BACKGROUND Data that can be easily, efficiently, and safely collected via cell phones and other d... more BACKGROUND Data that can be easily, efficiently, and safely collected via cell phones and other digital devices have great potential for clinical application. Here, we focus on how these data could be used to refine and augment intervention strategies for binge eating disorder (BED) and bulimia nervosa (BN), conditions that lack highly efficacious, enduring, and accessible treatments. These data are easy to collect digitally but are highly complex and present unique methodological challenges that invite innovative solutions. OBJECTIVE We describe the digital phenotyping component of the Binge Eating Genetics Initiative, which uses personal digital device data to capture dynamic patterns of risk for binge and purge episodes. Characteristic data signatures will ultimately be used to develop personalized models of eating disorder pathologies and just-in-time interventions to reduce risk for related behaviors. Here, we focus on the methods used to prepare the data for analysis and discu...
JBD935630_supplemental_material for Predicting differentiated developmental trajectories of proso... more JBD935630_supplemental_material for Predicting differentiated developmental trajectories of prosocial behavior: A 12-year longitudinal study of children facing early risks and vulnerabilities by Qinxin Shi, Idean Ettekal, Jeffrey Liew and Steven Woltering in International Journal of Behavioral Development
Abstract The purpose of this study was to investigate the associations between elementary student... more Abstract The purpose of this study was to investigate the associations between elementary students’ reading skills and their online reading (i.e., real-time reading) behaviors during silent sentence processing. Thirty-five students participated in this study and their eye movements were recorded during sentence reading tasks. The effects of students’ reading skills measured by traditional standardized measures were investigated for widely-used eye tracking measures such as first fixation duration, gaze duration, regression path duration, total duration, word skipping, fixation count, and regression frequency. The eye tracking measures were chosen to represent early/late cognitive processes and temporal/spatial gaze behaviors. Linear mixed-effects regression analyses revealed that children’s performances in reading skills predict most of the eye tracking measures.
This study examined the development and continuity of teacher-student relationship quality across... more This study examined the development and continuity of teacher-student relationship quality across the formal schooling years (Grades 1 to 12) and investigated how variations (i.e., differential trajectories) in teacher-student relationship quality were longitudinally associated with children's conduct problems across childhood and adolescence. Participants consisted of 784 students (Mage = 6.57 in Grade 1; 47% girls, 37.4% Latino or Hispanic, 34.1% European American, and 23.2% African American) who were identified as being academically at risk (i.e., had low literacy scores at school entry). Distinct subgroups of children were identified based on variations in their teacher-student warmth and conflict trajectories, and patterns of continuity and change were also assessed across the transition to middle school. The findings provided insights into how the duration, magnitude, and timing of teacher-student relationship quality were associated with children's conduct problems. M...
Abstract Bulimia nervosa (BN) and binge-eating disorder (BED) are similar in that both are charac... more Abstract Bulimia nervosa (BN) and binge-eating disorder (BED) are similar in that both are characterized by recurrent episodes of binge-eating, but diverge in that BN but not BED includes recurrent inappropriate compensatory behaviors to limit weight gain or counteract the effects of a binge. Binge (B) and purge (P) “events” are often conceptualized and studied as a series of brief snap shots where changing circumstances increase or decrease the likelihood of these disordered behaviors. We propose that B and P episodes can be better conceptualized as changes in patterns that unfold over time and that shifts between normative and dysfunctional patterns are observable using passive sensing methodologies and may be precluded by physiological or behavioral warning signs. In this paper, we introduce conceptual and theoretical approaches to consider B and P events from this perspective. We then use two illustrative case examples from a larger parent study to demonstrate how recent technologies can be used to collect intensive longitudinal data and how such data can be used to visualize normative and dysfunctional patterns. Finally, we close with discussion of the implications of this conceptualization and the corresponding data collection and visualization methods for basic science and intervention in eating disorders.
The current study examined the heterogeneity in the development of school-based prosocial behavio... more The current study examined the heterogeneity in the development of school-based prosocial behavior from Grades 1 to 12 and the role of multiple early childhood antecedents in predicting heterogeneous developmental trajectories of prosocial behavior in a sample of 784 children facing early risks and vulnerabilities (predominantly from low-income families and academically at risk; 52.6% male). In alignment with the risk and resilience framework, antecedents consisted of risk and protective factors from both individual (i.e., ego-resilient personality, behavior problems, intelligence, academic performance, gender, and ethnicity) and contextual domains (i.e., maternal support and responsiveness, family socioeconomic adversity, teacher–child warmth and conflict, and peer acceptance and rejection). We identified four distinct prosocial trajectories including a high-stable (52.5%), high-desisting (15%), moderate-increasing (20.6%), and low-stable class (11.9%). Results revealed that the lo...
Reading and math attainment develop during elementary grades. Questions remain, though, about the... more Reading and math attainment develop during elementary grades. Questions remain, though, about the co-developmental nature of the relation between reading and math. This study examined dynamic, longitudinal pathways between reading and math in first through fourth grades. Participants of the study were 554 academically at-risk children (M age at the first assessment point = 6.57 years; SD = 0.38) from Texas Project Achieve. Children were assessed utilizing the Woodcock-Johnson-III reading and math measures. Results from dynamic bivariate latent change score models indicated unidirectional longitudinal coupling effects from reading to math. Specifically, average and high levels of reading performance were associated with subsequent gains in math growth, in particular for below average performing children in math. In contrast, low levels of reading performance had negligible or no amplifying influences on change in math growth. The nature of the dynamics was replicated even when controlling for nonverbal cognitive abilities. Results demonstrated that good reading skills pave the way for children to develop their math skills. Such findings underscore the importance of considering reading performance in treating math difficulties.
The Dysregulation Profile (DP) has emerged as a measure of concurrent affective, behavioral and c... more The Dysregulation Profile (DP) has emerged as a measure of concurrent affective, behavioral and cognitive dysregulation, associated with severe psychopathology and poor adjustment. While originally developed with the Child Behavior Checklist, more recently the DP has also been defined on the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ), mostly with a 5-item, but also a 15-item, SDQ-DP measure. This study evaluated the SDQ-DP by examining its factor structure, measurement invariance, and construct validity. Different SDQ-DP operationalizations were compared. In a US longitudinal community sample (N = 768), a bifactor model consisting of a general Dysregulation factor and three specific factors of Emotional Symptoms, Conduct Problems, and Hyperactivity-Inattention fitted best, across three different developmental periods (early childhood, middle childhood, adolescence) and across three different reporters (parents, teachers, youth). Measurement invariance across reporter, gender, and developmental period was demonstrated. These findings indicate that the SDQ-DP, like the CBCL-DP, reflects a broad syndrome of dysregulation that exists in addition to specific syndromes of emotional symptoms, conduct problems, and hyperactivity-inattention. SDQ-DP bifactor scores were strongly related with scores on the 5-and 15-item SDQ-DP measures and similarly concurrently associated with two markers of self-regulation, ego-resiliency and effortful control, and longitudinally with antisocial behavior and disciplinary measures. As reliability, validity and stability was weaker for the SDQ-DP 5-item measure, use of all 15 items is recommended. Advantages of using a bifactor approach are discussed as well as the potential of the SDQ-DP as an easy screening measure of children at risk for developing serious psychopathology.
This study examined the continuity and change of childhood resilient personality (first three yea... more This study examined the continuity and change of childhood resilient personality (first three years in grade school), and how differential trajectories in resilient personality were dynamically associated with behavioral problems, social-emotional functioning and academic performance across the primary and secondary school years (Grade 1-12). Participants were 784 academically at-risk students predominantly from low SES families (47% girls, 37.4% Latino or Hispanic, 34.1% European American, and 23.2% African American) who were recruited in grade 1 (Mean age = 6.57) and followed annually through the final year of high school (Grade 12). Results revealed three distinct trajectories of childhood resilient personality, including an ego-resilient or flexible group (26.8%), an ego-brittle or inflexible group (21.9%), and an ordinary or common group (49.9%). Children in the ego-brittle group were at a greater risk for sustaining high levels of behavioral problems, low socio-emotional funct...
Self-regulation is increasingly recognized as a key predictor of academic and social competence. ... more Self-regulation is increasingly recognized as a key predictor of academic and social competence. A multidisciplinary understanding of this ability is timely and can strengthen theory and practice. The present review aims to inform educators on what cognitive neuroscience can teach us about self-regulation. To do so, we will focus on a decade-long research program examining children with disruptive behavior problems and their peers, and ask whether neural measures of self-regulation can (a) covary with individual differences in behavioral measures of self-regulation, (b) trace developmental patterns, and (c) predict or trace behavioral change with successful treatment of disruptive behavior problems. We show that several studies begin to converge on a set of neural measures derived from the prefrontal cortex that can be consistently linked to processes of self-regulation. Next, we will discuss what these measures mean from a cognitive neuroscience perspective and how this knowledge could influence and/or support psychological models relevant to education.
BACKGROUND Data that can be easily, efficiently, and safely collected via cell phones and other d... more BACKGROUND Data that can be easily, efficiently, and safely collected via cell phones and other digital devices have great potential for clinical application. Here, we focus on how these data could be used to refine and augment intervention strategies for binge eating disorder (BED) and bulimia nervosa (BN), conditions that lack highly efficacious, enduring, and accessible treatments. These data are easy to collect digitally but are highly complex and present unique methodological challenges that invite innovative solutions. OBJECTIVE We describe the digital phenotyping component of the Binge Eating Genetics Initiative, which uses personal digital device data to capture dynamic patterns of risk for binge and purge episodes. Characteristic data signatures will ultimately be used to develop personalized models of eating disorder pathologies and just-in-time interventions to reduce risk for related behaviors. Here, we focus on the methods used to prepare the data for analysis and discu...
JBD935630_supplemental_material for Predicting differentiated developmental trajectories of proso... more JBD935630_supplemental_material for Predicting differentiated developmental trajectories of prosocial behavior: A 12-year longitudinal study of children facing early risks and vulnerabilities by Qinxin Shi, Idean Ettekal, Jeffrey Liew and Steven Woltering in International Journal of Behavioral Development
Abstract The purpose of this study was to investigate the associations between elementary student... more Abstract The purpose of this study was to investigate the associations between elementary students’ reading skills and their online reading (i.e., real-time reading) behaviors during silent sentence processing. Thirty-five students participated in this study and their eye movements were recorded during sentence reading tasks. The effects of students’ reading skills measured by traditional standardized measures were investigated for widely-used eye tracking measures such as first fixation duration, gaze duration, regression path duration, total duration, word skipping, fixation count, and regression frequency. The eye tracking measures were chosen to represent early/late cognitive processes and temporal/spatial gaze behaviors. Linear mixed-effects regression analyses revealed that children’s performances in reading skills predict most of the eye tracking measures.
This study examined the development and continuity of teacher-student relationship quality across... more This study examined the development and continuity of teacher-student relationship quality across the formal schooling years (Grades 1 to 12) and investigated how variations (i.e., differential trajectories) in teacher-student relationship quality were longitudinally associated with children's conduct problems across childhood and adolescence. Participants consisted of 784 students (Mage = 6.57 in Grade 1; 47% girls, 37.4% Latino or Hispanic, 34.1% European American, and 23.2% African American) who were identified as being academically at risk (i.e., had low literacy scores at school entry). Distinct subgroups of children were identified based on variations in their teacher-student warmth and conflict trajectories, and patterns of continuity and change were also assessed across the transition to middle school. The findings provided insights into how the duration, magnitude, and timing of teacher-student relationship quality were associated with children's conduct problems. M...
Abstract Bulimia nervosa (BN) and binge-eating disorder (BED) are similar in that both are charac... more Abstract Bulimia nervosa (BN) and binge-eating disorder (BED) are similar in that both are characterized by recurrent episodes of binge-eating, but diverge in that BN but not BED includes recurrent inappropriate compensatory behaviors to limit weight gain or counteract the effects of a binge. Binge (B) and purge (P) “events” are often conceptualized and studied as a series of brief snap shots where changing circumstances increase or decrease the likelihood of these disordered behaviors. We propose that B and P episodes can be better conceptualized as changes in patterns that unfold over time and that shifts between normative and dysfunctional patterns are observable using passive sensing methodologies and may be precluded by physiological or behavioral warning signs. In this paper, we introduce conceptual and theoretical approaches to consider B and P events from this perspective. We then use two illustrative case examples from a larger parent study to demonstrate how recent technologies can be used to collect intensive longitudinal data and how such data can be used to visualize normative and dysfunctional patterns. Finally, we close with discussion of the implications of this conceptualization and the corresponding data collection and visualization methods for basic science and intervention in eating disorders.
The current study examined the heterogeneity in the development of school-based prosocial behavio... more The current study examined the heterogeneity in the development of school-based prosocial behavior from Grades 1 to 12 and the role of multiple early childhood antecedents in predicting heterogeneous developmental trajectories of prosocial behavior in a sample of 784 children facing early risks and vulnerabilities (predominantly from low-income families and academically at risk; 52.6% male). In alignment with the risk and resilience framework, antecedents consisted of risk and protective factors from both individual (i.e., ego-resilient personality, behavior problems, intelligence, academic performance, gender, and ethnicity) and contextual domains (i.e., maternal support and responsiveness, family socioeconomic adversity, teacher–child warmth and conflict, and peer acceptance and rejection). We identified four distinct prosocial trajectories including a high-stable (52.5%), high-desisting (15%), moderate-increasing (20.6%), and low-stable class (11.9%). Results revealed that the lo...
Reading and math attainment develop during elementary grades. Questions remain, though, about the... more Reading and math attainment develop during elementary grades. Questions remain, though, about the co-developmental nature of the relation between reading and math. This study examined dynamic, longitudinal pathways between reading and math in first through fourth grades. Participants of the study were 554 academically at-risk children (M age at the first assessment point = 6.57 years; SD = 0.38) from Texas Project Achieve. Children were assessed utilizing the Woodcock-Johnson-III reading and math measures. Results from dynamic bivariate latent change score models indicated unidirectional longitudinal coupling effects from reading to math. Specifically, average and high levels of reading performance were associated with subsequent gains in math growth, in particular for below average performing children in math. In contrast, low levels of reading performance had negligible or no amplifying influences on change in math growth. The nature of the dynamics was replicated even when controlling for nonverbal cognitive abilities. Results demonstrated that good reading skills pave the way for children to develop their math skills. Such findings underscore the importance of considering reading performance in treating math difficulties.
The Dysregulation Profile (DP) has emerged as a measure of concurrent affective, behavioral and c... more The Dysregulation Profile (DP) has emerged as a measure of concurrent affective, behavioral and cognitive dysregulation, associated with severe psychopathology and poor adjustment. While originally developed with the Child Behavior Checklist, more recently the DP has also been defined on the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ), mostly with a 5-item, but also a 15-item, SDQ-DP measure. This study evaluated the SDQ-DP by examining its factor structure, measurement invariance, and construct validity. Different SDQ-DP operationalizations were compared. In a US longitudinal community sample (N = 768), a bifactor model consisting of a general Dysregulation factor and three specific factors of Emotional Symptoms, Conduct Problems, and Hyperactivity-Inattention fitted best, across three different developmental periods (early childhood, middle childhood, adolescence) and across three different reporters (parents, teachers, youth). Measurement invariance across reporter, gender, and developmental period was demonstrated. These findings indicate that the SDQ-DP, like the CBCL-DP, reflects a broad syndrome of dysregulation that exists in addition to specific syndromes of emotional symptoms, conduct problems, and hyperactivity-inattention. SDQ-DP bifactor scores were strongly related with scores on the 5-and 15-item SDQ-DP measures and similarly concurrently associated with two markers of self-regulation, ego-resiliency and effortful control, and longitudinally with antisocial behavior and disciplinary measures. As reliability, validity and stability was weaker for the SDQ-DP 5-item measure, use of all 15 items is recommended. Advantages of using a bifactor approach are discussed as well as the potential of the SDQ-DP as an easy screening measure of children at risk for developing serious psychopathology.
This study examined the continuity and change of childhood resilient personality (first three yea... more This study examined the continuity and change of childhood resilient personality (first three years in grade school), and how differential trajectories in resilient personality were dynamically associated with behavioral problems, social-emotional functioning and academic performance across the primary and secondary school years (Grade 1-12). Participants were 784 academically at-risk students predominantly from low SES families (47% girls, 37.4% Latino or Hispanic, 34.1% European American, and 23.2% African American) who were recruited in grade 1 (Mean age = 6.57) and followed annually through the final year of high school (Grade 12). Results revealed three distinct trajectories of childhood resilient personality, including an ego-resilient or flexible group (26.8%), an ego-brittle or inflexible group (21.9%), and an ordinary or common group (49.9%). Children in the ego-brittle group were at a greater risk for sustaining high levels of behavioral problems, low socio-emotional funct...
Self-regulation is increasingly recognized as a key predictor of academic and social competence. ... more Self-regulation is increasingly recognized as a key predictor of academic and social competence. A multidisciplinary understanding of this ability is timely and can strengthen theory and practice. The present review aims to inform educators on what cognitive neuroscience can teach us about self-regulation. To do so, we will focus on a decade-long research program examining children with disruptive behavior problems and their peers, and ask whether neural measures of self-regulation can (a) covary with individual differences in behavioral measures of self-regulation, (b) trace developmental patterns, and (c) predict or trace behavioral change with successful treatment of disruptive behavior problems. We show that several studies begin to converge on a set of neural measures derived from the prefrontal cortex that can be consistently linked to processes of self-regulation. Next, we will discuss what these measures mean from a cognitive neuroscience perspective and how this knowledge could influence and/or support psychological models relevant to education.
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