Publications by authors named "Amanda Norona"

Background And Aims: We aimed to determine whether a second-order global competence latent factor could be identified as underlying relations between adolescent mental health, social skills, and academic functioning. A secondary aim was to test whether early childhood characteristics predict adolescent global competence. A final aim was to test differences in these models across youth with typical cognitive development (TD) or intellectual disability (ID).

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Social skills are traditionally viewed as acquired through social environments including parenting. However, biopsychosocial models highlight the importance of genetic influences and gene-environment interactions (G×Es) in child development. Extant G×E investigations often fail to account for developmental changes in the phenotype or rigorously assess the social environment using observational measures.

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Childhood maltreatment robustly predicts adolescent externalizing behaviors (EB; e.g., violence, delinquency, substance use) and may crystalize patterns of EB by influencing sensitivity to the social environment (e.

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Although parenting behavior and friendship quality predict adolescent externalizing behaviors (EBs), individual differences in temperament may differentially affect susceptibility to these factors over time. In a multi-method and multi-informant study of 141 children followed prospectively from toddlerhood to adolescence, we tested the independent and interactive associations of age 3 reactive temperament (e.g.

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Article Synopsis
  • Children in foster care often have backgrounds of abuse and neglect, which increases their likelihood of externalizing behaviors (e.g., aggression).
  • The study found that children with reactive temperaments did not show heightened sensitivity to maltreatment or benefits from family cohesion, contrary to differential susceptibility theory.
  • over time, early reactive temperament and history of sexual abuse were linked to higher externalizing behaviors, while exposure to family violence showed a protective effect; by late adolescence, the youth's rates of arrest and substance use appeared similar to those in the general population.
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Although both gene- and temperament-environment interactions contribute to the development of youth externalizing problems, it is unclear how these factors jointly affect environmental sensitivity over time. In a 7-year longitudinal study of 232 children (aged 5-10) with and without ADHD, we employed moderated mediation to test a developmentally sensitive mechanistic model of genetic and temperamental sensitivity to prenatal and postnatal environmental factors. Birth weight, a global measure of the prenatal environment, moderated predictions of child negative emotionality from a composite of dopaminergic polymorphisms (i.

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Although gene × environment interactions contribute to youth attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms, the pathways mediating these influences are unknown. We tested genetic moderation of indirect effects from parenting behavior to youth ADHD symptoms through multiple neurocognitive factors. Two hundred and twenty-nine youth with and without ADHD were assessed at baseline (Wave 1; ages 5-10) and at a 2-year follow-up (Wave 2; ages 7-13).

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Individual differences in emotion regulation are central to social, academic, occupational, and psychological development, and emotion dysregulation (ED) in childhood is a risk factor for numerous developmental outcomes. The present study aimed to (a) describe the developmental trajectory of ED across early childhood (3-6 years) and (b) examine its sensitivity to youth serotonin transporter genotype, positive and negative parenting behaviors, and their interaction. Participants were 99 families in the Collaborative Family Study, a longitudinal study of children with or without developmental delays.

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Cumulative risk research has increased understanding of how multiple risk factors impact various socioemotional and interpersonal outcomes across the life span. However, little is known about risk factors for parent-child conflict early in development, where identifying predictors of change could be highly salient for intervention. Given their established association with parent-child conflict, child developmental delay (DD) and emotion dysregulation were examined as predictors of change in conflict across early to middle childhood (ages 3 to 7 years).

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Researchers have identified numerous internal and external factors that contribute to individual differences in emotion regulation (ER) abilities. To extend these findings, we examined the longitudinal effects of a significant external predictor (parenting) on children's ER abilities in the context of an internal predictor (intellectual functioning). We used cross-lagged panel modeling to investigate the transactional relationship between parenting and ER in children with or without developmental delays (DD) across three time points in early and middle childhood (age 3, 5, and 8).

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Statistical learning is characterized by detection of regularities in one's environment without an awareness or intention to learn, and it may play a critical role in language and social behavior. Accordingly, in this study we investigated the electrophysiological correlates of visual statistical learning in young children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) using an event-related potential shape learning paradigm, and we examined the relation between visual statistical learning and cognitive function. Compared to typically developing (TD) controls, the ASD group as a whole showed reduced evidence of learning as defined by N1 (early visual discrimination) and P300 (attention to novelty) components.

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There is a high incidence of autism in tuberous sclerosis complex. Given the evidence of impaired face processing in autism, the authors sought to investigate electrophysiological markers of face processing in children with tuberous sclerosis complex. The authors studied 19 children with tuberous sclerosis complex under age 4, and 20 age-matched controls, using a familiar-unfamiliar faces paradigm.

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