy trade‐off in the production of errors during skill development. We developed a novel psychomotor task and trained participants on the task. We predicted that practice would change the nature of errors and be driven by strategic processes, rather than just change the overall number of errors. The first experiment investigated the effects of frequency gambling on errors during skill development by manipulating stimulus probability. The second experiment tested the separate effects of speed versus accuracy instructions to clarify the strategic contribution of response‐criterion setting. The results of these two studies refute the widespread assumption that skill development invariably reduces errors. Rather, errors can be a strategic feature of skill acquisition (e.g. gambling on low probability events), which, although results in speedy performance, would be a dangerous practice in many real‐life contexts. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Mobile Internet Testing: An analysis of equivalence,individual differences,and reactions

Mobile internet testing (MIT) is the latest cost effective technological push in employment testing. The ability to access assessments via the internet using mobile devices provides increased speed and convenience for both administrators and respondents. In this article, we examine the equivalence of MIT compared with testing on personal computers (PCs) and whether attitudes and other individual differences influence responses and reactions to MIT. Results demonstrated equivalence for a supervisory situational judgment test across testing modes, but not for a cognitive ability test. Significant relationships were found between anxiety and both performance and reactions to mobile assessment. Respondents also reported significantly more positive reactions when tested on a PC versus a mobile device. Future research and practical implications are discussed.