Associations between young children's emotion attributions and prediction of outcome in differing social situations

Associations between young children's attributions of emotion at different points in a story, and with regard to their own prediction about the story's outcome, were investigated using two hypothetical scenarios of social and emotional challenge (social entry and negative event). First grade children (N = 250) showed an understanding that emotions are tied to situational cues by varying the emotions they attributed both between and within scenarios. Furthermore, emotions attributed to the main protagonist at the beginning of the scenarios were differentially associated with children's prediction of a positive or negative outcome and with the valence of the emotion attributed at the end of the scenario. Gender differences in responses to some items were also found. © 2010 The British Psychological Society.

Parenting behaviours and maternal infant-feeding practices in first-time Australian mothers

Introduction: There is emerging evidence that parenting style and early feeding practices are associated with child intake, eating behaviours and weight status. The aim of this cross sectional study was to examine the relationships between general maternal parenting behaviour and feeding practices and beliefs. Methods: Participants were 421 first-time mothers of 9-22 week old healthy term infants (49% male, mean±sd age 19±4 weeks) enrolled in the NOURISH trial. At baseline mothers self-reported their parenting behaviours (self-efficacy, warmth, irritability) and infant-feeding beliefs using questions from the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children and the Infant Feeding Questionnaire (Baughcum, 2001), respectively. Multivariable regression analyses were used with feeding practices (four factors) as the dependent variables, Independent variables were maternal BMI, weight concern, age, education level perception of infant weight status, feeding mode (breast vs formula) and infant gender, age and weight gain z-score. Results: Parenting behaviours partly were associated with feeding beliefs (adjusted R2 =0.21-0.30). Higher maternal parenting self-efficacy was inversely associated with concerns that the baby would become underweight (p=0.006); become overweight (p<0.001); and lack of awareness of infant hunger/satiety cues (p<0.001). Higher maternal irritability was positively associated with lack of awareness of cues (p<0.05). Maternal warmth was not associated with any feeding beliefs. Infant weight- gain (from birth) z-score and age, maternal BMI and education level and mothers’ perception of infant weight status and feeding mode were covariates. Conclusions: These findings suggest strategies to improve early feeding practices need to be address broader parenting approaches, particularly self-efficacy and irritability.

The association between maternal infant feeding practices and child weight at 11-17 months in first-time Australian mothers

Introduction: Emerging evidence reveals that early feeding practices are associated with child food intake, eating behaviour and weight status. This cross-sectional analysis examined the association between maternal infant feeding practices/beliefs and child weight in Australian infants aged 11-17 months. Methods: Participants were 293 first-time mothers of healthy term infants (144 boys, mean age 14±1 months) enrolled in the NOURISH RCT. Mothers self-reported infant feeding practices and beliefs using the Infant Feeding Questionnaire (Baughcum, 2001). Anthropometric data were also measured at baseline (infants aged 4 months). Multiple regression analysis was used, adjusting for infant age, gender, birth weight, infant feeding mode (breast vs. formula), maternal perceptions of infant weight status, pre-pregnancy weight, weight concern, age and education. Results: The average child weight-for-age z-score (WAZ) was 0.62±0.83 (range:-1.56 to 2.94) and the mean change in WAZ (WAZ change) from 4 to 14 months was 0.62±0.69 (range:-1.50 to 2.76). Feeding practices/beliefs partly explained child WAZ (R2=0.28) and WAZ change (R2=0.13) in the adjusted models. While child weight status at 14 months was inversely associated with responsive feeding (e.g. baby feeds whenever she wants, feeding to stop baby being unsettled) (β=-0.104, p=0.06) and maternal concern about the child becoming underweight (β=-0.224, p<0.001), it was positively associated with mother’s concern about child overweight (β=0.197, p<0.05). Birth weight, infant’s age, maternal weight concern and perceiving her child as overweight were significant covariates. WAZ change was only significantly associated with responsive feeding (β=-0.147, p<0.05). Conclusion: Responsive feeding may be an important strategy to promote healthy child weight.

Associations between parenting behaviours and feeding beliefs of first-time Australian mothers in the NOURISH obesity prevention trial

Purpose: Parenting style and early feeding practices have been linked to child intake, eating behaviour and weight status. The purpose of this study was to examine associations between general maternal parenting behaviours and feeding beliefs in Australian mothers of 11-17 month-old children. Methods: This cross-sectional analysis included 223 first-time mothers and their children (49% male, mean age 14 [sd 1] months) enrolled in the control group of the NOURISH trial. Mothers self-reported their feeding beliefs and parenting behaviours (overprotection, irritability, warmth, autonomy-encouraging) using modified questions from the Infant Feeding Questionnaire (Baughcum, 2001) and the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children. Multiple regression analyses were conducted, using feeding beliefs (four factors) as dependent and parenting behaviours as independent variables while adjusting for child gender, age, weight-for-age z-score and maternal age, education level, feeding mode (breast vs. non-breast), and perception of own pre-pregnancy and child weight status. Results/Findings: Two of four parenting behaviours were significantly associated with feeding beliefs. Maternal warmth was inversely associated with concerns that the child would become underweight (β=-0.156, p=0.022) and positively associated with mothers’ awareness of child’s hunger/satiety cues (β=0.303, p<0.001). Mothers’ overprotection was positively associated with concerns that the child would become underweight (β=0.213, p=0.001); become overweight (β=0.174, p=0.005); and mother’s responsive feeding (β=0.135, p=0.057). Weight-for-age z-score, mothers’ perception of their child and own weight status, education, feeding mode, and child’s age were significant covariates. Conclusions: Feeding occurs within the broader parenting context. Improving early feeding beliefs and practices may require addressing mother’s approaches to parenting, especially warmth and overprotection.

Young adults’ accounts of scientific knowledge when responding to a television news report of contested science

This paper reports one aspect of a study of 28 young adults (18–26 years) engaging with the uncertain (contested) science of a television news report about recent research into mobile phone health risks. The aim of the study was to examine these young people’s ‘accounts of scientific knowledge’ in this context. Seven groups of friends responded to the news report, initially in focus group discussions. Later in semi-structured interviews they elaborated their understanding of the nature of science through their explanations of the scientists’ disagreement and described their mobile phone safety risk assessments. This paper presents their accounts in terms of their views of the nature of science and their concept understanding. Discussions were audio-recorded then analysed by coding the talk in terms of issues raised, which were grouped into themes and interpreted in terms of a moderate social constructionist theoretical framing. In this context, most participants expressed a ‘common sense’ view of the nature of science, describing it as an atheoretical, technical procedure of scientists testing their personal opinions on the issue, subject to the influence of funding sponsors. The roles of theory and data interpretation were largely ignored. It is argued that the nature of science understanding is crucial to engagement with contemporary socioscientific issues, particularly the roles of argumentation, theory, data interpretation, and the distinction of science from common sense. Implications for school science relate primarily to nature of science teaching and the inclusion of socioscientific issues in school science curricula. Future research directions are considered.

External orientation and business model adaptation in young and nascent firms : preliminary analysis from the CAUSSE project

Discovering factors that help or impede business model change is an important quest, both for researchers and practitioners. In this study we present preliminary findings based on the CAUSEE survey of young and nascent firms in Australia. In particular, we seek to determine an association between business model adaptation and external orientation among young and nascent firms within the random sample and amongst an oversample of high potential firms. The concept of external orientation is made operational by asking respondents whether, and to what extent, they rely on certain sources of advice and information. We find that high potential firms are more likely to have made at least some change to their business model, that greater use of external sources of advice is generally significantly associated with business model adaptation, but also that there appear to be different patterns of behaviour between the random sample and the over sample.

"My friend was over the alcohol limit, so I asked him not to drive" : Young females intervening in alcohol-impaired driving

Potential to strengthen a commitment to intervene within a friendship group: – all knew the other passengers, – 3 in 4 discussed intervening with other passengers, – expectations of friends was a key predictive factor. - young women have potential and willingness to intervene in their friends’ drink driving behaviour - majority of campaigns and strategies to reduce alcohol related crashes target the driver however it is arguable that some strategies should target the young female passenger.

Confirmatory factor analysis of the Behaviour of Young Novice Drivers Scale (BYNDS)

The greatly increased risk of being killed or injured in a car crash for the young novice driver has been recognised in the road safety and injury prevention literature for decades. Risky driving behaviour has consistently been found to contribute to traffic crashes. Researchers have devised a number of instruments to measure this risky driving behaviour. One tool developed specifically to measure the risky behaviour of young novice drivers is the Behaviour of Young Novice Drivers Scale (BYNDS) (Scott-Parker et al., 2010). The BYNDS consists of 44 items comprising five subscales for transient violations, fixed violations, misjudgement, risky driving exposure, and driving in response to their mood. The factor structure of the BYNDS has not been examined since its development in a matched sample of 476 novice drivers aged 17-25 years. Method: The current research attempted to refine the BYNDS and explore its relationship with the self-reported crash and offence involvement and driving intentions of 390 drivers aged 17-25 years (M = 18.23, SD = 1.58) in Queensland, Australia, during their first six months of independent driving with a Provisional (intermediate) driver’s licence. A confirmatory factor analysis was undertaken examining the fit of the originally proposed BYNDS measurement model. Results: The model was not a good fit to the data. A number of iterations removed items with low factor loadings, resulting in a 36-item revised BYNDS which was a good fit to the data. The revised BYNDS was highly internally consistent. Crashes were associated with fixed violations, risky driving exposure, and misjudgement; offences were moderately associated with risky driving exposure and transient violations; and road-rule compliance intentions were highly associated with transient violations. Conclusions: Applications of the BYNDS in other young novice driver populations will further explore the factor structure of both the original and revised BYNDS. The relationships between BYNDS subscales and self-reported risky behaviour and attitudes can also inform countermeasure development, such as targeting young novice driver non-compliance through enforcement and education initiatives.

Young, inexperienced and on the road : do novice drivers comply with road rules?

The graduated driver licensing (GDL) program in Queensland, Australia, was considerably enhanced in July 2007. This paper explores the compliance of young Learner and Provisional (intermediate) drivers with current GDL requirements and general road rules. Unsupervised driving, Learner logbook accuracy, and experiences of punishment avoidance were explored, along with speeding as a Provisional driver. Participants (609 females; M = 17.43 years) self-reported sociodemographic characteristics, driving behaviours and licensing experiences as Learners. A subset of participants (238 females, 105 males) completed another survey six months later exploring their Provisional behaviours and experiences. While the majority of the participants reported compliance with both the GDL requirements and general road rules such as stopping at red lights on their Learner licence; a considerable proportion reported speeding. Furthermore, they reported becoming less compliant during the Provisional phase, particularly with speed limits. Self-reported speeding was predicted by younger age at licensure, being in a relationship, driving unsupervised, submitting inaccurate Learner logbooks, and speeding as a Learner. Enforcement and education countermeasures should focus upon curtailing noncompliance, targeting speeding in particular. Novice drivers should be encouraged to comply with all road rules, including speed limits, and safe driving behaviours should be developed and reinforced during the Learner and early Provisional periods. Novice drivers have been found to model their parents’ driving, and parents are pivotal in regulating novice driving. It is vital young novice drivers and parents alike are encouraged to comply with all road rules, including GDL requirements.

Visual backward masking performance in young adult emmetropes and myopes

Purpose. To investigate how temporal processing is altered in myopia and during myopic progression. Methods. In backward visual masking, a target's visibility is reduced by a mask presented quickly after the target. Thirty emmetropes, 40 low myopes, and 22 high myopes aged 18 to 26 years completed location and resolution masking tasks. The location task examined the ability to detect letters with low contrast and large stimulus size. The resolution task involved identifying a small letter and tested resolution and color discrimination. Target and mask stimuli were presented at nine short interstimulus intervals (12 to 259 ms) and at 1000 ms (long interstimulus interval condition). Results. In comparison with emmetropes, myopes had reduced ability in both locating and identifying briefly presented stimuli but were more affected by backward masking for a low contrast location task than for a resolution task. Performances of low and high myopes, as well as stable and progressing myopes, were similar for both masking tasks. Task performance was not correlated with myopia magnitude. Conclusions. Myopes were more affected than emmetropes by masking stimuli for the location task. This was not affected by magnitude or progression rate of myopia, suggesting that myopes have the propensity for poor performance in locating briefly presented low contrast objects at an early stage of myopia development.

Speeding by young novice drivers : what can personal characteristics and psychosocial theory add to our understanding?

Purpose: Young novice drivers continue to be overrepresented in fatalities and injuries arising from crashes even with the introduction of countermeasures such as graduated driver licensing (GDL). Enhancing countermeasures requires a better understanding of the variables influencing risky driving. One of the most common risky behaviours performed by drivers of all ages is speeding, which is particularly risky for young novice drivers who, due to their driving inexperience, have difficulty in identifying and responding appropriately to road hazards. Psychosocial theory can improve our understanding of contributors to speeding, thereby informing countermeasure development and evaluation. This paper reports an application of Akers’ social learning theory (SLT), augmented by Gerrard and Gibbons’ prototype/willingness model (PWM), in addition to personal characteristics of age, gender, car ownership, and psychological traits/states of anxiety, depression, sensation seeking propensity and reward sensitivity, to examine the influences on self-reported speeding of young novice drivers with a Provisional (intermediate) licence in Queensland, Australia. Method: Young drivers (n = 378) recruited in 2010 for longitudinal research completed two surveys containing the Behaviour of Young Novice Drivers Scale, and reported their attitudes and behaviours as pre-Licence/Learner (Survey 1) and Provisional (Survey 2) drivers and their sociodemographic characteristics. Results: An Akers’ measurement model was created. Hierarchical multiple regressions revealed that (1) personal characteristics (PC) explained 20.3%; (2) the combination of PC and SLT explained 41.1%; and (3) the combination of PC, SLT and PWM explained 53.7% of variance in self-reported speeding. Whilst there appeared to be considerable shared variance, the significant predictors in the final model included gender, car ownership, reward sensitivity, depression, personal attitudes, and Learner speeding. Conclusions: These results highlight the capacity for psychosocial theory to improve our understanding of speeding by young novice drivers, revealing relationships between previous behaviour, attitudes, psychosocial characteristics and speeding. The findings suggest multi-faceted countermeasures should target the risky behaviour of Learners, and Learner supervisors should be encouraged to monitor their Learners’ driving speed. Novice drivers should be discouraged from developing risky attitudes towards speeding.

QIPC low speed run-overs of young children research project final report

This final report outlines the research conducted by the Centre for Accident Research and Road Safety – Queensland (CARRS-Q) for the research project (title above). This report provides an outline of the project methodology, literature review, three stages of research results (including the focus group discussions, review of organisational records, documentation and initiatives, and analysis of previous CARRS-Q occupational road safety self-report surveys), and recommendations for intervention strategy and initiatives development and implementation.

What's happening down under : young adolescent education in Australia

The middle years are an important period of learning, in which knowledge of fundamental disciplines are developed, yet this is also a time when students are at the greatest risk of disengagement from learning. Student motivation and engagement in these years is critical, and can be influenced by tailoring approaches to teaching with learning activities and learning environments that specifically consider the needs of middle years’ students.

Self-presentation and underachievement among young adolescents identified as gifted

Academically gifted students are recognised as possessing considerable achievement potential. Yet many gifted students fail to perform at a level commensurate with their ability. This phenomenon is known as underachievement and may have far-reaching personal and social costs. Underachievement is particularly prevalent during early adolescence, between the ages of 10 to 14 years, when declining levels of academic achievement are often apparent. Grouping for instructional purposes is advocated as a means of reducing underachievement for gifted students by providing opportunities for like-minded and like-ability individuals to learn together. Despite this, some gifted students continue to underachieve. For some, underachievement appears to be a deliberate choice making them a population of learners at-risk. This multiple case study examines the relationship between self-presentation and underachievement as experienced by three gifted adolescents. It reveals how students perceived and explained the discrepancy between their ability and performance. Further, the study identifies those self-presentation strategies adopted in response to underachievement. Findings may assist parents and educators to provide greater support for gifted adolescents.