Using Research to Improve the Cost Effectiveness of Early Intervention Programs

Since the implementation of Public Law 99457, the number of children served by early intervention programs has increased substantially. This article describes the d e s of advocacy and science in contributing to that expansion. A biosocial systems model of early development is used to explain how comparative experimental research can help to improve the cost effectiveness of early intervention programs. Examples of the benefits of such research are taken from the other articles reported in this issue of Early Education and Development.     

Risk factors for the perpetration of child sexual abuse: a review and meta-analysis

OBJECTIVES: Since the late 1980s, there has been a strong theoretical focus on psychological and social influences of perpetration of child sexual abuse. This paper presents the results of a review and meta-analysis of studies examining risk factors for perpetration of child sexual abuse published since 1990. METHOD: Eighty-nine studies published between 1990 and April of 2003 were reviewed. Risk factors were classified into one of the following six broad categories: family factors, externalizing behaviors, internalizing behaviors, social deficits, sexual problems, and attitudes/beliefs. Sex offenders against children (SOC) were compared to three comparison groups identified within the 89 studies: sex offenders who perpetrated against adults (SOA), non-sex offenders, and non-offenders with no history of criminal or sexual behavior problems. RESULTS: Results for the six major categories showed that SOC were not different from SOA (all d between -.02 and .14) other than showing lower externalizing behaviors (d=-.25). Sex offenders against children were somewhat different from non-sex offenders, especially with regard to sexual problems and attitudes (d=.83 and .51). Sex offenders against children showed substantial differences from non-offenders with medium sized effects in all six major categories (d's range from .39 to .58). CONCLUSION: Child sex offenders are different from non-sex offenders and non-offenders but not from sex offenders against adults. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: This study suggests that the presence of general risk factors may lead to a variety of negative behavioral outcomes, including the perpetration of child sexual offending. Family factors were strongly related to the perpetration of child sex offending (vs. non-sexual offending or non-offending) and may be valuable intervention points for interrupting the development of child sex offending, as well as other negative behaviors. Other potential points for intervention may focus on the development of appropriate social and emotional skills that contribute to sexual offending.     

Validating the Sedentary Sphere method in children: Does wrist or accelerometer brand matter?

This study aimed to validate the Sedentary Sphere posture classification method from wrist-worn accelerometers in children. Twenty-seven 9–10-year-old children wore ActiGraph GT9X (AG) and GENEActiv (GA) accelerometers on both wrists, and activPAL on the thigh while completing prescribed activities: five sedentary activities, standing with a phone, walking (criterion for all 7: observation) and 10-min free-living play (criterion: activPAL). In an independent sample, 21 children wore AG and GA accelerometers on the non-dominant wrist and activPAL for two days of free-living. Per cent accuracy, pairwise 95% equivalence tests (±10% equivalence zone) and intra-class correlation coefficients (ICC) analyses were completed. Accuracy was similar, for prescribed activities irrespective of brand (non-dominant wrist: 77–78%; dominant wrist: 79%). Posture estimates were equivalent between wrists within brand (±6%, ICC > 0.81, lower 95% CI ≥ 0.75), between brands worn on the same wrist (±5%, ICC ≥ 0.84, lower 95% CI ≥ 0.80) and between brands worn on opposing wrists (±6%, ICC ≥ 0.78, lower 95% CI ≥ 0.72). Agreement with activPAL during free-living was 77%, but sedentary time was underestimated by 7% (GA) and 10% (AG). The Sedentary Sphere can be used to classify posture from wrist-worn AG and GA accelerometers for group-level estimates in children, but future work is needed to improve the algorithm for better individual-level results.     

The others-concept and friendly and cooperative behavior in children

This study explored the predictability of friendly, cooperative behavior of school children over a 5-week period. The basis for the predictions was the children's others-concept, as measured by the Paired Hands Test. Structured observations of groups of children working together on assigned tasks were made during five consecutive weekly sessions, each lasting approximately 15 minutes. The observations were obtained by recording each session and categorizing verbal statements as to their task-relatedness and friendliness. This procedure allowed comparisons between children with high and low others-concepts with respect to these behaviors. In three tasks out of five the high others-concept children showed a higher frequency and greater proportion of task-related and friendly behaviors. The tasks which best differentiated between children with high and low others-concepts were those which seemed to be the most challenging and exciting, and which called for the highest degree of group cooperation. The study demonstrated how friendly and cooperative interactions among small groups of children are influenced by a combination of their others-concept and situational factors.     

Modellierung und kartographische Visualisierung von Geodaten mit XML-basierten Sprachen

Zusammenfassung Mit den XML-basierten Sprachen GML, XSLT und SVG lassen sich Geodaten nicht nur anwendungsorientiert modellieren, sondern auch karten?hnlich visualisieren. In dieser Fallstudie zeigen wir das, indem wir realistische Geodatenbest?nde der Landesvermessungs?mter zun?chst mit der Geography Markup Language (GML) nachmodellieren. So mit GML strukturierte Daten werden dann mit der Extensible Stylesheet Language for Transformation (XSLT) auf Elemente der Sprache Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) abgebildet. Dabei wird der Prozess der kartografischen Visualisierung durch XSLT-Konstrukte modelliert und auch gleichzeitig implementiert. Als Ergebnis erhalten wir Grafiken, die den entsprechenden Karten der Landes?mter zumindest nicht un?hnlich sind.

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Using the XML-based languages GML, XSLT and SVG, we modeled German geo data and also visualized it in map-like graphics. This case study shows the feasibility of that approach, by modelling the data with the Geography Markup Language (GML). Then, the GML-structured data is mapped with the Extensible Stylesheet Language for Transformation (XSLT) to elements of the language Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG). The process of cartographical visualization is thus modelled through XSLT-constructs and at same time also implemented. The results are graphics, which share close ressemblance to the corresponding maps of the official offices.

CR Subject Classification I.3.3,I.3.5,I.6.5,I.7.2,J.2