Developmental pathways linking childhood temperament with antisocial behavior and substance use in adolescence : explanatory mechanisms in the peer environment

This study investigated three developmental pathways involving the peer environment that may explain how certain temperamental dispositions in childhood may become manifested in later antisocial behavior and substance use. A total of 411 (52% boys) Canadian children were followed annually from ages 6 to 15 years. The study tested whether the temperamental traits approach, negative reactivity and attention (assessed at ages 6-7 years), were associated with overt antisocial behavior, covert antisocial behavior and illicit substance use (assessed at ages 14-15 years), via poor social preference among peers, inflated social self-perception and antisocial behavior of peer-group affiliates (assessed throughout ages 8-13 years). Results indicated that negative reactivity was indirectly associated with overt antisocial behavior and substance use via poor social preference. Specifically, negative reactivity in earlier childhood predicted poor social preference in later childhood and early adolescence. This poor social standing among peers, in turn, predicted more engagement in overt antisocial behavior but less substance use in later adolescence. Over and above the influence of social preference, negative reactivity predicted engagement in all three outcomes via children’s antisocial behavior in childhood and early adolescence. Inflated social self-perception and antisocial behavior of peergroup affiliates did not mediate the link between temperament and the outcomes under scrutiny. No sex differences in developmental pathways from temperament to the outcomes were found. To further our understanding of the developmental link between childhood temperament and later antisocial behavior and substance use, we need to recognize the role of peer environmental factors, specifically poor preference among peers

Exposure to Bullying and General Psychopathology: A Prospective, Longitudinal Study

Although there is mounting evidence that the experience of being bullied associates with both internalizing and externalizing symptoms, it is not known yet whether the identified associations are specific to these symptoms, or shared between them. The primary focus of this study is to assess the prospective associations

Longitudinal associations between sleep and anxiety during pregnancy, and the moderating effect of resilience, using parallel process latent growth curve models

Background: For many women, pregnancy-related sleep disturbances and pregnancy-related anxiety change as pregnancy progresses and both are associated with lower maternal quality of life and less favorable birth outcomes. Thus, the interplay between these two problems across pregnancy is of interest. In addition, psychological resilience may explain individual differences in this association, as it may promote coping with both sleep disturbances and anxiety, and thereby reduce their mutual effects. Therefore, the aim of the current study was to examine whether sleep quality and sleep duration, and changes in sleep are associated with the level of and changes in anxiety during pregnancy. Furthermore, the study tested the moderating effect of resilience on these associations.Methods: At gestational weeks 14, 24, and 34, 532 pregnant women from the FinnBrain Birth Cohort Study in Finland filled out questionnaires on general sleep quality, sleep duration and pregnancy-related anxiety; resilience was assessed in week 14.Results: Parallel process latent growth curve models showed that shorter initial sleep duration predicted a higher initial level of anxiety, and a higher initial anxiety level predicted a faster shortening of sleep duration. Changes in sleep duration and changes in anxiety over the course of pregnancy were not related. The predicted moderating effect of resilience was not found.Conclusions: The results suggested that pregnant women reporting anxiety problems should also be screened for sleeping problems, and vice versa, because women who experienced one of these pregnancy-related problems were also at risk of experiencing or developing the other problem. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.</p

UNESCO: vooruitgang, maar ongelijkheid

Onderwijs heeft geleid tot een enorme vooruitgang in geletterdheid, technologie en wetenschap, maar ook gezorgd voor meer ongelijkheid. Dat blijkt uit het internationale Unesco-onderzoek ‘Reimagining Education: the Science and Evidence-based Education (ISEE) Assessment

Impact of Low Social Preference on the Development of Depressive and Aggressive Symptoms: Buffering by Children’s Prosocial Behavior

textabstractHolding a low social position among peers has been widely demonstrated to be associated with the development of depressive and aggressive symptoms in children. However, little is known about potential protective factors in this association. The present study examined whether increases in children’s prosocial behavior can buffer the association between their low social preference among peers and the development of depressive and aggressive symptoms in the first few school years. We followed 324 children over 1.5 years with three assessments across kindergarten and first grade elementary school. Children rated the (dis)likability of each of their classroom peers and teachers rated each child’s prosocial behavior, depressive and aggressive symptoms. Results showed that low social preference at the start of kindergarten predicted persistent low social preference at the start of first grade in elementary school, which in turn predicted increases in both depressive and aggressive symptoms at the end of first grade. However, the indirect pathways were moderated by change in prosocial behavior. Specifically, for children whose prosocial behavior increased during kindergarten, low social preference in first grade elementary school no longer predicted increases in depressive and aggressive symptoms. In contrast, for children whose prosocial behavior did not increase, their low social preference in first grade elementary school continued to predict increases in both depressive and aggressive symptoms. These results suggest that improving prosocial behavior in children with low social preference as early as kindergarten may reduce subsequent risk of developing depressive and aggressive symptom

Relational victimization and elementary schoolchildren’s risk-taking behavior: Impact of the classroom norm toward risk-taking

The association between relational victimization and risk-taking development in children is understudied. Also, it is not clear how the social classroom norm may affect this link. The aim of this study was, therefore, to investigate the link between relational victimization and risk-taking behavior in elementary schoolchildren, and the potential moderating role of the classroom norm salience toward risk-taking. We expected that relationally victimized children would show an increase in risk-taking behavior in classrooms that are unfavorable toward risk-taking as a way to provoke and act against the classroom norm. However, alternatively, relationally victimized children could show an increase in risk-taking behavior in classrooms that are favorable toward risk-taking as a way to fortify the feeling of belonging to the classroom. Participants were 1,009 children (50% boys) in 69 classrooms of 13 mainstream elementary schools, followed annually across ages 7–11 (Grade 1–5). Risk-taking was assessed using the Balloon Analogue Risk Task. Relational victimization was assessed using teacher reports. The classroom norm salience toward risk-taking was based on the within-classroom correlation of risk-taking with children’s social preference score among peers. Results from multilevel modeling showed that there was no significant main effect of relational victimization on risk-taking behavior. However, the classroom norm salience toward risk-taking significantly moderated the effect of relational victimization on risk-taking. Relational victimization was related to relative increases in risk-taking when classroom norms were unfavorable toward risk-taking. In classrooms where risk-taking was favored, relational victimization was related to relative decreases in risk-taking. These findings suggest that children who are relationally victimized may engage in norm-defying behavior in their classroom. Implications for further research are discussed

The Impact of School Social Experiences on Socioemotional and Behavioral Problems:The Hypothesized Role of DNA Methylation

Peer victimization (including physical, verbal, and relational forms of aggression) has a worldwide prevalence rate of nearly 13%, and has been implicated in prior literature and theory as a contributor to children’s behavioral and emotional problems, through stress-related pathways and mechanisms. However, little is known about the underlying molecular mechanisms that may account for these effects. In this chapter, we first briefly examine how the neuroendocrine system may be affected by peer victimization. Next, we describe the extent to which epigenetic mechanisms, especially DNA methylation, may be altered by life experiences and could jeopardize later development, a concept referred to as biological embedding. We conclude by outlining key methodological, biological, and statistical limitations constraining the generalization of emerging findings investigating epigenetic mechanisms in peer relationships research.</p

Sex differences and parallels in the development of externalizing behaviours in childhood: Boys' and girls' susceptibility to social preference among peers

This study examined whether being poorly preferred by peers may partially explain why boys with oppositional behaviour develop more conduct problems than girls. Children from the general Dutch population attending regular elementary schools (N = 759, 50.3% boys) were followed annually from age 7 to 10 years. Teachers-rated externalizing behaviour and peer-nominated social preference was assessed across four waves. Autoregressive cross-lagged models indicated that oppositionality predicted increases in conduct problems. Above and beyond this direct link, oppositionality predicted low social preference in subsequent years, which in turn predicted an increase in conduct problems. In this latter pathway, sex differences were found. That is, oppositional boys were as likely as oppositional girls to show an increase in low social preference one year later. However, boys who had low social preference scores showed stronger increases in conduct problems one year later, compared to girls who had low social preference scores. Hence, developmental models of externalizing behaviour should consider the possible sex-differential impact of troublesome peer-relationships to understand the development of milder to more severe externalizing behaviours