published_or_final_version / Educational Psychology / Master / Master of Social Sciences

published_or_final_version / Educational Psychology / Master / Master of Social Sciences

published_or_final_version / Educational Psychology / Master / Master of Social Sciences

published_or_final_version / Educational Psychology / Master / Master of Social Sciences

Introduction: This study was designed to validate the Screen for Child Anxiety Related Emotional Disorder-Revised (SCARED-R) for use in the local context. Furthermore, different components of anxiety-related attentional bias were studied with emotional spatial cueing task (ESCT). This study also attempted to investigate the relationship among attentional bias, temperamental traits of Negative Affectivity (NA) and Effortful Control (EC), and anxiety. Method: Subjects were recruited from P.4 to F.3 students of mainstream Chinese speaking schools. The SCARED-R and self-report measures of NA and EC were administered. 508 child/adolescent subjects (mean age=11.7 years, SD=1.80; 327 boys and 181 girls) and 312 of their parents (child’s mean age=11.50; SD=1.77; 196 boys and 116 girls) were included in the analysis. In Stage 2 of the study, subjects were recruited from those with SCARED-R scores at 85th percentile or above and 50th percentile or below. 34 pairs of child/adolescent and parent subjects (mean age=11.89 years; SD=1.90) were assessed with the Chinese version of the Diagnostic Interview for Children-Version 4, with which the Anxiety group (n=14) and Control group (n=20) were identified. All subjects completed the SCARED-R and Spence Children’s Anxiety Scale (SCAS). The child/adolescent subjects did ESCT, which presented Angry, happy and neutral faces for 17 ms, 500 ms and 1250 ms. Results: The mean total SCARED-R scores were 31.94 (SD=19.51) and 22.96 (SD=15.35) for child/adolescent and parent subjects. Internal consistencies (Cronbach’s α=.95 and .94) and one-month test-retest reliability (Spearman’s rho=.72 and .79, both at p<.001) for child and parent total SCARED-R scores were satisfactory. Total SCARED-R scores correlated significantly with total SCAS scores, and were significantly different between the Anxiety and Control groups. These provided support for SCARED-R’s convergent validity. Results of exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses suggested that SCARED-R was multi-dimensional. Facilitated attentional bias and disengagement difficulties were not related as predicted. Angry cues induced greater disengagement difficulties than happy cues. Compared with Control group, Anxiety group showed greater disengagement difficulties when Angry cues were presented at cue duration of 1250 ms. A direct and significant relationship existed between anxiety with NA, and between anxiety and EC. NA and EC played their own unique roles in affecting anxiety but the variance accounted by EC in addition to NA was small. EC did not moderate the relationship between NA and anxiety, though a very small mediating effect between NA and anxiety was noted. Conclusion: This study provides support for the satisfactory psychometric properties of the SCARED-R for local use, showing its good potential of being used as a screening instrument for anxiety disorders. Despite the small sample size, anxious children/adolescents were found to have disengagement difficulties from threat cue at cue duration of 1250 ms, and this could be a parameter to consider in future design of attentional bias modification training. The major limitation of this study is its convenience sampling of subjects from community and the low participation/consent rate. This limits generalizability of the results, impedes an investigation of the sensitivity and specificity of the scale, and poses great constraints on statistical power. / published_or_final_version / Psychiatry / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

This investigation was undertaken to obtain information on the dietary intake of Oregon preschool children and to determine the effect of certain socio-environmental variables on the nutrient intake of these children. Three hundred boys and girls who were attending Well Child or Multiphasic Screening Clinics in 11 counties participated in this project. A home economist interviewed the parent to obtain the child's dietary intake and socio-environmental data of the family. Dietary intake was determined by 24-hour recall or 3-day records. Nutrient intake was compared to the 1974 Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDA); intakes below 67 percent of the RDA were considered low. Correlations of socio-environmental factors with nutrient intake were determined by simple linear regression and multiple regression analysis. The mean and median of the children's intake of vitamin A, exceeded the RDA. While the median of their niacin intake was just below the RDA, the mean and median of their iron intake was below the recommended level. Protein and riboflavin were consumed abundantly, with 0 and 3.3 percent of the subjects, respectively, failing to receive two-thirds of the RDA. Sixty-three percent of the children ingested diets that supplied two to three times the RDA for protein. The nutrients most commonly lacking were iron, ascorbic acid, calcium and thiamin, with 39.7, 18.7, 15.3, and 13.0 percent, respectively, of the children having low intakes. Forty-one percent of the children received a nutrient supplement, which was not included in these calculations. The percentage of children consuming diets containing less than 67 percent of the RDA increased with age for the intakes of vitamin A, thiamin, and kilocalories. Low intakes of iron, on the other hand, declined with age. Riboflavin intake was lowest among the four- to six-year-old children. Adequacy of ascorbic acid, niacin and calcium did not show any relation to age. The socio-environmental variables examined were geographic location (urban, rural, or metropolitan), number of siblings as well as education and occupation of each parent. Other socio-environmental variables considered were whether or not the family received public assistance or had contact with the Cooperative Extension Service personnel and bulletins. When multiple regression analysis was ascorbic acid, thiamin, riboflavin, calcium, protein, and kilocalories performed, the only significant correlation (p < 0.05) was observed between the intake of ascorbic acid, mother's education, and mother's profession. Four socio-environmental variables were significantly correlated (p < 0.05) with the intake of one or more nutrients by simple linear regression. A significant correlation was found between mother's education and the intakes of ascorbic acid, calories, and thiamin. A significant correlation was observed between mother's profession and the intakes of niacin and ascorbic acid. Father's education was found to be significantly related to the intake of thiamin. The only significant, negative correlation was found between the intake of thiamin and the number of siblings. / Graduation date: 1976

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