Parental early life maltreatment and related experiences in treatment of youth anxiety disorder

The role of parents’ early life maltreatment (ELM) (e.g. physical, sexual abuse) and related experiences, in relation to offspring anxiety is not well understood. The current study investigated the association between self-reported depression and ELM and related experiences in mothers (n = 79) and fathers (n = 50), and mother-, father-, and youth-reported symptoms of youth anxiety (n = 90). Outcomes were assessed at pre,- and posttreatment and 3-, 6-, and 12-months follow-up. Parental ELM were not associated with pre-treatment differences or differences in outcome of treatment. However ELM related experiences were associated with increased mother-, father-, and youth-rated youth anxiety at pretreatment. Fathers depressive symptoms were found to mediate the relationship between father ELM related experiences and father-rated youth anxiety symptoms. Future research is warranted on parental ELM and depression as factors affecting outcomes of treatment of youth anxiety. Trial registered at: helseforskning.etikkom.no (reg. nr. 2017/1367).publishedVersio

Healthy and unhealthy eating after a behaviour change intervention in primary care

Background: To prevent and reduce non-communicable diseases, the Norwegian Directorate of Health encourages Healthy Life Centres (HLCs) in all municipalities. Aims: This study investigates whether the behaviour change interventions at HLCs positively affected participants’ diet and to evaluate predictors for healthy and unhealthy eating. Our data are part of the Norwegian Healthy Life Centre Study, a 6-month, pragmatic randomised controlled trial (RCT). Methods: Totally, 118 participants ≥18 years old were randomised to an intervention group (n 57), or a waiting list (control group) (n 61). Eighty-six participants met at the 6 months follow-up visit. We merged the participants to one cohort for predictor analyses, using linear regressions. Findings: The RCT of the HLCs’ interventions had no effect on healthy and unhealthy eating 6 months after baseline compared with controls. A short, additional healthy eating education programme produced a modest, statistically significant improvement in healthy eating compared with controls. This did not, however, reduce unhealthy eating. Higher income predicted unhealthier eating over time. Increasing body mass index and impaired physical functioning also led to an increase in unhealthy eating. Healthy eating at 6 months was predicted by self-rated health (SRH), vitality and life satisfaction, and hampered by musculo-skeletal challenges and impaired self-esteem (SE). SRH impacted improvement in healthy eating during the 6 months. The effect of interventions on healthier eating may be improved by an emphasis on developing positive self-concepts like better SRH, vitality, life satisfaction, and SE.publishedVersio

«It is cool»: Evaluation of the voluntary 10th school year in Denmark

Norsk: Manglende kunnskaper fra grunnskolen framstår som den viktigste faktoren for ikke å gjennomføre videregående opplæring med studie- eller yrkeskompetanse. Elever som ikke lykkes faglig i grunnskolen og dermed får faglige problemer i videregående, har også gjerne sosiale og personlige erfaringer som bidrar til at videre skolegang kan bli vanskelig. En av tre lykkes ikke i norsk videregående opplæring. Sannsynligheten for frafall fnner en særlig i overgangsfasene mellom de ulike delene av opplæringen. Mange slutter det første året i videregående skole. Årsaken til det er gjerne feilvalg, at en ikke kom inn på det en ønsket eller at utdanningsprogrammet ikke var som forventet (Hernes, 2010; Markussen, 2008; Wollscheid, 2010). Danmark har lenge hatt et frivillig skoleår etter grunnskolen, et 10. skoleår, som her ville tilsvart et 11. år. Rundt halvparten av elevene velger et frivillig 10. år i Danmark. Målet for disse elevene er å forbedre seg faglig, utvikle seg personlig og sosialt samt å bli mer bevisst på hvilken videre utdanning de ønsker. Denne rapporten bygger i hovedsak på de erfaringer som er gjort i Danmark, målt gjennom kvantitative og kvalitative undersøkelser, spørreskjema og gruppeintervjuer av lærere og elever. Rapporten har til hensikt å fnne ut hvilke elever som velger et frivillig 10. skoleår, hvordan er elevenes faglige og sosiale utvikling, hva er det som kjennetegner det pedagogiske innholdet og hvilke erfaringer har elever og lærere med dette tilbudet. I den kvantitative undersøkelsen som er gjennomført blant 10. klasseelever i Danmark, er resultatene i hovedsak sammenlignet med elever i 9. klasse med samme faglige nivå. Det kvantitative materiale viser at elevene i 10. klasse skårer bedre enn 9. klasseelevene på alle områder, men det er ikke like stor forbedring på alt. De har en positiv faglig utvikling i de sentrale fagene dansk, matematikk og engelsk, og særlig gjelder dette for guttene. Det er en klar forbedring i motivasjon og arbeidsinnsats, og omfanget av adferdsproblemer er klart redusert i forhold til 9. klasse. Den kvantitative undersøkelsen viste også at elevene i 10. klasse er mindre utsatt for mobbing og trives bedre på skolen. Intervjuene av elever og lærere bekrefter de kvantitative resultatene, og viser høy grad av sammenfall mellom lærere og elever når det gjelder erfaringer fra det frivillige 10. skoleår. Lærerne stiller krav til elevene både sosialt og faglig, og både elever og lærere mener at valg av temalinjer bygde på egne interesser, og det å kunne velge bort noe var positivt for all læring som foregikk. Begge grupper framhever fraværet av mobbing og det at elevene blir godtatt som de er, som særlig positivt. Både lærere og elever er enige om at et 10. klassetilbud må være på et annet sted enn der elevene har gått på skole tidligere. Dette gir både et fysisk og et sosialt miljøskifte. Med de erfaringene Danmark har med et frivillig 10. skoleår konkluderer denne rapporten med at det er verdt å vurdere mulighetene for et tilsvarende tilbud i Norge. Et frivillig 11. skoleår bygd på bestemte premisser kan bidra til at fere elever får studie- eller yrkeskompetanse gjennom videregående opplæring.English: Lack of knowledge from primary school appears to be the main factor for not enacting the upper secondary education. Students who does not succeed academically in primary school and who, on behalf of this, continues their lack of success in school, might also have social and personal experiences which contributes to make the upper secondary education challenging. One out of three is not successful in the Norwegian upper secondary education. The probabilities of dropping out are particularly in the transition phases between the different parts of the training. Many students drop out the frst year in upper secondary education. The reason for this is often the wrong choice, that one did not come in on a desired or that education was not as expected (Hernes, 2010; Markussen, 2008; Wollscheid, 2010). In Denmark, when completed primary school, they have a voluntary 10th school year. This year will correspond to a possible 11th year in Norway. Nearly half of the Danish students choose to complete this voluntary 10th year. The purpose of this year is to improve their academicals knowledge’s together with their personal and social competencies. This year will also help them become more aware of their interests in further education, and help them choose the right program in upper secondary school. This report is based primarily on the experiences made in Denmark, as measured through quantitative and qualitative surveys, questionnaires, and group interviews with teachers and students. The report aims to determine which students who choose a voluntary 10th school year, how their academic and social developments are, what are the characteristics of the educational content and the experiences students and teachers have with this project. In the quantitative survey conducted among 10th grade students in Denmark, the results are mainly compared with students in 9th grade with the similar academic level. The quantitative material shows that the 10th grade students have better results in all subjects than the 9th grade students have, but the extent of improvement are not equal in all subjects. They have a positive development in the central subjects, Danish, math and English, and this is outstanding among the boys. It is an obvious improvement in motivation and work effort, and the extents of the behavioral diffculties are radically decreased when compared to the 9th grade students. The quantitative survey also shows that the 10th grade students are less exposed for bullying, and feels more satisfed in school. The interview of students and teachers confrm the quantitative results, and shows a high degree of congruence between teachers and students on their experiences from the voluntary 10th school year. The teachers are expecting the students to perform both socially and academically, and both teachers and pupils claim that the students` choice of subjects was built on behalf of their interests and that the ability to pick and choose from different subjects has a positive effect on their educational interest. Both groups emphasize the absence of bullying and the fact that students are accepted as they are, as particularly positive. Both students and teachers agree that the 10th school year has to be located in a different area than their elementary school, to give them a complete physical and social change of their educational environment. With the experience of Denmark this report concludes that a similar offer should be considered in Norway. A voluntary 11th school year in Norway built on certain premises can contribute to more pupils completing their upper secondary education.Kunnskapsdepartemente

Healthy and unhealthy eating after a behaviour change intervention in primary care

Background: To prevent and reduce non-communicable diseases, the Norwegian Directorate of Health encourages Healthy Life Centres (HLCs) in all municipalities. Aims: This study investigates whether the behaviour change interventions at HLCs positively affected participants’ diet and to evaluate predictors for healthy and unhealthy eating. Our data are part of the Norwegian Healthy Life Centre Study, a 6-month, pragmatic randomised controlled trial (RCT). Methods: Totally, 118 participants ≥18 years old were randomised to an intervention group (n 57), or a waiting list (control group) (n 61). Eighty-six participants met at the 6 months follow-up visit. We merged the participants to one cohort for predictor analyses, using linear regressions. Findings: The RCT of the HLCs’ interventions had no effect on healthy and unhealthy eating 6 months after baseline compared with controls. A short, additional healthy eating education programme produced a modest, statistically significant improvement in healthy eating compared with controls. This did not, however, reduce unhealthy eating. Higher income predicted unhealthier eating over time. Increasing body mass index and impaired physical functioning also led to an increase in unhealthy eating. Healthy eating at 6 months was predicted by self-rated health (SRH), vitality and life satisfaction, and hampered by musculo-skeletal challenges and impaired self-esteem (SE). SRH impacted improvement in healthy eating during the 6 months. The effect of interventions on healthier eating may be improved by an emphasis on developing positive self-concepts like better SRH, vitality, life satisfaction, and SE.publishedVersio

Benchmarked effectiveness of family and school involvement in group exposure therapy for adolescent anxiety disorder

Although cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) is an effective treatment for adolescents with anxiety disorders, the majority remain impaired following treatment. We developed a group CBT program (RISK) with high degrees of exposure practice and family and school involvement delivered in a community-based setting and investigated its effectiveness. The treatment involved adolescents (N = 90), with a primary diagnosis of anxiety disorder (82%) or obsessive-compulsive disorder (18%), and their families who received 38 hours of group treatment over 10 weeks. Diagnostic status and symptom severity were assessed at pre- and post-treatment, and a 12-month follow-up and benchmarked against previous effectiveness studies. Our results showed that, at post-treatment, the RISK-treatment was comparably effective as benchmarks on measures of diagnostic status, parent-rated measures, adolescent-rated measures, and clinician-rated measures. At 12-month follow-up all outcomes were superior to benchmarks, including the proportion of participants in remission (79.5%, 95% Highest Posterior Density Interval [74.7, 84.2]), indicating that the RISK-treatment enhanced effectiveness over time. The combination of group format, a high degree of exposure practice, and school and family involvement is a promising format for real-world settings that may help sustain and increase treatment effectiveness. Trial registered at helseforskning.etikkom.no (reg. nr. 2017/1367).publishedVersio

Physical activity and sedentary time after lifestyle interventions at the Norwegian Healthy Life Centres

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativeco mmons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution and reproduction, provided the original article is properly cited.Aims: This study evaluates long-term changes in physical activity and its associations with various predictors after a behavior change program at the Norwegian Healthy Life Centers. Background: Physical activity is recommended and is part of public health strategies to prevent noncommunicable diseases. Methods: This longitudinal cohort, based on a controlled randomized trial, studies a population of 116 Healthy Life Center participants in South-Western Norway who wore SenseWear Armbands to measure time spent in moderate to vigorous physical activity and sedentary time based on metabolic equivalents. The measurements were obtained at baseline, immediately post-intervention, and 24 months after baseline. Linear mixed model analyses were performed to assess predictors for change in physical activity and sedentary time. Findings: High physical activity levels at baseline were maintained during the 24-month study period. Young, male participants with good self-rated health, utilizing local PA facilities were most active, and young participants utilizing local facilities were also less sedentary. The participants with higher levels of education were less active initially but caught up with the difference during follow-up. A high degree of controlled regulation, characterized by bad conscience and external pressure, predicted more sedentary behavior and a trend toward being less physically active. Autonomous motivation was associated with less time spent on sedentary behaviors. People with high self-efficacy for physical activity were more sedentary initially but showed a reduction in their sedentary behavior. The study supports the importance of attending local training facilities and adopting motivation for behavioral change that is not based on guilt and external rewards. Interventions aimed at improving physical activity among people at risk for noncommunicable diseases benefit from habitual use of local training facilities, strengthening their self-perceived health and the development of internalized motivation. However, it has not been shown to mitigate social health disparities.publishedVersio

«Games of random chance»: A survey of special needs education 1 to 4 hours per week

Norsk: I denne kartleggingen av spesialundervisningen til elever som mottar fra 1–4 timer pr. uke er det gjennomført både en kvantitativ kartlegging og en kvalitativ studie i form av intervjuer med representanter fra skoleeiere, skoleledere og ansatte i PP-tjenesten i fem kommuner. De kvantitative dataene er basert på en kartleggingsundersøkelse med 2763 elever og deres læreres vurdering, fra elever i 5. til og med 10. klasse i 45 grunnskoler i 8 fylker. Svarprosenten er på 90,1. Det har vært vesentlig å finne fram til kjennetegn ved denne elevgruppen ut fra en sammenligning med andre elevgrupper, særlig variasjoner mellom skoler når det gjelder skolefaglige prestasjoner, sosiale ferdigheter, motivasjon, atferd på skolen, relasjoner og opplevelse av undervisningen. De kvantitative resultatene viser at elevgruppen har dårlige resultater, både faglig og sosialt og at disse elevene har relativt lav motivasjon og en noe dårlig elevatferd i skolen. Motivasjon har en sterk forklaringskraft på elevenes skolefaglige prestasjoner. Det kan føre til at elevene har behov for mer spesialundervisning. Sammenlignet med de elevene som mottar mer enn 4 timer med spesialundervisning pr. uke er det små forskjeller mellom gruppene i det kvantitative materialet. Hovedkonklusjonen er at det er svært vanskelig å finne spesifikke kjennetegn ved elever som mottar 1–4 timer spesialundervising når vi sammenligner med elever som mottar et større omfang spesialundervisning. Det er ikke slik at vi finner noen klare sammenhenger mellom antall timer til spesialundervisning og elevenes behov og forutsetninger, og det finnes i dette materialet ingen empirisk støtte for at elever som mottar lite spesialundervisning har noe mindre behov for spesialundervisning, enn de som mottar mer enn 4 timer pr. uke. Dette indikerer at det ikke bare er elevenes behov, men i like stor grad ulike betingelser ved den enkelte skole og i den ordinære undervisningen som er bestemmende for det antallet timer med spesialundervisning elevene får. Gjennom intervjuene formidles det at innholdet i spesialundervisning knyttes til fag- og timefordelingen, og at det er relativt små avvik fra læreplanen når det gjelder elever som mottar spesialundervisning i 1–4 timer pr. uke. Det er variasjoner i hvordan IOP anvendes, og kartleggingen viser til at det ikke nødvendigvis er samsvar mellom innholdet i den individuelle opplæringsplanen og den faktisk gjennomførte undervisningen. Organiseringen av denne formen for undervisning ser også ut til å variere sterkt. Vedtak om spesialundervisning i 1 til 4 timer pr. uke fattes ofte for elever som trenger mer struktur i opplæringen grunnet konsentrasjons- og oppmerksomhetsvansker, enn hva den ordinære opplæringa kan gi. Dette kan betraktes som å være sosialpedagogiske tiltak mer enn spesialundervisning. Økningen i vedtak om spesialundervisning etter Kunnskapsløftet kan forklares ved at fagtrykket har økt i norsk skole. På tross av en vektlegging av tidlig innsats i kommunene, finner vi en jevn stigning i antallet elever som mottar spesialundervisning i grunnskolen, også når det gjelder elever som mottar 1–4 timer med spesialundervisning i uka. Vi finner at det er flere elever som mottar 1–4 timer pr. uke med spesialundervisning, enn det er elever som mottar mer enn 4 timer. Det kom frem i intervjuene at hva som er spesialundervisning ved en skole kan være tilpasset opplæring innenfor klassens ramme ved en annen skole. Videre kan spesialundervisning i dette omfanget dreie seg om periodiske tiltak som intensive opplæringskurs i lesing, skriving og regning, samt en generell vektlegging av elevenes språkutvikling. Det ser ut til å være etablert gode strukturer for henvisning og sakkyndighetsarbeid i alle kommunene i vårt utvalg, men man har imidlertid ikke felles entydige og faglige kriterier for å anbefale spesialundervisning, og dermed blir det personlige skjønnet til de ansatte i PP-tjenesten avgjørende for vurdering av timetall og behov. Videre er det påfallende hvor lite kunnskap våre informanter har om gjennomføring og resultater av spesialundervisningen. Denne kartleggingen bekrefter at det er en sammenheng mellom kvaliteten på den ordinære undervisningen og vedtak om spesialundervisning. Rettighetene til spesialundervisning handler ikke bare om juridiske prosedyrer, men også om kvaliteten på den gjennomførte undervisningen og det læringsutbytte elevene får av spesialundervisningen som gis. Denne relative tilfeldigheten i timer tilknyttet spesialundervisning og det manglende fokuset på en kvalitetssikring av innholdet og resultatene av den, er ikke bare problematisk for den enkelte elevs rettigheter. Dette får også konsekvenser for bruken av de økonomiske ressursene til skolesektoren i den enkelte kommune. En stadig økning i timetallet og dermed ressursbruken til spesialundervisning får som konsekvens at det brukes mindre ressurser på den ordinære undervisningen i de fleste kommunene. Dette kan innebære en utvikling som bidrar til en stadig økning i behovet for spesialundervisning og denne utviklingen er heller ikke gunstig knyttet til kravet om en likeverdig og tilpasset opplæring for alle elever. Våre informanter vektlegger at det er lærere som gjennomfører spesialundervisningen, mens de nasjonale statistikkene viser at assistenter uten formell pedagogisk utdanning også anvendes i gjennomføringen av spesialundervisningen. Det forekommer spesialundervisning med høy faglig kvalitet, men det eksisterer ikke et tilstrekkelig system for kvalitetsvurdering i kommunene utover kravet til halvårsvurdering.English: In this survey of students who receive 1–4 hours special needs education per week is carried out, both a quantitative survey and a qualitative study in the form of interviews with representatives from school owners, school leaders and leader educational psychological service in five municipalities. The quantitative data is based on a survey of 2763 students and their teachers’ assessment, from 5th to 10th grade in 45 primary schools in 8 counties. The response rate is 90.1. It has been a measure to identify characteristics of this group of students’ from a comparison with other student groups, particularly differences between schools in terms of students’ academic achievement, social skills, motivation, and conduct at school, relationships and experience of teaching. The quantitative results indicate that the student group which achieve special needs education have poor performance, both academically and social learning in schools and that these students also have relatively low motivation, and a somewhat bad condition in school. Motivation has a strong explanatory power on students’ academically performance. It can mean that students need more special needs education. Compared with the students who receive more than four hours of special education per week, the differences between the groups in the quantitative material are small. The main conclusion is that it is very difficult to find specific characteristics of students who receive 1–4 hours special needs education, when we compare with students who receive a larger scope of hour. We find no clear correlations between the number of hours of special needs education and students’ special needs and intentions, and in this material it is no empirical supports for students who receive a smaller amount of special needs education have lesser need for special education than those who receive more than four hours per week. This indicates that it isn’t only are the students’ educational needs, but equally different conditions in each school and in the regular education, which determines the number of hours of special need education the students’ receive. Throughout the interviews conveyed that the contents of special educational needs related to vocational and hour division, and that there is relatively little deviation from the curriculum when it comes to students who receive special education need in this small extent. There are variations in how the individual educational plan is used, and several informants pointed out that it is not necessarily consistency between the contents of the individual educational plan and it actually completed special need education. The organization of this form of education also seems to diverge greatly. Decisions on a small scale can be made for students who need more structure in the training due to concentration- and attention difficulties, than what is provided in each classroom. This can be considered to be social educational measures, more than a form of special need education. The increases in decisions about special needs education after Knowledge promotion are explained by our informants that the pressure of academically achievement has increased in Norwegian schools. Despite the emphasis on early intervention in the municipalities, we find a steady increase in the number of students receiving special needs education in elementary school, even when it comes to students who receive 1–4 hours of special need education a week. We find that there are more students who receive 1–4 hours per week of special education, than there are students who receive more than four hours. It’s also about that some schools can implement the same measures in the regular educational framework, as special needs education in small scale. It can involve periodically intensive training in reading, writing and maths, and a general educational need to work with students’ language development. This means that a student with a decision of special needs education in a school, not necessarily will receive it at another school. There seems to be established good structures for refer students to special needs education in all the municipalities in our sample, but we find a lack in the professional criteria for recommending special need education. It’s making the individual discretion of the staff in the educational psychological service essential for assessment of the number of hours and judgment of the students’ special educational needs. Furthermore, it is striking how little knowledge we have on the implementation, effects and results of special needs education. This survey confirms that there is a correlation between the quality of the regular education and decisions regarding special need education. The students’ rights to special needs education is not just about legal procedures, but also about the quality of the implemented teaching and learning outcomes of students receive special need education. This relative randomness of the hours associated with special education and the lack of focus on the quality of content and results, is not only problematic for the individual student’s rights. This also has consequences for the use of economic resources in the school sector in the municipality. Steady increases in the number of decisions about special need education are taken resources from regular education. This trend is not preferable related to the right of an equal and adapted education for all students. Our informants emphasize that there are teachers who conducting special needs education, while the national statistics indicate that assistants without formal training program also implement special needs education. There are special need educations to a high professional quality, but there is not a sufficient system of quality assessment in municipalities, beyond the requirement and judgment in half year report regard to the decision.Kunnskapsdepartemente

Mate choise in homarid lobsters, will they recognise their own species?

As European and American lobsters are so similar that it is difficult to spot the difference, and as they have so many similarities in behaviour and life history, this study was initiated to test if they could make distinctions between the species when coexcisting. Female European lobsters, close to moulting/spawning, were released in a tank with one European and one American male in a tank with two shelters available. The American and European males were dominant in half of the trials. Registrations were made of which lobsters where fighting, visiting another lobster, cohabitating and mating. Dominance had no importance. The European lobsters chose to interact more and for longer duration of time with each other. Mating, mating attempts and peaceful cohabitation occurred only between these lobsters. The American lobsters showed less social activity. It seems like it is a barrier between the species, where species-specific chemical communication probably is of importance. NORSK SAMMENDRAG: Siden europeisk og amerikansk hummer er så like at det er vanskelig å se forskjell, og de samtidig har tilsynelatende lik atferd og livshistorie, så ble det undersøkt hvorvidt hummeren selv kunne skille på art. Hunnhummer som ble vurdert til å være nær skallskifte/gyting ble introdusert til en europeisk og en amerikansk hann i et felleskar med to skjul. Den dominerende hannen var like ofte en amerikaner som en europeer, for å se om art eller dominans var viktig. Det ble registrert hvilke hummere som slåss, besøkte hverandre, delte skjul og parret seg. Dominans viste seg å være uten betydning. De europeiske hummerne fant fram til hverandre og brukte mest tid uansett aktivitet på hverandre. Parring og parringsforsøk forekom kun mellom europeisk hummer, i likhet med fredelig deling av skjul. Amerikansk hummer var gjennomgående mindre sosialt aktiv. Det ser ut til å være en barriere mellom artene, der artsforskjeller i kjemisk kommunikasjon trolig er til stede

Differential Gene Expression and Protein Abundance Evince Ontogenetic Bias toward Castes in a Primitively Eusocial Wasp

Polistes paper wasps are models for understanding conditions that may have characterized the origin of worker and queen castes and, therefore, the origin of paper wasp sociality. Polistes is “primitively eusocial” by virtue of having context-dependent caste determination and no morphological differences between castes. Even so, Polistes colonies have a temporal pattern in which most female larvae reared by the foundress become workers, and most reared by workers become future-reproductive gynes. This pattern is hypothesized to reflect development onto two pathways, which may utilize mechanisms that regulate diapause in other insects. Using expressed sequence tags (ESTs) for Polistes metricus we selected candidate genes differentially expressed in other insects in three categories: 1) diapause vs. non-diapause phenotypes and/or worker vs. queen differentiation, 2) behavioral subcastes of worker honey bees, and 3) no a priori expectation of a role in worker/gyne development. We also used a non-targeted proteomics screen to test for peptide/protein abundance differences that could reflect larval developmental divergence. We found that foundress-reared larvae (putative worker-destined) and worker-reared larvae (putative gyne-destined) differed in quantitative expression of sixteen genes, twelve of which were associated with caste and/or diapause in other insects, and they also differed in abundance of nine peptides/proteins. Some differentially-expressed genes are involved in diapause regulation in other insects, and other differentially-expressed genes and proteins are involved in the insulin signaling pathway, nutrient metabolism, and caste determination in highly social bees. Differential expression of a gene and a peptide encoding hexameric storage proteins is especially noteworthy. Although not conclusive, our results support hypotheses of 1) larval developmental pathway divergence that can lead to caste bias in adults and 2) nutritional differences as the foundation of the pathway divergence. Finally, the differential expression in Polistes larvae of genes and proteins also differentially expressed during queen vs. worker caste development in honey bees may indicate that regulatory mechanisms of caste outcomes share similarities between primitively eusocial and advanced eusocial Hymenoptera