International Journal of Behavioral Development This is an RSS file. You can use it to subscribe to this data in your favourite RSS reader or to display this data on your own website or blog.

The supermatrix technique: A simple framework for hypothesis testing with missing data
We present a new paradigm that allows simplified testing of multiparameter hypotheses in the presence of incomplete data. The proposed technique is a straight-forward procedure that combines the benefits of two powerful data analytic tools: multiple imputation and nested-model $${\mathit{\chi }}^{2}$$ difference testing. A Monte Carlo simulation study was conducted to assess the performance of the proposed technique. Full information maximum likelihood (FIML) and single regression imputation were included as comparison conditions against which the performance of the suggested technique ...
Source: International Journal of Behavioral Development - July 31, 2014 Category: Child Development Authors: Lang, K. M., Little, T. D. Tags: Special issue: Planned missingness Source Type: research

Reducing bias due to systematic attrition in longitudinal studies: The benefits of multiple imputation
Most longitudinal studies are plagued by drop-out related to variables at earlier assessments (systematic attrition). Although systematic attrition is often analysed in longitudinal studies, surprisingly few researchers attempt to reduce biases due to systematic attrition, even though this is possible and nowadays technically easy. This is particularly true for studies of stability and the long-term prediction of developmental outcomes. We provide guidelines how to reduce biases in such cases particularly with multiple imputation. Following these guidelines does not require advanced statistical knowledge or special softwar...
Source: International Journal of Behavioral Development - July 31, 2014 Category: Child Development Authors: Asendorpf, J. B., van de Schoot, R., Denissen, J. J. A., Hutteman, R. Tags: Special issue: Planned missingness Source Type: research

Planned missing data designs with small sample sizes: How small is too small?
This article explores this question by using simulated three-form planned missing data to assess analytic model convergence, parameter estimate bias, standard error bias, mean squared error (MSE), and relative efficiency (RE).Three models were examined: a one-time-point, cross-sectional model with 3 constructs; a two-time-point model with 3 constructs at each time point; and a three-time-point, mediation model with 3 constructs over three time points. Both full-information maximum likelihood (FIML) and multiple imputation (MI) were used to handle the missing data. Models were found to meet convergence rate and acceptable b...
Source: International Journal of Behavioral Development - July 31, 2014 Category: Child Development Authors: Jia, F., Moore, E. W. G., Kinai, R., Crowe, K. S., Schoemann, A. M., Little, T. D. Tags: Special issue: Planned missingness Source Type: research

Planned missing designs to optimize the efficiency of latent growth parameter estimates
We examine the performance of planned missing (PM) designs for correlated latent growth curve models. Using simulated data from a model where latent growth curves are fitted to two constructs over five time points, we apply three kinds of planned missingness. The first is item-level planned missingness using a three-form design at each wave such that 25% of data are missing. The second is wave-level planned missingness such that each participant is missing up to two waves of data. The third combines both forms of missingness. We find that three-form missingness results in high convergence rates, little parameter estimate o...
Source: International Journal of Behavioral Development - July 31, 2014 Category: Child Development Authors: Rhemtulla, M., Jia, F., Wu, W., Little, T. D. Tags: Special issue: Planned missingness Source Type: research

Two-method planned missing designs for longitudinal research
We examine longitudinal extensions of the two-method measurement design, which uses planned missingness to optimize cost-efficiency and validity of hard-to-measure constructs. These designs use a combination of two measures: a "gold standard" that is highly valid but expensive to administer, and an inexpensive (e.g., survey-based) measure that contains systematic measurement bias (e.g., response bias). Using simulated data on four measurement occasions, we compared the cost-efficiency and validity of longitudinal designs where the gold standard is measured at one or more measurement occasions. We manipulated the nature of ...
Source: International Journal of Behavioral Development - July 31, 2014 Category: Child Development Authors: Garnier-Villarreal, M., Rhemtulla, M., Little, T. D. Tags: Special issue: Planned missingness Source Type: research

Optimal assignment methods in three-form planned missing data designs for longitudinal panel studies
Planned missing designs are becoming increasingly popular, but because there is no consensus on how to implement them in longitudinal research, we simulated longitudinal data to distinguish between strategies of assigning items to forms and of assigning forms to participants across measurement occasions. Using relative efficiency as the criterion, results indicate that balanced item assignment coupled with assigning different forms over time most often yields the optimal assignment method, but only if variables are reliable. We also address how practice effects can bias latent means. A second simulation demonstrates that (...
Source: International Journal of Behavioral Development - July 31, 2014 Category: Child Development Authors: Jorgensen, T. D., Rhemtulla, M., Schoemann, A., McPherson, B., Wu, W., Little, T. D. Tags: Special issue: Planned missingness Source Type: research

Positive effects of promoting prosocial behavior in early adolescence: Evidence from a school-based intervention
The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of a pilot school-based intervention called CEPIDEA, designed to promote prosocial behavior in early adolescence. The study took place in a middle school located in a small city near Rome. The intervention group included 151 students (52.3% males; Mage = 12.4), and the control group 173 students (50.3% females; Mage = 13.0). Both groups were assessed at three time points, each 6 months apart. A Latent Growth Curve analysis revealed that the intervention group, compared to the control group, showed an increase of helping behavior along w...
Source: International Journal of Behavioral Development - June 4, 2014 Category: Child Development Authors: Caprara, G. V., Kanacri, B. P. L., Gerbino, M., Zuffiano, A., Alessandri, G., Vecchio, G., Caprara, E., Pastorelli, C., Bridglall, B. Tags: Articles Source Type: research

Older driver and passenger collaboration for wayfinding in unfamiliar areas
This article describes a survey of 194 healthy, community-dwelling older drivers and their regular passengers to investigate how passengers assist drivers, and to identify the characteristics of drivers and passengers who regularly collaborate to assist with wayfinding. Three aspects of passenger assistance were investigated: Pre-trip planning, directional guidance and searching for visual cues. Results revealed a high incidence of collaboration amongst drivers and passengers who regularly drive together. Collaboration was dependent on the perceived wayfinding abilities of the driver by both passenger and driver, suggestin...
Source: International Journal of Behavioral Development - June 4, 2014 Category: Child Development Authors: Bryden, K. J., Charlton, J., Oxley, J., Lowndes, G. Tags: Articles Source Type: research

Aggressive and prosocial behaviors: The social success of bistrategic preadolescents
This study examined the social functioning of bistrategic youths (i.e., those who employ both aggressive and prosocial behavior) in order to further understand their social competence in peer social networks. Within our sample of 318 fifth-grade participants recruited from an urban school district in the northeastern US, bistrategic preadolescents were identified, along with aggressives, prosocials, typicals, and noncontrollers. Bistrategic youths were found to hold the highest individual status and group status among all five subtypes within the network. Bistrategic youths and other active controller youths (i.e., prosoci...
Source: International Journal of Behavioral Development - June 4, 2014 Category: Child Development Authors: Wurster, T., Xie, H. Tags: Articles Source Type: research

Bilingualism matters: One size does not fit all
The articles in this special issue provide a complex picture of acquisition in bilinguals in which the factors that contribute to patterns of performance in bilingual children’s two languages are myriad and diverse. The processes and contours of development in bilingual children are influenced, not only by the quantity, quality, and contexts of input, but by whether the child hears monolingual or bilingual speech, who is the source of that speech, the proportion of speakers of the heritage language in the community, the child’s birth order in the family, the family’s SES, the timing and the child’s ...
Source: International Journal of Behavioral Development - June 4, 2014 Category: Child Development Authors: Gathercole, V. C. M. Tags: Special section: Language development in multilingual environments Source Type: research

Bilingual lexical skills of school-age children with Chinese and Korean heritage languages in the United States
This cross-sectional study investigated the bilingual lexical skills of 175 US school-age children (5 to18 years old) with Cantonese, Mandarin, or Korean as their heritage language (HL), and English as their dominant language. Primary study goals were to identify potential patterns of development in bilingual lexical skills over the elementary to high school time span and to examine the relation of environmental factors to lexical skills. HL and English productive lexical skills were assessed with a Picture Naming and a Verbal Fluency task. English receptive lexical skills were assessed with Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test...
Source: International Journal of Behavioral Development - June 4, 2014 Category: Child Development Authors: Jia, G., Chen, J., Kim, H., Chan, P.-S., Jeung, C. Tags: Special section: Language development in multilingual environments Source Type: research

English second-language learners in preschool: Profile effects in their English abilities and the role of home language environment
The objectives of this study were twofold: (1) Determine the English proficiency of English second-language learners (ELLs) at the end of preschool as referenced to monolingual norms, and in particular, to determine if they showed an asynchronous profile, that is, approached monolingual norms more closely for some linguistic sub-skills than others; (2) Investigate the role of home language environment in predicting individual differences in children’s English proficiency. Twenty-one ELL children (mean age = 58 months) from low socio-economic status (SES) backgrounds with diverse first-language backgrounds participate...
Source: International Journal of Behavioral Development - June 4, 2014 Category: Child Development Authors: Paradis, J., Kirova, A. Tags: Special section: Language development in multilingual environments Source Type: research

"{inverted question}Como estas?" "I'm good." Conversational code-switching is related to profiles of expressive and receptive proficiency in Spanish-English bilingual toddlers
Relations between bilingual children’s patterns of conversational code-switching (responding to one language with another), the balance of their dual language input, and their expressive and receptive proficiency in two languages were examined in 115 21/2-year-old simultaneous Spanish-English bilinguals in the U.S. Children were more likely to code-switch in response to Spanish than English. Children’s expressive vocabulary scores were higher in English than in Spanish, while their English and Spanish receptive language scores were not different. Analyses of subgroups of children with different but consistent p...
Source: International Journal of Behavioral Development - June 4, 2014 Category: Child Development Authors: Ribot, K. M., Hoff, E. Tags: Special section: Language development in multilingual environments Source Type: research

Speech perception and vocabulary growth: A longitudinal study of Finnish-Russian bilinguals and Finnish monolinguals from infancy to three years
Growth modeling was applied to monolingual (N = 26) and bilingual (N = 28) word learning from 14 to 36 months. Level and growth rate of vocabulary were lower for Finnish-Russian bilinguals than for Finnish monolinguals. Processing of Finnish speech sounds at 7 but not at 11 months predicted level, but not growth rate of vocabulary in both Finnish and Russian; this relationship was the same for monolinguals and bilinguals. The bilinguals’ two vocabularies developed differently, showing no acceleration in Russian, the minority language. Even though the bilinguals progressed more slowly in each home language, they were ...
Source: International Journal of Behavioral Development - June 4, 2014 Category: Child Development Authors: Silven, M., Voeten, M., Kouvo, A., Lunden, M. Tags: Special section: Language development in multilingual environments Source Type: research

First translation equivalents in bilingual toddlers' expressive vocabulary: Does form similarity matter?
Translation equivalents (TEs) characterize the lexicon of bilinguals from the early stages of acquisition, as reported in studies involving English and other languages in which most cross-language synonyms are dissimilar in phonological form. This research explores the emergence of TEs in Spanish-Catalan bilinguals who are acquiring two languages with many cognate words and thus languages with many cross-language synonyms with identical or similar phonological forms. Expressive vocabulary was obtained in two 18-month-old groups (monolingual and bilingual, N = 24 each) through parental report using a bilingual questionnaire...
Source: International Journal of Behavioral Development - June 4, 2014 Category: Child Development Authors: Bosch, L., Ramon-Casas, M. Tags: Special section: Language development in multilingual environments Source Type: research