scholarly journals Investigating spatial skills and math anxiety as mediators in a sequential mediation model: A pilot study

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 388-403
Author(s):  
Lu Wang
Keyword(s):  
Gender Differences ◽  
Pilot Study ◽  
Spatial Ability ◽  
Math Achievement ◽  
Math Anxiety ◽  
Spatial Relationship ◽  
Outcome Variable ◽  
Spatial Skills ◽  
Mediation Model ◽  
Mediation Effects

Prior research showed a gender effect on spatial ability, math anxiety, and math achievement. Lacking, however, is a comprehensive study that testedthe mediation effects of spatial ability and math anxiety between gender and math achievement in a sequential mediation model. To fill this gap, this pilot study tested two mediation relationships, one with spatial ability as a mediator, gender as a predictor, and math anxiety as an outcome variable; the other with math anxiety as a mediator, spatial ability as a predictor, and math achievement as an outcome variable. In addition, the study tested the relative strengths of the relationship between specific spatial skills that included perspective-taking, spatial imagery, and mental rotation and collegiate math achievement that included trigonometry, calculus, and linear algebra) via canonical correlations. Lastly, gender differences in spatial skills, math anxiety, and math achievement were investigated. The results of the independent t-tests showed that none of the well-documented gender differences in spatial ability was found. Canonical correlation analysis showed that a single canonical variable is sufficient in accounting for math-spatial relationship. The sequential mediation model, with spatial ability and math achievement serving as themediators in the model, fitted reasonably well. However, none of the mediation effects was statistically significant. Implications of these findings and future directions of this research are discussed

Spatial anxiety and spatial ability: Mediators of gender differences in math anxiety.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Véronic Delage ◽  
Geneviève Trudel ◽  
Fraulein Retanal ◽  
Erin A. Maloney
Keyword(s):  
Gender Differences ◽  
Spatial Ability ◽  
Math Anxiety

scholarly journals Exploring the Relationship Between Parental Involvement, Paper Folding Skills, and Early Spatial Ability: A Mediation Model

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dandan Wu ◽  
Jin Sun
Keyword(s):  
Parental Involvement ◽  
Spatial Ability ◽  
Early Years ◽  
Spatial Skills ◽  
Mediation Model ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Paper Folding ◽  
Educational Implications ◽  
Common Activity ◽  
The Relationship

Paper folding is a common activity in East Asian kindergartens, but its potential value to early spatial skills have not been empirically explored. This study aims to investigate whether and how paper folding skills can predict spatial ability (SA) in the early years. Altogether 101 preschoolers (Ngirl = 45, Mage = 4.54, SD = 0.75) were randomly sampled from two Hong Kong kindergartens and invited to complete the map-use and the paper folding tasks. The paper folding task taps two levels of children’s paper folding skills: Basic Folding Skill (BFS) and Advanced Folding Skill (AFS). The parents reported the demographic information and their involvement in spatial activities at home. The results indicated the following: (1) there was a significant age-related increase in the paper folding performance; (2) child age could significantly predict both BFS (β = 0.551, p < 0.001) and AFS (β = 0.627, p < 0.001), while parental involvement could only predict BFS (β = 0.246, p < 0.001); (3) after controlling for confounders, paper folding skills could significantly predict SA as measured by the map-use task; (4) BFS was found to mediate the relationship between parental involvement and SA. The educational implications of these findings are also discussed.

scholarly journals Estimation and Inference for the Mediation Effect in a Time-Varying Mediation Model

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xizhen Cai ◽  
Donna Coffman ◽  
Megan Piper ◽  
Runze Li
Keyword(s):  
Indirect Effect ◽  
Mediation Analysis ◽  
Mediation Effect ◽  
Outcome Variable ◽  
Time Varying ◽  
Mediation Model ◽  
Real World Data ◽  
Mediation Effects ◽  
Simulation Based ◽  
Time Invariant

Abstract Background: Traditional mediation analysis typically examines the relations among an intervention, a time-invariant mediator, and a time-invariant outcome variable. Although there may be a total effect of the intervention on the outcome, there is a need to understand the process by which the intervention affects the outcome (i.e. the indirect effect through the mediator). This indirect effect is frequently assumed to be time-invariant. With improvements in data collection technology, it is possible to obtain repeated assessments over time resulting in intensive longitudinal data. This calls for an extension of traditional mediation analysis to incorporate time-varying variables as well as time-varying effects. Methods: We focus on estimation and inference for the time-varying mediation model, which allows mediation effects to vary as a function of time. We propose a two-step approach to estimate the time-varying mediation effect. Moreover, we use a simulation-based approach to derive the corresponding point-wise conffidence band for making inference of the time-varying mediation effect. Results: Simulation studies show that the proposed procedures perform well when comparing the conffidence band and the true underlying model. We further apply the proposed model and the statistical inference procedure to real-world data collected from a smoking cessation study. Conclusions: We present a practical model for estimating the time-varying mediation effects to allow time-varying outcome as well as time-varying mediator. Simulation-based inference tool is also proposed and implemented an R package on CRAN.

scholarly journals Gender differences in perception of PAD: a pilot study

2003 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 89-94 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roberta K Oka ◽  
Andrzej Szuba ◽  
John C Giacomini ◽  
John P Cooke
Keyword(s):  
Gender Differences ◽  
Pilot Study

Social and early life adversity and chronic health conditions among Tunisian adults

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 949-958
Author(s):  
Sana El Mhamdi ◽  
Andrine Lemieux ◽  
Manel Ben Fredj ◽  
Ines Bouanene ◽  
Arwa Ben Salah ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Early Life ◽  
Significant Risk ◽  
Chronic Health Conditions ◽  
Health Conditions ◽  
Outcome Variable ◽  
Collective Violence ◽  
Cumulative Number ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Mediation Effects ◽  
Chronic Health

Abstract Early life adversities (ELAs) are shown as significant risk factors for chronic health conditions (CHCs). ELAs include multiple types of abuse such as the social abuse (peer, community, and collective violence). The purpose is to describe the relationship between childhood social abuse and chronic conditions in adulthood among a sample of adults in Tunisia and to investigate the role of obesity and tobacco use as mediators of this association. A cross-sectional study was conducted in Tunisia, from January to June 2016 using the Arabic Adverse Childhood Experiences International Questionnaire (ACE-IQ). Items of social abuse (peer violence, witnessing community violence, and exposure to collective violence) were analyzed. A total of 2,120 adults were enrolled. After adjustment for age, gender, and intrafamilial ELA, social adversities were associated significantly with the selected CHC. Experiencing more than two social ELA increase the risk of occurrence of hypertension and coronary diseases. After accounting for the indirect effect of body mass index, statistically significant partial mediation effects were observed for the cumulative number of social ELA as the exposure variable and chronic diseases as the outcome variable (p ≤ .001; % mediated = 44.5%). These findings support an association between many chronic health disorders and childhood social abuse, independently of intrafamilial ACEs.

scholarly journals Gender Differences in the Association Between Leisure Activity in Adulthood and Cognitive Function in Old Age: A Prospective Longitudinal Population-Based Study

2017 ◽  
Vol 75 (1) ◽  
pp. 11-20 ◽  
Author(s):  
Linda B Hassing
Keyword(s):  
Gender Differences ◽  
Cognitive Function ◽  
Old Age ◽  
Spatial Ability ◽  
Cognitive Aging ◽  
Leisure Activities ◽  
Verbal Ability ◽  
Leisure Activity ◽  
Cultural Activity ◽  
Prospective Longitudinal

Abstract Objectives To examine the long-term association between leisure activities in adulthood and cognitive function in old age while recognizing gender differences in activity profiles. Methods The sample included 340 cognitively healthy twins enrolled in the OCTO-Twin Study, a longitudinal study on cognitive aging. Leisure activity was measured in midlife and cognitive function in old age (mean age 83). Leisure activities covered the domains of domestic, intellectual–cultural, and self-improvement activities. The cognitive assessments comprised 5 measurement occasions (2-year intervals) covering verbal ability, spatial ability, memory, and speed. The association between leisure activity and cognitive function was estimated separately for the genders using growth curve models, adjusting for age and education. Results Men and women had the same level of total leisure activity but differed in activity profiles and in the associations between activity and cognitive function. Higher engagement in self-improvement among men was related to higher level of cognitive functioning. Among women, intellectual–cultural activity was related to better verbal ability and memory. Concerning trajectories of cognitive function, domestic activity among men was related to less decline in speed, whereas for women it was related to steeper decline in spatial ability and memory. Further, higher intellectual–cultural activity among women was related to steeper decline in memory. Discussion Cognitively stimulating activities (i.e., self-improvement and intellectual–cultural), might increase cognitive reserve whereas less cognitively stimulating activities (i.e., domestic) do not. Gender differences should be considered when examining lifestyle factors in relation to cognitive aging.

scholarly journals Compositional Mediation Analysis for Microbiome Studies

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael B. Sohn ◽  
Hongzhe Li
Keyword(s):  
Mediation Analysis ◽  
Compositional Data ◽  
Fat Intake ◽  
Simulation Studies ◽  
Mediation Model ◽  
Mediation Effects ◽  
Microbiome Composition ◽  
Causal Mediation Analysis ◽  
Simplex Space ◽  
Microbiome Data

AbstractMotivated by recent advances in causal mediation analysis and problems in the analysis of microbiome data, we consider the setting where the effect of a treatment on an outcome is transmitted through perturbing the microbial communities or compositional mediators. Compositional and high-dimensional nature of such mediators makes the standard mediation analysis not directly applicable to our setting. We propose a sparse compositional mediation model that can be used to estimate the causal direct and indirect (or mediation) effects utilizing the algebra for compositional data in the simplex space. We also propose tests of total and component-wise mediation effects using bootstrap. We conduct extensive simulation studies to assess the performance of the proposed method and apply the method to a real metagenomic dataset to investigate the effect of fat intake on body mass index mediated through the gut microbiome composition.

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