Year Of Secondary School Research Articles

Impact of COVID-19 lockdowns on adolescent pregnancy and school dropout among secondary schoolgirls in Kenya

IntroductionSecondary school closures aimed at limiting the number of infections and deaths due to COVID-19 may have amplified the negative sexual and reproductive health (SRH) and schooling outcomes of vulnerable...

Physical Activity Analysis and Comparison of Secondary School Students in Terms of Selected Regions of Slovakia: A Cross-Sectional Study

Accumulating evidence indicates that regular physical activity plays an important role in strengthening health, however, its absence causes a loss of physical fitness and organism endurance. Our study was aimed at analysing and comparing physical activity of secondary school students in terms of selected regions of Slovakia. A cross-sectional survey measuring (January – December, 2021) physical activity was conducted through intentional sampling with the survey size of 1829 secondary school students (aged 17.35 ± .82) who attended the last year (4th) of grammar and vocational secondary schools. Each answer of the survey group was analysed, compared and evaluated by using the chi-square test (χ2) with the significance level (α) of .01 and .05. After analysing the survey answers, on average, 54.24 % (n = 902) of the survey group indicated the recreational form of physical activity (p < .01). In terms of the main place of performing physical activity, the survey answer of “Indoor (Gym, hall...)” covered 43.95 % (n = 804) of the survey group (p < .01). Physical activity of secondary school students varies depending on the region, while it is necessary to apply effective out-of-school physical activity programmes to increase the volume of physical activity of secondary school students.

ESL Learners’ Obstacles in Learning Speaking Skills

English is regarded as a second language in Malaysia and is part of the compulsory learning subject in primary and secondary school. However, the learning span of six years in primary school and five years in secondary school does not assure that the students will be able to master their speaking skills. Many of our students are still struggling to speak in English with correct sentence structures and pronunciations. Therefore, this paper aims to discuss the obstacles faced by ESL learners in their speaking skills. Learning perception, anxiety, and social-related problems as well as learning related problems, were the focus of issues discussed in this paper. This study engaged a quantitative approach to collect the data. The online survey, through “Google Form” was used to obtain data from the 196 tertiary level ESL respondents at one of the higher learning institutions in Ipoh. An adapted questionnaire was used for this study. The questionnaire was constructed in the form of a 5-point Likert Scale from which the choices range from strongly agree to strongly disagree. The items on the questionnaire were analyzed using SPSS 26 and the mean score for each item constructed was calculated accordingly. Findings indicated that the respondents experienced interference of L1 when it comes to difficulty in speaking. The respondents also expected the teacher to correct every error that they say and want the teacher to use a variety of methods and latest approaches to teach speaking skills to boost their interest. This study suggests that ESL learners need to be given more motivation to develop their confidence in using the English language and teachers need to be more creative in implementing strategies that stimulate learners’ interest to speak in English.

The National Identity of the Youth of Mława and Assessment of Poland's Participation in European Integration

The aim of the study was to verify the national identity of young people from the last years of secondary schools and to learn about their assessment of Poland’s functioning in the European Union. One hundred and fifty five persons attending the third grade of a general secondary school and the third and fourth grade of vocational secondary school located in the city of Mława were qualified for the study. The survey was conducted via a paper and online questionnaire. The results showed that all respondents associate the most strongly with the Polish identity, whereas European identity complements their national identification. Young people are also positively inclined towards the European Union. The vast majority of respondents believed that Poland would not have been able to achieve its current economic development without the support of the EU.

Alcohol use in adolescence: a qualitative longitudinal study of mediators for drinking and non-drinking

Initiation of alcohol use often takes place in adolescence. This longitudinal study explores adolescents’ alcohol use by highlighting mediators in their network that either hinder or facilitate alcohol consumption. Qualitative individual interviews were conducted with 75 adolescents (age 15–16) during their final year of lower secondary school (LSS), and their first year of upper secondary school (USS) (age 16–17), amounting to 150 interviews in total. Three drinking practices were identified during the transition from LSS to USS. The abstainers did not drink either in LSS or USS. They emphasized negative effects of alcohol and ascribed their non-drinking to the mediating role of parental expectations, sports and school achievements, and weak social ties. The initiators started to drink in USS and described increased acceptance, availability, peer pressure and social benefits as mediators for alcohol use initiation. The drinkers drank alcohol in both LSS and USS, and the mediators for drinking ranged from curiosity and social lifestyles to personal vulnerability traits. This study identified hindering and facilitating mediators for drinking, but also highlighted blurred boundaries between drinking and non-drinking: non-drinkers recognized social benefits associated with drinking, and drinkers highlighted control and responsible drinking alongside the pleasure and social benefits of drinking.

Kompetencje tekstotwórcze uczniów klas pierwszych szkół ponadgimnazjalnych… i ponadpodstawowych – próba porównania

The article presents the results of the study of students’ language competences who attend the first secondary school classes. In 2019, as a result of the education reform, two groups of students started their education in the first grades: junior high school graduates and eight-grade primary school graduates. Pre-secondary education in the case of students leaving primary school lasted a year shorter. Both groups took the exam at the end of lower junior high school or elementary school, respectively, and studied according to a different core curriculum.
 During the study, it was assumed that thanks to the education that lasted a year longer and was based on a different core curriculum, lower secondary school students should achieve better results in terms of creating an argumentative text and in terms of selected language skills. Both groups of students wrote the same test to confirm or reject the thesis.
 The results of the study showed that both groups of students achieved comparable results. In some areas, younger students have even outranked junior high school students. At the same time, it turned out that the lower stage of education was completed by students with very different competences. Both among junior high school and primary school students there are very good and very weak students, while in the group of junior high school students there is a large percentage of very weak students. This may prove that for many students three years of lower secondary school were a waste of time, and the last two years of primary school were enough to master the tested skills.

School market and the democratization of education: one step forward, two steps back. The case of the Canadian Province of Quebec

ABSTRACT The purpose of this article is to show that since the 1980s, educational inequalities in Quebec have gradually been reconfigured through the school market. The results obtained from a sample (N = 24,085) of a cohort of students who entered their first year of secondary school in 2002–2003 and who were observed for up to ten years (2012–2013) show that the influence of social origin on educational inequalities operates in large part via mediation of the type of institution attended. The results indicate that enrollment in selective schools, whether public or private, is closely associated to the social characteristics of the students: socioeconomic and ethnocultural origin, gender and mother tongue. In addition, there is a strong association between attendance at these same institutions, access to higher education and graduation. We conclude that the persistence of the reproduction of social inequalities in education is the result of the interactive and combined effects of social power relations related to class and ethnicity, and the current organization of public policies in education. This reveals a paradox as school markets have been promoted by public policies in the name of strengthening democratization and improving the quality of education.

Higher education expansion and the secondary school curriculum in Scotland in the second half of the twentieth century

ABSTRACT The conclusion of recent research on the relationship between students’ school curriculum and their opportunities to enter higher education has generally been that curricular differentiation is a further dimension of social stratification, and that it has become a mechanism of effectively maintained inequality, in the sense defined by Lucas. The present analysis uses a unique series of surveys of school leavers in Scotland, covering the whole of the second half of the twentieth century, to study the relationship between curricular breadth in the senior years of secondary school and the chances of entering higher education. Breadth is found to have been long associated especially with entry to the high-status oldest universities, and also with entry to other universities that were founded before the 1990s. However, breadth of study at school and university is not a new dimension of distinction in Scotland, dating rather from the nineteenth century and earlier. Its effect has not grown with expansion, but in general has declined. The conclusion is that this curricular feature has been a mark of cultural or intellectual distinction, not straightforwardly merely a mechanism of stratification.

PROMOTING MIDDLE SCHOOL STUDENTS’ ENGLISH VOCABULARY RETENTION VIA QUIZLET

Teaching for students’ vocabulary retention is always a matter of concern for many English teachers, because vocabulary development is critical for learners to enhance their language proficiency. Nowadays, learning vocabulary has become easier than ever thanks to the use of digital flashcard tools, among which Quizlet is a very popular choice. The effectiveness of Quizlet in students’ vocabulary acquisition has been explored in a number of studies for high school and university students; however, only a few of them focused on lower secondary school students. To address this gap, this study was conducted as action research in a grade-7 class in which the teacher used Quizlet in teaching the “Looking back” section of English 7, with the aim to enhance students’ vocabulary retention under SAMR model. The action research took place during 12 weeks of 2020-2021 academic year in a lower secondary school in Ha Noi. The participants were 15 students with the majority of A1 level. Their vocabulary retention in terms of form and meaning was compared between the Vocabulary quizzes and the teacher's observation. Additionally, questionnaires were designed to find out the influence of Quizlet on students’ retention of vocabulary. The study contributed to the literature review of the beneficial effects that Quizlet had on students' vocabulary retention, specifically in terms of form and meaning for secondary students.

Individual and Environmental Correlates of Adolescents' Moral Decision-Making in Moral Dilemmas.

While extensive research has been conducted on adults’ judgments in moral sacrificial dilemmas, there is little research on adolescents. The present study aimed at: (1) adding further empirical evidence about adolescents’ moral decisions (deontological vs. utilitarian) in sacrificial moral dilemmas and (2) investigating how these moral decisions relate with gender, school grade, emotional traits (callous-unemotional traits), context-related experiences (perceived parental rejection and community violence exposure), and moral-related factors (moral disengagement and universalism value). A sample of 755 Italian adolescents (54.7% females; Mean age=16.45, SD=1.61) attending the second and the fifth year of secondary school took part in the study. Two sacrificial trolley-type dilemmas (where harmful actions promote the greater good) were presented. In the “switch” scenario (impersonal sacrificial dilemma), the choice is whether to hit a switch to save five people killing only one person. In the “footbridge” scenario (personal sacrificial dilemma), the choice is whether to push a large man off a footbridge saving five persons. For each scenario, participants had to indicate whether the proposed action was “morally acceptable” or not. Data were analyzed performing generalized linear mixed models. Our results showed that: (1) Adolescents were more likely to indicate as admissible to hit the switch rather than to push the large man; (2) male adolescents, compared to females, were more likely to say it was morally acceptable to intervene in the footbridge dilemma, whereas younger adolescents said it was morally acceptable both in the switch and the footbridge situations; and (3) higher levels of callous-unemotional traits, perceived parental rejection, and moral disengagement, on the one hand, and lower levels of universalism, on the other hand, were associated to higher admissibility to intervene in the footbridge scenario. Higher community violence exposure was associated with a lower propensity to intervene in the switch scenario. Overall, the present study expands the research on sacrificial dilemmas involving a sample of adolescents. The findings support previous studies concerning the role of emotions in making moral decisions but, at the same, open new perspectives regarding the role of contextual experiences and moral-related factors.

Preschool Exposure to Online Games and Internet Gaming Disorder in Adolescents: A Cohort Study.

Objectives: Although considerable evidence has already been collected on the effects of early initiation of drug/alcohol consumption on addictive behaviors in adolescents, little is known about the impact of early exposure to online games during preschool ages on the risk of internet gaming disorder (IGD). We evaluated the effects of exposure to online games before entering elementary school on IGD occurrence during the secondary school years using a community-based longitudinal study.Methods: Data from 1,760 adolescents (seventh grade), who were recruited from the iCURE study and followed for 2 years, were analyzed. A high risk of IGD (HRIGD) was assessed by the Internet Game Use Elicited Symptom Screen, a self-reported questionnaire based on the fifth version of DSM-5 IGD criteria. Early exposure to online gaming was defined as when adolescents played online games during their preschool years. A multivariate generalized-estimating-equation model was applied to examine the independent risk factor of the occurrence of HRIGD during the 2-year follow-up period.Results: As compared with the later-exposure group, those with early exposure to online games showed an ~1.7-fold greater incidence of HRIGD over the 2-year follow-ups after adjusting for potential confounders including baseline IGD scores (adjusted relative risk:1.69; 95%confidence interval:1.08–2.66). Pre-specified sensitivity analyses showed that the results were robust.Conclusion: Exposure to online gaming during the preschool years increases the likelihood of occurrence of HRIGD in adolescence. Restricting exposure to online games during the preschool years should be examined as a way to reduce the risk of IGD in adolescents.Clinical Trial Registration: www.clinicaltrials.gov, identifier: NCT02415322.

School victimization and self‐esteem: Reciprocal relationships and the moderating roles of peer support and teacher support

The current study investigated the dynamic reciprocal relationships between adolescents' school victimization and self-esteem during the first 2 years in secondary schools and how the relationships varied by social support. Participants were 2550 Chinese adolescents (52% males; 48% females) aged 11-16 years (Mage = 12.99 years, SDage = 0.58) who had just entered secondary school and were followed for 2 years. A cross-lagged path analysis was used to examine the reciprocal relationships between school victimization and self-esteem, and a multiple-group analysis was used to examine the moderating roles of peer support and teacher support. The results showed that from the fall semester to the spring semester in Grade 7, adolescents' victimization predicted subsequent low self-esteem, while from the spring semester in Grade 7 to the fall semester in Grade 8 and from the fall semester in Grade 8 to the spring semester in Grade 8, adolescents' low self-esteem predicted subsequent victimization. Furthermore, teacher support moderated the relationship between victimization and self-esteem, such that the above negative associations existed only when adolescents' perceived teacher support was low. However, this protective effect was not found with peer support. The findings highlight the transactional dynamics between school victimization and self-esteem and the protective role of teacher support, which has implications for effectively preventing and intervening school bullying.

Time-efficient physical activity intervention for older adolescents: the Burn 2 Learn cluster randomised controlled trial

Introduction: Time-efficient physical activity interventions are needed for older adolescents (≥16 years) in the senior school years (i.e., Grades 11 and 12) where there is a heavy focus on academic performance and physical education is not mandatory. The aim of our study was to evaluate the impact of a time-efficient school-based intervention designed to improve older adolescents’ cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) by integrating high-intensity activity breaks into curriculum time. Methods: We evaluated the Burn 2 Learn (B2L) intervention using a cluster randomised controlled trial with older adolescents (N=670) from 20 secondary schools in New South Wales, Australia. We utilised a range of implementation strategies to support teachers to facilitate the delivery of 2-3 high intensity interval training (HIIT) sessions/week during lesson-time. The B2L intervention included the following: (i) information seminar for students delivered by school champions, (ii) school-based HIIT sessions delivered during lesson time, (iii) purpose-built smartphone application (app) and heart rate monitors designed to quantify individual and group heart rate and support self-monitoring, and (iv) information newsletters for parents. The HIIT sessions involved a combination of aerobic and muscle-strengthening exercises, designed to be enjoyable and vigorous in nature. Teachers and students in the control group continued with their usual practice. Outcomes were assessed at baseline, 6 and 12-months. The primary outcome was CRF (multi-stage fitness test). Secondary outcomes included physical activity (ActiGraph GT9X Link accelerometers), hair cortisol concentrations, muscular fitness (push-up and standing long jump tests), body composition (body mass index), mental health and HIIT self-efficacy (questionnaires). Data were analysed using linear mixed models, accounting for clustering of effects at the class level. Potential moderators of effects were identified a priori and sub-group analyses were conducted if interaction tests were significant (p<0.1). Results: At the primary endpoint (6-months), we found a significant difference between groups (in favour of B2L) for the primary outcome CRF [4.0 laps (95% CI, 1.7 to 6.4)] and a range of secondary outcomes. Moderator analyses revealed reduced stress and internalising problems among adolescents in the intervention group who were identified as ‘at-risk’ of poor mental health at baseline. Discussion: Implementing high intensity breaks during curricular time improved CRF and muscular endurance among the full sample of older adolescents, and mental health among the ‘at-risk’ sub-sample. Our findings highlight the health benefits of re-allocating a small amount of curriculum time to physical activity during the final years of secondary school. Trial registration: ACTRN12618000293268 My co-authors and I acknowledge that we have no conflicts of interest of relevance to the submission of this abstract.

LONELINESS AND PREDICTIVE MODELS OF MULTIPLE RISK BEHAVIOR OF ADOLESCENTS IN THE CONTEXT OF ECOSYSTEM METATHEORY AND VIRTUAL INTERNET SPACE

The metatheoretical ecosystem construct requires integrating the virtual dimension of the internet in the assessment of human living space. Objective: The main goal of the present study is to identify possible relationships between loneliness, risk behavior in the use of psychoactive substances of adolescents, based on the ecosystem meta-frame of living space (which also reflects virtual space), as one of the essential factors in the emergence and development of addiction. Based on this, an effort is made to compile predictive models of multiple risk behaviors concerning the use of psychoactive substances. Methods: Loneliness is determined using the OESL questionnaire (Gierveld &amp; Tilburg, 2021). The RSi questionnaire examines risk behavior (Kahan et al., 2021 in press; Lovašová, 2021). Multiple linear regressions construct predictive models, and subcategories are subjected to correlations and parametric tests. At the same time, data on adolescents' loneliness are compared with data on the loneliness of addicted adult respondents and data on abstainers from another research. File: The representative sample consists of 744 respondents in the second and third years of secondary schools in the Slovak Republic, of which 263 are men and 481 women. The research file of addicted respondents consists of 138 respondents (100 men, 38 women), and the research group of abstainers is 94 (58 men, 36 women). Results: Statistically significant gender differences inexperienced social and emotional loneliness are found in adolescents and addicted respondents. For both male and female adolescents, excessive internet use is a significant predictor of psychoactive substance use. The prediction is more robust if, in adolescents, at least one parent suffers or has suffered from some kind of addiction. Conclusions: Aspects of virtual space act as significant risk factors which, together with loneliness, create multiple risk conditions for risk behavior in the field of psychoactive substance use.

Is positive school climate associated with better adolescent mental health? Longitudinal study of young people in England

Background and objectivesStudies suggest that individual student-reported connection to school is associated with better mental health. However, there is less evidence for associations between schools’ overall school climate and the mental health of their students. This may reflect limitations in which mental health outcomes have been examined. We conducted a large longitudinal study in schools, hypothesising that we would find associations at both the student and school levels between student-reported positive school climate, and reduced student conduct and emotional problems and improved mental wellbeing. MethodsWe tracked students in 20 English secondary schools from near the end of the first year of secondary school (age 11/12) over 3 years using reliable measures of school climate and mental health. ResultsWe found associations between student-level reports of positive school climate at baseline, and reduced conduct and emotional problems and better mental wellbeing at 3-year follow-up adjusting for various potential confounders. We also found some evidence of adjusted associations between baseline school-level measures of overall positive climate and better student mental health at follow-up. However, these student- and school-level associations reduced considerably when also adjusting for baseline mental health. ConclusionsOur findings suggest that there are associations between school climate and student mental health at both the student and school level but these associations are complex and not necessarily causal.

Slovenian Parents’ Views on Emergency Remote Schooling during the First Wave of the Covid-19 Pandemic

In early 2020, the whole world was confronted with the emergence of the new SARS-CoV-2 virus. Due to restrictive measures, Slovenia, like most other countries, was forced to close all educational institutions. Teaching and learning shifted from classrooms to an online environment, which was a major challenge for teachers, students and their parents and required a significant amount of adaptation and effort. In May 2020, we conducted a study to investigate parents’ attitudes toward emergency remote schooling. The study included 313 parents of students from the last triad of primary (compulsory) school (Grades 7–9; 12–15 years old), 147 parents of secondary school students (Years 1–3; 15–18 years old) and 35 parents of students in their final (4th) year of secondary school (18–19 years old). Specifically, parents of primary school adolescent children, in particular, reported having the most difficulty coordinating their work and the remote schooling of their child, and they also reported more difficulty motivating their child to complete schoolwork at home than the other two groups of parents did. Parents of secondary school students in Year 4 were most likely to miss personal contact with the teacher and rated emergency remote schooling as more stressful than the other two groups of parents. In general, parents rated emergency remote schooling to be more complicated and difficult than traditional classroom instruction. Most parents agree that such schooling provides students with less knowledge, which is also less consolidated, although they perceived teachers’ remote help for students quite positively. They also believe that online education will become important in the future.

Mathematics Performance Profiles and Relation to Math Avoidance in Adolescence: The Role of Literacy Skills, General Cognitive Ability and Math Anxiety

ABSTRACT The main aim of the study was to differentiate adolescent profiles by math performance at the beginning and end of the final two years of lower secondary school, and relevant baseline attributes (literacy skills, general cognitive ability, math anxiety), and to investigate how these profiles differed by gender and math avoidance. A total of 193 Finnish lower secondary students participated in this study. Four profiles were identified: (1) High academic, average anxiety; (2) low academic, average anxiety; (3) average academic, high anxiety; and (4) average academic, average anxiety. They differed in baseline attributes, math performance over two school years, math avoidance, and in gender ratio. High levels of math anxiety was related to unfavourable math trajectory and future math avoidance. This high anxiety was typical of a certain group of average performers but not of the lowest performers. The educational implications of the findings are discussed.

The Effectiveness of A Proposed Unit Based on Future Problem- Solving Skills in Developing Decision- Making Skills among Government Secondary School Students in Riyadh: فاعلية وحدة مُقترحة قائمة على مهارات حل المشكلات المستقبليَّة في تَنْمية مهارات اتخاذ القرارات لدى طالِبات المرحلة الثَّانوية الحكومية بمدينة الرياض

The aim of the research is to determine the effectiveness of a proposed unit based on future problem- solving skills in developing the decision- making skills of government secondary school students in Riyadh. Using the descriptive and experimental approach, the tool was to test decision- making skills. Teacher manual; For the Occupational Problems Unit in the Work Environment. They were applied to a multi- stage randomized manner of 63 female students of the third year of secondary school, which was divided into: a control group that the occupational problems unit is taught in the work environment in the traditional way, and an experimental group that is taught using the occupational problems unit in the work environment based on problem- solving skills Future. The research found the effectiveness of the occupational problems unit in the work environment based on future problem- solving skills in developing decision- making skills as a whole. Where the experimental got a total mean (28.77 of 32) in contrast to the control obtaining a total mean (13.05 of 32) and the difference in favor of the experimental group, and the presence of statistically significant differences at a significance level (0.05) between the mean scores of the two groups, the experimental and the control in The post- test in decision- making skills as a whole in the vocational education course and the ETA square factor to measure the size of the effect was (0.97), and confirms that the size of the effect is (large), and the adjusted gain rate for Blake is (1.32), and reflects the great effectiveness of the proposed unit: the researcher recommends directing the curriculum officials in the Ministry of Education to take care of the development of future problem solving skills through the curriculum for their effectiveness in helping students to make decisions and benefiting from the flexibility of the vocational education curriculum in achieving future goals that help students identify their paths Professional.

Implementation trial of a cognitive behavioural therapy programme for reducing student stress in the final year of secondary school.

The final year of secondary school has been shown to be associated with heightened student stress. Psychological interventions have been shown to be effective in reducing and preventing distress in students during this school period, although the widespread adoption of these interventions into school settings is limited. There have been recent calls for research to examine the implementation success of evidence-based programmes when used by schools in school settings. The present study aimed to evaluate the implementation success of an evidence-based cognitive-behavioural therapy programme (Study without Stress) using the Reach, Effectiveness, Adoption, Implementation, and Maintenance (RE-AIM) framework. At one Australian high school, all tutor group teachers were trained by the school counsellor to deliver the programme in standard school classes to students in the lead up to their final year of secondary school. Students (n = 80) and teachers (n = 11) reported on programme success against the RE-AIM framework at pre-intervention, post-intervention, and three-month follow-up. The findings indicated that SWOS was implemented successfully by the school. SWOS was associated with maintaining student stress levels at normal levels over time, as well as reducing the severity of stress for initially highly distressed students. The findings provide evidence from implementation science that SWOS can be adapted and delivered effectively by school staff to manage stress in final year secondary school students.

Etiology of persistent mathematics difficulties from childhood to adolescence following very preterm birth

ABSTRACT Children born very preterm (VP; <32 weeks’ gestation) have poorer mathematics achievement than term-born peers. This study aimed to determine whether VP children’s mathematics difficulties persist from primary to secondary school and to explore the nature of mathematics difficulties in adolescence. For this study, 127 VP and 95 term-born adolescents were assessed at age 11–15 years. Mathematics achievement was assessed using the Wechsler Individual Achievement Test-II. Specific mathematics skills and general cognitive skills were assessed using standardized and experimental tests. VP adolescents had poorer mathematics achievement than term-born adolescents (−10.95 points; 95% CI −16.18, −5.73) and poorer number fact knowledge, understanding of arithmetic concepts, written arithmetic, counting, reading and writing large numbers, and algebra. Between-group differences in mathematics skills were no longer significant when working memory and visuospatial skills were controlled for (p’s >0.05), with the exception of writing large numbers and conceptual understanding of arithmetic. In a previous study, 83 of the VP adolescents and 49 of the term-born adolescents were assessed at age 8–10 years using measures of the same skills. Amongst these, the between-group difference in mathematics achievement remained stable over time. This study extends findings of a persistent deficit in mathematics achievement among VP children over the primary and secondary school years, and provides evidence of a deficit in factual, procedural and conceptual mathematics skills and in higher order mathematical operations among VP adolescents. We provide further evidence that VP children’s mathematics difficulties are driven by deficits in domain-general rather than domain-specific cognitive skills.