An investigation of the impact of young children's self‐knowledge of trustworthiness on school adjustment: A test of the realistic self‐knowledge and positive illusion models

The study aimed to examine the relationship between self‐knowledge of trustworthiness and young children's school adjustment. One hundred and seventy‐three (84 male and 89 female) children from school years 1 and 2 in the United Kingdom (mean age 6 years 2 months) were tested twice over 1‐year. Children's trustworthiness was assessed using: (a) self‐report at Time 1 and Time 2; (b) peers' reports at Time 1 and Time 2; and (c) teacher‐reports at Time 2. School adjustment was assessed by child‐rated school‐liking and the Short‐Form Teacher Rating Scale of School Adjustment (Short‐Form TRSSA). Longitudinal quadratic relationships were found between school adjustment and children's self‐knowledge, using peer‐reported trustworthiness as a reference: more accurate self‐knowledge of trustworthiness predicted increases in school adjustment. Comparable concurrent quadratic relationships were found between teacher‐rated school adjustment and children's self‐knowledge, using teacher‐reported trustworthiness as a reference, at Time 2. The findings support the conclusion that young children's psychosocial adjustment is best accounted for by the realistic self‐knowledge model ( Colvin & Block, 1994 ).     

Culture,Burnout, and Engagement: A Meta-Analysis on National Cultural Values as Moderators in JD-R Theory

Despite prominence and increasing application of the Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) theory across national contexts, the role of culture has not yet been systematically explored. We conducted a meta-analysis of 132 independent samples from 120 studies across 5 global regions (total N = 101,073) to fill this void. Our paper responds to long-standing concerns around neglecting differences in the relationships of workplace factors with burnout and engagement across national cultures by testing for a moderating role within JD-R theory. Results suggest strong support for the direct job demands-burnout and job resources-engagement pathways. Regarding the role of culture, our study reveals moderating roles for five out of six cultural dimensions using Hofstede’s framework. Interestingly, these cultural dimensions present a moderating impact towards relationships with either job demands or job resources, yet not both. Our findings offer a valuable starting point for further theoretical developments that can impact international business and global mobility. While these insights suggest a role of national cultural context in JD-R studies, sensitivity analyses showed that the findings were only partly stable.     

Effects of age on searching for and enumerating targets that cannot be detected efficiently

We investigated the effects of old age on search, subitizing, and counting of difficult-to-find targets. In Experiment 1, young and older adults enumerated targets (Os) with and without distractors (Qs). Without distractors, the usual subitization-counting function occurred in both groups, with the same subitization span of 3.3 items. Subitization disappeared with distractors; older adults were slowed more overall by their presence but enumeration rates were not slowed by ageing either with or without distractors. In contrast, search rates for a single target (O among Qs) were twice as slow for older as for young adults. Experiment 2 tested and ruled out one account of age-equivalent serial enumeration based on the need to subvocalize numbers as items are enumerated. Alternative explanations based on the specific task differences between detecting and enumerating stimuli are discussed.     

How does episodic memory develop in adolescence?

Key areas of the episodic memory (EM) network demonstrate changing structure and volume during adolescence. EM is multifaceted and yet studies of EM thus far have largely examined single components, used different methods and have unsurprisingly yielded inconsistent results. The Treasure Hunt task is a single paradigm that allows parallel investigation of memory content, associative structure, and the impact of different retrieval support. Combining the cognitive and neurobiological accounts, we hypothesized that some elements of EM performance may decline in late adolescence owing to considerable restructuring of the hippocampus at this time. Using the Treasure Hunt task, we examined EM performance in 80 participants aged 10–17 yr. Results demonstrated a cubic trajectory with youngest and oldest participants performing worst. This was emphasized in associative memory, which aligns well with existing literature indicating hippocampal restructuring in later adolescence. It is proposed that memory development may follow a nonlinear path as children approach adulthood, but that future work is required to confirm and extend the trends demonstrated in this study.

Episodic memory (EM) describes the ability to encode, store, and retrieve representations of previously experienced episodes and their temporal-spatial context (Tulving 1972). EM development continues well into the third decade of life (Ruggiero et al. 2016); however, its developmental trajectory after the preschool years remains controversial, with some studies suggesting linear improvements (Ofen et al. 2007) and others no improvement (Picard et al. 2012) or a nonlinear pattern (Tulving 1985; Keresztes et al. 2017). While there has been some debate as to the “defining features” of EM (Cheke and Clayton 2013, 2015) most theorists agree that it is not a unitary ability, instead reflecting the combination of a number of contributing features. Given that many of these studies used different methods for testing EM, and that different tests may emphasize different features (Cheke and Clayton 2013, 2015), it is likely that empirical differences reflect the fact that different features of memory may develop differently during later childhood and adolescence (Picard et al. 2012).The importance of understanding the developmental trajectory of EM in adolescence is highlighted in the close association between EM and other cognitive processes. EM is thought to support decision-making, particularly in the incorporation of memories into task- and goal-relevant responses (Murty et al. 2016); thus, immaturity of EM may influence the high levels of risk taking observed in adolescence. Adolescence also represents a period of vulnerability to the development of mental illness (Kessler et al. 2007). Evidence that deficits in EM have been linked to a number of mental health disorders such as depression (Goodwin 1997) and anxiety (Airaksinen et al. 2005) raises the possibility that individual differences in memory development during this period may influence this vulnerability. Finally, adolescence is a demanding time academically: During these school years, large quantities of knowledge must be acquired to be successful in exams, which have long-term impacts on individuals’ academic and professional future. It is therefore important to understand factors that may contribute to individual differences and challenges in learning and memory during this period.Memory development in adolescence has attracted considerable research attention in recent years, with the majority of work conducted on developmental trajectories of brain areas within the memory network. EM relies on a distributed network of brain areas, including the medial temporal and superior parietal lobes and the prefrontal cortex (PFC) (Simons and Spiers 2003). Each area within the network, as well as the network itself, shows protracted maturation across adolescence.     

Examining the components of children's peer liking as antecedents of school adjustment

Children's social interactions with their peers influence their psychosocial adjustment; consequently, the relationship between class‐wide peer liking, same‐gender peer liking, and school adjustment was explored in two age groups. Peer liking was analysed using the social relations model (SRM). In Study 1, 205 children (103 female and 102 male, M_age= 7.15, SD= 7 months) completed measures of peer liking and school adjustment, and teachers completed the Short‐Form Teacher Rating Scale of School Adjustment (Short‐Form TRSSA). In Study 2, 197 children (98 female and 90 male, M_age= 9.87, SD= 5.9 months) completed measures of peer liking and school adjustment. Both studies yielded evidence of reciprocal liking and individual differences in the ratings of liking awarded to, and elicited from, both peer groups. Multigroup path analysis, with groups created according to gender, revealed that elements of liking predicted different aspects of school adjustment with some variation according to age and gender. Together, these findings suggest that the SRM can be used to examine peer liking and underscore the importance of children's peers for school adjustment.