Background: Oral and written language in late adolescence are influenced by many pre-and postnatal factors, including cognitive performance at earlier ages. We investigated whether the association between birth weight and lexical knowledge and reading comprehension in late adolescence (14-16 years) is mediated by verbal cognition during early adolescence (10-11 years). Methods: We conducted a mediation analysis via a potential outcomes approach to data from three United Kingdom (UK) prospective birth cohorts -The National Child Development Study (NCDS; year of birth (Y.B.) = 1,958; analytic sample size (A.N.) = 9,399; original sample size (O.N.) = 18,558), British Cohort Study (BCS70; Y.B. = 1,970; A.N. = 6,591; O.N. = 17,196), and Millennium Cohort Study (MCS; Y.B. = 2,000-2,001; A.N. = 3,950; O.N. = 18,552)to evaluate the indirect effects of birth weight on lexical knowledge (BCS and MCS) and reading comprehension measures (NCDS) in adolescence.Results: We found an indirect effect but no statistically significant direct effects for the BCS and MCS cohorts. The proportion of the effect of birth weight on oral and written language in late adolescence mediated by early adolescence verbal cognition was 59.19% (BCS) and 8.41% (MCS) for lexical knowledge and 61.00% when the outcome was reading comprehension (NCDS). Sensitivity analyses, used to assess whether unmeasured variables could have affected our mediation estimates, showed that for reading comprehension, in NCDS, the indirect effect is robust; only unmeasured confounders highly correlated with the mediator and outcome (q = .68) would explain away the indirect effect. For lexical knowledge, smaller correlations with hypothetical confounders (q = .33 for BCS) would suffice to render the indirect effect non-significant; the indirect effect for MCS non statistical significant. Conclusions: Birth weight affects oral and written language skills (lexical knowledge and reading comprehension) in late adolescence via verbal cognition in early adolescence in two cohorts born in 1958 and 1970, but not in a cohort born at the turn of the millennium. These indirect effects were stronger than the direct effects and are unlikely to be explained by unmeasured confounders when the outcome involves complex skills such as reading comprehension.Two phenomena have been studied separately: (a) birth weight associations with verbal cognition and (b) the influence of early verbal and cognitive skills on language and reading comprehension over primary and secondary school years. Birth weight influences reading and language in late adolescence (16 years old) via early-adolescent (10 years old) verbal cognition. The indirect effect was less likely to be explained away by unmeasured confounders when the outcome involved higher-order linguistic skills such as reading comprehension.
Resumo: O objetivo deste estudo foi atualizar a pesquisa de Northup, Vollmer e Serrett publicada em 1993 no Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis. Uma amostra de 314 artigos foi selecionada de uma população de 1.704 artigos publicados entre 1993 e 2015. As tendências de publicação foram analisadas a partir das categorias definidas por Northup et al. (1993): (1) tipos de artigos, (2) participantes, (3) ambientes, (4) agentes de mudança comportamental, (5) comportamento alvo, (6) uso de procedimentos comportamentais, e (7) medidas de generalização e follow-up. Os resultados indicaram que o típico agente de mudança comportamental é o próprio experimentador. A maioria dos estudos são de intervenções com pessoas com transtornos do desenvolvimento. O ambiente mais frequente é o análogo experimentalmente arranjado. Reforçamento positivo, instrução verbal e punição são os procedimentos mais comuns apresentados nas pesquisas. Por fim, as publicações possuem lacunas de dados sobre follow-up e generalização dos resultados das modificações comportamentais no ambiente análogo para outros ambientes de relevância para os participantes. Em suma, discute-se, a partir da amostra analisada, que os artigos publicados no JABA apresentam, em sua maioria, pesquisas sem o planejamento da generalização bem como acompanhamento dos sujeitos de pesquisa ao longo do tempo. Discute-se, também, o quanto seria relevante que tais dimensões fossem planejadas e apresentadas nas referidas pesquisas, assim como preconizaram, em mais de uma oportunidade, Baer, Wolf e Risley (1968, 1987). Abstract: The purpose of this study was to update Northup, Vollmer and Serrett's research published in 1993 in Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis. A sample of 314 articles was selected from a population of 1.704 articles published between 1993 and 2015. Trends were analyzed based on categories defined by Northup et al. (1993): (1) type of article, (2) subjects, (3) setting, (4) behavioral change agents, (5) target behavior, (6) use of behavioral procedures, and (7) generalization and follow-up measures. The results indicated that, the typical agent of behavioral change is the experimenter and that most studies reported interventions with people with developmental disabilities; the most frequent setting is the analogue setting; positive reinforcement, verbal instruction and punishment are the most common procedures. Researches published still lack data on follow-up and generalization measures. In summary, it is discussed from the sample analyzed that in its majority the research published in JABA neither present planning for generalization nor follow up. It is also argued how important it would be for these dimensions to be planned and presented in such research, as Baer, Wolf and Risley (1968) have often advocated.
Background Early interventions benefit the mental health, academic performance and productivity of children and adolescents throughout their life. The present study protocol will evaluate the effectiveness of the Elos 2.0 Programme, which is a version adapted for Brazil by the Ministry of Health, in reducing problem behaviours (e.g., disruptiveness, aggressivity and shyness) and promoting social skills in the school context in children 6 to 10 years of age. The Elos Programme is based on the Good Behaviour Game, which is widely used and prevents and/or reduces students’ disruptive behaviours by establishing cooperation contingencies. Method A cluster-randomized controlled trial will be performed in 30 schools in three cities (15 controls and 15 in the experimental group), with a total of 3800 children participating in the test (1900 in the control group and 1900 in the intervention group). Data will be collected by having teachers in the control and experimental classes complete the Teacher Observation of Classroom Adaptation (TOCA) questionnaire, which is an instrument used to observe children’s behaviour in the classroom. We will collect data before and after the intervention period in the same year. Due to the hierarchical structure of the data, multilevel analysis will be performed to detect simultaneous differences in prevalence over time and across groups to control for sociodemographic variables. Discussion The current study will examine the effectiveness of the Elos 2.0 Programme in reducing problem behaviours (e.g., disruptiveness, aggressivity and shyness) and promoting social skills in the school context. The findings of this school-based prevention programme for children will influence the development and implementation of similar programmes for schools and educational policymakers by identifying mechanisms that are central to achieving positive outcomes for participants. Trial registration Registry of Clinical Trials of the Ministry of Health RBR-86c6jp. Registered February 2, 2019
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