Contrasting speed and accuracy approaches to measure executive functions in three low-and middle-income countries.

Executive functions (EF) can be measured by tests assessing accuracy, reaction times and by computing scores which combine these two components. Interpretation issues can arise from the use of different scoring methods across studies. Given that EF measures and their scoring methods are predominantly developed and validated in high income countries, little is known about the generalisability of such methods cross- culturally.

Cognitive and socio-emotional correlates of psychological well-being and mental health in Guatemalan adults.

Background: Little is known about associations of psychological and mental well-being with cognitive and socioemotional factors in low and middle-income countries, particularly among vulnerable populations born in adverse environments that may restrict developmental potential. This study aimed to examine the cognitive and socioemotional correlates of psychological well-being and mental health in a cohort of Guatemalan adults born in contexts of poverty and malnutrition.

Methods: From Dec 2017 to Apr 2019, data were collected from 704 women and 564 men ages 40-57 years living in four rural villages in eastern Guatemala and Guatemala City.

Influence of enhanced nutrition and psychosocial stimulation in early childhood on cognitive functioning and psychological well-being in Guatemalan adults.

Rationale: Early-life nutrition interventions in low and middle-income countries have demonstrated long-term benefits on cognitive skills, however, their influence on socioemotional outcomes has not been fully explored. Moreover, the mediating processes through which nutrition intervention effects operate and are maintained over time are understudied.

Methods: We followed-up a cohort of Guatemalan adults who participated as children in a community randomized food-supplementation trial.

Longitudinal Associations of Pubertal Timing and Tempo With Adolescent Mental Health and Risk Behavior Initiation in Urban South Africa.

Purpose: In high-income countries, early and rapid pubertal development is consistently associated with poor adjustment and increased risk behavior in adolescence. This study contributes to the meager knowledge of these associations in lower income countries.

Methods: We used longitudinal data from 1,784 urban black South Africans in the Birth to Twenty Plus cohort.

Initial engagement and persistence of health risk behaviors through adolescence: longitudinal findings from urban South Africa.

Background: Little is known about longitudinal patterns of adolescent health risk behavior initial engagement and persistence in low- and middle-income countries.

Methods: Birth to Twenty Plus is a longitudinal birth cohort in Soweto-Johannesburg, South Africa. We used reports from Black African participants on cigarette smoking, alcohol, cannabis, illicit drug, and sexual activity initial engagement and adolescent pregnancy collected over 7 study visits between ages 11 and 18 y.

Executive functions form a single construct and are associated with schooling: Evidence from three low- and middle- income countries.

Measuring executive function (EF) among adults is important, as the cognitive processes involved in EF are critical to academic achievement, job success and mental health. Current evidence on measurement and structure of EF largely come from Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich and Democratic (WEIRD) countries. However, measuring EF in low-and-middle-income countries (LMICs) is challenging, because of the dearth of EF measures validated across LMICs, particularly measures that do not require extensive training, expensive equipment, or professional administration.

Linear Growth Trajectories in Early Childhood and Adult Cognitive and Socioemotional Functioning in a Guatemalan Cohort.

Background: Growth faltering in early childhood is associated with poor human capital attainment, but associations of linear growth in childhood with executive and socioemotional functioning in adulthood are understudied.

Objectives: In a Guatemalan cohort, we identified distinct trajectories of linear growth in early childhood, assessed their predictors, and examined associations between growth trajectories and neurodevelopmental outcomes in adulthood. We also assessed the mediating role of schooling on the association of growth trajectories with adult cognitive outcomes.

Demographic correlates of attenuated positive psychotic symptoms.

It is now well established that the utilization of standardized clinical criteria can enhance prediction of psychosis. These criteria are primarily concerned with the presence and severity of attenuated positive symptoms. Because these symptom criteria are used to derive algorithms for designating clinical high risk (CHR) status and for maximizing prediction of psychosis risk, it is important to know whether the symptom ratings vary as a function of demographic factors that have previously been linked with symptoms in diagnosed psychotic patients.

Estimating child sleep from parent report of time in bed: development and evaluation of adjustment approaches.

Objective: To develop and evaluate adjustment factors to convert parent-reported time in bed to an estimate of child sleep time consistent with objective measurement.

Methods: A community sample of 217 children aged 4-9 years (mean age = 6.6 years) wore actigraph wristwatches to objectively measure sleep for 7 days while parents completed reports of child sleep each night.

Is perseveration uniquely characteristic of schizophrenia?

Evidence for the existence of categorically distinct disorders such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and major depression is mixed: neuropsychological impairments may be similar in schizophrenia and bipolar disorder; schizophrenia and major depression show similar neuropsychological and frontal lobe disturbances; and overlap in biochemical anomalies among the disorders has also been reported. Interestingly, there are very few studies that directly compare all diagnoses. The present study compares cognitive perseveration in these three diagnostic groups using the Wisconsin Card Sorting Task (WCST) to examine performance across patients with schizophrenia (n=143), bipolar disorder (n=25) and major depression (n=21).

Do provocateurs' emotion displays influence children's social goals and problem solving?

The social goals and social problem-solving of children who varied in social adjustment were examined in the context of hypothetical ambiguous provocation situations in which provocateurs' emotion displays were systematically manipulated. Children rated the importance of six different social goals and explained how they would solve the problems. Social adjustment was measured with rating and nomination sociometric procedures.