Longitudinal Study Of Development Research Articles

Longitudinal Study of Infant Sleep Development: Early Predictors of Sleep Regulation Across the First Year.

BackgroundAn important developmental task for infants over their first few years of life is to learn to settle to sleep with a reasonably short latency, maintain sleep through the night and coordinate with family sleeping and waking schedules. A child who can reliably do this is exhibiting self-regulated sleep. Otherwise, children’s sleep may have to be other (non-self) regulated to some degree and they may exhibit pediatric sleep disturbances (e.g., extended sleep latency, and/or frequent nightwaking); these are reported by 36–45% of parents of infants between ages four to 12 months.PurposeTo answer the question: Can infant and parent factors observed at 1 month of infant age predict which infants will have regulated sleep at 6- and 12-months of age? Prediction from 1 month has not previously been investigated.MethodsIn a prospective longitudinal study, the mothers of 52 typically developing infants completed 6-day sleep diaries at 1, 3, 6, 9 and 12 months from which a composite sleep score (CSS) was derived for each child at each month. Diary reliability was assessed once (for 54% of families) using all-night videosomnography.ResultsAt 6 months, CSS scores were distributed bi-modally and thus differentiated into two groups by an empirically observed CSS cutoff score, with a majority (56%) of infants classified as self-sleep regulated (S-R) and the rest as non-self sleep-regulated (NS-R). At 12 months, 72% could similarly be classified as S-R, while 28% exhibited some continuing sleep disturbance. Discriminant function analysis investigated the predictors of S-R vs NS-R group membership at 6 and 12 months from parent and child variables recorded at 1 month. Parent presence at sleep onset and less total infant sleep time predicted group membership at 6 months with 94% classification accuracy, and parental presence at sleep onset and frequency of infant night wakings predicted group membership at 12 months with 85% accuracy. At 1 month, parents of infants later classified as NS-R at 6 and 12 months had higher frequencies of all settling activities than parents of those later classified as S-R.ConclusionVariables measured at 1 month that predicted sleep status at 6 and 12 months were parental presence at sleep onset, frequency of infant night waking and total infant sleep time. The overall frequency of parent settling activities at 1 month also clearly differentiated the two sleep groups at the older ages. Parenting behaviours are modifiable factors and thus may have the potential for preventing pediatric sleep disturbances in children.

A Longitudinal Study of White Matter Development in Relation to Changes in Autism Severity Across Early Childhood

BackgroundCross-sectional diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging studies suggest that young autistic children have alterations in white matter structure that differ from older autistic individuals. However, it is unclear whether these differences result from atypical neurodevelopment or sampling differences between young and older cohorts. Furthermore, the relationship between altered white matter development and longitudinal changes in autism symptoms is unknown. MethodsUsing longitudinal diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging acquired over 2 to 3 time points between the ages of approximately 2.5 to 7.0 years in 125 autistic children and 69 typically developing control participants, we directly tested the hypothesis that autistic individuals have atypical white matter development across childhood. Additionally, we sought to determine whether changes in white matter diffusion parameters were associated with longitudinal changes in autism severity. ResultsAutistic children were found to have slower development of fractional anisotropy in the cingulum bundle, superior longitudinal fasciculus, internal capsule, and splenium of the corpus callosum. Furthermore, in the sagittal stratum, autistic individuals who increased in autism severity over time had a slower developmental trajectory of fractional anisotropy compared with individuals whose autism decreased in severity. In the uncinate fasciculus, autistic individuals who decreased in autism symptom severity also had greater increases in fractional anisotropy with age. ConclusionsThese longitudinal findings indicate that previously reported differences in diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging measures between younger and older autism cohorts are attributable to an atypical developmental trajectory of white matter. Differences in white matter development between individuals whose autism severity increased, remained stable, or decreased suggest that these functional differences are associated with fiber development in the autistic brain.

A cloud-computing platform for developing and evaluating vocal biomarkers based on home audio recordings: Resources for large-scale data processing and analysis

This presentation describes the design and construction of a comprehensive cloud-computing platform for implementing and evaluating vocal biomarkers, both for assessing typical development of speech and language and detecting deviations in autism. As part of a prospective longitudinal study of early vocal development (NIH P50 MH100029), whole-day home audio recordings were collected from more than 300 children every month from birth to three years using LENA, providing long-term, large-scale sampling of each child's natural environment. The database contains more than 40 000 h of raw audio data, post-processed acoustic measures, event timing statistics, hand-coded and automated annotations, as well as sociodemographic and clinical metadata, the storage, integration and processing of which has presented significant new challenges. Flexible cloud solutions have been adopted to allow secure cross-platform shared access and referencing of the data. Customized modular “C” code libraries for physical modeling, spectral analysis, temporal event labeling, voice activity detection, speaker diarization and developmental profiling have been developed, based on standard BLAS/LAPACK libraries optimized for device-independent virtual machines, and integrated with an interactive graphical interface for signal analysis and labeling. Resources and specific challenges for large-scale analysis of infant vocalizations will be discussed.

The Child and Parent Emotion Study: protocol for a longitudinal study of parent emotion socialisation and child socioemotional development

IntroductionParents shape child emotional competence and mental health via their beliefs about children’s emotions, emotion-related parenting, the emotional climate of the family and by modelling emotion regulation skills. However, much...

Associations Between Prenatal Cannabis Exposure and Childhood Outcomes

In light of increasing cannabis use among pregnant women, the US Surgeon General recently issued an advisory against the use of marijuana during pregnancy. To evaluate whether cannabis use during pregnancy is associated with adverse outcomes among offspring. In this cross-sectional study, data were obtained from the baseline session of the ongoing longitudinal Adolescent Brain and Cognitive Development Study, which recruited 11 875 children aged 9 to 11 years, as well as a parent or caregiver, from 22 sites across the United States between June 1, 2016, and October 15, 2018. Prenatal cannabis exposure prior to and after maternal knowledge of pregnancy. Symptoms of psychopathology in children (ie, psychotic-like experiences [PLEs] and internalizing, externalizing, attention, thought, and social problems), cognition, sleep, birth weight, gestational age at birth, body mass index, and brain structure (ie, total intracranial volume, white matter volume, and gray matter volume). Covariates included familial (eg, income and familial psychopathology), pregnancy (eg, prenatal exposure to alcohol and tobacco), and child (eg, substance use) variables. Among 11 489 children (5997 boys [52.2%]; mean [SD] age, 9.9 [0.6] years) with nonmissing prenatal cannabis exposure data, 655 (5.7%) were exposed to cannabis prenatally. Relative to no exposure, cannabis exposure only before (413 [3.6%]) and after (242 [2.1%]) maternal knowledge of pregnancy were associated with greater offspring psychopathology characteristics (ie, PLEs and internalizing, externalizing, attention, thought and, social problems), sleep problems, and body mass index, as well as lower cognition and gray matter volume (all |β| > 0.02; all false discovery rate [FDR]-corrected P < .03). Only exposure after knowledge of pregnancy was associated with lower birth weight as well as total intracranial volume and white matter volumes relative to no exposure and exposure only before knowledge (all |β| > 0.02; all FDR-corrected P < .04). When including potentially confounding covariates, exposure after maternal knowledge of pregnancy remained associated with greater PLEs and externalizing, attention, thought, and social problems (all β > 0.02; FDR-corrected P < .02). Exposure only prior to maternal knowledge of pregnancy did not differ from no exposure on any outcomes when considering potentially confounding variables (all |β| < 0.02; FDR-corrected P > .70). This study suggests that prenatal cannabis exposure and its correlated factors are associated with greater risk for psychopathology during middle childhood. Cannabis use during pregnancy should be discouraged.

Longitudinal predictors of male sexual partner risk among Black and Latina women in their late thirties: ethnic/racial identity commitment as a protective factor.

This study aimed to investigate predictors of male sexual partner risk among Latinas and Black women in their late thirties. We used multiple regression analysis to examine factors associated with male sexual partner risk among 296 women who participated in two waves of the Harlem Longitudinal Development Study (New York, 2011-2013 and 2014-2016). Women who experienced childhood sexual abuse had higher risk partners than those who did not [b = 0.16, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.06, 0.28]. Earlier marijuana use was a risk factor for partner risk in the late thirties (b = 0.12, 95% CI = 0.04, 0.27). Higher levels of ethnic/racial identity commitment mitigated this risk (b = - 0.15, 95% CI = - 0.26, - 0.04). Ethnic/racial identity commitment can be protective against male sexual partner risk among Latina and Black women who use marijuana. Further research should explore the protective role of different dimensions of ethnic/racial identity against sexually transmitted infections, including HIV.

Coevolution of cyberinfrastructure development and scientific progress

Many nations have been investing significant funds in cyberinfrastructure for sciences (commonly known as “CI” or “e-science”) in the last few decades. The purpose of these investments has been to advance scientific progress in the supported scientific disciplines such as biodiversity and ecological research. However, there is scare research on how these CI investments impact scientific progress. We conducted a longitudinal case study of CI development and scientific progress based on the Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) program in the United States. We contribute to filling in the research gap by finding CI investments result in impacts both internal and external to the particular discipline of biodiversity. We also find a feedback effect from the discipline to CI development, such that the science and its supporting CI coevolve. The coevolution of CI development and the scientific discipline hinges on the “linking-pin” of data infrastructure. The large-scale data sharing within the discipline and across disciplines, in turn, is contingent on CI governance and how data are structured. The identification of the synergistic coevolution of CI and science enriches coevolutionary theories as well as CI development research. Accordingly, further research and policy changes relating to why and how to fund CI development for sciences, are necessary.

Semi-automated shear stress measurements in developing embryonic hearts.

Blood-induced shear stress influences gene expression. Abnormal shear stress patterns on the endocardium of the early-stage heart tube can lead to congenital heart defects. To have a better understanding of these mechanisms, it is essential to include shear stress measurements in longitudinal cohort studies of cardiac development. Previously reported approaches are computationally expensive and nonpractical when assessing many animals. Here, we introduce a new approach to estimate shear stress that does not rely on recording 4D image sets and extensive post processing. Our method uses two adjacent optical coherence tomography frames (B-scans) where lumen geometry and flow direction are determined from the structural data and the velocity is measured from the Doppler OCT signal. We validated our shear stress estimate by flow phantom experiments and applied it to live quail embryo hearts where observed shear stress patterns were similar to previous studies.

Abnormal Brain Development in Huntington' Disease Is Recapitulated in the zQ175 Knock-In Mouse Model.

Emerging cellular and molecular studies are providing compelling evidence that altered brain development contributes to the pathogenesis of Huntington’s disease (HD). There has been lacking longitudinal system-level data obtained from in vivo HD models supporting this hypothesis. Our human MRI study in children and adolescents with HD indicates that striatal development differs between the HD and control groups, with initial hypertrophy and more rapid volume decline in HD group. In this study, we aimed to determine whether brain development recapitulates the human HD during the postnatal period. Longitudinal structural MRI scans were conducted in the heterozygous zQ175 HD mice and their littermate controls. We found that male zQ175 HD mice recapitulated the region-specific abnormal volume development in the striatum and globus pallidus, with early hypertrophy and then rapidly decline in the regional volume. In contrast, female zQ175 HD mice did not show significant difference in brain volume development with their littermate controls. This is the first longitudinal study of brain volume development at the system level in HD mice. Our results suggest that altered brain development may contribute to the HD pathogenesis. The potential effect of gene therapies targeting on neurodevelopmental event is worth to consider for HD therapeutic intervention.

Digital Transformation in Complex Systems – Implications and Avenues for Further Research

Many complex systems increasingly include embedded digital technologies that are interacting with and constrained by physical components and systems. Although these systems play a central role in our society, they are ignored in contemporary research on digital transformation and innovation. Based on a longitudinal study of avionics development since the 1960s in the aviation industry, this paper explores the digital transformation and digital innovation in CoPS and its associated aspects. The findings emphasize the evolutionary nature of digital transformation and outlines the implications of the embeddedness of digital technologies in complex systems. These include (1) complexity emerging beyond human cognition, (2) tensions between criticality and generativity aspects, (3) multifaceted organizational designs and mirroring, (4) implications for openness with different time horizons and on different levels, e.g. related to open source and communities, and (5) integration capabilities and behaviors in the context of ecosystems (6) new conditions for decision making in an expanding design context. The paper contributes with important new insights and outlines several avenues for further research related to these issues.

Correlates of Cannabis Use Disorders among urban women of color: childhood abuse, relationship with spouse/partner, and media exposure

ABSTRACT Objectives As the rate of cannabis use increases, it is expected that more individuals will develop a Cannabis Use Disorder (CUD). Relatively little is known, however, about the psychosocial correlates of CUDs among racial/ethnic minority women. This study, therefore, examined correlates of CUDs among a cohort of adult African American and Puerto Rican women. Methods The sample consisted of African American and Puerto Rican female participants (N = 343), who have been followed by the Harlem Longitudinal Development Study from mean age 14 to mean age 39 years. The bivariate and multivariate associations between CUDs at age 39 and variables from 5 domains – demographics, earlier cannabis use, childhood abuse, the relationship with the spouse/partner, and media exposure – were assessed using logistic regression analyses. Results The results showed that, with the exception of demographic factors, variables from each of the domains (e.g., sexual abuse in childhood, arguments with spouse/partner, and hours of visual media exposure) were related to CUDs at age 39. Conclusions Findings suggest that in addition to treating CUDs, couples therapy may be indicated to strengthen the spousal/partner relationship, enlist the spouse/partner’s support for cannabis use cessation. Furthermore, frequency of visual media exposure may need to be reduced.

Stigmatization, Resilience, and Mental Health Among a Diverse Community Sample of Transgender and Gender Nonbinary Individuals in the U.S.

Transgender and gender nonbinary (TGNB) individuals were recently designated a health disparity population by the U.S. National Institutes of Health. We examined the effect of gender-related discrimination and resilience factors on the mental health of a community sample diverse in gender identity, age, and race/ethnicity. We report on the baseline data of a longitudinal study of transgender identity development across the lifespan with 330 TGNB individuals recruited through venue-based recruitment in three major metropolitan areas in the U.S. Mean age of participants was 34.4years (SD= 13.7). Structured interviews collected self-report data on sociodemographics, gender-related discrimination, mental health, and resilience. We used hierarchical regression to examine the association between gender-related discrimination and psychological distress (BSI-18) and tested the moderating effect of family support, transgender community connectedness, gender literacy, and transgender activism on this relationship. In adjusted analyses, gender-related discrimination was positively associated with psychological distress. Family support was negatively associated with psychological distress. Contrary to our expectations, gender literacy and transgender activism were positively associated with psychological distress, while no significant relationship was found for transgender community connectedness. Family support, transgender community connectedness, gender literacy, and transgender activism did not moderate the effect of gender-related discrimination on psychological distress. Future mental health interventions should consider leveraging family support among TGNB individuals. Longitudinal studies are needed to better understand the role of gender literacy and activism with respect to mental health and development of identity and resilience among TGNB people.

Persistent offenders and adolescence-limited offenders: Differences in life-courses.

As our previous study indicated, almost half of juvenile delinquents continued offending in adulthood, while the rest ceased to do so. We compared these groups with each other and with non-offenders in the life-course use of alcohol, identity development and life situation. Based on the Jyväskylä Longitudinal Study of Personality and Social Development, four groups were formed at age 42 for men and women: persistent, adolescence-limited and adult-onset offenders and non-offenders. Longitudinal data (N = 369; 53% males) have been collected at ages 8, 14, 20, 27, 36, 42 and 50. Persistent offending, but not adolescence-limited offending, was associated with the accumulation of problems in adulthood and an elevated risk of death before age 54. For males, persistent offending was associated with heavy drinking from adolescence to middle age, diffuse identity, high divorce rates and poverty. For females, persistent offending was associated with heavy drinking in adulthood and a higher rate of being outside the workforce in middle age. In males, adolescence-limited offending was associated with more controlled drinking in adulthood, and in females, with early divorce from the partner and advanced identity. Detecting the risks of the accumulation of problems and potential for positive transitions of juvenile delinquents until middle age will be important for prevention and treatment.

(In)Congruent Parent–Child Reports of Parental Behaviors and Later Child Outcomes

This study evaluated hypothesized relations of (in)congruent parent–child perceptions of parental warmth and hostility at age 7 with changes in child and parent reports of children’s depressive symptoms and rule-breaking behaviors from ages 7 to 10. Dyads consisted of 193 parents (93.3% biological mothers) and children (49.2% female; 46.1% Latinx) drawn from a longitudinal study of child development. Child and parent reports of parental warmth and hostility were collected using parallel measures at age 7. Child and parent reports of child depressive symptoms and rule-breaking behaviors were collected at ages 7 and 10. After controlling for children’s prior symptomatology and individual informant effects, polynomial regression analyses revealed a significant relation between (in)congruent perceptions of parental warmth and child-reported depressive symptoms. Specifically, congruent perceptions of high parental warmth at age 7 predicted decreased levels of child-reported depressive symptoms from ages 7 to 10, whereas congruent perceptions of low parental warmth predicted increased levels of child-reported depressive symptoms, especially among daughters. (In)congruent perceptions of parental hostility were related to child-reported rule-breaking behaviors. Specifically, congruent perceptions of high parental hostility predicted increased rates of child-reported rule-breaking behaviors, whereas incongruent perceptions of high parent-reported and low child-reported parental hostility predicted decreased rates of child-reported rule-breaking behaviors, especially among sons. This study documented the adaptive significance of parent–child (in)congruence in perceptions of parenting across middle childhood and revealed the potential specificity of relations by domain of adaptation and/or gender, thereby suggesting important implications for risk identification and treatment.

Change in attitudes toward aging: Cognitive complaints matter more than objective performance.

Converging longitudinal research suggests that more negative views on aging predict accelerated cognitive decline. Although conceptually suggested, reciprocal relationships between cognitive functioning and attitudes toward aging have remained less clear empirically. We used the 20-year data from the Interdisciplinary Longitudinal Study of Adult Development (ILSE) to better understand such potential bidirectionality. Drawing on 1,002 baseline participants from 2 age groups, a midlife (Mage = 43.7 at baseline) and an old age group (Mage = 62.5 at baseline), we examined longitudinal trajectories between attitude toward own aging, performance-based cognitive measures, and subjective cognitive complaints. Findings from multigroup latent growth curve modeling replicated previous findings that attitude toward own aging predicts cognitive change over 20 years in old age with 2 important specifications: We show that this effect (a) does not apply to midlife and (b) disappears in old age after controlling for depression over time. Further, as expected, cognitive complaints but not cognitive performance were related to change in attitude toward own aging in midlife and old age. Results suggest that differentiating between objective cognitive functioning and subjective cognitive complaints is important when investigating relations between cognitive functioning and attitude toward own aging in different age groups. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Longitudinal Association Between Risk Profiles, School Dropout Risk, and Substance Abuse in Adolescence

Youth psychosocial and school adjustment results from complex developmental transactions between their individual characteristics and diverse environmental influences, which appear as risk or protective factors throughout one’s development. From an ecosystemic and developmental perspective, this study aims to: (1) identify risk profiles among 13-year-old adolescents, and (2) associate these specific profiles with school dropout risk and substance abuse at age 15 years. Data comes from a large Canadian study, the Quebec Longitudinal Study of Development through which adolescents (n = 1312) answered questionnaires at 13 and 15 years old. First, through latent profile analyses, five profiles were identified based on individual, family, social, and school-based risk factors. Some profiles present higher levels of risk factors, while others comprise risk factors that are under the sample average level. Higher-risk profiles show stronger longitudinal associations with later adjustment difficulties. The findings help provide a deeper understanding of how the co-occurrence of various risk factors in adolescence is associated with later adjustment. The combination of the developmental psychopathology and ecosystemic frameworks, as well as the person-centered approach allowed by the latent profile analyses, helps shed new light on individual and developmental risk.

Differences and secular trends in childhood IQ trajectories in Guatemala City

This study documents differences in childhood IQ trajectories of Guatemala City children, aged 6–15 years and born 1961–1993, according to school attended, height-for-age Z-scores (HAZ) and over time (Flynn effect). IQ data come from the Universidad del Valle de Guatemala Longitudinal Study of Child and Adolescent Development. IQ was measured using standardised tests from the Otis-Lennon Mental Ability Test-series. A multilevel model was developed to describe 60,986 IQ observations (level 1), in 22,724 children (level 2), in five schools representing students of different socioeconomic status (SES) (level 3). Average IQ trajectories differed by school. The difference in average IQ at age 11 years between the students of high and low SES schools was 28.7 points. A one-unit increase in HAZ was associated with a 1.42 (0.72, 2.11) unit higher IQ if HAZ was <0, this association was stronger in public compared to private schools. Conversely, one unit increase in HAZ was only associated with a 0.3 (0.001, 0.5) unit higher IQ if HAZ was ≥0. With each birth year increase, IQ at age 11 years increased by 0.14 (95% CI 0.12, 0.16) units, although this Flynn effect attenuated slightly across adolescence. We found no evidence of secular change in the inequality in IQ trajectories (according to school or HAZ). Shorter children from disadvantaged schools in Guatemala City have lower IQ than their taller and wealthier peers, possibly reflecting the damaging effects of poor early life environments both for linear growth and cognitive development.

Agency and actors in regional industrial path development. A framework and longitudinal analysis

Despite significant interest in regional industrial restructuring in economic geography, surprisingly, scarce attention has been paid to the changing role of agency over time. The current paper develops a framework for understanding the role of multiple types of actors and the agency they exercise for regional industrial path development. The framework is employed in a longitudinal study of industry development in Värmland, Sweden, from forestry towards a bio-economy. The analysis highlights how actors exercise very different types of agency in different periods of regional industrial path development.

Longitudinal study of sleep behavior and motor development in low-birth-weight preterm children from infancy to preschool years

ObjectiveTo verify the relationship between sleep characteristics and motor development in low-birth-weight preterm infants during infancy and preschool years. MethodForty-one healthy preterm infants (<37 weeks’ gestation) with low birth weight (≤1500 g) were assessed longitudinally at three different time points: at 6 months of corrected age, at 12 months of corrected age, and at 4–5 years of chronological age. At 6 and 12 months, motor development was assessed using the Denver Developmental Screening Test II and Alberta Infant Motor Scale, while sleep-related habits and disturbances were assessed using the Brief Infant Sleep Questionnaire. At 4–5 years, motor development was reassessed using the Pediatric Evaluation of Disability Inventory and sleep was reassessed using the Sleep Disturbance Scale for Children. Correlations were performed using sleep quality as the predictor variable and motor development as the outcome variable. ResultsMost infants had suspected delay/atypical development at 6 and 12 months, with no difference between the scales (p = 1.000). Suspected delay/atypical development were associated with lateral sleep position (p = 0.004), greater number of nighttime awakenings (p = 0.008), and longer awake periods (p = 0.014) only at 6 months. At 4–5 years, the suspected delay/atypical development observed at 6 and 12 months disappeared. ConclusionsSleep quality correlated with delayed/atypical motor development in healthy preterm infants with low birth weight only at 6 months of corrected age, which did not appear to affect later development of motor skills.

A longitudinal study of spatial skills and number sense development in elementary school children.

Spatial skills have been consistently linked to mathematics achievement in older students and adults, but we know little about their relationship to mathematics achievement in elementary school. This study examined how spatial skills influenced the development of number sense, and subsequent mathematics competency, as students progressed from the 2nd to the 4th grade. Gender, verbal working memory (VWM), and socioeconomic status (SES) have also been found to predict number sense development and to be linked to spatial skills; as such, they were included as covariates in this study. Participants were 304 second graders who were assessed at 5 points between 2nd and 4th grade. Two growth mixture models (spatial skills as time-invariant and time-variant covariates) were tested to determine whether different developmental trajectories were needed to explain the development of number sense. Both models revealed the presence of 2 latent classes. The classes differed in their initial level and in their growth rate, with the higher performing class beginning the second grade at an advantage and increasing that advantage over time. SES, VWM, and spatial skills influenced latent class membership and subsequent mathematics competency. SES, spatial skills, and VWM, but not gender, predicted the intercept but differences were found in predictors of the slope of number sense. The impact of number sense changed over time and differed as a function of latent class having an earlier impact on the higher performing class. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved)