29.4 COULD POLYGENIC VARIATION UNDERLYING GENERAL COGNITIVE ABILITY IDENTIFY CHILD PSYCHIATRIC OUTPATIENTS AT RISK FOR ACADEMIC DIFFICULTIES?

Abstract Acculturative processes via persistent exposure to a set of cultural practices and behaviors can influence cognitive functioning (Park & Huang, 2010). The impact of acculturation on populations at risk for Alzheimer’s disease (AD), however, remains understudied. Persons with or at-risk for early-onset autosomal dominant AD (ADAD) offer a known AD pathogenesis and the opportunity to study whether acculturation moderates their cognitive performance. The present study used a latent variable model to test whether effects of latent cognitive ability on observable cognitive performance depend on acculturation. Participants included 119 adults with or at-risk for ADAD, the majority of whom were of Mexican origin with various levels of U.S. acculturation. Participants completed the Cognitive Abilities Screening Instrument (CASI) and the Acculturation Rating Scale for Mexican Americans-II (ARSMA-II). Confirmatory factor analysis was used to estimate a latent general cognitive ability factor from nine domains (e.g., attention, abstraction and judgment). The ARSMA-II was used to test whether factor loadings depended on level of acculturation, covarying for mutation status. Results revealed ARSMA-II scores nearly significantly moderated the effects of general cognitive ability on abstraction and judgment (λ = 0.20, SE = 0.11, p = .070). Individual differences in general cognitive ability at lower levels of acculturation likely predict lower abstraction and judgment performance. Cognitive assessments may not equally represent true cognitive ability in Mexican-Americans. Although the CASI was developed as a cross-cultural measure of cognitive functioning, caution should be exercised in inferring true cognitive functioning in Mexican-Americans who may not be acculturated to the U.S.

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The Cross-Lagged Relations Between Teacher-Student Relatedness and Reading Achievement of Academically At-Risk Students

The Journal of Early Adolescence ◽

10.1177/0272431618797016 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 39 (5) ◽

pp. 717-744

Author(s):

Imelda S. Caleon ◽

Ma. Glenda L. Wui

Keyword(s):

At Risk ◽

Reading Achievement ◽

Cognitive Ability ◽

Student Teacher ◽

General Cognitive Ability ◽

Teacher Communication ◽

Teacher Student ◽

The Cross ◽

Teacher Trust ◽

Negative Predictor

This two-wave study examined the cross-lagged relations between teacher-student relatedness (student-teacher communication, teacher trust, and teacher alienation) and reading achievement of academically at-risk secondary students ( N = 787) in Singapore. Compared with the cohort, these students had lower aggregate scores in a national examination administered at Grade 6. The results of the study showed that teacher trust at T1 (Grade 7) served as a positive predictor while student-teacher communication at T1 served as a negative predictor of reading achievement at T2 (Grade 8), after controlling for reading achievement at T1, gender, and general cognitive ability. Reading achievement at T1 was found to be a negative predictor of all dimensions of teacher-student relatedness, except teacher trust, at T2, even after accounting for the effects of teacher-student relatedness at T1, gender, and general cognitive ability. The results of the study reflect the complexity of the relationship between students’ academic achievement and teacher-student relatedness.

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Sex Differences in Childhood Associations between DNA Markers and General Cognitive Ability

Journal of Individual Differences ◽

10.1027/1614-0001.28.3.161 ◽

2007 ◽

Vol 28 (3) ◽

pp. 161-164 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Rosalind Arden ◽

Nicole Harlaar ◽

Robert Plomin

Keyword(s):

Sex Differences ◽

Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms ◽

Cognitive Ability ◽

Dna Markers ◽

Community Sample ◽

Nucleotide Polymorphisms ◽

General Cognitive Ability ◽

Single Nucleotide ◽

The Difference

Abstract. An association between intelligence at age 7 and a set of five single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) has been identified and replicated. We used this composite SNP set to investigate whether the associations differ between boys and girls for general cognitive ability at ages 2, 3, 4, 7, 9, and 10 years. In a longitudinal community sample of British twins aged 2-10 (n > 4,000 individuals), we found that the SNP set is more strongly associated with intelligence in males than in females at ages 7, 9, and 10 and the difference is significant at 10. If this finding replicates in other studies, these results will constitute the first evidence of the same autosomal genes acting differently on intelligence in the two sexes.

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