Communicative Functions in Children Raised in Three Different Social Contexts in Colombia: The Key Issue of Joint Attention

Children’s sociocultural experiences vary around the world. Colombia is a South American country where the differences between socioeconomic statuses (SES) are huge. In this study, through the ECSP-E Scale, translated to Spanish and validated for linguistic and cultural equivalence, the development of three communicative functions was evaluated through an interactive sociopragmatic approach. The participants comprised 36 24-month-old children, raised in three different social contexts in Colombia, with the goal of comparing them across groups of SES. The lowest SES group sample subjects were representative of extreme poverty and members of an ethnic group, the Wayuú. Results for the communicative functions, namely social interaction (SI), joint attention (JA), and behavior regulation (BR), showed that the only function with no significant differences across SES was joint attention. This supports the hypothesis that the development of this function may be universal, in light of the fact that the Wayuú not only differed from other subjects in terms of their socioeconomic status but also in their culture. Higher SES was related to better social interaction, while Low SES was associated with better behavior regulation than their High SES peers. Consequently, results are discussed considering socioeconomic and cultural differences in the development of communication and social interactions, leading us to reexamine the paradigms, theories, and practices that are used when observing children raised in very poor environments.

Abstract P035: Early Neurodevelopment Related Variables And Cardiovascular Health: Findings From The Multidimensional Assessment Of Preschoolers Study

Background: Cardiovascular health (CVH) declines with age starting in early childhood. Neurodevelopmental health (NDH) measures, such as executive function, in early childhood have been associated with subsequent behavioral and lifestyle outcomes; however, little is known about the association of NDH measures in early life with CVH during childhood. Objective: To assess the association of preschool NDH with CVH in later childhood/early adolescence. Methods: Among participants from the Multidimensional Assessment of Preschoolers Study (MAPS), we defined 3 neurodevelopment domains at baseline (ages 3-7 years): executive functioning, developmental functioning, and emotion and behavior regulation (each as a z-score of its component surveys and direct assessment). At the tween follow-up wave (ages 9-14 years), MAPS participants completed a CVH examination including assessment of physical activity, diet, blood pressure, and BMI defined as favorable vs unfavorable CVH metrics according to AHA recommendations. Multivariate logistic regression models were used to assess the association of each NDH domain with favorable/unfavorable CVH metrics at follow up. Models were adjusted for age, race, gender, and poverty. Results: We included 229 SES-diverse children (46.2% boys; 52% living in poverty at baseline; mean baseline age 4.7 yr; mean follow-up age: 11.3 yr). At follow-up, there were 179 (78.2%) children with favorable CVH and 50 (21.8%) children with unfavorable CVH. Better performance on all 3 NDH domains at baseline was demonstrated among children with favorable CVH at follow-up compared to those with unfavorable CVH, with mean z-score of 0.04 among those with favorable CVH compared to -0.15 among those with unfavorable CVH for executive functioning (p<0.001), 0.02 compared to -0.07 for developmental functioning (p=0.004), and 0.02 compared to -0.06 for emotion and behavior regulation (p=0.027). After adjustment, associations between executive functioning, developmental functioning, and emotion/behavior regulation and favorable CVH were attenuated to non-significance {OR (95% CI): 1.21 (0.80-1.81), 1.03 (0.64-1.67), 1.08 (0.73-1.59), respectively}. Conclusions: These findings suggest a possible association between neurodevelopmental domains and CVH, although findings were not significant after adjustment. The heterogeneity of the sample may have obscured effects and the moderating role of the environment may elucidate explanatory pathways. More research with larger sample sizes is needed to better understand the impact of early-life NDH with adolescent CVH.

Associations among physical activity tracking, physical activity motivation and level of physical activity in young adults

Whether physical activity (PA) tracking devices are associated with PA motivation in young adults is largely unknown. We compared total PA minutes per week, total minutes walking/week, meeting moderate-to vigorous PA guidelines, and past-year activity tracking across motivation cluster profiles among 799 young adults. Participants with “self-determined” profiles reported the highest total PA minutes/week followed by participants with “low intrinsic,” “controlled self-determined,” and “high external” profiles. A behavior regulation profile X activity tracking frequency interaction was not significant. Behavior regulation profiles may need to be considered in PA interventions using activity trackers.

Uric Acid Associates With Executive Function in Children and Adolescents With Hypertension

Observational studies show that serum uric acid levels associate with cardiometabolic risk factors and subclinical target organ damage. The aim of the present study is to investigate the association of traditional cardiometabolic risk factors and uric acid with the executive performance in children and adolescents. Ninety-nine children and adolescents aged 5 to 18 years referred for assessment of primary hypertension were included. Traditional cardiometabolic risk factors, uric acid, and ambulatory blood pressure parameters were assessed. Executive performance was assessed by the validated Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function parent questionnaire. Serum uric acid correlated with cardiometabolic parameters, daytime and nighttime systolic blood pressure. High uric acid levels and ambulatory hypertension were associated with behavior regulation independently of other cardiometabolic risk factors or presence of metabolic syndrome. Participants with combined hypertension and high uric acid levels presented the lowest behavior regulation performance. Children with high uric acid had worse behavior regulation indices T scores with estimated marginal means 56.47 (95% CI, 51.68–61.27) compared with 49.22 (95% CI, 45.91–52.53) in those with low uric acid levels ( P =0.023, adjusted for age, sex, nighttime systolic blood pressure, daytime and nighttime heart rate). Mediation analysis showed that part of the effect of high uric acid levels on behavior regulation was mediated by nighttime systolic blood pressure. In conclusion, we found a positive association of serum uric acid with worse executive performance in children at risk for primary hypertension. Extending these cross-sectional findings with longitudinal studies may determine whether high uric acid levels increases the risk of cognitive decline in youth.