Risk factors for psychopathology in children with intellectual disability: A prospective longitudinal population-based study

Background: This study examined risk factors for the development of psychopathology in children with intellectual disability (ID) in the developmental, biological, family and social-ecological domains. Methods: A population sample of 968 children, aged 6-18, enrolled in special schools in the Netherlands for educable and trainable ID were assessed at Time 1. A random 58% were re-contacted about 1 year later, resulting in a sample of 474 at Time 2. Results: Psychopathology was highly consistent over 1 year. Risk factors jointly accounted for significant, but small, portions of the variance in development of psychopathology. Child physical symptoms, family dysfunction and previous parental mental health treatment reported at Time 1 were uniquely associated with new psychopathology at Time 2. Conclusions: Prevention and early intervention research to find ways to reduce the incidence of psychopathology, possibly targeting family functioning, appear important. © 2006 Blackwell Publishing Ltd

Psychopathology in Children with Intellectual Disability: Assessment, prevalence and predictive factors

__Abstract__ This study’s main focus is psychopathology in children and adolescents with intellectual disability (ID). The main topics addressed in this study are the assessment of psychopathology in children (also including adolescents) with ID, the prevalence and impact of psychopathology in children with ID, and associated risk factors. The present study is an epidemiological study. In short, epidemiological studies are concerned with the study of patterns of disease occurrence in human populations, and with the factors that influence those patterns. Epidemiological research is empirical by nature, involves quantification of relevant factors, is probabilistic, and uses the method of comparison as a basic tool (Verhulst, 1995). The number of studies addressing the epidemiology of psychopathology in children with ID is limited, though it has increased in the last decade. Few systematic studies on the relationship between ID and psychopathology in children exist. Theoretical considerations and empirical findings suggest that children with ID are at higher risk than children without ID for developing psychopathology. Further, several other issues hamper our understanding of the subject, such as the use of different definitions for both ID and psychopathology, the lack of standardized assessment procedures, and the use of not so representative samples. In this chapter we will discuss some of the major issues in this research-field. Further, we will account for the choices made in this study in an effort to provide good quality data on the epidemiology of psychopathology in children with ID

Quantization of the Damped Harmonic Oscillator Revisited

We return to the description of the damped harmonic oscillator by means of a closed quantum theory with a general assessment of previous works, in particular the Bateman-Caldirola-Kanai model and a new model recently proposed by one of the authors. We show the local equivalence between the two models and argue that latter has better high energy behavior and is naturally connected to existing open-quantum-systems approaches.Comment: 16 page

Attentional control and executive functioning in school-aged children: Linking self-regulation and parenting strategies

Good parenting strategies can shape children’s neurocognitive development, yet little is known about the nature of this relation in school-aged children and whether this association shifts with age. We aimed to investigate the relation between parenting strategies observed during a home visit and children’s performance-based attentional control and executive functioning (N = 98, aged 4–8 years). Linear and curvilinear regression analyses showed that children of parents who were more supportive, were less intrusive, and asked more open-ended questions displayed better inhibitory control. In addition, children of parents who asked relatively more open-ended than closed-ended questions showed better performance on inhibition, working memory, and cognitive flexibility tasks. Curvilinear relations indicated the presence of an optimal amount of closed-ended and elaborative questions by parents—that is, not too few and not too many—which is linked to increased performance on attentional and inhibitory control in children. Higher parental intrusiveness and more frequent elaborative questioning were associated with decreased inhibitory control in younger children, whereas no such negative associations were present in older children. These results suggest that susceptibility to certain parenting strategies may shift with age. Our findings underscore the importance of adaptive parenting strategies to both the age and needs of school-aged children, which may positively affect their self-regulation skills.Development Psychopathology in context: clinical setting

T polymorphism in determining hepatic lipase activity: the Hoorn Study

T polymorphism, after adjustment for age, sex, carbohydrate and protein intakes, and insulin or body mass inde

Reflective Goal-Setting Improves Academic Performance in Teacher and Business Education: A Large-Scale Field Experiment

Students often have trouble adjusting to higher education and this affects their performance, retention, and well-being. Scholars have suggested applying reflective goal- setting interventions, and most have found positive effects on academic performance and retention. However, one study found no effect at all, stressing the need for understanding the underlying mechanisms, as they could explain when the intervention works and why. Thus, we assessed these mechanisms through a rigorous effect test, using an experimental design and repeated measures. We measured engagement, self-regulated learning, resilience, grit, wellbeing, academic performance, and retention at three points in a large scale randomized controlled trial involving first-year teacher and business education students (N = 1,134). The treatment group earned significantly more course credits and had lower drop out rates. Contrary to previous findings, these effects were independent of gender or ethnicity. Grit, self-regulated learning, resilience, or engagement did not mediate the effects. This study confirmed reflective goal-setting’s small and direct effect on academic performance, but no mediating or moderating effects. Differences in implementation fidelity could explain previous studies’ varying effect-sizes