Nancie Im-Bolter

Higher order language competence and adolescent mental health.

BACKGROUNDnClinic and community-based epidemiological studies have shown an association between child psychopathology and language impairment. The demands on language for social and academic adjustment shift dramatically during adolescence and the ability to understand the nonliteral meaning in language represented by higher order language becomes essential.nnnOBJECTIVESnxa0: This article reports on the association between difficulties in higher order language skills, reading, cognition, and social-emotional adjustment in adolescents.nnnMETHODnxa0: 144 clinic-referred and 186 comparison youth aged 12-18xa0years were administered a battery of standardized tests of intelligence, working memory, structural and higher order language, and reading achievement. Parent ratings on the Child Behavior Checklist were used as a measure of severity of social-emotional problems.nnnRESULTSnxa0: Clinic-referred youth scored significantly lower than comparison youth on measures of structural and higher order language, working memory, and reading. Of the clinic-referred youth, 45% had some type of higher order language impairment, whereas this was the case for 15% of youth in the comparison group. Lower levels of nonverbal ability and working memory as well as lower level of mothers education were associated with greater risk of having higher order language impairment.nnnCONCLUSIONSnxa0: Findings have implications for practitioners seeking to understand and treat adolescents since therapeutic techniques rely on skills where higher order language is at play including the ability to discuss opinions flexibly and to weigh interpretations. Therapists must be aware that there are areas that have potential for miscommunication with some adolescents and where inaccurate inferences may be made about their behavior. Furthermore, educators must consider resources for youth who may increasingly struggle in high school because of such difficulties.

Theory of mind in middle childhood and early adolescence: Different from before?

Studies with preschool children have shown that language and executive function are important for theory of mind, but few studies have examined these associations in older children and in an integrative theory-guided manner. The theory of constructive operators was used as a framework to test a model of relations among mental attentional capacity, attentional inhibition, language, executive processes (shifting and updating), and higher order theory of mind in two groups of school-aged children: one in middle childhood (n=226; mean age=8.08years) and the other in early adolescence (n=216; mean age=12.09years). Results revealed a complex model of interrelations between cognitive resources and language in middle childhood that directly and indirectly predicted theory of mind. The model in early adolescence was less complex, however, and highlighted the importance of semantic language and shifting for theory of mind. Our findings suggest not only that contributors to theory of mind change over time but also that they may depend on the maturity level of the theory of mind system being examined.

I thought we were good: social cognition, figurative language, and adolescent psychopathology

BACKGROUNDnLanguage has been shown to play a critical role in social cognitive reasoning in preschool and school-aged children, but little research has been conducted with adolescents. During adolescence, the ability to understand figurative language becomes increasingly important for social relationships and may affect social adjustment. This study investigated the contribution of structural and figurative language to social cognitive skills in adolescents who present for mental health services and those who do not.nnnMETHODnOne hundred and thirty-eight adolescents referred to mental health centers (clinic group) and 186 nonreferred adolescents (nonclinic group) aged 12-17 were administered measures of structural and figurative language, working memory, and social cognitive problem solving.nnnRESULTSnWe found that adolescents in the clinic group demonstrated less mature social problem solving overall, but particularly with respect to anticipating and overcoming potential obstacles and conflict resolution compared with the nonclinic group. In addition, results demonstrated that age, working memory, and structural and figurative language predicted social cognitive maturity in the clinic group, but only structural language was a predictor in the nonclinic group.nnnCONCLUSIONSnSocial problem solving may be particularly difficult for adolescents referred for mental health services and places higher demands on their cognitive and language skills compared with adolescents who have never been referred for mental health services.

Early parenting beliefs and academic achievement: the mediating role of language

Studies have demonstrated the association between parenting style and childrens academic achievement, but the specific mechanisms underlying this relationship remain unclear. The development of skills that lay the foundation for academic success might be found in early parent–child interactions that foster language competence. Early negative parenting beliefs, characterised by a lack of reciprocal parent–child interactions may put a childs developing language at risk, which then compromises a childs subsequent academic success. The present study investigated this idea by using longitudinal data and structural equation modelling on a sample of 1364 children at 1 month and 36 months and in kindergarten and grade 1 (National Institute of Child Health and Human Development study of Early Child Care and Youth Development). Authoritarian beliefs were measured at 1 month and in grade 1. Language competence was measured at 36 months and in kindergarten, and academic achievement in kindergarten and grade 1. We found that childrens language functioning at 36 months fully mediates the association between early negative parenting beliefs and childrens subsequent academic achievement.

Transfer, control, and automatic processing in a complex motor task: an examination of bounce juggling.

The authors evaluated the hypothesis that controlled and automatic processes are opposite ends of a continuum of learning (e.g., R. M. Shiffrin & W. Schneider, 1977) vs. an alternative, concurrent emergence hypothesis (e.g., J. M. Bebko et al., 2003; G. Logan, 1989). The authors also measured potential positive transfer effects of learning from one motor task to another. Four experienced cascade jugglers and 5 novices learned to bounce juggle, practicing regularly for 5 weeks. The experienced jugglers showed positive transfer of learning, maintaining a lead of approximately 6-10 days over the novices, even as both groups automatized the new skill. Measures of automatic and controlled processing were positively correlated, indicating that those processes emerge concurrently. The authors present a model in which controlled and automatic processes emerge orthogonally.

Inhibition: Mental Control Process or Mental Resource?

The current study tested 2 models of inhibition in 45 children with language impairment and 45 children with normally developing language; children were aged 7 to 12 years. Of interest was whether a model of inhibition as a mental-control process (i.e., executive function) or as a mental resource would more accurately reflect the relations among mental-attentional (M) capacity, inhibition, updating, shifting, and language competence. Children completed measures of M-capacity (in the verbal and nonverbal domains), inhibition, updating, shifting, and language. Path analyses showed the data provided a poor fit to the model of inhibition as a mental-control process but a good fit to the model of inhibition as a mental resource. Results are consistent with the theory of constructive operators and suggest inhibition is a mental resource rather than a mental-control process.

Why parametric measures are critical for understanding typical and atypical cognitive development

Children’s cognitive abilities improve significantly over childhood and adolescence. We know from behavioral research that core cognitive processes such as working memory and mental attention improve significantly across development. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) allows for investigating the typically developing, living brain in action. In the last twenty years we have learned a great deal about brain correlates associated with how adults hold and manipulate information in mind, however, neurocognitive correlates across development remain inconsistent. We present developmental fMRI findings on cognitive processes such as working memory and mental attention and discuss methodological and theoretical issues in the assessment of cognitive limitations in the visual spatial and verbal domains. We also review data from typical and atypical development and emphasize the unique contribution parametric measures can make in understanding neurocognitive correlates of typical and atypical development.

Understanding ironic criticism and empathic praise: The role of emotive communication.

Ironic criticism and empathic praise are forms of social communication that influence the affective states of others in a negative or positive way. In a sample of 76 typically developing children and adolescents (mean agexa0=xa011xa0years; 4xa0months; SD: 2xa0years; 8xa0months), we studied how understanding of emotional expression (facial expression of emotion) and emotive communication (affective theory of mind) was related to the ability to understand negatively valenced ironic criticism and positively valenced empathic praise. We modelled comprehension of irony and empathy in school-aged children in relation to age and understanding of emotional expression and emotive communication. As expected, children showed significantly better understanding of emotional expression than emotive communication, which requires understanding why someone might mask their inner emotions. Meditational analyses showed that emotive communication partially mediated the relation between age and understanding ironic criticism and empathic praise. These findings suggest that the development of understanding irony and empathy over the school-age years is associated with affective attributions or affective theory of mind. Statement of contribution What is already known on this subject? Theory of mind has been found to be related to the developmental understanding of social communication. Correct interpretation of facial emotional cues is also important for interpreting social communication. What does this study add? Affective components (i.e., affective theory of mind) also contribute to the development of social communication. Emotive communication, the ability to modulate ones emotional expression according to social display rules may be predictive of social communication competency.

Social context as a risk factor for psychopathology in children with epilepsy

Epilepsy is the number one neurological disorder in children in western society. Childhood epilepsy is highly comorbid with psychopathology. Although neurological and biological factors may partially explain the increased risk of psychopathology in children with epilepsy, social contextual factors are also important to understanding development of psychopathology in children with epilepsy. The current paper examines the development of children with epilepsy utilizing Bronfenbrenners micro-, meso-, exo-, and macrosystem social contexts. Negative interpersonal interactions within the microsystems and the ripple effect of social context at the other levels may contribute to increased risk for psychopathology.