Students’ performance on missing-value word problems: a cross-national developmental study

This study investigates Spanish and Chinese students’ performance on both addition problems and proportion problems considering a cross-national perspective. The effect of number structure and nature of quantities was also considered. Nine hundred twenty-five 4th to 8th graders (453 Chinese, 472 Spanish) took a test which is composed of addition and proportion problems in a missing-value format. The findings showed that Chinese students held a different developmental model of the additive and proportional reasoning from Spanish students. Moreover, number structure and nature of quantities had a different impact in each country. These results indicated that students’ additive and proportional reasoning may vary from country to country due to the different cultures and educational environments. Further studies with a larger-scale sample will be needed to confirm such cross-national effects

Which One Is the “Best”: a Cross-national Comparative Study of Students’ Strategy Evaluation in Equation Solving

This cross-national study examined students’ evaluation of strategies for solving linear equations, as well as the extent to which their evaluation criteria were related to their use of strategies and/or aligned with experts’ views about which strategy is the best. A total of 792 middle school and high school students from Sweden, Finland, and Spain participated in the study. Students were asked to solve twelve equations, provide multiple solving strategies for each equation, and select the best strategy among those they produced for each equation. Our results indicate that students’ evaluation of strategies was not strongly related to their initial preferences for using strategies. Instead, many students’ criteria were aligned with the flexibility goals, in that a strategy that takes advantages of task context was more highly valued than a standard algorithm. However, cross-national differences in strategy evaluation indicated that Swedish and Finnish students were more aligned with flexibility goals in terms of their strategy evaluation criteria, while Spanish students tended to consider standard algorithms better than other strategies. We also found that high school students showed more flexibility concerns than middle school students. Different emphases in educational practice and prior knowledge might explain these cross-national differences as well as the findings of developmental changes in students’ evaluation criteria

Metabolic risk factors of cognitive impairment in young women with major psychiatric disorder

BackgroundCognitive performance improves clinical outcomes of patients with major psychiatric disorder (MPD), but is impaired by hyperglycemia. Psychotropic agents often induce metabolism syndrome (MetS). The identification of modifiable metabolic risk factors of cognitive impairment may enable targeted improvements of patient care.ObjectiveTo investigate the relationship between MetS and cognitive impairment in young women with MPD, and to explore risk factors.MethodsWe retrospectively studied women of 18–34 years of age receiving psychotropic medications for first-onset schizophrenia (SCH), bipolar disorder (BP), or major depressive disorder (MDD). Data were obtained at four time points: presentation but before psychotropic medication; 4–8 and 8–12 weeks of psychotropic therapy; and enrollment. MATRICS Consensus Cognitive Battery, (MCCB)—based Global Deficit Scores were used to assess cognitive impairment. Multiple logistic analysis was used to calculate risk factors. Multivariate models were used to investigate factors associated with cognitive impairment.ResultsWe evaluated 2,864 participants. Cognitive impairment was observed in 61.94% of study participants, and was most prevalent among patients with BP (69.38%). HbA1c within the 8–12 week-treatment interval was the most significant risk factor and highest in BP. Factors in SCH included pre-treatment waist circumference and elevated triglycerides during the 8–12 weeks treatment interval. Cumulative dosages of antipsychotics, antidepressants, and valproate were associated with cognitive impairment in all MPD subgroups, although lithium demonstrated a protect effect (all P < 0.001).ConclusionsCognitive impairment was associated with elevated HbA1c and cumulative medication dosages. Pre-treatment waist circumference and triglyceride level at 8–12 weeks were risk factors in SCH. Monitoring these indices may inform treatment revisions to improve clinical outcomes

Procedural flexibility in mathematics in three countries

This is the dataset of a mathematics flexibility project

Self-esteem moderates the effect of compromising thinking on forgiveness among Chinese early adolescents

Forgiveness contributes to positive social relationships, which is critical for individual development, particularly for early adolescents. Most previous studies focused on the unique roles of cognitive factors (e.g., compromising thinking) and personality traits (e.g., self-esteem) in the process of developing forgiveness. However, sporadic research has examined their interactive effect on forgiveness from an integrated perspective. Given that forgiveness has been categorized into decisional and emotional forgiveness, this study aimed to examine the effects of compromising thinking on two types of forgiveness, and the moderating effects of self-esteem on the association between compromising thinking and forgiveness among early adolescents. A total of 1,009 Chinese primary and secondary school students (50.4% males; M age = 11.75, SD = 1.27) were recruited to complete three self-reported questionnaires. The results showed that compromising thinking predicted decisional forgiveness but not emotional forgiveness. Furthermore, self-esteem was identified to moderate the conditional effects of compromising thinking on decisional and emotional forgiveness. These findings advance a better understanding of the construct and mechanism of forgiveness, which can provide insights for targeted forgiveness interventions among early adolescents, such as compromising thinking instructions and self-esteem enhancement programs

Teacher Justice and Students’ Class Identification: Belief in a Just World and Teacher–Student Relationship as Mediators

For school-age adolescents, teacher justice plays an important role in their learning and social outcomes. The present study examined the relation between teacher justice and students’ class identification in 1735 Chinese school-age adolescents by considering belief in a just world (BJW) and teacher–student relationship as mediators. Structure equation modeling (SEM) was used to reveal the direct and indirect effects. The analyses showed that all the direct and indirect effects were significant. These findings indicated that teacher justice had a positive effect on students’ class identification. In addition, teacher justice impacted students’ class identification through students’ just-world belief and teacher–student relationships. These results suggested that for adolescents, teacher justice played an important role in shaping their just-world belief system and their interpersonal relationships with teachers, which in turn affected their sense of belonging and values in relation to their class. Thus, it is important for teachers to be aware that their injustice may negatively impact their relationships with students, students’ belief systems, and their psychological engagement at school. There is a need to develop teacher-training programs to help teachers to establish classroom reward-punishment systems with the consideration of social justice, to communicate with students through an unbiased approach, and to increase student participation in the important decision making of the whole class

Perceived parental warmth and adolescents' math engagement in China: the mediating roles of need satisfaction and math self-efficacy

Based on previous research on contextual influence on student engagement and guided by self-determination theory, the present study investigated the association of perceived parental warmth with math engagement among Chinese students. Data were gathered from 1132 students (577 girls) in Grades 9 and 11 from two secondary schools in Hunan province, China. Structural equation models revealed that it was through the mediation of psychological need satisfaction and math self-efficacy that perceived parental warmth associated with adolescents math engagement. Implications for parenting practice are discussed

Reliability and validity of a novel mobile-based automatic battery of cognitive tests in healthy young Chinese adults

To evaluate the reliability and validity of a newly developed computerized Automated Battery of Cognitive Tests in healthy individuals without cognitive impairments or psychiatric disorders. From April 20 to July 1, 2023, 142 healthy individuals in Beijing and Tangshan, China were assessed using the Automated Battery of Cognitive Tests. After a 3-week interval, 36 participants were randomly selected for retesting. The assessment also included administration of the Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status and the Automated Battery of Cognitive Tests to 59 participants. The Automated Battery of Cognitive Tests consists of 16 subtests. Internal consistency reliability was 0.75. The test-retest reliability for each factor ranged from 0.337 to 0.850 (p p  The computerized Automated Battery of Cognitive Tests is a cognitive self-assessment tool with good reliability and validity. It can evaluate multiple aspects of cognitive performance in healthy individuals and is suitable for self-administration through remote access via Internet.</p