On the importance of being flexible: early interrelations between affective flexibility, executive functions and anxiety symptoms in preschoolers

When children are confronted with an emotional problem, affective flexibility mobilizes their cognitive and emotional resources to optimally address it. We investigated the contribution of executive functions to cognitive and affective flexibility in preschoolers. We assessed affective flexibility in 67 preschoolers (30 girls; Mmonths = 61.77, SD = 11.08 months) using an innovative measure – the Emotional Flexible Item Selection Task (EM-FIST), plus cool measures of executive functions (working memory, inhibition and cognitive flexibility), anxiety symptoms and intelligence. Findings revealed that affective flexibility improves during the preschool years. While individual differences in age and proactive inhibition predicted cognitive flexibility, a different constellation of predictors (maternal education, proactive inhibition, working memory and age) were significant for affective flexibility. Cognitive flexibility didn’t contribute to affective flexibility beyond the predictors mentioned above. Anxiety exerted a negative effect on affective flexibility in a high anxious subgroup of preschoolers, but only when processing negative, relative to happy faces, supporting the Attentional Control Theory which predicts valence-related executive impairmentsinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Coping Strategies and Life Satisfaction among Romanian Emerging Adults during the COVID-19 Pandemic

The aim of the present study was to understand coping mechanisms among Romanian youth in their response to institutional COVID-19 pandemic restrictions. Data were collected from emerging adults (N = 214), aged 18–29, enrolled in various fields of study throughout a public university in Romania. Adopted versions of the Coping Orientation for Problem Experiences Scale (Brief-COPE, Carver, 1997) and Satisfaction with Life Scales (SLWS, Diener et al., 1985) were administered to explore the impact of the specific social distancing and isolation enforced pandemic restrictions. Findings elucidate the response styles, impact of coping skills, and strategies employed by students toward their well-being during stay-at-home courses. Results indicated that Romanian emerging-adults tend to use diverse strategies, but they use more disengagement, problem-focused coping, humor, socially supportive coping or religion, rather than denial, avoidant-focused coping or substance use, when faced with unprecedented situations during the COVID-19 pandemic. We discuss these findings framed in resilience as it relates to the positive youth psychology framework

Socio-Economic Aspects of Work and the Labour Market in Four Roma Communities in Romania

The article presents socio-economic aspects of work and labour market in four Roma communities in Romania. The theoretical framework presents the labour market, its risks and inequalities in relation to the Roma population. The data analysed in the article is based on a qualitative methodology and 123 people (Roma and non-Roma) were interviewed. The analysis presents the jobs of Roma people, the ways they are paid for the work they do and the determinants of the label given to Roma by welfare recipients who do not like to work. The data presented and analysed are obtained within the project “The role of religion and religious actors in Roma social inclusion: towards a participatory approach” PARI – RO-NO-2019-0586

Multi-dimensionale Perspektiven auf die Schulbereitschaft. Längsschnittliche Befunde zu kognitiven und sozialen Aspekten

The present longitudinal study explores, on the one hand, the nature and strengths of the relation between cognitive and behavioral self-regulation, and, on the other hand, the impact of early social, cognitive, and self-regulatory skills on later school achievement and social school adjustment. Findings indicate that working memory is the most important predictor of academic achievement in the longitudinal perspective; individual differences in social school adjustment, in contrast, were mainly explained by earlier behavioral self-regulatory skills. Executive functions, however, may additionally help us to understand the developmental mechanisms responsible for the successes and failures of school adaptation, while behavioral self-regulation, based on its adaptive role, may be quintessential in supporting a child’s successful transition into formal schooling, including its social demands. Keywords: school readiness, behavioral self-regulation, executive functions, social skills, academic achievementDie vorliegende Längsschnittstudie untersucht einerseits die Natur und die Stärke der Beziehung zwischen der kognitiven und verhaltensmäßigen Selbstregulation und andererseits die Auswirkungen der frühen sozialen Fähigkeiten sowie der kognitiven und verhaltensmäßigen selbstregulativen Kompetenzen auf die Schulleistung und die soziale Anpassung. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass das Arbeitsgedächtnis der stärkste Prädiktor für akademische Leistung in einer Längsschnittperspektive ist; hingegen werden individuelle Unterschiede in der sozialen schulischen Anpassung hauptsächlich durch die frühe verhaltensmäßige Selbstregulation erklärt. Exekutive Funktionen können jedoch zusätzlich die zugrunde liegenden Mechanismen für einen erfolgreichen Übergang in das formale Lernen erklären, während die verhaltensmäßige Selbstregulation, basierend auf ihrer adaptiven Rolle, die Quintessenz für den erfolgreichen Übergang eines Kindes in die formale Schulbildung, einschließlich seiner sozialen Forderungen, sein kann. Schlüsselwörter: Schulbereitschaft, exekutive Funktionen, soziale Kompetenzen, schulische Leistung, schulische Anpassun

On the importance of being flexible: early interrelations between affective flexibility, executive functions and anxiety symptoms in preschoolers

When children are confronted with an emotional problem, affective flexibility mobilizes their cognitive and emotional resources to optimally address it. We investigated the contribution of executive functions to cognitive and affective flexibility in preschoolers. We assessed affective flexibility in 67 preschoolers (30 girls; Mmonths = 61.77, SD = 11.08 months) using an innovative measure – the Emotional Flexible Item Selection Task (EM-FIST), plus cool measures of executive functions (working memory, inhibition and cognitive flexibility), anxiety symptoms and intelligence. Findings revealed that affective flexibility improves during the preschool years. While individual differences in age and proactive inhibition predicted cognitive flexibility, a different constellation of predictors (maternal education, proactive inhibition, working memory and age) were significant for affective flexibility. Cognitive flexibility didn’t contribute to affective flexibility beyond the predictors mentioned above. Anxiety exerted a negative effect on affective flexibility in a high anxious subgroup of preschoolers, but only when processing negative, relative to happy faces, supporting the Attentional Control Theory which predicts valence-related executive impairmentsinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Development of meta-representations: Procedural metacognition and the relationship to Theory of Mind

In several studies it was shown that metacognitive ability is crucial for children and their success in school. Much less is known about the emergence of that ability and its relationship to other meta-representations like Theory of Mind competencies. In the past years, a growing literature has suggested that metacognition and Theory of Mind could theoretically be assumed to belong to the same developmental concept. Since then only a few studies showed empirically evidence that metacognition and Theory of Mind are related. But these studies focused on declarative metacognitive knowledge rather than on procedural metacognitive monitoring like in the present study: N = 159 children were first tested shortly before making the transition to school (aged between 5 1/2 and 7 1/2 years) and one year later at the end of their first grade. Analyses suggest that there is in fact a significant relation between early metacognitive monitoring skills (procedural metacognition) and later Theory of Mind competencies. Notably, language seems to play a crucial role in this relationship. Thus our results bring new insights in the research field of the development of meta-representation and support the view that metacognition and Theory of Mind are indeed interrelated, but the precise mechanisms yet remain unclear