Maroesjka van Nieuwenhuijzen

Social Problem-Solving and Mild Intellectual Disabilities: Relations With Externalizing Behavior and Therapeutic Context

Relations among externalizing behavior, therapeutic context (community care vs. residential care), and social problem-solving by children with mild intellectual disabilities or borderline intelligence were examined. Participants were 186 children (12 to 14 years of age) who responded to a video-based social problem-solving task. Of these, 130 received residential care and the majority suffered from severe externalizing behavior problems. The results indicated that externalizing behavior was related to encoding, generation of aggressive responses, and negative evaluation of assertive responses. Therapeutic context was related to encoding, positive evaluation of assertive responses, and negative evaluation of aggressive responses. Results indicate a discrepancy between appropriate problem-solving skills and behavior in daily life. Implications for interventions are discussed.

Parenting and the parent-child relationship in families of children with mild to borderline intellectual disabilities and externalizing behavior

This cross-sectional study examined the association between parenting behavior, the parent-child relationship, and externalizing child behavior in families of children with mild to borderline intellectual disabilities (MBID). The families of a child with MBID and accompanying externalizing behavior problems (n=113) reported more positive discipline and physical punishment but less involvement, less positive parenting, less monitoring, a lower sense of parenting competence, less acceptance of the child, and less closeness to the child than the families of a child with MBID and no accompanying externalizing behavior problems (n=71). The parent-child relationship was most strongly associated with externalizing child behavior, over and above parenting behaviors. In addition, the parent-child relationship was found to be associated with parenting behavior, over and above the childs externalizing behavior. Our results highlight the importance of both the parent-child relationship and parenting behavior in connection with the occurrence of externalizing behavior problems on the part of children with MBID. Parenting behavior and the parent-child relationship may thus be promising targets for interventions with this group of children.

Targets for primary prevention : Cultural, social and intrapersonal factors associated with co-occurring health-related behaviours

Objective: Multiple studies have identified clusters of co-occurring health-related behaviours. Little is known, however, about factors associated with such clusters. This study aims to identify these factors and to assess whether their effects are in accordance with the Theory of Triadic Influence (TTI). Design: A cross-sectional study using a representative sample (N = 3497) of the Dutch population aged 19–40. Main Outcome Measures: Our data concerned 18 health-related behaviours combined in three clusters (Health, Alcohol and Delinquency) and 30 non-behaviour-specific (i.e. ultimate or distal) cultural, social and intrapersonal factors. The three clusters were used as outcomes in regression analyses. Results: Descriptive Norms of Friends and Gender were associated with all three behaviour clusters. Furthermore, Having Parents who Smoke or Consume Alcohol was associated with, respectively, the Health and Alcohol clusters. Self-Control and past Parental Monitoring were associated with the Health and Delinquency clusters. Effect sizes were moderate to large (r2: 0.05 to 0.22). Conclusion: Factors with a moderate to large association with several behaviour clusters were identified. These factors were located within the social and intrapersonal stream of the TTI, not within the cultural stream.

Cultural, social and intrapersonal factors associated with clusters of co-occurring health-related behaviours among adolescents

BACKGROUND Adverse health-related behaviours (HRBs) have been shown to co-occur in adolescents. Evidence lacks on factors associated with these co-occurring HRBs. The Theory of Triadic Influence (TTI) offers a route to categorize these determinants according to type (social, cultural and intrapersonal) and distance in the causal pathway (ultimate or distal). Our aims were to identify cultural, social and intrapersonal factors associated with co-occurring HRBs and to assess the relative importance of ultimate and distal factors for each cluster of co-occurring HRBs. METHODS Respondents concerned a random sample of 898 adolescents aged 12-18 years, stratified by age, sex and educational level of head of household. Data were collected via face-to-face computer-assisted interviewing and internet questionnaires. Analyses were performed for young (12-15 years) and late (16-18 years) adolescents regarding two and three clusters of HRB, respectively. RESULTS For each cluster of HRBs (e.g. smoking, delinquency), associated factors were found. These accounted for 27 to 57% of the total variance per cluster. Factors came in particular from the intrapersonal stream of the TTI at the ultimate level and the social stream at the distal level. Associations were strongest for parenting practices, risk behaviours of friends and parents and self-control. CONCLUSION Results of this study confirm that it is possible to identify a selection of cultural, social and intrapersonal factors associated with co-occurring HRBs among adolescents.

Developing a new assessment procedure of social information processing in adolescents within secure residential care

The purpose of the present study was to develop a new assessment procedure of social information processing (SIP) for adolescents, to explore its validity and to examine whether it differentiated between IQ groups. Ninety-four adolescents within secure residential care were administered the SIP instrument, the Youth Self Report and two subtests of the WISC/WAIS. Results showed that the constructs underlying the items of the instrument were associated with profiles from the SIP theory, the subsequent SIP steps were correlated, and several SIP steps were correlated to self-reported behavior. No differences were found between IQ groups. These first results have implications for adjustment of the instrument. Further research should confirm construct validity and psychometric qualities of the scales.

Sociale informatieverwerking van kinderen met lichte verstandelijke beperkingen

AbstractVan Nieuwenhuijzen, M., Bijman, E. R., Lamberix, I. C. W., Orobio de Castro, B., Vermeer, A., & Matthys, W. (2007). Social information processing in children with mild intellectual disabilities: validation of two measurements, Kind en Adolescent, 28 (3), 149-159.The aim of the present study was to validate two methods to assess social information processing (sip) in children with mild intellectual disabilities (mid). Fifty-six 10 to 14-year-old children with midsip were assessed by means of responses to hypothetical situations, and observation of actual behaviour in comparable staged standardized real-life conflict situations. The results show both methods discriminate between children with and without accompanying externalizing behaviour problems. In addition, there was a correlation between the spontaneous responses in the hypothetical situations and actual behaviour in the staged real-life situations, and responses in both methods were related to teacher-rated aggressive behaviour in the classroom. The conclusion is that both methods are useful in children with mid for assessing different aspects of sip. Keywords: social information processing, mild intellectual disabilities, behaviour problems.SamenvattingHet doel van dit onderzoek was het valideren van twee methoden om sociale informatieverwerking te meten bij kinderen met lichte verstandelijke beperkingen (lvb-kinderen). Bij 56 tien- tot veertienjarige lvb-kinderen werd de sociale informatieverwerking vastgesteld door middel van antwoorden op hypothetische probleemsituaties en observatie van hun gedrag in gestandaardiseerde realistische conflictsituaties. De resultaten laten zien dat beide methoden onderscheid maken tussen lvb-kinderen met en zonder externaliserende gedragsproblemen, dat de antwoorden op de hypothetische situaties correleerden met het gedrag in de realistische situatie, en dat antwoorden en reacties bij beide methoden correleerden met gedrag in de klas. Geconcludeerd wordt dat beide methoden bruikbaar zijn voor de lvb-populatie om diverse aspecten van sociale informatieverwerking vast te stellen.

Social information processing skills link executive functions to aggression in adolescents with mild to borderline intellectual disability

ABSTRACT Executive Functions (EFs) have been associated with aggression in children and adolescents. EFs as higher-order cognitive abilities are assumed to affect cognitive functions such as Social Information Processing (SIP). We explored SIP skills as a mediating mechanism linking EFs to aggression in adolescents with mild to borderline intellectual disability (MBID with IQ from 50–84), a high risk group for aggressive behaviors and EF impairments. A total of 153 adolescents (Mage = 15.24, SD = 1.35; 54% male) with MBID participated. Focused attention, behavioral inhibition, and working memory were tested with multiple neurocognitive tasks to define latent EF constructs. Participants responded to a video-based SIP task. A latent construct for aggression was defined by caretaker, teacher, and adolescent self-reports of aggression (Child Behavior Check List, Teacher Report Form, and Youth Self Report). Structural equation modeling was performed to test mediation. Results were consistent with mediation of the relation between focused attention and aggression by SIP, namely via hostile interpretations and self-efficacy for aggression. Behavioral inhibition was linked to aggression, but this relation was not mediated by SIP. The relation between working memory and aggression was mediated by SIP, namely via hostile interpretations, aggressive response generation and via self-efficacy for aggressive responses. Bearing the cross-sectional design in mind, support was found for SIP skills as a mechanism linking EFs, in particular focused attention and working memory, to aggression, providing a viable explanation for the high vulnerability of adolescents with MBID for aggression.

Autisme en het verwerken van sociale informatie

Autisme is een ernstige ontwikkelingsstoornis, waarbij het niet om een stoornis gaat, maar om een spectrum van stoornissen. Een autistische stoornis en daaraan verwante aandoeningen vormen een continuum; de symptomen kunnen als een glijdende schaal worden omschreven. Dit continuuum heeft betrekking op de variatie in de mate van ernst van autistische kenmerken bijvoorbeeld bij de stoornis van Asperger, de stoornis van Rett en PDD-NOS (Pervasive Developmental Disorder( s)-Not Otherwise Specified). In dit hoofdstuk spreken we verder van autisme om alle stoornissen in het spectrum aan te duiden.