Developmental Trajectories Research Articles

Developmental trajectory of gaze during natural locomotion

Developmental trajectory of gaze during natural locomotion

Differential growth trajectories of behavioral self-regulation from early childhood to adolescence: Implication for youth domain-general and school-specific outcomes

The current study examined the developmental trajectories of behavioral self-regulation from early childhood to adolescence and linked them to adolescent domain-general (i.e., positive functioning and delinquent behavior) and school-specific (i.e., school connectedness and peer victimization) outcomes. Using data from the Future of Families and Child Wellbeing Study (N = 4009), Growth Mixture Models identified four behavioral self-regulation trajectory classes: early developer (n = 2096, 52.3%), moderate stable (n = 1500, 37.4%), lagged developer (n = 212, 5.2%), and regressor (n = 201, 5%). Child and family characteristics were used to distinguish these four trajectories. The early developer trajectory had the strongest protective effect on adolescent outcomes, showing the highest levels of positive functioning and school connectedness and the lowest levels of delinquent behavior and peer victimization. Conversely, the regressor trajectory was linked with highest risky adolescent outcomes. The findings underscore the importance of implementing targeted intervention programs that promote behavioral self-regulation during middle childhood.

“Agricultural to Non-agricultural” Ways and Chinese Labor Market Differentiation: Endowment Difference or Identity Discrimination?

Abstract Different methods of transforming rural migrants’ household registration can affect their integration into citizenship. This study assesses the impact of different rural-to- urban hukou conversion methods on labor market wages and job entry, utilizing empirical analysis with China General Social Survey (CGSS) data. Rural migrants transitioning to urban hukou are categorized as active or passive “agricultural to non-agricultural” groups. Wage disparities between these groups are analyzed using the Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition method, revealing that 50% of the wage gap remains unexplained by individual characteristics. Additionally, this paper explores factors contributing to wage and job entry differences using OLS regression analysis. Empirical findings indicate that discrimination significantly contributes to the wage and job entry gap between passive and active groups, with primary mechanisms including statistical bias, information acquisition differences, and identity challenges. These results underscore the inevitable transition of the agricultural population to urban areas in emerging nations’ development trajectory. However, challenges may arise during this transformation, particularly in China, where passive “agricultural to non-agricultural” individuals face discrimination. Addressing the rights and interests of this group is crucial for ensuring smooth urbanization in China and offers insights to improve urbanization efforts in developing nations.

Anatomo-functional changes in neural substrates of cognitive memory in developmental amnesia: Insights from automated and manual Magnetic Resonance Imaging examinations.

Despite bilateral hippocampal damage dating to the perinatal or early childhood period and severely impaired episodic memory, patients with developmental amnesia continue to exhibit well-developed semantic memory across the developmental trajectory. Detailed information on the extent and focality of brain damage in these patients is needed to hypothesize about the neural substrate that supports their remarkable capacity for encoding and retrieval of semantic memory. In particular, we need to assess whether the residual hippocampal tissue is involved in this preservation, or whether the surrounding cortical areas reorganize to rescue aspects of these critical cognitive memory processes after early injury. We used voxel-based morphometry (VBM) analysis, automatic (FreeSurfer) and manual segmentation to characterize structural changes in the brain of an exceptionally large cohort of 23 patients with developmental amnesia in comparison with 32 control subjects. Both the VBM and the FreeSurfer analyses revealed severe structural alterations in the hippocampus and thalamus of patients with developmental amnesia. Milder damage was found in the amygdala, caudate, and parahippocampal gyrus. Manual segmentation demonstrated differences in the degree of atrophy of the hippocampal subregions in patients. The level of atrophy in CA-DG subregions and subicular complex was more than 40%, while the atrophy of the uncus was moderate (-24%). Anatomo-functional correlations were observed between the volumes of residual hippocampal subregions in patients and selective aspects of their cognitive performance, viz, intelligence, working memory, and verbal and visuospatial recall. Our findings suggest that in patients with developmental amnesia, cognitive processing is compromised as a function of the extent of atrophy in hippocampal subregions. More severe hippocampal damage may be more likely to promote structural and/or functional reorganization in areas connected to the hippocampus. In this hypothesis, different levels of hippocampal function may be rescued following this variable reorganization. Our findings document not only the extent, but also the limits of circuit reorganization occurring in the young brain after early bilateral hippocampal damage.

The Different Strategies of the Italian Regions within the 2023 2027 Rural Development Programme

Following the European Commission’s approval of the CAP Strategic Plan and the 21 Italian region (CSR)-related strategic documents, the financial aspect that characterized the single national CAP plan was made available. Here, we present and analyze the final data on the distribution of public resources for interventions between 2023 and 2027. This marks a pivotal period of strategic information for those who follow the evolution of the rural development policy, providing vital indications of policymakers’ priorities. In Italy, where rural development policy is highly regionalized, it is difficult to acquire an overall view of the strategic choices adopted by the individual regions. The primary objective of this article is to offer a comprehensive and enlightening synopsis of the regional choices in the CSRs. It aims to identify shared strategic paths in rural development, with a specific focus on the financial allocation in each of the three historical macro-objectives of the CAP: the competitiveness of the agri-food sector, the protection of the environment, and the revitalization of rural areas. Cluster analysis classification allows for aggregating the strategies adopted, allowing for comparisons across the Italian regions. The results show three regional groups focused on environmental strategy, structural investment measures, and resource distribution that is more balanced between these two approaches. Identifying the strategic choices made by the regions allows policymakers to predict different development trajectories and the progress of the expenditure indicators over the years. At the moment, it is impossible to verify whether the policy mix defined in the budget allocation is consistent with the strategic statements.

Regional patterns of human cortex development correlate with underlying neurobiology

Human brain morphology undergoes complex changes over the lifespan. Despite recent progress in tracking brain development via normative models, current knowledge of underlying biological mechanisms is highly limited. We demonstrate that human cortical thickness development and aging trajectories unfold along patterns of molecular and cellular brain organization, traceable from population-level to individual developmental trajectories. During childhood and adolescence, cortex-wide spatial distributions of dopaminergic receptors, inhibitory neurons, glial cell populations, and brain-metabolic features explain up to 50% of the variance associated with a lifespan model of regional cortical thickness trajectories. In contrast, modeled cortical thickness change patterns during adulthood are best explained by cholinergic and glutamatergic neurotransmitter receptor and transporter distributions. These relationships are supported by developmental gene expression trajectories and translate to individual longitudinal data from over 8000 adolescents, explaining up to 59% of developmental change at cohort- and 18% at single-subject level. Integrating neurobiological brain atlases with normative modeling and population neuroimaging provides a biologically meaningful path to understand brain development and aging in living humans.

Cognitive and Social-Emotional Development in Girls With Fragile X Syndrome.

To evaluate the developmental trajectory of key cognitive, social, and emotional features in girls with fragile X syndrome (FXS). This longitudinal, parallel cohort study collected data between January 2018 and December 2022. Participants were evaluated 3 times with ∼12-18 months between visits. Participants included 65 girls with FXS, 6 to 16 years, and 52 age- and developmentally-matched girls without FXS. Participants' scores from direct assessment and caregiver report evaluated 3 cognitive domains (verbal abilities, nonverbal abilities, executive function) and 4 social-emotional domains (depression, general anxiety, social behavior, and social anxiety). Participants included 117 girls (mean [M] [SD] age at study entry: FXS M = 10.59 [3.00]; comparison M = 10.45 [2.40])). Omnibus tests showed 4 domains with significant group differences: Verbal (P < .0001, eg, Differential Abilities Scale-II(DAS-II), Picture Vocabulary (-6.25 [1.87])), nonverbal (P < .0001, eg, Kaufman Test of Educational Achievement, Third Edition, Brief Form, Math (-8.56 [2.90])), executive function (P < .0001, eg, NIH Toolbox List Sorting (-6.26 [1.48])), and social anxiety (P < .03, eg, Anxiety, Depression, and Mood Scale (ADAMS) Social Avoidance (1.50 [0.65])). Three domains had significant group by age interaction: Verbal (P < .04, eg, DAS-II, Word Definitions (-1.33 [0.55])), social behavior (P < .01, eg, Social Responsiveness Scale-2 Social Communication (1.57 [0.51])), and social anxiety (P < .01, eg, ADAMS Social Avoidance (0.46 [0.19])). These findings support the development of early, disorder specific interventions for girls with FXS targeting verbal and nonverbal skills, executive function, social behavior, and social anxiety.

Suicide Risk among Chinese Left-Behind Adolescents: Developmental Trajectories and Multi-Contextual Predictors.

Suicide is prevalent among left-behind youth, a group that has yet to be thoroughly explored in terms of the developmental dynamics of their suicide risk and associated factors. This study adopted a person-centered approach to investigate the developmental trajectories of suicide risk among Chinese left-behind adolescents, along with multi-dimensional predictors. A total of 774 left-behind adolescents (Mage = 13.60, 50.1% female) completed three surveys over a year, with six-month intervals. Result of Latent Class Growth Modeling identified three subgroups with distinct developmental trajectories: High Risk-Escalating (7.6% of participants started at the highest levels with a worsening trend), Risk-Holding (21.6% maintained a stable but risk level starting above the critical threshold), and Low Risk-Diminishing (70.8% started low and continued to decrease). Gender (being a female), increased levels of childhood maltreatment, psychological pain, and depression were risk factors for High Risk-Escalating and/or Risk-Holding trajectories, while increased sense of control and regulatory emotional self-efficacy played protective roles. The findings underscore the malignant developmental patterns of suicide risk among left-behind adolescents. The predictive factors play a crucial role in distinguishing and improving these developmental trajectories.

Prenatal environment is associated with the pace of cortical network development over the first three years of life

Environmental influences on brain structure and function during early development have been well-characterized, but whether early environments are associated with the pace of brain development is not clear. In pre-registered analyses, we use flexible non-linear models to test the theory that prenatal disadvantage is associated with differences in trajectories of intrinsic brain network development from birth to three years (n = 261). Prenatal disadvantage was assessed using a latent factor of socioeconomic disadvantage that included measures of mother’s income-to-needs ratio, educational attainment, area deprivation index, insurance status, and nutrition. We find that prenatal disadvantage is associated with developmental increases in cortical network segregation, with neonates and toddlers with greater exposure to prenatal disadvantage showing a steeper increase in cortical network segregation with age, consistent with accelerated network development. Associations between prenatal disadvantage and cortical network segregation occur at the local scale and conform to a sensorimotor-association hierarchy of cortical organization. Disadvantage-associated differences in cortical network segregation are associated with language abilities at two years, such that lower segregation is associated with improved language abilities. These results shed light on associations between the early environment and trajectories of cortical development.

Effects of chronic social defeat stress on social behavior and cognitive flexibility for early and late adolescent

This study investigated the risk to social behavior and cognitive flexibility induced by chronic social defeat stress (CSDS) during early and late adolescence (EA and LA). Utilizing the “resident-intruder” stress paradigm, adolescent male Sprague-Dawley rats were exposed to CSDS during either EA (postnatal days 29–38) or LA (postnatal days 39–48) to explore how social defeat at different stages of adolescence affects behavioral and cognitive symptoms commonly associated with psychiatric disorders. After stress exposure, the rats were assessed for anxiety-like behavior in the elevated plus maze, social interaction, and cognitive flexibility through set-shifting and reversal-learning tasks under immediate and delayed reward conditions. The results showed that CSDS during EA, but not LA, led to impaired cognitive flexibility in adulthood, as evidenced by increased perseverative and regressive errors in the set-shifting and reversal-learning tasks, particularly under the delayed reward condition. This suggests that the timing of stress exposure during development has a significant impact on the long-term consequences for behavioral and cognitive function. The findings highlight the vulnerability of the prefrontal cortex, which undergoes critical maturation during early adolescence, to the effects of social stress. Overall, this study demonstrates that the timing of social stressors during adolescence can differentially shape the developmental trajectory of cognitive flexibility, with important implications for understanding the link between childhood/adolescent adversity and the emergence of psychiatric disorders.

ScVGATAE: A Variational Graph Attentional Autoencoder Model for Clustering Single-Cell RNA-seq Data.

Single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) is now a successful technology for identifying cell heterogeneity, revealing new cell subpopulations, and predicting developmental trajectories. A crucial component in scRNA-seq is the precise identification of cell subsets. Although many unsupervised clustering methods have been developed for clustering cell subpopulations, the performance of these methods is prone to be affected by dropout, high dimensionality, and technical noise. Additionally, most existing methods are time-consuming and fail to fully consider the potential correlations between cells. In this paper, we propose a novel unsupervised clustering method called scVGATAE (Single-cell Variational Graph Attention Autoencoder) for scRNA-seq data. This method constructs a reliable cell graph through network denoising, utilizes a novel variational graph autoencoder model integrated with graph attention networks to aggregate neighbor information and learn the distribution of the low-dimensional representations of cells, and adaptively determines the model training iterations for various datasets. Finally, the obtained low-dimensional representations of cells are clustered using kmeans. Experiments on nine public datasets show that scVGATAE outperforms classical and state-of-the-art clustering methods.

Variation in moment-to-moment brain state engagement changes across development and contributes to individual differences in executive function.

Neural variability, or variation in brain signals, facilitates dynamic brain responses to ongoing demands. This flexibility is important during development from childhood to young adulthood, a period characterized by rapid changes in experience. However, little is known about how variability in the engagement of recurring brain states changes during development. Such investigations would require the continuous assessment of multiple brain states concurrently. Here, we leverage a new computational framework to study state engagement variability (SEV) during development. A consistent pattern of SEV changing with age was identified across cross-sectional and longitudinal datasets (N>3000). SEV developmental trajectories stabilize around mid-adolescence, with timing varying by sex and brain state. SEV successfully predicts executive function (EF) in youths from an independent dataset. Worse EF is further linked to alterations in SEV development. These converging findings suggest SEV changes over development, allowing individuals to flexibly recruit various brain states to meet evolving needs.

Trajectories of cognitive function development and predictive factors in disabled middle-aged and older adults.

To explore the trajectories of cognitive function development and predictive factors in disabled middle-aged and older adults. Utilizing data from 983 disabled middle-aged and older adults in the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) from 2013 to 2020, latent growth mixture models were constructed to analyze the categories of cognitive function development trajectories and their predictive factors. The cognitive function trajectories of the disabled middle-aged and older adults were classified into three categories: rapid decline (32.6%), Slow decline (36.1%), and Stable (31.2%). Multinomial logistic regression analysis identified age, gender, residence, education, marital status, household income, sleep duration, depression, hearing ability, and social participation as predictors of these trajectories. There is heterogeneity in the cognitive function development trajectories among disabled middle-aged and older adults. Healthcare professionals can implement targeted health management based on the characteristics of different groups to prevent the deterioration of cognitive function in this population.

The unique social-emotional challenges that bright immigrant youth face

This paper explores the social-emotional challenges faced by bright immigrant youth. We incorporate Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory to identify complexities across the model’s 5 layers. In the microsystem, cultural heritage conflicts with assimilation, disrupting support networks, suggesting the need for culturally sensitive support in schools, peer networks, and family involvement. The mesosystem highlights language and cultural barriers in family-school cooperation, recommending enhanced communication, curricular adjustments, and language support. The exosystem reveals immigration policies and discrimination exacerbate challenges, advocating for equitable educational access and cultural competence training. The macrosystem addresses societal perceptions and the recognition of giftedness, promoting equality, diversity, and positive cultural climates. Finally, the chronosystem indicates that policy changes impact developmental trajectories. Understanding these 5 socio-cultural layers and implementing targeted interventions can effectively support the social-emotional well-being and academic success of immigrant youth.

Developmental Trajectory of Depressive Symptoms among Left-behind Children in Rural China: The Roles of Family Adversity and Personal Growth Initiative.

The adversity faced by left-behind children due to parental migration affects their depressive symptoms, but little is known about the mechanism underlying this association and protective factors from a dynamic perspective. The present study examined the association between family adversity and the developmental trajectory of depressive symptoms, and the potential mediating and moderating role of personal growth initiative in this association among left-behind children. A total of 363 left-behind children (48.8% female; Mage = 12.97 at T1, SDage = 0.55) from five rural middle schools in the Hunan Province of China participated in this three-wave study, employing one-year intervals between assessments. The results indicated the initial level of personal growth initiative mediated the association between family adversity at T1 and the development of depressive symptoms, while the growth rate of personal growth initiative both mediated and moderated this association, with consistent effects across sexes. These findings underscore the critical role of personal growth initiative in the association between family adversity and depressive symptoms among left-behind children.

Narrating lives across 16 years: Developmental trajectories of coherence and relations to well-being in a lifespan sample.

The ability to narrate a life coherently develops first in adolescence, but little is known about its course across adulthood and into old age. Also, the potential association of life narrative coherence with well-being has never been studied. Our aim was to investigate lifespan development of coherence and associations with well-being using data from the longitudinal MainLife study. A total of 172 urban Germans (8-80 years; 87 females) narrated their lives up to six times across 16 years (N = 803 brief entire life narratives). Most were highly educated, and the proportion of a migration background was typical for the local population. Life narratives were rated for three types of global coherence (temporal, causal-motivational, and thematic) and coded for two types of autobiographical arguments (stability maintaining and change engendering). Multilevel models were used to investigate their lifespan development and relations to well-being. While most life narrative measures increased up to emerging adulthood and then remained stable, thematic coherence continued to increase into middle adulthood. Only change-engendering autobiographical arguments slowly decreased from midlife onward. Unexpectedly, neither autobiographical arguments nor global coherence correlated significantly with well-being. Data exploration suggested an association between thematic coherence and self-continuity. We conclude that life narrative coherence may only be related to well-being if samples include cases with more extreme noncoherence (e,g., clinical disorders). Our findings add to understanding the development of the life story across the lifespan, especially in older age, and suggest studying relations of coherence, self-continuity, and well-being specifically in life crises and in clinical samples. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Meaning-oriented understanding of L2 academic writing development with task-type repetition

From a meaning-oriented perspective, the study drew on the nominalization in Systemic Functional Linguistics with Coh-Metrix and interviews to check how L2 academic writing of student writers may develop with the implementation of task-type repetition (TtR). The findings revealed that the development of L2 academic writing was presumably staged rather than constantly linear. Over the development, language proficiency dynamically resonated with TtR. First, the beginning session of TtR (from Task 1 to around Task 4) witnessed a more dynamic developmental trajectory during which the low-proficiency student constantly outperformed the other two in inter-sentential cohesion, while the intermediate-level student stood out over the middle session (Task 4- around Task 8). Second, at three genre stagings, students’ genre knowledge deeply resonated with their meaning-making activities throughout TtR, particularly in facilitating individual iterative reflection on their established writing knowledge. Third, the deficiency of genre knowledge may cause wide-range absence of nominalization at DESCRIPTION and CONCLUSION than EXPOSITION. Fourth, the linguistic fossilization identified at DESCRIPTION implies that anaphoric reconstrual may be individually mediated (by grammatically complicating the syntax in the study). Finally, a nuanced improvement in metaphorical enrichment and control was identified.

A Review of Electrospun Carbon-Based Nanofibers Materials used in Lithium-Sulfur Batteries.

Commercial lithium-ion batteries are gradually approaching their theoretical specific energy, which cannot meet the fast-growing energy storage demands. Lithium-sulfur (Li-S) batteries are anticipated to supersede lithium-ion batteries as the next-generation energy storage system owing to their high atheoretical specific capacity (1675 mAh g-1) and energy density (2600 Wh kg-1). Nonetheless, Li-S batteries encounter several challenges, including the inadequate conductivity of sulfur and lithium sulfide, sulfur's volume expansion, and the shuttle effect of lithium polysulfides, all of which significantly impact the practical utilization of Li-S batteries. Electrospun carbon-based nanofibers can simultaneously resolve these issues with their economical preparation, distinctive nanostructure, and exceptional flexibility. This review presents the most recent research findings on electrospun carbon-based nanofibers materials serving as sulfur hosts and interlayer components in Li-S batteries. We analyzed the impact of the material's structural design on the performance of Li-S batteries and the relative underlying mechanism. Finally, the current challenges and issues faced by carbon-based nanofibers composites in the application of Li-S batteries are summarized, and the future development trajectory are outlined.

Speech Rate of Children With Developmental Language Disorder in a Narrative Context

This study investigates the speech rate of Cypriot Greek-speaking children with developmental language disorder (DLD) as well as the effect of age and gender. The participants were 16 children with DLD aged 4 years 11 months to 8 years 1 month and 22 children with typical language development (TLD) aged 4 years 5 months to 8 years 7 months. Both groups were divided into younger and older groups. All children participated in a storytelling task, and measurements were conducted based on syllables and words per second. The results indicated significant differences between children with DLD and children with TLD in the speech rate, but no differences between younger and older and male and female children of both groups. The stagnancy of speech rate across different age groups demonstrates that children with DLD follow similar developmental trajectories as children with TLD and that speech rate is not affected by gender. Speech rate could be considered as a marker for identifying DLD in Cypriot Greek-speaking children.

An introduction to the HEALthy Brain and Child Development Study (HBCD) study

The fundamental organization of the human brain is established before birth, with rapid growth continuing over the first postnatal years. Children exposed before or after birth to various biological (e.g., substance exposure) or psychosocial hazards (e.g., maltreatment) are at elevated likelihood of deviating from a typical developmental trajectory, which in turn can be associated with psychological, behavioral, and physical health sequelae. In the HEALthy Brain and Child Development (HBCD) Study, a multi-site prospective longitudinal cohort study, brain, physical, biological, cognitive, behavioral, social, and emotional development is being examined starting in pregnancy and planned through age 10 (data are sampled at varying degrees of granularity depending on age, with more dense sampling earlier in life). HBCD aims to determine the short- and long-term impacts of a variety of both harmful and protective factors, including prenatal substance use, on developmental trajectories through early childhood. Organized as a nationwide consortium across 27 sites, the HBCD Study will collect multimodal data that will be made publicly available on a yearly basis, through a data use application and approval process. Here we provide an overview of the HBCD Study design, sampling, protocol development, and data management. Data collected through HBCD will be fundamental to informing future prenatal and early childhood interventions and policies to promote wellbeing and resilience in all children.