Literacy skills seem to fuel literacy enjoyment,rather than vice versa

Children who like to read and write tend to be better at it. This association is typically interpreted as enjoyment impacting engagement in literacy activities, which boosts literacy skills. We fitted direction-of-causation models to partial data of 3690 Finnish twins aged 12. Literacy skills were rated by the twins’ teachers and literacy enjoyment by the twins themselves. A bivariate twin model showed substantial genetic influences on literacy skills (70%) and literacy enjoyment (35%). In both skills and enjoyment, shared-environmental influences explained about 20% in each. The best-fitting direction-of-causation model showed that skills impacted enjoyment, while the influence in the other direction was zero. The genetic influences on skills influenced enjoyment, likely via the skills→enjoyment path. This indicates an active gene-environment correlation: children with an aptitude for good literacy skills are more likely to enjoy reading and seek out literacy activities. To a lesser extent, it was also the shared-environmental influences on children's skills that propagated to influence children's literacy enjoyment. Environmental influences that foster children's literacy skills (e.g., families and schools), also foster children's love for reading and writing. These findings underline the importance of nurturing children's literacy skills.

Highlights

• It's known that how much children enjoy reading and writing and how good they are at it correlates ∼0.30, but causality remains unknown.
• We tested the direction of causation in 3690 twins aged 12.
• Literacy skills impacted literacy enjoyment, but not the other way around.
• Genetics influence children's literacy skills and how much they like and choose to read and write, indicating genetic niche picking.

     

Sociodemographic and Clinical Differences Between Suicide Ideators and Attempters: A Study of Mood Disordered Patients 50 Years and Older

Our study sought to characterize mood disordered suicide ideators and attempters 50 years and older admitted to a psychiatric ward either for a recent suicide attempt or for ongoing suicidal ideation. We enrolled 50 patients with suicide ideation consecutively admitted to an inpatient department and 50 patients admitted for a suicide attempt made in the last 48 hours. Suicide attempters more frequently had low social support and an age of onset of mood disorder of 46 years and older, and less frequently had a history of suicidal behaviors in the family members and pharmacological treatment, despite the fact that the groups did not differ with regard to antidepressants prescribed. The groups were not distinguishable based on several variables assumed to be risk factors for suicide behavior, such as proximal life events and stressors or alcohol use disorders. In both samples, comorbidity with organic diseases, the presence of stressful life events in the past 12 months, and a diagnosis of major depression were frequently reported. In conclusion, the presence of low social support and the absence of a pharmacotherapy may increase suicidal behaviors in patients at risk.     

Suicidal Ideation and Behavior in Adolescents Aged 12–16 Years: A 17‐Year Follow‐Up

The prevalence of suicidal ideation/behavior in 1983 or 1987 and its association with future mental health in 2001 were evaluated in a provincially representative sample of Canadian adolescents (n = 1,248) aged 12 to 16 years. Approximately 13.3% (95% CI = 11.5–15.3) of adolescents self‐reported suicidal ideation/behavior. Adolescent agreement with parent (κ = .07) and teacher (κ = .05) reports at baseline was low because adults identified so few subjects. In adulthood, the associations between adolescent self‐reports of suicidal behavior/ideation and major depression and other mental health indicators were explained by respondent sex and adolescent emotional problems reported in 1983/1987. Adolescents with suicidal behavior/ideation often are not recognized by their parents and teachers and may be at risk for persistent psychiatric problems attributable to coexisting mental health problems early‐on.     

Effect of Problem‐Solving Therapy on Depressed Low‐Income Homebound Older Adults' Death/Suicidal Ideation and Hopelessness

Previous study findings of psychotherapy's effect on suicide prevention have been inconsistent. This study reports the results of secondary analyses of outcome data from a short‐term depression treatment on reducing death/suicidal ideation among 158 low‐income homebound adults aged 50+. The treatment, in‐person or telehealth problem‐solving therapy (PST), compared with telephone support call, has been found effective in reducing depressive symptoms and disability among participants. Compared with support call participants, tele‐PST participants, but not in‐person PST participants, exhibited lower ideation ratings across the follow‐up period. Effect sizes at 36 weeks were 0.31 for tele‐PST and 0.17 for in‐person PST. Hopelessness mediated the effect of tele‐PST but not in‐person PST; however, in‐person PST also alleviated hopelessness, which led to lower ideation. Clinical implications of the findings are discussed.     

Neurocognitive Function and Suicide in U.S. Army Soldiers

This prospective cohort study used administrative data from the Army Study to Assess Risk and Resilience in Servicemembers to examine associations between neurocognitive functioning and subsequent suicidal events among Regular Army enlisted soldiers during the years 2004–2009. Cases were all soldiers who completed the Army's Automated Neuropsychological Assessment Metrics (ANAM) computerized testing battery prior to documented suicide attempt (n = 607), ideation (n = 955), or death (n = 57). Controls were an equal‐probability sample of 9,893 person‐months from other soldiers. Exploratory factor analysis of five ANAM tests identified a general neurocognitive factor that excluded the mathematic processing test (MTH). When examined separately in logistic regression analyses that controlled for sociodemographics and prior mental health diagnosis, both the general neurocognitive factor (logit [β] = ?.197 to ?.521; p < .01) and MTH (β = ?.024 to ?.064; p < .05) were associated with all outcomes. When both predictors were examined simultaneously, the general neurocognitive factor continued to be associated with all outcomes (β = ?.164 to ?.417; p < .05) and MTH continued to be associated with suicide attempt (β = ?.015; p = .046) and ideation (β = ?.014; p = .018). These small but robust associations suggest that future research must continue to examine the extent to which objective neurocognitive tests may enhance understanding and prediction of suicide risk.