Rachel A. Razza

Associations among family environment, sustained attention, and school readiness for low-income children.

In this study, we examined the developmental pathways from childrens family environment to school readiness within a low-income sample (N = 1,046), with a specific focus on the role of sustained attention. Six distinct factors of the family environment representing maternal parenting behaviors, the physical home environment, and maternal mental health at 3 years of age were explored as independent predictors of childrens observed sustained attention as well as cognitive and behavioral outcomes at 5 years of age. Children were grouped by poverty status (poor vs. near-poor). Results suggest specificity in the associations among attention (focused attention and lack of impulsivity) and its correlates, with different patterns emerging by poverty status group. Overall, the family environment was largely unrelated to childrens sustained attention. For both groups, focused attention was associated with receptive vocabulary; however, it partially mediated the association between maternal lack of hostility and receptive vocabulary only among the near-poor. In addition, lack of impulsivity was associated with both receptive vocabulary and externalizing behaviors but only for the poor group. Findings indicate sustained attention as a potential target for efforts aimed at enhancing school readiness among predominantly poor children.

Specifying the Links Between Household Chaos and Preschool Children's Development.

Household chaos has been linked to poorer cognitive, behavioural, and self-regulatory outcomes in young children, but the mechanisms responsible remain largely unknown. Using a diverse sample of families in Chicago, the present study tests for the independent contributions made by five indicators of household chaos: noise, crowding, family instability, lack of routine, and television usually on. Chaos was measured at age 2; outcomes measured at age 5 tap receptive vocabulary, attention and behaviour problems, and effortful control. Results show that controlling for all other measures of chaos, children with a lack of routine scored lower on receptive vocabulary and delayed gratification, while children whose television was generally on scored higher on aggression and attention problems. The provision of learning materials mediated a small part of the association between television and receptive vocabulary. Family instability, crowding, and noise did not predict any outcomes once other measures of chaos were controlled.

Sustained attention at age 5 predicts attention-related problems at age 9

This study tested whether two aspects of sustained attention (focused attention and lack of impulsivity) measured at child age 5 predicted attention problems reported by mothers and teachers at age 9. Because lack of impulsivity reflects the executive control network, and ADHD is commonly characterized as a deficit in executive function, it was expected to have more predictive power than focused attention. Data were drawn from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study. Focused attention and lack of impulsivity, measured in a laboratory task at age 5, were equally predictive of attention problems at age 9, including the mother’s report of whether the child had been diagnosed with ADHD. However, age 9 teacher-reported hyperactivity was not predicted by focused attention, and only marginally predicted by lack of impulsivity. Results complement an earlier study by Razza, Martin, and Brooks-Gunn showing that both focused attention and lack of impulsivity at age 5 predicted children’s approaches to learning at age 9.

xR-Based Systems for Mindfulness Based Training in Clinical Settings

Chronic and acute stress are persistent and troubling health concerns for many people and military veterans in particular. Clinicians are increasingly turning to mindfulness techniques to provide people with the skills they need to self-manage that stress. However, training and getting people to adhere to the practice is difficult. In this paper, we talk about a virtual reality based system designed specifically to help veterans learn mindfulness-based stress reduction techniques.