Longitudinal association of conduct and emotional problems with school exclusion and truancy: A fixed effect analysis of the UK Millennium Cohort Study.

Background: There is a need for causally stronger research on the association between child mental health and school exclusion and truancy. This study examines school exclusion and truancy in relation to both conduct and emotional problems and considers these problems both as predictors and as outcomes of school exclusion and truancy.

Method: The sample included 15,236 individuals from the Millennium Cohort Study, a UK longitudinal birth cohort study.

The Effects of Choice on the Reading Comprehension and Enjoyment of Children with Severe Inattention and no Attentional Difficulties.

It has been proposed that enhancing motivation supports the learning of children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Less is known if inattentive children with no ADHD diagnosis may similarly benefit, when being motivated to engage in an academic task. Using a repeated-measures design, this study investigated the effects of text choice as an intrinsic motivator on the reading comprehension and enjoyment of Year 4 children attending mainstream primary schools (N = 92; aged 8-9 years; 48 boys); comparing those with no attentional difficulties and severe inattention.

The identification of speech and language problems in elementary school: Diagnosis and co-occurring needs.

Background: Oral language skills are the foundation for success at school and in employment. A significant minority of children experience difficulties in the acquisition of oral language resulting in speech and language needs (SLN). There are disjunctures between clinical studies using standardised assessment and educational studies.

The relationship between learning mathematics and general cognitive ability in primary school.

Three relationships between learning mathematics and general cognitive ability have been hypothesized: The educational hypothesis that learning mathematics develops general cognitive skills, the psychometric hypothesis that differences in general cognitive ability cause differences in mathematical attainment, and the reciprocal influence hypothesis that developments in mathematical ability and general cognitive ability influence each other. These hypotheses are assessed with a sample of 948 children from the Twins Early Development Study who were assessed at 7, 9, and 10 years on mathematics, English, and general cognitive ability. A cross-lagged path analysis with mathematics and general cognitive ability measures supports the reciprocal influence hypothesis between 7 and 9 and between 9 and 10.

Adversity, Emotional Arousal, and Problem Behaviour in Adolescence: The Role of Non-Verbal Cognitive Ability as a Resilience Promoting Factor.

Background:   To test whether emotional arousal mediates the moderator effect of non-verbal cognitive ability on the association between cumulative contextual risk (number of proximal and distal adverse life events) and adolescent problem behaviour.

Method:   Data from a UK community sample of secondary school aged children were used. The study sample comprised 207 children with a mean age of 13.

Classroom implications of recent research into literacy development: from predictors to assessment.

We outline how research into predictors of literacy underpins the development of increasingly accurate and informative assessments. We report three studies that emphasize the crucial role of speech and auditory skills on literacy development throughout primary and secondary school. Our first study addresses the effects of early childhood middle ear infections, the potential consequences for speech processing difficulties and the impact on early literacy development.

Adolescents choosing self-harm as an emotion regulation strategy: the protective role of trait emotional intelligence.

Objectives: The present study seeks to extend the understanding of the role of dispositional factors in the aetiology of self-harm among adolescents. We hypothesized that higher trait emotional intelligence (trait EI) would be associated with a lower likelihood to harm oneself, and that this relationship would be mediated by the choice of coping strategies.

Design And Methods: Trait EI, coping styles and self-harm behaviours were assessed in 490 adolescents recruited from eight British schools.

Political, religious and occupational identities in context: placing identity status paradigm in context.

This study critically contrasts global identity with domain-specific identities (political, religious and occupational) and considers context and gender as integral parts of identity. In a cross-sectional survey, 1038 Greek Cypriot adolescents (449 boys and 589 girls, mean age 16.8) from the three different types of secondary schools (state, state technical and private) and from different SES completed part of the Extended Objective Measure of Ego Identity Status-2 (EOMEIS-2).

Assessing Literacy in Children and Adolescents.

This review provides a framework for examining the assessment of literacy underpinned by current theories of reading and writing. Our choice of assessment tools was influenced by a desire to identify tests that are suitable for diagnosing students of all ages. The key dimensions identified were printed word recognition (lexical and non-lexical), comprehension and writing.

Supporting young people who repeatedly self-harm.

This paper explores the views and experiences of a group of 74 young people aged 16-22 who were interviewed following presentation in accident and emergency (A&E) departments after intentionally harming themselves. It focuses on a sub-group of 38 young people with a history of self-harm behaviour that extended from when they were under the age of 16, one-third of whom had been or were currently in care. Whilst some had kept their self-harming hidden and had not received any professional intervention until they reached adulthood, others had been in touch with services, although their treatment had not prevented them from continuing to self-harm.