Impact of COVID-19 on Youth With ADHD: Predictors and Moderators of Response to Pandemic Restrictions on Daily Life.

We examined COVID-19 symptoms and infection rates, disruptions to functioning, and moderators of pandemic response for 620 youth with ADHD and 614 individually matched controls (70% male; Mage = 12.4) participating in the Adolescent Brain and Cognitive Development study. There were no group differences in COVID-19 infection rate; however, youth with ADHD were more likely to exhibit COVID-19 symptoms (d = 0.25), greater sleep problems (d = -0.52), fear and negative emotions to infection risk (d = -0.56), trouble with remote learning (d = -0.54), rule-breaking behavior related to COVID-19 restrictions (d = -0.23), family conflict (d = -0.13), and were less prepared for the next school year (d = 0.38). Youth with ADHD were less responsive to protective environmental variables (e.g., parental monitoring, school engagement) during the pandemic and may need more specialized support with return to in-person schooling and daily activities.

Predicting eighth grade math motivation using school and national context.

Student motivation predicts academic achievement, engagement, and related academic behaviors. Yet in spite of the importance of motivation for academic success, few studies have examined the school and national-level contextual characteristics associated with motivation. The present study uses hierarchical linear modeling to analyze a large international dataset of eighth grade students in 40 countries to assess the extent to which math motivation varies by individual, school, and country-level factors. Findings indicate that contextual variables predict student interest, self-efficacy, and utility value related to math. Student perceptions of school climate emerged as a strong and consistent predictor of math motivation, above and beyond demographics and achievement. The current study identifies characteristics of students at risk for poor motivation and emphasizes the need for school climate intervention. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Factor structure and differential item functioning of the BASC-2 BESS Spanish Language Parent Form.

Given the steady increase of students from diverse backgrounds in the U.S. educational system, in particular immigrant and Latino students, it is important to consider how to best support all students within our schools. The present study focuses on the Behavior Assessment System for Children-Second Edition (BASC-2) Behavioral and Emotional Screening System (BESS) Parent Spanish form, which is a promising assessment tool for those who are interested in screening for behavioral and emotional risk among Spanish-speaking populations. The present study included 725 students of Latino descent in Grades K-6 in an urban school district and their parents or legal guardians, who served as the informants. All parents completed the BESS language form (English or Spanish) of their choice. A confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) supported a 4-factor structure (Externalizing, Internalizing, Inattention, and Adaptive Skills) similar to that of the BESS Parent English form: χ2(77) = 248.06, p < .001; CFI = 0.903; TLI = 0.940. However, differential item functioning (DIF) analyses revealed 5 items (16.7%) demonstrated significant levels of DIF, with 4 of the 5 being easier to endorse in English. This study provides preliminary evidence of partial invariance of the BESS Parent across language forms. Although some evidence of invariance across language forms at the structural and item levels exists, more research is necessary to determine whether the DIF found in the present study results in any perceptible test bias. (PsycINFO Database Record

Psychometric analysis of the BASC-2 Behavioral and Emotional Screening System (BESS) student form: Results from high school student samples.

The Behavioral and Emotional Screening System (BESS) is a relatively new method for identifying behavior and emotional risk (BER) in children and adolescents. Psychometric evidence regarding this instrument is important for researchers and practitioners considering the use of the BESS for identifying BER in students. Previous psychometric research specifically regarding the BESS Student Form involved the use of samples of elementary and middle school-age children. This study adds to the psychometric evidence for scores on the BESS Student Form by using samples of high school aged students to assess both the factor structure reported by Dowdy, Twyford et al. (2011) and the measurement invariance of the BESS items with regard to ethnicity, English language proficiency, and socioeconomic status. The results indicate that while the proposed 4-factor structure of the BESS Student Form is appropriate, lower than preferred reliabilities for some of the factors indicates that reporting the overall risk T score is more appropriate than reporting factor scores for risk classification purposes. Additionally, the BESS Student Form items did not exhibit measurement bias when comparing across ethnicities, language proficiency classification, or socioeconomic status (via free/reduced lunch classification).

Surveillance of middle and high school mental health risk by student self-report screener.

INTRODUCTION: A 2009 National Academies of Sciences report on child mental health prevention and treatment concluded that screening for mental health risk is an essential component of service delivery. To date, however, there are few practical assessments available or practices in place that measure individual child risk, or risk aggregated at the school or community level. This study examined the utility of a 30-item paper and pencil student self-report screener of behavioral and emotional risk (BER) for surveying community risk among 7 schools. METHODS: In 2010, 2,222 students in 3 middle and 4 high schools in a medium-sized school district in Georgia were administered the Behavioral and Emotional Screening System Self-Report Child/Adolescent form (BESS Student). The BESS is designed to measure 4 sub-syndromal BER factors for developing mental health disorders: inattention/hyperactivity, internalizing, school problems, and personal adjustment. Analysis of Variance and Chi Square analyses were used to assess the association between adolescent self-reported BER as an indicator of school BER, grade level, child ethnic identification and gender, socioeconomic status, and special education placement status. RESULTS: BESS scores differentiated well between schools for overall BER and special education status, as well as between grade levels, ethnicity, and gender groups. One high school, known by the school administration to have numerous incidents of student behavior problems, had the most deviant 4 BER domain scores of all 7 schools. Girls rated themselves as having a higher prevalence of BER (14%) than boys (12%); middle school students reported fewer difficulties than high school students. CONCLUSION: Middle and high school students were capable of identifying significant differences in their own BER across schools, suggesting that universal mental health risk screening via student self-report is potentially useful for identifying aggregated community risk in a given school that may warrant differential deployment of mental health prevention and intervention strategies. BESS results reliably identified individual mental health risk associated with special education placement, which is documented to lead to poor school outcomes such as school dropout and lack of enrollment in post-secondary education.

Maternal smoking during pregnancy and failure of the georgia first grade criterion-referenced competency test.

BACKGROUND: Maternal smoking during pregnancy (MSDP) has been reported to be associated with impaired measures of cognitive function, but it remains unclear whether exposure to MSDP has an impact upon offspring school performance. We examined the association between MSDP and failure of the Criterion-Referenced Competency Tests (CRCT) among Georgia first grade students. METHODS: A retrospective cohort was created by deterministically linking 331 531 children born in Georgia from 1998 to 2002 (inclusive) to their individual CRCT education records from 2005 to 2009. We evaluated the association between MSDP (yes/no) and failure of the CRCT Reading, English/Language Arts (ELA), and Mathematics tests, with adjustment for maternal and child sociodemographic characteristics and birth outcomes. Log-binomial models estimated the risk ratios and 95% confidence intervals. Conditional models were fitted to paired sibling data. RESULTS: MSDP was associated with CRCT failure with an adjusted risk ratios for Reading: 1.16 [95% CI 1.12, 1.21]; ELA: 1.12 [95%CI 1.10, 1.15]; and Mathematics: 1.13 [95%CI 1.10, 1.16]. The association remained significant in paired sibling analyses. CONCLUSIONS: MSDP may have independent long-term effects on offspring school performance, which does not appear to be through smoking-related adverse birth outcomes.

Perinatal origins of first-grade academic failure: role of prematurity and maternal factors.

OBJECTIVE: We examined the relationships among gestational age at birth, maternal characteristics, and standardized test performance in Georgia first-grade students. METHODS: Live births to Georgia-resident mothers aged 11 to 53 years from 1998 through 2003 were deterministically linked with standardized test results for first-grade attendees of Georgia public schools from 2005 through 2009. Logistic models were used to estimate the odds of failure of the 3 components of the first-grade Criterion-Referenced Competency Test (CRCT). RESULTS: The strongest risk factor for failure of each of the 3 components of the first-grade CRCT was level of maternal education. Child race/ethnicity and maternal age at birth were also associated with first-grade CRCT failure irrespective of the severity of preterm birth, but these factors were more important among children born moderately preterm than for those born on the margins of the prematurity distribution. Adjusting for maternal and child characteristics, there was an increased odds of failure of each component of the CRCT for children born late preterm versus term, including for math (adjusted odds ratio [aOR]: 1.17, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.13-1.22), reading (aOR: 1.13, 95% CI: 1.08-1.18), and English/language arts, for which there was an important interaction with being born small for gestational age (aOR: 1.17, 95% CI: 1.07-1.29). CONCLUSIONS: Preterm birth and low maternal education increase children's risk of failure of first-grade standardized tests. Promoting women's academic achievement and reduce rates of preterm birth may be important to achieving gains in elementary school performance.

Predicting risk-taking with and without substance use: the effects of parental monitoring, school bonding, and sports participation.

Risk-taking is statistically normative during adolescence, yet is associated with adverse outcomes including substance use. The present study draws the distinction between protective factors (effective for those identified as high risk takers) and promotive factors (effective for all) against substance use, focusing on parental monitoring, school bonding, and sports participation. A total of 36,514 8th and 10th grade participants in the national Monitoring the Future study were included. Although parental monitoring was associated with lower alcohol and marijuana use among all adolescents (i.e., promotive effect), these effects were strongest among the highest risk takers (i.e., protective effect) and females. School bonding was associated with lower levels of both alcohol and marijuana use among all groups of adolescents, but these promotive effects were weak. Sports participation was associated with higher levels of alcohol use among all males and among 8th grade females who did not identify as high risk takers. Despite being a risk factor for alcohol use, sports participation did demonstrate a promotive effect against marijuana use among 10th grade females only, and especially so for high risk-taking females (i.e., protective effect). Overall, these findings suggest that of the three mechanisms studied, parental monitoring emerged as the most promising entry point for substance use prevention and intervention across groups, particularly for females and high risk-taking adolescents.

A factor analytic investigation of the BASC-2 Behavioral and Emotional Screening System Parent Form: psychometric properties, practical implications, and future directions.

The Behavior Assessment System for Children, Second Edition (BASC-2) Behavioral and Emotional Screening System Parent Form (BESS Parent; Kamphaus & Reynolds, 2007) is a recently developed instrument designed to identify behavioral and emotional risk in students. To describe the underlying factor structure for this instrument, exploratory (EFA) and confirmatory factor analyses (CFA) were conducted utilizing two subsets of a large, nationally-representative sample. The results of the EFA suggested that the BESS Parent contained a four-factor latent structure (i.e., Externalizing, Internalizing, Adaptive Skills, and Inattention), which was supported by CFA. Results support further investigation into utilizing four subscales in addition to an overall risk score; distributional and reliability information for the BESS Parent subscales is provided. Practical implications for school psychologists interested in early identification and directions for future research are discussed.