Electrodermal Activity Moderates Sleep-Behavior Associations in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Research on Child and Adolescent Psychopathology - Relative to children without autism spectrum disorder (ASD), children with ASD experience elevated sleep problems that can contribute to...     

Creating Safer and More Nurturing Schools: Expanding the Capacity of Schools in the Era of Future National Reform

ABSTRACT

Positive academic performance is a strong indicator of subsequent positive life course outcomes (e.g., employment) as well as underrepresentation in psychiatric populations, drug use, school dropout, and subsequent legal trouble (A. Farn & J. Adams, 2016). As such, helping all children to be successful in school is a top priority for parents, educators, and politicians alike. However, schools are challenged by an increasing demand to meet children's health and metal health needs in order for them to benefit from, and progress in, their educational experience. Public concerns regarding violent acts on school property have highlighted the need to address student and teacher safety. The authors provide recommendations for school psychologists regarding promising practices that respond to national initiatives to prevent school violence, increase access to health and mental health care, and enhance equity among students.     

“Where there is a will, there is an A”: examining the roles of self-efficacy and self-concept in college students’ current educational attainment and career planning

As previous research indicates self-efficacy and self-concept have similar effects on achievement outcomes, the current study investigated the differential effects of both constructs on academic performance and career path certainty in college freshmen. Results indicated high school GPA was best predicted by general self-efficacy, whereas current GPA was most strongly related to self-efficacy for learning. However, academic competence did not moderate either self-efficacy or academic performance. Career path certainty was best explained by general self-efficacy and job competence, and scholastic competence best predicted current academic performance. Yet, no mediation effect was found for general self-efficacy amongst the variables of self-concept, academic performance, and career path certainty.     

Sympathetic Under-Arousal and Externalizing Behavior Problems in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) commonly exhibit co-occurring externalizing behavior problems, which can impede learning opportunities and contribute significantly to caregiver stress. Substantial theory and research has linked under-arousal of the sympathetic nervous system to increased externalizing problems in children without ASD, but under-arousal has not been considered as an explanatory mechanism for individual differences among children with ASD. We tested the notion that lower electrodermal activity (EDA) would predict more externalizing problems in children with ASD, and considered the degree to which parent co-regulatory support could buffer this risk. Forty children with ASD between the ages of 4 and 11 years and their primary caregivers participated in a laboratory visit that included various play, compliance, and problem-solving regulatory tasks. EDA was measured through wireless wrist sensors, parental scaffolding was observed during a dyadic problem-solving task, and parents rated their children’s externalizing behavior problems. As predicted, low EDA during the compliance-oriented tasks directly predicted higher child externalizing problems. Parental scaffolding moderated the link between under-arousal during the problem-solving regulatory tasks and externalizing problems such that the relation was observed in the context of low, but not high, support. Implications for relevant theories (e.g., fearlessness theory, stimulation-seeking theory) are discussed, and the potential for psychophysiological patterns to inform intervention with these children is considered.     

Mother-child interaction and resilience in children with early developmental risk

Although prenatal and genetic factors make strong contributions to the emergence of intellectual disability (ID), children's early environment may have the potential to alter developmental trajectories and to foster resilience in children with early risk. The present study examined mother-child interaction and the promotion of competence in 50 children with early developmental delays. Three related but distinct aspects of mother-child interaction were considered: maternal technical scaffolding, maternal positive sensitivity, and mother-child dyadic pleasure. Children were classified as exhibiting undifferentiated delays at age 3, based upon performance on developmental assessments and the absence of known genetic syndromes. Mother-child interaction was assessed at age 4 through observational ratings of structured laboratory tasks, and through naturalistic home observations. ID was identified at age 5 using the dual criteria of clinically significant delays in cognitive functioning and adaptive behavior. Maternal technical scaffolding and dyadic pleasure each uniquely predicted reduced likelihood of later ID, beyond the contributions of children's early developmental level and behavioral functioning. Follow-up analyses suggested that mother-child interaction was primarily important to resilience in the area of adaptive behavior, with scaffolding and dyadic pleasure differentially associated with particular subdomains. Implications for theories of intellectual disability and for family-based early intervention and prevention efforts are discussed.