Amy A. Weimer

False Belief, Emotion Understanding, and Social Skills Among Head Start and Non-Head Start Children

The present study investigated relationships among false belief, emotion understanding, and social skills with 60 3- to 5-year-olds (29 boys, 31girls) from Head Start and two other preschools. Children completed language, false belief, and emotion understanding measures; parents and teachers evaluated childrens social skills. Childrens false belief performance related to their understanding of their friends emotions and to teachers ratings of social skills. Aspects of emotion understanding related to social skills. Head Start (n =30) and non-Head Start preschoolers (n = 30) performed similarly on social skills and emotion understanding measures, however, non-Head Start children performed significantly better on false belief tasks than Head Start children. Results demonstrate the importance of including diverse groups of children in studies of social cognition.

True or False: Do 5-Year-Olds Understand Belief?

In 3 studies (N = 188) we tested the hypothesis that children use a perceptual access approach to reason about mental states before they understand beliefs. The perceptual access hypothesis predicts a U-shaped developmental pattern of performance in true belief tasks, in which 3-year-olds who reason about reality should succeed, 4- to 5-year-olds who use perceptual access reasoning should fail, and older children who use belief reasoning should succeed. The results of Study 1 revealed the predicted pattern in 2 different true belief tasks. The results of Study 2 disconfirmed several alternate explanations based on possible pragmatic and inhibitory demands of the true belief tasks. In Study 3, we compared 2 methods of classifying individuals according to which 1 of the 3 reasoning strategies (reality reasoning, perceptual access reasoning, belief reasoning) they used. The 2 methods gave converging results. Both methods indicated that the majority of children used the same approach across tasks and that it was not until after 6 years of age that most children reasoned about beliefs. We conclude that because most prior studies have failed to detect young childrens use of perceptual access reasoning, they have overestimated their understanding of false beliefs. We outline several theoretical implications that follow from the perceptual access hypothesis.

Young Children's Emotion Comprehension and Theory of Mind Understanding

Research Findings: The present study investigated the relation between theory of mind (ToM) and emotion understanding among 78 children 4½ to 6½ years old (35 boys, 43 girls). ToM understanding was assessed using ignorance and false belief questions within an emotion-understanding task that evaluated childrens abilities to recognize facial expressions and identify the external causes of emotions (happy, sad, angry, scared, and surprised), understand the role of beliefs and desires in emotion, and comprehend felt versus expressed emotions. Results indicated that childrens understanding of the external causes of emotion, hidden emotions, and a reminders influence on emotions improved with age and that childrens understanding of the external causes of emotion related to ToM understanding. Practice or Policy: Findings suggest that programs that seek to promote childrens socioemotional awareness could benefit from encouraging the development of childrens understanding of the external causes of emotions to improve overall social cognition.

The association between personality traits and body mass index varies with nativity among individuals of Mexican origin

Personality traits have been associated consistently with health-related outcomes, but less is known about how aspects of the sociocultural environment modify these associations. This study uses a sample of participants of Mexican origin (N = 1013) to test whether exposure to the United States, indexed by nativity (Mexicans living in Mexico, foreign-born Mexican Americans, and U.S.-born Mexican Americans), moderates the association between personality traits and body mass index (BMI). Higher Conscientiousness was associated with lower BMI, regardless of nativity. In contrast, the association between Neuroticism and BMI was moderated by exposure to the U.S.: Neuroticism was associated with higher BMI among U.S.-born Mexican Americans (partial r = .15) but not among Mexican participants (partial r = .00), an effect strongest and most robust for the impulsivity facet of Neuroticism. This finding suggests that with more exposure to the United States, those who are more emotionally impulsive are at greater risk for obesity. More broadly, these findings suggest that social and psychological vulnerabilities interact to contribute to health outcomes.

Specificity rates for non-clinical, bilingual, Mexican Americans on three popular performance validity measures*

Abstract Objective: To measure specificity as failure rates for non-clinical, bilingual, Mexican Americans on three popular performance validity measures: (a) the language format Reliable Digit Span; (b) visual-perceptual format Test of Memory Malingering; and (c) visual-perceptual format Dot Counting, using optimal/suboptimal effort cut scores developed for monolingual, English-speakers. Methods: Participants were 61 consecutive referrals, aged between 18 and 65 years, with <16 years of education who were subjectively bilingual (confirmed via formal assessment) and chose the language of assessment, Spanish or English, for the performance validity tests. Results: Failure rates were 38% for Reliable Digit Span, 3% for the Test of Memory Malingering, and 7% for Dot Counting. For Reliable Digit Span, the failure rates for Spanish (46%) and English (31%) languages of administration did not differ significantly. Conclusions: Optimal/suboptimal effort cut scores derived for monolingual English-speakers can be used with Spanish/English bilinguals when using the visual-perceptual format Test of Memory Malingering and Dot Counting. The high failure rate for Reliable Digit Span suggests it should not be used as a performance validity measure with Spanish/English bilinguals, irrespective of the language of test administration, Spanish or English.

Belief Reasoning and Emotion Understanding in Balanced Bilingual and Language-Dominant Mexican American Young Children

ABSTRACT Belief reasoning and emotion understanding were measured among 102 Mexican American bilingual children ranging from 4 to 7 years old. All children were tested in English and Spanish after ensuring minimum comprehension in each language. Belief reasoning was assessed using 2 false and 1 true belief tasks. Emotion understanding was measured using subtests from the Test for Emotion Comprehension. The influence of family background variables of yearly income, parental education level, and number of siblings on combined Spanish and English vocabulary, belief reasoning, and emotion understanding was assessed by regression analyses. Age and emotion understanding predicted belief reasoning. Vocabulary and belief reasoning predicted emotion understanding. When the sample was divided into language-dominant and balanced bilingual groups on the basis of language proficiency difference scores, there were no significant differences on belief reasoning or emotion understanding. Language groups were demographically similar with regard to child age, parental educational level, and family income. Results suggest Mexican American language-dominant and balanced bilinguals develop belief reasoning and emotion understanding similarly.

Context of assessment changes relationships between test anxiety and related variables

This study investigates the relationship between test anxiety, affect, self-esteem, self-efficacy, and achievement when test anxiety is evaluated in two different contexts: separated from a specific testing situation (a trait measurement) versus referenced to a specific test and assessed immediately following that test (a state measurement). Participants were 350 (112 male, 237 female, one not stated) undergraduate students. Findings indicated that the relationship between assessed variables differed between testing contexts, with test performance a significant predictor only in measurement of state test anxiety, and sex and negative affect significant predictors only in measurement of trait test anxiety. Self-esteem and self-efficacy predicted test anxiety measured in both contexts. Differences between men and women were also noted. Results of the study emphasise the importance of context in test anxiety assessment and experience and provide support for a self-regulative model of test anxiety.

A Reply to Bak et al.

Bak and Alladi (2016) and Fuller-Thomson (2015) provided thoughtful commentaries on our study that found the mean age of those diagnosed with dementia among a random sampling of community dwelling, elderly Hispanic Americans was unaffected by bilingual status (Lawton, Gasquoine, & Weimer, 2015). Our result conflicted with some, but not all, previous studies. Both commentaries addressed the general role of methodological issues in explaining inconsistent findings in this type of research, although each took differing trajectories. Bak and Alladi (2016) maintain that contradictory results can be explained in terms of differing prevailing national attitudes towards bilingualism. They note that studies that found bilingualism did not delay age of dementia onset, including our own, were conducted within the United States that has “an ambiguous attitude to bilingualism” (p. 3). In contrast, those studies conducted in countries that have a more positive attitude to bilingualism, namely India, Canada, Luxembourg, and Belgium, found that bilingualism delays the age of dementia onset compared to monolinguals. Crossnational bilingual communities differ on multiple variables but several studies provide counterevidence to the unique relevance of American attitude. There are studies conducted in Canada (Chertkow et al., 2010; Yeung, St John, Menec, & Tyas, 2014), India (Ellajosyula, Narayanan, Ramanan, Chandrashekar, & Sabnis, 2015), and Wales (Clare et al., 2015) that have found that bilingualism does not delay the age of dementia onset and one study conducted within the United States found that the bilingualismdoes delay the age of dementia diagnosis among Hispanic Americans but only within a lower education sample in a median split on years of education (Gollan, Salmon, Montoya, & Galasko, 2011). We agree with Fuller-Thomson (2015) that communitybased incidence studies represent a methodologically superior approach to those that use referrals to singlememory clinics or hospitals. This is not to imply that clinic-based studies should not be conducted, but that results obtained from these samples are more difficult to interpret in relation to all the potential variables involved. Specifically, the nonrandomness of each sample in relation to other clinic samples in differing countries or locales may include ethnocultural group differences that span the bilingual versus monolingual divide. For example, referrals to a memory clinicmight vary according to payer source (e.g., socialized vs privatized reimbursement models) or ethnic group differences in treatment-seeking behaviors within the dominant medical model. In the United States mental health services (broadly defined) are historically underutilized by the two census category groups containing the majority of recent, foreign-language dominant, immigrants, namely Asian and Hispanic Americans in comparison to utilization rates for monolingual, non-Hispanic White Americans even when socioeconomic group differences are controlled (Snowden, Masland, Ma, & Ciemens, 2006). Reasons for this are poorly understood but are likely multifactorial (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services [DHHS], 2001). In contrast to studies on clinic or hospital referrals that have produced mixed results, no community-based incidence study has found that bilingualism delays the onset of dementia diagnoses (Crane et al., 2009; Lawton et al., 2015; Sanders, Hall, Katz, & Lipton, 2012; Yeung et al., 2014; Zahodne, Schofield, Farrell, Stern, & Manly, 2014). The effect of bilingualism on the age of dementia onset has been assessed in terms of both age of first clinical symptom as determined from patient, family member, or caregiver report (e.g., Alladi et al., 2013; Bialystok, Craik,& Freedman, 2007) and by age of dementia diagnosis as determined by formal criteria and neuropsychological testing (e.g., Lawton et al., 2015).

Nonchildhood Sexual Abuse in Mexican American and Mexican College Students

ABSTRACT This study aimed to assess and compare sexual abuse (SA) rates in female and male Mexican American college students (N = 514) and 2 samples of Mexican college students (N = 161 and N = 227). Participants responded to the Sexual Experiences Survey Victim Form (SES-SFV). SA prevalence and frequency rates were compared between sample groups for 3 categories of SA: nonchildhood SA (SA-NC, experienced since age 14), SA experienced in the previous 12 months (SA-12M), and lifetime self-labeled SA (SA-LL, any experience identified as abuse or rape by participants). Higher rates of self-reported SA were consistently found for Mexican versus U.S. samples. However, SA incidence was also consistently higher in older individuals and females; more recently experienced SA was reported at lower rates and with greater gender congruence than more distal SA; and variation between Mexican samples was roughly equal to variation between Mexican and U.S. samples. Findings show cross-national variation in SA rates.

The Role of Language in Anatomy and Physiology Instruction

Abstract Research indicates that student learning of science, student attitudes toward science, and their motivation to learn science and pursue science-related careers is related to classroom instruction. This study examined anatomy and physiology (A&P) classes in a south Texas high school where 97 percent of students are Hispanic bilingual learners. Classes were assigned to control or treatment groups, with the treatment group receiving instruction designed to help students develop a deeper understanding of anatomy vocabulary related to brain structures by making connections to these words in everyday life as well as to their understanding of Spanish. Main effects between group and test scores were significant, with the control group reporting higher test scores than the treatment group. We attribute this finding to a bleed-over of the treatment group instructional design to the control group. In addition, significant differences in mean and median scores were observed with respect to intrinsic motivation and self-efficacy. The statistically significant increases in learning for both groups suggests the activity-, problem-, and project-based (APB) curriculum has the potential to be an effective type of instruction, especially for bilingual learners.