Objectives
The current study is the first to assess pregnant women’s perceptions of e-cigarettes and the prevalence of e-cigarette use during pregnancy, using a national sample of pregnant women (N = ...445) recruited online.
Methods
An online survey was used to assess the prevalence and perceptions of e-cigarette use among pregnant women, including perceptions of e-cigarette safety.
Results
In our sample, 5.62% (n = 25) of women solely used tobacco cigarettes, 6.52% (n = 29) solely used e-cigarettes, 8.54% (n = 38) used both tobacco cigarettes and e-cigarettes, and 79.33% (n = 353) used neither tobacco cigarettes nor e-cigarettes during their current pregnancy. Overall, 64.27% (n = 286) of participants viewed e-cigarettes as being safer than tobacco cigarettes. Having seen advertisements for e-cigarettes increased likelihood of viewing them as safer than tobacco cigarettes (OR Odds Ratio = 2.5, p < .01).
Conclusions for Practice
Taken together, findings from this study suggest that at least as many women use e-cigarettes during pregnancy as tobacco cigarettes, that pregnant women view e-cigarettes as being safer than tobacco cigarettes, and that these views may be influenced by exposure to e-cigarette advertisements.
The "fetal origins" hypothesis suggests that fetal conditions not only affect birth characteristics such as birth weight and gestational age, but also have lifelong health implications. Despite ...widespread interest in this hypothesis, few methodological advances have been proposed to improve the measurement and modeling of fetal conditions. A Statistics in Medicine paper by Bollen, Noble, and Adair examined favorable fetal growth conditions (FFGC) as a latent variable. Their study of Filipino children from Cebu provided evidence consistent with treating FFGC as a latent variable that largely mediates the effects of mother's characteristics on birth weight, birth length, and gestational age. This innovative method may have widespread utility, but only if the model applies equally well across diverse settings. Our study assesses whether the FFGC model of Cebu replicates and generalizes to a very different population of children from North Carolina (N=705) and Pennsylvania (N=494). Using a series of structural equation models, we find that key features of the Cebu analysis replicate and generalize while we also highlight differences between these studies. Our results support treating fetal conditions as a latent variable when researchers test the fetal origins hypothesis. In addition to contributing to the substantive literature on measuring fetal conditions, we also discuss the meaning and challenges involved in replicating prior research.
The current study compares sleep variables obtained from videosomnography, actigraphy, and sleep diaries, three of the most common sleep assessment methods used in infant sleep studies. Using a ...sample of 90 African American 3-month olds, we compare correlations and discrepancies for seven sleep variables across each of the three pairs of assessment methods for one night of a week-long sleep study. These seven variables are indicative of sleep schedule (e.g. sleep onset time, rise time), duration (e.g. sleep period, sleep time, wake time), and fragmentation (e.g. night wakings, longest sleep period). We find that across all sleep assessment methods, correlations are highest for variables indicative of sleep schedule, and lowest for variables indicative of sleep fragmentation. Comparing the magnitude and significance of the discrepancies, we find that actigraphy and sleep diaries significantly overestimate sleep period duration and underestimate the number of night waking episodes, compared with videosomnography. Actigraphy and sleep diaries were more concordant with one another than with videosomnography. Epoch-by-epoch analyses indicated that actigraphy had low sensitivity to detect wakefulness, compared with videosomnography. Contrary to our hypothesis, the discrepancies between sleep assessment methods did not vary widely based on infant sleep location (own room vs. parent's room) or sleep surface (own bed vs. parent's bed). Limitations and implications of these findings for future research are discussed.
Preschool-aged children's performance on inhibitory control tasks is typically represented by the overall accuracy of their item responses (e.g., mean proportion correct). However, in settings where ...children vary widely in age or ability level, inhibitory control tasks are susceptible to ceiling effects, which undermine measurement precision. We have previously demonstrated a general approach for scoring inhibitory control tasks that combines item-level accuracy and reaction-time information to minimize ceiling effects. Here, we extend that approach by incorporating additional item-level reaction time data from an adjunct (simple reaction time) task. We contrast three approaches for scoring inhibitory control tasks, two of which rely exclusively on item accuracy information and a third which also considers item reaction time information. We demonstrate the impacts of these different approaches to scoring with two inhibitory control tasks that were included in a recent evaluation of the Red Light, Purple Light intervention in preprimary classrooms in Nairobi County, Kenya. We limited our study to children who met inclusion criteria at pre-test (
= 418; 51% male; mean age = 4.8 years) or post-test (
= 386; 51% male; mean age = 4.8 years). Children's performance on individual inhibitory control tasks was strongly correlated regardless of the scoring approach (
s = 0.73-0.97 across two tasks). However, the combined accuracy and reaction time scores eliminated ceiling effects that were common when only accuracy information was used. The combined accuracy and reaction time models also distinguished item-level RT into inhibitory control and processing speed components, which are distinct constructs. Results are discussed with respect to the challenges and nuances of the estimation and interpretation of inhibitory control task scores with children of varied ages and ability levels.
There is great interest in the development of executive function (EF) in the preschool period. Accordingly, multiple performance-based measures of EF have been developed for this age group, yet ...little is known about how they compare to one another. This study used a large and diverse sample of 3-to-5-year-old children (N = 846), who completed subtests of the National Institutes of Health’s Toolbox Cognition Battery (NTCB), the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence (WPPSI-IV), and the EF Touch battery. Scores across the three batteries were compared and associations with age, income, and race/ethnicity were examined. Results revealed that (1) the three tasks were moderately correlated (r = 0.44–0.51, all p < 0.001), but children had higher mean accuracy scores on EF Touch than on the NTCB or the WPPSI-IV. (2) Mean accuracy scores on all batteries were linearly associated with child age (all F > 32.68, all p < 0.0001). (3) Comparisons by income and race/ethnicity showed lower accuracy for low-income children on the WPPSI-IV and lower accuracy for White children on the NTCB. Across all batteries, there was consistently lower accuracy for Hispanic children. In conclusion, the three batteries we examined performed similarly across several metrics. EF Touch may be more appropriate for younger children, while the NTCB performed well with older children.
The time from conception through the first year of life is the most dynamic period in human development. This time period is particularly important for infants born very preterm (< 30 weeks ...gestation; VPT), as they experience a significant disruption in the normal developmental trajectories and are at heightened risk of experiencing developmental impairments and delays. Variations in the epigenetic landscape during this period may reflect this disruption and shed light on the interrelationships between aging, maturation, and the epigenome. We evaluated how gestational age (GA) and age since conception in neonates post-menstrual age (PMA), were related to DNA methylation in buccal cells collected at NICU discharge from VPT infants (n = 538). After adjusting for confounders and applying Bonferroni correction, we identified 2,366 individual CpGs associated with GA and 14,979 individual CpGs associated with PMA, as well as multiple differentially methylated regions. Pathway enrichment analysis identified pathways involved in axonogenesis and regulation of neuron projection development, among many other growth and developmental pathways (FDR q < 0.001). Our findings align with prior work, and also identify numerous novel associations, suggesting that genes important in growth and development, particularly neurodevelopment, are subject to substantial epigenetic changes during early development among children born VPT.
Epigenetic age acceleration is a risk factor for chronic diseases of ageing and may reflect aspects of biological ageing. However, few studies have examined epigenetic ageing during the early ...neonatal period in preterm infants, who are at heightened risk of developmental problems. We examined relationships between neonatal age acceleration, neonatal morbidities, and neurobehavioral domains among very preterm (<30 weeks gestation) infants to characterize whether infants with early morbidities or different neurobehavioral characteristics had accelerated or decelerated epigenetic ageing. This study uses data from the Neonatal Neurobehavior and Outcomes in Very Preterm Infants (NOVI) study, restricted to infants with data on variables assessed (
= 519). We used generalized estimating equations to test for differences in age acceleration associated with severe neonatal medical morbidities and neurobehavioral characteristics. We found that infants with neonatal morbidities, in particular, bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD), had accelerated epigenetic age - and some evidence that infants with hypertonicity and asymmetric reflexes had increased and decreased age acceleration, respectively. Adjustment for gestational age attenuated some associations, suggesting that the relationships observed may be driven by the duration of gestation. Our most robust finding shows that very preterm infants with neonatal morbidities (BPD in particular) exhibit age acceleration, but most neonatal neurobehavioral characteristics and morbidities are not associated with early life age acceleration. Lower gestational age at birth may be an upstream factor driving these associations.
Prior research has identified epigenetic predictors of attention problems in school-aged children but has not yet investigated these in young children, or children at elevated risk of attention ...problems due to preterm birth. The current study evaluated epigenome-wide associations between neonatal DNA methylation and attention problems at age 2 years in children born very preterm. Participants included 441 children from the Neonatal Neurobehavior and Outcomes in Very Preterm Infants (NOVI) Study, a multi-site study of infants born < 30 weeks gestational age. DNA methylation was measured from buccal swabs collected at NICU discharge using the Illumina MethylationEPIC Bead Array. Attention problems were assessed at 2 years of adjusted age using the attention problems subscale of the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL). After adjustment for multiple testing, DNA methylation at 33 CpG sites was associated with child attention problems. Differentially methylated CpG sites were located in genes previously linked to physical and mental health, including several genes associated with ADHD in prior epigenome-wide and genome-wide association studies. Several CpG sites were located in genes previously linked to exposure to prenatal risk factors in the NOVI sample. Neonatal epigenetics measured at NICU discharge could be useful in identifying preterm children at risk for long-term attention problems and related psychiatric disorders, who could benefit from early prevention and intervention efforts.
•Sleep consolidation and regulation develop rapidly across first two years of life.•Intrinsic and extrinsic factors predict development of consolidation and regulation.•Intrinsic and extrinsic ...factors likely interact to predict sleep development.•Developmental science theories have potential to advance infant sleep research.
Sleep patterns change dramatically across the earliest years of life and play an important role in children’s daytime functioning. As a result, psychological research has taken an increasing interest in unpacking the many intrinsic (i.e., child characteristics) and extrinsic (i.e., environmental input) factors that influence children’s sleep development. Considerably less attention has been given to understanding the transactional relationships among intrinsic and extrinsic factors, or to the underlying mechanisms, that both initiate and maintain individual differences in infant sleep development. In the current review, we begin by summarizing what is known about the development of sleep across the first two years of life, making explicit reference to the dual-process model of sleep consolidation and regulation. Next, we synthesize existing literature on the intrinsic and extrinsic factors that influence the development of sleep consolidation and regulation in infants. Finally, we reconsider extant findings in the infant sleep literature using theories and concepts from developmental science, posing new hypotheses about the ways in which environmental input both shapes infant sleep patterns and modulates the effects of sleep on later developmental outcomes. We conclude with an examination of current challenges in this field and a suggested roadmap for future research.
Despite widespread interest in the construct of executive functioning (EF), we currently lack definitive evidence regarding the best measurement model for representing the construct in substantive ...analyses. The most common practice is to represent EF ability as a reflective latent variable, with child performance on individual EF tasks as observed indicators. The current article critically evaluates the dominant use of reflective latent variable models in the child EF literature and compares them to composite models, a reasonable alternative. We review the literature suggesting that reflective latent variable models may not be the most appropriate representation of the construct of EF. Using preschool (Mage = 48.3 months) and first grade (Mage = 83.5 months) data from the Family Life Project (N = 920), we also investigate the implications of measurement model specification for the interpretation of study findings. Children in this sample varied in terms of sex (49% male), race (43% black) and socioeconomic status (76% low-income). Our findings show that the conclusions we draw from 2 substantive analyses differ depending on whether EF is modeled as a reflective latent variable versus a composite variable. We describe the implications of these findings for research on child EF and offer practical recommendations for producers and consumers of developmental research.
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CEKLJ, FFLJ, NUK, ODKLJ, PEFLJ
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