Children's ideas of animals' internal structures

Children's understanding about animal internal structure can be affected by several factors which are poorly understoodby teachers. We conducted a large sample study (n=702) of children aged 6–16 years (Grades 1-9) examining children's responses to animals of various size, species and dimensions (2D and 3D objects), and exploring factors which might affect the development of their knowledge. Each child made a drawing of what they thought was inside a specimen animal. We found that using 2D representations of an animal negatively affected the content of children drawings.The effect of animalsize was shown only in children's understanding of skeletons, but not organ systems. The effect of animal species showedclear significant effect of children's ideas on both organ systems and skeleton. Investigation showed that parents' education level, children's experiences with animal-rearing and age significantly affected their scores from organ system. Surprisingly, school books were most frequently cited as sources of children's knowledge rather than their own experience, or information from the internet, encyclopaedias, television or parents.     

The Links Between Parent Behaviors and Boys' and Girls' Science Achievement Beliefs

This study examined whether parental involvement in children's science schoolwork (i.e., discussions about science, homework helping and encouragement of science interest) varies for boys and girls, and how these behaviors relate to children's science achievement beliefs (i.e., ability perceptions and task-value) at the end of a school year. We analyzed these links both for fathers and mothers and examined whether child gender moderates how parental behaviors relate to children's beliefs over time. Data were gathered over a span of a school year from 114 middle-school students (50% girls, 81% European American) and their parents (mothers: n = 103, fathers: n = 90). We found support for the moderating effect of gender. Specifically, the findings indicated that only parents' encouragement of science interest varied by child gender; mothers' encouragement positively predicted girls' self-assessments of science ability at the end of the year, but was a negative estimator of boys' self-assessments. Additionally, mothers' discussions about science showed similar findings with respect to girls' and boys' utility beliefs about science.     

Parent Civic Beliefs,Civic Participation,Socialization Practices,and Child Civic Engagement

We examined civic engagement in middle childhood and the degree to which parents’ civic beliefs (i.e., social trust and civic efficacy), civic participation, and socialization practices were associated with indicators of children's civic engagement (i.e., social responsibility and civic values). Survey data were collected from 359 racially, ethnically, and economically diverse upper elementary students and their parents from six schools in Southern California. The results of path analyses indicated that higher levels of parent social trust were associated with higher levels of community responsibility and civic values in children. Additionally, parent social trust, civic efficacy, and civic participation were indirectly associated with children's community responsibility and civic values through children's perception of their parents as civic role models. Findings suggest that parents’ civic beliefs and civic participation are meaningful to children's civic engagement.     

Parents' difficulties and information needs in coping with acute illness in preschool children: a qualitative study.

OBJECTIVES: To identify and explore difficulties parents experience with acute illness in young children and the information they seek to help them. DESIGN: Qualitative study using semi-structured one t one and group interviews with parents of preschool children. SETTING: Disadvantaged inner city community. SUBJECTS: 95 parents of preschool children. RESULTS: Parents felt disempowered when dealing with acute illness in their children because of difficulties making sense of the illness. Central to parents'' difficulties were their experiences of inadequate information sharing by their general practitioners and variations in their doctors'' decisions and behaviour. Disparity between parents'' beliefs and expectations about illness and treatment and professionals'' behaviour further frustrated parents'' attempts to understand illness. Parents expressed a need for a range of accessible and specific information to support them through their negotiation of children''s illness. CONCLUSIONS: Communication with parents requires greater recognition of parents'' difficulties. Professionals have considerable potential to empower parents by sharing more information and skills. Such information should be consistent and address parents'' concerns, beliefs, and expressed needs if this potential is to be realised.     

Consultation for Teachers and Children's Language and Literacy Development during Pre-Kindergarten

MyTeachingPartner (MTP) is a teacher professional development program designed to improve the quality of teacher-child interactions in pre-kindergarten classrooms and children's language and literacy development. The program includes language/literacy activities and two Web-based resources—video exemplars of effective interactions and individualized consultation—designed to support teachers' high quality implementation of these activities. This study examined the impacts of the MTP Web-based resources on the language and literacy development of 1,165 children during pre-kindergarten. Children whose teachers were randomly assigned to receive access to both the video exemplars and participated in consultation (MTP Consultancy n = 65) made greater gains in receptive language skills during pre-kindergarten compared to children whose teachers were randomly assigned to receive access to the video exemplars only (MTP Video Library n = 69). Further, among MTP Consultancy teachers, more hours of participating in the consultation process was positively associated with children's receptive language development, and more hours implementing the language/literacy activities was positively associated with children's language and literacy development. Implications for improving children's school readiness and promoting teachers' participation in professional development programs are discussed.     

The Relationship of Childhood Adiposity to Parent Body Mass Index and Eating Behavior

Objective: To better understand risk factors for the development of obesity in early childhood, we examined the association between children's adiposity and their parents' eating behavior and body mass index (BMI). Research Methods and Procedures: Parents of 85 white children 36 months of age (49 boys and 36 girls) completed the Three‐Factor Eating Questionnaire measuring three dimensions of parent eating behavior: disinhibited eating, cognitive restraint of eating, and susceptibility to hunger. Parent BMI (kg/m²) was calculated using self‐reported height and weight. The children's percentage body fat was assessed by dual energy X‐ray absorptiometry analysis. Results: Twenty‐six percent of parents were obese (BMI ≥ 30 kg/m²). Both maternal and paternal BMI were associated with higher scores for disinhibition (r = 0.69 and r = 0.68, p < 0.001), and maternal BMI was also associated with higher scores for hunger (r = 0.51, p < 0.001). There were no significant relationships between children's percentage body fat and parent eating scores, and the correlation between children's percentage body fat and parent BMI was significant only between mothers and daughters (r = 0.35, p = 0.04). Obese parents were no more likely to have a child who was fatter (upper quintile of percentage body fat for gender). Discussion: Among 36 month‐old white children, parent eating behavior was related to parent BMI, but not to children's adiposity. There was only a weak relationship between parent BMI and child adiposity. Despite the aggregation of adiposity within families due to shared genes and environments, children may not express differences in susceptibility to obesity by 3 years of age.     

The Meaning of Companion Animals for Children and Adolescents with Autism: The Parents' Perspective

ABSTRACT

The aim of this study was to understand parents' perspectives on how children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) benefit from a relationship with companion animals. Parents were invited to participate in focus-group discussions. One open-ended question with follow-up questions was asked and the parents' responses were subsequently categorized. Three main themes emerged: the quality of the relationship with the companion animal; increased interaction with people; and optimization of the child's function and development. The results show that companion animals can contribute to social and behavioral development support, and improved mental health and quality of life. The children's and adolescents' interests and activities with companion animals were more social than nonsocial and of different quality than the restricted and repetitive activities in which children with ASD are normally engaged. Our findings describe a complementary developmental support for this vulnerable group of children and adolescents, which give them possibilities for expanded social contacts, diminished anxiety and depression, and facilitated learning.     

Fairness Norms and Theory of Mind in an Ultimatum Game: Judgments,Offers, and Decisions in School-Aged Children

The sensitivity to fairness undergoes relevant changes across development. Whether such changes depend on primary inequity aversion or on sensitivity to a social norm of fairness is still debated. Using a modified version of the Ultimatum Game that creates informational asymmetries between Proposer and Responder, a previous study showed that both perceptions of fairness and fair behavior depend upon normative expectations, i.e., beliefs about what others expect one should do in a specific situation. Individuals tend to comply with the norm when risking sanctions, but disregard the norm when violations are undetectable. Using the same methodology with children aged 8–10 years, the present study shows that children''s beliefs and behaviors differ from what is observed in adults. Playing as Proposers, children show a self-serving bias only when there is a clear informational asymmetry. Playing as Responders, they show a remarkable discrepancy between their normative judgment about fair procedures (a coin toss to determine the offer) and their behavior (rejection of an unfair offer derived from the coin toss), supporting the existence of an outcome bias effect. Finally, our results reveal no influence of theory of mind on children''s decision-making behavior.     

Companion Animals and other Factors Affecting Young Children's Development

ABSTRACT

This study focuses on three factors presumed to affect young children's development: their age, the quality of their home environments, and the child-pet relationship. Three sets of analyses are presented: effects associated with pet ownership (pet presence), effects associated with the strength of the child-pet relationship, and the combined effects of age, home environment, and the child-companion animal relationship. This study includes both a parent survey (n = 88) and in-home assessments (n = 44) of the three- to six-year-old children. The analyses support the hypothesis that normal preschool children's intellectual, motor, and social development is associated with the presence of a companion animal and increases with their age, the quality of their home environment, and their relationship with a companion animal. While the children's age and the quality of their home environments were associated with measures of the children's cognitive, motor, and social development, the companion animal effect was limited to the young children's social development including their empathy for other children.     

哮喘儿童父母知识知晓率、用药依从性及影响因素分析

目的:了解哮喘儿童父母的对疾病知识的掌握情况以及儿童的服药依从情况和影响因素,为提高哮喘儿童的控制率提供参考依据。方法:选择2015年1月-2015年12月于上海市第十人民医院儿科门诊诊治的支气管哮喘儿童93例,调查其哮喘控制情况、哮喘服药依从性和父母基本情况与相关知识。依从性与知识知晓率的比较采用双向有序的检验,影响因素采用有序结果的累积优势Logistic回归分析。结果:本次调查93例哮喘儿童中,哮喘完全控制率为23.7%,儿童服药依从性好的比率为25.8%,哮喘儿童父母相关知识知晓率高的比率为25.8%,儿童哮喘控制率与服药依从性之间存在相关性(P=0.029),哮喘儿童服药依从性与哮喘儿童父母相关知识知晓率之间存在相关性(P=0.035)。哮喘儿童的服药依从性受到儿童性别(OR=1.153,95%CI:1.04-1.96)、家族史(OR=1.402,95%CI:1.20-2.33)、知识知晓率(OR=1.828,95%CI:1.05-3.17)和病程(OR=0.758,95%CI:0.35-0.97)等因素的影响(P0.05)。结论:哮喘儿童的服药依从性受到儿童性别、家族史、知识知晓率和病程等因素的影响,要充分发挥儿童父母的作用,从医院内干预逐渐进入家庭干预,通过对父母或者监护人的认知或用药知识的提高,切实提高哮喘儿童的用药依从性和哮喘的控制率。     

支气管哮喘患儿病情控制的影响因素及其家长知信行问卷调查分析

摘要 目的：调查支气管哮喘患儿家长知信行情况,并分析支气管哮喘患儿病情控制的影响因素。方法：于2016年7月~2020年7月期间,选取我院收治的500例支气管哮喘患儿及其家长作为研究对象。患儿家长知信行情况采用《哮喘患儿家长知信行问卷》调查。患儿近4周的病情控制水平参照《诸福棠实用儿科学(第8版)》中的相关标准进行确定,病情控制水平包括良好控制、部分控制和未控制。将良好控制、部分控制的患儿纳为哮喘控制组,将未控制的患儿纳为哮喘未控制组。采用本院自制的调查量表调查患儿及其家长的信息,分析支气管哮喘患儿病情控制的影响因素。结果：支气管哮喘儿童家长知信行情况不容乐观。支气管哮喘患儿病情控制率为38.06%（187/491）。单因素分析结果表明,支气管哮喘患儿病情控制与家庭人均月收入、患儿个人过敏史、家长受教育程度、哮喘家族史、是否坚持长期用药、是否定期复诊有关（P<0.05）。多因素Logistic回归分析结果显示,家长受教育程度、家庭人均月收入、患儿个人过敏史、哮喘家族史、是否坚持长期用药、是否定期复诊均是支气管哮喘患儿病情控制的影响因素（P<0.05）。结论：本研究中支气管哮喘患儿病情控制水平一般,且支气管哮喘儿童家长知信行情况不容乐观,其中家长受教育程度、家庭人均月收入、患儿个人过敏史等均是支气管哮喘患儿病情控制的影响因素,临床中应结合相关因素进行针对性的干预或治疗,以期实现对支气管哮喘患儿病情的良好控制。     

Children's labour in ethnic family businesses: The case of Chinese take‐away businesses in Britain

Reliance upon unpaid and committed family labour is said to make many ethnic businesses competitive. However, most analysts' references to this labour have not taken into account the nature of family members' and, in particular, children's work roles or the ways in which their labour is elicited and maintained. Here, the nature of children's labour participation in ethnic businesses is investigated in the case of families running Chinese take‐away businesses in Britain. This article focuses on how children in these families understand their often double‐edged experiences of ‘helping out’, as part of a ‘family work contract’, and on the ways in which families negotiate children's labour over time. Given these families' experiences of migration and ethnic minority status, I argue that Chinese children's work in take‐away businesses must be examined in relation to the intersections of family obligations and relationships, livelihood strategies and pressures, and issues of cultural identity.     

Mediators of Maternal Depression and Family Structure on Child BMI: Parenting Quality and Risk Factors for Child Overweight

Risk factors for child obesity may be influenced by family environment, including maternal depression, family structure, and parenting quality. We tested a path model in which maternal depression and single parent status are associated with parenting quality, which relates to three risk factors for child obesity: diet, leisure, and sedentary behavior. Participants included 4,601 5th‐grade children and their primary caregivers who participated in the Healthy Passages study. Results showed that associations of maternal depression and single parenthood with child BMI are mediated by parenting quality and its relation to children's leisure activity and sedentary behavior. Interventions for child obesity may be more successful if they target family environment, particularly parenting quality and its impact on children's active and sedentary behaviors.     

Interpretation of Dog Behavior by Children and Young Adults

This study investigates people's ability to interpret dog behavior. Inability to interpret dog behavior correctly may be a factor contributing to young children's higher likelihood of being bitten by dogs. Children (4- to 10-year-olds) and adults (total n = 550) watched videos of dogs displaying friendly, aggressive, and fearful behavior. They were asked to interpret the dogs' behaviors and to describe which features they had attended to in making their decision. Four- and 6-year-old children were unable to identify fearful dogs, while participants in all age groups were capable of identifying friendly and aggressive behavior (p < 0.001). Misinterpretations of fearful behavior were significantly associated with reports of attending to the dog's face rather than other features (χ² = 80.2, df = 1, p < 0.001). Four-year-olds were particularly likely to report looking at the dog's face and together with 6-year-olds they focused more on one feature rather than multiple features in order to make their decisions. The results show that younger children are less good at interpreting dog behavior, and that they are particularly poor at recognizing fear in dogs, while aggression is the most readily recognized behavior. Children's lower ability to interpret dog behavior seems to be due to the features they focus on. Younger children appear to focus on the dogs' most salient features and not the features that would allow them to correctly interpret the dogs' behavior. For example, 4- and 6-year-olds tended to report attending to the fearful dog's face rather than its tail and general posture. The results suggest it would be beneficial to include information about how to interpret dog behavior in dog-bite prevention programs.     

Maternal and paternal controlling feeding practices: reliability and relationships with BMI

Objective: This study aimed to examine the interrelationships between mothers' and fathers' reports on the child‐feeding questionnaire (CFQ), the BMI of parents and their children, and observations of parents' controlling feeding practices at mealtimes. Methods and Procedures: Twenty‐three mothers and twenty‐three fathers of children aged between 18 and 67 months reported on their child‐feeding practices, on their child's height and weight, and were observed during a normal family mealtime at home. Results: No associations were found between mothers' reported and observed feeding practices. Fathers' reported pressure to eat and restriction were associated with more controlling observed mealtime feeding practices. Mothers and fathers did not significantly differ in their reported or observed child‐feeding practices. Children's BMI was not related to maternal or paternal reported or observed feeding practices. More mealtime pressure was observed in parents with a higher BMI. Discussion: Fathers' self‐reports of their mealtime practices are reliable. Mothers' feeding practices may differ when fathers are present and further work should examine mothers at mealtimes with and without fathers. Although children's BMI was not related to parents' use of reported or observed control, parents with a higher BMI were more controlling, highlighting the importance of considering parents' own weight in future studies.     

Does benefit justify research with children?

The inclusion of children in research gives rise to a difficult ethical question: What justifies children's research participation and exposure to research risks when they cannot provide informed consent? This question arises out of the tension between the moral requirement to obtain a subject's informed consent for research participation, on the one hand, and the limited capacity of most children to provide informed consent, on the other. Most agree that children's participation in clinical research can be justified. But the ethical justification for exposing children to research risks in the absence of consent remains unclear. One prevalent group of arguments aims to justify children's risk exposure by appealing to the concept of benefit. I call these ‘benefit arguments’. Prominent versions of this argument defend the idea that broadening our understanding of the notion of benefit to include non‐medical benefits (such as the benefit of a moral education) helps to justify children's research participation. I argue that existing benefit arguments are not persuasive and raise problems with the strategy of appealing to broader notions of benefit to justify children's exposure to research risk.     

Parental Perceptions of their Children's Involvement with Household Pets: A Test of a Specificity Model of Nurturance

ABSTRACT

To test hypotheses derived from a specificity model of the development of children's nurturance, parents of preschool, second-grade and fifth-grade children (n=707) reported the frequency of their children's play with and care of pets as well as play and care directed to younger siblings, non-family babies, and elderly persons. Parents also reported on their children's frequency of expressed interest in animals, babies, and nurture in general. As predicted, gender differences were found for frequency of time spent with babies but not with pets. Frequency of time with pets was related to expressed interest in animals but not in babies. Children who had pets but no younger siblings were reported to spend more time with pets than were children with both pets and younger siblings. Children without pets were reported to express interest in babies more often than did pet owning children.     

Braving Difficult Choices Alone: Children's and Adolescents' Medical Decision Making

Objective

What role should minors play in making medical decisions? The authors examined children''s and adolescents'' desire to be involved in serious medical decisions and the emotional consequences associated with them.

Methods

Sixty-three children and 76 adolescents were presented with a cover story about a difficult medical choice. Participants were tested in one of four conditions: (1) own informed choice; (2) informed parents'' choice to amputate; (3) informed parents'' choice to continue a treatment; and (4) uninformed parents'' choice to amputate. In a questionnaire, participants were asked about their choices, preference for autonomy, confidence, and emotional reactions when faced with a difficult hypothetical medical choice.

Results

Children and adolescents made different choices and participants, especially adolescents, preferred to make the difficult choice themselves, rather than having a parent make it. Children expressed fewer negative emotions than adolescents. Providing information about the alternatives did not affect participants'' responses.

Conclusions

Minors, especially adolescents, want to be responsible for their own medical decisions, even when the choice is a difficult one. For the adolescents, results suggest that the decision to be made, instead of the agent making the decision, is the main element influencing their emotional responses and decision confidence. For children, results suggest that they might be less able than adolescents to project how they would feel. The results, overall, draw attention to the need to further investigate how we can better involve minors in the medical decision-making process.     

Fathers' and Mothers' Home Literacy Involvement and Children's Cognitive and Social Emotional Development: Implications for Family Literacy Programs

The relations between fathers' and mothers' home literacy involvement at 24 months and children's cognitive and social emotional development in preschool were examined using a large sample of African American and Caucasian families (N = 5190) from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Birth Cohort (ECLS-B). Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that both fathers' and mothers' home literacy involvement positively contributed to children's cognitive and social emotional development. Specifically, fathers and mothers who participated in more frequent home literacy involvement (e.g., shared book reading) had children with better reading, math, and social emotional outcomes (i.e., sustained attention and fewer negative behaviors) in preschool. Findings suggest that increasing family literacy involvement can have positive benefits for children's cognitive and social emotional skills during the developmentally important early childhood years.