Type A behaviour in pre-school children: Interrater reliability, stability over six months and subcomponents

Type A behaviour was measured in 250 boys and 245 girls (ages 3-7) using a Swedish version of Matthews' Youth Test for Health (MYTH). In addition, speech and voice characteristics (speed, loudness, response latency) were measured. Each child was independently rated by two play group leaders and measurements were repeated after a six month interval. Interrater reliability (first session) was 0.76 for both sexes and did not change with the age of the child. Boys obtained significantly (p less than 0.0001) higher scores than girls. Correlations over the six month period were 0.64 and 0.60 (p less than 0.001) for the two possible combinations of different raters and slightly higher (0.75 and 0.68, p less than 0.001) when the same rater was used. Two components of Type A behaviour were identified from a factor analysis of the data: impatience and competitiveness, and they accounted for 57% of the total variance. As for the total scale, boys obtained significantly higher scores than girls on both subscales. Scores on the competitiveness scale increased systematically with age. Speech and voice characteristics correlated significantly with Type A scores (total Type A behaviour: r = 0.50, using different raters, and 0.71, using the same raters, p less than 0.001) and, once again, boys obtained significantly (p less than 0.001) higher scores than girls. The results are in close agreement with the American findings from the original scale. It was concluded that the scale provides a reliable and valid instrument for measuring Type A or Type A-like behaviours in pre-school children.     

Familial similarity in Type A behaviour and physiological measurements as related to sex

Thirty-one families with pre-school children were examined with regard to Type A behaviour and cardiovascular and neuroendocrine measurements. Type A scores (MYTH) of the children from the ages of three to six were positively correlated with independent Type A measurements (Jenkins Activity Survey, Bortner Type A scale) of the parents (significant for fathers but not for mothers). The children's resting systolic blood pressures were significantly correlated with maternal and paternal values, while no significant familial aggregation was found for diastolic blood pressure, heart rate, catecholamine or cortisol excretion. The children's systolic and diastolic blood pressures and adrenaline excretion were significantly correlated between ages three and six. The results are consistent with the assumption that genetic as well as environmental factors contribute to the development of Type A behaviour. No significant association was found between Type A scores and physiological measurements during routine activities in the children or the adults.     

Visual‐motor and executive functions in children born preterm: The Bender Visual Motor Gestalt Test revisited

Böhm, B., Lundequist, A. & Smedler, A.‐C. (2010). Visual‐motor and executive functions in children born preterm: The Bender Visual Motor Gestalt Test revisited. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 51, 376–384. Visual‐motor development and executive functions were investigated with the Bender Test at age 5½ years in 175 children born preterm and 125 full‐term controls, within the longitudinal Stockholm Neonatal Project. Assessment also included WPPSI‐R and NEPSY neuropsychological battery for ages 4–7 ( Korkman, 1990 ). Bender protocols were scored according to Brannigan & Decker (2003) , Koppitz (1963) and a complementary neuropsychological scoring system (ABC), aimed at executive functions and developed for this study. Bender results by all three scoring systems were strongly related to overall cognitive level (Performance IQ), in both groups. The preterm group displayed inferior visual‐motor skills compared to controls also when controlling for IQ. The largest group differences were found on the ABC scoring, which shared unique variance with NEPSY tests of executive function. Multiple regression analyses showed that hyperactive behavior and inattention increased the risk for visual‐motor deficits in children born preterm, whereas no added risk was seen among hyperactive term children. Gender differences favoring girls were strongest within the preterm group, presumably reflecting the specific vulnerability of preterm boys. The results indicate that preterm children develop a different neurobehavioral organization from children born at term, and that the Bender test with a neuropsychological scoring is a useful tool in developmental screening around school start.     

Multidimensional analysis of twenty-one odors

Berglund, B., Berglund, U., Engen, T., & Ekman, G.¹ Multidimensional analysis of twenty-one odors. Scand. J. Psychol., 1973, 14, 131–137.-The present paper reports an experiment on the application of multidimensional scaling to the sense of smell for the purpose of revealing basic psychophysical dimensions of odorants matched in perceived intensity and varying only in perceived quality. The results showed clear evidence for the existence of individual odor spaces, but in apparent contradiction to related studies in the literature individual differences were too large to establish a representative odor space for the whole group. For nearly all individual subjects one of the factors extracted seemed to represent a unique hedonic dimension apparently unrelated to the physical attributes of the odorants. It is suggested that such psychological factors may be as important a basis for the judgment of the similarity of odors as the physical attributes of the odorants. Both the interpretation of multidimensional analysis and the extent to which the sense of smell is analytic or synthetic depend on an understanding of this problem.     

Differential effects of stress-inducing instructions on anxiety, learning and performance

Marton, F. I., Fransson, A., Jonsson, B., Klenell, A.-Ch. & Roos, B. Differential effects of stress-inducing instructions on anxiety, learning and performance. Scand. J. Psychol., 1973, 14, 213–219.-In an attempt to investigate the effects of induced stress on anxiety, learning and performance, the separate effects on the learning and performance phases were obtained by varying the timing of the introduction and the removal of stressinducing instructions. Stess-inducing instructions had a positive effect on learning but were not significantly related to the level of anxiety in the learning phase. In the performance phase the results were reversed, i.e. the stress-inducing instructions had a significantly positive effect on the level of anxiety but none on performance. The apparent paradox stemming from the significant negative relationship between anxiety and achievement within conditions could be resolved by considering the common confusion concerning statistical vs. causal relationship.     

Effects of cigarette smoking on verbal rote learning and physiological arousal

Abstract.— Verbal rote learning was studied on 12 moderate smokers. In one condition learning was interrupted twice by smoking a nicotine-containing cigarette (Virginia King, 2.1 mg nicotine) and in another condition by smoking a nicotine-free cigarette. Immediately after the first nicotine-containing cigarette there was a drop in the number of correct responses and learning was significantly less rapid under subsequent trials as compared with learning after the first nicotine-free cigarette. After the second cigarette the picture was reversed. Learning was significantly more improved in the nicotine condition than in the nicotine-free condition. Adrenalin excretion increased significantly during learning in both conditions, and heart rate increased significantly after the first nicotine-containing cigarette.     

Cardiovascular and neuroendocrine activity in preschool children: Comparison between day-care and home levels

Thirty boys and 30 girls at nine day-care centers were examined at the mean age of 3.5 and 5.5 with regard to systolic and diastolic blood pressure, heart rate and neuroendocrine activity (urinary catecholamines and cortisol) during a day at their day-care center and in their home, respectively. Compared to home levels, day-care was associated with increased heart rate, epinephrine and norepinephrine excretion and decreased cortisol levels. Systolic blood pressure decreased at the day-care centers at the age of 3.5 and increased at the age of 5.5. No significant sex differences were found. The possible role of mental and physical arousal and the dissociation between the sympathetic-adrenal medullary and the pituitary-adrenal cortical responses are discussed.     

Cognitive development, reading and prosodic skills in children with cochlear implants

This report summarizes some of the results of studies in our laboratory exploring the development of cognitive, reading and prosodic skills in children with cochlear implantation (CI). The children with CI performed at significantly lower levels than the hearing comparison group on the majority of cognitive tests, despite showing levels of nonverbal ability. The differences between children with CI and hearing children were most pronounced on tasks with relatively high phonological processing demands, but they were not limited to phonological processing. Impairment of receptive and productive prosody was also evident in children with CI. Despite these difficulties, 75% of the children with CI reached a level of reading skill comparable to that of hearing children. The results are discussed with respect to compensation strategies in reading.