Trajectories of social anxiety during adolescence and relations with cognition, social competence, and temperament.

This cohort-sequential study examined developmental trajectories of social anxiety in a nonclinical sample (N = 331, 161 girls) aged 9 to 17 years at initial and 12 to 21 years at final assessment. We tested whether variables assessing cognition, social competence, and temperament discriminated between the trajectories. Variables were collected from different sources: participants, independent observers, parents, and teachers. Using Latent Class Growth Modeling (LCGM) we identified three distinct social anxiety trajectory groups: i) high and changing; ii) moderate and decreasing; and iii) low and decreasing. Multinomial regression analyses showed that the cognition variables, negative interpretations of ambiguous social situations and self-focused attention, differentiated between all three trajectories. A lack of social skills and having social problems at school were specifically related to the chance of following the high trajectory versus the moderate trajectory. Neuroticism differentiated between the low and moderate trajectories. Findings indicate that adolescents at risk of belonging to a high social anxiety trajectory can be discriminated from peers belonging to a less anxious trajectory using both cognition and social competence variables.

Young children's organizational strategies on a same-different task: A microgenetic study and a training study.

This study was designed to explore young children's strategy development using a new kind of "same-different" task that minimized memory demands. Four-year-old children were asked to judge whether 2 sets of 7 toys were the same or different. Sets were identical or differed by one toy, with one set presented on a table and the other in a linen bag. Children's spontaneous behavior was highly strategic, and over trials it developed differently for "same" and "different" trials. Most children who did not spontaneously use the most effective strategy, that is, matching, could be trained to do so and were able to transfer this strategy to new materials. Results concerning production and utilization deficiencies are discussed in relation to task characteristics, trial type (same or different), and findings from prior research.

A longitudinal study on dysgraphic handwriting in primary school.

In an epidemiological study, the scripts of 121 Dutch primary-school children were evaluated annually, starting in Grade 2. The children were followed for 5 years. An evaluation scale for children's handwriting (the BHK scale) was used for rating the scripts on 13 characteristics and for measuring the speed of writing. Principal component analysis of the LONG matrix (in which the data collected on the five occasions are arranged beneath each other) yielded three clusters of items: (a) fine-motor ability, (b) structural performance, and (c) stylistic preference. It was found that the children with dysgraphic handwriting (10% scoring highest on the BHK quality items) had lower fine-motor ability and, in the higher grades, showed less preference for a personal style. Their structural performance also was poorer than that of the other writers. Children with and without dysgraphic handwriting did not differ in writing speed. Some implications of the study for handwriting instruction are discussed.

Development of handwriting in primary school: a longitudinal study.

To investigate the development of handwriting in primary school children a study was conducted in which the scripts of 127 pupils were rated yearly, starting in Grade 2. Children were followed-up on for 3, 4, or 5 yr. The BHK-scale for children's handwriting was used for rating the scripts on 13 characteristics and for measuring the speed of writing. The shifts in frequency of occurrence of the various characteristics over time were analyzed using Correspondence Analysis. A one-dimensional solution was chosen, yielding a time dimension. Results were interpreted in terms of (a) children's growing motor ability, (b) a deterioration of the form aspects of the script as they had initially learned those, and (c) the development of a personal writing style with regard to esthetic aspects. A strong relation was found between the speed of writing and grade.