Sex differences in general knowledge: meta-analysis and new data on the contribution of school-related moderators among high-school students

Community-Augmented Meta-Analyses (CAMAs) in Psychology

Abstract. The limits of static snapshot meta-analyses and the relevance of reproducibility and data accessibility for cumulative meta-analytic research are outlined. A publication format to meet these requirements is presented: Community-augmented meta-analyses (CAMA). We give an overview of existing systems implementing this approach and compare these in terms of scope, technical implementation, data collection and augmentation, data curation, tools available for analysis, and methodological flexibility.

WAIS-III measurement invariance: Data from Estonian standardization

OBJECTIVE

A prerequisite of any psychological instrument used to compare individuals from different groups is measurement invariance (MI). It indicates that the test measures the same psychological constructs regardless of the particular grouping variable of the test-taker. Our purpose was to evaluate the MI across sex, age groups and educational levels in the recently adapted Estonian version of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale - Third Edition (WAIS-III).

METHOD

We analysed the Estonian standardization sample of WAIS-III (N = 770) with confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to establish the best baseline factor model for further analysis. Multi-group confirmatory factor analysis (MG-CFA) was applied to evaluate MI of the test and, granted this, mean differences across sex, age groups and educational levels.

RESULTS

CFA supported the four-factor model. The test demonstrated partial MI across sexes; latent mean comparisons showed that men had a significantly higher mean score on the Perceptual Organization factor. Partial MI also held across age groups and, as expected, older groups had significantly lower means than younger age groups. The analyses across the educational levels failed to prove the MI as the metric invariance was not tenable.

DISCUSSION

The results of this study provide evidence that the structural model underlying the Estonian adaption of WAIS-III is partially invariant across sex and age groups, hence the test functions same manner across these groups. Estonian WAIS-III was not invariant across the educational levels, which may indicate that the measure has a different structure or meaning to different educational groups.

Knowledge of Cancer Risk Factors, Symptoms, and Barriers to Seeking Medical Help among Omani Adolescents

Objective:

Raising cancer awareness among adolescents should lead to early diagnosis and improve their survival rate into adulthood. This study aims to identify knowledge of cancer risk factors, symptoms and barriers to seek medical help among Omani adolescents.

Methods:

A cross-sectional study with Omani adolescents (aged 15-17 years) has been conducted in six schools in Muscat, the capital of Oman. The general Cancer Awareness Measure questionnaire was used to collect the data.

Results:

A total of 481 adolescents participated. The average recognition of cancer risk factors and symptoms was low (36.8% and 39.6%, respectively). Cancer risk factors and/or symptoms significantly recognised more in girls compared to boys (χ² = 10.136; Odds ratio [OR] = 2.13 ; 95% confidence interval [CI]= 0.33-3.41; P = 0.001); older (age 17 year) versus younger (aged 15 and 16 years) (χ² = 6.075; OR = 11.68; 95% CI: 1.11-2.53; P = 0.014); those with existing co-morbidities compared to those without (χ² = 4.955; OR = 0.41; 95% CI: 0.18-0.92; P = 0.026); and those who knew someone with cancer compared to those who did not (χ² = 15.285; OR 2.70; 95% CI: 1.62-4.49; P <0.001). The majority of adolescents (88.8%) would seek medical help within the first two weeks of noting cancer symptoms. The most notable barriers to seek medical help were “emotional”. Girls were experienced “emotional barriers” significantly more than the boys (χ² = 11.617; OR = 1.89; 95% CI: 1.31-2.72; P = <0.001).

Conclusion:

Adolescents in Oman showed poor cancer awareness with several “emotional” barriers. There is a need to establish and integrate effective cancer educational programs in school curriculums to raise the cancer awareness, address emotional barriers and encourage seeking early medical help. The program could potentially have a life-long impact on encouraging early cancer diagnosis and improving the cancer survival rate.

Pathology awareness in patients and patient's relatives applying to a pathology laboratory

Objectives:

To investigate pathology awareness in patients applying to a pathology laboratory.

Method:

This cross-sectional study included 150 patients and patients’ relatives. A questionnaire, prepared by the researchers according to the literature, was administered at the Pathology Laboratory, Necmettin Erbakan University, Konya, Turkey on May 2018.

Results:

Of the participants, 79 (52.7%) were female and 71 (47.3%) were male. The mean age was 39.56±14.16 years old. Ninety-eight (65.3%) of them thought that patients do not have right to choose their pathologist. Of the participants, 24 (16%) did not know that the medical school had to be completed in order to become a pathologist and 73 (48.7%) of them did not know that 4 years postgraduate training was required. Fifty-nine (39.3%) of the participants did not know the pathologists were a medical doctor. While 89 participants (59.4%) had no idea what “frozen section” means, 66 people (44%) did not know that the pathologist uses microscope and 64 (42.7%) of them thought that all diseases could be diagnosed 100% by pathological examination. Forty-six (30.7%) of the participants thought that all specimens are not needed to be examined.

Conclusion:

The knowledge and awareness of the participants about the pathology discipline came out to be inadequate.

A fractionated analysis of hot and cool self-regulation in cigarette smokers from different socioeconomic backgrounds

Smoking cigarettes and low socioeconomic status (SES) are both related to impaired cognition. However, it is unknown whether people of lower SES, who comprise most tobacco smokers worldwide, are more susceptible to cognitive impairment associated with smoking. In this non-randomized, cross-sectional study we investigated the effects of cigarette smoking, SES and their interaction on dissociable executive or “cool” and “hot” measures of behavioural self-regulation. Participants (n = 80) were selected among young physically and mentally healthy smokers and non-smokers who had graduated high school and were from different SES backgrounds. Cool self-regulation was measured by executive function tasks that tap inhibition, updating, shifting, dual tasking, planning, access to long-term memory (semantic fluency), and working memory capacity. Hot measures assessed self-reported impulsivity, delay discounting and risk taking. Exposure to tobacco (cotinine, exhaled carbon monoxide, tobacco dependence, cigarette consumption) was assessed to determine to what extent it mediated the cognitive effects of smoking. Nicotine abstinence and its acute effects were controlled, as were sex, age, schooling, and psychiatric symptoms despite the fact that smokers and non-smokers were selected as being as similar as possible in these demographic characteristics. Lower SES (less years of parental schooling) was associated with worse performance on tasks that measured all cool domains except dual tasking and fluency, while smoking status was related to impaired delayed discounting and impulsivity (hot domains), effects that were not mediated by tobacco exposure. Smoking and SES, however, did not interact. In short, impaired performance in measures of most cool skills was associated with SES irrespective of smoking status; in contrast, regardless of SES, smokers showed specific impairment in hot self-regulation domains (more difficulty resisting immediate temptations and weighing future consequences of actions). Possible explanations for the lack of mediation of tobacco exposure on hot skills of smokers are discussed.

SEX DIFFERENCES ON THE WISC-III AMONG CHILDREN IN SUDAN AND THE UNITED STATES

The sex differences on the WISC-III are reported for the thirteen subtests, the Verbal and Performance IQs, the four Index IQs and the Full Scale IQs in Sudan and the United States. The sex differences are closely similar in the two samples with a correlation of 0.878 (p<0.001) for the thirteen subtests. Males obtained significantly higher Full Scale IQs in the two samples of 0.23d and 0.11d, respectively.

"Trees Live on Soil and Sunshine!"--Coexistence of Scientific and Alternative Conception of Tree Assimilation

Successful learning is the integration of new knowledge into existing schemes, leading to an integrated and correct scientific conception. By contrast, the co-existence of scientific and alternative conceptions may indicate a fragmented knowledge profile. Every learner is unique and thus carries an individual set of preconceptions before classroom engagement due to prior experiences. Hence, instructors and teachers have to consider the heterogeneous knowledge profiles of their class when teaching. However, determinants of fragmented knowledge profiles are not well understood yet, which may hamper a development of adapted teaching schemes. We used a questionnaire-based approach to assess conceptual knowledge of tree assimilation and wood synthesis surveying 885 students of four educational levels: 6th graders, 10th graders, natural science freshmen and other academic studies freshmen. We analysed the influence of learner's characteristics such as educational level, age and sex on the coexistence of scientific and alternative conceptions. Within all subsamples well-known alternative conceptions regarding tree assimilation and wood synthesis coexisted with correct scientific ones. For example, students describe trees to be living on "soil and sunshine", representing scientific knowledge of photosynthesis mingled with an alternative conception of trees eating like animals. Fragmented knowledge profiles occurred in all subsamples, but our models showed that improved education and age foster knowledge integration. Sex had almost no influence on the existing scientific conceptions and evolution of knowledge integration. Consequently, complex biological issues such as tree assimilation and wood synthesis need specific support e.g. through repeated learning units in class- and seminar-rooms in order to help especially young students to handle and overcome common alternative conceptions and appropriately integrate scientific conceptions into their knowledge profile.