Principles for Adapting Assessments of Executive Function across Cultural Contexts

Direct assessments of executive functions (EFs) are increasingly used in research and clinical settings, with a central assumption that they assess "universal" underlying skills. Their use is spreading globally, raising questions about the cultural appropriateness of assessments devised in Western industrialized countries. We selectively reviewed multidisciplinary evidence and theory to identify sets of cultural preferences that may be at odds with the implicit assumptions of EF assessments. These preferences relate to motivation and compliance; cultural expectations for interpersonal engagement; contextualized vs. academic thinking; cultural notions of speed and time; the willingness to be silly, be incorrect, or do the opposite; and subject-matter familiarity. In each case, we discuss how the cultural preference may be incompatible with the assumptions of assessments, and how future research and practice can address the issue. Many of the cultural preferences discussed differ between interdependent and independent cultures and between schooled and unschooled populations. Adapting testing protocols to these cultural preferences in different contexts will be important for expanding our scientific understanding of EF from the narrow slice of the human population that has participated in the research to date.

Life course rural/urban place of residence, depressive symptoms and cognitive impairment among older adults: findings from the Longitudinal Aging Study in India

BACKGROUND

Given the unique socioeconomic structures, and the rural/urban differentials in the prevalence of mental illnesses in the country, this study aimed to explore the associations of childhood, adulthood and late-life rural/urban place of residence with mental health outcomes, namely depressive symptoms and cognitive impairment, among older adults in India. The study also examined the relationship between older individuals' life-course rural/urban place of residence and late-life mental and cognitive health.

METHODS

Utilizing data from the Longitudinal Aging Study in India (n = 28,027 older adults age 60 years and above), the study employed multivariable logistic and linear regression models to examine the association between urban/rural residential status, life-course residence, depressive symptoms and cognitive impairment among older adults.

RESULTS

Childhood and adulthood place of residence was not associated with depressive symptoms in older men and women. Current rural place of residence was positively associated with depressive symptoms in older women [adjusted odds ratio (aOR): 1.37, confidence interval (CI): 1.05-1.80] but not men. Childhood [aOR: 1.88, CI: 1.16-3.04], adulthood [aOR: 2.00, CI: 1.26-3.16] and current rural residence [aOR: 1.93, CI: 1.27-2.91] was positively associated with cognitive impairment in men. Only current rural residence [aOR: 1.71, CI: 1.29-2.27] was associated with cognitive impairment in women. There was no significant association between life-course place of residence and depressive symptoms except in case of lifetime rural residence Respondents with urban-urban-urban (childhood-adulthood-current) place of residence were less likely to have depressive symptoms [adjusted coefficient (aCoef.): -0.14, CI: -0.21- -0.07] compared to those with rural-rural-rural place of residence. There were significant associations between life-course residence and cognitive impairment except among rural-urban-rural and urban-rural-rural migrants, showing an urban advantage in cognitive function among older adults.

CONCLUSIONS

This study showed significant associations between life-course residence and depressive symptoms among permanent rural/urban residents. The study also showed significant associations between life-course residence and cognitive impairment except among rural-urban-rural and urban-rural-rural migrants. Considering the rural disadvantage in mental and cognitive health among older adults, the government should continue to support policies that can improve access to education and healthcare among people residing in rural areas and women, in particular. The findings also urge social scientists and gerontologists in particular, to consider the importance of lifetime historical context while evaluating mental and cognitive health of older persons.

Building an assessment of community-defined social-emotional competencies from the ground up in Tanzania

Two studies were conducted in 2017 to investigate children's competencies seen as important by communities in Mtwara, Tanzania. Qualitative data from 95 parents (34 women) and 27 teachers (11 women) in Study 1 indicated that dimensions of social responsibility, such as obedience, were valued highly. In Study 2, the competencies of 477 children (245 girls), aged 4–13 years, were rated by teachers and parents. Factor analysis found the obedient factor explained the most variance in parent rating. In line with predictions, urban residence, parental socioeconomic status (SES), and parental education were all positively associated with ratings of curiosity, and parental SES was negatively associated with obedience and emotional regulation. Findings illustrate the need for culturally specific frameworks of social‐emotional learning.

Influence of Some Personal and Family Variables on Social Responsibility Among Primary Education Students

One of the purposes of education is to help pupils develop a responsible attitude, which is understood to be the capacity to vouch for their actions appropriately and in a way that fits social norms. Training of this type should be intentional, planned, and personalized, which will depend on how developed the individual’s social responsibility is. This in turn is influenced by personal and family variables. This article provides an analysis of the interaction of some of those variables with the development of social responsibility in primary education pupils as the basis for the design of programs to promote personal and social responsibility tailored to the features of the pupils. To do this, the Social Responsibility Attitudes Scale was applied to 502 pupils taking grades 2 (8 years old), 4 (10 years old), and 6 (12 years old) of primary education. This scale measures the following factors: (a) obedient in family settings, (b) polite and accepting their mistakes, (c) trust in their parents, (d) responsibility in school setting, (e) friendly and willing to help, and (f) careful of the environment. By carrying out a multivariate analysis with the school grade, gender, family type (single, two-parent), and position among siblings (firstborn, only child, or not firstborn), it was concluded that attitudes related to prosociality start to be differentiated from grade 4 of primary education. It is in grade 6 that children become aware of their responsibility, and this is greater among that from two-parent families. However, no significant differences were found in the level of social responsibility with regard to gender or position among siblings.

Universality claim of attachment theory: Children's socioemotional development across cultures

The first part of this paper reviews the basic tenets of attachment theory with respect to differences in cultural socialization strategies. In one strategy infants have the lead, and the social environment is responsive to the infant's wishes and preferences. In another strategy the caregivers-children or adults-are experts who know what is best for a baby without exploring his or her mental states. Accordingly, the definition of attachment is conceived as a negotiable emotional bond or a network of responsibilities. Attachment theory represents the Western middle-class perspective, ignoring the caregiving values and practices in the majority of the world. However, attachment theory claims universality in all its components. Since the claim of universality implies moral judgments about good and bad parenting, ethical questions need to be addressed. These issues are discussed in the second part of the paper. It is first demonstrated that sensitive responsiveness in attachment theory is built on a different concept of the person and self than concepts of good caregiving in many rural subsistence-based farming families. Evaluating one system with the standards of another ignores different realities and different value systems. The common practice of large-scale interventions in rural subsistence-based contexts promoting Western-style parenting strategies without knowing the local culture positions a false understanding of scientific evidence against cultural knowledge. This practice is unethical. Diversity needs to be recognized as the human condition, and the recognition of diversity is an obligation for better science as well as for improving people's lives.

The Strengths of Wisdom Provide Unique Contributions to Improved Leadership, Sustainability, Inequality, Gross National Happiness, and Civic Discourse in the Face of Contemporary World Problems

We present evidence for the strengths of the intellectual virtues that philosophers and behavioral scientists characterize as key cognitive elements of wisdom. Wisdom has been of centuries-long interest for philosophical scholarship, but relative to intelligence largely neglected in public discourse on educational science, public policy, and societal well-being. Wise reasoning characteristics include intellectual humility, recognition of uncertainty, consideration of diverse viewpoints, and an attempt to integrate these viewpoints. Emerging scholarship on these features of wisdom suggest that they uniquely contribute to societal well-being, improve leadership, shed light on societal inequality, promote cooperation in Public Goods Games and reduce political polarization and intergroup-hostility. We review empirical evidence about macro-cultural, ecological, situational, and person-level processes facilitating and inhibiting wisdom in daily life. Based on this evidence, we speculate about ways to foster wisdom in education, organizations, and institutions.

Ethical Challenges of Parenting Interventions in Low- to Middle-Income Countries

This article explores ethical issues raised by parenting interventions implemented in communities in low- to middle-income countries (LMICs) with rural, subsistence lifestyles. Many of these interventions foster “positive parenting practices” to improve children’s chances of fulfilling their developmental potential. The practices are derived from attachment theory and presented as the universal standard of good care. But attachment-based parenting is typical primarily of people living Western lifestyles and runs counter to the different ways many people with other lifestyles care for their children given what they want for them. Thus, such parenting interventions involve encouraging caregivers to change their practices and views, usually with little understanding of how such changes affect child, family, and community. This undermines researchers’ and practitioners’ ability to honor promises to uphold ethic codes of respect and beneficence. Support for this claim is provided by comparing positive parenting practices advocated by the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF; with the world health organization [WHO]) Care for Child Development (CCD) intervention with parenting practices typical of communities with rural, subsistence lifestyles—the most common of lifestyles worldwide and largely observed in LMICs. As UNICEF has a considerable presence in these countries, the CCD intervention was selected as a case study. In addition, parenting interventions typically target people who are poor, and the issues this raises regarding ethics of fairness and justice are considered. Recommendations are made for ways change agents can be sensitive to the living conditions and worldviews of communities, and, thus, be appropriately effective and ethically sensitive to the diverse needs of different communities.