Parents’ Reports of Sexual Communication With Children in Kindergarten to Grade 8

We examined factors associated with parents’ reports of three aspects of parent‐child sexual communication, quality, frequency with which parents encouraged questions, and extent of communication, on each of 10 sexual health topics. Participants were 3,413 mothers and 426 fathers with children in kindergarten to grade 8. Parents’ demographic characteristics, own sexual health education, knowledge and comfort talking about sexuality with their children, and ratings of the importance of comprehensive school‐based sex education plus child gender and grade level were uniquely related to their self‐reported sexual communication with their children, although different predictors were associated with various topics. These results highlight the need to include characteristics of parents, their children, and the communication itself in research on parent‐child sexual communication.     

Spanish–English immersion in the wake of California Proposition 227: five cases

Two‐way bilingual immersion programs are noteworthy within the context of US public education because, in them, the children of immigrants are essential assets. Language‐minority and English‐speaking pupils are grouped together, starting in kindergarten or earlier and extending at least through grade five, with a goal of bilingual proficiency and biliteracy for all. This paper explores two‐way immersion educators’ and parents’ responses to California Proposition 227, which severely restricted bilingual education. Given this obstacle, what has motivated the maintenance and further initiation of two‐way bilingual immersion? And to what ends? Answers hinge on varied institutional climates at the school district level and parent–teacher activism towards the goal of truly multicultural education. Proposition 227 was a disastrous move, but dedicated educators, parents and communities have been proactive in creating two‐way bilingual programs to help maintain bilingual education in a way that benefits all students.     

Effects of Family Structure Type and Stability on Children's Academic Performance Trajectories

Using five waves of panel data from 8,008 children in the ECLS‐K, the current study compared children's academic performance growth curves from kindergarten through fifth grade among three types of nondisrupted and three types of disrupted families. The analyses found that children in nondisrupted two‐biological‐parent and nondisrupted stepparent households consistently made greater progress in their math and reading performances over time than their peers in nondisrupted single‐parent, disrupted two‐biological‐parent, and disrupted alternative families with multiple transitions. These trajectory differences were either partially or completely accounted for by family resources in the kindergarten year (Time 1). Overall, our findings provided strong support for the resource‐deprivation perspective and partial support for the instability‐stress perspective.     

Toddlers’ Responses to Infants’ Negative Emotions

Early developments in toddlers’ responses to adults’ distress have been extensively examined, but less work has been directed to young children's responses to other children in distress. In the current study, we examined 12‐, 18‐, and 24‐month‐old children's (N = 71) behavioral and affective responses to a crying infant (doll) present in the room with the child. A comparison condition included a contented, neutral infant to contrast with the crying infant so as to disambiguate social interest from distress‐specific responding. Results showed that 12‐month‐olds were neither particularly interested in nor concerned about the infant, although they did discriminate between conditions. In contrast, 18‐ and 24‐month‐olds were socially interested and attentive to the infant, but 24‐month‐olds exhibited greater affective concern to the crying infant than did 18‐month‐olds. Children at all three ages were also mildly distressed themselves by the infant's crying, and this did not decline over the second year. Both girls and children without siblings were more interested in the infant; no effects were found for gender, daycare experience, or siblings on affective concern.     

Values of Portuguese/non‐Portuguese mothers of kindergarten children,and of kindergarten teachers

The aim of this research was to identify continuities/discontinuities in the values of Portuguese mothers with kindergarten children belonging to high and low socio‐cultural backgrounds, mothers from different cultures and kindergarten teachers. The sample was composed of sixty‐five mothers (fourteen Roma, fifteen Indian, twelve African, and ten Portuguese from low socio‐cultural backgrounds, and fourteen Portuguese from middle and high socio‐cultural backgrounds) and fifteen kindergarten teachers, from middle and high socio‐cultural backgrounds. They all worked in multicultural classes, and all were aged between 18 and 45. A list of behaviors and open questions about adaptive/non‐adaptive behaviors and the metaphor of Adaptive Adult were applied to identify their values. Results show continuities and discontinuities in mothers’ and kindergarten teachers’ values. The most important were: (1) valuing of autonomy by the kindergarten teachers and Portuguese mothers from high socio‐economic backgrounds and (2) valuing of conformity by Indian and Roma mothers. Discontinuities were also observed between (1) kindergarten teachers and all groups of mothers concerning personal fulfillment, only valued by kindergarten teachers, (2) professional fulfillment, only valued by Indian mothers, and (3) self characteristics, only valued by Portuguese mothers from a low socio‐economic background. Implications of these results are analyzed with regard to research, the training of kindergarten teachers and the nature of interventions with parents.     

Head Start Impact on Fathers’ Involvement and Black Children’s Development

ABSTRACT

This study examined Head Start’s impact on fathers’ school-based involvement and associations with Black children's cognitive, behavioral, and social-emotional skills. With a sample of 1,354 Black children, fathers’ involvement was measured as attendance at school meetings, teacher conferences, school events, and/or volunteering at school events. Children’s cognitive skills were literacy, language, and mathematics scores. Parents reported on the parent–child relationship, children’s social skills, and behavioral concerns. Non-resident fathers in Head Start were more involved in Black children’s schooling than not enrolled in Head Start. Unexpectedly, fathers’ school-based involvement and Head Start enrollment were not related to children’s developmental outcomes at kindergarten age. Head Start serving impoverished Black families should consider implementing targeted school-based father involvement initiatives that directly influence children.     

The use of population‐level data to advance interdisciplinary methodology: a cell‐through‐society sampling framework for child development research

The authors argue that population‐level data should be used to advance interdisciplinary research about community effects on early development. These data permit the identification of neighborhoods in which development patterns deviate from predictions based on local socioeconomic status (SES). So‐called ‘off‐diagonal’ places signal where researchers are likely to discover processes that either deflect the risks of low SES or dampen the salutary impact of favorable SES. Since such neighborhoods will be best understood relative to nearby ‘on‐diagonal’ neighborhoods where macro‐economic and/or public policy factors are constant, the authors present a methodology for illuminating these regional clusters. The method is deployed in British Columbia, Canada, where a team has collected developmental observations from two censuses of kindergarten children (n = 82,632). The article discusses how these clusters can be used to coordinate sampling decisions among academics representing the range of disciplines needed to study child development from cell‐through‐society, as is recommended in the literature.     

Disability,caregiving and interpellation: migrant and non‐migrant families of children with disabilities in urban Australia

The process of interpellation (and its opposite, misinterpellation) is taken as a metaphor for understanding the lived experience of personal difference. This research focuses on two interpellative experiences: disability and migrant status. Parents of children with moderate to profound intellectual disabilities were asked about their engagement with the community; their access to support programs; and their sense of well‐being. Responses were divided between the non‐migrants (who were misinterpellated once) and migrants (who were misinterpellated twice). Were the migrant parents doubly isolated due to migrant status and carer status? What differences were there between migrant and non‐migrant responses to their parental experience? Although migrant parents were more negative about their children’s future, they rated themselves as equally happy and socially connected as non‐migrant parents.     

Promoting low-income preschoolers’ school readiness through a text messaging intervention

The aim of the study is to evaluate the effects of a language-rich math content text message intervention as a way to promote child literacy outcomes for children enrolled in 15 Head Start centers participating in Jumpstart. Two-hundred and fifty-eight families were randomly assigned to treatment (language-rich math text) or control (information about kindergarten enrollment) conditions. Families received text messages in English, Spanish, or written Chinese. Parents reported on children’s fall entry skills and family demography. Teachers reported on children’s interest in math and literacy. Children were directly assessed on literacy skills to determine if the language-rich math content increased literacy skills. Structural equation models reveal no main effects for the sample of 258, but subgroup analyses by language show intervention effectiveness. For families receiving text messages in English, effectiveness depended on children’s fall letter and shape knowledge for increasing phonological awareness (English). The intervention appears most effective for Spanish-speaking families by increasing children’s math and literacy interest, definitional vocabulary, and print knowledge. Limitations and finding implications are discussed.     

Changing perspectives on the child at risk at the end of the nineteenth century. The Belgian Maritime Hospital Roger de Grimberghe (1884–1914) as a space of inclusion and exclusion

In this historical‐geographical approach to the Belgian Maritime Hospital Roger de Grimberghe space is introduced as a conceptual tool to deconstruct the notion of the child at risk. The starting point for the creation of the maritime hospitals lay in the immediate relationship between the idea of improving children’s welfare with healthy sea air and concern about declining public health at the end of the nineteenth century, together with a need for the moral reclamation of the nation. Within this context particular attention focused on ‘the child at risk’, the ‘abnormal child’ and the ‘mentally retarded child’. This research shows how the maritime hospital can be considered a battlefield on which two different discursive practices about children at risk (the political and the medical) clashed. Both practices and perspectives are characterized by mechanisms of inclusion and exclusion.     

Residential mobility predicts behavioral problems for children living in non-parental care during the transition to kindergarten

The present study examines the extent to which residential mobility during the transition to kindergarten (cumulative moves during prekindergarten and kindergarten) is related to externalizing and internalizing behavior problems for children from low-income families who are living in non-parental care. A second, exploratory aim of this study was to investigate whether family service receipt moderated these relations. Data were obtained from the Head Start Impact Study. The sample included 300 children (53% male) who were eligible for Head Start. Residential mobility was conceptualized as three dichotomous variables: never moved, moved 1–2 times, and moved 3 or more times during the prekindergarten and kindergarten years. Predictor and outcome data were collected in the spring of prekindergarten and kindergarten. Moving three or more times was significantly related to more externalizing and internalizing behavior problems in kindergarten, controlling for family and child covariates, as well as for children's behavior problems in prekindergarten. Receipt of family services moderated the association between moving three or more times and externalizing problems, but not internalizing problems. This relation was in the opposite direction than expected, however, such that children who moved frequently and received more services demonstrated more externalizing problems than their peers. Implications of study findings for supporting highly mobile children living in non-parental care and directions for future research are discussed.     

‘It’s the way they do it’: Expressions of Agency in Child–Adult Relations at Home and School

This article examines children's (8–9 years) and young people’s (14–15 years) views about their own participation in decision‐making processes with adults, within the context of home and school in Norway. A difference‐centred theoretical perspective is used to identify children’s participation as expressions of agency embedded in intricate child–adult relations, in which children and adults are positioned differently. It is argued that children not necessarily ask for increased independence from adults, but rather to be recognised as ‘differently equal’ partners in shared decision‐making processes, where children are being treated with dignity and respect as valuable persons.     

Managing Children’s Friendships Through Interparental Relationships: Roles of Ethnicity and Friendship Context

Twenty African American and European American mothers of fourth‐grade students reflected on strategies for managing children’s friendships maintained across a variety of contexts. Ethnicity differentially located families within specific social contexts that yielded children’s friendships, then informed social processes as they unfolded within these contexts. Maternal knowledge concerning children’s friendships developed as a function of the types of relationships formed among parents encountered within different settings. Findings suggest that interparental relationships represent a key source of information about children’s friendships. Yet, maternal opportunities to establish such relationships differ on the basis of both ethnicity and the nature of contexts in which children’s friendships are maintained.     

Perceptions of Children’s Parental Preferences in Lesbian Two‐Mother Households

This study explores how lesbian mothers perceive their 3½‐year‐old children’s parental preferences in families in which one mother is genetically linked to the child. Thirty lesbian couples (60 women) were interviewed about their children’s parental preferences, their explanations of why preferences for one parent existed (or not), and their affective and behavioral reactions to such preferences. Many women acknowledged that their children, as infants, preferred their birth mothers due to biological factors (i.e., breastfeeding) or differential time spent with the child. Despite this initial preference, most women perceived little stability in children’s preferences over time, such that children preferred both mothers equally. Findings support the power of “social motherhood” in fostering maternal connections that transcend biological relatedness over time.     

Giving,Saving, Spending: What Would Children Do with £1 Million?

This article explores children's responses to a single question: ‘If someone gave you £1 million today, what would you do with it?’ Although such an exploration might seem trivial, we argue that their responses provide important insights into children's values and priorities. One‐third intend to spend it all, one quarter to save it. But the largest group claim that they would give all or some of the money away. Their responses highlight the divergent ways in which children use money to foster particular forms of social relations and social standing. Against the prevalent discourse of consumer society, the dominant theme of giving may indicate that the individualism of neoliberalism is less pervasive than is often feared, but also suggest that further research is needed into the social contexts and processes which encourage children to be ‘givers’, ‘savers’ or ‘spenders’.     

Perspectives of Looked after Children on School Experience — a Study Conducted among Primary School Children in a Children’s Home in Singapore

Singapore is known for its well‐developed public education. Although there have been prolific studies and advancement in pedagogy of different groups of learners, the progress has yet to capture the interest of children in residential care, and their educational needs remain a field lacking in discussion. This study seeks to give these children a voice by answering three main questions: (1) What have the children experienced in school? (2) How do they feel about these experiences? (3) To what extent are the children’s experiences and feelings related to their background?A mixed‐method approach that encompasses both quantitative and qualitative instruments has been employed to find out from the Primary School children in a local Children’s Home their perspectives on school experience. The findings reveal that looked after children do encounter greater challenges in school because of their unique background and lack of resources. Most of them would need to rely on the authorities in both the school and the Home for support if better experience and performance in school are to be achieved.     

Responding to teen dating violence: Perspectives from mothers who have been abused and seeking services in domestic violence shelters

ABSTRACT

Teen dating violence (TDV) is a significant public health problem, but we know little about how mothers who have been abused respond to TDV. This article analyzes qualitative data from three focus groups conducted with 17 mothers who had experienced abuse. Mothers responded to four hypothetical scenarios of their child reporting TDV to them. Mothers reported that their approach to children’s reports of TDV would entail engaging in varying levels of authoritarianism, considering the gender of the child, and exercising caution in their responses. In response to the scenarios, mothers stated that they would ask questions, educate their teens, contact the perpetrator and/or parents, share their own experiences, and call for outside help. The study’s findings may assist prevention educators working with mothers who experienced abuse in responding to their children’s disclosures of incidents of TDV.     

Adolescent Pregnancy's Intergenerational Effects: Does an Adolescent Mother's Education Have Consequences for Her Children's Achievement?

Although substantial work has examined the influence of adolescent pregnancy on mothers’ developmental outcomes, few studies have investigated the influence of adolescent mothers’ educational attainment on their children's achievement. This article examined the reading and math achievement trajectories of children born to adolescent and nonadolescent mothers with various levels of educational attainment. Results demonstrate that higher levels of maternal education predicted children's higher initial achievement at kindergarten and growth in achievement through eighth grade. The achievement of children with adolescent mothers, however, never reaches parity with the achievement of their peers with nonadolescent mothers. Race also predicted achievement differences. Black and Latino children of adolescent mothers were at greater risk for underachievement.     

Gutter to Garden: Historical Discourses of Risk in Interventions in Working Class Children’s Street Play

This article investigates interventions in the gutter play of British working class children in the first decade of the 20th century through their re‐location within Free Kindergartens. In contemporary literature, the street child was viewed through a binary lens, as both ‘at risk’ and ‘as risk’, reflecting wider societal discourses in a period of rapidly developing social policy. The paper interrogates the motivations of free kindergarten activists from the standpoint of a range of theory and builds on recent papers discussing 21st century urban childhoods. The findings suggest both historical continuities and discontinuities in the theorisation of risk, which have implications for current social policy, urban design and early childhood education. The questions raised include issues of children’s rights, citizenship, inclusion and cultural diversity.     

Adolescents’ Evaluations of Political Leaders: The Case of President Donald Trump

The current study explored youths’ views of President Donald Trump using quantitative ratings and open‐ended responses from a diverse sample of 1,432 U.S. adolescents from three geographic regions. Adolescent demographic characteristics (i.e., gender, race, geographic location) were systematically associated with their views about Trump. Open‐ended responses demonstrated substantial variability in youths’ rationales for approving or disapproving of the president. Adolescents' attitudes were informed by knowledge of the president’s leadership attributes, political views and policies, and their own experiences. Findings indicate that adolescents draw upon and synthesize a broad range of information when formulating their political views and coordinate this knowledge with their own opinions and experiences when evaluating political figures.