Dimensions of cognition, behaviour, and mental health in struggling learners: A spotlight on girls

Guy, Jacalyn, Mareva, Silvana, Franckel, Grace and Holmes, Joni ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6821-2793 and CALM Team (2022) Dimensions of cognition, behaviour, and mental health in struggling learners: A spotlight on girls. JCPP Advances. ISSN 2692-9384

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Abstract

Background: Fewer girls than boys are identified as struggling at school for suspected problems in attention, learning and/or memory. The objectives of this study were to: i) identify dimensions of cognition, behaviour and mental health in a unique transdiagnostic sample of struggling learners; ii) test whether these constructs were equivalent for boys and girls, and; iii) compare their performance across the dimensions. Methods: 805 school-aged children, identified by practitioners as experiencing problems in cognition and learning, completed cognitive assessments, and parents/carers rated their behaviour and mental health problems. Results: Three cognitive [Executive, Speed, Phonological], three behavioural [Cognitive Control, Emotion Regulation, Behaviour Regulation], and two mental health [Internalising, Externalising] dimensions distinguished the sample. Dimensions were structurally comparable between boys and girls, but differences in severity were present: girls had greater impairments on performance-based measures of cognition; boys were rated as having more severe externalising problems. Conclusions: Gender biases to stereotypically male behaviours are prevalent among practitioners, even when the focus is on identifying cognitive and learning difficulties. This underscores the need to include cognitive and female-representative criteria in diagnostic systems to identify girls whose difficulties could go easily undetected.

Item Type: Article
Uncontrolled Keywords: sdg 3 - good health and well-being ,/dk/atira/pure/sustainabledevelopmentgoals/good_health_and_well_being
Faculty \ School: Faculty of Social Sciences > School of Psychology
UEA Research Groups: Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Groups > Cognition, Action and Perception
Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Groups > Developmental Science
Related URLs:
Depositing User: LivePure Connector
Date Deposited: 12 Jan 2023 11:30
Last Modified: 02 Feb 2023 12:30
URI: https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/90534
DOI: 10.1002/jcv2.12082

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