Search

Academic motivation represents a psychoeducational construct that is associated with the academic success of youth. For some immigrant youth, however, their academic motivation may be affected by the various challenges that they face during their settlement in a culturally diverse school that promotes different self-construal values and practices. The main goal of this study is to investigate the cultural match or mismatch between non-Western immigrant youth and the self-construal orientation typically promoted in Western schools, as well as how specific challenges associated with migration contribute to the development of different levels of academic motivation during their recent settlement. We hypothesize that non-Western immigrant youth experience cultural mismatch in a Western school, and that greater reports of migration challenges are associated with increases in levels of external motivation and decreases in levels of intrinsic motivation. To test these hypotheses, the present study was conducted among non-Western immigrant youth between 12 and 19 years old in their first year of attending a Dutch academic integration program in The Netherlands. Our findings highlight that non-Western immigrant youth are mismatched with the self-construal orientations typically promoted in Dutch schools, and that there is specificity in the way that migration challenges relate to different levels of academic motivation. These findings should be considered by Western educational stakeholders who aim to foster academic success for immigrant youth early on in their resettlement., Author(s): Vanessa K. Weva [sup.1] , Jenilee-Sarah Napoleon [sup.1] , Eva Malkus [sup.2] , Michael Hoover [sup.1] , Lydia Krabbendam [sup.3] [sup.4] , Jacob A. Burack [sup.1] , Mariëtte Huizinga [...]

Many Indigenous communities are concerned with substance use (SU) problems and eager to advance effective solutions for their prevention and treatment. Yet these communities also are concerned about the perpetuation of colonizing, disorder-focused, stigmatizing approaches to mental health, and social narratives related to SU problems. Foundational principles of community psychology-ecological perspectives, empowerment, sociocultural competence, community inclusion and partnership, and reflective practice-provide useful frameworks for informing ethical community-based research pertaining to SU problems conducted with and by Indigenous communities. These principles are explored and extended for Indigenous community contexts through themes generated from seven collaborative studies focused on understanding, preventing, and treating SU problems. These studies are generated from research teams working with Indigenous communities across the United States and Canada-inclusive of urban, rural, and reservation/reserve populations as well as adult and youth participants. Shared themes indicate that Indigenous SU research reflects community psychology principles, as an outgrowth of research agendas and processes that are increasingly guided by Indigenous communities. At the same time, this research challenges these principles in important ways pertaining to Indigenous-settler relations and Indigenous-specific considerations. We discuss these challenges and recommend greater synergy between community psychology and Indigenous research.

The findings are evidence that persons with ASD benefit more than typically developing (TD) persons from spatial framing cues in focusing their attention on a visual target. Participants were administered a forced-choice task to assess visual filtering. A target stimulus was presented on a screen and flanker stimuli were presented simultaneously with or after the target, with varying stimuli onset asynchronies (SOAs). Regardless of SOA, TD children showed the expected distracting effects with slower reaction times (RTs) when flankers were at closer distances from the target. However, children with ASD displayed shorter RTs in the conditions in which the stimuli were presented simultaneously or with a short SOA. These findings are interpreted as reflecting utilitarian attention among children with ASD.

The relationship between self-concept and academic achievement that is commonly cited has primarily been found in studies of students from Western countries with individualistic societies. Thus, this relationship may not be evident among students from non-Western countries, which are thought to largely adopt collectivist cultural values and behaviors that are inconsistent with the way that students from individualist nations perceive and evaluate their academic functioning. This lack of clarity motivates the present scoping review about the relationship between self-concept and academic achievement among students from collectivist countries who study in elementary, secondary, and post-secondary schools. A final review of 27 empirical articles involving student populations across educational levels and from several collectivist countries provided support for the same general relationship between self-concept and academic achievement that has been found in Western countries. Accordingly, the development of a favorable self-concept was associated with greater academic achievement. In some cases, this relationship was dependent on self-concept and academic achievement being measured in the context of a school-related discipline and on the time interval between the examination of both variables. Our findings provide insight into pathways to academic success that are effective across cultures, and we offer considerations for successful academic self-concept interventions for collectivist students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay is an introduction to the thematic issue of Transcultural Psychiatry in honor of the work of Michael Chandler and Christopher Lalonde, developmental psychologists who made essential contributions to the study of identity and wellness among Indigenous youth in Canada and internationally. We outline their major contributions and illustrate the ways their innovative theory and methods have inspired decades of research, including the recent work presented in this issue, which addresses four broad themes: (1) the importance of a developmental perspective in mental health research; (2) the role of individual and collective continuity of identity in suicide prevention and mental health promotion; (3) Indigenous perspectives on trauma and resilience; and (4) Indigenous knowledge and values as a basis for culturally adapted and culturally grounded mental health services and interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research on self- and cultural continuity has contributed to our understanding of resilience processes in Indigenous communities, as connecting oneself to the past, present, and future of one's family, community, and traditional culture has been found to protect against deleterious developmental outcomes. To examine factors associated with self-continuity for Indigenous youth in the current study, Indigenous youth from six rural Ojibway and Métis communities in Treaty 2 Territory completed self-report questionnaires aimed at understanding the relationship between the concept of oneself across time and protective and risk factors at different systemic levels (family, community, culture, and colonial). The concept of oneself across time was measured by self-efficacy (global self-worth) and future orientations (optimism and sense of self in the future). The findings indicated that connectedness to caregivers, siblings, friends, neighborhoods, and culture was associated with higher self-efficacy, seeing oneself as more connected to the future, and seeing the future more positively. These findings support the notion that familial, community, and cultural connectedness are associated positive self-concepts in the present and future, which aligns with our understanding of self- and cultural continuity in Indigenous communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Heavy drinking and smoking have been found to be among the leading causes of morbidity and mortality within Indigenous youth in North America. The focus of this study was to examine the relative roles of cultural identity, parent–child communication about the harms of substance use (SU), and perception about peers' opinions on heavy drinking and cigarette smoking among Indigenous youth. Strong Indigenous cultural identity, parent–child communication about SU, and affiliation with peers who do not use and/or who disapprove of substance use were all expected to reduce risk for heavy drinking and smoking. Substance use beliefs were hypothesized to mediate these effects. Youth (N = 117; M age = 14.07; grades 6–11) from two Indigenous communities in Quebec completed self-reports. Consistent with the hypotheses, strong cultural identity predicted increased negative beliefs about substance use, which predicted reduced drinking and smoking. Similarly, affiliating with peers who did not use alcohol predicted decreased positive beliefs about alcohol use, which predicted reduced drinking. Affiliating with peers who did not smoke cigarettes predicted reduced cigarette smoking. Parental influences were not supported in this model. Intervention strategies may benefit from targeting cultural identity, peer groups, and substance use beliefs among Indigenous youth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The focus of this study was the ability of adolescents and young adults with Down syndrome to infer meaning from facial expressions in the absence of emotion labels and use this inference in order to adjust their behavior. Participants with Down syndrome (N = 19, mean nonverbal mental age of 5.8 years) and 4- to 7-year-old typically developing children performed a novel task in which happy and angry faces were provided as feedback for a choice made by the participants. In making a subsequent choice, the participants with Down syndrome performed similarly to the 4 year olds, indicating a difficulty using angry faces as feedback. Individual differences within the group were also apparent. Implications for the development of social competence are discussed.

Using the cognitive appraisal theory of coping and the self‐determination theory of motivation, we examined the shared variance of motivational orientations, attachment relationships, and gender on adaptive and maladaptive coping among youth experiencing homelessness. Several scales including The Global Motivation Scale (assessing motivational orientations; i.e., autonomous and controlled motivation), the Brief Cope (adaptive and maladaptive coping strategies), and the Inventory of Parent and Peer Attachment (self‐perceptions of relationships with mothers, fathers, and peers) were administered to 102 youth aged between 16 and 24 (Mage = 20, SD = 2.07) years recruited from an evening program for youth experiencing homelessness in Montreal, Canada. Autonomous motivation was positively associated with engagement in effective coping strategies, while controlled motivation was positively linked to maladaptive coping. Moderation analyses were used to examine whether gender and relationships with attachment figures moderated the relationship between motivation and coping. A significant main effect of peer attachment on adaptive coping emerged, in which greater peer attachment was related to more adaptive coping among the youth. No interaction effects resulted. Although no significant moderating effects were associated with essential relationships and gender, further research implementing a more nuanced approach to assessing the interaction between these constructs may be warranted. Overall, the findings highlight the importance of intervention programs for youth experiencing homelessness, that focus on enhancing autonomous motivation and utilizing peer support to optimize the use of adaptive coping strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic, preliminary evidence suggests that rates of opioid use and overdose in North America have only been exacerbated. During this time, healthcare services providing medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD) have faced heightened challenges, rapidly adjusting services in order to continue to provide access to treatment. To better understand the impact of the pandemic on MOUD services in the U.S. and Canada, this scoping review summarizes and synthesizes the existing literature on this topic. Articles were deemed eligible to be included in this review if they met the following three criteria: focused on MOUD services; situated within the COVID-19 pandemic; and situated within the U.S. or Canada. Common themes among the articles that met inclusion included the impacts of MOUD policy changes; the transition to telehealth; challenges to providing MOUD; innovative changes to services; and recommendations for policy and service changes. Many articles supported MOUD regulatory changes, with some finding these changes had increased access to MOUD for underserved populations. There is currently a pressing need to evaluate the impacts on MOUD services in greater depth, as recent changes could have lasting implications on future MOUD regulatory policies and treatment standards. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Evidence from the study of attention among persons with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and typically developing (TD) children suggests a rethinking of the notion that performance inherently reflects disability, ability, or capacity in favor of a more nuanced story that involves an emphasis on styles and biases that reflect real-world attending. We provide examples from behavioral and physiological research in which performance on attention tasks is not solely a function of abilities, or disabilities, per se but rather is also a function of the ways in which they are implemented. Thus, the study of attention both among persons with ASD and in typical development might best be recast in terms of the question of "how" rather than "how well."

The developmental trajectories of selective and divided attention were examined in relation to the processing of hierarchically integrated stimuli. The participants included children in 4 age groups (6, 8, 10, and 12 years) and a group of young adults (24 years) who completed 2 computer-based attention tasks. In the selective attention task, the participants were instructed to attend to only 1 level of analysis and ignore the other. In the divided attention task, participants were told that the target could appear at either level, and the probability that a target would appear at either the global or local level was manipulated. For both of the tasks, distinct and qualitative developmental shifts were evident both between 6 and 8 years of age and between 8 and 10 years of age. Attention to the global form developed prior to, and may have been a prerequisite of, attention to the local form. These gains in attentional control occurred in terms of selective attention, sensitivity to the probability of bias, and relative efficiency in processing global and local targets. The clear developmental trajectory is consistent with the emergent role of voluntary attention in the processing of these types of stimuli.

Limited data exist on the mental health challenges facing First Nations adolescents and the factors that modify these difficulties. The current study compared levels of common mental health challenges among 112 off-reserve First Nations and 3334 non-First Nations adolescents (12–17 years old) and examined the impact of maternal psychological distress on these mental health challenges. First Nations adolescents self-reported higher symptoms of conduct, oppositional-defiant, attention-deficit hyperactivity, major depressive, social phobia, generalized anxiety, and separation anxiety disorders and all associations remained statistically significant after adjusting for covariates. Moderation analyses found that increasing levels of maternal distress were associated more strongly with symptoms of oppositional defiant, attention-deficit hyperactivity, major depressive, and generalized anxiety disorders in First Nations adolescents. Future work aimed at improving the mental health of First Nations youth that focus on supporting these adolescents, and their mothers in particular, could result in substantial benefits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Pitch perception is enhanced among persons with autism. We extended this finding to memory for pitch and melody among school-aged children. Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate pitch memory in musically untrained children with autism spectrum disorders, aged 7-13 years, and to compare it to that of age- and IQ-matched typically developing children. Methods: The children were required to discriminate isolated tones in two differing contexts as well to remember melodies after a period of 1 week. The tasks were designed to employ both short- and long-term memory for music. For the pitch discrimination task, the children first had to indicate whether two isolated tones were the same or different when the second was the same or had been altered to be 25, 35, or 45 cents sharp or flat. Second, the children discriminated the tones within the context of melody. They were asked whether two melodies were the same or different when the leading tone of the second melody was the same or had been altered to be 25, 35, or 45 cents sharp or flat. Long-term memory for melody was also investigated, as the children attempted to recall four different two-bar melodies after 1 week. Results: The children with autism spectrum disorders demonstrated elevated pitch discrimination ability in the single-tone and melodic context as well as superior long-term memory for melody. Pitch memory correlated positively with scores on measures of nonverbal fluid reasoning ability. Conclusion: Superior short- and long-term pitch memory was found among children with autism spectrum disorders. The results indicate an aspect to cognitive functioning that may predict both enhanced nonverbal reasoning ability and atypical language development.

We examined the role of cultural representations of self (i.e., interdependence and independence) and positive relationships (i.e., trust for teachers) in academic performance (i.e., self-reported grades) for Native American ("N"?=?41) and European American ("N"?=?49) high school students. The Native American students endorsed marginally more interdependent representation of self and marginally less trust for teachers than did the European American students. While interdependent representations of self and trust for teachers were positively related for the Native American students, neither cultural representations of self were related to trust for teachers for the European American students. However, with respect to academic performance, interdependent representations of self and trust for teachers were positively related to academic performance for the Native American students. Conversely, independent and interdependent representations of self were positively related to academic performance for the European American students, but trust for teachers was not associated with academic performance. Finally, as predicted, culturally congruent representations of self predicted academic performance. Specifically, trust for teachers and interdependent representations of self positively predicted academic performance for Native American students, whereas only independent representations of self predicted academic performance for European American students. Implications for culturally congruent models of education are discussed.

In response to the enduring "deficit" approach to the educational attainment of Aboriginal students in North America, we hypothesized that academic underperformance is related to a cultural mismatch between Aboriginal students' cultural background, which emphasizes connectedness and interdependence, and the mainstream White model of education, which focuses on independence and assertiveness. The participants included virtually all the secondary students (N = 115) in the Naskapi community of Kawawachikamach, Quebec, Canada. We obtained self-reports of identification with Aboriginal and White culture, teacher reports of assertiveness, and official grades. We found that high identification with either Aboriginal or White culture was related to higher grades, regardless of whether the students were perceived as assertive by their teacher. Conversely, at low levels of cultural identification toward Aboriginal or White culture, being perceived as low in assertiveness by one's teacher predicted lower grades. This suggests that both high cultural identification and assertiveness can contribute to enhancing the educational outcomes of Aboriginal students, but that Aboriginal students with low levels of both cultural identification and assertiveness are at particular risk as they are mismatched with the culture of mainstream schools and do not benefit from the protective effects of identity. The relationships among identity, cultural values, and academic performance point to the need to reject the notion of an inherent deficit in education among Aboriginal youths in favor of a different framework in which success can be attained when alternative ways of being are fostered and nurtured in schools. (Contains 2 tables and 1 figure.)

In this study, 7-19-year-olds performed an interrupted visual search task in two experiments. Our question was whether the tendency to respond within 500 ms after a second glimpse of a display (the "rapid resumption" effect ["Psychological Science", 16 (2005) 684-688]) would increase with age in the same way as overall search efficiency. The results indicated no correlation of rapid resumption with search speed either across age groups (7, 9, 11, and 19 years) or at the level of individual participants. Moreover, relocating the target randomly between looks reduced the rate of rapid resumption in a very similar way at each age. These results imply that implicit perceptual prediction during search is invariant across this age range and is distinct from other critical processes such as feature integration and control over spatial attention. (Contains 5 figures.)

The focus of this study was the developmental pattern of the ability to shift attention between global and local levels of hierarchical stimuli. Children aged 7 years and 11 years and 21-year-old adults were administered a task (two experiments) that allowed for the examination of 1) the direction of attention to global or local stimulus levels; 2) the susceptibility to interference of the global or local stimulus levels; and 3) the flexibility in directing attention to global or local stimulus levels. The results revealed a global advantage effect that decreased with age when the task required level shifting from trial to trial. The abilities to resist interference and to flexibly shift attention also improved during childhood, but quickly leveled off during adolescence. The ability to shift attention was found to be unrelated to processes contributing to global advantage. The results suggest that the ability to flexibly shift attention to and away from local detail, to provide the most adaptive response, continues to develop during childhood into adulthood. (Contains 2 tables, 7 figures, and 1 footnote.)

Background: Are persons with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) slower than typically developing individuals to read the meaning of a symbolic cue in a visual orienting paradigm? Methods: Participants with ASD (n = 18) and performance mental age (PMA) matched typically developing children (n = 16) completed two endogenous orienting conditions in which the cue exposure time and response preparation time were manipulated within a consistent series of cue-target stimulus onset asynchronies (SOAs). Results: Participants with ASD displayed facilitation effects at all SOAs, whereas typically developing children displayed facilitation effects only at shorter SOAs. The magnitude of the facilitation effect was greater for the group with ASD at 400ms SOA. Both groups showed similar effects of condition, with similar patterns of facilitation in both conditions. Conclusion: Persons with ASD were not slower to read the symbolic cue, as the effect was elicited by brief cues within longer SOAs before target onset. The participants with ASD were also less efficient in using the predictability of the cues to guide responding. The difficulties of participants with ASD on endogenous orienting occur at the response selection level, not the perceptual level. (Contains 4 figures and 2 tables.)

Persons with autism often show strong reactions to changes in the environment, suggesting that they may detect changes more efficiently than typically developing (TD) persons. However, Fletcher-Watson et al. (Br J Psychol 97:537-554, 2006) reported no differences between adults with autism and TD adults with a change-detection task. In this study, we also found no initial differences in change-detection between children with autism and NVMA-matched TD children, although differences emerged when detection failures were related to the developmental level of the participants. Whereas detection failures decreased with increasing developmental level for TD children, detection failures remained constant over the same developmental range for children with autism, pointing to an atypical developmental trajectory for change-detection among children with autism.