Teacher-youth inter-informant agreement on the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) in a community sample of refugee and immigrant adolescents in Montreal

Early detection and treatment of psychological problems amongst refugee and immigrant youth is crucial to improve their developmental outcomes and their social integration. Multiple informants approach is a standard practice in detecting psychological problems. Based on its extensive empirical use, this approach is recommended in order to avoid bias or misinterpretation during the assessment of the youth mental health needs. However, very few studies have investigated the inter-informant agreement between teachers and youth in a multiethnic context. The current study explores teacher-youth inter-informant agreement in a culturally heterogeneous sample of refugee and immigrant adolescents from three high schools in Montreal. The Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) was administered to 113 recently arrived migrant adolescents (female, n = 55; male, n= 58) to assess their own emotional and behavioural symptoms. The SDQ was also administered to their teachers (n = 7) so that a comparison between self- and teacher reports could be made. Teacher-youth agreement was significant for the Emotional symptoms subscale, but this inter-informant agreement was significant for males only. These results underscore the need to raise school personnel awareness about potential undetected emotional problems in newly arrived refugee and immigrant female adolescents

Stability of grain zinc concentrations across lowland rice environments favors zinc biofortification breeding

IntroductionOne-third of the human population consumes insufficient zinc (Zn) to sustain a healthy life. Zn deficiency can be relieved by increasing the Zn concentration ([Zn]) in staple food crops through biofortification breeding. Rice is a poor source of Zn, and in countries predominantly relying on rice without sufficient dietary diversification, such as Madagascar, Zn biofortification is a priority.MethodsMulti-environmental trials were performed in Madagascar over two years, 2019 and 2020, to screen a total of 28 genotypes including local and imported germplasm. The trials were conducted in the highlands of Ankazomiriotra, Anjiro, and Behenji and in Morovoay, a location representative of the coastal ecosystem. Contributions of genotype (G), environment (E), and G by E interactions (GEIs) were investigated.ResultThe grain [Zn] of local Malagasy rice varieties was similar to the internationally established grain [Zn] baseline of 18–20 μg/g for brown rice. While several imported breeding lines reached 50% of our breeding target set at +12 μg/g, only few met farmers’ appreciation criteria. Levels of grain [Zn] were stable across E. The G effects accounted for a main fraction of the variation, 76% to 83% of the variation for year 1 and year 2 trials, respectively, while GEI effects were comparatively small, contributing 23% to 9%. This contrasted with dominant E and GEI effects for grain yield. Our results indicate that local varieties tested contained insufficient Zn to alleviate Zn malnutrition, and developing new Zn-biofortified varieties should therefore be a priority. GGE analysis did not distinguish mega-environments for grain [Zn], whereas at least three mega-environments existed for grain yield, differentiated by the presence of limiting environmental conditions and responsiveness to improved soil fertility.DiscussionOur main conclusion reveals that grain [Zn] seems to be under strong genetic control in the agro-climatic conditions of Madagascar. We could identify several interesting genotypes as potential donors for the breeding program, among those BF156, with a relatively stable grain [Zn] (AMMI stability value (ASV) = 0.89) reaching our target (>26 μg/g). While selection for grain yield, general adaptation, and farmers’ appreciation would have to rely on multi-environment testing, selection for grain [Zn] could be centralized in earlier generations