MedWorm: Child Development

Deviance Removal and Global Self-Esteem: Evidence From the Harlem Longitudinal Study of Urban Black Youth

Research in Human Development — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 16:20:08 +0100

(Source: Research in Human Development)

MedWorm Message: Get the very latest Swine Flu news via the MedWorm Swine Flu RSS news feed - updated hourly from thousands of authoritative health and news sources.

Projecting the Voices of Mexican-Origin Children

Research in Human Development — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 16:20:08 +0100

(Source: Research in Human Development)

Diversity Among Low SES Families: An Exploration of Predictive Variables for Mothers' Metacognitive Questions to Their Children

Research in Human Development — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 16:20:08 +0100

(Source: Research in Human Development)

Studying Diverse Lives

Research in Human Development — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 16:20:08 +0100

(Source: Research in Human Development)

Seven-Month-Old Infants Selectively Reproduce the Goals of Animate But Not Inanimate Agents

Infancy — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 16:20:07 +0100

(Source: Infancy)

Influences of Infant-Directed Speech on Early Word Recognition

Infancy — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 16:20:07 +0100

(Source: Infancy)

MedWorm Message: Get the very latest Swine Flu news via the MedWorm Swine Flu RSS news feed - updated hourly from thousands of authoritative health and news sources.

Newborns' Mooney-Face Perception

Infancy — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 16:20:07 +0100

(Source: Infancy)

Means-End Behavior in Young Infants: The Interplay of Action Perception and Action Production

Infancy — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 16:20:07 +0100

(Source: Infancy)

Manual for Cancer Services 2008: Children’s Cancer Measures

Children's NSF Newsfeed — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 16:19:47 +0100

Following a three month consultation period , this is the... (Source: Children's NSF Newsfeed)

Efficacy and safety of anti-obesity drugs in children and...

Children's NSF Newsfeed — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 16:19:47 +0100

This meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials summarize... (Source: Children's NSF Newsfeed)

Journal of Adolescent Health — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 16:23:36 +0100

(Source: Journal of Adolescent Health)

MedWorm Message: Get the very latest Swine Flu news via the MedWorm Swine Flu RSS news feed - updated hourly from thousands of authoritative health and news sources.

The Editors reply:

Journal of Adolescent Health — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 16:23:36 +0100

It's always a pleasure to hear from Dr. Litt, the former editor-in-chief of the Journal. She is correct to point out that while we have ceased the practice of double-blind review, the Journal still maintains anonymity for its reviewers . (Source: Journal of Adolescent Health)

Blind Leading the Blind?

Journal of Adolescent Health — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 16:23:36 +0100

To the Editor: I note with interest the announcement (and Editorial) in the July 2009 issue of Journal of Adolescent Health indicating that “Blind Review” is no longer the Journal's policy . More correctly, “Double-Blind Review,” in contrast with the time-honored policy of most peer-reviewed journals is to protect the identity of the reviewer. What is at issue here, rather, is the practice which I implemented when I assumed the Editorship in l990 of “blinding” the reviewer to the identity and affiliation of the author. (Source: Journal of Adolescent Health)

Growing Up and Getting Old(er) With Childhood-Onset Chronic Diseases: Paving the Way to Better Chronic Illness Care Worldwide

Journal of Adolescent Health — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 16:23:34 +0100

See Related Article p. 551 (Source: Journal of Adolescent Health)

Prescription Drug Use by Adolescents: What We Are Learning and What We Still Need to Know

Journal of Adolescent Health — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 16:23:34 +0100

See p. 543 and 634 (Source: Journal of Adolescent Health)

Acknowledgement of Reviewers

Childhood — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 14:03:50 +0100

(Source: Childhood)

MedWorm Message: Get the very latest Swine Flu news via the MedWorm Swine Flu RSS news feed - updated hourly from thousands of authoritative health and news sources.

Book Review: Cassidy, C. (2007) Thinking Children. London and New York: Continuum. (196 pp.). ISBN 0826498183

Childhood — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 14:03:50 +0100

(Source: Childhood)

Book Review: De Block, Liesbeth and David Buckingham (2007) Global Children, Global Media: Migration, Media and Childhood. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. (222 pp.). ISBN 0230506992

Childhood — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 14:03:50 +0100

(Source: Childhood)

Forming Identities in Residential Care for Children: Manoeuvring between social work and peer groups

Childhood — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 14:03:49 +0100

This article challenges the implicit understanding that social work is the primary source of identity transformation and that peer group interaction is mainly an obstacle to overcome. On the contrary, this article argues that learning about the social dynamics of the children’s group is a precondition for understanding how social work influences individual children. (Source: Childhood)

Children Representing Children: Participation and the problem of diversity in UK youth councils

Childhood — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 14:03:49 +0100

This article is concerned with the relationship between children’s participation and the diversity of childhoods. While there are a number of different arrangements for encouraging children and young people to participate, the article focuses on a dominant mode of participation through which children are elected to represent the interests of other children within formal institutional structures. Drawing on empirical data from work with school and civic councillors in the UK, the article critically addresses two questions: what level of involvement do these child representatives have within their schools and communities that allow them to articulate the interests of their peers? To what extent do these representative forms of children’s participation reflect the interests of div...

A Review of Children's Rights Literature Since the Adoption of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child

Childhood — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 14:03:49 +0100

Children’s rights have become a significant field of study during the past decades, largely due to the adoption of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) in 1989. Today, scholarly work on children’s rights is almost inconceivable without considering the Convention as the bearer of the children’s rights debate. The goal of this article is to critically explore academic work on the UNCRC. By means of a discourse analysis of international literature, the article maps the academic discourse on children’s rights. Three themes are identified that predominate in the academic work on the UNCRC: (1) autonomy and participation rights as the new norm in children’s rights practice and policy, (2) children’s rights vs parental rights and (3)...

MedWorm Message: Get the very latest Swine Flu news via the MedWorm Swine Flu RSS news feed - updated hourly from thousands of authoritative health and news sources.

Gaming and Territorial Negotiations in Family Life

Childhood — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 14:03:49 +0100

This article examines territorial negotiations concerning gaming, drawing on video recordings of gaming practices in middle-class families. It explores how private vs public gaming space was co-construed by children and parents in front of the screen as well as through conversations about games. Game equipment was generally located in public places in the homes, which can be understood in terms of parents’ surveillance of their children, on the one hand, and actual parental involvement, on the other. Gaming space emerged in the interplay between game location, technology and practices, which blurred any fixed boundaries between public and private, place and space, as well as traditional age hierarchies. (Source: Childhood)

Children's Actions when Experiencing Domestic Violence

Childhood — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 14:03:49 +0100

The aim of this article is, by analysing children’s discourses, to investigate their actions or absence of actions during a domestic violence episode. The empirical data are recorded group therapy sessions and individual interviews with children who have grown up experiencing their fathers’ violence against their mothers. The analysis shows that the children’s stories contain two aspects of actions: one related to the actions during the ongoing episode, and one the child perceives as possible/ desirable for the future. The findings are discussed in the light of Lazarus and Folkman’s theory of coping. (Source: Childhood)

How Children with Parents Suffering from Mental Health Distress Search for 'Normality' and Avoid Stigma: To be or not to be . . . is not the question

Childhood — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 14:03:49 +0100

Using data from in-depth interviews with 20 children, this study finds that children with parents suffering from mental health distress struggle hard to present themselves as ‘normal’ and equal among their peer group. The study shows how they avoid stigma in their presentation of self in everyday life. All the children in this study, regardless of age or parents’ suffering, are active participants and impression managers in and of their own lives. The authors question whether their active responsibility for their own and their family’s well-being becomes too heavy a burden and should be moved from children’s private sphere into public arenas such as schools or social and healthcare services. (Source: Childhood)

Accountability in Family Discourse: Socialization into norms and standards and negotiation of responsibility in Italian dinner conversations

Childhood — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 14:03:49 +0100

This article explores morality as situated activity and approaches the discursive practice of accountability in Italian family dinner conversations as an avenue for understanding the construction of moral behaviour in everyday interpersonal interaction. The article focuses in particular on vicarious accounts, namely accounts, or explanations, provided by parents for a child’s misbehaviour. It examines the multiple socializing functions that vicarious accounts accomplish and the different dimensions of responsibility that they mobilize. While scaffolding children’s participation in episodes of accountability, vicarious accounts set up constraints on children’s autonomy of action, neutralizing more subversive and blameworthy interpretations of their problematic conduct. In ...

Editorial: Ratifying the Convention amidst the messy cultural politics of American childhoods

Childhood — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 14:03:49 +0100

(Source: Childhood)

MedWorm Message: Get the very latest Swine Flu news via the MedWorm Swine Flu RSS news feed - updated hourly from thousands of authoritative health and news sources.

A Psychometric Evaluation of the Behavioral Inhibition Questionnaire in a Non-Clinical Sample of Dutch Children and Adolescents.

Child Psychiatry and Human Development — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

Authors: Broeren S, Muris P The Behavioral Inhibition Questionnaire (BIQ) is a parent-rating scale for measuring temperamental characteristics referring to shyness, fearfulness, and withdrawal in young, preschool children. The present study evaluated the psychometric properties of the BIQ in a Dutch community sample of children with a broad age range. For this purpose, the reliability and validity of the BIQ was evaluated in three age groups: 4-7-year-olds, 8-11-year-olds, and 12-15-year-olds. The results indicated that the internal consistency of most BIQ scales was satisfactory in all three age groups. Principal component analysis of the BIQ yielded a six-factor model that was largely in keeping with the hypothesized structure consisting of the social and non-social components of beh...

Department of Health : young people's sexual health : the...

Children's NSF Newsfeed — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 16:30:55 +0100

This report examines the National Chlamydia Screening... (Source: Children's NSF Newsfeed)

Promoting Resilience in the Classroom – By Carmel Cefai

British Journal of Special Education — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

(Source: British Journal of Special Education)

Arts, Culture and Blindness: a study of blind students in the visual arts – By Simon Hayhoe

British Journal of Special Education — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

(Source: British Journal of Special Education)

Alphabet Kids: from ADD to Zellweger syndrome: a guide to developmental, neurobiological and psychological disorders for parents and professionals – By Robbie Woliver

British Journal of Special Education — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

(Source: British Journal of Special Education)

MedWorm Message: Get the very latest Swine Flu news via the MedWorm Swine Flu RSS news feed - updated hourly from thousands of authoritative health and news sources.

The Routledge Companion to Dyslexia – Edited by Gavin Reid

British Journal of Special Education — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

(Source: British Journal of Special Education)

Politics Page UK

British Journal of Special Education — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

(Source: British Journal of Special Education)

Points from the SENCo-Forum

British Journal of Special Education — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

(Source: British Journal of Special Education)

Inclusive special education: the role of special education teachers in Finland

British Journal of Special Education — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

This study concentrates on the work of special education teachers in mainstream education in Finland, where these professionals work with children from various classes, usually in a separate room. The research reported in this article by Marjatta Takala of the University of Helsinki, Raija Pirttimaa of the University of Oulu and Minna Törmänen, who is studying for her PhD at the University of Helsinki, involved sending a questionnaire to 133 special education teachers and undertaking observations. The work of the special education teachers was revealed to consist of three elements: teaching, consulting and background work. Teaching, often focusing on giving support to children who had challenges in the main academic subjects, was realised in small groups, in co-operative or individual se...

Examining the nature and perceived causes of indiscipline in Zimbabwean secondary schools

British Journal of Special Education — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

This study, by Lawrence Kofi Ametepee, who is studying for a PhD in special education, Morgan Chitiyo, board certified behaviour analyst and Assistant Professor of Special Education, both at Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, USA, and Susan Abu, who is currently a graduate student in the Department of Women's Studies at Texas Women's University, was designed to examine the nature and perceived causes of student indiscipline in Zimbabwean secondary schools. The authors anticipate that such an examination will promote teachers', parents' and policy makers' understanding of student indiscipline, which will, in turn, enhance disciplinary policies and practices, making schools safer for all students and more effective in their role as educational and socialising agents. (Source: British ...

MedWorm Message: Get the very latest Swine Flu news via the MedWorm Swine Flu RSS news feed - updated hourly from thousands of authoritative health and news sources.

The role of teachers in the assessment of children suspected of having AD/HD

British Journal of Special Education — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

In the light of recent guidance published by The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) on the diagnosis and management of attention deficit disorders in children, young persons and adults, Gill Salmon, a consultant Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist based in Swansea, South Wales, and Amanda Kirby, Professor of Developmental Disorders in Education based at the University of Wales, Newport, give an overview of the rationale for involving teachers in the assessment of children with AD/HD and the development and implementation of subsequent educational interventions. They also review the resulting training implications; explore some of the obstacles to multi-agency, multi-disciplinary working; and examine how current special educational needs policy goes hand-in-hand with...

Inclusion and museums: developing inclusive practice

British Journal of Special Education — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

This article, by Hannah Shepherd, Exhibition Co-ordinator at Freeman College in Sheffield, analyses an example of a specific exhibit within a gallery development. This example reflects an approach that uses guidance from the literature to create a more inclusive experience for visitors, particularly those with learning difficulties. A case is made for the use of consultation and partnership to develop inclusive museum provision. (Source: British Journal of Special Education)

The integration of an alternative curriculum: Skill Force

British Journal of Special Education — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

The introduction of alternative curricula in the UK for students in the secondary phase is one of a number of strategies designed to improve attendance at school, reduce exclusion and improve attainment. Skill Force is a charitable youth initiative that offers 14- to 16-year-old students a key skills based vocational alternative to the traditional curriculum. In this article, Lynne Rogers, Susan Hallam and Jacquelene Shaw of the Institute of Education, University of London, and Jasmine Rhamie of the University of Southampton set out to explore the views of Skill Force instructors and team leaders, school staff and Skill Force Regional Directors. These participants perceived the critical factors in the successful integration of Skill Force to be: effective introduction of the programme to p...

Influences of information processing and disengagement in infants' looking behaviour

Infant and Child Development — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

The present study considers the joint influences of information processing and disengagement in looking behaviour within a habituation paradigm. Six-month-old infants were habituated, during which their heart rate (HR) was measured. A parametric model of habituation yielded for each infant parameter estimates of their habituation performance. These parameters were interpreted as assessing information processing and disengagement. Corresponding measures were obtained from the HR data. The HR measures and habituation model parameter estimates were significantly correlated, as predicted. In addition, an attention getter, presented prior to each habituation trial, influenced indicators of information processing, but not of disengagement. Results confirmed the advantages of a modelling approach...

Ultrasound for evaluation of fetal neurobehavioural development: from 2-D to 4-D ultrasound

Infant and Child Development — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

We present the latest 4-D sonographic techniques and recent 4-D sonographic studies on fetal behaviour, especially fetal whole-body movements and facial expressions in all three trimesters of pregnancy, and the continuation of behaviour from the fetal to neonatal period. 2-D does not appear capable or comparable to 4-D ultrasound in terms of evaluating early fetal facial expressions. Moreover, we describe the safety of 3-D/4-D ultrasound during pregnancy. This novel technique may assist in the evaluation of fetal behaviour, and offer potential advantages relative to conventional 2-D ultrasound. 4-D ultrasound may be an important modality in future research on fetal neurobehavioural development, although some limitations regarding the assessment of fetal behaviour by means of 4-D ultrasonog...

MedWorm Message: Get the very latest Swine Flu news via the MedWorm Swine Flu RSS news feed - updated hourly from thousands of authoritative health and news sources.

Dream recall and Dream Content in Children with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder.

Child Psychiatry and Human Development — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

Authors: Schredl M, Sartorius H Although sleep is widely investigated in children with ADHD, dream studies in this group are completely lacking. The continuity hypothesis of dreaming stating that waking life is reflected in dreams would predict that waking-life symptoms are reflected in the dreams of such children. 103 children with ADHD and 100 controls completed a dream questionnaire eliciting dream recall frequency and the most recent dream. The dreams of the children with ADHD did not show a heightened occurrence of activities but were more negatively toned and included more misfortunes/threats, negative endings, and physical aggression towards the dreamer. Dream recall frequency and general dream characteristics like dream length and dream bizarreness did not differ from children ...

'I bet you know more and are nicer too!': what children infer from others' accuracy

Developmental Science — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

Research has shown that preschoolers monitor others' prior accuracy and prefer to learn from individuals who have the best track record. We investigated the scope of preschoolers' attributions based on an individual's prior accuracy. Experiment 1 revealed that 5-year-olds (but not 4-year-olds) used an individual's prior accuracy at labelling to predict her knowledge of words and broader facts; they also showed a 'halo effect' predicting she would be more prosocial. Experiment 2 confirmed that, overall, 4-year-olds did not make explicit generalizations of knowledge. These findings suggest that an individual's prior accuracy influences older preschoolers' expectations of that individual's broader knowledge as well as their impressions of how she will behave in social interactions. (Source: D...

Regulating Debilitating Emotions in the Context of Performance: Achievement Goal Orientations, Achievement-Elicited Emotions, and Socialization Contexts

Human Development — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 23:00:00 +0100

Human Development 2009;52:329-356 (DOI:10.1159/000242348) (Source: Human Development)

Goals, Emotions, and Emotion Regulation: Perspectives of the Control-Value Theory

Human Development — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 23:00:00 +0100

Human Development 2009;52:357-365 (DOI:10.1159/000242349) (Source: Human Development)

Nuanced Understandings of Development

Human Development — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 23:00:00 +0100

Human Development 2009;52:366-370 (DOI:10.1159/000242350) (Source: Human Development)

MedWorm Message: Get the very latest Swine Flu news via the MedWorm Swine Flu RSS news feed - updated hourly from thousands of authoritative health and news sources.

Prejudice: How It Develops and How It Can Be Undone

Human Development — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 23:00:00 +0100

Human Development 2009;52:371-376 (DOI:10.1159/000242351) (Source: Human Development)

Too Late the Misanthrope

Human Development — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 23:00:00 +0100

Human Development 2009;52:377-381 (DOI:10.1159/000242352) (Source: Human Development)

Acknowledgment

Human Development — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 23:00:00 +0100

Human Development 2009;52:382 (DOI:10.1159/000259719) (Source: Human Development)

Author Index Vol. 52, 2009

Human Development — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 23:00:00 +0100

Human Development 2009;52:383 (DOI:10.1159/000259725) (Source: Human Development)

Subject Index Vol. 52, 2009

Human Development — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 23:00:00 +0100

Human Development 2009;52:384 (DOI:10.1159/000259732) (Source: Human Development)

MedWorm Message: Get the very latest Swine Flu news via the MedWorm Swine Flu RSS news feed - updated hourly from thousands of authoritative health and news sources.

Contents Vol. 52, 2009

Human Development — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 23:00:00 +0100

Human Development 2009;52:I-IV (DOI:10.1159/000259757) (Source: Human Development)

Disaster Preparedness in Pediatric Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus

Children's NSF Newsfeed — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 16:25:15 +0100

The objective of this study is to assess emergency... (Source: Children's NSF Newsfeed)

Meeting the health needs of children and young people: a...

Children's NSF Newsfeed — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 16:25:15 +0100

This guidance calls on NHS trusts to adapt to changing... (Source: Children's NSF Newsfeed)

Index to Volume 80

Child Development — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

(Source: Child Development)

Editorial Acknowledgments

Child Development — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

(Source: Child Development)

MedWorm Message: Get the very latest Swine Flu news via the MedWorm Swine Flu RSS news feed - updated hourly from thousands of authoritative health and news sources.

Manuscripts Accepted for Publication

Child Development — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

(Source: Child Development)

Children's Eyewitness Memory for Multiple Real-Life Events

Child Development — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

The present research examined the influence of prior knowledge on children's free recall, cued recall, recognition memory, and source memory judgments for a series of similar real-life events. Forty children (5[ndash]12 years old) attended 4 thematic birthday parties and were later interviewed about the events that transpired during the parties using the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development protocol. Of the events, half were generic in that they could have occurred at any birthday party, and half were specific to the theme of the party. Older children demonstrated more evidence of using gist-based information to guide their memory performance than did younger children. However, younger children were able to use global gist to inform their source memory judgments, qualif...

Estimating the "Impact" of Out-of-Home Placement on Child Well-Being: Approaching the Problem of Selection Bias

Child Development — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

This study used data on 2,453 children aged 4[ndash]17 from the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being and 5 analytic methods that adjust for selection factors to estimate the impact of out-of-home placement on children's cognitive skills and behavior problems. Methods included ordinary least squares (OLS) regressions and residualized change, simple change, difference-in-difference, and fixed effects models. Models were estimated using the full sample and a matched sample generated by propensity scoring. Although results from the unmatched OLS and residualized change models suggested that out-of-home placement is associated with increased child behavior problems, estimates from models that more rigorously adjust for selection bias indicated that placement has little effect on c...

Developmental Changes in Attention and Comprehension Among Children With Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

Child Development — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

Changes in visual attention and story comprehension for children (N = 132) with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and comparison peers were examined. Between the ages of 7 and 9 (Phase 1) and approximately 21 months later (Phase 2), children viewed 2 televised stories: 1 in the presence of toys and 1 in their absence. Both groups of children showed developmental increases in visual attention and stable group differences over time. Deficits in comprehension among children with ADHD, however, increased over time. Whereas comparison children's recall of factual and causal information increased over time in both viewing conditions, children with ADHD showed no developmental improvement in recall of factual information in the toys-present condition and no improvement in recall of ...

Letter Names and Alphabet Book Reading by Senior Kindergarteners: An Eye Movement Study

Child Development — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

The study monitored the eye movements of twenty 5-year-old children while reading an alphabet book to examine the manner in which the letters, words, and pictures were fixated and the relation of attention to print to alphabetic knowledge. Children attended little to the print, took longer to first fixate print than illustrations, and labeled fewer letters than when presented with letters in isolation. After controlling for receptive vocabulary, regressions revealed that children knowing more letters were quicker to look at the featured letter on a page and spent more time looking at the featured letter, the word, and its first letter. Thus, alphabet books along with letter knowledge may facilitate entrance into the partial alphabetic stage of word recognition. (Source: Child Development)

MedWorm Message: Get the very latest Swine Flu news via the MedWorm Swine Flu RSS news feed - updated hourly from thousands of authoritative health and news sources.

Sequence Learning in 4-Month-Old Infants: Do Infants Represent Ordinal Information?

Child Development — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

This study investigated how 4-month-old infants represent sequences: Do they track the statistical relations among specific sequence elements (e.g., AB, BC) or do they encode abstract ordinal positions (i.e., B is second)? Infants were habituated to sequences of 4 moving and sounding elements[mdash]3 of the elements varied in their ordinal position while the position of 1 target element remained invariant (e.g., ABCD, CBDA)[mdash]and then were tested for the detection of changes in the target's position. Infants detected an ordinal change only when it disrupted the statistical co-occurrence of elements but not when statistical information was controlled. It is concluded that 4-month-olds learn the order of sequence elements by tracking their statistical associations but not their invariant...

Newborns' Perception of Left–Right Spatial Relations

Child Development — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

Five experiments examined 79 newborns' ability to discriminate and categorize a spatial relation, defined by the left[ndash]right spatial position of a blinking object-target with respect to a vertical landmark-bar. Three-day-old infants discriminated the up versus low position of an object located on the same side of the landmark-bar (Experiment 1) and recognized a basic left[ndash]right spatial invariance of the object-target and the landmark-bar in conditions of low (Experiment 2) and high (Experiment 3) perceptual variability of the object's positions. Additional evidence ruled out the possibility that newborns were unable to discriminate the within-category left[ndash]right spatial positions of the object-target (Experiment 4) or made a categorical distinction based on spatial distanc...

Hierarchical Models of Social Competence in Preschool Children: A Multisite, Multinational Study

Child Development — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

The generality of a multilevel factorial model of social competence (SC) for preschool children was tested in a 5-group, multinational sample (N = 1,540) using confirmatory factor analysis. The model fits the observed data well, and tests constraining paths for measured variables to their respective first-order factors across samples also fit well. Equivalence of measurement models was found at sample and sex within-sample levels but not for age within sample. In 2 groups, teachers' ratings were examined as correlates of SC indicators. Composites of SC indicators were significantly associated with both positive and negative child attributes from the teachers' ratings. The findings contribute to understanding of both methodological and substantive issues concerning SC in young children. (So...

Scaring the Monster Away: What Children Know About Managing Fears of Real and Imaginary Creatures

Child Development — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

Children around 4, 5, and 7 years old (N = 48) listened to scenarios depicting a child alone or accompanied by another person (mother, father, friend) who encounters an entity that looks like a real or an imaginary fear-inducing creature. Participants predicted and explained each protagonist's fear intensity and suggested coping strategies. Results showed age-related increases in judgments that different people will experience different intensities of fear in the same situation. With age, children also demonstrated increasing knowledge that people's minds can both induce and reduce fear, especially in situations involving imaginary creatures. Suggestions of reality affirmation strategies (e.g., reminding oneself of what is real vs. not real) significantly increased with age, whereas positi...

Social Information Processing, Moral Reasoning, and Emotion Attributions: Relations With Adolescents' Reactive and Proactive Aggression

Child Development — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

Discussion focused on the utility of assessing both moral and SIP-related cognitions, and on the potential influence of low-SES, high-risk environments on these findings. (Source: Child Development)

MedWorm Message: Get the very latest Swine Flu news via the MedWorm Swine Flu RSS news feed - updated hourly from thousands of authoritative health and news sources.

Adolescents' Interpretations of Parental Control: Differentiated by Domain and Types of Control

Child Development — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

In conclusion, adolescents construe control in ways that may have import for their adjustment and this should be accounted for in theoretical models of parental control. (Source: Child Development)

Are Gains in Decision-Making Autonomy During Early Adolescence Beneficial for Emotional Functioning? The Case of the United States and China

Child Development — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

This research examined the role of children's decision-making autonomy in their emotional functioning during early adolescence in the United States and China. Four times over the 7th and 8th grades, 825 American and Chinese children (M = 12.73 years) reported on the extent to which they versus their parents make decisions about issues children often deem as under their authority. Children also reported on their emotional functioning. American children made greater gains over time in decision-making autonomy than did Chinese children. Initial decision-making autonomy predicted enhanced emotional functioning similarly among American and Chinese children. However, gains over time in decision-making autonomy predicted enhanced emotional functioning more in the United States (vs. China) where s...

Early Childhood Behavioral Inhibition and Social and School Adjustment in Chinese Children: A 5-Year Longitudinal Study

Child Development — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

This study examined relations between early behavioral inhibition and social and school outcomes in Chinese children (N = 200). Data on behavioral inhibition were collected from a sample of 2-year-olds in China. Follow-up data on social behaviors, peer relationships, and school performance were collected from multiple sources at 7 years of age. Behavioral inhibition was found to be positively associated with later cooperative behavior, peer liking, perceived social integration, positive school attitudes, and school competence, and negatively associated with later learning problems. Highly inhibited toddlers were generally better adjusted than others in social and school areas in middle childhood. The results indicate the distinct functional meaning of behavioral inhibition in Chinese child...

Family Routines and Parental Monitoring as Protective Factors Among Early and Middle Adolescents Affected by Maternal HIV/AIDS

Child Development — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

The influence of parenting skills on adolescent outcomes among children affected by maternal HIV/AIDS (N = 118, M age = 13) was investigated. Among families with more frequent family routines, over time adolescents showed lower rates of aggression, anxiety, worry, depression, conduct disorder, binge drinking, and increased self-concept. Among families with higher levels of parental monitoring, adolescents showed significant declines in anxiety and depression, conduct disorder, and binge drinking, along with increased self-concept. Mothers' level of illness was associated with parenting. Greater variability in parental monitoring resulted in higher levels of problem behaviors. (Source: Child Development)

The Effects of Changes in Racial Identity and Self-Esteem on Changes in African American Adolescents' Mental Health

Child Development — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

This study assessed the unique effects of racial identity and self-esteem on 259 African American adolescents' depressive and anxiety symptoms as they transitioned from the 7th to 8th grades (ages 12[ndash]14). Racial identity and self-esteem were strongly correlated with each other for males but not for females. For both males and females, an increase in racial identity over the 1 year was associated with a decrease in the prevalence of depressive symptoms over the same period, even with self-esteem controlled. It was concluded that racial identity may be as important as self-esteem to the mental health of African American adolescents, and it explains variance in their mental health not associated with feelings of oneself as an individual. (Source: Child Development)

MedWorm Message: Get the very latest Swine Flu news via the MedWorm Swine Flu RSS news feed - updated hourly from thousands of authoritative health and news sources.

Developmental Antecedents and Social and Academic Consequences of Stereotype-Consciousness in Middle Childhood

Child Development — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

The present study, which included 124 children ages 5[ndash]11, examined developmental antecedents and social and academic consequences of stereotype-consciousness, defined as awareness of others' stereotypes. Greater age and more frequent parent-reported racial socialization practices were associated with greater likelihood of stereotype-consciousness. Children who knew of broadly held stereotypes more often explained hypothetical negative interracial encounters between White actors and Black targets as discriminatory. In addition, among African American and Latino children who knew about broadly held stereotypes, diagnostic testing conditions led to stereotype threat effects on a standardized working memory task. Findings are discussed in terms of the contribution to our understanding of...

Contributions of Societal Modernity to Cognitive Development: A Comparison of Four Cultures

Child Development — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

This study examined how societal changes associated with modernization are related to cognitive development. Data were from 4 cultural communities that represented a broad range of traditional and modern elements: the Garifuna (Belize), Logoli (Kenya), Newars (Nepal), and Samoans (American Samoa). Naturalistic observations and the performances of 3-, 5-, 7-, and 9-year-old children (N = 192) on 7 cognitive measures were examined. Results replicated age-related improvement on all measures. Contributions of modernity were evident in children's play behaviors and cognitive performances, especially in skills related to schooling. Modernization and schooling independently predicted differences on most of the measures. Results are discussed in relation to the Flynn effect, the worldwide increase...

Young Children's Representations of Spatial and Functional Relations Between Objects

Child Development — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

Three experiments investigated changes from 15 to 30 months of age in children's (N = 114) mastery of relations between an object and an aperture, supporting surface, or form. When choosing between objects to insert into an aperture, older children selected objects of an appropriate size and shape, but younger children showed little selectivity. Further experiments probed the sources of younger children's difficulty by comparing children's performance placing a target object in a hole, on a 2-dimensional form, or atop another solid object. Together, the findings suggest that some factors limiting adults' object representations, including the difficulty of comparing the shapes of positive and negative spaces and of representing shapes in 3 dimensions, contribute to young children's errors i...

Preschoolers' Search for Explanatory Information Within Adult–Child Conversation

Child Development — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

This research examined children's questions and the reactions to the answers they receive in conversations with adults. If children actively seek explanatory knowledge, they should react differently depending on whether they receive a causal explanation. Study 1 examined conversations following 6 preschoolers' (ages 2[ndash]4 years) causal questions in naturalistic situations (using the Child Language Data Exchange System [CHILDES] database). Children more often agreed and asked follow-up questions following adult explanations and, conversely, more often reasked their original question and provided their own explanation following nonexplanations. Study 2 replicated these patterns within an experimental task in 42 children ages 3[ndash]5 years. Children's reactions following explanatory ver...

Parental Reports of Children's Scale Errors in Everyday Life

Child Development — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

Scale errors refer to behaviors where young children attempt to perform an action on an object that is too small to effectively accommodate the behavior. The goal of this study was to examine the frequency and characteristics of scale errors in everyday life. To do so, the researchers collected parental reports of children's (age range = 13[ndash]21 months at onset) scale errors over a 6-month period. All but 1 of the parents (N = 30) reported at least 1 scale error with an average of 3.2 scale errors per child. These results suggest that most, if not all, children commit scale errors during early childhood. (Source: Child Development)

MedWorm Message: Get the very latest Swine Flu news via the MedWorm Swine Flu RSS news feed - updated hourly from thousands of authoritative health and news sources.

Increasing task difficulty enhances effects of intersensory redundancy: testing a new prediction of the Intersensory Redundancy Hypothesis

Developmental Science — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

Prior research has demonstrated intersensory facilitation for perception of amodal properties of events such as tempo and rhythm in early development, supporting predictions of the Intersensory Redundancy Hypothesis (IRH). Specifically, infants discriminate amodal properties in bimodal, redundant stimulation but not in unimodal, nonredundant stimulation in early development, whereas later in development infants can detect amodal properties in both redundant and nonredundant stimulation. The present study tested a new prediction of the IRH: that effects of intersensory redundancy on attention and perceptual processing are most apparent in tasks of high difficulty relative to the skills of the perceiver. We assessed whether by increasing task difficulty, older infants would revert to pattern...

Lexical and articulatory interactions in children's language production

Developmental Science — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

Traditional models of adult language processing and production include two levels of representation: lexical and sublexical. The current study examines the influence of the inclusion of a lexical representation (i.e. a visual referent and/or object function) on the stability of articulation as well as on phonetic accuracy and variability in typically developing children and children with specific language impairment (SLI). A word learning paradigm was developed so that we could compare children's production with and without lexical representation. The variability and accuracy of productions were examined using speech kinematics as well as traditional phonetic accuracy measures. Results showed that phonetic forms with lexical representation were produced with more articulatory stability tha...

The Ebbinghaus illusion deceives adults but not young children

Developmental Science — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

The sensitivity of size perception to context has been used to distinguish between 'vision for action' and 'vision for perception', and to study cultural, psychopathological, and developmental differences in perception. The status of that evidence is much debated, however. Here we use a rigorous double dissociation paradigm based on the Ebbinghaus illusion, and find that for children below 7 years of age size discrimination is much less affected by surround size. Young children are less accurate than adults when context is helpful, but more accurate when context is misleading. Even by the age of 10 years context-sensitivity is still not at adult levels. Therefore, size contrast as shown by the Ebbinghaus illusion is not a built-in property of the ventral pathway subserving vision for perce...

Synergies between processing and memory in children's reading span

Developmental Science — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

We report a study of reading span in 7- to 11-year-old children that addresses several contemporary theoretical issues. We demonstrate that both the timing and the accuracy of recall are affected by the presence or absence of a semantic connection between the processing requirement and the memoranda. Evidence that there can be synergies between processing and memory argues against the view that complex span simply measures the competition between these activities. We also demonstrate a consistent relationship between the rate of completing processing operations (sentence reading) and recall accuracy. At the same time, the shape and strength of this function varies with the task configuration. Taken together, these results demonstrate the potential for reconstructive influences to shape wor...

Growth in children with cystic fibrosis-related diabetes

Children's NSF Newsfeed — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 16:26:54 +0100

This is a retrospective case controlled study of growth and... (Source: Children's NSF Newsfeed)

MedWorm Message: Get the very latest Swine Flu news via the MedWorm Swine Flu RSS news feed - updated hourly from thousands of authoritative health and news sources.

Inferring the outcome of an ongoing novel action at 13 months.

Developmental Psychology — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 16:53:03 +0100

Many studies have demonstrated that infants can attribute goals to observed actions, whether they are presented live by familiar agents or on a computer screen by abstract figures. However, because most, if not all, of these studies rely on the repeated action presentations typical of infant studies, it is not clear whether infants are simply recognizing the completed action as goal directed, or whether they can productively infer a not-yet-achieved outcome from an ongoing action. We investigated this question by presenting 13-month-old infants with a single animated chasing event. Infants looked longer at the outcome of this action when, given the opportunity, the chaser did not catch the chasee than when it did. Crucially, this result was dependent on whether the action could be construe...

Logging on, bouncing back: An experimental investigation of online communication following social exclusion.

Developmental Psychology — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 16:53:03 +0100

This study tested the hypothesis that online communication with an unknown peer facilitates recovery from the acute aversive effects of social exclusion and examined whether this benefit may be greater for adolescents compared with young adults. A total of 72 young adults (mean age = 18.4 years) and 51 adolescents (mean age = 12.5 years) were randomly assigned to undergo a standardized laboratory induction of social inclusion or exclusion, followed by 12 min of either communication with an unfamiliar other-sex peer or solitary computer game play. Compared with solitary game play, instant messaging with an unfamiliar peer facilitated greater replenishment of self-esteem and perceived relational value among previously excluded adolescents and young adults. Online communication also resulted ...

Word learning in children with autism spectrum disorders.

Developmental Psychology — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 16:53:03 +0100

Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) have been gaining attention, partly as an example of unusual developmental trajectories related to early neurobiological differences. The present investigation addressed the process of learning new words to explore mechanisms of language delay and impairment. The sample included 21 typically developing toddlers matched on expressive vocabulary with 21 young children with ASD. Two tasks were administered to teach children a new word and were supplemented by cognitive and diagnostic measures. In most analyses, there were no group differences in performance. Children with ASD did not consistently make mapping errors, even in word learning situations that required the use of social information. These findings indicate that some children with ASD, in developmenta...

A process analysis of the transmission of distress from interparental conflict to parenting: Adult relationship security as an explanatory mechanism.

Developmental Psychology — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 16:53:03 +0100

Toward advancing conceptualizations of the spillover hypothesis, this study examined the conditions and mechanisms underlying the transmission of distress from the interparental relationship to parenting difficulties over a 2-year period in a sample of 233 mothers (M = 35.0 years) and fathers (M = 36.8 years) of kindergarten children. Findings from autoregressive structural equation models indicated that parents’ gender moderated associations between interparental conflict and parental psychological control and insensitivity to children’s negative affect. Pathways between interparental conflict and parenting difficulties over the 2-year period were significant for fathers but not mothers. Analysis of insecurity and depressive symptoms as affective mechanisms of spillover revealed that ...

Nonshared environmental mediation of the association between deviant peer affiliation and adolescent externalizing behaviors over time: Results from a cross-lagged monozygotic twin differences design.

Developmental Psychology — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 16:53:03 +0100

It has been argued that peers are the most important agent of adolescent socialization and, more specifically, that this socialization process occurs at the child-specific (or nonshared environmental) level (J. R. Harris, 1998; R. Plomin & Asbury, 2005). The authors sought to empirically evaluate this nonshared environmental peer influence hypothesis by examining the association between externalizing behaviors and deviant peer affiliation in a sample of 454 pairs of monozygotic (genetically identical) twins, assessed at ages 14 and 17, within a cross-lagged twin differences design. Results argued against a causal nonshared environmental influence of peer affiliation on the development of externalizing behaviors and in favor of nonshared environmental “selection.” In particular, the twi...

MedWorm Message: Get the very latest Swine Flu news via the MedWorm Swine Flu RSS news feed - updated hourly from thousands of authoritative health and news sources.

Children’s representations of family relationships, peer information processing, and school adjustment.

Developmental Psychology — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 16:53:03 +0100

This study examined children’s peer information processing as an explanatory mechanism underlying the association between their insecure representations of interparental and parent–child relationships and school adjustment in a sample of 210 first graders. Consistent with emotional security theory (P. T. Davies & E. M. Cummings, 1994), results indicated that children’s insecure representations of the interparental relationship were indirectly related to their academic functioning through association with their negative information processing of stressful peer events. Insecure interparental relationships were specifically linked with negative peer information processing patterns that, in turn, predicted increases in child maladjustment over a 1-year period. These pathways remained rob...

Semantic meaning and pragmatic interpretation in 5-year-olds: Evidence from real-time spoken language comprehension.

Developmental Psychology — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 16:53:03 +0100

Recent research on children’s inferencing has found that although adults typically adopt the pragmatic interpretation of some (implying not all), 5- to 9-year-olds often prefer the semantic interpretation of the quantifier (meaning possibly all). Do these failures reflect a breakdown of pragmatic competence or the metalinguistic demands of prior tasks? In 3 experiments, the authors used the visual-world eye-tracking paradigm to elicit an implicit measure of adults’ and children’s abilities to generate scalar implicatures. Although adults’ eye-movements indicated that adults had interpreted some with the pragmatic inference, children’s looks suggested that children persistently interpreted some as compatible with all (Experiment 1). Nevertheless, both adults and children were able...

Reciprocity in parenting of adolescents within the context of marital negativity.

Developmental Psychology — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 16:53:03 +0100

The authors investigated the degree to which parents become more similar to each other over time in their childrearing behaviors. Mothers and fathers of 451 adolescents were assessed at 3 points in time, with 2-year lags between each assessment. Data on parent warmth, harshness, and monitoring were collected by parent self-report, adolescent report, and observer ratings of family interactions. After controlling for earlier levels of parenting, parent education, and adolescent deviancy, spouse’s parenting and marital negativity were significant predictors of later parenting. Marital negativity tended to be a stronger predictor of fathering than mothering. For fathers, associations between spouse’s parenting and later fathering were strongest in marriages characterized by low negativity....

Mothers’ and fathers’ personality and parenting: The mediating role of sense of competence.

Developmental Psychology — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 16:53:03 +0100

This prospective longitudinal study addressed 3 key questions regarding the processes of parenting in a large community sample of mothers (n = 589) and fathers (n = 518). First, the collective impact of parental Big Five personality dimensions on overreactive and warm parenting, assessed 6 years later by adolescents, was examined. Second, mediation of these associations by sense of competence in the parenting role was addressed. Third, it was explored to what extent associations were similar for mothers and fathers. Agreeableness and Extraversion were related to lower levels of overreactivity and higher levels of warmth. Sense of competence completely mediated relations between personality and overreactivity and partially mediated relations between personality and warmth. The associations ...

Experiences of discrimination among Chinese American adolescents and the consequences for socioemotional and academic development.

Developmental Psychology — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 16:53:03 +0100

This longitudinal study examined the influences of discrimination on socioemotional adjustment and academic performance for a sample of 444 Chinese American adolescents. Using autoregressive and cross-lagged techniques, the authors found that discrimination in early adolescence predicted depressive symptoms, alienation, school engagement, and grades in middle adolescence but that early socioemotional adjustment and academic performance did not predict later experiences of discrimination. Further, their investigation of whether earlier or contemporaneous experiences of discrimination influenced developmental outcomes in middle adolescence indicated differential effects, with contemporaneous experiences of discrimination affecting socioemotional adjustment, whereas earlier discrimination was...

MedWorm Message: Get the very latest Swine Flu news via the MedWorm Swine Flu RSS news feed - updated hourly from thousands of authoritative health and news sources.

Reconciling the self and morality: An empirical model of moral centrality development.

Developmental Psychology — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 16:53:03 +0100

This study advances the reconciliation model, which explains this anomaly within a developmental framework by positing that the relationship between the self’s interests and moral concerns ideally transforms from one of mutual competition to one of synergy. The degree to which morality is central to an individual’s identity—or moral centrality—was operationalized in terms of values advanced implicitly in self-understanding narratives; a measure was developed and then validated. Participants were 97 university students who responded to a self-understanding interview and to several measures of morally relevant behaviors. Results indicated that communal values (centered on concerns for others) positively predicted and agentic (self-interested) values negatively predicted moral behavio...

Trajectories of antisocial behavior and psychosocial maturity from adolescence to young adulthood.

Developmental Psychology — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 16:53:03 +0100

Most theorizing about desistance from antisocial behavior in late adolescence has emphasized the importance of individuals’ transition into adult roles. In contrast, little research has examined how psychological development in late adolescence and early adulthood contributes desistance. The present study examined trajectories of antisocial behavior among serious juvenile offenders from 14 through 22 years of age and tested how impulse control, suppression of aggression, future orientation, consideration of others, personal responsibility, and resistance to peer influence distinguished between youths who persisted in antisocial behavior and youths who desisted. Different patterns of development in psychosocial maturity from adolescence to early adulthood, especially with respect to impul...

Does the conceptual distinction between singular and plural sets depend on language?

Developmental Psychology — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 16:53:03 +0100

Previous studies indicate that English-learning children acquire the distinction between singular and plural nouns between 22 and 24 months of age. Also, their use of the distinction is correlated with the capacity to distinguish nonlinguistically between singular and plural sets in a manual search paradigm (D. Barner, D. Thalwitz, J. Wood, S. Yang, & S. Carey, 2007). The authors used 3 experiments to explore the causal relation between these 2 capacities. Relative to English, Japanese and Mandarin had impoverished singular–plural marking. Using the manual search task, in Experiment 1 the authors found that by around 22 months of age, Japanese children also distinguished between singular and plural sets. Experiments 2 and 3 extended this finding to Mandarin-learning toddlers. Mandarin le...

Counting on working memory when learning to count and to add: A preschool study.

Developmental Psychology — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 16:53:03 +0100

In this study, the author aimed at measuring how much limited working memory capacity constrains early numerical development before any formal mathematics instruction. To that end, 4- and 5-year-old children were tested for their memory skills in the phonological loop (PL), visuo-spatial sketchpad (VSSP), and central executive (CE); they also completed a series of tasks tapping their addition and counting skills. A general vocabulary test was given to examine the difference between the children’s numerical and general vocabulary. The results indicated that measures of the PL and the CE, but not those of the VSSP, were correlated with children’s performance in counting, addition and general vocabulary. However, the predictive power of the CE capacity was significantly stronger than that...

Predictors of changes in weight esteem among mainland Chinese adolescents: A longitudinal analysis.

Developmental Psychology — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 16:53:03 +0100

Weight and body image concerns are prevalent among adolescents across cultures and pose significant threats to well-being, yet there is a paucity of longitudinal research on samples living in non-Western and developing countries. This prospective study assessed the extent to which select sociocultural, psychological, and biological risk factors contributed to changes in weight esteem among adolescent girls and boys living in the People’s Republic of China. Students (181 boys, 320 girls) from middle schools and high schools in Southwest China completed measures of demographics; weight esteem; thin female and lean, muscular male appearance ideals; positive and negative affect; and appearance-based social pressure, teasing, and comparison. Subsequently, weight esteem was reassessed 18 month...

MedWorm Message: Get the very latest Swine Flu news via the MedWorm Swine Flu RSS news feed - updated hourly from thousands of authoritative health and news sources.

Infants’ learning of novel words in a stochastic environment.

Developmental Psychology — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 16:53:02 +0100

In everyday word learning words are only sometimes heard in the presence of their referent, making the acquisition of novel words a particularly challenging task. The current study investigated whether children (18-month-olds who are novice word learners) can track the statistics of co-occurrence between words and objects to learn novel mappings in a stochastic environment. Infants were briefly trained on novel word–novel object pairs with variable degrees of co-occurrence: Words were either paired reliably with 1 referent or stochastically paired with 2 different referents with varying probabilities. Infants were sensitive to the co-occurrence statistics between words and referents, tracking not just the strongest available contingency but also low-frequency information. The statistical...

Memory and depressive symptoms are dynamically linked among married couples: Longitudinal evidence from the AHEAD study.

Developmental Psychology — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 16:53:02 +0100

This study examined dyadic interrelations between episodic memory and depressive symptom trajectories of change in old and advanced old age. The authors applied dynamic models to 10-year incomplete longitudinal data of initially 1,599 married couples from the study of Asset and Health Dynamics Among the Oldest Old (Mage = 75 years at Time 1). The authors found domain-specific lead–lag associations (time lags of 2 years) among wives and husbands as well as between spouses. For memory, better performance among husbands protected against subsequent memory decline among wives, with no evidence of a directed effect in the other direction. For depressive symptoms, wives’ scores predicted subsequent depression increase and memory decline among husbands. Possible individual covariates (age, ed...

Crossing the divide: Infants discriminate small from large numerosities.

Developmental Psychology — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 16:53:00 +0100

Although young infants have repeatedly demonstrated successful numerosity discrimination across large sets when the number of items in the sets changes twofold (E. M. Brannon, S. Abbott, & D. J. Lutz, 2004; J. N. Wood & E. S. Spelke, 2005; F. Xu & E. S. Spelke, 2000), they consistently fail to discriminate a twofold change in number when one set is large and the other is small ( (Source: Developmental Psychology)

The effect of a looker’s past reliability on infants’ reasoning about beliefs.

Developmental Psychology — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 16:52:58 +0100

We investigated whether 16-month-old infants’ past experience with a person’s gaze reliability influences their expectation about the person’s ability to form beliefs. Infants were first administered a search task in which they observed an experimenter show excitement while looking inside a box that either contained a toy (reliable looker condition) or was empty (unreliable looker condition). The infants were then administered a true belief task in which they watched as the same experimenter hid a toy in 1 of 2 locations. In the test trial, the infants witnessed the experimenter search for the toy in a location that was consistent or inconsistent with her belief about the toy’s location. Results for the true belief task indicated that only the infants in the reliable looker conditi...

Cue competition effects and young children’s causal and counterfactual inferences.

Developmental Psychology — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 16:52:58 +0100

The authors examined cue competition effects in young children using the blicket detector paradigm, in which objects are placed either singly or in pairs on a novel machine and children must judge which objects have the causal power to make the machine work. Cue competition effects were found in a 5- to 6-year-old group but not in a 4-year-old group. Equivalent levels of forward and backward blocking were found in the former group. Children’s counterfactual judgments were subsequently examined by asking whether or not the machine would have gone off in the absence of 1 of 2 objects that had been placed on it as a pair. Cue competition effects were demonstrated only in 5- to 6-year-olds using this mode of assessing causal reasoning. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2009 APA, all rights reser...

MedWorm Message: Get the very latest Swine Flu news via the MedWorm Swine Flu RSS news feed - updated hourly from thousands of authoritative health and news sources.

Do neighborhood and home contexts help explain why low-income children miss opportunities to participate in activities outside of school?

Developmental Psychology — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 16:52:58 +0100

In this study, children’s participation (N = 1,420) in activities outside of elementary school was examined as a function of disparities in family income using data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, Child Development Supplement. Children’s neighborhood and home environments were investigated as mechanisms linking income disparities and participation rates. Family income was positively associated with children’s participation in activities, with the largest effect sizes evident for children at the lowest end of the income distribution. Affluence in the neighborhood and cognitive stimulation in the home were both important mediators of the association between income and participation, explaining from approximately one tenth to one half of the estimated associations between incom...

Positive parenting in adolescence and its relation to low point narration and identity status in emerging adulthood: A longitudinal analysis.

Developmental Psychology — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 16:52:58 +0100

Discussion centers on the potential impact of positive parenting as a contributor to healthy low point narration and identity in emerging adulthood. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2009 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: Developmental Psychology)

Affiliation with antisocial peers, susceptibility to peer influence, and antisocial behavior during the transition to adulthood.

Developmental Psychology — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 16:52:58 +0100

Developmental theories suggest that affiliation with deviant peers and susceptibility to peer influence are important contributors to adolescent delinquency, but it is unclear how these variables impact antisocial behavior during the transition to adulthood, a period when most delinquent individuals decline in antisocial behavior. Using data from a longitudinal study of 1,354 antisocial youth, the present study examined how individual variation in exposure to deviant peers and resistance to peer influence affect antisocial behavior from middle adolescence into young adulthood (ages 14 to 22 years). Whereas we find evidence that antisocial individuals choose to affiliate with deviant peers, and that affiliating with deviant peers is associated with an individual’s own delinquency, these c...

Parenting and antisocial behavior: A model of the relationship between adolescent self-disclosure, parental closeness, parental control, and adolescent antisocial behavior.

Developmental Psychology — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 16:52:58 +0100

This study used data collected from a sample of 840 Italian adolescents (418 boys; M age = 12.58) and their parents (657 mothers; M age = 43.78) to explore the relations between parenting, adolescent self-disclosure, and antisocial behavior. In the hypothesized model, parenting practices (e.g., parental monitoring and control) have direct effects on parental knowledge and antisocial behavior. Parenting style (e.g., parent–child closeness), on the other hand, is directly related to adolescent self-disclosure, which in turn is positively related to parental knowledge and negatively related to adolescents’ antisocial behavior. A structural equation model, which incorporated data from parents and adolescents, largely supported the hypothesized model. Gender-specific models also found some ...

The role of ethnicity in observers’ ratings of mother–child behavior.

Developmental Psychology — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 16:52:58 +0100

This study examined the role of ethnicity in untrained observers’ ratings of videotaped mother–child interactions. Participants were Black, White, and Latino undergraduates (N = 109), who rated videotapes of 4 Black, 4 White, and 4 Latino mother–child dyads. Overall, participants of different ethnicities showed more similarities than differences in their ratings of parent–child behavior. There was, however, evidence that participant ethnicity and parent–child ethnicity interacted for ratings of child defiance/negative emotion. Black and White participants differed in their ratings of Black and White children’s defiance/negative emotion, with members of each ethnic group favoring children of their own ethnic group. Intergroup contact appeared to play a role in ratings of parent ...

MedWorm Message: Get the very latest Swine Flu news via the MedWorm Swine Flu RSS news feed - updated hourly from thousands of authoritative health and news sources.

Pediatric gastroesophageal reflux clinical practice...

Children's NSF Newsfeed — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 16:39:39 +0100

The purpose of these guidelines is to provide paediatricians... (Source: Children's NSF Newsfeed)

Saucony Run for Good Program

Children funding opportunities via the Rural Assistance Center — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 16:17:56 +0100

Grants to encourage active and healthy lifestyles in children. Geographic coverage: Nationwide -- Saucony (Source: Children funding opportunities via the Rural Assistance Center)

Childhood sexual abuse as a predictor of birth-related posttraumatic stress and postpartum posttraumatic stress.

Child Abuse & Neglect — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

CONCLUSIONS: CSA is a traumatic event that has greater negative long-term effects than other traumas in the population of pregnant women. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: Identifying women who are survivors of CSA early in their pregnancy and establishing a risk assessment may significantly reduce delivery complications and consequently mitigate postpartum PTS outcomes. PMID: 19900704 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher] (Source: Child Abuse & Neglect)

Parental perceptions of neighborhood processes, stress, personal control, and risk for physical child abuse and neglect.

Child Abuse & Neglect — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

CONCLUSIONS: Although neighborhood conditions may not play a clear directly observable role on physical child abuse and neglect risk, the indirect role they play underscores the importance of parents' perceptions of their neighborhoods, and especially the role they play via parents' reported stress and personal control. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: Such findings suggest that targeting parents' sense of control and stress in relation to their immediate social environment holds particular potential to reduce physical child abuse and neglect risk. Addressing parents' perceptions of their neighborhood challenges may serve to reduce parenting risk via improving parents' felt control and stress. PMID: 19900705 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher] (Source: Child Abuse & Neglect)

Moyamoya: to cut or not to cut is not the only question. A paediatric neurologist's perspective

Developmental Medicine and Child Neurology — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

The paediatric neurologist is usually the clinician who makes the diagnosis of moyamoya in children, yet most of the debate in the literature has focused on surgical management of the condition. Semantic confusion and variable use of the term among neuroradiologists continues to be unhelpful. Increasing recognition of moyamoya, for example in sickle cell disease, and the publication of clinical guidelines encouraging referral for surgical evaluation highlight the need to identify and engage with management of the condition. In practical terms, the most frequent management issues for the paediatric neurologist, other than when to refer for surgery, are headache, hypertension, and the concern of the family that other children might be affected. These issues are discussed in the context of th...

MedWorm Message: Get the very latest Swine Flu news via the MedWorm Swine Flu RSS news feed - updated hourly from thousands of authoritative health and news sources.

Bullying and Victimization Among Native and Immigrant Adolescents in Norway: The Role of Proactive and Reactive Aggressiveness

The Journal of Early Adolescence — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 01:58:29 +0100

This study compares levels of bullying others, victimization, and aggressiveness in native Norwegian and immigrant adolescents living in Norway and shows how bullying is related to proactive and reactive aggressiveness. The sample consists of 2,938 native Norwegians (1,521 girls, 1,417 boys) and 189 immigrant adolescents (97 girls, 92 boys) in school grades 8, 9, and 10. Data were collected via self-assessments. Structural equation models were conducted separately for girls and boys in both groups. The levels of victimization, reactive and proactive aggressiveness were the same for both native Norwegians and immigrant adolescents but there was a significant difference in the levels of bullying others. Compared with the native Norwegians, immigrant adolescents were found to be at higher ris...

Academic Competence for Adolescents Who Bully and Who Are Bullied: Findings from the 4-H Study of Positive Youth Development

The Journal of Early Adolescence — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 01:58:29 +0100

School bullying has negative implications for adolescent academic competence, making it important to explore what factors promote such competence for adolescents who bully and who are bullied. Potential contextual and individual variables linked to academic competence were examined in the context of bullying. Data were derived from the Grades 5 and 6 of the 4-H Study of Positive Youth Development, a national longitudinal investigation of adolescents in the United States that began in 2002. Longitudinal random effects hierarchical regression analyses with a subsample of 620 adolescents indicated that being a bully negatively impacted academic competence beyond demographic background, including sex and maternal education, and prior year academic competence. Concurrent random effects hierarch...

Early Adolescent Romantic Partner Status, Peer Standing, and Problem Behaviors

The Journal of Early Adolescence — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 01:58:29 +0100

This study examined associations among early adolescent romantic relationships, peer standing, problem behaviors, and gender as a moderator of these associations, in a sample of 320 seventh-grade students. Popular and controversial status youth were more likely to have a romantic partner, whereas neglected status youth were less likely to have a romantic partner. Similarly, youth perceived as conventional and unconventional leaders were also more likely to have a romantic partner than were non-leaders. Youth who had a romantic partner drank more alcohol and were more aggressive than were youth who did not have a romantic partner. Among those youth who had romantic partners, those who reported having more deviance-prone partners were themselves more likely to use alcohol and to be more aggr...

Aggressive Behavior and Quality of Friendships: Linear and Curvilinear Associations

The Journal of Early Adolescence — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 01:58:29 +0100

The current study investigates linear and curvilinear associations between overt aggressive behavior and the adolescents’ reports of the quality of their friendships over time. Moderation by gender was also investigated. The sample consisted of 246 boys and 253 girls from the sixth and seventh grades of a large public middle school. Findings suggested a curvilinear association between aggression and friendship quality for boys such that nonaggressive and highly aggressive boys tended to perceive their relationships with friends more positively than did boys who exhibited moderate levels of overt aggression. In contrast, a negative linear association was found between aggression and friendship quality for girls. These findings provide evidence that the association between friendship q...

Growth and Predictors of Parental Knowledge of Youth Behavior During Early Adolescence

The Journal of Early Adolescence — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 01:58:29 +0100

The current study examines latent growth models of parental knowledge of boys’ behavior from ages 10 to 15, and whether earlier child or family characteristics are related to intercept and growth in parental knowledge. As part of an ongoing longitudinal study on the precursors of antisocial behavior, 288 boys completed interviews at ages 10, 11, 12, and 15 years. Boys’ reports started low, increased and plateaued at age 12. High levels of maternal responsivity in early childhood were associated with a high initial status in knowledge. Growth was predicted only by high levels of boys’ prior externalizing problems. Results are discussed with respect to differences in factors that predict initial status versus growth in parental knowledge during the transition to adolescence...

MedWorm Message: Get the very latest Swine Flu news via the MedWorm Swine Flu RSS news feed - updated hourly from thousands of authoritative health and news sources.

Relative Importance of Parents and Peers: Differences in Academic and Social Behaviors at Three Grade Levels Spanning Late Childhood and Early Adolescence

The Journal of Early Adolescence — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 01:58:29 +0100

By focusing on school-based behaviors, this study examined the validity of a lay assumption that peers match, and even surpass, parents in terms of their importance as socialization agents by early adolescence. Self-reported academic and social behaviors, peer group norms, and perceived parent values were assessed among fourth, sixth, and eighth graders (n = 364). Results indicated academic and social behaviors, and perceived peer group norms for each, were more negative among older youth than younger youth. Sixth and eighth graders also reported parents valuing social behaviors less than fourth graders, although perceptions of parent values of academic behaviors remained high for all grades. Regression findings suggested perceived parent values predict academic and social behaviors at eac...

Acknowledgments

The Journal of Early Adolescence — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 01:58:29 +0100

(Source: The Journal of Early Adolescence)

Exposure of children to sexual content on the Internet in Croatia.

Child Abuse & Neglect — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

CONCLUSION: Results obtained by this study show that about a quarter of children are at risk for exposure to sexual content on the Internet. PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS: Research results can be used as a starting point for further research in order to throw more light on children and youth exposure to sexual content on the Internet. Furthermore, results can be used in developing prevention strategies for high-risk behavior of children and youth using the Internet and in working with children, parents and teachers. PMID: 19897242 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher] (Source: Child Abuse & Neglect)

Maternal attitudinal inflexibility: Longitudinal relations with mother-infant disrupted interaction and childhood hostile-aggressive behavior problems.

Child Abuse & Neglect — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

CONCLUSIONS: The current results validate the PAS against observable mother-child interactions and child hostile-aggressive behavior problems and indicate the importance of future work investigating the maternal attitudes that are associated with, and may potentially precede, parent-infant interactive difficulties. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: These findings regarding the inflexible attitudes of mothers whose interactions with their infants are also disrupted have important clinical implications. First, once the stability of the PAS has been established, this measure may offer a valuable screening tool for the prenatal identification of parents at risk for difficult interactions with their children. Second, it suggests routes for more cognitive interventions around helping less flexible parents ...

Experience of sexual abuse in childhood and abortion in adolescence and early adulthood.

Child Abuse & Neglect — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

CONCLUSIONS: The current study suggested that the association between experience of CSA and increased rates of abortion was mediated by the increased rates of pregnancy associated with CSA experiences. The results suggest a causal chain in which experience of CSA leads to increased rates of pregnancy, which in turn leads to increased rates of abortion. PMID: 19897244 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher] (Source: Child Abuse & Neglect)

MedWorm Message: Get the very latest Swine Flu news via the MedWorm Swine Flu RSS news feed - updated hourly from thousands of authoritative health and news sources.

Child Abuse & Neglect — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

Child Abuse Negl. 2009 Nov 6; Authors: Tourigny M, Jacob M, Daigneault I, Hébert M, Wright J PMID: 19897245 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher] (Source: Child Abuse & Neglect)

Incidence, type and intensity of abuse in street children in India.

Child Abuse & Neglect — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

CONCLUSION: Different forms of abuse are prevalent in street children in India. This area of study needs attention both by the researchers and the social workers. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: children who are identified in severe and very severe categories of abuse should be worked with in a follow up study with the help of governmental and nongovernmental agencies working in the field for child welfare. PMID: 19897246 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher] (Source: Child Abuse & Neglect)

Eating problems and growth at 6 years of age in a whole population sample of extremely preterm children

Developmental Medicine and Child Neurology — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

(Source: Developmental Medicine and Child Neurology)

Children, young people and alcohol: how they learn and how...

Children's NSF Newsfeed — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 16:24:10 +0100

This review of research into how young people learn to drink... (Source: Children's NSF Newsfeed)

Children's ability to distinguish between enjoyment and non-enjoyment smiles

Infant and Child Development — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

was investigated by presenting participants with short video excerpts of smiles. Enjoyment smiles differed from non-enjoyment smiles by greater symmetry and by appearance changes produced in the eye region by the Cheek Raiser action. The results indicate that 6- and 7-year-old children have the abilities to detect these differences and are able to interpret them with above chance-level accuracy. Sensitivity was higher for the symmetry of the smiles than for the appearance changes produced in the eye region and improved in later childhood. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. (Source: Infant and Child Development)

MedWorm Message: Get the very latest Swine Flu news via the MedWorm Swine Flu RSS news feed - updated hourly from thousands of authoritative health and news sources.

Community Access to Child Health (CATCH) Resident Funds Program

Children funding opportunities via the Rural Assistance Center — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 16:55:28 +0100

Grants to support pediatric residents in the planning of community-based child health initiatives. Geographic coverage: Nationwide -- American Academy of Pediatrics (Source: Children funding opportunities via the Rural Assistance Center)

The relationship between staff maltreatment of students and bully-victim group membership.

Child Abuse & Neglect — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

CONCLUSION: The findings showed that levels of staff maltreatment toward students vary according to the category of students' involvement in bullying, with bully-victims boys being at the highest risk. These findings mirror past research suggesting that bully-victims present multiple challenges for school staff and they are in need for special attention. PRACTICE IMPLICATION: The findings emphasize the need to invest more efforts in helping bully-victims that were found at highest risk for staff maltreatment in both Jewish and Arab schools. Furthermore, it is essential to support teachers to help them cope effectively with difficult situations without resorting to aggression. To achieve this goal, training opportunities for teachers in Israel and other countries need to be expanded. This i...

Perspectives on helping traumatized infants, young children, and their families

Infant Mental Health Journal — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

Traumatized infants, toddlers, and young children can affect adults in different ways but most often pull extreme reactions ranging from empathy to anger. It is important for those who support, intervene, and provide therapeutic services for traumatized young children and their families to understand that various traumatization, compassion, fatigue, and burnout can be an integral part of the work. All interveners, including child welfare workers, clinicians, home visitors, teachers, and even nontraditional responders, such as those who supervise therapeutic visitation, must find their own ways to cope with the overwhelming feelings that may be aroused. Support or regularly scheduled reflective supervision as well as self-care is crucial for those who work with trauma. This paper describes ...

Facilitating reflective supervision in an early child development center

Infant Mental Health Journal — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

Reflective supervision (RS) has not been a tradition in most early child development settings. The infant mental health consultant, in successfully implementing RS, helps to articulate and affirm some basic values necessary for a community of reflective practice. These emphasize (a) participating in an environment of continuous learning and improvement and (b) engaging in an ongoing commitment to professionalism. Sets of dimensions of RS, therefore, include sharing and learning, emotional support and dealing with vulnerability, and systems sensitivity. Issues for RS training involve using yourself as a tool and learning about the science of being with others. (Source: Infant Mental Health Journal)

Strengthening and recognizing knowledge, skills, and reflective practice: The Michigan Association for Infant Mental Health competency guidelines and endorsement process

Infant Mental Health Journal — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

This article discusses those challenges in summarizing the development of a comprehensive set of competency guidelines and an accessible, effective procedure for professional endorsement in the infant and family field (D. Weatherston, B.D. Moss, & D. Harris, 2006). Criteria for endorsement encourage professionals from many disciplines to integrate new knowledge about infancy and early childhood mental health with strategies that are culturally sensitive and skillful. Emphasis on reflective supervision or consultation encourages a framework for best practice promoting professional growth (L. Eggbeer, T.L. Mann, & N. Seibel, 2007; J. Pawl, 1995). The authors report individual outcomes that support the specialization of infant mental health, as well as notable changes in educational and train...

MedWorm Message: Get the very latest Swine Flu news via the MedWorm Swine Flu RSS news feed - updated hourly from thousands of authoritative health and news sources.

Observe, listen, wonder, and respond: A preliminary exploration of reflective function skills in early care providers

Infant Mental Health Journal — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

Parents' behaviors demonstrating reflective capacity towards their children, parental reflective functioning, have been identified as central to both the formation of a secure attachment and therapeutic efforts to remediate attachment problems (Fonagy & Target, 2005; Sadler, Slade, & Mayes, 2006). We hypothesize that reflective skills in providers may be key elements in effecting change through the parent-professional relationship. As a first step, the present study examined early care and intervention providers' self-report of the importance of reflective practice skills in their work with families of young children. We further examined whether provider characteristics such as professional affiliation and experience related to importance ratings. Lastly, we examined, in a preliminary fash...

Developing reflective skills in infant mental health postgraduate students: The Australian experience

Infant Mental Health Journal — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

This article considers the various ways that the notion of reflective practice and reflective supervision is used in different disciplines and defines our understanding of its place in IMH training. The program content and delivery emphasize the development of reflective skills in students in a number of ways. These include a supportive relationship-based approach to training; a 12-month infant observation which provides students with the opportunity to understand early development, develop observational skills about infants and families as well as their own responses to the infant and family; ongoing clinical supervision and development of a reflective clinical journal; and study and assessment tasks that require the student to integrate new knowledge into clinical practice. (Source: Infa...

Embracing complexity across disciplines: Reflective supervision and postdegree training integrate mental health concepts with speech-language therapy and graduate education

Infant Mental Health Journal — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

This article illustrates how relationship-based practice and reflective supervision can augment the practice of professionals in allied health disciplines in the earliest childhood fields. The authors describe how mental health constructs were integrated into the discipline-specific expertise of one speech-language pathologist and how, in turn, that affected her leadership as graduate program director. The article highlights the transformations that took place within one discipline through the assimilation of a transdisciplinary, relationship-based, and reflective model. The ongoing individual and group supervision of a speech-language pathologist through an intensive, reflective, 2-year experience in a postdegree certificate training program is described to explore the change process; a d...

Reflective practice in infant mental health training and consultation

Infant Mental Health Journal — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

This article describes models of training in infant mental health that utilize reflective supervision as a fundamental component of the educational and clinical experiences. The design and structure of these programs, offered by two medical centers, are described. Benefits and challenges to the adoption of infant mental health practice by trainees are outlined. Incorporation of reflective supervision in the training is discussed, and clinical examples are provided to illustrate its essential role in the development of the infant mental health clinician. (Source: Infant Mental Health Journal)

Working within the context of relationships: Multidisciplinary, relational, and reflective practice, training, and supervision

Infant Mental Health Journal — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

No Abstract. (Source: Infant Mental Health Journal)

MedWorm Message: Get the very latest Swine Flu news via the MedWorm Swine Flu RSS news feed - updated hourly from thousands of authoritative health and news sources.

A longitudinal study of gastrointestinal diseases in individuals diagnosed with infantile autism as children

Child: Care, Health and Development — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

Conclusion Overall, no evidence was found that patients with IA were more likely than control persons without IA to have defined GI diseases during the 30.3-year observation period. (Source: Child: Care, Health and Development)

Evaluating paediatric brain injury services in NSW

Child: Care, Health and Development — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

Conclusions Extensive preparation is required to optimize staff engagement in a project that systematically introduces outcome measures that are useful to clinicians, clients and service providers. Managing the change required is a key focus of the project. Benefits and costs to clinicians and services will be discussed. (Source: Child: Care, Health and Development)

Breastfeeding promotion for infants in neonatal units: a systematic review

Child: Care, Health and Development — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

Conclusions Breastfeeding/breastmilk feeding is promoted by close, continuing skin-to-skin contact between mother and infant, effective breastmilk expression, peer support in hospital and community, and staff training. Evidence gaps include health outcomes and costs of intervening with less clinically stable infants, and maternal health and well-being. Effects of public health and policy interventions and the organization of neonatal services remain unclear. Infant feeding in neonatal units should be included in public health surveillance and policy development; relevant definitions are proposed. (Source: Child: Care, Health and Development)

Prosodic Structure in Early Word Segmentation: ERP Evidence From Dutch Ten-Month-Olds

Infancy — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

(Source: Infancy)

In This Issue

Child Development — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

(Source: Child Development)

MedWorm Message: Get the very latest Swine Flu news via the MedWorm Swine Flu RSS news feed - updated hourly from thousands of authoritative health and news sources.

Transitions: Reflections on the Infant Mental Health Journal, Joy D. Osofsky, and the future

Infant Mental Health Journal — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

No Abstract. (Source: Infant Mental Health Journal)

SIGN guideline: ADHD and HKD in children and young people

Children's NSF Newsfeed — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 16:00:32 +0100

The Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (SIGN) has... (Source: Children's NSF Newsfeed)

NICE consultations

Children's NSF Newsfeed — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 16:00:32 +0100

NICE has issued the following consultation documents: -... (Source: Children's NSF Newsfeed)

Associations between blocking, monitoring, and filtering software on the home computer and youth-reported unwanted exposure to sexual material online.

Child Abuse & Neglect — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 00:00:00 +0100

CONCLUSION: Although these correlational analyses are far from providing conclusive evidence that preventive software protects children from unwanted exposure to sexual material online, findings suggest that caregivers of boys and girls 15 years of age and younger who want to reduce the likelihood of unwanted exposure to sexual material on the home computer should consider including preventive software-especially filtering, blocking, or monitoring software-in their Internet safety plan. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: Practitioners should partner with caregivers in developing an Internet safety plan, including proactive caregiver-youth discussions about expected Internet behavior appropriate for their household. PMID: 19883940 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher] (Source: Child Abuse & Negle...

Associations between childhood bereavement and children’s...

Children's NSF Newsfeed — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 16:12:33 +0100

New research from NCB, conducted on behalf of the Childhood... (Source: Children's NSF Newsfeed)

MedWorm Message: Get the very latest Swine Flu news via the MedWorm Swine Flu RSS news feed - updated hourly from thousands of authoritative health and news sources.

Strategies to prevent unintentional injuries among under...

Children's NSF Newsfeed — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 16:12:33 +0100

National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE)... (Source: Children's NSF Newsfeed)

Healthy Child Programme : the two year review

Children's NSF Newsfeed — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 16:12:33 +0100

The Healthy Child Programme is the early intervention and... (Source: Children's NSF Newsfeed)

Healthy Child Programme : from 5*19 years old

Children's NSF Newsfeed — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 16:12:33 +0100

The Healthy Child Programme 5*19 is the early intervention... (Source: Children's NSF Newsfeed)

The role of competition in word learning via referent selection

Developmental Science — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 00:00:00 +0100

Previous research suggests that competition among the objects present during referent selection influences young children's ability to learn words in fast mapping tasks. The present study systematically explored this issue with 30-month-old children. Children first received referent selection trials with a target object and either two, three or four competitor objects. Then, after a short delay, children were tested on their ability to retain the newly fast-mapped names. Overall, the number of competitors did not affect children's ability to form the initial name[ndash]object mappings. However, only children who encountered few competitors during referent selection demonstrated significant levels of retention. Results and implications are discussed in terms of the role of competition in st...

MedWorm: Child Development

Deviance Removal and Global Self-Esteem: Evidence From the Harlem Longitudinal Study of Urban Black Youth

Projecting the Voices of Mexican-Origin Children

Diversity Among Low SES Families: An Exploration of Predictive Variables for Mothers' Metacognitive Questions to Their Children

Studying Diverse Lives

Seven-Month-Old Infants Selectively Reproduce the Goals of Animate But Not Inanimate Agents

Influences of Infant-Directed Speech on Early Word Recognition

Newborns' Mooney-Face Perception

Means-End Behavior in Young Infants: The Interplay of Action Perception and Action Production

Manual for Cancer Services 2008: Children’s Cancer Measures

Efficacy and safety of anti-obesity drugs in children and...

Table of contents

The Editors reply:

Blind Leading the Blind?

Growing Up and Getting Old(er) With Childhood-Onset Chronic Diseases: Paving the Way to Better Chronic Illness Care Worldwide

Prescription Drug Use by Adolescents: What We Are Learning and What We Still Need to Know

Acknowledgement of Reviewers

Book Review: Cassidy, C. (2007) Thinking Children. London and New York: Continuum. (196 pp.). ISBN 0826498183

Book Review: De Block, Liesbeth and David Buckingham (2007) Global Children, Global Media: Migration, Media and Childhood. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. (222 pp.). ISBN 0230506992

Forming Identities in Residential Care for Children: Manoeuvring between social work and peer groups

Children Representing Children: Participation and the problem of diversity in UK youth councils

A Review of Children's Rights Literature Since the Adoption of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child

Gaming and Territorial Negotiations in Family Life

Children's Actions when Experiencing Domestic Violence

How Children with Parents Suffering from Mental Health Distress Search for 'Normality' and Avoid Stigma: To be or not to be . . . is not the question

Accountability in Family Discourse: Socialization into norms and standards and negotiation of responsibility in Italian dinner conversations

Editorial: Ratifying the Convention amidst the messy cultural politics of American childhoods

A Psychometric Evaluation of the Behavioral Inhibition Questionnaire in a Non-Clinical Sample of Dutch Children and Adolescents.

Department of Health : young people's sexual health : the...

Promoting Resilience in the Classroom – By Carmel Cefai

Arts, Culture and Blindness: a study of blind students in the visual arts – By Simon Hayhoe

Alphabet Kids: from ADD to Zellweger syndrome: a guide to developmental, neurobiological and psychological disorders for parents and professionals – By Robbie Woliver

The Routledge Companion to Dyslexia – Edited by Gavin Reid

Politics Page UK

Points from the SENCo-Forum

Inclusive special education: the role of special education teachers in Finland

Examining the nature and perceived causes of indiscipline in Zimbabwean secondary schools

The role of teachers in the assessment of children suspected of having AD/HD

Inclusion and museums: developing inclusive practice

The integration of an alternative curriculum: Skill Force

Influences of information processing and disengagement in infants' looking behaviour

Ultrasound for evaluation of fetal neurobehavioural development: from 2-D to 4-D ultrasound

Dream recall and Dream Content in Children with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder.

'I bet you know more and are nicer too!': what children infer from others' accuracy

Regulating Debilitating Emotions in the Context of Performance: Achievement Goal Orientations, Achievement-Elicited Emotions, and Socialization Contexts

Goals, Emotions, and Emotion Regulation: Perspectives of the Control-Value Theory

Nuanced Understandings of Development

Prejudice: How It Develops and How It Can Be Undone

Too Late the Misanthrope

Acknowledgment

Author Index Vol. 52, 2009

Subject Index Vol. 52, 2009

Contents Vol. 52, 2009

Disaster Preparedness in Pediatric Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus

Meeting the health needs of children and young people: a...

Index to Volume 80

Editorial Acknowledgments

Manuscripts Accepted for Publication

Children's Eyewitness Memory for Multiple Real-Life Events

Estimating the "Impact" of Out-of-Home Placement on Child Well-Being: Approaching the Problem of Selection Bias

Developmental Changes in Attention and Comprehension Among Children With Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

Letter Names and Alphabet Book Reading by Senior Kindergarteners: An Eye Movement Study

Sequence Learning in 4-Month-Old Infants: Do Infants Represent Ordinal Information?

Newborns' Perception of Left–Right Spatial Relations

Hierarchical Models of Social Competence in Preschool Children: A Multisite, Multinational Study

Scaring the Monster Away: What Children Know About Managing Fears of Real and Imaginary Creatures

Social Information Processing, Moral Reasoning, and Emotion Attributions: Relations With Adolescents' Reactive and Proactive Aggression

Adolescents' Interpretations of Parental Control: Differentiated by Domain and Types of Control

Are Gains in Decision-Making Autonomy During Early Adolescence Beneficial for Emotional Functioning? The Case of the United States and China

Early Childhood Behavioral Inhibition and Social and School Adjustment in Chinese Children: A 5-Year Longitudinal Study

Family Routines and Parental Monitoring as Protective Factors Among Early and Middle Adolescents Affected by Maternal HIV/AIDS

The Effects of Changes in Racial Identity and Self-Esteem on Changes in African American Adolescents' Mental Health

Developmental Antecedents and Social and Academic Consequences of Stereotype-Consciousness in Middle Childhood

Contributions of Societal Modernity to Cognitive Development: A Comparison of Four Cultures

Young Children's Representations of Spatial and Functional Relations Between Objects

Preschoolers' Search for Explanatory Information Within Adult–Child Conversation

Parental Reports of Children's Scale Errors in Everyday Life

Increasing task difficulty enhances effects of intersensory redundancy: testing a new prediction of the Intersensory Redundancy Hypothesis

Lexical and articulatory interactions in children's language production

The Ebbinghaus illusion deceives adults but not young children