Stuttering severity and educational attainment

Purpose

This study investigated the relationship between self-reported stuttering severity ratings and educational attainment.

Method

Participants were 147 adults seeking treatment for stuttering. At pretreatment assessment, each participant reported the highest educational level they had attained and rated their typical and worst stuttering severity on a 9-point scale for a range of speaking situations. These included: (1) talking with a family member, (2) talking with a familiar person, not a family member, (3) talking in a group of people, (4) talking with a stranger, (5) talking with an authority figure such as a work manager or teacher, (6) talking on the telephone, (7) ordering food or drink, and (8) giving their name and address.

Results

There was a significant negative relationship between highest educational achievement and mean self-reported stuttering severity rating for the eight situations.

Conclusions

Future research is needed to investigate how this result should be addressed in educational institutions.Educational objectives: The reader will be able to: (1) describe the negative effects of stuttering through childhood to adulthood; (2) identify some of the negative consequences associated with stuttering on peer and teacher relationships, and academic performance at school; and (3) summarise the relationship between stuttering severity and educational attainment.     

What's mom got to do with it? Contributions of maternal executive function and caregiving to the development of executive function across early childhood

Executive functions (EFs; e.g. working memory, inhibitory control) are mediated by the prefrontal cortex and associated with optimal cognitive and socio‐emotional development. This study provides the first concurrent analysis of the relative contributions of maternal EF and caregiving to child EF. A group of children and their mothers (n = 62) completed age‐appropriate interaction (10, 24, 36 months) and EF tasks (child: 24, 36, and 48 months). Regression analyses revealed that by 36 months of age, maternal EF and negative caregiving behaviors accounted for unique variance in child EF, above and beyond maternal education and child verbal ability. These findings were confirmed when using an early child EF composite‐our most reliable measure of EF – and a similar pattern was found when controlling for stability in child EF. Furthermore, there was evidence that maternal EF had significant indirect effects on changes in child EF through maternal caregiving. At 24 months, EF was associated with maternal EF, but not negative caregiving behaviors. Taken together, these findings suggest that links between negative caregiving and child EF are increasingly manifested during early childhood. Although maternal EF and negative caregiving are related, they provide unique information about the development of child EF. A video abstract of this article can be viewed at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPKXFbbrkps     

Validation of the Karitane Parenting Confidence Scale in Measuring Parental Self-Efficacy of Australian Fathers

Journal of Child and Family Studies - Parental Self Efficacy (PSE) is a key predictor of positive parenting practices and child outcomes. The Karitane Parenting Confidence Scale (KPCS) is a global...     

Shyness and Psychosocial Functioning in South Korean Children

The purpose of this study was to examine whether anxious shyness and regulated shyness, initially identified in the Chinese culture, is found in South Korean children, and to explore whether these two forms of shyness were differentially related to children's psychosocial functioning. Participants were 544 fourth to sixth grade children (251 girls, M age = 11.38 years old) who were recruited from an elementary school in Bucheon City, South Korea. Children's anxious and regulated shyness were measured using peers' nominations and teachers' ratings, whereas their social preference and social impact were assessed using peers' nominations. Parents rated their children's temperamental shyness and effortful control, and children self‐reported their loneliness and interpersonal concerns. The results of confirmatory factor analysis replicated the two factor model of shyness found in previous studies of Chinese children. Anxious shyness and regulated shyness were positively associated and were similarly related to temperamental shyness. Anxious shyness was negatively related to effortful control and social preference, and positively associated with self‐reported loneliness and interpersonal concerns, whereas regulated shyness was positively related to effortful control and social preference and negatively associated with loneliness and social impact. These results were generally consistent with prior Chinese findings and provided preliminary support for the construct validity of anxious and regulated shyness in another Asian culture that emphasizes interdependence and modesty. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Meaning and Health: A Systematic Review

The research base linking meaning with physical health is significantly underdeveloped in comparison to that linking subjective well-being and physical health. We address this deficit by first providing an overview of the study of meaning, and then examining evidence of its positive relationship to physical health in a systematic review of relevant literature. We searched PsycINFO and PubMed databases for studies of varying design and populations, excluding studies that did not have clear measures of meaning and physical health and/or did not address their relationship. Overall, higher levels of meaning are clearly associated with better physical health, as well as with behavioral factors that decrease the probability of negative health outcomes or increase that of positive health outcomes. Methodological challenges and future directions are discussed.     

Voices from the Street: How Structural and Individual Factors Influence Homelessness

This study compared structural and individual factors related to persons who are homeless and how these factors affected their ability to utilize and benefit from available services. A qualitative case study design was used to conduct in-depth interviews with two participants receiving hospice care in a residence for the homeless. Results support previous findings that chronic homelessness is the result of multiple structural and individual factors that occur over time. Contrary to the literature on chronic homelessness, however, both participants were unique in their history of employment and strong desire to work, despite having limited work skills. Responses from both participants underscored the value of daily structure and meaningful occupation in residential addiction treatment.     

Swedish adolescents’ experiences of cybervictimization and body-related concerns

The aim of this study was to examine the relationships between cybervictimization and three body-related concerns: body-esteem, self-objectification, and internalization of body ideals. The aim was also to examine these relationships not only to cybervictimization in general but also to appearance-related cybervictimization more specifically. The sample comprised 482 adolescents (233 girls and 247 boys aged 13–15; two participants did not answer the question about gender) from four Swedish schools. The results showed that victims of appearance-related cyberbullying suffered from more body-related concerns: they had a poorer view of their general appearance and of their weight. They also reported more body shame, thin-ideal internalization, and appearance-related pressure from the media. This study shows that cyberbullying that focuses on the victim's appearance is associated with several body-related concerns that have not previously been studied. A novel finding was also that body-related concerns were not related to cyberbullying in general, as has been implied in earlier research, but specifically related to cyberbullying directed at the victim's appearance. The findings suggest that there is a need to include attention to the specific relationships between appearance-related cyberbullying and body-related concerns in future prevention and intervention work.     

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.