AuDrA: An automated drawing assessment platform for evaluating creativity.

The visual modality is central to both reception and expression of human creativity. Creativity assessment paradigms, such as structured drawing tasks Barbot (2018), seek to characterize this key modality of creative ideation. However, visual creativity assessment paradigms often rely on cohorts of expert or naïve raters to gauge the level of creativity of the outputs. This comes at the cost of substantial human investment in both time and labor. To address these issues, recent work has leveraged the power of machine learning techniques to automatically extract creativity scores in the verbal domain (e.g., SemDis; Beaty & Johnson 2021). Yet, a comparably well-vetted solution for the assessment of visual creativity is missing. Here, we introduce AuDrA - an Automated Drawing Assessment platform to extract visual creativity scores from simple drawing productions. Using a collection of line drawings and human creativity ratings, we trained AuDrA and tested its generalizability to untrained drawing sets, raters, and tasks. Across four datasets, nearly 60 raters, and over 13,000 drawings, we found AuDrA scores to be highly correlated with human creativity ratings for new drawings on the same drawing task (r = .65 to .81; mean = .76). Importantly, correlations between AuDrA scores and human raters surpassed those between drawings' elaboration (i.e., ink on the page) and human creativity raters, suggesting that AuDrA is sensitive to features of drawings beyond simple degree of complexity. We discuss future directions, limitations, and link the trained AuDrA model and a tutorial ( https://osf.io/kqn9v/ ) to enable researchers to efficiently assess new drawings.

Divergent semantic integration (DSI): Extracting creativity from narratives with distributional semantic modeling.

We developed a novel conceptualization of one component of creativity in narratives by integrating creativity theory and distributional semantics theory. We termed the new construct divergent semantic integration (DSI), defined as the extent to which a narrative connects divergent ideas. Across nine studies, 27 different narrative prompts, and over 3500 short narratives, we compared six models of DSI that varied in their computational architecture. The best-performing model employed Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers (BERT), which generates context-dependent numerical representations of words (i.e., embeddings). BERT DSI scores demonstrated impressive predictive power, explaining up to 72% of the variance in human creativity ratings, even approaching human inter-rater reliability for some tasks. BERT DSI scores showed equivalently high predictive power for expert and nonexpert human ratings of creativity in narratives. Critically, DSI scores generalized across ethnicity and English language proficiency, including individuals identifying as Hispanic and L2 English speakers. The integration of creativity and distributional semantics theory has substantial potential to generate novel hypotheses about creativity and novel operationalizations of its underlying processes and components. To facilitate new discoveries across diverse disciplines, we provide a tutorial with code (osf.io/ath2s) on how to compute DSI and a web app ( osf.io/ath2s ) to freely retrieve DSI scores.

Creative recovery: Narrative creativity mitigates identity distress among young adults with cancer.

Objective: Young adults with cancer are at a heightened risk for experiencing identity distress, with adverse consequence on their satisfaction with life (SwL). This study examines the contributions of two resources thought to mitigate identity distress: parental warmth and narrative creativity.Methods: 164 young adults divided into three groups: (a) control group (no history of life-threatening medical illness); (b) recovered group, and (c) cancer group (currently in treatment) completed measures of SwL, identity distress, parental warmth, and narrative creativity.Findings: The cancer group was associated with higher identity distress and there was a strong contribution of identity distress in decreased SwL across groups. Narrative creativity had a significant, direct effect on reduced identity distress, indirectly increasing SwL across groups.Implications for psychosocial providers: These findings highlight the potential of creativity to decrease identity distress and in turn, improve SwL among patients with cancer.

Italian Version of the Relationship Profile Test (RPT-I): Temporal Stability, Construct Validity, and Cross-Cultural Comparison.

This study presents the adaptation to the Italian context of the Relationship Profile Test (RPT; Bornstein & Languirand), a self-report measure of Destructive Overdependence (DO), Dysfunctional Detachment (DD), and Healthy Dependency (HD). The RPT was administered to a community sample of 661 nonclinical Italian adults together with the Attachment Style Questionnaire, the Relational-Interdependent Self-Construal Scale, the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, the Self-Compassion Scale, the Positive Affect-Negative Affect Scale, and the Toronto Alexithymia Scale. A randomly selected subset of participants (n = 67) completed the RPT again approximately 5 months after the first administration. The factor structure of the RPT obtained in the main sample was compared with that obtained in a sample of 603 adult participants from the US and was found to be similar. Internal consistency for DO, DD, and HD scores in the Italian sample fell between the acceptable to good range, and test-retest reliability coefficients were all above .70. The three scales yielded the expected pattern of correlations with theoretically related constructs, documenting good criterion validity. Findings are discussed in light of the literature on the RPT as a measure of interpersonal dependency and detachment. Suggestions for future research are offered.

The role of psychopathology in the relationship between history of maltreatment and suicide attempts among children and adolescent inpatients.

BACKGROUND: This retrospective chart review study investigates the relationship between the history of various forms of abuse and the presence of mood disorders and psychotic symptoms in predicting suicide attempts among psychiatrically hospitalized children and adolescents. METHOD: A multi-mediation analysis was conducted with an archival dataset of 101 children and adolescents hospitalized predominantly for mood disorders and bipolar disorders with and without history of psychotic symptoms. RESULTS: Results showed that history of suicide attempts was directly associated with physical abuse and indirectly associated with sexual abuse (mediated by bipolar disorders). Emotional abuse was also indirectly related to history of suicide attempts, mediated by mood disorders for boys, and by psychotic symptoms for girls. CONCLUSIONS: This study is among the first to differentiate the unique effects of different types of early maltreatment on psychopathology, particularly mood disorders and psychotic symptoms, and histories of suicide attempts in psychiatrically hospitalized children and youth. KEY PRACTITIONER MESSAGE: Little is known about the relationships between histories of maltreatment, psychopathology, and suicide (considered simultaneously) among hospitalized children and adolescents. Different forms of abuse are associated with distinct psychopathology symptoms, and in turn, risk for suicide attempts. Only physical abuse is directly related to a history of suicide attempts, while sexual and emotional abuse are indirectly related (mediated by mood disorders and psychotic symptoms). These risk pathways are partly distinct for girls and boys. Identifying unique and cumulated risk factors can help prevent suicidality among hospitalized youth.

Manifesto for new directions in developmental science.

Although developmental science has always been evolving, these times of fast-paced and profound social and scientific changes easily lead to disorienting fragmentation rather than coherent scientific advances. What directions should developmental science pursue to meaningfully address real-world problems that impact human development throughout the lifespan? What conceptual or policy shifts are needed to steer the field in these directions? The present manifesto is proposed by a group of scholars from various disciplines and perspectives within developmental science to spark conversations and action plans in response to these questions. After highlighting four critical content domains that merit concentrated and often urgent research efforts, two issues regarding "how" we do developmental science and "what for" are outlined. This manifesto concludes with five proposals, calling for integrative, inclusive, transdisciplinary, transparent, and actionable developmental science. Specific recommendations, prospects, pitfalls, and challenges to reach this goal are discussed.

Violent offending among juveniles: A 7-year longitudinal study of recidivism, desistance, and associations with mental health.

Serious and violent offending among juveniles is a consistent concern of researchers, practitioners, and policymakers, yet the development of violent offending remains poorly understood because of limited availability of relevant data, small sample sizes, and shortage of longitudinal data sets. This study analyzed developmental patterns of violent offending over 7 years in the complete population of court-referred youth in Connecticut between 2006 and 2012 (N = 58,678; mean age at first offense = 14.7 years). This unique dataset provided several key findings: First, results from a latent class growth analysis showed that violent crimes peaked at age 14-15, with high-rate adolescent offenders (3.7% of the sample) accounting for 31.9% of all violent offenses. Further, 74.2% of this group desisted from violent crimes in adulthood. Higher levels of self-reported anger/irritability slightly increased the odds of violent recidivism (odds ratio, OR = 1.09), where higher levels of depression/anxiety depressed the odds (OR = 0.89). The overrepresentation of males, non-Hispanic Black, and Hispanic youth among high-rate adolescence offenders were traceable through adolescence but not beyond the age of 18. Together, these finding may help to inform new delinquency interventions that target the needs of this proportionally small group of violent adolescent offenders accounting for a large amount of violent crimes. (PsycINFO Database Record

Identifying learning patterns of children at risk for Specific Reading Disability.

Differences in learning patterns of vocabulary acquisition in children at risk (+SRD) and not at risk (-SRD) for Specific Reading Disability (SRD) were examined using a microdevelopmental paradigm applied to the multi-trial Foreign Language Learning Task (FLLT; Baddeley et al., 1995). The FLLT was administered to 905 children from rural Chitonga-speaking Zambia. A multi-group Latent Growth Curve Model (LGCM) was implemented to study interindividual differences in intraindividual change across trials. Results showed that the +SRD group recalled fewer words correctly in the first trial, learned at a slower rate during the subsequent trials, and demonstrated a more linear learning pattern compared to the -SRD group. This study illustrates the promise of LGCM applied to multi-trial learning tasks, by isolating three components of the learning process (initial recall, rate of learning, and functional pattern of learning). Implications of this microdevelopmental approach to SRD research in low-to-middle income countries are discussed.

Epigenetic Patterns Modulate the Connection Between Developmental Dynamics of Parenting and Offspring Psychosocial Adjustment.

This study attempted to establish and quantify the connections between parenting, offspring psychosocial adjustment, and the epigenome. The participants, 35 African American young adults (19 females and 16 males; age = 17-29.5 years), represented a subsample of a 3-wave longitudinal 15-year study on the developmental trajectories of low-income urban mother-offspring dyads. Mothers were assessed on their perceptions of maternal stress at each wave. Offspring were assessed on their perceptions of maternal parenting at each wave and on their adaptive and maladaptive behavior at the last wave. Genome-wide DNA methylation in peripheral T lymphocytes at the third wave was assayed using Methyl Binding Domain(MBD) sequencing. Statistically significant associations were identified between the change in offspring's perception of parenting from middle childhood to adulthood and the DNA methylation in offspring's adult genomes. Specifically, the slope of perceived parental rejection across the 3 time points was related to an increase in methylation, or a potential downregulation, of 565 genes thought to be involved in the control of a broad spectrum of biological functions generally related to cellular signaling. A subset of these epigenetic marks, clustered in 23 genes, some of which participate in the development and functioning of the CNS, were in turn associated with psychosocial adjustment as captured by interpersonal relationships and emotional self-evaluation. This appears to be one of the first investigations of the modulating role of the methylome in associations between developmental dynamics of parenting throughout the formative years of child and adolescent development and psychosocial adjustment in adulthood.

"Peaks, Slumps, and Bumps": Individual Differences in the Development of Creativity in Children and Adolescents.

This article reviews developmental studies of creativity in children and adolescents with a focus on "peaks" and "slumps" that have often been described in the literature. The irregularity of the development of creativity is interpreted in light of conceptual and measurement issues and with regard to the interaction between individual-level resources, task-specific demands, and environmental influences, resulting in apparent individual differences in the development of creativity. The need for longitudinal designs, multidimensional and multi-domain assessment of creative potential limiting the contribution of task-specific factors is outlined and discussed as an important direction for developmental research on creativity.

New directions for the study of within-individual variability in development: the power of "N = 1".

This article provides an introduction to the idiographic approach ("N = 1" research) in developmental psychology and an overview of methodological and statistical techniques employed to address the study of within-individual variability in development. Through a popularization of the idiographic approach and associated statistical techniques, but also through technical advances in the apparatus used to produce single-case intensive longitudinal data, the "power" of "N = 1" is becoming increasingly tangible and may challenge, or supplement, established paradigms in nomothetic (group-level) developmental psychology.

Challenges of adolescent psychology in the European identity context.

In Europe, the question of identity and youth civic engagement constitutes a challenge both for the European Union (EU) and for research on adolescent psychology. In this article, we discuss the European historical context and the current initiatives from the EU that aim to encourage civic engagement among young people. Then, we suggest some research directions in youth civic engagement and identity formation, which could contribute to the facilitation of the initiative drawn by the EU. These directions include (a) understanding the role and the dynamics of the sense of belonging to the different levels of social communities into sociocultural contexts (such as continental, national), and (b) the development of civic engagement during adolescence integrating the various components of civic engagement and identity formation processes. Finally, (c) the specificities of sociocultural contexts and the diversity of multifaceted identity with regard to cultural, social, and ethnic groups should be taken into account.

Perceived parental reactions to adolescent distress: development and validation of a brief measure.

Although adolescence is a time of individuation with increased reliance on peers, research indicates that, despite a deliberate distancing from parents, adolescents continue to seek the support and console of parental attachment figures in times of distress. The Perceived Parental Reactions to Adolescent Distress (PRAD) is a brief self-report measure developed to examine adolescents' perception of parental response under conditions of distress as measured by four conceptually and empirically distinct parental reactions to distress: Comfort, Self-Focus, Avoidance and Harshness. Across two studies involving a total of 738 high school students, we developed the PRAD and substantiated its robust psychometric properties, including evidence for reliability as well as internal and criterion validity. Sources of individual differences in the test-scores were also explored. Empirical as well as practical importance of assessing parental reactions to adolescent distress is discussed with regard to both the attachment and adolescent development literature.

Capturing Age-group Differences and Developmental Change with the BASC Parent Rating Scales.

Estimation of age-group differences and intra-individual change across distinct developmental periods is often challenged by the use of age-appropriate (but non-parallel) measures. We present a short version of the Behavior Assessment System (Reynolds & Kamphaus, 1998), Parent Rating Scales for Children (PRS-C) and Adolescents (PRS-A), which uses only their common-items to derive estimates of the initial constructs optimized for developmental studies. Measurement invariance of a three-factor model (Externalizing, Internalizing, Adaptive Skills) was tested across age-groups (161 mothers using PRS-C; 200 mothers using PRS-A) and over time (115 mothers using PRS-C at baseline and PRS-A five years later) with the original versus short PRS. Results indicated that the short PRS holds a sufficient level of invariance for a robust estimation of age-group differences and intra-individual change, as compared to the original PRS, which held only weak invariance leading to flawed developmental inferences. Importance of test-content parallelism for developmental studies is discussed.

The smartphone as a "significant other": interpersonal dependency and attachment in maladaptive smartphone and social networks use.

Smartphones are increasingly widespread throughout the world and, although smartphones provide various benefits, excessive and maladaptive use is often reported. Given the penetration of smartphones in the individual's daily life, it is relevant to identify the mechanisms sustaining their use, including the affective bond that the owner may develop with the device. The aim of the current study is to test a novel model to explain smartphone and Social Network Sites (SNS) use from an interpersonal perspective. We hypothesized that adult attachment style and interpersonal patterns (i.e., features of interpersonal dependency) generalize to the emotional bond with the mobile device, interacting with psychological correlates and background factors to predict smartphone and SNS consumption. 341 nonclinical adults (57.2% females; age M = 35.5, SD = 14.6) completed a battery consisting of the Attachment Style Questionnaire, the Relationship Profile Test, the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, the Toronto Alexithymia Scale, the Young Adult Attachment to Phone Scale, and the Social Network Intensity and Social Network Access via Mobile phone Applications. A multi-mediation model supported the hypothesis regarding the influence of interpersonal style in the relationship of the individual with their smartphone and use of SNS. A parallel between attachment style and the emotional bond with the smartphone emerged, with anxious attachment style and destructive overdependence being potential risk factors for maladaptive smartphone use especially in individuals involved in a romantic relationship. Findings are discussed in terms of theoretical implications and intervention strategies towards smartphone dependency.