Ang, Rebecca P.

Introduction: Incidental reports collected in clinical trials suggest that amongst participants, omega-3 fatty acids derived from fi sh oil (‘omega-3’) may be difficult to blind. Materials and Methods: We conducted a systematic evaluation of blinding success in a 24-week trial of omega-3 versus an oil-based placebo. Within 1 week of supplement commencement (Week 1), a blinding questionnaire was completed by 131 children enrolled in a trial of omega-3 for the treatment of disruptive behaviour disorders. A version of the questionnaire was also completed by their parents at Week 1, and by the children at the end of supplement administration (Week 24). Results: Participants were unable to differentiate omega-3 from placebo, and accuracy did not improve as a function of: the confidence of guesses, reason for guesses, notice of any change, beliefs about what should change, or time. Child and parent guesses also showed high concordance. Conclusion: Taken together, these data provide strong evidence that the identity of omega-3 can be blinded to participants.

Generation Zs (Gen Zs), characterized as digital natives, approach their university journey with distinct information practices shaped by their reliance on everyday digital technologies. Yet, studies on how Gen Zs navigate the transition to university remain scant. This exploratory study aims to understand how everyday information-seeking practices help Gen Zs during this transition. We conducted focus group discussions with 42 Gen Z undergraduates from both STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) and non-STEM academic disciplines to understand the challenges they faced and everyday information-seeking practices they adopted when transitioning to university. Our results reveal that participants utilized information searching-as-learning and serendipitous searching on platforms such as YouTube, Reddit, and Telegram during the transitional phase. Implications of our work are discussed.

Moffitt’s theory of delinquency suggests that at-risk youths can be divided into two groups, the adolescence- limited group and the life-course- persistent group, predetermined at a young age, and social interactions between these two groups become important during the adolescent years. We built an agent-based model based on the microscopic interactions Moffitt described: (i) a maturity gap that dictates (ii) the cost and reward of antisocial behavior, and (iii) agents imitating the antisocial behaviors of others more successful than themselves, to find indeed the two groups emerging in our simulations. Moreover, through an intervention simulation where we moved selected agents from one social network to another, we also found that the social network plays an important role in shaping the life course outcome.

This study used Latent Class Analysis (LCA) to examine whether multiple subgroups can be identified based on rule-breaking and aggressive behavior in school-based and at-risk adolescent samples. These groups were tested for differences in behavioral, emotional, personality and interpersonal correlates. Rule breaking and aggressive behavior co-occurred across all classes. School-based adolescents were classified as having minimal, minor or moderate antisocial problems. At-risk adolescents were classified as having mild, medium or severe antisocial problems. Generally, at-risk adolescents had higher levels of antisocial behavior, and greater severity of antisocial behavior was associated with more problems in various domains. Results differed however, for the school-based and at-risk samples with respect to emotional problems, sensation-seeking and peer conformity pressure. There is a need to jointly consider both non-aggressive rule-breaking behavior and aggressive behavior in prevention and intervention work, as it is insufficient to address isolated symptoms and problems in children and adolescents/

Outdoor education is emerging as a compulsory component of the school curriculum in Singapore. As more and more young people are involved in outdoor education programmes, the motivational factors that influence students’ participation in outdoor activities is an important area of inquiry. The purpose of this study was to use a self-determination theory framework to examine post course satisfaction level among young adolescents. A total of 314 secondary school students aged from 12 to 16 years took part in the survey. Results showed that external regulation negatively predicted self-reported satisfaction whereas intrinsic motivation positively predicted participants’ satisfaction levels of the course. It is highlighted that young adolescents should not be coerced into outdoor education programmes. They should be provided with a meaningful rationale for participation and given some autonomy for decision-making in order to have a more positive and enjoyable experience during the programme.

This research strived to find the effectiveness, also known as persuasiveness of messaging on the topic of social media comparison in relation to 2 key variables that are Gender (male/female) and framing (gain/loss). A zoom survey was conducted from a sample pool of 160 Singaporean undergraduates who are aged 21 years old and above. The results collected shows that effectiveness of messaging varies in relation to framing and gender to a notable degree. More specifically the perceived quality of the messaging varies among genders in relation to the type of framing. The result shows that males generally perceive the quality of either frame to be nearly the same while females generally perceive the quality loss frame messages more accurate than gain frame messages. Furthermore, males perceive gain frame messages as higher quality by a slight margin and females perceive loss frame messages as higher quality by a wide margin. Hence, these findings lead to a conclusion that the type of message framing impacts the perceived quality in terms of persuasiveness, notably among females.

"This report presents the findings of the evaluation of the CARE Powercharged Program delivered to Secondary 1 Normal Technical students in three schools in 2005. ... In Singapore, there are few evaluations conducted on school-based intervention programs. It is necessary to evaluate these programs to ascertain if there are any impacts and what they are. At the same time, there is limited research on students in the Normal Technical stream. Evaluation and research are particularly important as 1) we need to understand students' learning needs, and 2) there is strong interest in understanding, strengthening and improving the learning experience of students in Normal Technical classes in the current policy climate."-- [p. 1] of executive summary.