Research shows that many students don’t have enough reading comprehension to understand texts. One way of improving students’ reading comprehension could be by providing feedback to students while...Show moreResearch shows that many students don’t have enough reading comprehension to understand texts. One way of improving students’ reading comprehension could be by providing feedback to students while they answer questions about a text. To use feedback efficiently in the future, it’s important to know how elaborate effective feedback should be. Considering this, the current study examined the relation between feedback and the use of reading strategies in general, and for the use of reading strategies while reading a text. Moreover, the relation between the amount of information provided in the feedback and the use of reading strategies was examined. Experimental data of 97 participants aged 10 and 11 years (52.6% boys, M = 10.45, SD = 0.52) was collected using questionnaires, namely the Metacognitive Awareness of Reading Strategies Inventory and the Task-Specific Strategy Self-Report. Participants were pre- and post-tested and had three intervention sessions. They were randomly assigned to a condition, namely no feedback, short feedback, or elaborate feedback. During the intervention sessions, participants had to read a text, and answer questions about the text. Depending on their condition, they either received feedback or not. If they did, the amount of information in the feedback differed. Every session ended with a questionnaire. Using SPSS, two repeated measures ANOVA were completed. According to the results, there was no relation between feedback and the use of reading strategies. Furthermore, no differences were found for the different amounts of information in feedback and the use of reading strategies. The biggest limitation of the current study was the lack of a motivational component in the used intervention. Therefore, future research should use motivation as part of the intervention to investigate if feedback could help in improving the use of reading strategies for youth aged 10 to 11.Show less
Attachment begins to form during pregnancy, as mothers establish relationships with their unborn child. There is still limited knowledge about prenatal attachment and its relationships with other...Show moreAttachment begins to form during pregnancy, as mothers establish relationships with their unborn child. There is still limited knowledge about prenatal attachment and its relationships with other maternal and child factors. For the present study, the following research question was formulated: How do maternal executive functioning, the prenatal attachment and the pregnancy that was/wasn’t planned influence child problem behavior at the age of 4? Data from the MINDS-Leiden research project (Smaling et al., 2015) were utilized. This study examined potential predictors of early behavioral problems in young children (0-4 years) through tests and questionnaires administered to 275 Dutch women. Using a demographic questionnaire, the mothers were asked if the pregnancy was planned. The BRIEF-A was used to measure the maternal executive functioning. The MAAS was used to measure the prenatal mother-child attachment. The CBCL was used to measure the internalizing and externalizing problem behavior of the child at 4 years old. Results showed that children whose pregnancies were not planned showed more (internalizing and externalizing) problem behavior at the age of 4 than children whose pregnancies were planned. Furthermore, better maternal executive functioning was related to lower (internalizing and externalizing) problem behavior. Maternal executive functioning was also positively related to prenatal mother-child attachment. Multiple regression analyses showed that maternal executive functioning was the only robust predictor of both internalizing and externalizing problem behavior. In conclusion, prenatal attachment is related to childhood behavior problems, but in predictive models including other factors associated with both prenatal attachment and problem behavior (in the present study: planned/unplanned pregnancy and, particularly, maternal executive function) it appears to lose its unique predictive value. Measurement of prenatal attachment could be improved or refined further to obtain the best possible representation of this construct.Show less
Reading comprehension is an essential skill in life that one needs to be able to participate in today’s society. The latest PISA results showed that 1 in 4 of the 15-year-old Dutch children has too...Show moreReading comprehension is an essential skill in life that one needs to be able to participate in today’s society. The latest PISA results showed that 1 in 4 of the 15-year-old Dutch children has too little reading comprehension to understand the written world around them. A meta-analysis of Swart et al. has clearly indicated that extensive feedback given after a reading task shows better understanding of the text than lesser feedback or feedback during the reading task. However, these studies were all conducted with students who study in University. In this thesis we investigated whether extensive feedback given after a reading task to children in Groep 7 (approximately 11 years old) in the Netherlands show a better understanding of the texts compared to children that were given no or less extensive feedback. No significant differences were found between any of the experimental conditions. However, due to low numbers in each experimental group, the outcome of this study should be interpreted with caution. It is also unclear at this moment if the texts that were used during the intervention were suited for these children. Furthermore, the motivation of the children to seriously participate in this study is questioned. It is suggested that further research should be done to investigate the best type and timing of providing feedback to students.Show less
Externalizing behavior problems are profoundly prevalent in school-aged children and are connected to various challenges, including aggression, academic struggles, defiance and theft. This has...Show moreExternalizing behavior problems are profoundly prevalent in school-aged children and are connected to various challenges, including aggression, academic struggles, defiance and theft. This has considerable implications for the broader society. The present study aims to examine the relationship between social cognitive skills, verbal intelligence and performance intelligence and the externalizing behavior problems. Moreover, this research explores the potential influence of verbal and performance intelligence on the relationship between social cognitive skills and externalizing behavior. The study examines 289 children, aged between 5 and 18 years. The children were selected through a program dedicated to reduce and prevent delinquency. Among them, 255 children had a (sub)clinical score on externalizing behavior problems, while an additional 34 children were recruited as a control group. The Teacher Report Form (TRF) was used to measure the externalizing behavior problems. To measure the social cognitive skills, the ‘sociaal-cognitieve vaardigheden test’ was used. The verbal and performance intelligence were measured with the Wechsler Intelligence Scale. The initial analysis focused exclusively on children with (sub)clinical scores of externalizing behavior problems. The regression analyses show no relationship between social cognitive skills, verbal intelligence, performance intelligence and externalizing behavior. Both verbal and performance intelligence did not act as a moderator in the relationship between social cognitive skills and externalizing behavior either. The second analysis also included the control group. The regression analyses show a significant relationship between performance intelligence and externalizing behavior problems. Neither verbal intelligence or social cognitive skills had a unique contribution to externalizing behavior problems. Performance intelligence did not moderate the relationship between social cognitive skills and externalizing behavior problems. A significant moderation effect was found for verbal intelligence, suggesting that optimal assistance for children is achieved through interventions targeting both verbal skills and social cognitive skills.Show less
Aim. The aim of this research was to contribute to the necessary knowledge for preventive action in reducing the development of aggressive behavior. Currently, many trainings and interventions...Show moreAim. The aim of this research was to contribute to the necessary knowledge for preventive action in reducing the development of aggressive behavior. Currently, many trainings and interventions focus on dealing with aggressive behavior reactively. The literature discusses the origin of aggressive behavior and how it can be influenced by both biological and environmental factors. Increased insight into these factors might also allow for more preventive action. However, little is known about the risk factors that can influence the development of aggressive behavior, even though this knowledge is crucial for recognizing these signs and taking. Design. The data for this quantitative study comes from the Mother-Infant Neurodevelopment Study (MINDS). For the current study, 253 mother-child pairs participated. The participants completed several questionnaires for this study: the Cardiff Infant Contentiousness Scale (CICS), the Self-efficacy in the Nurturing Role Scale (SENR), and the Physical Aggression Scale for Early Childhood (PASEC). The questionnaires were about the precursors of aggressive behavior in the child, the mother's sense of parental competence, and the expression of aggressive behavior. Findings. To examine these factors, a multiple regression with interaction effects was conducted. Both the interaction effect and the individual factors were analyzed. It was found that there is no significant interaction effect. However, both the early signs of aggression and the sense of parental competence proved to be significant predictors separately for the development of aggressive behavior in the child. This suggests that if a child exhibits more early signs of aggressive behavior at a younger age (6 months old), the child is more likely to develop aggressive behavior at a later age (12 months). Additionally, this means that if a mother experiences a lower sense of parental competence when the child is younger (6 months old), it can also be a predictor for the development of aggressive behavior in the child. Conclusion. This study confirms that there are already risk factors visible at a young age that increase the likelihood of developing aggressive behavior. For this reason, it is essential to conduct more research on additional possible risk factors and how professionals in practice can identify these factors. Subsequently, interventions for these risk factors can also be explored to take preventive action in combating the development of aggressive behaviorShow less
This study examined the extent to which epilepsy, regulation, and behavior may be predictors of independence in patients with Coffin-Siris syndrome. It was examined whether there is a difference...Show moreThis study examined the extent to which epilepsy, regulation, and behavior may be predictors of independence in patients with Coffin-Siris syndrome. It was examined whether there is a difference regarding these factors, within the different gene mutations of the syndrome. Here, mutation on the ARID1B gene was compared with mutations on another gene. The sample consisted of 74 participants between the ages of 9 months and 60 years, with a mean of 18 years. The analyses showed that between a mutation on the ARID1B gene and other types of mutations, no difference was found in the degree of epilepsy, regulation problems, behavioral problems, and problems with independence. However, the analyses did find an association between epilepsy, regulation and behavior, and the degree of independence. Having epilepsy and behavioral problems were found to be strong predictors of low independence in Coffin-Siris syndrome. Having a regulation problem is a weak predictor in this regard. This finding relates to the entire sample and is not gene-specific.Show less
There have been previous studies that researched the effects of smoking during pregnancy, but most of them only looked at the personal characteristics of the child and not at the environment in...Show moreThere have been previous studies that researched the effects of smoking during pregnancy, but most of them only looked at the personal characteristics of the child and not at the environment in which the child was living. That is why this current study focuses on the effects of prenatal smoking on externalizing behavior of the child, and on the parenting stress experienced by the mother. In this study participated 175 first time mothers who were followed over the period from around week 27 of the pregnancy until the child was 42 months old. There were five moments of measurement which included house visits and research days at the university. In this research there were found several significant outcomes. There were three independent t-tests executed. They showed a significant effect for externalizing behavior of the child when the mother had smoked prenatally and for externalizing behavior of the child when the mother experiences parenting stress. There was no significant effect found for parenting stress when the mother had smoked prenatally. The outcomes of the executed two-way ANOVA also supported these results. The results of the two-way ANOVA showed that there is no interaction-effect which means there is no significant difference in the effect of parentings tress on externalizing behavior for smoking prenatally. Finally, a Pearson r correlation was executed to examine the relation between the quantity of prenatal smoked cigarettes and parenting stress and between externalizing behavior of the child. There was a significant effect found for the quantity of smoked cigarettes on the externalizing behavior to the child. There was no significant effect for the quantity of smoked cigarettes on parenting stress.Show less
The aim of this study was to investigate which socio-demographic, prenatal and perinatal factors predict the language development of adolescents with Coffin Siris Syndrome, which has been...Show moreThe aim of this study was to investigate which socio-demographic, prenatal and perinatal factors predict the language development of adolescents with Coffin Siris Syndrome, which has been associated with a language delay. Various specific factors were examined in relation to verbal ability (language), including gender, maternal substance use, parental educational level, birth complications and gestational age. A total of 34 participants took part in this study. 50% female and 50% male, with a mean age of 18.26 (SD = 11.80). The participants were part of a patient database at the Leiden University Medical Center. To measure the language level of the adolescents with the parents filled in a questionnaire with 7 questions about the developmental domain of language. In this questionnaire the gender, the mother's substance use, the education level of the parents, the birth complications and the gestational age were also assessed based on 16 questions. Independent t-tests were performed to find out the differences in language level between boys and girls, substance use and no substance use, highly and poorly educated parents and whether birth complications are involved. A single regression was performed to find out whether gestational age affected language level. Finally, a multiple regression was performed to determine which factor was the strongest predictor for language level. The independent t-tests show that there is no significant difference between the language level of the boys and the language level of the girls. Second, there is no significant difference between the language level of the adolescents of the mothers with substance use and adolescents of the mothers without substance use. There is also no significant difference between the language level of adolescents of low and highly educated parents. Furthermore, there is no significant difference between the language level of adolescents with birth complications and without birth complications. Finally, simple regression showed that gestational age is not a significant predictor for language level. Due to the absence of significant differences, the multiple regression was not performed. Overall, gender, maternal substance uses during pregnancy, parental education, birth complications, and gestational age do not affect language development in adolescents with CSS. The factors do not predict the language level of the adolescents with CSS. For follow-up research, the inclusion of a well-matched control group would improve the study. It is then examined whether the adolescents with CSS deviate in linguistic development. Furthermore, the addition of a standardized instrument, such as the Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development, could provide predictive factors. Finally, the application of continuous variables or another classification in low-high can also make a positive contribution to the predictive value of the various factors.Show less
Children and adolescents with low social acceptance and low self-esteem are at a higher risk for multiple problems, including aggression, delinquency, and depression. If the underlying causes of...Show moreChildren and adolescents with low social acceptance and low self-esteem are at a higher risk for multiple problems, including aggression, delinquency, and depression. If the underlying causes of low social acceptance and low self-esteem are known, children with these problems can be helped with specific intervention programs. Executive functions, like inhibition, could be part of the possible underlying causes. The current study focuses on the relation between inhibition and self-esteem and whether either objective or subjective social acceptance influence this relation. This study will also assess whether there is a difference between objective social acceptance (OSA) and subjective social acceptance (SSA) and whether there is a relation between inhibition and either objective social acceptance or subjective social acceptance. The measures inhibition speed, inhibition accuracy, SSA, OSA and self-esteem measured for 130 children and adolescents (6 – 18 years) at risk for externalising problems were used to analyse these questions. The results showed that inhibition is not significantly related to self-esteem or SSA, but was related to lower OSA (p = .02). OSA does not moderate the relation between inhibition and self-esteem. However, SSA shows a trend of strengthening the relation between inhibition and self-esteem. Children with average SSA and better inhibition speed had lower self-esteem, similar to children with low SSA, children with worse inhibition speed had higher self- esteem, similar to children with high SSA (p = .08). For inhibition accuracy, children with a lower SSA had lower self-esteem when their inhibition was worse, while children with a high SSA had higher self-esteem when they had worse inhibition (p = .07). These results suggest that future social acceptance or self-esteem interventions should not focus on inhibition for children with externalising problems.Show less
Introdcution: The aim of this study was to gain more insight into the relationship between postnatal depressive symptoms, anxiety and parenting self-efficacy and child temperament. Difficult...Show moreIntrodcution: The aim of this study was to gain more insight into the relationship between postnatal depressive symptoms, anxiety and parenting self-efficacy and child temperament. Difficult temperament has been hyphotesized to be important for the personality and social-emotional development of the individual. It is known that a mother’s mental health plays an important role in the development of temperament of the child, but less is known about whether this also apply to the young mother. Method: The sample consisted of 240 mother-child. Data were collected 6 months after delivery using the Beck Depression Inventory II (BDI-II), Dutch version of the Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (ZBV) and the Dutch version of the Maternal Self-Efficacy in the Nurturing Role Questionnaire (SENR). Negative affect and effortful control was measured using the Infant Behavior Questionnaire – Revised (IBQ-R). Results: According to the results, there is a significantly positive relationship between postnatal depression and anxiety and negative affect. Higher postnatal depression or postnatal anxiety measured was associated with higher levels of negative affect. In other results there was found to be a significant positive relationship between parenting self-efficacy and effortful control of the child. Higher levels of self-efficacy was related with higher levels of effortful control. These results suggest that postnatal mental health of the mother plays an important role in the development of temperament at 6 months.Show less
