The Schizophrenia Proneness Instrument, Child and Youth version (SPI-CY): Practicability and discriminative validity

Background Basic symptom (BS) criteria have been suggested to complement ultra-high risk (UHR) criteria in the early detection of psychosis in adults and in children and adolescents. To account for potential developmental particularities and a different clustering of BS in children and adolescents, the Schizophrenia Proneness Instrument, Child and Youth version (SPI-CY) was developed. Aims The SPI-CY was evaluated for its practicability and discriminative validity. Method The SPI-CY was administered to 3 groups of children and adolescents (mean age 16; range=8–18; 61% male): 23 at-risk patients meeting UHR and/or BS criteria (AtRisk), 22 clinical controls (CC), and 19 children and adolescents from the general population (GPS) matched to AtRisk in age, gender, and education. We expected AtRisk to score highest on the SPI-CY, and GPS lowest. Results The groups differed significantly on all 4 SPI-CY subscales. Pairwise post-hoc comparisons confirmed our expectations for all subscales and, at least on a descriptive level, most items. Pairwise subscale differences indicated at least moderate group effects (r≥0.37) which were largest for Adynamia (0.52≤r≥0.70). Adynamia also performed excellent to outstanding in ROC analyses (0.813≤AUC≥0.981). Conclusion The SPI-CY could be a helpful tool for detecting and assessing BS in the psychosis spectrum in children and adolescents, by whom it was well received. Furthermore, its subscales possess good discriminative validity. However, these results require validation in a larger sample, and the psychosis-predictive ability of the subscales in different age groups, especially the role of Adynamia, will have to be explored in longitudinal studies.

Impacts of a word-picture training on reading in youth with mixed intellectual disabilities. A waiting-list control group comparison

Individuals with intellectual disabilities (ID) often struggle with learning how to read. Reading difficulties seem to be the most common secondary condition of ID. Only one in five children with mild or moderate ID achieves even minimal literacy skills. However, literacy education for children and adolescents with ID has been largely overlooked by researchers and educators. While there is little research on reading of children with ID, many training studies have been conducted with other populations with reading difficulties. The most common approach of acquiring literacy skills consists of sophisticated programs that train phonological skills and auditory perception. Only few studies investigated the influence of implicit learning on literacy skills. Implicit learning processes seem to be largely independent of age and IQ. Children are sensitive to the statistics of their learning environment. By frequent word reading they acquire implicit knowledge about the frequency of single letters and letter patterns in written words. Additionally, semantic connections not only improve the word understanding, but also facilitate storage of words in memory. Advances in communication technology have introduced new possibilities for remediating literacy skills. Computers can provide training material in attractive ways, for example through animations and immediate feedback .These opportunities can scaffold and support attention processes central to learning. Thus, the aim of this intervention study was to develop and implement a computer based word-picture training, which is based on statistical and semantic learning, and to examine the training effects on reading, spelling and attention in children and adolescents (9-16 years) diagnosed with mental retardation (general IQ  74). Fifty children participated in four to five weekly training sessions of 15-20 minutes over 4 weeks, and completed assessments of attention, reading, spelling, short-term memory and fluid intelligence before and after training. After a first assessment (T1), the entire sample was divided in a training group (group A) and a waiting control group (group B). After 4 weeks of training with group A, a second assessment (T2) was administered with both training groups. Afterwards, group B was trained for 4 weeks, before a last assessment (T3) was carried out in both groups. Overall, the results showed that the word-picture training led to substantial gains on word decoding and attention for both training groups. These effects were preserved six weeks later (group A). There was also a clear tendency of improvement in spelling after training for both groups, although the effect did not reach significance. These findings highlight the fact that an implicit statistical learning training in a playful way by motivating computer programs can not only promote reading development, but also attention in children with intellectual disabilities.

Relationship between the objectively-assessed neighborhood area and activity behavior in Swiss youth

Background Neighborhood attributes are modifiable determinants of physical activity (PA) and sedentary behavior (SB). We tested whether the objectively-assessed built and social environment was associated with PA and SB in Swiss youth and whether sex, age and the socioeconomic position (Swiss-SEP) modified such associations. Methods We combined data of 1742 youth (ages 4 to 17) from seven studies conducted within Switzerland between 2005–2010. All youth provided accelerometer data and a home address, which was linked to objective environmental data and the Swiss-SEP-index. Associations between neighborhood attributes and PA were analyzed by multivariable multilevel regression analyses. Results The extent of green areas and building density was positively associated with PA in the total sample (p < 0.05). Factors representing centrally located areas, and more schoolchildren living nearby tended to increase PA in secondary schoolchildren, boys and those from lower-ranked socioeconomic areas. In primary schoolchildren, the extent of green areas was positively associated with PA (p = 0.05). Associations between neighborhood attributes and PA were more pronounced in youth from low socioeconomic areas. Conclusions The results indicate that some associations between neighborhood attributes and PA differ by age, sex and socioeconomic area. This should be taken into account when planning interventions to increase childhood PA.

New Myths of OZ: The Australian Beach and the Negotiation of National Belonging by Refugee Background Youth

In this article we consider the Australian beach as a material, imaginary and social arena in which different versions of national belonging are performed and contested. Focusing on two short films produced by young people from refugee backgrounds, we explore the negotiation of national belonging on the beach by people who occupy identity categories that are typically excluded from idealising Australian beach mythologies. We argue that both the production and distribution of these films contribute to a reimagining of the Australian beach that creates new opportunities for people from migrant backgrounds to engage in the co-production of Australian identities in their own terms.

Situational adaptiveness of control orientation mediates relation between fixed-world view and youth well-being in three cultures

When proposing primary control (changing the world to fit self)/secondary control (changing self to fit the world) theory, Weisz et al. (1984) argued for the importance of the “serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can” (p. 967), and the wisdom to choose the right control strategy that fits the context. Although the dual processes of control theory generated hundreds of empirical studies, most of them focused on the dichotomy of PC and SC, with none of these tapped into the critical concept: individuals’ ability to know when to use what. This project addressed this issue by using scenario questions to study the impact of situationally adaptive control strategies on youth well-being. To understand the antecedents of youths’ preference for PC or SC, we also connected PCSC theory with Dweck’s implicit theory about the changeability of the world. We hypothesized that youths’ belief about the world’s changeability impacts how difficult it was for them to choose situationally adaptive control orientation, which then impacts their well-being. This study included adolescents and emerging adults between the ages of 18 and 28 years (Mean = 20.87 years) from the US (n = 98), China (n = 100), and Switzerland (n = 103). Participants answered a questionnaire including a measure of implicit theories about the fixedness of the external world, a scenario-based measure of control orientation, and several measures of well-being. Preliminary analyses of the scenario-based control orientation measures showed striking cross-cultural similarity of preferred control responses: while for three of the six scenarios primary control was the predominately chosen control response in all cultures, for the other three scenarios secondary control was the predominately chosen response. This suggested that youths across cultures are aware that some situations call for primary control, while others demand secondary control. We considered the control strategy winning the majority of the votes to be the strategy that is situationally adaptive. The results of a multi-group structural equation mediation model with the extent of belief in a fixed world as independent variable, the difficulties of carrying out the respective adaptive versus non-adaptive control responses as two mediating variables and the latent well-being variable as dependent variable showed a cross-culturally similar pattern of effects: a belief in a fixed world was significantly related to higher difficulties in carrying out the normative as well as the non-normative control response, but only the difficulty of carrying out the normative control response (be it primary control in situations where primary control is normative or secondary control in situations where secondary control is normative) was significantly related to a lower reported well-being (while the difficulty of carrying out the non-normative response was unrelated to well-being). While previous research focused on cross-cultural differences on the choice of PC or SC, this study shed light on the universal necessity of applying the right kind of control to fit the situation.

The relevance of sport-related behaviour patterns in the family for the sport participation of youth in Switzerland

Despite various efforts to promote sport participation among youth, social inequalities still exist. An explanation for these social inequalities could be traced back to transgenerational transmission of sport-related values and behaviour patterns in a family (Baur, 1989). Therefore, children’s socialisation to sport is strongly influenced by the parents’ sport-related values and sport behaviour (Burrmann, 2005). However, findings of previous studies are inconsistent, and the daily sport-related behaviour patterns of families have often not been taken into account. The paper deals with the question, to what extent sport participation of youth is influenced by factors such as the importance of sport, the self-evidence of regular sport activity, mutual support, shared sport activities, sport-related health-awareness and communication about sport in the family. In order to pursue this research question, socialisation theories were used as theoretical framework (Hurrelmann, 2006). Based on this approach, a quantitative online survey where 4’039 adolescents and young adults from the ages of 15 to 30 (n = 4’039, M = 21.48, SD = 4.64) answered questions according their sport participation and the sport-related patterns of their families. Furthermore, a qualitative study that included guideline-based interviews with adolescents and young adults (n = 13) were undertaken. Content analysis was used to analyse the interviews. Initial findings of the multiple regression analysis reveal that the most important predictors of sport participation of youth are communication about sport (β = .18, p < .001), mutual support (β = .13, p < .001), regular sport activity (β = .10, p < .01) and the importance of sport in the family (β = .10, p < .01). By means of content analysis, more in-depth information could be identified. The promotion of sport through sport-related behaviour patterns in the family appears to be a successful strategy to develop a durable sport commitment in youth. References Baur, J. (1989). Körper- und Bewegungskarrieren [Body and exercise careers]. Schorndorf: Hofmann. Burrmann, U. (2005). Zur Vermittlung und intergenerationalen "Vererbung" von Sport(vereins)engagements in der Herkunftsfamilie [On placing and "inheriting" intergenerational sport(club) commitment in the family of origin]. Sport und Gesellschaft, 2, 125–154. Hurrelmann, K. (2006). Einführung in die Sozialisationstheorie [Introduction to socialisation theory] (9th ed.). Studium Paedagogik. Weinheim: Beltz.