Internalizing Symptoms and Reading Difficulties Among Early Elementary School Students

While the field of learning disabilities has grown substantially over the past several decades (Grigorenko et al. in Am Psychol 75:37, 2020) little work has explored the role of internalizing symptoms among struggling students. The present study compared struggling and typical readers on several child reported internalizing measures at both the beginning and end of a school year during which time they received either classroom-as-usual or research-team provided intensive intervention. Struggling readers who did and did not meet reading benchmarks were also compared at year-end. While minimal differences were present at the beginning of the year, numerous differences were observed at the end, with students exhibiting persistent reading struggles reporting significantly greater distress. Bi-directional associations emerged with beginning of year group status predicting internalizing symptoms and beginning of year internalizing symptoms predicting end of year intervention response group status. Findings are discussed in terms of future directions for enhancing intervention studies of struggling readers.

Achievement, self-concept and anxiety in mathematics and English: A three-wave cross-lagged panel study

BACKGROUND

Many studies (especially cross-sectional ones) have shown signicant links between two of these three constructs-achievement, self-concept and anxiety.

OBJECTIVES

Unlike past longitudinal studies that examined only two of these three constructs, this study examines all three, grounded in self-determination theory, control-value theory and transactional theory of anxiety.

METHODS

Chinese secondary school students (N = 823) completed questionnaires across three time points covering one school year, and we collected data on their mathematics and second language (L2) English test scores.

RESULTS

Cross-lagged panel models showed equal effect sizes in both pairs of time periods (T1-T2 and T2-T3). In both mathematics and L2 English, (a) achievement, self-concept and anxiety all showed moderate autoregression effects and hence, relative stability, (b) achievement and self-concept showed reciprocal positive effects and (c) self-concept negatively predicted subsequent anxiety. In mathematics but not L2 English, anxiety negatively predicted self-concept, and achievement negatively predicted anxiety, showing domain differences. Self-concept mediated achievement's negative effect on anxiety only in L2 English.

CONCLUSIONS

Distinguishing within domain and cross domain effects of achievement, self-concept, and anxiety in mathematics and L2 English deepen our understanding of the relationships among these three constructs.

Examining academic self-concept as a mediator of the relationship between anxiety and depression: A longitudinal study

BACKGROUND

Self-concept plays a role as a mediator in the development and maintenance of internalizing symptoms but mechanisms through which the early presence of anxiety symptoms is associated with the subsequent development of depression is unknown. The aim of this longitudinal study was to analyze the mediating role of different areas of self-concept in the relationship between the early development of anxiety symptoms and the later appearance of depressive symptoms.

METHODS

A longitudinal study with 3 time-points was conducted, including baseline, 2 months and 12 months from the baseline assessment. A total of 217 children aged 8-12 years participated. Mediation analyses were conducted using PROCESS Macro for SPSS.

RESULTS

Academic self-concept (Time 2) mediated the relationship between Anxiety (Time 1) and Depression (Time 3) when controlling for children's sex and, age, baseline value of the mediator, anxiety (at Times 2 and 3), and depression (at Times 1 and 2). Children with self-reports of higher anxiety symptoms (Time 1) presented lower Academic self-concept (Time 2). Children who reported lower levels of Academic self-concept and Family self-concept (Time 2) were more likely to develop depressive symptoms (Time 3).

CONCLUSIONS

Feeling competent in the school environment may be considered a protective factor against the development of depression in childhood. The identification of risk factors facilitates the development and implementation of preventive programs.

Assessment-related anxiety among older adults: development of a measure

Older adults are the largest population seeking neuropsychological assessment services. Anxiety has been shown to impact test scores, yet no anxiety measure currently exists specific to older adult neuropsychological assessment. This study piloted and validated the Feelings About Neuropsychological Testing measure (FANT), a measure of neuropsychological assessment anxiety developed to measure the cognitive, affective, and physiological aspects of test and state anxiety. The measure was validated on 105 community based older adults aged 55 and older. All participants were administered the FANT, the Generalized Anxiety Disorder- seven item (GAD-7), Test Anxiety Inventory- Short Form (TAI-SF), Patient Health Questionnaire- nine item (PHQ-9), Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), Dementia Worry Scale (DWS), and PROMIS Cognitive Function Short Form- 6a (CFSF). The measure proved feasible to administer, both the State and Test-specific dimensions demonstrated good internal consistency (state: α =.832; test: α =.894), discriminant validity, and external validity (compared to GAD-7, TAI-SF, PHQ-9, DWS, and CFSF). FANT scores may reveal patients for whom anxiety disrupts attention and attentional control, and therefore has promise as a measure that may inform assessment findings and guide possible intervention to maximize performance during testing sessions and to inform data interpretation.

Familial Risk Factors and Emotional Problems in Early Childhood: The Promotive and Protective Role of Children's Self-Efficacy and Self-Concept

The present study aimed to examine the promotive and protective role of general self-efficacy and positive self-concept in the context of the effects of early familial risk factors on children’s development of emotional problems from early to middle childhood. A total of 293 (T1; M_age = 2.81), 239 (T2; M_age = 3.76), and 189 (T3; M_age = 9.69) children from 25 childcare centers took part in the present study. Fourteen familial risk factors were assessed at T1 using an interview and a questionnaire that were administered to children’s primary caregivers. These 14 familial risk factors were used to compute a familial risk factors score. Primary caregivers also reported on their children’s emotional problems at T2 and T3 and on their children’s general self-efficacy at T2. Children reported on their positive self-concept at T2. Results showed that early familial risk factors were positively associated with emotional problems in the short and long term, although the long-term effect was small and non-significant. Further, the pattern of effect sizes of both promotive and protective effects of general self-efficacy as well as positive self-concept was found to be consistent in the short term. However, in the long term, no consistent support for either the promotive or the protective role of general self-efficacy or positive self-concept was found. These results suggest that general self-efficacy and positive self-concept might contribute to promote mental health and to protect from undesired effects of familial risk factors in the short term. Possible reasons for a lack of long-term effects are discussed along with practical implications.

Quality Matters More Than Quantity: Parent-Child Communication and Adolescents' Academic Performance

This study examined the effects of parent–child communication, including the quantitative and qualitative aspects of these communications, on young American adolescents’ academic performance by using an Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Kindergarten dataset. We considered children’s self-concept a mediator in examining the effects. Structural equation modeling was used for evaluating the model. The results revealed that the quality of parent–child communication was positively associated with these children’s academic performance, and this association can be mediated by the adolescents’ self-concept. However, the quantity of parent–child communication did not show a direct or an indirect association with the adolescents’ academic achievements. These findings suggest that efforts to improve the quality of parent–child communication and to strengthen the connection between high-quality communications and adolescents’ self-concept may benefit young adolescents’ academic development.

Depressive Symptoms and the Link with Academic Performance among Rural Taiwanese Children

Previous studies reflect a high prevalence of depressive symptoms among Taiwanese adolescents (ages 13–18), but there is an absence of literature related to the risk of depression of children in Taiwan (ages 6–12), particularly among potentially vulnerable subgroups. To provide insight into the distribution of depressive symptoms among children in rural Taiwan and measure the correlation between academic performance, we conducted a survey of 1655 randomly selected fourth and fifth-grade students at 92 sample schools in four relatively low-income counties or municipalities. Using the Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression Scale (CES-D) we assessed the prevalence of depressive symptoms in this sample, in addition to collecting other data, such as performance on a standardized math test as well as information on a number of individual and household characteristics. We demonstrate that the share of children with clinically significant symptoms is high: 38% of the students were at risk of general depression (depression score ≥ 16) and 8% of the students were at risk of major depression (depression score > 28). The results of the multivariate regression and heterogeneous analysis suggest that poor academic performance is closely associated with a high prevalence of depressive symptoms. Among low-performing students, certain groups were disproportionately affected, including girls and students whose parents have migrated away for work. Results also suggest that, overall, students who had a parent who was an immigrant from another country were at greater risk of depression. These findings highlight the need for greater resource allocation toward mental health services for elementary school students in rural Taiwan, particularly for at-risk groups.

Child Depression: Prevalence and Comparison between Self-Reports and Teacher Reports

Depression is one of the most worrying diseases nowadays. The study had three main purposes: 1) to identify the prevalence of depressive symptomatology in 7-10 year olds, exploring differences according to gender and age; 2) to analyze the consistency between self-reports and teacher reports; and 3) to explore the relationship between depression and academic performance. Regarding the methodology, the sample comprised 420 students aged between 7 and 10 years from the Basque Country (53.3% boys, 46.7% girls). With a descriptive, comparative and correlational design, 4 assessment instruments were used. Results from the self-reports showed a depression rate fluctuating between 4.6% and 4.8% (clinically significant), and between 4.3% and 5% (moderate depression). However, prevalence rates from teacher reports varied between 0.2% and 3.6% (clinically significant) and between 4.6% and 7.7% (moderate depression). The consistency rate between self-reports and teacher reports was small. Differences according to gender varied depending on the instruments used and depression was higher in boys (BASC, d = .23; SPECI d = .36). Symptomatology did not increase with age. Depression correlated negatively with academic performance (self-reported depression: CDS-T r = -.12, SPECI r = -.17; depression reported by teachers: CDS-T r = -.24, SPECI r = -.50). The importance of training teachers to better identify child depression is discussed, as well as the relevance of developing prevention programs.

The Developmental Trajectories of Depressive Symptoms in Early Adolescence: An Examination of School-Related Factors

This study investigated the heterogeneity of depressive symptom trajectories and the roles of school-related factors in predicting the membership of different trajectories in a sample of early adolescents in Taiwan. In all, 870 junior high school students were followed for 3 years. Using growth mixture modeling, the study identified four distinct trajectories: stable-low depression, stable-moderate depression, steadily increasing depression, and early elevated but later decreasing depression. Female and private school students tended to belong to the high-risk group. Students with negative academic self-concept, low self-esteem, or poor peer relationships tended to follow the two high-risk trajectories (stable-moderate depression and steadily increasing depression). The findings suggested that these school-related factors could be used to target the high-risk depressive symptom groups for receiving further counseling, especially in the East Asian context.