Browsing by Subject "Academic success"

Now showing 1 - 4 of 4
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    Examining Social Genetic Effects on Educational Attainment via Parental Educational Attainment, Income, and Parenting
    (American Psychological Association, 2022) Su, Jinni; Kuo, Sally I-Chun; Trevino, Angel; Barr, Peter B.; Aliev, Fazil; Bucholz, Kathleen; Chan, Grace; Edenberg, Howard J.; Kuperman, Samuel; Lai, Dongbing; Meyers, Jacquelyn L.; Pandey, Gayathri; Porjesz, Bernice; Dick, Danielle M.; Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, School of Medicine
    Higher parental educational attainment is associated with higher offspring educational attainment. In this study, we incorporated genotypic and phenotypic information from fathers, mothers, and offspring to disentangle the genetic and socioenvironmental pathways underlying this association. Data were drawn from a sample of individuals of European ancestry from the collaborative study on the genetics of alcoholism (n = 4,089; 51% female). Results from path analysis indicated that paternal and maternal educational attainment genome-wide polygenic scores were associated with offspring educational attainment, above and beyond the effect of offspring education polygenic score. Parental educational attainment, income, and parenting behaviors served as important socioenvironmental pathways that mediated the effect of parental education polygenic score on offspring educational attainment. Our study highlights the importance of using genetically informed family studies to disentangle the genetic and socioenvironmental pathways underlying parental influences on human development.
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    If You Are Going to Skydive, You Need a Parachute: Navigating the World of Higher Education as an Adult/Returning Student
    (2016-10-01) Hook, Sara Anne; Faklaris, Cori
    You have reached that point in your life where a change is needed. Perhaps you have been contemplating an upgrade to your skill set, a new degree or certificate, additional credentials or even a completely new career. The world of higher education has changed significantly even in the last few years and there are many more options for adult/returning students. Hybrid and online degrees and courses offer a particularly flexible alternative for those with jobs and family responsibilities or who are in rural areas not served by large universities. Savvy universities now recognize that women students want a sense of community in their courses and are looking for informal learning spaces, mentoring and support services as well as the opportunity to apply their skills and talents towards activities that contribute to the betterment of society as well as to increasing their incomes. This special session at InWIC is designed to offer insights, practical tips and encouragement to anyone who is thinking about – or in the process of – pursing additional education. The co-presenters will offer their personal experiences in navigating the financial, logistical and emotional/psychological issues involved in being an adult/returning student and will provide a number of useful resources for addressing these issues. The session will include time for participants to share their own experiences and to form a network for support in the future. Success is within your grasp, but in order to have smooth sailing, enjoy the view on the way down and not crash to the ground, you need a parachute – a plan for how you will address the risks, meet the challenges and maximize the opportunities and experiences that higher education presents. This InWIC session is intended to help you begin to prepare your plan.
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    Severe Malaria and Academic Achievement
    (American Academy of Pediatrics, 2023) Nakitende, Ann Jacquelline; Bangirana, Paul; Nakasujja, Noeline; Ssenkusu, John M.; Bond, Caitlin; Idro, Richard; Zhao, Yi; Semrud-Clikeman, Margaret; John, Chandy C.; Pediatrics, School of Medicine
    Background: Cerebral malaria (CM) and severe malarial anemia (SMA) are associated with neurocognitive impairment in childhood but their effects on long-term academic achievement are not known. Methods: Ugandan children 5 to 12 years old who participated in a previous study evaluating cognitive outcomes after CM (n = 73) or SMA (n = 56), along with community children (CC, n = 100) from the same household or neighborhood, were on average enrolled 67.1 months (range, 19-101 months) after the severe malaria episode or previous study enrollment. Academic achievement in word reading, sentence comprehension, spelling, and math computation was evaluated using the Wide Range Achievement Test, Fourth Edition. Age-adjusted z-scores for academic achievement outcomes were calculated from CC scores. Results: After adjustment for age and time from enrollment, reading scores were lower (mean difference from CC [95% confidence interval]) in children with CM (-0.15 [-0.27 to -0.03], P = .02) or SMA (-0.15 [-0.28 to -0.02], P = .02) than CC. Postdischarge malaria episodes were associated with worse spelling and reading scores in CM and worse spelling scores only in SMA. Pathway analysis showed that incidence of postdischarge uncomplicated malaria contributed significantly to the association of CM or SMA with poorer reading scores. Conclusion: Children with CM or SMA have poorer long-term reading skills. Postdischarge malaria episodes contribute significantly to this association. Postdischarge malaria chemoprevention should be assessed as an intervention to improve long-term academic achievement in children with severe malaria.
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    Translation and Cultural Adaptation of NIH Toolbox Cognitive Tests into Swahili and Dholuo Languages for Use in Children in Western Kenya
    (Cambridge University Press, 2022) Duffey, Megan Marie; Ayuku, David; Ayodo, George; Abuonji, Emily; Nyalumbe, Mark; Kovacs Giella, Amy; Hook, Julie N.; Tran, Tuan M.; McHenry, Megan S.; Pediatrics, School of Medicine
    Objectives: Performing high-quality and reliable cognitive testing requires significant resources and training. As a result, large-scale studies involving cognitive testing are difficult to perform in low- and middle-income settings, limiting access to critical knowledge to improve academic achievement and economic production in these populations. The NIH Toolbox® is a collection of cognitive, motor, sensory, and emotional tests that can be administered and scored using an iPad® tablet, reducing the need for training and quality monitoring; and thus, it is a potential solution to this problem. Methods: We describe our process for translation and cultural adaptation of the existing NIH Toolbox tests of fluid cognition into the Swahili and Dholuo languages for use in children aged 3-14 years in western Kenya. Through serial forward and back translations, cognitive interviews, group consensus, outside feedback, and support from the NIH Toolbox team, we produced translated tests that have both face validity and linguistic validation. Results: During our cognitive interviews, we found that the five chosen tests (one each of attention, cognitive flexibility, working memory, episodic memory, and processing speed) were generally well understood by children aged 7-14 years in our chosen populations. The cognitive interviews informed alterations in translation as well as slight changes in some images to culturally adapt the tests. Conclusions: This study describes the process by which we translated five fluid cognition tests from the NIH Toolbox into the Swahili and Dholuo languages. The finished testing application will be available for future studies, including a pilot study for assessment of psychometric properties.