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Lie-telling and impulsivity levels peak during late childhood to early adolescence and have been suggested to be related. Heightened impulsivity may lead adolescents to lie in favor of short-term benefits without consideration for the potential consequences of deception. The present study assessed longitudinal relations between self-reported impulsivity and lie-telling frequency. Participants from a large-scale longitudinal study (N = 1148; M[subscript age] = 11.55, SD = 1.69, 9-15 years at Time 1) reported on their impulsivity (Barratt Impulsiveness Scale) and their frequency of lie-telling to parents, to teachers, to friends, and about cheating across two time points 1 year apart. Cross-lagged path analysis revealed greater impulsivity was associated with more frequent lie-telling to parents, friends, and teachers, and about cheating over time. Our findings demonstrate the role of impulsivity in the development of lie-telling behaviors.

Adults often fail to recognize the ambiguity of children's unelaborated responses to "Do you know/remember (DYK/R) if/whether" questions. Two studies examined whether sample questions and/or an explicit instruction would improve adults' ability to recognize referential ambiguity in children's testimony. In Study 1 (N = 383), participants rarely recognized referential ambiguity in the sample questions or in children's testimony, and answering sample questions had no influence on their ability to detect ambiguity in children's testimony. Study 2 (N = 363) attempted to clarify the meaning of ambiguity for participants with explicit instructions. Results revealed that although an explicit instruction improved performance on sample questions, this also led to an overcorrection, and instructions and sample questions only modestly improved adults' ability to recognize referential ambiguity in children's testimony. Ultimately, the absence of an effective strategy for alerting adults to the problem of referential ambiguity highlights the dangers of DYK/R if/whether questions.

Lies to benefit the collective are common in adult contexts; however, less is known about children's willingness to lie for the collective. The present study examined 7- to 11-year-old children's tendency to lie to conceal a group transgression. Children (N = 408) participated in a competition in small groups during which the group leaders encouraged children to cheat by falsely inflating their group's score. Groups were randomly assigned to Active or Passive Transgression conditions, where children in the Active condition were more involved in cheating compared to those in the Passive condition. Children were interviewed about the event individually, and 83% lied to conceal their group's transgression. Children who truthfully disclosed cheating were most likely to place blame on others rather than take the blame themselves. Results indicate that children are highly motivated to lie for their group.

Accurate event sequencing can add critical detail to a child's account. However, our knowledge of sequencing in childhood to date primarily centers on distinct events separated by time. Sequencing a single event's components is also important, perhaps particularly in a forensic context. In two experiments, we explored children's ability to recall the sequence of a past event using a variety of prompts. In Experiment 1, 124 children (6-8 years) and Experiment 2, 96 children (6-8 years) attended a 45-min workshop with four (Exp. 1) or five (Exp. 2) distinct components. Children were asked to sequence the components using different retrieval strategies (Exp. 1 within-subjects; Exp. 2 between-subjects). Children had difficulty reporting within-event sequential order in response to open-ended prompts but with sufficient visual supports, children were able to provide accurate information about the sequencing of within-event components.

Children learn information from a variety of sources and often remember the content but forget the source. Whereas the majority of research has focused on retrieval mechanisms for such difficulties, the present investigation examines whether the way in which sources are "encoded" influences future source monitoring. In Study 1, 86 children aged 3 to 8 years participated in 2 photography sessions on different days. Children were randomly assigned to either the "Difference" condition (they were asked to pay attention to differences between the 2 events), the "Memory control" condition (asked to pay attention with no reference to differences), or the "No-Instruction control" (no special instructions were given). One week later, during a structured interview about the photography session, the 3- to 4-year-olds in the No-Instruction condition were less accurate and responded more often with "do not know" than the 7- to 8-year-olds. However, the older children in the Difference condition made "more" source confusions than the younger children suggesting improved memory for content but not source. In Study 2, the Difference condition was replaced by a "Difference-Tag" condition where details were pointed out along with their source (i.e., tagging source to content). Ninety-four children aged 3 to 8 years participated. Children in the Difference-Tag condition made fewer source-monitoring errors than children in the Control condition. The results of these 2 studies together suggest that binding processes at encoding can lead to better source discrimination of experienced events at retrieval and may underlie the rapid development of source monitoring in this age range.

The present investigation examined whether school-aged children and adolescents' own deceptive behavior of cheating and lying influenced their honesty judgments of their same-aged peers. Eighty 8- to 17-year-olds who had previously participated in a study examining cheating and lie-telling behaviors were invited to make honesty judgments of their peers' denials of having peeked at the answers to a test. While participants' accuracy rates for making honesty judgments were at chance levels, judgment biases were found based on participants own past cheating and lie-telling behaviors. Specifically, those who cheated and lied were biased towards believing that their peers would behave in the same manner. In contrast, participants who had not cheated were biased towards judging their peers as honest. These findings suggest that by 8 years of age there is a relation between one's own deceptive behaviors and judgments of other's honesty.

The present investigation examined the relation between honesty, benevolence, and trust in children. One hundred and eight 7-, 9-, and 11-year-olds were read four story types in which the character's honesty (honesty or dishonest) was crossed with their intentions (helping or harming). Children rated the story character's honesty, benevolence, and whether they trusted the character. Results indicated that 7- to 11-year-olds considered both honesty and benevolence when making trust judgments, and older children were more likely than younger children to trust helpful lie-tellers. Further, the relation between dishonesty and trust judgments was mediated by children's judgments of benevolence. These findings suggest that at least from 7 years onward, children have a nuanced understanding about the relationship between honesty and trust. (Contains 1 figure and 3 tables.)

The present study explored the relations among lie-telling ability, false belief understanding, and verbal mental age. We found that children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), like typically developing children, can and do tell antisocial lies (to conceal a transgression) and white lies (in politeness settings). However, children with ASD were less able than typically developing children to cover up their initial lie; that is, children with ASD had difficulty exercising semantic leakage control--the ability to maintain consistency between their initial lie and subsequent statements. Furthermore, unlike in typically developing children, lie-telling ability in children with ASD was not found to be related to their false belief understanding. Future research should examine the underlying processes by which children with ASD tell lies.

The present study examined the developmental origin of "blue lies", a pervasive form of lying in the adult world that is told purportedly to benefit a collective. Seven, 9-, and 11-year-old Chinese children were surreptitiously placed in a real-life situation where they decided whether to lie to conceal their group's cheating behavior. Children were also assessed in terms of their willingness in hypothetical situations to endorse lying or truth-telling that benefits a collective but at the same time harms an individual. Results showed that as age increased, children became more inclined to endorse lying in the name of the collective good, and to tell lies for their group themselves. Furthermore, children's endorsement about blue lies in hypothetical situations predicted their actual lying behavior.

Comprehensive medical and mental health evaluations of children in foster care are recommended within 30 days of entering care. What constitutes a comprehensive evaluation has yet to be established. This study examines the need to include educational assessment as a component of the comprehensive evaluation. Rates of achievement and language problems for Arkansas school-age children are compared with rates of medical and psychiatric disorders to assess the relative need for including educational assessment.

Students (N=200) in grades 4 through 8 and 10 completed questionnaire measuring perceptions of school theft incidence and seriousness, personal responsibility for correcting theft, causal attributions of theft, and perceived consequences of thievery. Main grade effect was observed for personal responsibility and consequences, but represented counter directions. Eighth graders reported highest theft incidence; females prescribed harsher penalties for theft. (Author/NRB)

Studies indicate that the nasal microbiome may correlate strongly with the presence or future risk of childhood asthma. In this study, we tested whether developmental trajectories of the nasopharyngeal microbiome in early life and the composition of the microbiome during illnesses were related to risk of childhood asthma. Children participating in the Childhood Origins of Asthma study (N = 285) provided nasopharyngeal mucus samples in the first 2 years of life, during routine healthy study visits (at 2, 4, 6, 9, 12, 18, and 24 months of age), and during episodes of respiratory illnesses, all of which were analyzed for respiratory viruses and bacteria. We identified developmental trajectories of early-life microbiome composition, as well as predominant bacteria during respiratory illnesses, and we correlated these with presence of asthma at 6, 8, 11, 13, and 18 years of age. Of the 4 microbiome trajectories identified, a Staphylococcus -dominant microbiome in the first 6 months of life was associated with increased risk of recurrent wheezing by age 3 years and asthma that persisted throughout childhood. In addition, this trajectory was associated with the early onset of allergic sensitization. During wheezing illnesses, detection of rhinoviruses and predominance of Moraxella were associated with asthma that persisted throughout later childhood. In infancy, the developmental composition of the microbiome during healthy periods and the predominant microbes during acute wheezing illnesses are both associated with the subsequent risk of developing persistent childhood asthma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Viral illnesses are important factors in both asthma inception and exacerbations, and allergic sensitization in early life further enhances asthma risk through unclear mechanisms. Cellular damage caused by infection or allergen inhalation increases ATP levels in the airways with subsequent purinergic receptor activation. The purinergic receptor P2X7 can enhance airway leukocyte recruitment to the airways, and P2X7 knockout mice display a reduced asthma-like phenotype. Objective: Based on the P2X7 knockout mouse, we hypothesized that children with low P2X7 function would have decreased rates of asthma. Methods: We used a functional assay to determine P2X7 pore-producing capacity in whole-blood samples in a birth cohort at high risk for asthma development. The P2X7 assay was validated with known loss-of-function alleles in human subjects. P2X7 pore status categorization was used to assess asthma and allergy status in the cohort. Results: Attenuated P2X7 function was associated with lower asthma rates at ages 6 and 8 years, and the greatest effects were observed in boys. Children with asthma at age 11 years who had low P2X7 capacity had less severe disease in the previous year. Attenuated P2X7 function was also associated with sensitization to fewer aeroallergens. Conclusion: P2X7 functional capacity is associated with asthma risk or disease severity, and these relationships appear to be age related. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Asthma is a complex disease characterized by sex-specific differences in incidence, prevalence, and severity, but little is known about the molecular basis of these sex-based differences. Objective: To investigate the genetic architecture of sex differences in asthma risk, we evaluated (1) associations between polymorphisms in the IFNG gene and childhood-onset asthma in combined and sex-specific samples and (2) interactions between polymorphisms and sex on asthma risk. Methods: Main and sex-interaction effects of IFNG genetic diversity on asthma risk and IFN-γ levels were examined in a birth cohort of children at high risk for asthma and allergic diseases. Replication of the genetic association was assessed in an independent sample of asthma cases. Results: Significant genotype-sex interactions on asthma were observed for 2 IFNG single nucleotide polymorphisms, rs2069727 and rs2430561, which were in strong linkage disequilibrium with each other. In contrast, none of the 10 IFNG single nucleotide polymorphisms showed significant main effects on asthma. The observed genotype-sex interaction on asthma was characterized by nonadditivity; that is, heterozygous boys had the highest risk for asthma, and heterozygous girls had the lowest risk. The interaction effect was robust to other asthma risk factors but was limited to children who experienced wheezing illnesses with viral infections during the first 3 years of life. Genotype-sex interactions were also observed in the IFN-γ response to LPS in the first year of life. Finally, the sex-interaction effect was replicated in an independent population of childhood asthma cases. Conclusions: These results provide insight into the genetic basis of sex differences in asthma and highlight the potential importance of interactions among sex, genotype, and environmental factors in asthma pathogenesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Obesity has been proposed to be a risk factor for the development of childhood asthma. Objective: We sought to examine weight status from birth to age 5 years in relation to the occurrence of asthma at ages 6 and 8 years. Methods: Two hundred eighty-five full-term high-risk newborns with at least 1 asthmatic/atopic parent enrolled in the Childhood Origin of Asthma project were studied from birth to age 8 years. Overweight was defined by weight-for-length percentiles of greater than the 85th percentile before the age of 2 years and a body mass index percentile of greater than the 85th percentile at ages 2 to 5 years. Results: No significant concurrent association was found between overweight status and wheezing/asthma occurrence at each year of age. In contrast, longitudinal analyses revealed complex relationships between being overweight and asthma. Being overweight at age 1 year was associated with a decreased risk of asthma at age 6 (odds ratio [OR], 0.32; P = .02) and 8 (OR, 0.35; P = .04) years, as well as better lung function. However, being overweight beyond infancy was not associated with asthma occurrence. In fact, only children who were overweight at age 5 years but not at age 1 year had an increased risk of asthma at age 6 years (OR, 5.78; P = .05). Conclusion: In children genetically at high risk of asthma, being overweight at age 1 year was associated with a decreased risk of asthma and better lung function at ages 6 and 8 years. However, being overweight beyond infancy did not have any protective effect and even could confer a higher risk for asthma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Factors affecting fractional exhaled nitric oxide (FeNO) in early childhood are incompletely understood. Objective: To examine the relationships between FeNO and allergic sensitization, total IgE, atopic dermatitis, rhinitis, asthma, and lung function (spirometry) in children. Methods: Children at high risk of asthma and other allergic diseases because of parental history were enrolled at birth and followed prospectively. FeNO was measured by an online technique at ages 6 and 8 years. Relationships among FeNO, various atopic characteristics, and asthma were evaluated. Results: Reproducible FeNO measurements were obtained in 64% (135/210) of 6-year-old and 93% (180/194) of 8-year-old children. There was seasonal variability in FeNO. Children with aeroallergen sensitization at ages 6 and 8 years had increased levels of FeNO compared with those not sensitized (geometric mean; 6 years, 10.9 vs 6.7 parts per billion [ppb], P < .0001; 8 years, 14.6 vs 7.1 ppb, P < .0001). FeNO was higher in children with asthma than in those without asthma at 8 years but not 6 years of age (6 years, 9.2 vs 8.3 ppb, P = .48; 8 years, 11.5 vs 9.2 ppb, P = .03). At 8 years of age, this difference was no longer significant in a multivariate model that included aeroallergen sensitization (P = .33). There were no correlations between FeNO and spirometric indices at 6 or 8 years of age. Conclusion: These findings underscore the importance of evaluating allergen sensitization status when FeNO is used as a potential biomarker in the diagnosis and/or monitoring of atopic diseases, particularly asthma. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Background: The contribution of viral respiratory infections during infancy to the development of subsequent wheezing and/or allergic diseases in early childhood is not established. Objective: To evaluate these relationships prospectively from birth to 3 years of age in 285 children genetically at high risk for developing allergic respiratory diseases. Methods: By using nasal lavage, the relationship of timing, severity, and etiology of viral respiratory infections during infancy to wheezing in the 3rd year of life was evaluated. In addition, genetic and environmental factors that could modify risk of infections and wheezing prevalence were analyzed. Results: Risk factors for 3rd year wheezing were passive smoke exposure (odds ratio [OR]=2.1), older siblings (OR=2.5), allergic sensitization to foods at age 1 year (OR=2.0), any moderate to severe respiratory illness without wheezing during infancy (OR=3.6), and at least 1 wheezing illness with respiratory syncytial virus (RSV; OR=3.0), rhinovirus (OR=10) and/or non–rhinovirus/RSV pathogens (OR=3.9) during infancy. When viral etiology was considered, 1st-year wheezing illnesses caused by rhinovirus infection were the strongest predictor of subsequent 3rd year wheezing (OR=6.6; P < .0001). Moreover, 63% of infants who wheezed during rhinovirus seasons continued to wheeze in the 3rd year of life, compared with only 20% of all other infants (OR=6.6; P < .0001). Conclusion: In this population of children at increased risk of developing allergies and asthma, the most significant risk factor for the development of preschool childhood wheezing is the occurrence of symptomatic rhinovirus illnesses during infancy that are clinically and prognostically informative based on their seasonal nature. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Farm exposures may reduce the risk of atopic dermatitis (AD) in children, but this is controversial and US data are limited. This study was conducted to identify patterns of farm exposure in Wisconsin family farms that modify AD incidence and prevalence in early childhood. Environmental exposures, health history, and clinical outcomes were prospectively recorded for 111 farm families and 129 non–farm families enrolled in the Wisconsin Infant Study Cohort birth cohort study. Exposures from the prenatal and early postnatal (2-month) visits were evaluated together with parental report of AD diagnosis by a health care provider through age 24 months. Latent class analysis was performed with prenatal and early postnatal farm-exposure variables to assign farm children to 3 classes. Overall, children of farm families had reduced AD incidence (P =.03). Within farm families, exposures including poultry (3% vs 28%; P =.003), pig (4% vs 25%; P =.04), feed grain (13% vs 34%; P =.02), and number of animal species were inversely associated with AD incidence. Among the latent class groups, children in families with diverse or more intense farm exposures (classes A and B) had reduced AD incidence, whereas low-exposure (class C) infants had AD incidence similar to that in nonfarm children. Infants in Wisconsin farm families had reduced AD incidence, and patterns of farm exposures further defined AD risk. These findings suggest that exposure to diverse farm animals, feed, and bedding during the prenatal period and in early infancy reduce the risk of early-onset AD, a phenotype associated with multiple other atopic diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Exacerbations of childhood asthma and rhinovirus infections both peak during the spring and fall, suggesting that viral infections are major contributors to seasonal asthma morbidity. Objectives: We sought to evaluate rhinovirus infections during peak seasons in children with asthma and to analyze relationships between viral infection and illness severity. Methods: Fifty-eight children aged 6 to 8 years with asthma provided 5 consecutive weekly nasal lavage samples during September and April; symptoms, medication use, and peak flow were recorded. Rhinoviruses were identified by using multiplex PCR and partial sequencing of viral genomes. Results: Viruses were detected in 36% to 50% of the specimens, and 72% to 99% of the viruses were rhinoviruses. There were 52 different strains (including 16 human rhinovirus C) among the 169 rhinovirus isolates; no strains were found in more than 2 collection periods, and all but 2 children had a respiratory tract infection. Virus-positive weeks were associated with greater cold and asthma symptom severity (P < .0001 and P = .0002, respectively). Furthermore, virus-positive illnesses had increased duration and severity of cold and asthma symptoms and more frequent loss of asthma control (47% vs 22%, P = .008). Although allergen-sensitized versus nonsensitized children had the same number of viral infections, the former had 47% more symptomatic viral illnesses (1.19 vs 0.81 per month, P = .03). Conclusions: Rhinovirus infections are nearly universal in children with asthma during common cold seasons, likely because of a plethora of new strains appearing each season. Illnesses associated with viruses have greater duration and severity. Finally, atopic asthmatic children experienced more frequent and severe virus-induced illnesses. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]