Facial expressions and interpretation of emotion-arousing situations in deaf and hearing children

Deaf and hearing children were given two tasks: (a) sorting faces portraying nine emotions and (b) matching those faces with drawings of appropriate emotion-arousing situations. The deaf children performed as the hearing children did on the first task but did not match the faces to the situations as well as the hearing children. It appeared that the deaf children were unable to analyze and interpret emotion-arousing events adequately. Possible reasons for this finding are presented and discussed in detail.This research was supported, in part, by Social Rehabilitation Services Grant No. RD-2552.The authors are indebted to Dr. Lloyd Graunke, Delmas Young, and Warren Flower of the Tennessee School for the Deaf, Elizabeth Stallings of the Monroe Harding Children's Home, Rev. Lucius Hart and Rev. Hudlow of the Baptist Children's Home, Dr. Lloyd Funchess and Jerome Freeman of the Louisiana State School for the Deaf, W. W. Wallace, Milton Lillard, and Wilburn Kelley of the Williamson County Tennessee School System, and Charles Barham of Tennessee Preparatory School.     

Is preschool education more highly valued for boys than girls?

Questionnaires concerning reasons for enrolling one's child in nursery school were completed by 599 parents in a Midwestern city. Parents of girls and boys did not differ in mean ratings of reasons. However, a greater number of reasons were rated as more important by boys' parents than by girls' parents for both lower- and middle-class respondents. Proportionately more lower-class boys than lower-class girls were enrolled in the city's nursery schools. These data are consistent with the hypothesis that lower-class parents consider preschool education to be more important for boys than girls.     

Some psychological correlates of generalized and focal epilepsy in children

School-aged children with two types of epilepsy, generalized and focal, were compared with normal children of the same age, sex, and IQ on measures of cognitive style, attention, motor control, and behavioral pathology. Epileptic children were found to employ less efficient cognitive strategies and to have longer reaction times and poorer control of fine motor movements than have normal children. Children with generalized epilepsy were more impaired than were normal children when sustained motor performance was required. Mothers of children with generalized epilepsy reported more behavior problems than did control mothers on an objective checklist. These results suggest special educational methods for the treatment and education of epileptic children.The research reported in this paper was supported by Grant No. MA-45O5 from the Medical Research Council of Canada. Grateful thanks are extended to Dr. Katherine Metrakos, Director of the Convulsive Disorder Clinic, Montreal Children's Hospital, who screened epileptic subjects and gave us her enthusiastic support. The Diagnostic Test Center was most helpful in providing blood serum levels on the clinical sample. We wish to thank the Notre Dame de Grace and Westmount branches of the Y.M.C.A. for access to control subjects.     

CAREGIVING HISTORY AND PRENATAL DEPRESSIVE SYMPTOMS IN LOW-INCOME ADOLESCENT AND YOUNG ADULT WOMEN: MODERATING AND MEDIATING EFFECTS

Prenatal depressive symptoms have been linked to negative outcomes for mothers and children. Using attachment theory as a framework, this study examined developmental differences in the interpersonal context of prenatal depressive symptoms among adolescents (age 14 to 19 years; n = 352) and young adults (age 20 to 24 years; n = 348). Participants included low-income, single, predominantly African American and Latina women. Moderating and mediating factors were found in the relation between caregiving history (perceived unavailability and inconsistency of maternal and paternal figures during childhood) and depressive symptoms. For pregnant adolescents, maternal unavailability predicted depressive symptoms whereas maternal inconsistency did not. In contrast, for pregnant young women, only maternal inconsistency predicted depressive symptoms; and this association was mediated by perceptions of prenatal support. For both groups, paternal caregiving history had a small yet independent association with depressive symptoms. Results highlight the need to consider developmental differences in the interpersonal context of prenatal depressive symptoms in delivering mental health interventions to young women of color.     

Counselors’ Mandated Responsibility to Report Child Maltreatment: A Review of U.S. Laws

Although counselors in 44 states are mandatory reporters of child maltreatment, they may lack an understanding of their legally designated role. This article presents the results of a systematic review of child maltreatment reporting laws in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. The authors apply relevant legislation to real‐life contexts for counselors.     

Mediated pathways from maternal depression and early parenting to children's executive function and externalizing behaviour problems

Structural equation models were used to examine pathways from maternal depression and early parenting to children's executive function (EF) and externalizing behaviours in the first nationally representative study to obtain direct assessments of children's kindergarten EF skills (i.e., the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study Kindergarten Class of 2010–2011). Preliminary analyses revealed that maternal depression was negatively related to children's EF and positively related to children's externalizing behaviour problems. However, the negative association between maternal depression and children's EF was completely mediated by maternal parenting practices (i.e., warmth and home learning stimulation). Furthermore, there was an indirect effect from maternal parenting practices to children's externalizing behaviour problems through EF, such that children with stronger EF skills had fewer externalizing behaviour problems. Findings provide support for a family process model in which warm, cognitively stimulating parenting supports children's EF, which in turn decreases externalizing behaviours.

Highlights

• This study examined pathways from parent mental health to children's executive function (EF) and behaviour problems.
• Maternal depression was negatively related to children's EF and positively related to children's behaviour problems.
• The negative association between maternal depression and children's EF was completely mediated by maternal parenting. There was an indirect effect from maternal parenting to children's behaviour problems through EF.

     

Improving Identity Matching of Newly Encountered Faces: Effects of Multi-image Training

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Changes and challenges in 20 years of research into the development of executive functions

This review of 20 years of developmental research on Executive Functions (EF) offers a broad‐brushstroke picture that touches on multiple issues including: (i) findings from typical and atypical groups, from infancy to adolescence; (ii) advances in assessment tools and in statistical analysis; (iii) the interplay between EF and other cognitive systems (e.g. those involved in children's developing understanding of mind, and in their processing of reward signals); (iv) integration of cognitive and neuroscience perspectives on EF; and (v) environmental factors that have either a positive influence (e.g. training/intervention programmes; parental scaffolding) or a negative influence (e.g. maltreatment, neglect, traumatic brain injury) on EF. Of the several themes to emerge from this review, two are particularly important; these concern the need to adopt developmental perspectives and the potential importance for intervention work of research on social influences on EF. Specifically, the review highlights both developmental continuities (e.g. in the correlates of EF) and contrasts (e.g. in the nature of EF and its neural substrates) and calls for research that compares developmental trajectories for EF in different groups (e.g. children with autism versus ADHD). In addition, findings from both family‐based research and randomized controlled trials of school‐based interventions highlight the importance of environmental influences on EF and so support the development of interventions to promote EF and hence improve children's academic and social outcomes. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Executive function deficits in autism spectrum disorders and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: examining profiles across domains and ages

Deficits in 'executive function' (EF) are characteristic of several clinical disorders, most notably Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) and Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). In this study, age- and IQ-matched groups with ASD, ADHD, or typical development (TD) were compared on a battery of EF tasks tapping three core domains: response selection/inhibition, flexibility, and planning/working memory. Relations between EF, age and everyday difficulties (rated by parents and teachers) were also examined. Both clinical groups showed significant EF impairments compared with TD peers. The ADHD group showed greater inhibitory problems on a Go-no-Go task, while the ASD group was significantly worse on response selection/monitoring in a cognitive estimates task. Age-related improvements were clearer in ASD and TD than in ADHD. At older (but not younger) ages, the ASD group outperformed the ADHD group, performing as well as the TD group on many EF measures. EF scores were related to specific aspects of communicative and social adaptation, and negatively correlated with hyperactivity in ASD and TD. Within the present groups, the overall findings suggested less severe and persistent EF deficits in ASD (including Asperger Syndrome) than in ADHD.