Reflective measurement models,behavior domains,and common causes

Causal theories of measurement view test items as effects of a common cause. Behavior domain theories view test item responses as behaviors sampled from a common domain. A domain score is a composite score over this domain. The question arises whether latent variables can simultaneously constitute domain scores and common causes of item scores. One argument to the contrary holds that behavior domain theory offers more effective guidance for item construction than a causal theory of measurement. A second argument appeals to the apparent circularity of taking a domain score, which is defined in terms of a domain of behaviors, as a cause of those behaviors. Both arguments require qualification and behavior domain theory seems to rely on implicit causal relationships in two respects. Three strategies permit reconciliation of the two theories: One can take a causal structure as providing the basis for a homogeneous domain. One can construct a homogeneous domain and then investigate whether a causal structure explains the homogeneity. Or, one can take the domain score as linked to an existing attribute constrained by indirect measurement.     

Risk-Taking Behavior as a Mediator of the Relationship between Children's Temperament and Injury Liability

The relationship between childhood temperament, risk-taking behavior and injury liability is investigated in a sample of 209 two- to nine-year-old children using parental report. Temperament was found to be significantly related to both risk-taking behavior and the number of injuries sustained; moreover, risk-taking behavior was a significant predictor of injuries. A mediational model was tested and risk-taking behavior was found to mediate the relationship between temperament and injury liability. The implications of these findings are discussed within the context of preventive actions.     

Interference control in adolescents with Mild-to-Borderline Intellectual Disabilities and/or behavior disorders

The aim of this study was to investigate interference control in adolescents with Mild to Borderline Intellectual Disability (MBID) by addressing two key questions. First, as MBID is often associated with comorbid behavior disorders (BD), we investigated whether MBID and BD both affect interference control. Second, we studied whether interference control deficits are associated to problems in everyday executive functioning. Four groups of adolescents with and without MBID and/or BD performed the Eriksen flanker task, requiring participants to respond to a central target while ignoring interfering flanking stimuli. Their teachers rated behavior on the Behavior Rating Inventory Executive Function (BRIEF). We found pronounced effects of MBID but not BD on flanker interference control. In contrast, we observed pronounced effects of BD, but not MBID, on the BRIEF. In addition, flanker interference scores and BRIEF scores did not correlate. These results are taken to suggest that adolescents with MBID are characterized by deficits in interference control that do not become manifest in ratings of everyday executive functioning. In contrast, adolescents with BD are not characterized by deficits in interference control but do show elevated ratings of deficits in everyday executive function.     

Cognitive Functioning,Behavior, and Quality of Life After Stroke in Childhood

Rationale: To provide a better understanding of cognitive functioning, motor outcome, behavior and quality of life after childhood stroke and to study the relationship between variables expected to influence rehabilitation and outcome (age at stroke, time elapsed since stroke, lateralization, location and size of lesion).

Methods: Children who suffered from stroke between birth and their eighteenth year of life underwent an assessment consisting of cognitive tests (WISC-III, WAIS-R, K-ABC, TAP, Rey-Figure, German Version of the CVLT) and questionnaires (Conner's Scales, KIDSCREEN).

Results: Twenty-one patients after stroke in childhood (15 males, mean 11;11 years, SD 4;3, range 6;10–21;2) participated in the study. Mean Intelligence Quotients (IQ) were situated within the normal range (mean Full Scale IQ 96.5, range IQ 79–129). However, significantly more patients showed deficits in various cognitive domains than expected from a healthy population (Performance IQ p?=?.000; Digit Span p?=?.000, Arithmetic's p?=?.007, Divided Attention p?=?.028, Alertness p?=?.002). Verbal IQ was significantly better than Performance IQ in 13 of 17 patients, independent of the hemispheric side of lesion. Symptoms of ADHD occurred more often in the patients' sample than in a healthy population (learning difficulties/inattention p?=?.000; impulsivity/hyperactivity p?=?.006; psychosomatics p?=?.006). Certain aspects of quality of life were reduced (autonomy p?=?.003; parents' relation p?=?.003; social acceptance p?=?.037). Three patients had a right-sided hemiparesis, mean values of motor functions of the other patients were slightly impaired (sequential finger movements p?=?.000, hand alternation p?=?.001, foot tapping p?=?.043). In patients without hemiparesis, there was no relation between the lateralization of lesion and motor outcome. Lesion that occurred in the midst of childhood (5–10 years) led to better cognitive outcome than lesion in the very early (0–5 years) or late childhood (10–18 years). Other variables such as presence of seizure, elapsed time since stroke and size of lesion had a small to no impact on prognosis.

Conclusion: Moderate cognitive and motor deficits, behavioral problems, and impairment in some aspects of quality of life frequently remain after stroke in childhood. Visuospatial functions are more often reduced than verbal functions, independent of the hemispheric side of lesion. This indicates a functional superiority of verbal skills compared to visuospatial skills in the process of recovery after brain injury. Compared to the cognitive outcome following stroke in adults, cognitive sequelae after childhood stroke do indicate neither the lateralization nor the location of the lesion focus. Age at stroke seems to be the only determining factor influencing cognitive outcome.     

Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function – Preschool Version (BRIEF-P): Test Review and Clinical Guidelines for Use

The Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function-Preschool Version (BRIEF-P) is a standardized questionnaire that measures executive functioning in preschoolers. This test review provides an overview of the BRIEF-P, including scale structure, administration, norms, score interpretation, current reliability and validity evidence, and provides general guidelines for clinical use.     

Complementary assessments of executive function in preterm and full-term preschoolers

Executive functions (EFs) are interrelated cognitive processes that have been studied in relation to behavior, attention, academic achievement, and developmental disorders. Studies of EF skills assessed through parent report and performance-based measures show correlations between them ranging from none to modest. Few studies have examined the relationship between EF skills measured through parent report and performance-based measures in relation to adaptive function. The present study included preschool children born preterm as a population at high risk for EF impairments. Preschool children (N = 149) completed a battery of EF tasks that assess working memory, response inhibition, idea generation, and attention shifting or cognitive flexibility. Parents reported on children’s EF and adaptive skills. Preterm children showed more parent-rated and performance-based EF impairments than did full-term children. The combined use of either parent report or performance-based measures resulted in the identification of a large number of children at risk for EF impairment, especially in the preterm group. Both parent report and performance-based EF measures were associated with children’s adaptive function. EF skills are measurable in young child'ren, and we suggest that EF skills may serve as targets for intervention to improve functional outcomes. We recommend the use of both parent report and performance-based measures to characterize children’s EF profiles and to customize treatment.     

Children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

ABSTRACT

It is estimated that there have been over 4,000 articles in the literature on the subject of attentional problems, addressing its etiology, epidemiology, assessment, diagnosis, and treatment. This article reviews recent and relevant literature with an eye toward functional conclusions and linkages between assessment and intervention. The article concludes by providing a problem-solving model that integrates parent or teachers' referral concerns, reasons for these concerns, assessment methods, and intervention strategies. In the end, four definitive conclusions are drawn, and the importance of multimodal strategies that collaboratively involve home, school, and community settings is emphasized.     

The Microcomputer as Perceptual Tool:

The microcomputer as a medium of instruction is not inherently better or worse than any other medium be it lecture, television, print or practical experience. However, the microcomputer can simultaneously present instruction and collect data on student performance. In order for educators to evaluate the success of instruction presented by computer they must use the microcomputer as a perceptual tool to more sensitively monitor and modify the educational process. Thoughtful consideration of monitoring data by special educators promises to make the microcomputer a revolutionary aspect of school instruction. Such an educational revolution can extend to the delivery of special services provided that the time and ancillary supports needed to utilize performance are made available to school personnel.     

The Imagination of Images and Images of Imagination: How the Imagination Relates to Aging,Health, and Spirituality

ABSTRACT

Psychological literature suggests that religion and spirituality increase in late adulthood. Yet, operational definitions of spirituality and religiosity remain widely debated and inadequate for the concepts they are designed to measure. The empirical studies of religion and spirituality as one ages are of poor design and often measure only limited aspects of religion or spirituality. Few empirical studies exist which have been conceived to only study religiosity and spirituality in late adulthood. The purpose of this study was to determine the defining aspects of religiosity and spirituality using the Allport, Ross Intrinsic, Extrinsic Religiosity Scale, Ellison's Spiritual Well-Being Scale, and Neugarten's Life Satisfaction Instrument. Using a principal component factor analysis, the study examined the factor structure using an older adult sample of 320 individuals 65 years of age and older. Having a purpose in life combines with intrinsic religious questions for the first factor. Life satisfaction questions group together on two factors and extrinsic religiosity is clearly one factor. The scales used hold together well when combined. A new, shortened scale to measure aspects of religiosity and spirituality is proposed.