In the current study, three possible interpretations of children’s number line estimation (NLE) performance were examined for appropriateness and possible correlates of performance were tracked over time in a classroom exemplifying recommended mathematics pedagogy for young children. In December and May, 21 4-year-olds completed the NLE task (0-10 range) and measures of numerical knowledge, spatial skills, and visual-motor integration. With high-quality teaching, children made large gains in these skills (d = 0.96-1.28). Due to uniformly high achievement, few expected correlations were observed, however. A strategy account of NLE performance was supported over the traditional logarithmic-to-linear shift account and the newly proposed proportion-judgement account. Patterns of error in estimation provide a better indication of understanding of the linear number line than models of best fit. Indeed, interpreting linearity of NLE as indicative of an underlying representation of number could lead to inappropriate conceptualizations of math learning disabilities and misguided interventions.

Adolescence is marked with significant changes in how girls feel and act within their bodies, and is considered a special risk period for body image disruptions. Cross sectional quantitative research within this area suggests that parents represent an important contextual and developmental contributor to body image. The present study aimed to address gaps in previous research by investigating parental influences, including both protective and risk factors, on girls’ embodied experiences through utilizing a prospective qualitative design with a diverse sample of twelve girls, ages 9-18, interviewed annually over four years. Results revealed the presence of both protective and risk factors related to embodiment experiences within the parental relationships, including aspects of relational qualities, self-care, evaluative gaze and social location. Results are discussed in relation to Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems Theory and to previous research. The implications for future research are also discussed.

The present study investigated variability in the remedial outcomes of 105 adolescents with reading disabilities who participated in PHAST PACES, a research-based reading intervention with a strong attributional retraining focus. The study focussed on the impact of three conative functions—intrinsic motivation, attributions, and effortful control—and their relationships with reading skill and reading growth. It was hypothesized that, following PHAST PACES, students would demonstrate improvement on reading outcomes, increased intrinsic motivation for reading, a shift from maladaptive to adaptive attributions, and improved effortful control. Students demonstrated significant gains on reading and effortful control measures following PHAST PACES intervention. The intrinsic motivation and attributional profiles of students did not improve. Students who performed best on reading measures at pre- and post-test made attributions of success to ability and avoided attributions of failure to ability, while reporting high perceived competence for reading, and demonstrating good effortful control.

The present study investigated variability in the remedial outcomes of 105 adolescents with reading disabilities who participated in PHAST PACES, a research-based reading intervention with a strong attributional retraining focus. The study focussed on the impact of three conative functions—intrinsic motivation, attributions, and effortful control—and their relationships with reading skill and reading growth. It was hypothesized that, following PHAST PACES, students would demonstrate improvement on reading outcomes, increased intrinsic motivation for reading, a shift from maladaptive to adaptive attributions, and improved effortful control. Students demonstrated significant gains on reading and effortful control measures following PHAST PACES intervention. The intrinsic motivation and attributional profiles of students did not improve. Students who performed best on reading measures at pre- and post-test made attributions of success to ability and avoided attributions of failure to ability, while reporting high perceived competence for reading, and demonstrating good effortful control.

No description available.

Contexte. Une hypothèse développementale suggère que l’effet de la mémoire de travail sur la consommation de substances pourrait être médié par l’impulsivité à l’adolescence. Cependant, ces liens développementaux n’ont pas été examinés dès l’enfance pour prédire la consommation de substances à travers l’adolescence. Objectifs. L’étude visait à examiner les associations bidirectionnelles entre l’impulsivité et la mémoire de travail à 7, 14, 15 et 16 ans ainsi que la consommation de substances entre 14 et 16 ans. Méthode. Des analyses à décalages croisés ont porté sur 211 participants suivis annuellement depuis l’âge de 5 mois. La mémoire de travail a été mesurée par le Self-Ordered Pointing Task (ainsi que par son équivalent pour enfant) tandis que l’impulsivité et la consommation de substances ont été mesurées par des questionnaires. Résultats. La mémoire de travail à 7 ans permet de prédire faiblement mais positivement la consommation de cannabis à 14 ans et prédit négativement la consommation d’alcool à 14 ans mais seulement chez les garçons. Une relation positive entre l’impulsivité à 7 ans et la consommation de substances est spécifique à l’alcool. La consommation d’alcool et de cannabis à 14 ans prédit le changement de niveau d’impulsivité un an plus tard. Finalement, l’impulsivité ne médie pas la relation entre la mémoire de travail et la consommation de substances. Conclusion. Une composante cognitive ciblant la mémoire de travail, et ce dès l’enfance, pourrait être examinée comme complément aux interventions existantes et portant sur l’impulsivité pour mieux prévenir la consommation de substances à l’adolescence. / Background. A developmental hypothesis suggests the effect of working memory on substance use could be mediated by impulsivity in adolescence. However, these developmental associations between working memory and impulsivity have not been examined from childhood to predict substance use throughout adolescence. Objective. This study examined the bidirectionnal associations between impulsivity and working memory at ages 7, 14, 15 and 16 years old and substance use between ages 14 and 16 years old. Method. Cross-lagged analyses including 211 participants, followed annually since they were 5 months, were conducted. Working memory was measured by the Self-Ordered Pointing Task (and its equivalent for children) whereas impulsivity and substance use were measured by questionnaires. Results. Working memory at 7 years old predicted cannabis use at 14 years old weakly but positively, and alcohol use at 14 years negatively in boys. A positive association between impulsivity at 7 and substance use was specific to alcohol use frequency. Alcohol and cannabis use at age 14 years predicted change in impulsivity the following year. Finally, impulsivity did not mediate the association between working memory and substance use. Conclusion. A cognitive component targeting working memory in childhood could be examined as a complement of current interventions on impulsivity to better prevent substance use in adolescence.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Family Studies and Human Services / Anthony Jurich / Ann Murray / Despite the intensified research efforts into the field of Infant Mental Health and Marriage and Family Therapy, a truly systemically designed program has not been developed. This formative evaluation study illuminates the design phase, its developmental process, and the professional staff member’s experience of this newly implemented “Options” program. I focused specifically on Crawford County Community Mental Health Center’s innovative systemic approach to issues related to infant mental health. In this body of work, I describe the process of creating this innovative approach, identified how the program originators made decisions about their approach and how the approach is being operationalized on a daily basis by interviewing the clinicians, who are providing the services and the administrators who created and oversee the program. I utilized a qualitative approach in the design, transcription categorization, and data analysis. This formative evaluation used the “flashback approach” to tell the story of the evaluation findings, this included an Executive Summary. This study’s exploration yielded a clearer understanding of the developmental process of the infant mental health program and its initial implementation. The results of this evaluation revealed that there are a number of core program components (three levels of focus: child and family, program, and community and catchment area) that were organized and clearly disseminated throughout the staff. The interviews revealed that the program has encountered problematic issues including; policy and procedural agreements and mandates, staff turnover, program ownership and funding limitations. It grew increasingly clear that the value of the program’s positive impact on families outweighed the perceived hassle of establishing and implementing the program. This evaluation produced a number of program recommendations for program perpetuation and potential improvements. The program recommendations addressed the challenges facing the “Options Program” are explained. The future research implications of this formative evaluation are enumerated.

Les élèves qui ont un bon engagement scolaire présentent généralement une bonne adaptation à l’école. Cependant, pour les enfants hyperactifs et inattentifs, cette adaptation est souvent altérée. Les enfants qui entretiennent de bonnes relations sociales ont tendance à présenter un meilleur engagement comportemental, affectif et cognitif. La présente étude vise à déterminer si la prosocialité envers les pairs et les relations chaleureuses avec les enseignants protègent les enfants hyperactifs-inattentifs d’un possible désengagement scolaire. Les données ont été recueillies auprès de 513 élèves du primaire et leurs enseignants au cours de deux années scolaires successives. Les résultats montrent que ces enfants bénéficient des relations positives avec les pairs et les enseignants. En particulier, l’engagement comportemental de ces élèves demeure plus élevé comparativement à ceux qui n’entretiennent pas de relations positives. Pour les enfants très hyperactifs-inattentifs, la relation chaleureuse modère le lien entre hyperactivité-inattention et engagement affectif. L’hyperactivité- inattention ne prédit pas de diminution d’engagement affectif et cognitif. Les implications pour la recherche et la pratique sont discutées. / School engagement has been found to promote positive adjustment in students. This relationship can be affected by students’ personal characteristics, such as inattention and hyperactivity. Research shows that behavioral, emotional and cognitive engagement is generally higher when students experience positive relationships in school. The aim of this study is to determine whether prosociality towards peers and close relationships with teachers are protective factors against the expected decline in school engagement for students who exhibit inattentive and hyperactive characteristics. Data from 513 primary schools students and teachers were collected over two consecutive years. Results demonstrate that hyperactive and inattentive students benefit from positive relationships with peers and teachers, which serves as a protective factor against the decline in behavioral engagement. For student with high levels of hyperactivity and inattention, close relationships with teachers moderated the association between hyperactivity-inattention and emotional engagement. Furthermore, our results suggest that hyperactivity and inattention in students does not predict a decrease in emotional and cognitive engagement. Implications for research and intervention are discussed.

L'être humain utilise trois systèmes sensoriels distincts pour réguler le maintien de la station debout: la somesthésie, le système vestibulaire, et le système visuel. Le rôle de la vision dans la régulation posturale demeure peu connu, notamment sa variabilité en fonction de l'âge, du type développemental, et des atteintes neurologiques. Dans notre travail, la régulation posturale induite visuellement a été évaluée chez des participants au développement et vieillissement normaux âgés de 5-85 ans, chez des individus autistes (développement atypique) âgés de 12-33 ans, ainsi que chez des enfants entre 9-18 ans ayant subi un TCC léger. À cet effet, la réactivité posturale des participants en réponse à un tunnel virtuel entièrement immersif, se mouvant à trois niveaux de vélocité, a été mesurée; des conditions contrôles, où le tunnel était statique ou absent, ont été incluses. Les résultats montrent que la réactivité (i.e. instabilité) posturale induite visuellement est plus élevée chez les jeunes enfants; ensuite, elle s'atténue pour rejoindre des valeurs adultes vers 16-19 ans et augmente de façon linéaire en fonction de l'âge après 45 ans jusqu'à redevenir élevée vers 60 ans. De plus, à la plus haute vélocité du tunnel, les plus jeunes participants autistes ont manifesté significativement moins de réactivité posturale comparativement à leurs contrôles; cette différence n'était pas présente chez des participants plus âgés (16-33 ans). Enfin, les enfants ayant subi un TCC léger, et qui étaient initialement modérément symptomatiques, ont montré un niveau plus élevé d'instabilité posturale induite visuellement que les contrôles, et ce jusqu'à 12 semaines post-trauma malgré le fait que la majorité d'entre eux (89%) n'étaient plus symptomatiques à ce stade. En somme, cela suggère la présence d'une importante période de transition dans la maturation des systèmes sous-tendant l'intégration sensorimotrice impliquée dans le contrôle postural vers l'âge de 16 ans, et d'autres changements sensorimoteurs vers l'âge de 60 ans; cette sur-dépendance visuelle pour la régulation posturale chez les enfants et les aînés pourrait guider l'aménagement d'espaces et l'élaboration d'activités ajustés à l'âge des individus. De plus, le fait que l'hypo-réactivité posturale aux informations visuelles chez les autistes dépende des caractéristiques de l'environnement visuel et de l'âge chronologique, affine notre compréhension des anomalies sensorielles propres à l'autisme. Par ailleurs, le fait que les enfants ayant subi un TCC léger montrent des anomalies posturales jusqu'à 3 mois post-trauma, malgré une diminution significative des symptômes rapportés, pourrait être relié à une altération du traitement de l'information visuelle dynamique et pourrait avoir des implications quant à la gestion clinique des patients aux prises avec un TCC léger, puisque la résolution des symptômes est actuellement le principal critère utilisé pour la prise de décision quant au retour aux activités. Enfin, les résultats obtenus chez une population à développement atypique (autisme) et une population avec atteinte neurologique dite transitoire (TCC léger), contribuent non seulement à une meilleure compréhension des mécanismes d'intégration sensorimotrice sous-tendant le contrôle postural mais pourraient aussi servir comme marqueurs sensibles et spécifiques de dysfonction chez ces populations. Mots-clés : posture, équilibre, vision, développement/vieillissement sensorimoteur, autisme, TCC léger symptomatique, réalité virtuelle. / Maintaining upright stance is essential for the accomplishment of several goal-directed behaviors, such as walking. Humans use three distinct sensory systems to regulate their posture: the somatosensory, the vestibular and the visual systems. The role of vision in postural regulation remains poorly understood, notably its variability across the life-span, developmental type and neurological insult. Hence, visually-driven postural regulation was examined in typically developing and aging participants (5-85 years-old), as well as in atypically developing individuals with autism (12-33 years-old) and in children having sustained mTBI (9-18 years-old). In order to do so, participants' postural reactivity was assessed in response to a fully immersive virtual tunnel moving at 3 different velocities; control conditions were also included wherein the tunnel was either static or absent. Results show that visually-induced postural reactivity was strongest in young children, then attenuated to become adult-like between 16-19 years of age, and started increasing again linearly with age after 45 years until becoming strong again around 60 years. Moreover, at the highest tunnel velocity, younger autistic participants showed significantly less postural reactivity compared to age-matched controls and young adults (16-33 years-old). Finally, children having sustained mTBI, who were initially moderately symptomatic, exhibited increased visually-induced instability compared to their matched controls up to 12 weeks post-injury, although most of them (89%) were no longer highly symptomatic. Altogether, this suggests the presence of an important transition period for the maturation of the systems underlying sensorimotor integration in postural control at around 16 years of age, and further sensorimotor changes after 60 years of age; this over-reliance on vision for postural regulation in childhood and late adulthood could guide the design of age-appropriate facilities/ activities. Furthermore, the fact that postural hypo-reactivity to visual information present in autism is contingent on both the visual environment and on chronological age, enhances our understanding of autism-specific sensory anomalies. Additionally, the fact that children with mTBI show balance anomalies up to 3 months post-injury, even when they are no longer highly symptomatic may be related to altered processing of dynamic visual information and could have implications for the clinical management of mTBI patients, since symptoms resolution is commonly used as a criterion for return to activities. Finally, results stemming from populations with atypical development (autism) and with so-called transient neurological insult (mild TBI) not only contribute to enhance our understanding of sensorimotor integration mechanisms underlying postural control, but could also consist of sensitive and specific markers of dysfunction in these populations. Keywords : posture, balance, vision, sensorimotor development/ aging, autism, symptomatic mTBI, virtual reality.

Les relations avec des amis déviants à l’adolescence peuvent être un terreau fertile pour le développement de comportements antisociaux. Au travers des processus de sélection et de socialisation, les amis s’influencent fortement, de manière telle que le niveau de comportements antisociaux des amis permet de prédire l’augmentation de comportements antisociaux chez les jeunes. La supervision parentale est susceptible de réduire l’influence négative des amis. Cette étude longitudinale vise à évaluer la contribution respective de l’influence des amis antisociaux et de différentes composantes de la supervision parentale (contrôle parental, sollicitation parentale et divulgation spontanée du jeune) sur le développement de comportements antisociaux au début de l’adolescence auprès d’un échantillon de 623 élèves âgés de 12 à 14 ans.   Il vise également à évaluer dans quelle mesure les différentes composantes de la supervision parentale interagissent avec l’influence des amis antisociaux afin de rendre compte du développement ultérieur des comportements antisociaux. Des analyses de régression hiérarchique indiquent que les comportements antisociaux des amis, ainsi que chacune des composantes liées à la supervision parentale, contribuent de manière unique et indépendante à prédire le développement ultérieur des comportements antisociaux. De plus, les adolescents qui rapportent un plus haut niveau de contrôle parental et qui ont davantage tendance à partager spontanément de l’information sur leur vie présentent moins de comportements antisociaux deux ans plus tard. Par contre, les jeunes qui rapportent un plus haut niveau de sollicitation parentale présentent plus de comportements antisociaux deux ans plus tard.   Les comportements parentaux (contrôle et sollicitation) ne viennent pas modérer l’influence négative des amis. Cependant, la propension du jeune à divulguer spontanément de l’information à ses parents modère l’influence négative des amis. En effet, chez les jeunes qui divulguent peu, les comportements antisociaux des amis ne permettent pas de prédire le développement des comportements antisociaux deux ans plus tard. Ces jeunes présentent un niveau de comportements antisociaux systématiquement plus élevé, et ce, indépendamment du niveau de comportements antisociaux des amis. Chez les jeunes plus enclins à se confier à leurs parents, les comportements antisociaux des amis sont alors positivement associés au développement ultérieur des comportements antisociaux. / Friendships with delinquent peers during adolescence can foster the development of antisocial behaviour. Through the processes of selection and socialization, friends influence each other significantly, to the point that the friends’ level of antisocial behaviour can predict an increase in the adolescent’s antisocial behaviour. Parental supervision can reduce peers’ negative influence. This longitudinal study aims to examine the respective contributions of delinquent peers’ influence and three components of parental supervision (parental control, parental solicitation and child’s disclosure) on the development of antisocial behaviour at the beginning of adolescence among 623 students between 12 and 14 years old. It also aims to measure to what extent these components of parental supervision moderate the influence of antisocial peers in predicting the subsequent development of antisocial behaviour. The hierarchical regression analysis indicate that peers’ antisocial behaviour, as well as the components of parental supervision, contribute in a unique and independent way to predict the subsequent development of antisocial behaviour. Furthermore, adolescents who report a higher level of parental control, and who are more likely to freely disclose information to their parents, manifest less antisocial behaviour two years later. On the other hand, adolescents who report a higher level of parental solicitation manifest more antisocial behaviour two years later. Parental behaviour (control and solicitation) do not moderate the negative influence of peers, whereas adolescents’ tendency to disclose spontaneously information to their parents moderates the peers’ negative influence. Indeed, for adolescents reporting a lower level of disclosure, their peers’ antisocial behaviour cannot predict the development of their own antisocial behaviour two years later. These youths manifest a level of antisocial behaviour which is systematically higher, independently of their peers’ level of delinquency. For the adolescents who disclose more to their parents, peers’ antisocial behaviour are positively associated to the future development of their own antisocial behaviour.