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Investigating Causal Questions About Temporal and Cumulative Developmental Effects: An Introduction to the devMSMs Package in R
No full textCausal inference and questions about timing are central to developmental science. Yet scientists are often limited to observational data, and conceptual, methodological, and computational barriers have prevented uptake of relevant methodological tools from other disciplines that are designed to improve causal inference. This paper provides a practical guide to implementing one powerful causal inference tool, marginal structural models (MSMs), to strengthen our ability to test causal questions about exposures/treatments that unfold over time. We draw on an illustrative example testing the potentially causal roles of dose and timing of exposure to economic strain from infancy through early childhood on children’s behavior problems in early childhood. We first introduce the advantages of MSMs for investigating causal questions over time. Specifically, we review the logic of ‘exposure histories’ and the potential outcomes framework, using sequential randomization as a conceptual tool. We then discuss inverse-probability-of-treatment-weighting (IPTW) for addressing the threat of confounding over time. We then outline how to implement MSMs with observational data, before providing step-by-step guidance for using our novel, open-source R package, devMSMs. In our example, we create longitudinal IPTW balancing weights to attenuate a number of confounder-exposure relations. We then apply these weights to test an outcome model relating economic strain across infancy, toddlerhood, and early childhood to future behavior problems. Finally, we estimate and compare the predicted causal effects of different developmental histories of high economic strain that vary in dose and timing and discuss substantive implications. We close with ongoing considerations
Marco Conceitual do Observatório de Saúde da População Negra: uma revisão de escopo
No full textOs observatórios de saúde são importantes instrumentos de avaliação e monitoramento de programas e políticas, além de poderem ser utilizados no auxílio para a tomada de decisão. Eles podem também ser instrumentos de participação social, promoção da saúde e elaboração de políticas públicas.
Nesse sentido, buscamos identificar como os observatórios são conceituados, como estão estruturados e como se organizam para monitorar e avaliar políticas públicas, assim como, as suas estratégias para influenciar na tomada de decisões em políticas públicas. Nosso intuito é considerar esses achados para a elaboração do marco conceitual e estrutural de um observatório de saúde da população negra.
A Política Nacional de Saúde Integral da População Negra, resulta de reivindicações do movimento negro organizado em seu pleito histórico por políticas públicas de enfrentamento das iniquidades em saúde a que tem sido submetida a população negra brasileira, tendo como objetivo “Promover a saúde integral da população negra, priorizando a redução das desigualdades étnico-raciais, o combate ao racismo e à discriminação nas instituições e serviços do SUS”.
Esse contexto orienta e justifica a importância de estruturação de um observatório de saúde da população negra como um espaço de produção, disseminação e compartilhamento de conhecimento e práticas que potencializem o acesso da população negra a um atendimento integral, universal e equânime; assim como, um espaço de troca com profissionais de saúde, gestores, lideranças do movimento social, docentes, discentes, pesquisadores e a população em geral em articulação com a formação de recursos humanos trabalhadores no SUS.
Em face do exposto, propomos neste estudo a realização de uma revisão de escopo rápida com o objetivo de conhecer os observatórios de saúde existentes a fim de que as informações auxiliem na construção do Marco Conceitual para estruturar o Observatório de Saúde da População Negra
Psychometric Analysis of the Three Item Loneliness Scale in the Czech Republic
No full textBackground
There is a growing importance of loneliness measurement through valid and reliable instruments. However, to establish valid and reliable measures, there is a need to explore their psychometric properties in different research settings and language environments. For this reason, this study aimed to validate the Three Item Loneliness Scale (TILS) in the Czech Republic within a Slavonic language environment.
Methods
A sample of Czech adults (n = 3236) was used consisting primarily of university students. We utilized Classical Test Theory to assess TILS internal consistency, temporal stability, factor structure, and measurement invariance. Item Response Theory (IRT) was used to estimate the discrimination and difficulty of the TILS items and to estimate the measurement precision of the whole scale. Convergent validity was explored through the Spearman correlation coefficient using personality traits, depression, and anxiety.
Results
The results showed satisfactory reliability and validity of the TILS in the Czech Republic. The scale's internal consistency and temporal stability were found to be satisfactory (Cronbach’s α = 0.81, McDonald’s ω = 0.82, r = 0.71). The parallel analysis supported the unidimensionality of the TILS with a high factor loading of items (λ = 0.61 - λ = 0.85). Moreover, measurement invariance indicated that the TILS measures loneliness equivalently between genders. The IRT results indicated that the highest measurement precision was reached in individuals with lower and above-average levels of loneliness. Significant correlations between the TILS scores, anxiety, depression, and personality traits supported the convergent validity of the scale
Diet, Economic Development and Climate Change
No full textWe develop a quantitative, multi-country general equilibrium framework to studythe impact of economic growth, dietary restrictions, and food trade policies on globalgreenhouse emissions (GHG) from agriculture. Motivated by new cross-country rela-tionships between economic development, diet patterns, agricultural technologies, andGHG emissions, our framework features different income elasticities of demand acrossfood products, and multiple agricultural technologies for production across grid-cellscovering the surface of the Earth, with food products and technologies being heteroge-neous in their GHG emissions per calorie. Using our model’s open economy structure,we propose a simple procedure to estimate the income elasticities without price data.We find that GHG emissions following economic growth are strongly influenced bythe general equilibrium effects related to dietary changes, agricultural modernization,and food supply readjustments. Moreover, compared to food trade policies, dietaryrestrictions are both substantially more effective in reducing GHG emissions, and morefavorable when considering the welfare losses in developing countrie
Eudaimonic Motives and the Eudaimonic Activity Model: Psychological Flexibility, Basic Psychological Needs, Meaning in Life, and Life Satisfaction
No full textEudaimonic motives
Disfluency production in children with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder during a narrative task
No full textLimited evidence exists on ADHD-related disfluency and lexical diversity behaviour in connected speech, although a significant number of individuals with ADHD experience language difficulties at different linguistic levels. Using a retrospective cross-sectional design with data from the Asymmetries TalkBank database, this study aims to capture differences in disfluency production and lexical diversity between children with ADHD and Typically Developing (TD) children. These measures include the frequencies of different disfluency subtypes and two lexical diversity measures, and are correlated with performance on a working memory task and a response inhibition task. Results indicate that the ADHD group produced a higher mean frequency of each disfluency type, but no differences were found to be significant. Correlation analysis revealed that filled pauses and revisions were negatively correlated with working memory and response inhibition in the ADHD group, whereas they were positively correlated with working memory performance in the TD group. This suggests that the underlying causes of disfluency differ in each group and that further research is required of speech monitoring ability in children with ADHD
Confrontational Forms of Protest and Support for Climate Action
No full textClimate protests are on the rise, demanding urgent action from governments and the public. As more recent climate protests often employ disruptive methods, such as food throwing, airport and road blockades, their effects on progressive climate action support remain relatively understudied. Our preregistered study aims to address this gap by evaluating the effects of three factors: 1) the level of protest disruption (peaceful, road blockages), 2) the level of police involvement (no police, peaceful, violent) and 3) perceived personal costs (no cost, high cost) to bystanders on two key outcomes: a) the perceived salience of climate issues and b) support for climate action protests