College of Behavioral & Social Sciences

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    A meta-analysis of the relation between hippocampal volume and memory ability in typically developing children and adolescents
    (Wiley, 2022-03-17) Botdorf, Morgan; Canada, Kelsey L.; Riggins, Tracy
    Memory is supported by a network of brain regions, with the hippocampus serving a critical role in this cognitive process. Previous meta-analyses on the association between hippocampal structure and memory have largely focused on adults. Multiple studies have since suggested that hippocampal volume is related to memory performance in children and adolescents; however, the strength and direction of this relation varies across reports, and thus, remains unclear. To further understand this brain–behavior relation, we conducted a meta-analysis to investigate the association between hippocampal volume (assessed as total volume) and memory during typical development. Across 25 studies and 61 memory outcomes with 1357 participants, results showed a small, but significant, positive association between total hippocampal volume and memory performance. Estimates of the variability across studies in the relation between total volume and memory were not explained by differences in memory task type (delayed vs. immediate; relational vs. nonrelational), participant age range, or the method of normalization of hippocampal volumes. Overall, findings suggest that larger total hippocampal volume relates to better memory performance in children and adolescents and that this relation is similar across the memory types and age ranges assessed. To facilitate enhanced generalization across studies in the future, we discuss considerations for the field moving forward.
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    Adolescents' Attitudes Toward the Economic and Societal Responsibilities of Government in 24 Countries
    (2019) White, Gregory; Kahn, Joan; Sociology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    Adolescents’ attitudes toward government responsibilities for economic and societal well-being are examined in 24 countries grouped within welfare regime types. Adolescents’ own sense of civic responsibility to participate in community service is also investigated. This study uses data from the IEA Civic Education Study (1999) in combination with macroeconomic indicator data employing descriptive statistics, multiple regression, and other techniques to compare results between regimes and countries. The adolescents surveyed in 1999 are now adult members of a millennial generation that is rising in political influence. Adolescents demonstrate well-established attitudes that are consistent with those of adults in certain welfare regime contexts. Attitudes toward economy-related government responsibilities are in the expected directions for regimes with a legacy of communism, which are above the international mean, as well as in the liberal regime, which is below the international mean. Adolescents in the United States (a liberal regime ideal-type country) hold the least favorable attitudes toward government-provided economic support. In addition, adolescents’ expectations of community participation are higher in the liberal and Southern Europe regimes. Female students are more likely to believe in government provision for economic needs in liberal, Southern Europe, and post-communist Central Europe regimes. Notably, no significant gender differences are found in the social democratic regime, where women face fewer social protection risks. Female students are also much more likely than males to anticipate future volunteer community participation across regimes. Contrary to expectations, variables measuring social class have few significant or meaningful associations. Volunteering has small negative effects with belief in government-provided economic support in most regimes, and small to moderate positive effects with adolescents’ anticipated community engagement in all regimes. In addition, studying community problems has small positive effects with support for economy-related government responsibilities in several regimes (including liberal) and small to moderate positive effects in all regimes for anticipated community engagement. Finally, collective student efficacy and support for ethnic minority group opportunities have positive associations with beliefs that both governments and individuals are responsible for economic and societal needs.
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    Relation between Adolescent Callous-unemotional Traits and Subjective and Physiological Reactions to Social Exclusion
    (2017) Augenstein, Tara M; De Los Reyes, Andres; Psychology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    Callous-unemotional (CU) traits (e.g., lack of empathy and guilt toward others) occur dimensionally, across the age range, and in both clinical and nonclinical populations. Among adolescents with co-occurring conduct problems, elevated CU traits are linked to multiple negative outcomes. Yet, little is known about the potential negative or positive impact of CU traits among adolescents at low-risk for displaying conduct problems. Prior research suggests the unique constellation of cognitive, emotional, and biological characteristics associated with CU traits may buffer adolescents’ negative emotional reactions to distressing social situations. In the current study, I tested this idea by examining whether the severity of CU traits impacted adolescents’ experience as victims of a negative social interaction, namely social exclusion. Specifically, I examined the impact of CU traits on adolescents’ self-reported distress following social exclusion, and physiological arousal during exclusion. Participants included a mixed community-based and clinical sample of 86 adolescent-parent dyads. Dyads completed measures of adolescent social anxiety and CU traits. Next, adolescents completed a computerized social exclusion task during which I collected measures of adolescent physiological arousal (e.g., heart rate). Adolescents then completed a subjective distress scale to assess mood and distress following the social exclusion task. Adolescent males and those with clinically elevated levels of social anxiety displayed significantly higher CU traits relative to females or those without clinically elevated levels of social anxiety. Surprisingly, adolescent CU traits were not significantly related to differences in self-reported distress following exclusion. Adolescents’ physiological arousal varied throughout the social exclusion task, with adolescents experiencing increased arousal transitioning from social inclusion to social exclusion, and heightened arousal persisting through the remainder of the task. Adolescent gender and CU trait severity significantly predicted overall physiological arousal during the social exclusion task. Specifically, as CU trait severity increased, adolescent males displayed decreased physiological arousal, whereas no differences in arousal were observed for adolescent females, regardless of CU trait severity. These findings suggest that among male adolescents at low risk for conduct problems, elevated CU traits may serve to buffer negative emotional reactions to aversive social situations.