Browsing by Author "Yavuz, H. Melis"

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Erken Çocukluk Gelişimine Dair Türkiye Bulgularına Bakış
(5.Uluslararası Okul Öncesi Eğitim Kongresi Özel Sayısı, 2018) Yavuz, H. Melis; Selçuk, Bilge
Early childhood is a period during which brain development is at its highest and the social and cognitive skills start to develop. In this paper, we summarized our studies in which we investigate the skills that emerge in early childhood years, and the factors associated with the development of these skills in different populations (typically developing children and children with atypical development, typical and atypical rearing contexts). We examine our results in light of the findings of the previous literature. The results of our studies suggest that two skills, namely receptive language and executive function are critical for psychological well-being and optimal development. In this review we compile our findings about the factors influencing the development of these skills, the mechanisms of this influence. We also discuss the applied implications of our findings.
Citation - WoS: 16
Citation - Scopus: 17
Executive Function and Theory of Mind as Predictors of Socially Withdrawn Behavior in Institutionalized Children
(Wiley, 2017) Yavuz, H. Melis; Selçuk, Bilge; Harma, Mehmet; Etel, Evren; Ruffman, Ted
False-belief understanding and executive functions are two main sociocognitive abilities reliably linked to child social competence. Although institution-reared children are especially at risk for behavioral problems and cognitive delays, the role that executive function and false-belief understanding might play in the social withdrawal of institutionalized children has not been examined. The current study used two-wave data to investigate the concurrent and longitudinal relations of social withdrawal with executive function and false-belief understanding in institutionalized children; it also allowed investigation of the directionality between executive function and false-belief understanding. Data were collected from 66 Turkish children (T1 M 5 = 57.83 months, SD = 9.20; T2 M = 69.58 months, SD = 8.45) residing in institutions, at two time points, approximately 1 year apart. We measured false-belief understanding and executive function via individual assessments, and social withdrawal via care provider reports at both time points. Results showed that both executive function and false-belief understanding increased between T1 and T2, while social withdrawal did not show a significant change. Path analysis revealed that when T1 age and language were controlled, T1 executive function predicted T2 executive function, and in turn, T2 executive function predicted lessened social withdrawal at T2. In addition, T1 executive function predicted T2 false-belief understanding. T1 false-belief understanding was not related to T2 false-belief understanding, executive function, or social withdrawal. Findings suggested that executive function is an important predictor of social withdrawal in high-risk populations.
Citation - WoS: 20
Citation - Scopus: 17
Feelings of Burden Among Family Caregivers of People With Spinal Cord Injury in Turkey
(Springer Nature, 2017) Yavuz, H. Melis; Selçuk, Bilge; Seçinti, Ekin
Study design: The study was designed as a cross-sectional survey. Objectives: The purpose of the study was to examine the level of feelings of burden in family caregivers of people with spinal cord injury (SCI) in Turkey, and to explore its predictors. Setting: Turkey. Methods: One hundred family caregivers of people with SCI completed measures of burden of caregiving, depression, social support and physical health. The SCI participants completed a measure of functional independence. Multivariate statistics and structural equation modeling (SEM) were conducted to identify significant predictors of caregiver burden. Results: Caregiver burden was significantly related to caregivers’ feelings of depression. SEM analysis showed that social support from family and from friends predicted caregiver burden via depression. Caregivers’ age, sex, educational level, physical health and household income did not significantly predict their feelings of depression or burden. Conclusions: Our findings revealed that support received from both families and friends is an important source for alleviating the depressive feelings of caregivers and, in return, their burden in the caregiving. In Turkey, high support from family members is expected and is important for psychological well-being, yet the current study showed that the support received from friends also has unique contribution to the well-being of the caregivers of persons with SCI. Overall, our findings highlight the importance of supportive relationships between family as well as friends for the caregivers who may have to provide lifetime care for their family member with special needs.
Citation - WoS: 20
Citation - Scopus: 22
Not Just a Sum of Its Parts: How Tasks of the Theory of Mind Scale Relate To Executive Function Across Time
(Elsevier, 2018) Yavuz, H. Melis; Selçuk, Bilge; Doenyas, Ceymi
There is a well-established relationship between theory of mind (ToM) and executive function (EF) during the preschool years. However, less is known about the concurrent and longitudinal relations between EF and specific tasks tapping different aspects of ToM. The current study investigated the ToM-EF relationship across 1 year in 3- to 5-year-old Turkish children using the ToM battery of Wellman and Liu (2004), which measures understanding of diverse desires (DD), diverse beliefs (DB), knowledge access (KA), contents false belief (CFB), explicit false belief (EFB), and hidden emotion (HE). This battery has not yet been used in its entirety to test the predictive relations between ToM and EF. We used pegtapping and day–night tasks to measure EF. Our sample comprised 150 Turkish preschool children (69 girls) aged 36–60 months at Time 1 (T1) and 49–73 months at Time 2 (T2). Using the ToM composite with all six tasks, when child’s age, receptive language, and T1 ability level (EF or ToM) were controlled, T1 EF significantly predicted T2 ToM, whereas T1 ToM did not predict T2 EF. Among DD, DB, KA, false belief understanding (FBU: the composite score of CFB and EFB), and HE, only KA and FBU were significantly associated with EF at T1 and T2. Further regression analyses showed that KA did not have a predictive relationship with EF. Instead, FBU drove the predictive EF–ToM relationship across time. Thus, in Turkish children, earlier EF predicts later ToM, but especially the FBU component, in this well-validated battery.
Citation - WoS: 32
Citation - Scopus: 34
Predictors of Obesity and Overweight in Preschoolers: the Role of Parenting Styles and Feeding Practices
(Elsevier, 2018) Yavuz, H. Melis; Selçuk, Bilge
Childhood obesity/overweight (OB/OW) displayed a rapid increase and high prevalence in the last few decades in preschool-aged children, which raised health concerns across the world and motivated researchers to investigate the factors that underlie childhood obesity. The current study examined parenting styles and child-feeding practices as potential predictors for OB/OW in preschool children, controlling for child's temperament, which has been shown to be linked with OB/OW. The sample included 61 normal weight (NW) and 61 obese/overweight (OB/OW) Turkish pre-schoolers (M age ¼ 62.2 months; SD ¼ 7.64, range ¼ 45e80 months). Parenting styles (authoritarian, authoritative), child-feeding practices (restriction, pressure to eat, monitoring), and child's temperament (negative affectivity) were measured with mothers' reports. Results showed that authoritarian parenting and maternal pressure to eat were the two parenting variables that significantly predicted child's weight status; the odds of being OB/OW was 4.71 times higher in children whose mothers used higher authoritarian parenting style, and was 0.44 times lower when mothers pressured their child to eat. These findings suggest that understanding the unique role of different aspects of parenting in the risk of early OB/OW status of children would be important in developing more effective interventions from early years in life.
Citation - WoS: 9
Citation - Scopus: 7
Social Competence in Children With Autism
(Taylor & Francis, 2019) Yavuz, H. Melis; Selçuk, Bilge; Korkmaz, Barış
Objectives: This paper investigates the associations of social competence with cognitive representation and communication skills in children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD), by measuring these skills in an expansive way through assessing both mental and internal-state understanding, and verbal and non-verbal communication. Methods: The data were collected from 45 Turkish children (Mage=8.52 years, SD=3.05, min-max=3–14) with a diagnosis of ASD. Individual assessments were used to measure mental- and internal-state understanding. Teacher-rated scales were used to assess child’s verbal and non-verbal communication skills, and social competence. Results: The results showed that social competence, cognitive representation, verbal and non-verbal communication skills were all significantly associated, but over and above cognitive representation skills and verbal communication, non-verbal communication had a salient role in adaptive social relationships of children with ASD. Conclusions: These findings have important applied implications for intervention studies and suggest that improvements of non-verbal communication skills in children with ASD might be important for increasing their positive social relations.