Assessing the Role of Academic Buoyancy on Academic Performance

Academic buoyancy was not a term I had come across before until I read this recent piece of research.

Academic bouyancy refers to a students' ability to successfully overcome setbacks and difficulties that are typical in the general course of everyday academic life. It may symbolise an important factor on the psycho-educational landscape, helping students who experience challenges at school and with schoolwork (Martin, 2012).

Martin (2012) assessed 87 students with ADHD, 3374 non-ADHD peers and 87 randomly selected non-ADHD students using the Academic Buoyancy Scale. Participants were also assessed for achievement, engagement, personality and socio-demographics.

Analysis of the data was significant, showing that high academic buoyancy had a positive influence on ADHD and non-ADHD students (Martin 2012).

Martin (2012) suggests that promotion of the 5Cs (confidence, coordination, commitment,  control and composure) of academic buoyancy may prove useful for students with ADHD. However, the effect of intervention programmes based on promoting academic buoyancy have not been studied yet.

References:

Martin A.J. (2012). Academic buoyancy and academic outcomes: Towards a further understanding of students with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), students without ADHD, and academic buoyancy itself., The British journal of educational psychology, PMID: 24547755

The 10 Strategies Identified by Adolescent Girls for Managing Peer Conflict

Many parents, teachers and teaching assistants will know that children and young adults will often fall out and argue. As children develop and reach puberty, these issues become increasingly complex and divisive. Additionally, adult intervention can sometimes serve to exacerbate the situation (Huntley and Owens 2013).

Recent research by Huntley and Owens (2013) has successfully identified 10 possible strategies, developed by adolescent girls, that may prove useful in managing peer conflict. Seventy-five girls, aged between 14 and 15, were encouraged to engage in a series of focus groups.

Huntley and Owens (2013) found three areas of concern identified by the participants were:

1. The problems with groups with dominant leaders.
2. The power of non-verbal communication to exclude and intimidate.
3. Girls not feeling confident enough to have a voice and speak up for themselves.

 After further analysis and research Huntley and Owen (2013) proposed the following list, written in the words of the participants, as potential strategies for managing conflict:

1. Develop a wide circle of friends; don't just stick with one or two people. Then if something goes wrong with your group, you have other people to hang out with.
2.  Decide what is important and what is not, what you will take a stand for and what you will let go. If you feel strongly enough about an issue it is worth speaking up.
3. Walk away from conflict if it is getting out of hand – do not stay and be humiliated. Walk away and think about how you will deal with the situation.
4. If you feel comfortable talk to whoever is upsetting you one-on-one. See if you can sit down and work it out, without involving others. Let them know that you don't like what is happening.
5. Remove yourself from gossip, bitchiness and back stabbing. If you stay away from this type of behavior you cannot be accused of doing or saying something which could be seen as offensive. This also applies to texting comments, emails, My Space, Facebook and MSN.
6. Be clear about where your boundaries (limits) are if you are feeling uncomfortable. Do not let the peer group make decisions for you – otherwise you will finish up participating in things that you do not want to do.
7. Find friends who are mostly like you and do not do drugs or drink. That way if you go out, having a friend with you who does not drink or do drugs makes it easier to withstand the pressure from the peer group.
8. If it is important to voice your opinion, ask for advice from a trusted friend outside the friendship group. Enlist help from your parents if dealing with the peer group is too difficult. Speak to the school counsellors if you don't know what to do.
9. Ignore the evil eye, daggers, the stare and the cold shoulder. Do not repeat the negative behaviours that have been done to you or that you have seen operating within your group. Ignoring immature behavior is the best thing to do.
10. If you are pressured by the group to do something you don't want to do or go somewhere that you don't want to go, and you don't feel comfortable voicing your opinion, you can say that your parents will not allow you out (but make sure your parents know what the situation is about).

References:

Huntley J. & Owens L. (2013). Collaborative conversations: adolescent girls' own strategies for managing conflict within their friendship groups, International Journal of Adolescence and Youth, 18 (4) 236-247. DOI: 10.1080/02673843.2012.690933

Sleep and Language Development in Toddlers with William's Syndrome

The Williams Syndrome Association states that:

Williams syndrome is a genetic condition that is present at birth and can affect anyone.  It is characterized by medical problems, including cardiovascular disease, developmental delays, and learning disabilities.  These occur side by side with striking verbal abilities, highly social personalities and an affinity for music.

Axelsson, Hill, Sadeh, and Dimitriou (2013) state that sleep difficulties also arise in older children and adults with Williams Syndrome. Furthermore, they propose that language development of children with Williams Syndrome may be affected by the lack of sleep. In order to assess the relationship between language development and sleep deprivation Axelsson et al (2013) assessed 18 children with William's Syndrome and 18 children without Williams Syndrome. They found that, through using six questionnaires completed by parents, the children with Williams Syndrome tended to have a shorter night sleep, greater night wakings and wakefulness compared to the children without William Syndrome. As well as this they found that variation in the language development of children with Williams Syndrome was related to sleep duration.

References:

Axelsson E.L., Hill C.M., Sadeh A. & Dimitriou D. (2013). Sleep problems and language development in toddlers with Williams syndrome, Research in Developmental Disabilities, 34 (11) 3988-3996. DOI: 10.1016/j.ridd.2013.08.018

Jean Piaget

The Jean Piaget Society writes that:

Jean Piaget was born in Neuchâtel (Switzerland) on August 9, 1896. He died in Geneva on September 16, 1980. He was the oldest child of Arthur Piaget, professor of medieval literature at the University, and of Rebecca Jackson. At age 11, while he was a pupil at Neuchâtel Latin high school, he wrote a short notice on an albino sparrow. This short paper is generally considered as the start of a brilliant scientific career made of over sixty books and several hundred articles.
His interest for mollusks was developed during his late adolescence to the point that he became a well-known malacologist by finishing school. He published many papers in the field that remained of interest for him all along his life.
After high school graduation, he studied natural sciences at the University of Neuchâtel where he obtained a Ph.D. During this period, he published two philosophical essays which he considered as "adolescence work" but were important for the general orientation of his thinking.
After a semester spent at the University of Zürich where he developed an interest for psychoanalysis, he left Switzerland for France. He spent one year working at the Ecole de la rue de la Grange-aux-Belles a boys' institution created by Alfred Binet and then directed by De Simon who had developed with Binet a test for the measurement of intelligence. There, he standardized Burt's test of intelligence and did his first experimental studies of the growing mind.
In 1921, he became director of studies at the J.-J. Rousseau Institute in Geneva at the request of Sir Ed. Claparède and P. Bovet.
In 1923, he and Valentine Châtenay were married. The couple had three children, Jacqueline, Lucienne and Laurent whose intellectual development from infancy to language was studied by Piaget.
Successively or simultaneously, Piaget occupied several chairs: psychology, sociology and history of science at Neuchâtel from 1925 to 1929; history of scientific thinking at Geneva from 1929 to 1939; the International Bureau of Education from 1929 to 1967; psychology and sociology at Lausanne from 1938 to 1951; sociology at Geneva from 1939 to 1952, then genetic and experimental psychology from 1940 to 1971. He was, reportedly, the only Swiss to be invited at the Sorbonne from 1952 to 1963. In 1955, he created and directed until his death the International Center for Genetic Epistemology.
His researches in developmental psychology and genetic epistemology had one unique goal: how does knowledge grow? His answer is that the growth of knowledge is a progressive construction of logically embedded structures superseding one another by a process of inclusion of lower less powerful logical means into higher and more powerful ones up to adulthood. Therefore, children's logic and modes of thinking are initially entirely different from those of adults.

Piaget's oeuvre is known all over the world and is still an inspiration in fields like psychology, sociology, education, epistemology, economics and law as witnessed in the annual catalogues of the Jean Piaget Archives. He was awarded numerous prizes and honorary degrees all over the world.

The following is a video in which Piaget discusses his work:

Functional Networks in the Brain - Assessing the Difference between Dyslexics and Non-Impaired Readers

Dyslexia Action states that:

Dyslexia is a specific learning difficulty that affects memory and processing speed which impacts on literacy development, mathematics, memory, organisation and sequencing skills to varying degrees. Dyslexia can occur at any level of intellectual development. It is neurological in origin and is seen to run in families. It affects up to 10% of the UK population at some level and can affect anyone of any age and background.

Finn (2013) and her colleagues recently compared the functional connectivity of dyslexic (DYS) and non-impaired (NI) participants through analysis of MRI scans. Participants consisted of children (n=75; 43 NI, 32 DYS) and adults (n=104; 64 NI, 40 DYS). They found that, compared to NI readers, DYS readers exhibited both reduced connectivity in the visual word-form area of the brain and increased activity in the right hemisphere.

They propose that these findings indicate that dyslexics tend to use alternate reading circuits in the brain whilst relying on phonology-based sounding out techniques developed in childhood and carried into adulthood.

Clearly these findings provide strong evidence of the neurological differences in the brains of dyslexics and non-impaired children and adults. Previously, understanding the neurological basis of dyslexia had been difficult (Habib, 2000). As methods and technology improve it is evident that our understanding of dyslexia will improve.

The British Dyslexia Association provides support and information for parents, teachers and employers about dyslexia.

References:

Finn E.S., Shen X., Holahan J.M., Scheinost D., Lacadie C., Papademetris X., Shaywitz S.E., Shaywitz B.A. & Constable R.T. (2013). Disruption of Functional Networks in Dyslexia: A Whole-Brain, Data-Driven Analysis of Connectivity, Biological Psychiatry, DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2013.08.031

Habib M. (2000). The neurological basis of developmental dyslexia: An overview and working hypothesis, Brain, 123 (12) 2373-2399. DOI: 10.1093/brain/123.12.2373

The Influence of Gratitude Intervention on Children's Positive Affect

Positive Affect (PA) can be defined as a set of characteristics such as confidence, self-efficacy, pro-social behaviour and optimism that serve to encourage an individual to engage with their environment and pursue their goals (Lyubomirsky, King and Diener 2005).

Froh, Kashdan, Ozimkowski and Miller (2009) maintain that people with low PA require more positive experiences to match the level of PA experienced by people who are generally happier. According to Froh et al. (2009) cultivation of gratitude can result increased positive affect. Grant and Gino (2010) found that gratitude expressions increased both the initiation and maintenance of pro-social behavior, a characteristic of PA.

Froh et al (2009) studied whether gratitude cultivation would affect the level of PA of children and adolescents. They assessed 89 children and adolescents split into two groups that either wrote a letter of gratitude or wrote about daily activities. They found that children with low PA who cultivated gratitude reported greater levels of gratitude and  PA, compared to the control group, at post-treatment and two months.

References:

Froh J.J., Kashdan T.B., Ozimkowski K.M. & Miller N. (2009). Who benefits the most from a gratitude intervention in children and adolescents? Examining positive affect as a moderator, The Journal of Positive Psychology, 4 (5) 408-422. DOI: 10.1080/17439760902992464

Grant A.M. & Gino F. (2010). A little thanks goes a long way: Explaining why gratitude expressions motivate prosocial behavior., Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 98 (6) 946-955. DOI: 10.1037/a0017935
 
Lyubomirsky S., King L. & Diener E. (2005). The Benefits of Frequent Positive Affect: Does Happiness Lead to Success?, Psychological Bulletin, 131 (6) 803-855. DOI: 10.1037/0033-2909.131.6.803

The Effect of Violent Video Games on Aggression

I have always personally felt that there was no link between video games and violence. I even watched the Penn and Teller: Bullsh!t episode (which can be found here) and agreed with them. Yet what exactly does the research say?

I conducted a brief search on ScienceDirect and found the following:

Gentile, Lynch, Linder and Walsh (2004) assessed the link between video games and violence on 607 8th and 9th grade students. They found that those exposed to more violence were more likely to get into arguments with teachers, be involved in fights, and have lower grades at school. The article appeared in a special edition of the Journal of Adolescence published in 2004 which focused on violent video games. Many other articles also claimed to find a link between violent video games and aggression (see Journal of Adolescence).

However, Ferguson, San Miguel, Garza and Jerabeck (2012) state that in 2011 the US Supreme Court found that previous research had been flawed. Furthermore, they conducted a longitudinal study over 3 years with 165 participants. They found that there was no link between violent video games and aggression. In contrast, they maintain that depression, antisocial personality traits, family violence and peer influence were the most likely predictors of violence. Simiarly, Valadez and Ferguson (2012) also found there was no relationship between violence or depression and video games or the length of time spent playing them.

Although recent evidence suggests that there may not be a link between video games and observed violent behaviour, Engelhardt, Bartholow, Kerr and Bushman (2011) suggest that video games may result in neuronal desensitisation. Engelhardt et al (2011) observed the brain activity of participants whilst they played violent or non-violent video games then viewed violent or non-violent photos. They found that:

Participants low in previous exposure to video game violence who played a violent (relative to a nonviolent) game showed a reduction in the P3 component of the event-related brain potential (ERP) to violent images (indicating physiological desensitization), and this brain response mediated the effect of video game content on subsequent aggressive behavior.

Clearly there needs to be further research assessing the relationship between brain activity and actual observed violent behaviour.


References:

Engelhardt C.R., Bartholow B.D., Kerr G.T. & Bushman B.J. (2011). This is your brain on violent video games: Neural desensitization to violence predicts increased aggression following violent video game exposure, Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 47 (5) 1033-1036. DOI: 10.1016/j.jesp.2011.03.027
 
Ferguson C.J., San Miguel C., Garza A. & Jerabeck J.M. (2012). A longitudinal test of video game violence influences on dating and aggression: A 3-year longitudinal study of adolescents, Journal of Psychiatric Research, 46 (2) 141-146. DOI: 10.1016/j.jpsychires.2011.10.014

Gentile D.A., Lynch P.J., Linder J.R. & Walsh D.A. (2004). The effects of violent video game habits on adolescent hostility, aggressive behaviors, and school performance, Journal of Adolescence, 27 (1) 5-22. DOI: 10.1016/j.adolescence.2003.10.002  

Valadez J.J. & Ferguson C.J. (2012). Just a game after all: Violent video game exposure and time spent playing effects on hostile feelings, depression, and visuospatial cognition, Computers in Human Behavior, 28 (2) 608-616. DOI: 10.1016/j.chb.2011.11.006