Research master thesis | Developmental Psychopathology in Education and Child Studies (research) (MSc)
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Affective empathy and emotion recognition deficits are hypothesized to underlie impaired social interaction in children exhibiting antisocial behaviour. However, few studies have examined the...Show moreAffective empathy and emotion recognition deficits are hypothesized to underlie impaired social interaction in children exhibiting antisocial behaviour. However, few studies have examined the possible emotion recognition deficits and affective empathy. This study compared facial affect recognition, vocal emotion recognition and affective empathy of children at risk for criminal behaviour to that of normally developing children. It was expected that children at risk of criminal behaviour had impaired emotion recognition and affective empathy, and that emotion recognition deficits and affective empathy were partially related to each other. The high-risk children were recruited through and intervention project connected to several municipalities in the Netherlands, focusing on the underage siblings or children of delinquents and those exhibiting antisocial and disruptive behaviour according to teachers. Facial and vocal recognition of happy, sad, angry and fearful emotions were respectively measured with the Facial Emotion Recognition (FER) test and the Prosody test of the Amsterdam Neuropsychological Tasks (ANT). Affective empathy was assessed by recording heart rate (HR) while showing video clips with neutral and emotional content (happiness, fear, pain and sadness). It was found that the high-risk group were less able to recognize fear and sadness in still-faces, and had an overall lower percentage corrected when recognizing emotions from voices, compared to healthy controls. The high-risk group also showed reduced HR to pain and fear, but this was not related to emotion recognition deficits. These findings suggest that children that engage in antisocial behaviour have impaired emotion recognition and reduced affective empathy, but that lack of empathy cannot solely be explained by a less ability to recognize emotions.Show less
Research master thesis | Developmental Psychopathology in Education and Child Studies (research) (MSc)
open access
The gender gap in STEM majors and careers is very prominent and alarming (Beilock & Maloney, 2015). Students are more likely to avoid STEM careers when they show higher levels of Mathematics...Show moreThe gender gap in STEM majors and careers is very prominent and alarming (Beilock & Maloney, 2015). Students are more likely to avoid STEM careers when they show higher levels of Mathematics Anxiety (MA; Ahmed, 2018). The current study investigates the difference in Mathematics Anxiety between male and female students in their first year of the preacademic educational track (HAVO, atheneum and gymnasium) in secondary school in the Netherlands. The Numerical Dot-Probe Task (NDPT) is a computerized task that is based on attentional bias and less susceptible to bias than self-report questionnaires. (Rubinsten, Eidlin, Wohl, & Akibli, 2015). Related concepts to MA that will be controlled for are; mathematical achievement, general anxiety and working memory. Participants were recruited using convenience sampling, the final sample consisted of seven students. Using the adapted t-test, z-scores of all participants were compared in order to answer the research question (Crawford, Garthwaite, & Wood, 2010). 100% of girls and 20% of boys showed higher levels of MA when looking at their scores on the self-report questionnaires compared to their score on the NDPT. Overall, the girls’ MA score was overestimated and the boys’ MA score was underestimated. However, this effect was not strong enough to result in an overrepresentation of girls and an underrepresentation of boys in the population of children with high levels of MA when looking at the self-report questionnaires. Results suggested that the prominent gender gap in STEM studies might not be due to gender differences in MA. Due to the smaller sample size, it is important that these findings are replicated in future studies using bigger samples. Stereotype threat is a variable that could explain the STEM gender gap and should thus be included in these future studies.Show less
Research master thesis | Developmental Psychopathology in Education and Child Studies (research) (MSc)
closed access
The current study aimed to investigate whether there were different clusters of behaviour problems in children deemed at risk for developing antisocial behaviour. The expectations were that there...Show moreThe current study aimed to investigate whether there were different clusters of behaviour problems in children deemed at risk for developing antisocial behaviour. The expectations were that there would be at least two clusters, a cluster with only externalizing behaviour problems and a cluster with both internalizing and externalizing behaviour problems. Furthermore, it was assessed whether there were group differences on emotion recognition and inhibition. The dataset contained 255 Dutch participants, between the ages five and eighteen (mean age: 11,37 (SD = 2.91); 190 boys and 65 girls). The teacher of the participant filled out Achenbach’s Teacher Report Form (TRF) to assess the behavioural problems. Both vocal and facial emotion recognition tasks were conducted. Furthermore, both hot inhibition (delayed frustration) and cool inhibition (response inhibition) were measured. To evaluate the group differences MANOVA’s were conducted. The results revealed that there were different clusters of behavioural problems. In the younger group two clusters were found, a cluster with less problems and a cluster with more externalizing problems. Three clusters were found in the older group, a cluster with less behavioural problems, a cluster with high externalizing problems, and a small cluster with both internalizing and some externalizing problems. The results also revealed that the participants in the different clusters did not differ in their ability on emotion recognition and inhibition. Concluding it can be stated that the current study found different clusters of behavioural problems in children and adolescents deemed at risk for developing antisocial behaviour. Contrary to expectations, the group with both internalizing and externalizing problems was small in the current dataset. The current research did not find group differences in emotion recognition and inhibition.Show less
Research master thesis | Developmental Psychopathology in Education and Child Studies (research) (MSc)
closed access
Individuals with sex chromosome trisomies (SCT’s) have an increased risk for psychopathologies and behavioral problems. Cognitive factors during development could underly the development of...Show moreIndividuals with sex chromosome trisomies (SCT’s) have an increased risk for psychopathologies and behavioral problems. Cognitive factors during development could underly the development of psychopathologies. Adults with an extra X chromosome (Klinefelter) showed impaired emotional arousal and emotion regulation. However, not much is known about the manifestation of these impairments in children with SCT’s. Therefore, the current study focused on emotional arousal and emotion regulation strategies in children with SCT’s. It was also investigated if age moderated the differences in emotional arousal and emotion regulation strategies. One hundred-seven children with SCT’s and 102 nonclinical controls participated in this study. A frustration inducing task (locked-box task) was used to induce heightened emotional arousal, which was measured continuously using heart rate measures. The emotion regulation strategies were coded during the task as well. Results showed lower emotional arousability in the children with SCT’s as well as less frequent use of constructive and venting emotion regulation strategies. The difference in avoidance strategy use was moderated by age. As the current study found evidence for the manifestation of emotion regulation problems in the childhood of individuals with SCT’s, it could be that these impairments are part of the underlying mechanism of the development of psychopathologies as well as possible targets for intervention.Show less
