Family Disruption and Social,Emotional and Behavioral Functioning in Middle Childhood

The association between family disruption and child socio-emotional and behavioral development is a relatively well-examined but as yet unresolved issue, and the conclusions of previous research have been ambiguous. Further, some studies have indicated that associations may depend on other risk factors, yet the question of heterogeneity has been relatively little discussed. The purpose of this cross-sectional study was to assess associations between family disruption on the one hand and teacher-rated and self-reported outcomes on subscales from the Behavior Assessment System for Children, 2nd edition (BASC-2) and the Behavior and Emotional Screening System (BESS) on the other, among a Danish sample of 817 normally developing schoolchildren. Specifically, we assessed (a) the extent to which background factors explained unadjusted associations and (b) whether associations were heterogeneous across the distribution of outcome measures. Results from ordinary least squares (OLS) models showed that relative to children from intact families, children from disrupted families had higher problem scores on BASC-2 subscales Externalizing Problems, Study Skills and School Problems even after controlling for a wide range of background factors. Quantile regression (QR) models showed that associations with Externalizing Problems and Study Skills were stronger among children with higher problem scores. Certain behavioral problems may therefore indicate increased vulnerability towards adverse events, such as family disruption. General screening for such problems could provide an opportunity to identify children in need of special attention and support against the potentially negative outcomes of family disruption for their school experience.     

Anticipatory scene representation in preschool children's recall and recognition memory

Behavioral and neuroscience research on boundary extension (false memory beyond the edges of a view of a scene) has provided new insights into the constructive nature of scene representation, and motivates questions about development. Early research with children (as young as 6–7 years) was consistent with boundary extension, but relied on an analysis of spatial errors in drawings which are open to alternative explanations (e.g. drawing ability). Experiment 1 replicated and extended prior drawing results with 4–5‐year‐olds and adults. In Experiment 2, a new, forced‐choice immediate recognition memory test was implemented with the same children. On each trial, a card (photograph of a simple scene) was immediately replaced by a test card (identical view and either a closer or more wide‐angle view) and participants indicated which one matched the original view. Error patterns supported boundary extension; identical photographs were more frequently rejected when the closer view was the original view, than vice versa. This asymmetry was not attributable to a selection bias (guessing tasks; Experiments 3–5). In Experiment 4, working memory load was increased by presenting more expansive views of more complex scenes. Again, children exhibited boundary extension, but now adults did not, unless stimulus duration was reduced to 5 s (limiting time to implement strategies; Experiment 5). We propose that like adults, children interpret photographs as views of places in the world; they extrapolate the anticipated continuation of the scene beyond the view and misattribute it to having been seen. Developmental differences in source attribution decision processes provide an explanation for the age‐related differences observed.     

Relationship between patient characteristics and treatment allocation for patients with personality disorders

Within a large multi-center study in patients with personality disorders, we investigated the relationship between patient characteristics and treatment allocation. Personality pathology, symptom distress, treatment history, motivational factors, and sociodemographics were measured at intake in 923 patients, who subsequently enrolled in short-term or long-term outpatient, day hospital, or inpatient psychotherapy for personality pathology. Logistic regressions were used to examine the predictors of allocation decisions. We found a moderate relationship (R(2) = 0.36) between patient characteristics and treatment setting, and a weak relationship (R(2) = 0.18) between patient characteristics and treatment duration. The most prominent predictors for setting were: symptom distress, cluster C personality pathology, level of identity integration, treatment history, motivation, and parental responsibility. For duration the most prominent predictor was age. We conclude from this study that, in addition to pathology and motivation factors, sociodemographics and treatment history are related to treatment allocation in clinical practice.     

Age differences in the likelihood of destructive anger responses under different relationship contexts: a comparison of mainland and Hong Kong Chinese

This brief report examined how the likelihood of destructive anger responses varied with age across relationship contexts. Seventy-six older adults and 100 younger adults from Hong Kong and Mainland China reported their responses to anger-eliciting scenarios elicited by a kin, a close or a casual friend. Results indicated that compared with their younger counterparts, older Hong Kong Chinese were less likely to report direct aggression toward kin, but older Mainland Chinese were more likely to do so. Older Hong Kong Chinese were less likely to report malevolent and fractious motives than were younger Chinese across all relationships; Older Mainland Chinese were less likely to do so only in friendship. Findings have implications for conceptualizing age-related emotion regulation across relationships and cultures.     

Scanlon on the diversity of objections to inequality

Philosophical Studies -     

Differences in Emotion Regulation Difficulties Across Types of Eating Disorders During Adolescence

Emotion regulation appears to play a key role in eating disorders. However, prior attempts to associate specific emotion regulation abilities with specific types of eating disorders resulted in inconsistent findings. Moreover, far less is known about emotion regulation in eating disorders during adolescence, a critical period of emotional development. The current study addresses this gap, comparing emotion regulation characteristics between adolescents with restrictive types of eating disorders and those with binge eating or purging types of eating disorders. Ninety-eight adolescents with eating disorders (49 with restrictive and 49 with binge eating/purging eating disorders) completed a set of questionnaires including the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS). The results revealed that binge eating/purging types of eating disorders were associated with greater difficulties in a variety of emotion regulation dimensions including impulse control, goal-directed behavior and access to effective emotion regulation strategies. Awareness and clarity of emotions were also worse in the binge eating/purging types of eating disorders, but this difference did not remain when comorbid psychopathology measures were controlled for. Moreover, the emotion regulation profile of adolescents with anorexia nervosa-binging/purging type was more similar to that of adolescents with bulimia nervosa than to that of adolescents with anorexia nervosa-restrictive type. While both restrictive and binge eating/purging eating disorders have been associated with emotion regulation difficulties, the current study shows that the presence of binge eating or purging episodes is linked with greater severity of emotion regulation deficits among adolescents with eating disorders.     

About why there is a shift from cardinal to ordinal processing in the association with arithmetic between first and second grade

Digit comparison is strongly related to individual differences in children's arithmetic ability. Why this is the case, however, remains unclear to date. Therefore, we investigated the relative contribution of three possible cognitive mechanisms in first and second graders’ digit comparison performance: digit identification, digit–number word matching and digit ordering ability. Furthermore, we examined whether these components could account for the well‐established relation between digit comparison performance and arithmetic. As expected, all candidate predictors were related to digit comparison in both age groups. Moreover, in first graders, digit ordering and in second graders both digit identification and digit ordering explained unique variance in digit comparison performance. However, when entering these unique predictors of digit comparison into a mediation model with digit comparison as predictor and arithmetic as outcome, we observed that whereas in second graders digit ordering was a full mediator, in first graders this was not the case. For them, the reverse was true and digit comparison fully mediated the relation between digit ordering and arithmetic. These results suggest that between first and second grade, there is a shift in the predictive value for arithmetic from cardinal processing and procedural knowledge to ordinal processing and retrieving declarative knowledge from memory; a process which is possibly due to a change in arithmetic strategies at that age. A video abstract of this article can be viewed at: https://youtu.be/dDB0IGi2Hf8     

Does inversion affect boundary extension for briefly-presented views?

Inverting scenes interferes with visual perception and memory on many tasks. Might scene inversion eliminate boundary extension (BE) for briefly-presented photographs? In Experiment 1, an upright or inverted photograph (133, 258, or 383?ms) was followed by a 258 ms masked interval and a test photograph showing the identical view. Test photographs were rated as “same”, “closer”, or “farther away” (5-point scale). BE was just as great for inverted as upright views at the 133 and 383 ms durations, but surprisingly was greater for inverted views at the 258 ms duration. In Experiment 2, 258-ms views yielded greater BE when the study photographs were always tested in the opposite orientation, indicating that the difference in BE was related to encoding. Results suggest that scene construction beyond the view boundaries occurs rapidly and is not impeded by scene inversion, but that changes in the relative quality of visual details available for upright and inverted views may sometimes yield increased BE for inverted scenes.     

Inattention as a key predictor of tobacco use in adolescence

The authors examined the prediction from inattention to tobacco use among 2 cohorts (ages 7 and 13) of a community sample followed to young adulthood. Changes in self-reported tobacco use were tested with marginal transitional regression models, using parent and teacher ratings of inattention, hyperactivity-impulsivity, and other psychopathology, along with other factors, as predictors. Inattention, but not hyperactivity-impulsivity, significantly predicted adolescent tobacco use and young adult daily tobacco use. Peer substance use, parental substance use, and conduct disorder also predicted increases in tobacco use. African American ethnicity was strongly protective against later tobacco use.