Gary M. Ingersoll

Geographic Mobility and Student Achievement in an Urban Setting

Geographic mobility has long been suspected to have a negative impact on student achievement and adjustment. Urban schools, in particular, are subject to highly mobile subpopulations whose contribution to overall district performance can be a source of serious policy concerns. The purpose of this study was to assess the impact of geographic instability on student achievement among elementary, middle, and secondary school students in an urban setting. Academic achievement of four groups of mobile children were compared to achievement levels of a stable student population. The results of the analyses show a nearly uniformly negative impact of geographic mobility on student achievement; the most negative effects of geographic mobility were found at earlier grade levels. At the same time, the size of the mobile population diminished as the students grew older.

Cognitive maturity and self-management among adolescents with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus

The ability of adolescents with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM) to assume responsibility for self-management is complicated by normal psychosocial developmental tasks, including establishing independence from authority. We evaluated self-managerial behavior and its relation to cognitive maturity. Forty-one adolescents with IDDM (age range 12 to 21 years) and their parents, who were trained to self-adjust insulin on compensatory and anticipatory bases, participated. The data indicated that parents withdrew from the insulin adjustment process as their adolescents grew older. Parental participation had virtually ceased by the time the child reached age 15 years. Parental withdrawal, however, was not always balanced by the adolescents assumption of responsibility for insulin adjustments. Older adolescents were statistically no more likely than younger adolescents to self-adjust insulin doses. Both self-adjustment and metabolic control (HbA1 values) among adolescents were, however, related to cognitive maturity. More cognitively mature adolescents were also more likely to perceive themselves as being in control of their illness. Thus, older adolescents who are less cognitively mature than their peers are sometimes given responsibility for self-managerial behaviors that they are unable to assume.

Longitudinal Relationship of Asymptomatic Hypoglycemia to Cognitive Function in IDDM

Early-onset insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM) is linked to subsequent learning deficits. To investigate the relationship of learning deficits to metabolic control, 23 children with IDDM (age at testing 71 ± 21 mo, age at diagnosis 35 ± 15 mo) diagnosed before 5 yr of age were followed for periods of 6–78 mo. Mean glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA,), episodes of severe hypoglycemia, and frequency of self-monitoring blood glucose (SMBG) measurements <2.8 mM (50 mg/dl, asymptomatic hypoglycemia) were recorded every 3 mo. Six subjects entered the study 12.3 ± 6.7 mo after diagnosis, and only severe hypoglycemia was present before entry. For the remaining 17 subjects, HbA, and severe and asymptomatic hypoglycemia were present from the time of diagnosis of diabetes. Mean HbA, level was 10.1 ± 1.0%, and mean severe hypoglycemic episodes per patient was 2.9, but the frequency was highly skewed; one patient had 37 episodes, and 14 had none. The mean percentage of SMBG readings <2.8 mM was 2.4 ± 2.1. On the revised Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale there was no correlation between any subscale and severe hypoglycemia. However, the relative frequency of asymptomatic hypoglycemia correlated with scores on the abstract/visual reasoning scale (r = –.39, P = .037). This relationship was primarily accounted for by the relationship of asymptomatic hypoglycemia to performance on the copying subscale (r = –.42, P = .022). Children with frequent asymptomatic hypoglycemic episodes had lower mean copying scores and abstract reasoning scores than those with infrequent episodes. These findings are consistent with those of previous crosssectional studies of early-onset IDDM and extend previous results by suggesting that hypoglycemia, even if mild or asymptomatic, may be related to the neuropsychological changes previously described.

Parental modeling, attachment, and supervision as moderators of adolescent gambling.

Utilizing Jessor’s Problem Behavior Theory as a theoretical foundation, 116 male and female students in grades 9–12 (mean age 16.8) from a Midwestern urban high school were surveyed to determine the prevalence and relationship among gambling behavior and parental and peer influences. To measure these variables, the following instruments were used: The SOGS-RA, the Inventory of Parent and Peer Attachment-Parent Scale, and The Alabama Parenting Questionnaire-Parental Monitoring and Supervision Scale. Almost all of the students (91%) reported gambling at least once in their lifetime while 36.2% reported gambling once a week, 19% reported gambling on a daily basis, and 26% were classified as problem gamblers (10% using the “narrow” SOGS-RA criteria). Parental gambling was related to levels of past year gambling as well as increased likelihood of being classified as a problem gambler. Increased parental attachment was also associated with decreased levels of adolescent gambling, while decreased parental trust and communication resulted in increased problem gambling. Measures of parental monitoring and supervision found similar outcomes in that increased monitoring and supervision resulted in lower levels of adolescent gambling. Additionally, when peer influences were moderated by parental influences, there was a moderating effect on gambling behavior. This study illuminates the continued importance parents play in both risk enhancing and risk inhibiting influences on adolescent participation in problem behaviors.

Online forum messages posted by adolescents with type 1 diabetes

PURPOSE Messages posted by adolescents with diabetes at public Web-based forums were assessed using content analysis. METHODS Messages (n = 340) from adolescents self-identified as having diabetes were collected from public online discussion and question/answer forums and coded with respect to age, gender, duration of illness, and purpose of the post. Request messages were analyzed using a constant comparative method to generate descriptive categories. Nonparametric tests assessed for differences among groups and between forum types and request topics. RESULTS Most messages were from females who more often posted at discussion forums. Males posted more information requests. Six categories emerged from the analysis: life tasks, social support, medical care, factual information, management, and intrapsychic. Social support messages accounted for half of discussion forum requests; information/management requests were common in question/answer forums. CONCLUSIONS Data suggest that adolescents with diabetes visit online forums for social support, information, advice, and shared experience. Females used discussion forums more frequently and males requested more information.

Effects of marital conflict and family structure on the self-concepts of pre- and early adolescents

This study explored the effects of marital conflict and family structure on the self-concepts of youth aged 8–12. Subjects were 16 mother-youth pairs from intact parent families (IP) and 17 mother-youth pairs from separated parent families (SP). Results revealed youth in families with low marital hostility and high marital affection had significantly more positive self-concepts. Analyses suggested differences between IP and SP groups may best be explained by differences in marital hostility. The authors discuss the effects of marital discord on parenting within an ecosystems perspective.

Parents of Children With Diabetes: What Are They Worried About?

Parental worries, specific to having a child with diabetes, have been associated with poor diabetes control. This study addressed three questions relating to this issue: Does parental worry affect the metabolic control of the child with IDDM? What specific aspects of diabetes are the most worrisome to parents? Do these concerns change with the childs age and disease duration? Parents of 93 children with IDDM were given a modified version of the Diabetes Quality of Life measure to evaluate diahetes-specific worries. No correlation was found between parental worry and the childs metabolic control. Parents of younger children expressed the largest amount of worry, yet the kinds of things that parents were most concerned about were the same, regardless of age or duration of the childs disease.

Relationships of somatic symptoms to behavioral and emotional risk in young adolescents

Junior high students (n = 1508) from a midwestern community completed a health behavioral questionnaire that asked the frequency of headache and abdominal pain and of a number of behavioral and emotional risk indicators. Headache (24%) and abdominal pain (13%) were frequently reported among these young adolescents, particularly among girls. Those reporting frequent somatic complaints also reported significantly more behavioral and emotional symptoms indicative of risk (p less than 0.001). Further, the interaction between somatic complaint and gender significantly affected risk status (p less than 0.01). This interaction was greater with behavioral risk: boys with both abdominal pain and headaches reported higher behavioral risk than all other groups (p less than 0.0001). Somatic symptoms continued to account for a significant amount of variance in behavioral risk after the effects of emotional risk and age were removed. This suggests that behavioral risk and emotional risk are independently associated with somatic complaints. The evaluation of persistent somatic complaints in adolescents, particularly in boys with abdominal symptoms, should include careful examination of emotional risk factors and other health-endangering behaviors such as substance use, early sexual activity, and delinquency.

Frequent Somatic Complaints and Psychosocial Risk in Adolescents

Frequent headaches and abdominal pain are a relatively common occurrence among adolescents. At some point, however frequent somatic pain is presumed to be a clinically significant associate of psychosocial maladaptation. In an earlier analysis, results indicated that frequent reports of somatic pain (headaches and abdominal pain) were significant associates of other risk states. The data also suggested that frequent abdominal pain was a particularly sensitive predictor of risk among adolescent boys. The present study attempted to replicate and extend that analysis with an independent sample of early adolescents. Specifically, the study assessed the relationship of frequent somatic complaints to relative risk of engaging in health risk behaviors and reports of other emotional risk states. The data from this analysis affirm the relatedness of reports of frequent somatic complaints and elevated behavioral risk The current data did not confirm a greater association of frequent somatic complaints and risk among adolescent boys.

Canonical analysis of the MMPI and WAIS in a psychiatric sample.

Valid MMPI and WAIS subscale raw scores, collected from 197 psychiatric inpatients, were subjected to bivariate, multiple, and canonical correlational analyses. 25% of the bivariate correlations and 50% of the multiple correlations were significant. A canonical R of .609 obtained between the WAIS subtests and the MMPI clinical scales, and a canonical R of .394 between the WAIS subtests and the MMPI validity scales. While bivariate relationships between pairs of specific MMPI and WAIS subscales are small, a not inconsequential amount of overlapping variance between the two is observed using multivariate techniques. The relationship between the MMPI clinical scales and the MMPI subtests is accounted for by a cognitive factor. General intellectual ability is hypothesized to account for the relationship between the MMPI validity scales and the WAIS subtests.