Biomedical subjects

Cor Meesters

Publications and source records attributed to Cor Meesters.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2006

Attention control in middle childhood: relations to psychopathological symptoms and threat perception distortions.

The present study examined the construct of attention control, which is an important aspect of effortful control, in a sample of non-clinical children aged between 9 and 13 years. Results demonstrated that attention control was associated with a broad range of psychopathological complaints, including symptoms of anxiety, aggression, depression, and ADHD. As predicted, lower levels of attention control were accompanied by higher levels of these symptoms. Further, attention control was also negatively related to threat perception distortions, which indicates that children who display low levels of this regulative temperament factor are more prone to such cognitive biases. Third, when controlling for neuroticism, attention control remained significantly (negatively) associated with symptoms of anxiety, depression (child report only), and ADHD. The correlations between attention control and threat perception distortions largely disappeared when the influence of neuroticism was partialled out. Only the link between attention control and anxious interpretations of ambiguous vignettes survived this correction. Finally, no evidence was found for the hypothesised mediating role of cognitive distortions on the relation between temperament factors and psychopathological symptoms.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2006

Social and family correlates of eating problems and muscle preoccupation in young adolescents.

This study examined the unique contribution of a number of social and familial factors to body change strategies and eating problems in youths. A sample of non-clinical adolescents aged 10 to 16 years (N=405) completed a modified version of the Children's Eating Attitudes Test (ChEAT) and questionnaires for measuring various social and familial factors that may play a role in the etiology of eating problems and muscle preoccupation. Regression analyses indicated that specific eating disorder-related factors (such as the encouragement of peers and parents to lose weight or to become more muscular) and more general factors (such as negative parental rearing behaviors and insecure attachment) made independent contributions to problem eating and muscle preoccupation in youths.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2005

An experimental study of spider-related covariation bias in 8- to 13-year-old children.

Covariation bias can be defined as phobic subjects' tendency to overestimate the association between phobic stimuli and aversive outcomes. The current study presents two experiments that examined this type of cognitive bias in children aged 8-13 years (N=147 in Experiment 1, N=240 in Experiment 2). Children completed a self-report questionnaire for measuring spider fear and then participated in a card game in which fear-relevant (i.e., spider) and fear-irrelevant (i.e., weapon and Pokémon) pictures were equally paired with negative and positive outcomes (respectively losing and winning candy). No evidence was found for a relationship between children's level of spider fear and the tendency to link negative consequences to fear-relevant pictures. Various methodological and theoretical explanations for this null finding are discussed.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2005

Biological, psychological, and sociocultural correlates of body change strategies and eating problems in adolescent boys and girls.

The present study examines correlates of body change strategies and eating problems in youths. A large sample of adolescents aged 12 to 16 years (N = 307) was asked to complete a set of questionnaires, which measured biological (age, pubertal status, and body mass index [BMI]), psychological (self-esteem, body dissatisfaction, body importance, and body comparison), and sociocultural variables (influence of media, parents, and peers), as well as body change strategies and disturbed eating attitudes and behaviors. Results showed that boys generally try to become more muscular, whereas girls attempt to lose weight. Further, correlational and regression analyses demonstrated that biological, psychological, and sociocultural influences made unique and significant contributions to various body image and body change/eating problems variables. Finally, hierarchical regression analyses yielded theoretically meaningful models for the main body change strategies in boys and girls. In these models, BMI, self-esteem, and sociocultural influences turned out to be significant predictor variables, while body-image-related factors, and in particular body comparison (i.e., the tendency to compare one's body with that of others), partially or fully mediated the influence of some predictor variables.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2005

The relation between gender role orientation and fear and anxiety in nonclinic-referred children.

This study examined the relation between gender role orientation and fear and anxiety in a sample of nonclinic-referred children (N = 209) ages 10 to 13 years. Children and their parents completed questionnaires assessing children's gender role orientation, toy and activity preferences, and fear and anxiety. Results generally indicated that femininity and a preference for girls' toys and activities were positively associated with fear and anxiety, whereas masculinity and a preference for boys' toys and activities were negatively related to these emotions. Furthermore, gender role orientation accounted for more of the variance in fear and anxiety scores than the child's sex.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2005

First psychometric evaluation of a disease-specific questionnaire for children's behavior related to otitis media with effusion.

The major goal of the present study is a psychometric analysis of two age-specific questionnaires for the assessment of Otitis Media with Effusion-specific behavior in young children, intended for use in case-finding. In total, 172 children ages 12 to 24 mo. and 121 children ages 24 to 48 mo. were available initially. Caregivers completed the questionnaires on two occasions before tympanostomy tube insertion and once 6 wk. later. Factor analysis of a matrix for 30 items yielded four factors for the younger age group and six factors for a 33-item matrix for the older age group, showing more differentiation of factors in terms of developmental specificity for behavior related to Otitis Media with Effusion. The total internal consistency was .82, and each factor measured different aspects of disease-specific behavior (alpha < or = 0.25) in both questionnaires. Sensitivity to change seemed promising and was significant for the age group 12 to 24 mo. Research with revised questionnaires is recommended, in an ongoing validation process, to create optimal developmental conditions for children with chronic or persistent Otitis Media with Effusion.

Child Behavior Disorders↗

PubMed2004

Children's perception and interpretation of anxiety-related physical symptoms.

The present study examined children's perception and interpretation of anxiety-related physical symptoms in a sample of 4-12-year-old primary school children (N = 129). Children were presented with neutral scenarios in which the main character experienced an anxiety-related physical symptom (e.g., hands trembling, heart beating very fast), and asked to attribute various emotions to this character. Children were also interviewed about idiosyncratic experiences with anxiety-related physical symptoms. Results showed that physical symptoms were associated with a broad range of emotions. "Hands trembling", "heart beating fast", and "difficulties with breathing" were the only symptoms that were more frequently linked to fear than to other emotions. Furthermore, developmental patterns were found for fear-related interpretations of physical symptoms. That is, from the age of 7, children more frequently associated physical symptoms to fear. Finally, children reported to experience anxiety-related physical symptoms in daily life, although frequently not in relation to fearful situations and circumstances.

Anxiety↗

PubMed2004

Anger and hostility in adolescents: relationships with self-reported attachment style and perceived parental rearing styles.

OBJECTIVE: To examine relationships between self-reported attachment style and parental rearing behaviors, on the one hand, and anger/hostility, on the other hand, in a sample of nonclinical adolescents (N=441). METHOD: Participants completed (a) a single-item measure of attachment style; (b) a questionnaire measuring perceptions of parental rearing behaviors; and (c) two scales assessing anger and hostility. RESULTS: Self-reported attachment style was related to anger/hostility. That is, adolescents who defined themselves as avoidantly or ambivalently attached displayed higher levels of anger/hostility than adolescents who classified themselves as securely attached. Furthermore, perceived parental rearing was also related to anger/hostility. More specifically, low levels of emotional warmth and high levels of rejection, control, and inconsistency were accompanied by high levels of anger/hostility. Finally, regression analyses showed that both attachment status and parental rearing behaviors accounted for a unique and significant proportion of the variance in anger/hostility. CONCLUSION: These findings are in keeping with the notion that family environment factors such as attachment style and parental rearing are involved in the development of anger/hostility in youths.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2004

The self-report version of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire: its psychometric properties in 8- to 13-year-old non-clinical children.

OBJECTIVE: To examine the reliability and validity of the self-report version of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) in relatively young children. METHOD: The SDQ was administered to a large sample of non-clinical children (n = 1111) aged 8-13 years. In a subsample (n = 439), self-report SDQ scores of children with and without behaviour problems were compared, and related to the teacher version of the SDQ, the Youth Self-Report and the Teacher Report Form. RESULTS: Although the reliability of the self-report SDQ was somewhat less satisfactory in the younger children of our sample, most other psychometric properties were acceptable and comparable to those obtained in older youths. CONCLUSION: While the self-report SDQ was designed for youths aged 11 years and above, the current data seem to suggest that the scale may provide useful information about psychopathological symptoms in children as young as 8 years old.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2004

Correlates of the Gudjonsson Suggestibility Scale in delinquent adolescents.

Correlations between scores on the Gudjonsson Suggestibility Scale and a number of relevant personality characteristics, i.e., intelligence, memory, social inadequacy, social desirability, and fantasy proneness, were examined in a sample of 71 delinquent boys. Analysis showed that intelligence and memory were negatively related to suggestibility scores. That is, lower memory and intelligence were associated with higher suggestibility. No significant correlations were found between suggestibility and other personality characteristics.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2004

Children's somatization symptoms: correlations with trait anxiety, anxiety sensitivity, and learning experiences.

The objectives of this study were to examine associations between trait anxiety, anxiety sensitivity, and learning experiences, on the one hand, and children's somatization symptoms, on the other hand. A sample of 190 nonclinical children completed the trait anxiety scale of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory for Children, the Childhood Anxiety Sensitivity Index, and the Children's Somatization Inventory, and were interviewed about learning experiences in relation to physical symptoms. Correlational and regression analyses indicated that trait anxiety, anxiety sensitivity, and parents' anxiety-encouraging behaviours in relation to somatic symptoms were significantly positively associated with somatization. These results indicate that there might be common vulnerability factors in childhood anxiety and somatization symptoms.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2003

The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ)--further evidence for its reliability and validity in a community sample of Dutch children and adolescents.

This study was a first attempt to examine the psychometric properties of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) in Dutch youths. A large sample of normal children and adolescents ( N = 562) and their parents completed the SDQ along with a number of other psychopathology measures. Factor analysis of the SDQ yielded five factors that were in keeping with the hypothesised subscales of hyperactivity-inattention, emotional symptoms, peer problems, conduct problems, and prosocial behaviour. Furthermore, internal consistency, test-retest stability, and parent-youth agreement of the various SDQ scales were acceptable. Finally, the concurrent validity of the SDQ was good: that is, its scores correlated in a theoretically meaningful way with other measures of psychopathology. It can be concluded that the psychometric properties of the parent- and self-report version of the SDQ were satisfactory in this Dutch community sample. Moreover, the current data provide further support for the utility of the SDQ as an index of psychopathological symptoms in youths.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2003

The Koala Fear Questionnaire: a standardized self-report scale for assessing fears and fearfulness in pre-school and primary school children.

The Koala Fear Questionnaire (KFQ) is a standardized self-report scale for assessing fears and fearfulness in children aged between 4 and 12 years. The current article presents six studies which examined the reliability and validity of the KFQ. Study 1 (N=108) demonstrated that the visual fear scales of Koala bears as employed in the KFQ are highly comparable to the standard 3-point scales that are used in other childhood fear measures. Study 2 (N=163) provided support for the convergent validity of the KFQ in a sample of 8- to 14-year-old children. That is, the scale correlated substantially with alternative measures of childhood fear and anxiety. Study 3 (N=189) showed that the KFQ possesses good internal consistency and test-retest stability in a group of 8- to 11-year-old children. The results of Studies 4 (N=129) and 5 (N=176) indicated that the KFQ is suitable for children aged 4 to 6 years and demonstrated that the psychometric properties of the scale in younger children are highly similar to those obtained in older children. Study 6 (N=926) showed that the factor structure of the KFQ was theoretically meaningful: although the data clearly pointed in the direction of one factor of general fearfulness, spurs of the commonly found five-factor solution of childhood fear were found in the KFQ. Altogether, the KFQ seems to be a valuable addition to the instrumentarium of clinicians and researchers who are working with fearful and anxious children.

Aging↗

PubMed2003

Threat perception abnormalities in children: the role of anxiety disorders symptoms, chronic anxiety, and state anxiety.

This study investigated the relative contribution of general (trait) anxiety and state anxiety to threat perception abnormalities in nonreferred children aged 8-13 years (N=299). Children were first asked to complete self-report measures of anxiety disorders symptoms and chronic anxiety. Next, they were individually interviewed using an ambiguous story paradigm from which a number of threat perception indexes were derived. Just before the interview started, children were asked to fill out a measure of state anxiety. Results showed that high levels of general anxiety (as indexed by anxiety disorders symptoms and chronic anxiety) were significantly related to increased threat perception and lower threat thresholds. High levels of state anxiety were also associated with increased threat perception and lower threat thresholds. Regression analyses indicated that general anxiety and state anxiety both accounted for a unique proportion of the variance in threat perception abnormalities, although the contribution of general anxiety was in most cases substantially larger than that of state anxiety. Finally, no support was found for the notion that threat perception abnormalities are the result of the conjoint influence of general anxiety and state anxiety.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2003

Contingency-competence-control-related beliefs and symptoms of anxiety and depression in a young adolescent sample.

The present study examined the connection between contingency-competence-control-related beliefs, on the one hand, and anxiety and depression, on the other hand, in a large sample of young adolescents aged 10 to 14 years (N = 214). Participants completed measures of perceived contingency, competence, and control, as well as a questionnaire assessing symptoms of common anxiety disorders and major depressive disorder. Results showed that contingency-competence-control-related beliefs were intercorrelated and that these beliefs, in turn, were significantly associated with symptoms of anxiety and depression. Structural equation modeling provided support for a model in which perceived contingency and perceived competence predicted perceived control and in which perceived competence (anxiety and depression) and perceived control (depression only), in turn, predicted symptoms of psychopathology. A prospective test of this model indicated that none of the contingency-competence-control-related beliefs was able to predict symptoms of anxiety and depression at 4-weeks follow-up. However, data also demonstrated that perceived competence significantly contributed to the subjective experience of anxiety and depression on both occasions.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2003

The Children's Somatization Inventory: further evidence for its reliability and validity in a pediatric and a community sample of Dutch children and adolescents.

OBJECTIVE: To examine the psychometric properties of the Children's Somatization Inventory (CSI) in the Netherlands. METHOD: The CSI and a number of personality and psychopathology questionnaires were administered to Dutch schoolchildren (N = 479), children referred to a pediatric clinic (N = 63), and children's parents. RESULTS: Factor analysis yielded a number of factors that have also been found in previous research, viz., pain/weakness, gastrointestinal symptoms, and pseudoneurological symptoms. The reliability (internal consistency) of the CSI was satisfactory. Furthermore, support was obtained for the validity of the CSI. More specifically, the scale correlated in a theoretically meaningful way with child and parent reports of personality and psychopathology, and discriminated well between healthy and pediatric children. Finally, highly similar psychometric properties were obtained for the Parent version of the CSI (i.e., PCSI). CONCLUSION: The Dutch version of the CSI seems to be a reliable and valid self-report measure for assessing somatization symptoms in children and adolescents.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2003

Anxiety, threat perception abnormalities, and emotional reasoning in nonclinical Dutch children.

Examined the relation between childhood anxiety and threat-perception abnormalities using vignettes in which external (i.e., exposure to potential threat cues) and internal (i.e., experience of anxiety responses) information were systematically varied. Nonclinical children (N = 156) aged 8 to 13 years completed anxiety questionnaires and were then exposed to 3 types of stories: ambiguous stories, ambiguous + anxiety-response stories, and nonthreatening stories. From children's responses to these stories, a number of threat-perception indexes were derived. Results showed that both external and internal information inflated children's perception of threat. Further, high levels of anxiety were accompanied by enhanced threat perception in response to external threat cues. Finally, little evidence was found that high levels of anxiety, and in particular of anxiety sensitivity, were associated with a greater tendency to use internal information (i.e., emotional reasoning). Potential avenues for future studies on anxiety-related threat-perception distortions are briefly discussed.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2003

The validity of attention deficit hyperactivity and hyperkinetic disorder symptom domains in nonclinical Dutch children.

Examined the validity of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and hyperkinetic disorder (HKD) symptom domains in a sample of Dutch school children aged 10 to 14 years (N = 558). Confirmatory factor analysis indicated that symptoms of inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity were satisfactorily represented in various models. Psychopathological correlates of ADHD/HKD symptom domains were examined through their associations with the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) and the Youth Self-Report (YSR). As expected, all three symptom domains were strongly associated with externalizing problems. Furthermore, inattention and hyperactivity were more strongly related to CBCL/YSR attention problems, whereas impulsivity was more strongly associated with symptoms of aggression and delinquency.

Adolescent↗