The structure of effortful control in preschoolers and its relation to externalizing problems

The first aim of the present study was to examine the structure of effortful control. The second aim was to determine whether components of effortful control relate to conduct problems and hyperactivity. Effortful control was measured in 3‐year‐old children (N= 89) with an observational measure, the effortful control battery (ECB), and a parent report, the Children's Behaviour Questionnaire (CBQ). Principal component analysis showed that the ECB measures five components, assessing two higher‐order constructs, which can be labelled as Self‐Control and Attention/Motor Control. The five scales of the CBQ appeared to measure one construct – a more general measure of effortful control. The components and constructs of the ECB as well as the scales of the CBQ were differently related to conduct problems and hyperactivity. Conduct problems were most strongly predicted by observed Delay of Gratification and parent‐reported Inhibitory Control, whereas Hyperactivity was most strongly predicted by observed Delay of Gratification, and the higher‐order construct Attention/Motor Control, as well as parent‐reported Attentional Focusing and Inhibitory Control. It is important to keep in mind that effortful control is composed of heterogeneous components, all having their own unique values.     

Exploring workload and attention measurements with uLog mouse data

User-system interactions (e.g., mouse clicks and movements) can be logged with the uLog computer program. A Web-based study with 20 participants was conducted to investigate the feasibility of using uLog data as an indicator of workload and attention. Eye fixation, heart rate variability (HRV), and skin conductance were used to unveil users’ workload and attention and, hence, to validate uLog data as indicators of these. Results on one of the Tasks did indeed show correlations between uLog data and HRV. This is a promising first step toward the validation of uLog mouse data as indicators of workload and attention.     

Suicides in users of mental health care services: treatment characteristics and hindsight reflections

The current study aims to describe the patient and treatment characteristics of a sample of 505 suicides by mental health care patients, and to determine how clinicians view the care provided and what they learned. The results indicate that the quality of mental health care for suicidal patients could be improved by focusing on communication among clinicians, continuity of care, suicide risk assessment procedures, and the involvement of relatives.     

The judgment comes with healing in its wings: A call for rational detachment

The necessity to criticize Pellegrino and Thomasma's ‘A philosophical basis of medical practice’ on all methodological levels of scientific practice is defended; a transcendental critique such as their approach is inconsistent with the possibility of science, a theoretical refutation of their work which is internally inconsistent due to its phenomenological/pragmatic stand, an empirical critique of their readings of historical and sociological findings, and a rejection of the possible application of their approach as its social effects sustain or enhance ideological notions about health, healing and the medical practice. Due to the scope of the work under criticism and the breadth of our critique, we cannot give a detailed account on every issue mentioned here.     

Parenting, coparenting, and effortful control in preschoolers

This study investigated the relations among parenting, coparenting, and effortful control in preschoolers. The sample included 89 families with 2 parents and their firstborn 36-month-old children. Information was obtained by means of observation and parent-report questionnaires. In general, maternal parenting, paternal parenting, and coparenting were related to effortful control. Effortful control was more strongly predicted from parenting and coparenting when the same measurement method (observation or parent reports) was used. For both observation and parent reports, coparenting contributed to effortful control over and above maternal and paternal parenting. The results indicate the importance of adding indicators of triadic family processes to the study of parenting and young children's effortful control.     

Parenting and self‐regulation in preschoolers: a meta‐analysis

A meta‐analysis of 41 studies was conducted to examine the strength of the relation between parenting (positive control, negative control and responsiveness) and self‐regulation in preschoolers. Results revealed significant associations between both types of parental control and self‐regulation, with effect sizes being small in magnitude. There was no significant association between self‐regulation and responsiveness. The strength of the association between parenting and self‐regulation varied with different conceptualizations of self‐regulation; positive and negative control were associated with child compliance, but not with inhibition and emotion regulation. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The collateral decrease of self-injurious behavior with teaching communicative gestures to individuals who are mentally retarded

The present study assessed the effect of teaching communicative gestures on the occurrence of self-injurious behavior and other behavior disorders with 14 individuals who are severely/ profoundly mentally retarded. Results show a statistically significant decrease of about 40% in self-injurious behavior as a collateral effect of an increased use of communicative gestures. Apart from a decrease in the occurrence of destructive behaviors, no other effects on other behavior disorders were found. Results are discussed in terms of the possible use of communicative gestures as a therapeutic supplement to standard procedures for decreasing self-injurious behavior with individuals who are nonverbal and mentally retarded.     

Multi-limb coordination and rhythmic variability under varying sensory availability conditions in children with DCD

Children with Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD) have sensory processing deficits; how do these influence the interface between sensory input and motor performance? Previously, we found that children with DCD were less able to organize and maintain a gross motor coordination task in time to an auditory cue, particularly at higher frequencies [Whitall, J., Getchell, N., McMenamin, S., Horn, C., Wilms-Floet, A., & Clark, J. (2006). Perception-action coupling in children with and without DCD: Frequency locking between task relevant auditory signals and motor responses in a dual motor task. Child: Care, Health, and Development, 32, 679-692]. In the present study, we examine the same task (clapping in-phase to marching on a platform) under conditions involving the removal of vision and hearing. Eleven children with DCD (mean=7.21, SD=0.52 years), 7 typically developing (TD) children (mean=6.95+/-0.72 years), and 10 adults performed continuous clapping while marching under four conditions: with vision and hearing, without vision, without hearing, and without both. Results showed no significant condition effects for any measure taken. The DCD group was more variable in phasing their claps and footfalls than both the adult group and the TD group. There were also significant group effects for inter-clap interval coefficient of variation and inter-footfall interval coefficient of variation, with the DCD group being the most variable for both measures. Coherence analysis between limb combinations (e.g., left arm-right arm, right arm-left leg) revealed that the adults exhibited significantly greater coherence for each combination than both of the children's groups. The TD group showed significantly greater coherence than the DCD group for every limb combination except foot-foot and left hand-right foot. Measures of approximate entropy indicated that adults differed from children both with and without DCD in the structure of the variability across a trial with adults showing more complexity. Children with DCD are able to accomplish a self-initiated gross-motor coordination task but with increased variability for most but not all measures compared to typically developing children. The availability of visual and/or auditory information does not play a significant role in stabilizing temporal coordination of this task, suggesting that these are not salient sources of information for this particular task.     

Overcoming ego depletion: the influence of exemplar priming on self‐control performance

Self‐regulation research suggested that active self‐control depends on a limited resource. Therefore the capacity for self‐control is lower among people who already exercised control, a phenomenon labelled as ego depletion. This experiment examines whether priming of a persistent person exemplar may help to overcome ego depletion. Half of the participants engaged in a demanding self‐control task (solving extremely difficult labyrinths) whereas the other half took part in a task that demanded little self‐control (solving easy labyrinths). Then, half of the participants received a person exemplar prime related to persistence; the other half received a neutral prime. Finally, participants' persistence on a subsequent self‐control task (squeezing a handgrip) was measured. The effect of a person exemplar prime on a subsequent self‐control task depended on initial self‐control demands. Participants who exercised high initial self‐control and were then presented with a persistent exemplar prime showed assimilation. Their handgrip persistence was higher than the persistence of participants who received a neutral prime. Under conditions of low initial self‐control the opposite pattern was found. A persistent person prime resulted in contrast and resulted in lower handgrip performance as compared to those who received a neutral prime. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.