TY - JOUR A1 - Warner, Greta J. A1 - Lensing, Johanna Nele A1 - Fay, Doris T1 - Personal initiative BT - Developmental predictors and positive outcomes from childhood to early adolescence JF - Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology N2 - Although the effects of personal initiative (PI) on adults' performance and other favorable outcomes are well documented, research has only recently begun to study PI in childhood. This study aimed at examining the development of PI, its predictors, and its developmental effects from childhood to early adolescence. A total of 1,593 German children participated in a longitudinal study starting at Grades 2 to 4, with a second measurement wave two years later. Latent change score analyses revealed that 1) children differed significantly in their change scores of PI, that 2) executive functions and positive parenting predicted change scores in PI, and that 3) high initial levels and change scores in PI reduced the development of internalizing and externalizing problems and supported the development of prosocial behavior and academic competencies. These findings endorse the plasticity of PI and shed light on the active part of children in promoting their own development. KW - Personal initiative KW - Executive functions KW - Positive parenting KW - Positive development KW - Adjustment KW - Self-regulation Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appdev.2017.06.004 SN - 0193-3973 SN - 1873-7900 VL - 52 SP - 114 EP - 125 PB - Elsevier CY - New York ER - TY - JOUR A1 - McCrickerd, Keri A1 - Lensing, Johanna Nele A1 - Yeomans, Martin R. T1 - The impact of food and beverage characteristics on expectations of satiation, satiety and thirst JF - Food quality and preference N2 - The expected impact of a food or drink on appetite can influence decisions around eating and the actual experience of satiation and satiety post-consumption. This study explored the relationship between a product's anticipated sensory characteristics and its expected impact on feelings of hunger, fullness and thirst. Female participants (n = 118) evaluated 40 widely available food and beverage products (varying in physical characteristics, packaging, serving size and total energy content) for anticipated sensory characteristics, pleasantness and familiarity, alongside expected impact on immediate fullness, hunger after one hour and thirst both immediately and after one hour. Correlations revealed that the most caloric products and those anticipated to be creamier were expected to be more filling and hunger suppressing than the products with lower energy content and expected to be less creamy. Total energy was the best predictor of expected satiation and satiety. We observed that beverage products were expected to be similarly satiating as food products (including liquid, solid and semi-solids) with a similar total energy content and expected creaminess. On the other hand, products expected to be less salty and thick were expected to be most thirst-quenching, and these tended to be beverage products, regardless of their total energy content. These results are in line with emerging evidence suggesting that certain sensory cues associated with nutrients can be used to estimate the satiating power of other foods, including beverages. Beverages are expected to be uniquely thirst-quenching, but are not always expected to have a low satiety-value. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. KW - Expected satiation KW - Expected satiety KW - Expected thirst KW - Sensory cues KW - Creaminess KW - Nutrients KW - Beverages Y1 - 2015 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodqual.2015.04.003 SN - 0950-3293 SN - 1873-6343 VL - 44 SP - 130 EP - 138 PB - Elsevier CY - Oxford ER - TY - THES A1 - Lensing, Johanna Nele T1 - Executive Functions in Middle Childhood BT - Developmental Trajectories and Associations with Body Weight N2 - This doctoral dissertation aims at elucidating the development of hot and cool executive functions in middle childhood and at gaining insight about their role in childhood overweight. The dissertation is based on three empirical studies which have been published in peer-reviewed journals. Data from a large 3-year longitudinal study (the “PIER-study”) was used. The findings presented in the dissertation demonstrated that both hot and cool EF abilities increase during middle childhood. They also supported the notion that hot and cool EF facets are distinguishable from each other in middle childhood, that they have distinct developmental trajectories, and different predictors. Evidence was found for associations of hot and cool EF with body weight in middle childhood, which is in line with the notion that they might play a role in the self-regulation of eating and the multifactorial etiology of childhood overweight. KW - self-regulation KW - executive function KW - overweight KW - middle childhood Y1 - 2018 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Lensing, Johanna Nele A1 - Elsner, Birgit T1 - Development of hot and cool executive functions in middle childhood BT - Three-year growth curves of decision making and working memory updating JF - Journal of experimental child psychology N2 - Although middle childhood is an important period for the development of hot and cool executive functions (EFs), longitudinal studies investigating trajectories of childhood EF development are still limited and little is known about predictors for individual developmental trajectories. The current study examined the development of two typical facets of cool and hot EFs over a 3-year period during middle childhood, comparing a younger cohort (6- and 7-year-olds at the first wave [T1]; n = 621) and an older cohort (8- and 9-year olds at T1; n = 975) of children. "Cool" working memory updating (WM) was assessed using a backward digit span task, and "hot" decision making (DM) was assessed using a child variant of the Iowa Gambling Task. Linear latent growth curve analyses revealed evidence for developmental growth as well as interindividual variance in the initial level and rate of change in both EF facets. Initial level of WM was positively associated with age (both between and within cohorts), socioeconomic status, verbal ability, and processing speed, whereas initial levels of DM were, in addition to a (potentially age-related) cohort effect, exclusively predicted by gender, with boys outperforming girls. None of the variables predicted the rate of change, that is, the developmental trajectories. However, younger children, as compared with older children, had slightly steeper WM growth curves over time, hinting at a leveling off in the development of WM during middle childhood. In sum, these data add important evidence to the understanding of hot and cool EF development during middle childhood. (C) 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. KW - Cognitive development KW - Middle childhood KW - Hot and cool executive functioning KW - Working memory updating KW - Decision making KW - Growth curve models Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jecp.2018.04.002 SN - 0022-0965 SN - 1096-0457 VL - 173 SP - 187 EP - 204 PB - Elsevier CY - New York ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Lensing, Johanna Nele A1 - Elsner, Birgit T1 - Cool executive functioning predicts not only mean levels but also individual 3-year growth trajectories of zBMI in elementary-school children JF - International Journal of Behavioral Development N2 - Executive functions (EFs) may help children to regulate their food-intake in an “obesogenic” environment, where energy-dense food is easily available. There is mounting evidence that overweight is associated with diminished hot and cool EFs, and several longitudinal studies found evidence for a predictive effect of hot EFs on children’s bodyweight, but longitudinal research examining the effect of cool EF on weight development in children is still scarce. The current 3-year longitudinal study examined the effect of a latent cool EF factor, which was based on three behavioral EF tasks, on subsequent mean levels and 3-year growth trajectories of body-mass-index z-scores (zBMI). Data from a large sample of children, with zBMI ranging from normal weight to obesity (n = 1474, aged 6–11 years at T1, 52% girls) was analyzed using structural-equation modeling and linear latent growth-curve modeling. Cool EF at the first wave (T1) negatively predicted subsequent zBMI and zBMI development throughout the 3-year period in middle childhood such that children with better EF had a lower zBMI and less steep zBMI growth. These effects were not moderated by the children’s age or gender. In conclusion, as early as in middle childhood, cool EFs seem to support the self-regulation of food-intake and consequently may play a causal role in the multifactorial etiology of overweight. KW - BMI development KW - zBMI KW - middle childhood KW - cool executive functioning KW - self-regulation KW - longitudinal KW - growth-curve model Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1177/0165025419833818 SN - 0165-0254 SN - 1464-0651 VL - 43 IS - 4 SP - 351 EP - 362 PB - Sage Publ. CY - London ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Meixner, Johannes M. A1 - Warner, Greta J. A1 - Lensing, Johanna Nele A1 - Schiefele, Ulrich A1 - Elsner, Birgit T1 - The relation between executive functions and reading comprehension in primary-school students BT - a cross-lagged-panel analysis JF - Early Childhood Research Quarterly N2 - Higher-order cognitive skills are necessary prerequisites for reading and understanding words, sentences and texts. In particular, research on executive functions in the cognitive domain has shown that good executive functioning in children is positively related to reading comprehension skills and that deficits in executive functioning are related to difficulties with reading comprehension. However, developmental research on literacy and self-regulation in the early school years suggests that the relation between higher-order cognitive skills and reading might not be unidirectional, but mutually interdependent in nature. Therefore, the present longitudinal study explored the bidirectional relations between executive functions and reading comprehension during primary school across a 1-year period. At two time points (T1, T2), we assessed reading comprehension at the word, sentence, and text levels as well as three components of executive functioning, that is, updating, inhibition, and attention shifting. The sample consisted of three sequential cohorts of German primary school students (N = 1657) starting in first, second, and third grade respectively (aged 6-11 years at T1). Using a latent cross-lagged-panel design, we found bidirectional longitudinal relations between executive functions and reading comprehension for second and third graders. However, for first graders, only the path from executive functioning at T1 to reading comprehension at T2 attained significance. Succeeding analyses revealed updating as the crucial component of the effect from executive functioning on later reading comprehension, whereas text reading comprehension was most predictive of later executive functioning. The potential processes underlying the observed bidirectional relations are discussed with respect to developmental changes in reading comprehension across the primary years. KW - Reading Comprehension KW - Executive Functions KW - Longitudinal Study KW - Latent Variable Analysis KW - Cross-Lagged-Panel Design KW - Bidirectional Relations Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecresq.2018.04.010 SN - 0885-2006 SN - 1873-7706 VL - 46 SP - 62 EP - 74 PB - Elsevier CY - New York ER -