Challenging the Link Between Early Childhood Television Exposure and Later Attention Problems: A Multiverse Approach

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew McBee ◽  
Rebecca Brand ◽  
Wallace E. Dixon
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Logistic Regression ◽  
Propensity Score Analysis ◽  
Harmful Effect ◽  
Attention Problems ◽  
Popular Media ◽  
Compelling Evidence ◽  
Score Analysis ◽  
Television Exposure ◽  
Influential Paper

In 2004, Christakis and colleagues published an influential paper claiming that early childhood television exposure causes later attention problems (Christakis, Zimmerman, DiGiuseppe, & McCarty, 2004), which continues to be frequently promoted by the popular media. Using the same NLSY-79 dataset (n = 2,108), we conducted two multiverse analyses to examine whether the finding reported by Christakis et al. was robust to different analytic choices. We evaluated 848 models, including logistic regression as per the original paper, plus linear regression and two forms of propensity score analysis. Only 166 models (19.6%) yielded a statistically significant relationship between early TV exposure and later attention problems, with most of these employing problematic analytic choices. We conclude that these data do not provide compelling evidence of a harmful effect of TV on attention. All material necessary to reproduce our analysis is available online via Github (https://github.com/mcbeem/TVAttention) and as a Docker container (https://hub.docker.com/repository/docker/mmcbee/rstudio_tvattention)

Challenging the Link Between Early Childhood Television Exposure and Later Attention Problems: A Multiverse Approach

2021 ◽  
pp. 095679762097165
Author(s):  
Matthew T. McBee ◽  
Rebecca J. Brand ◽  
Wallace E. Dixon
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Regression Models ◽  
Propensity Score Analysis ◽  
Harmful Effect ◽  
Attention Problems ◽  
Linear Regression Models ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Logistic Regression Models ◽  
Score Analysis ◽  
Television Exposure

In 2004, Christakis and colleagues published an article in which they claimed that early childhood television exposure causes later attention problems, a claim that continues to be frequently promoted by the popular media. Using the same National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 data set ( N = 2,108), we conducted two multiverse analyses to examine whether the finding reported by Christakis and colleagues was robust to different analytic choices. We evaluated 848 models, including logistic regression models, linear regression models, and two forms of propensity-score analysis. If the claim were true, we would expect most of the justifiable analyses to produce significant results in the predicted direction. However, only 166 models (19.6%) yielded a statistically significant relationship, and most of these employed questionable analytic choices. We concluded that these data do not provide compelling evidence of a harmful effect of TV exposure on attention.

Exploring the Impact of an AVRS Curfew Program on Recidivism of Juvenile Probationers in Korea

2018 ◽  
Vol 62 (14) ◽  
pp. 4425-4444
Author(s):  
Younoh Cho ◽  
Jeff Mellow
Keyword(s):  
Logistic Regression ◽  
Regression Analysis ◽  
Propensity Score Analysis ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Monitoring Strategy ◽  
Probation Office ◽  
Score Analysis ◽  
The World ◽  
Juvenile Probationers ◽  
The Impact

Community corrections agencies across the world have adopted biometric technologies as a security tool and cost-effective monitoring strategy. This study investigates the effectiveness of the automated voiceprint recognition supervision (AVRS) curfew program for 386 Korean juvenile probationers from the Seoul Probation Office. Although the AVRS curfew program in Korea has been in effect for more than 14 years, effectiveness of the program has not been fully tested. A propensity score analysis was conducted to assess the effectiveness of the AVRS program, controlling for potential covariates of referring juveniles to the program. Contrary to expectations, a logistic regression analysis demonstrated that the innovative curfew program is a statistically significant factor in increasing the odds of recidivism. The article concludes with a discussion of implications for court-ordered juvenile curfew programs.

scholarly journals Effects of improved drinking water quality on early childhood growth in rural Uttar Pradesh, India: A propensity-score analysis

PLoS ONE ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. e0209054 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mira Johri ◽  
Marie-Pierre Sylvestre ◽  
Georges Karna Koné ◽  
Dinesh Chandra ◽  
S. V. Subramanian
Keyword(s):  
Water Quality ◽  
Early Childhood ◽  
Drinking Water ◽  
Propensity Score ◽  
Propensity Score Analysis ◽  
Uttar Pradesh ◽  
Drinking Water Quality ◽  
Childhood Growth ◽  
Score Analysis

Intraocular pressure–lowering medications during pregnancy and risk of neonatal adverse outcomes: a propensity score analysis using a large database

2020 ◽  
pp. bjophthalmol-2020-316198
Author(s):  
Yohei Hashimoto ◽  
Nobuaki Michihata ◽  
Hayato Yamana ◽  
Daisuke Shigemi ◽  
Kojiro Morita ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Logistic Regression ◽  
Intraocular Pressure ◽  
Propensity Scores ◽  
Propensity Score Analysis ◽  
Beta Blockers ◽  
First Trimester ◽  
Adverse Outcomes ◽  
Composite Outcome ◽  
Score Analysis ◽  
Pressure Lowering

Background/AimsTo investigate the association between exposure to intraocular pressure (IOP)–lowering medications during pregnancy and neonatal adverse outcomes.MethodsThis retrospective, cohort study used the JMDC Claims Database (JMDC, Tokyo, Japan), 2005–2018. We extracted data on pregnant women with glaucoma, including dispensation of (1) any IOP-lowering medications, (2) only prostaglandin analogues (PGs) and 3) only beta-blockers, during the first trimester. We compared frequency of congenital anomalies (CA), preterm birth (PB), low birth weight (LBW) and the composite outcome of these three measures, between the women with and without IOP-lowering medications. We calculated propensity scores (PSs) using logistic regression in which use of IOP-lowering medications was regressed against known confounders (disorders during pregnancy and other chronic comorbidities). We then conducted logistic regression in which neonatal adverse outcomes were regressed against use of IOP-lowering medications with adjustment for the PS.ResultsWe identified 826 eligible women, 91 (11%) of whom had received any IOP-lowering medications. CA occurred in 9.9% and 6.4%, PB in 2.2% and 4.5%, LBW in 9.9% and 6.0% and composite outcome in 17.6% and 13.3% of mothers with and without IOP-lowering medications, respectively. After adjustment for PS, IOP-lowering medications were not significantly associated with more frequent CA (adjusted OR (aOR), 1.43; 95% CI, 0.66 to 3.12), PB (aOR, 0.45; 95% CI, 0.10 to 1.97), LBW (aOR, 2.11; 95% CI, 0.98 to 4.57) or composite outcome (aOR, 1.40; 95% CI, 0.78 to 2.53). Results were similar regarding PGs only and beta-blockers only.ConclusionsIOP-lowering medications during the first trimester were not significantly associated with increase in CA, PB or LBW.

scholarly journals A Propensity Score Analysis Shows that Empirical Treatment with Linezolid Does Not Increase the Thirty-Day Mortality Rate in Patients with Gram-Negative Bacteremia

2014 ◽  
Vol 58 (12) ◽  
pp. 7025-7031 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hugo-Guillermo Ternavasio-de la Vega ◽  
Ana-María Mateos-Díaz ◽  
Jose-Antonio Martinez ◽  
Manel Almela ◽  
Nazaret Cobos-Trigueros ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Logistic Regression ◽  
Mortality Rate ◽  
Propensity Score ◽  
Propensity Score Matching ◽  
Propensity Score Analysis ◽  
Mortality Rates ◽  
Empirical Treatment ◽  
Gram Negative ◽  
Score Analysis ◽  
Gram Negative Bacteremia

ABSTRACTThe role of linezolid in empirical therapy of suspected bacteremia remains unclear. The aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of empirical use of linezolid or glycopeptides in addition to other antibiotics on the 30-day mortality rates in patients with Gram-negative bacteremia. For this purpose, 1,126 patients with Gram-negative bacteremia in the Hospital Clinic of Barcelona from 2000 to 2012 were included in this study. In order to compare the mortality rates between patients who received linezolid or glycopeptides, the propensity scores on baseline variables were used to balance the treatment groups, and both propensity score matching and propensity-adjusted logistic regression were used to compare the 30-day mortality rates between the groups. The overall 30-day mortality rate was 16.0% during the study period. Sixty-eight patients received empirical treatment with linezolid, and 1,058 received glycopeptides. The propensity score matching included 64 patients in each treatment group. After matching, the mortality rates were 14.1% (9/64) in patients who received glycopeptides and 21.9% (14/64) in those who received linezolid, and a nonsignificant association between empirical linezolid treatment and mortality rate (odds ratio [OR], 1.63; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.69 to 3.82;P= 0.275, McNemar's test) was found. This association remained nonsignificant when variables that remained unbalanced after matching were included in a conditional logistic regression model. Further, the stratified propensity score analysis did not show any significant relationship between empirical linezolid treatment and the mortality rate after adjustment by propensity score quintiles or other variables potentially associated with mortality. In conclusion, the propensity score analysis showed that empirical treatment with linezolid compared with that with glycopeptides was not associated with 30-day mortality rates in patients with Gram-negative bacteremia.

Bilingual Advantage Propensity Score Analysis

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Marc Goodrich ◽  
Natalie Koziol ◽  
HyeonJin Yoon ◽  
Sergio Leiva
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Propensity Score ◽  
Inhibitory Control ◽  
Propensity Score Analysis ◽  
Theoretical Models ◽  
Attentional Focus ◽  
School Level ◽  
Bilingual Advantage ◽  
Score Analysis ◽  
Confounding Variables

Despite much research examining whether bilingual individuals demonstrate superior executive function (EF) skills compared to monolinguals, the purported bilingual advantage remains controversial (e.g., Bialystok, 2017; Paap et al., 2015). One potential reason for discrepant findings across studies examining the bilingual advantage is the difficulty in matching monolingual and bilingual groups on important confounding variables that are related to EF. To address this limitation of prior research, we used a propensity score matching approach to evaluate the presence of the bilingual advantage in the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study Kindergarten Cohort of 2011. Consistent with recent theories of EF development (Doebel, 2020), we hypothesized that before matching, we would observe bilingual advantages on report- but not performance-based measures of EF. However, we expected that after matching bilingual and monolingual children on a comprehensive set of covariates there would be no group differences in EF. We matched bilingual Spanish-English and monolingual English kindergarteners on a comprehensive set of child- and school-level covariates, and conducted a sensitivity analysis to evaluate whether results were sensitive to unobserved confounds. After matching groups (n = 252 matched pairs of monolingual and bilingual children), bilinguals had greater teacher-rated inhibitory control and attentional focus than did monolinguals; however, only the effect for inhibitory control was robust to unobserved confounds. In contrast, no effects of bilingualism were observed for performance-based measures of working memory or cognitive flexibility. Results are discussed in the context of recent theoretical models of EF development in early childhood (Doebel, 2020).

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