Marjolein Verhoeven

School outcome, cognitive functioning, and behaviour problems in moderate and late preterm children and adults: A review

A large number of children (6 to 11% of all births) are born at a gestational age between 32 and 36 weeks. Little is known of long term outcomes for these moderate and late preterm children. In this review, results of 28 studies on school outcome, cognitive functioning, behaviour problems, and psychiatric disorders are presented. Overall, more school problems, less advanced cognitive functioning, more behaviour problems, and higher prevalence of psychiatric disorders were found in moderate and late preterm born infants, children, and adults compared with full term peers. Suggestions for future research are discussed.

Parenting During Toddlerhood: Contributions of Parental, Contextual, and Child Characteristics

The present study examines the contribution of parental, contextual, and child characteristics to parenting behavior during toddlerhood in 111 two-parent families with a 17-month-old son (M = 16.9 months, SD = 0.57). Parenting was conceptualized in terms of five dimensions: support, structure, positive discipline, psychological control, and physical punishment. In general, results indicate that the effects of parental, contextual, and child characteristics on parenting dimensions do not differ for mothers and fathers. The only uncovered difference concerns the effect of childrens inhibitory control, which was significant for maternal but not for paternal support. For both mothers and fathers, support, structure, and the use of psychological control are mainly influenced by parental characteristics, whereas the use of positive discipline and physical punishment are best predicted by contextual characteristics. Overall, the contribution of child characteristics to parenting dimensions was moderate.

Introduction of the Utrecht Tasks for Attention in Toddlers Using Eye Tracking (UTATE): A Pilot Study

Attention capacities underlie everyday functioning from an early age onwards. Little is known about attentional processes at toddler age. A feasible assessment of attention capacities at toddler age is needed to allow further study of attention development. In this study, a test battery is piloted that consists of four tasks which intend to measure the attention systems orienting, alerting, and executive attention: the Utrecht Tasks of Attention in Toddlers using Eye tracking [UTATE]. The UTATE assesses looking behavior that may reflect visual attention capacities, by using eye-tracking methods. This UTATE was studied in 16 Dutch 18-month-old toddlers. Results showed that the instrument is feasible and generates good quality data. A first indication of sufficient reliability was found for most of the variables. It is concluded that the UTATE can be used in further studies. Further evaluation of the reliability and validity of the instrument in larger samples is worthwhile.

A short-term longitudinal study of the development of self-reported patenting during toddlerhood

Objective: This study examined four types of stability (factorial equivalence over time, mean-level stability, rank-order stability, and individual-level stability) in five facets of parenting (support, structure, positive discipline, psychological control, and physical punishment) during toddlerhood for both mothers and fathers. Design: Mothers and fathers from 108 intact Dutch families with a son reported about their parenting behavior in three measurement waves when the child was 17, 23, and 29 months of age. Results: Confirmatory factor analyses showed that all five parenting facets measured as invariant over time and across mothers and fathers (factorial equivalence). Support, structure, and physical punishment displayed high mean-level stability and rank-order stability. Although the mean levels of positive discipline and psychological control increased, these parenting facets showed high levels of rank-order stability. Mothers and fathers reported similar levels of parenting behavior and similar patterns of change. Person oriented analyses showed there are differences in individual patterns of change in parenting. Conclusions: Measures of parenting were factorially equivalent, supporting the notions that the content of parenting facets does not change across time and that similar constructs were measured for mothers and fathers. At the group level, high levels of mean-level stability and rank-order stability suggest that self-reported parenting is quite stable during the toddler period. However, findings at the individual level show that some parents report changes in parenting. Examination of the characteristics that might account for these changes is an important next step in future parenting research.

Performance of Dutch Children on the Bayley III: A Comparison Study of US and Dutch Norms

Background The Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development-third edition (Bayley-III) are frequently used to assess early child development worldwide. However, the original standardization only included US children, and it is still unclear whether or not these norms are adequate for use in other populations. Recently, norms for the Dutch version of the Bayley-III (The Bayley-III-NL) were made. Scores based on Dutch and US norms were compared to study the need for population-specific norms. Methods Scaled scores based on Dutch and US norms were compared for 1912 children between 14 days and 42 months 14 days. Next, the proportions of children scoring < 1-SD and < -2 SD based on the two norms were compared, to identify over- or under-referral for developmental delay resulting from non-population-based norms. Results Scaled scores based on Dutch norms fluctuated around values based on US norms on all subtests. The extent of the deviations differed across ages and subtests. Differences in means were significant across all five subtests (p < .01) with small to large effect sizes (η p 2) ranging from .03 to .26). Using the US instead of Dutch norms resulted in over-referral regarding gross motor skills, and under-referral regarding cognitive, receptive communication, expressive communication, and fine motor skills. Conclusions The Dutch norms differ from the US norms for all subtests and these differences are clinically relevant. Population specific norms are needed to identify children with low scores for referral and intervention, and to facilitate international comparisons of population data.

Parental and professional assessment of early child development: The ASQ-3 and the Bayley-III-NL

BACKGROUND The Ages and Stages Questionnaire (ASQ-3) is frequently used for screening developmental delay in problem solving, communication, fine- and gross motor skills and personal-social behavior of infants, toddlers and preschool aged children. The adequacy of the ASQ-3 is evaluated for Dutch children by comparing results of the ASQ-3, completed by parents, to results of a standardized, professionally administered developmental assessment of cognition, fine- and gross motor skills and receptive and expressive communication for infants and toddlers: the Bayley-III-NL. METHODS The ASQ-3 and Bayley-III-NL were administered to 1244 children aged 1 to 43months old. Two age cohorts were used: 1) the 2-16month age-versions; and 2) the 18-42month age-versions. Cutoff points for all ASQ-3 age-versions were calculated in three ways. Sensitivity and specificity of the ASQ-3 were evaluated with four methods, using different cutoff point combinations of 1 SD or 2 SD below the mean. RESULTS Overall, sensitivity was between 7% and 77% and specificity between 53% and 99%. Sensitivity and specificity values were higher for the older age-cohort than for the younger age-cohort. For the older age-cohort, the best sensitivity (69%) and specificity (92%) was found, using 1 SD for the total ASQ-3 score and 2 SD for the Bayley-III-NL subtests as cutoff points. CONCLUSIONS For the oldest age-cohort, the ASQ-3 for now has the best potential as a screener for Dutch children. The ASQ-3 identifies most children without a developmental delay according to the Bayley-III-NL, but sensitivity needs improvement.

Behaviour and development in 24-month-old moderately preterm toddlers

Objective Moderately preterm children (gestational age 32–36+6 weeks) are at risk of cognitive and behaviour problems at school age. The aim of this study was to investigate if these problems are already present at the age of 2 years. Study design Developmental outcome was assessed at 24-months (corrected age) with the Bayley-III-NL in 116 moderately preterm (M=34.66±1.35 weeks gestation) and 99 term born children (M=39.45±0.98 weeks gestation). Behaviour problems were assessed with the Child Behaviour Checklist. Results With age corrected for prematurity, moderately preterm children scored below term peers on Receptive Communication skills (11.05±2.58 vs 12.02±2.74, p=0.02). Without correcting age for prematurity, moderately preterm children scored below term born peers on Cognition (8.97±2.11 vs 10.68±2.35, p<0.001), Fine Motor (10.33±2.15 vs 11.96±2.15, p<0.001), Gross Motor (8.47±2.55 vs 9.39±2.80, p=0.05), Receptive Communication (10.09±2.48 vs 12.02±2.74, p<0.001) and Expressive Communication (10.33±2.43 vs 11.49±2.51, p=0.005) skills. Compared with term peers, more moderately preterm children showed a (mild) delay (ie, scaled score <7) in gross motor skills with age uncorrected for prematurity (20.7% vs 11.2%, p=0.04). Moderately preterm children had more internalising behaviour problems than term children (44.76±8.94 vs 41.54±8.56, p=0.03). No group differences were found in percentages of (sub)clinical scores. Conclusions At the age of 2 years, uncorrected for prematurity, differences in cognition, communication, and motor development were present in moderately preterm children compared with term born peers. After correcting age for prematurity, a difference was only found for receptive communication skills. In addition, moderately preterm children show more internalising behaviour problems.

Parental self-control and the development of male aggression in early childhood: a longitudinal test of self-control theory

A number of studies have evaluated associations between parenting practices, adolescent self-control, and adolescent antisocial behavior. Yet, few studies have examined associations between these constructs in early childhood or examined the extent to which both maternal and paternal self-control shapes them. To address these gaps, the current study utilizes longitudinal data collected on a sample of 117 Dutch boys and their parents to investigate the across time interrelationships between parental self-control, ineffective parenting, child self-control, and child aggression. The results provide evidence of an indirect association between maternal self-control and early childhood self-control through maternal ineffective parenting, an indirect association between maternal ineffective parenting and early childhood aggression through early childhood self-control, and an indirect association between maternal self-control and early childhood aggression through both maternal ineffective parenting and early childhood self-control. In contrast, paternal self-control and paternal ineffective parenting were unrelated to child self-control and child aggression. The implications and limitations of the study are discussed.

Longitudinal effects of sibling relationship quality on adolescent problem behavior : A cross-ethnic comparison

The aim of the present study was to examine whether adolescents of Moroccan and Dutch origin differ concerning sibling relationship quality and to examine whether the associations between quality of the sibling relationship and level and change in externalizing and internalizing problem behavior are comparable for Moroccan and Dutch adolescents. Five annual waves of questionnaire data on sibling support and conflict as well as externalizing problems, anxiety and depression were collected from 159 ethnic Moroccan adolescents (Mage = 13.3 years) and from 159 ethnic Dutch adolescents (Mage = 13.0 years). Our findings demonstrated significant mean level differences between the Moroccan and Dutch sample in sibling relationship quality, externalizing problems, and depression, with Moroccan adolescents reporting higher sibling relationship quality and less problem behavior. However, effects of sibling relationship quality on externalizing problems, anxiety, and depression were similar for the Moroccan and Dutch samples. Sibling support was not related to level of externalizing problems, nor to changes in externalizing problems, anxiety, and depression. Additionally, more sibling conflict was related to a higher starting level of and faster decreases in problem behaviors. Our results support the ethnic equivalence model, which holds that the influence of family relationships is similar for different ethnic groups. Moreover, sibling support and conflict affect both the level and the fluctuations in problem behavior over time in specific ethnic groups similarly. Implications for future studies and interventions are subsequently discussed.

Bayesian evaluation of informative hypotheses in SEM using Mplus: a black bear story

Half in jest we use a story about a black bear to illustrate that there are some discrepancies between the formal use of the p-value and the way it is often used in practice. We argue that more can be learned from data by evaluating informative hypotheses, than by testing the traditional null hypothesis. All criticisms of classical null hypothesis testing aside, the best argument for evaluating informative hypotheses is that many researchers want to evaluate their expectations directly, but have been unable to do so because the statistical tools were not yet available. It will be shown that a Bayesian model selection procedure can be used to evaluate informative hypotheses in structural equation models using the software Mplus. In the current paper we introduce the methodology using a real-life example taken from the field of developmental psychology about depressive symptoms in adolescence and provide a step-by-step description so that the procedure becomes more comprehensible for applied researchers. As this paper illustrates, this methodology is ready to be used by any researcher within the social sciences.