Dietary patterns and intelligence in early and middle childhood

The association between intelligence and diet at 3.5 and 7 years was examined in 591 children of European descent. Approximately half of the children were born small-for-gestational age (birth weight ≤ 10th percentile). The relationship between IQ and diet (measured by food frequency) was investigated using multiple regression analyses. Eating margarine at least daily was associated with significantly lower IQ scores at 3.5 years in the total sample and at 7 years in SGA children. For all children, eating the recommended daily number of breads and cereals was associated with significantly higher IQ scores at 3.5 years, and those who ate fish at least weekly had significantly higher IQ scores at 7 years than those who did not. The consumption of fish, breads and cereals commeasurable with nutritional guidelines may be beneficial to children's cognitive development. In contrast, consuming margarine daily was associated with poorer cognitive functioning. Further research is needed to identify the nutrients that may underlie this association.     

Response-reinforcer independence and the economic continuum: A preliminary analysis

Three pigeons were exposed to 1-hr and 4-hr sessions during which they earned food under a fixed-ratio 50 schedule of reinforcement while obtaining additional food according to either a variable-interval or a variable-time schedule. Postsession food was provided after the 1-hr sessions. The frequency of the variable-interval and variable-time food presentations was varied under the two session durations. The various combinations of within-session earned and unearned food, as well as the postsession food, defined conditions on the open-to-closed economy continuum. Key pecks tended to increase as the frequency of either variable-interval or variable-time food decreased. An economic-continuum analysis based on an independence quotient as a measure of response-reinforcer independence is presented to account for the effects.     

Longitudinal Associations Between Fathers’ Heavy Drinking Patterns and Children’s Psychosocial Adjustment

Psychosocial adjustment in children of alcoholics (N = 114) was examined in the year before and at three follow-ups in the 15 months after their alcoholic fathers entered alcoholism treatment, testing the hypothesis that children's adjustment problems will vary over time as a function of their fathers' heavy drinking patterns. Three unique patterns of heavy drinking in alcoholic fathers were identified through cluster analysis. The results demonstrated significant and meaningful associations between these drinking patterns in fathers and adjustment problems in children over time. Overall, children whose fathers remained mostly abstinent following their treatment showed lowest and decreasing adjustment problems, while children whose fathers continued and increased heavy drinking following their treatment showed greatest and increasing adjustment problems over time.