Longitudinal

Problematferd i grunnskolen er et stadig aktuelt tema, og saerlig spørsmålet om elevenes atferd har endret seg til det verre. Det foreligger lite norsk forskning som gir grunnlag for sammenligninger over tid. Denne studien sammen-ligner imidlertid laereres rapportering av negative atferds-hendelser i to undersøkelser som ble gjennomført med 10 års mellomrom. Den første undersøkelsen omfattet 2876 laerere og den andre 1734 laerere på grunnskolens barne-og mellomtrinn (1.-7. klasse). For det første viste undersøkelsene at den gjennomsnittlige prevalensen av laererrapportert problematferd blant norske barneskole-elever var tilnaermet den samme på de to måletidspunktene over en ti-års periode. Andelen laerere som rapporterte om daglige innslag av problematferd, var imidlertid betydelig lavere i 2008 enn i 1998. For det andre omfattet den positive reduksjonen i daglig forekomst både problematferd observert i og utenfor klasseromskonteksten. Og for det tredje viste sammenligningen av de to studiene at reduksjonen gjaldt så vel for alvorlig som for mindre alvorlig problematferd.

We examined the prominent theoretical explanations of the RAN-reading relationship in a relatively transparent language (Greek) in a sample of children (n = 286) followed from Grade 1 to Grade 2. Specifically, we tested the fit of eight different models, as defined by the type of reading performance predicted (oral vs. silent word reading fluency), the type of RAN tasks (non-alphanumeric vs. alphanumeric), and the RAN effects (direct vs. indirect). Working memory, attention, processing speed, and motor skills were used as " common cause " variables predicting both RAN and reading fluency and phonological awareness and orthographic processing were used as mediators of RAN's effects on reading fluency. The findings of both concurrent and longitudinal analyses indicated that RAN is a unique predictor of oral reading fluency, but not silent reading fluency. Using alphanumeric or non-alphanumeric RAN did not particularly affect the RAN-reading relationship. Both phonological awareness and orthographic processing partly mediated RAN's effects on reading fluency. Theoretical implications of these findings are discussed.

The experience of the COVID-19 Pandemic has varied considerably from individual-toindividual. Little is known about the changes in the level of experience general people went through during the first few months after the coronavirus (COVID-19) was declared as a Pandemic. This longitudinal qualitative study explores the general public's reports of their experience with the COVID-19 Pandemic during its early stage. An online survey was conducted using a convenience/snowball sampling technique in March and again in May 2020, where North American adults with at least a college-degree, and female majority, shared their experiences with the COVID-19 Pandemic in response to an open-ended question, apart from completing questionnaires assessing transitional impact and psychological well-being. Open responses were first content analyzed to identify themes most commonly reported, and then, the quantitative analysis examined the reliability of the changes of themes between the two-time points. Text-analysis of the open-responses from the two waves identified seven themes, namely emotional response, social contact, virus-infected, financial impact, impact on plans, disease, and non-disease related concern, as well as social-distance. These themes indicated that, (a) people were distressed and having negative affective thoughts; (b) they spoke more about their plans-and-goals that were affected by the Pandemic than their financial condition; (c) people mostly used digital platforms to maintain contact with their social network, although they preferred face-to-face interactions; (d) they spoke more about the infection experienced by people in general than infection experienced by themselves and individuals they know. Surprisingly, (e) people mentioned more about the way the Pandemic had disrupted their day-today activities than the disease-related health concern. Finally, (f) most of the respondents approved of the practice of social distancing while some expressed its negative or neutral effect on their social lives. The quantitative measure determined that as time passed, people's experience with the Pandemic became quite different as people talked more about getting infected, and their affected goals-and-plans. We concluded with a remark that this Pandemic would most likely leave an impression on people's lives and that these online comment-style responses might provide us with insights into people's perspectives as the Pandemic unfolds, helping us in understanding the uniqueness of the Pandemic experience of individuals for an effective tailored intervention to protect their well-being during a health-crisis.

Testosterone (T) and pair bonding in men are linked such that lower T is associated with monoamorous partnering (i.e., with one person) and high T is associated with singlehood. However, it has remained unclear whether T levels predict partnering status or vice versa. Evidence suggests time course of T measurements in relation to partnering as well as nurturant and sexual experiences may affect whether T predicts partnering or vice versa and that transitions into or out of partnerhood may have unique associations with changes in T. We examined links between salivary T levels, relationship status, and relationship status transitions in 78-first year male college students over an approximately year-long period. Using longitudinal data, our findings largely support trait associations between T and relationship status in men, i.e., that T predicts relationship status. However, our data also provide novel evidence of dynamic associations and differences in T levels at different relationship status transitions.

Amongst adults, low emotion identification skill (EIS) relates to poor emotion regulation strategies, higher rates of anxiety and depression, and higher rates of somatic illness and disease [Taylor, G. J., & Bagby, R. M. (2004). New trends in alexithymia research. Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, 73, 68–77]. Little research has examined EIS in adolescence and, in particular, the longitudinal impact of EIS on social support and affective experience. Six hundred and sixty-seven high school students completed measures of EIS, social support and positive and negative affects in Grade 8, and again in Grade 9. Repeated measure ANOVAS revealed that negative affect increased and positive affect decreased from Grades 8 to 9. Structural equation modelling revealed that low EIS predicted increases in fear, decreases in positive affect, and decreases in the quality and quantity of social support. Amongst boys, low EIS also predicted increases in sadness. We discuss the implications of these findings for early prevention programmes.

El inicio temprano del consumo de alcohol se relaciona con el desarrollo de un patrón de consumo riesgoso y de problemas relacionados al consumo. Dada la importancia de desarrollar modelos conceptuales integrales y longitudinales se analizó el efecto prospectivo de diferentes variables sobre el consumo de alcohol adolescente (CAA). Participaron 332 adolescentes que completaron escalas para medir rasgos de personalidad, expectativas hacia el alcohol (EA), motivos de consumo de alcohol (MC), consumo de alcohol de pares (CP) y padres, apoyo parental y CAA. Se realizaron dos administraciones, al inicio y 12 meses después. Se aplicó la técnica de path análisis para determinar el efecto prospectivo de los factores implicados. Los rasgos de personalidad y las EA positivas tuvieron un menor efecto, mientras que el CAA inicial, el CP y las EA negativas fueron importantes predictores del CAA. Los MC fueron el antecedente más próximo del consumo. Se destaca la importancia de considerar múltiples variables para obtener una explicación más completa de este fenómeno. La fuerte influencia del CAA inicial sugiere que, una vez desarrollado  un patrón de consumo de alcohol, es muy probable que este consumo se mantenga o aumente.

Assessing national levels of happiness has become an important research and policy issue in recent years. We examined happiness and satisfaction in Ireland using phone text messaging to collect large-scale longitudinal data from 3,093 members of the general Irish population. For six consecutive weeks, participants' happiness and satisfaction levels were assessed. For four consecutive weeks (weeks 2–5) a different random third of the sample got feedback on the previous week's mean happiness and satisfaction ratings. Text messaging proved a feasible means of assessing happiness and satisfaction, with almost three quarters (73%) of participants completing all assessments. Those who received feedback on the previous week's mean ratings were eight times more likely to complete the subsequent assessments than those not receiving feedback. Providing such feedback data on mean levels of happiness and satisfaction did not systematically bias subsequent ratings either toward or away from these normative anchors. Texting is a simple and effective means to collect population level happiness and satisfaction data.