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The study examined the strategies used by teacher educators in their teaching practices and gender integration in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. The nature of the engagement of educational leaders and administrators in supporting teaching, learning and mainstreaming gender issues in teaching was also examined. A total of 165 sampled respondents were reached. This included 81 government officials and educational leaders (18 government officials and 63 educational leaders) and 84 tutors. The study used a concurrent mixed-method approach where the combined qualitative and quantitative data collection methodologies were applied to answer the study questions. The study data were collected directly from the project participants through semi-structured interviews and survey questionnaires. 60% of preprimary and primary tutors from Kenya demonstrated knowledge and skills in pedagogical practices compared to 13% from Tanzania and 20% from Uganda. The findings also revealed that most tutors do not think training and application of lifelong professional development strategies on key pedagogical aspects and content are essential for achieving a gender-responsive and inclusive training and support program. These key areas include support for gender-based violence victims, support for pregnant girls and mothers to continue education; gender-sensitive expectations towards girls' and boys' achievements; gender-sensitive expectations around girls' and boys' behavior, lesson demonstration, and lesson observation. The study recommends that there should be integration of gender issues in delivering training for the tutors of the colleges in East Africa. The training should focus on enhancing pedagogical practices and related educational leadership and management.

In the study, aimed to determine mothers' awareness of digital parenting. This quantitative study employed a descriptive survey model. This study was conducted on 306 mothers whose children enrolled in kindergarten, primary school, secondary school, and high school participated in the research. The data were collected using the Digital Parenting Awareness Scale (DPAS) and personal information form for demographic information of the mothers. Descriptive analyses, Mann-Whitney U Test, Kruskal-Wallis Test and Tamhane's Post Hoc tests were used in the analysis of the data. The analysis results revealed that mothers' digital parenting awareness levels were high. Additionally, no significant difference was found in digital parenting awareness by child gender, previous knowledge about digital media, and the number of children mothers have. It was also found that the level of digital neglect of mothers between the ages of 46-50 was high, mothers living in the Cankaya had a high level of being a negative model, and the mothers living in the Keciören had a high level of efficient use of digital tools. The mothers whose children attended primary school were negative models, and those with undergraduate and graduate degrees had a high level of being negative models.

In this article we experimentally evaluate Colombia's Think Equal program, which teaches socioemotional skills to children ages 3 to 6. Given the context of COVID-19, the original design was adapted as a hybrid model, alternating in-person and remote instruction and engaging families in the implementation of the curriculum. We found that the program had positive effects on children's prosocial behavior, self-awareness, and cognitive learning. The intervention also had an impact on the education center's personnel (community mothers) and caregivers implementing the activities. Treated community mothers had higher levels of empathy, lower negative health symptoms, better pedagogical practices, and a closer relationship with the children's caregivers compared with those in the control group. Treated caregivers had better stimulation practices and lower negative health symptoms compared with those in the control group. These findings suggest that a well-designed intervention has the potential to develop socioemotional skills in children at an early age and, at the same time, to develop capacities in those who implement the activities. Our results have important implications for the design, implementation, and evaluation of early childhood socioemotional learning programs and provide novel evidence about the challenges faced by interventions combining face-to-face and remote learning.

The importance of parent-child shared book reading (SBR) is well established. However, there is a limited understanding of parental interaction patterns during SBR among preschool children in the Indian context. Using a cross-sectional observational study design, mothers' verbal and nonverbal behavior during SBR was analyzed in 26 Kannada-speaking mother-child dyads. Relationships between the quantity of SBR experiences and parental attitudes and beliefs about storybook reading were examined. Findings revealed that mothers predominantly used dialogic reading strategies followed by extra-textual talk, print referencing strategies, and nonverbal strategies. Few correlations were found between parental attitudes and beliefs and the quantity of SBR experiences. Implications for parent training in SBR are discussed.

The present study examined both mothers' reports and adolescents' perceptions of parents' educational involvement and their effects on the adolescents' functioning in school. The sample was drawn from 5 urban schools in Israel. Participants were 449 eighth grade students/adolescents (Female = 47%) and 126 mothers. Adolescents and their mothers completed parallel parents' educational involvement questionnaires, and adolescents completed questionnaires on learning strategies and self-evaluation. Multiple-group confirmatory factor analyses, based on the mothers' reports and adolescents' perceptions of parents' educational involvement revealed three factors: home-based, school-based, and communication-based knowledge of adolescents' activities in school. The analysis showed no relation between mothers' reports and adolescents' perceptions. However, adolescents' perceptions of their parents' educational involvement were significant predictors of the adolescents' learning strategies, self-evaluation, and academic achievement. Findings underline the congruence and incongruence between mothers and their adolescents, and the significant role parents play in their adolescents' schooling according to the adolescents' perceptions.

Adult learners are a significant proportion of distance learners and many of these students are working mothers. Several instructional design models center the learner, and this requires understanding the learner needs, strengths, and context. There is a gap in the literature describing the experience of modern working mother students in distance education. To understand this experience, the researchers interviewed and observed six academically high-achieving working mother students as they participated in their distance education courses during the pandemic. A discourse analysis approach was utilized to analyze the data. This extreme sample revealed several strategies that these students used to be successful despite their challenges. The findings suggest that understanding the experiences of distance learners as they study in the home are important for effective course design. More specifically, working mothers face significant distractions in their study environments, but the cognitive load can be reduced by making use of their prior knowledge, scaffolding instruction, and encouraging social presence. Additional strategies from the literature that address these constructs are provided for instructors and instructional designers.

Legislative smoking bans that prohibit smoking in public places have successfully reduced passive smoking in public areas. However, smokers only partially adhere to smoking restrictions in their homes. Young children are particularly vulnerable to exposure to tobacco smoke because they spend more time at home. In this study, we designed an intervention program based on an empowerment theory to reduce passive smoking among children. The priority participants were nonsmoking mothers living with smokers who smoke in the presence of children. The aim of this randomized control trial study was to examine the effectiveness of this intervention in reducing children's exposure to tobacco smoke at home. The intervention group received tailored educational brochures and two follow-up counseling telephone calls at 2 and 8 weeks, which provided resources to support the mothers to increase their knowledge, skill, and self-confidence in promoting behavior shaping of smokers. The control group received only tailored educational brochures. We found the intervention group demonstrated a higher rate of maternal actions to reduce their children's exposure to smoke and a higher rate than the control group of attempts to avoid smoking in the presence of children at the 16-week follow-up. These results suggest that the intervention helped reduce passive smoking among children. These findings highlight the need to empower and train mothers to help them develop rules for smoking at home. These interventions could be applied in the home of children who live with smokers who are unable or unwilling to quit smoking.

Individual differences in spatial thinking are predictive of children's math and science achievement and later entry into Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) disciplines. Little is known about whether parent characteristics predict individual differences in children's spatial thinking. This study aims to understand whether, and to what extent, mother's intrinsic (i.e., mental rotation) and extrinsic (i.e., spatial scaling) spatial ability directly and indirectly, via the variation in home spatial environment, predicts children's intrinsic and extrinsic spatial ability. A total of 165 mothers and their 4-6-year-old children were recruited to participate in a remote video session with an experimenter. Mothers were administered a forced-choice "Intrinsic Spatial Toy Preference Task" gauging their preference for highly spatial versus less spatial toys and asked questions with the "Home Intrinsic Spatial Environmental Questionnaire" about the frequency with which they engage their child in spatial activities at home. Mothers completed a "Mental Rotations Test" and a "Spatial Scaling Task" adapted for adults. Children were administered the "Picture Rotation Task," the "Spatial Scaling Task," and the "Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test." Structural equation modeling was used to examine direct and indirect, via home spatial environment and toy choices, influences of mother spatial ability on child spatial ability. Contrary to our predictions, we did not find direct, nor indirect, relations between mother and child spatial ability. These findings suggest that researchers should consider alternative conceptualizations of the early home spatial environment beyond the frequency of spatial play in the home.

This article contributes to the growing evidence based on well-being in doctoral study. It draws on 35 qualitative, in-depth interviews to explore how the well-being of an understudied group--working doctoral student mothers--is affected when undertaking part-time PhDs. While there is a growing literature on the research student experience and an increased awareness of mental health issues in doctoral study, there has been little exploration of the experiences of part-time PhD students. Moreover, this is particularly true of mothers undertaking doctorates on a part-time basis. The experiences of this sub-group of research students constitute the gap to which this paper responds. It explores the consequences of having to straddle a number of competing domains and examines how the gender role conflict, marginalisation and lack of support experienced by doctoral student mothers impact their psychological, physical and social well-being. The article concludes with a number of recommendations that institutions may wish to consider.

To address the variability of naturalistic developmental behavioral intervention outcomes, the current study sought to isolate the effects of the instructional strategies of caregiver-mediated naturalistic developmental behavioral interventions. In this comparative efficacy trial, mothers of 111 autistic children (18-48 months) were randomized to learn one of two sets of naturalistic developmental behavioral intervention language facilitation strategies (responsive or directive). We aimed to characterize the effect of strategy type on language outcomes and explore the extent to which joint engagement outcomes mediated language outcomes. Children in the directive condition had significantly greater scores across multiple language assessments. At follow-up, the effect of strategy type on the frequency of spontaneous directed communication acts was fully mediated by coordinated joint engagement (indirect effect = -2.070, 95% CI = [-4.394, -0.06], p < 0.05). Thus, children may benefit from caregiver prompts to facilitate long-term language outcomes. The current study is an initial step in the identification of the mechanisms of caregiver-mediated NDBIs.

This study investigated bilingualism effects on the production of focus in 5- to 9-year-old Cantonese-English bilingual autistic children's L1 Cantonese, compared to their monolingual autistic peers as well as monolingual and bilingual typically developing children matched in nonverbal IQ, working memory, receptive vocabulary and maternal education. The results from an elicitation task showed that monolingual autistic children had significantly lower accuracy than typically developing children in producing focus in subject and object positions. Bilingual autistic children in general performed similarly to monolingual autistic children but outperformed their monolingual autistic peers in the production of object focus with a significantly higher accuracy. The total amount of English exposure did not relate to the accuracy of focus production in autistic and typically developing children. Our results also revealed autistic children's tendency to make use of less prosodic means to produce focus. The overall findings indicate that bilingual exposure has no detrimental effect on the language skills of autistic children but might enhance the production of focus in bilingual autistic children's L1 Cantonese.

This study examined parental romantic attachment security as a mediator of prospective associations between hostile interparental conflict and parental discipline (i.e., power-assertive, permissive, and inductive discipline) for mothers and fathers of young children. Furthermore, this study utilized a novel, automatic assessment of romantic attachment security in examining whether romantic attachment assessed at controlled (i.e., self-reported) and automatic (i.e., a rapid word-sorting task) levels of representation differentially serve as spillover mechanisms. Participants included 235 mothers (62% White), fathers (55% White), and a target child between the ages of 2 and 4 (M[subscript age] = 2.97; 55% girls) recruited from a moderate-sized metropolitan area in the Northeastern United States. Families were assessed annually across three waves of data collection. Results from autoregressive structural equation model analyses revealed that romantic attachment operated as spillover mechanism for mothers. In particular, hostile interparental conflict was associated with power-assertive discipline through changes in mothers' automatic romantic attachment security. We also found that hostile interparental conflict was associated with inductive discipline through changes in mothers' romantic attachment avoidance. Neither controlled nor automatic romantic attachment representations served as spillover mechanisms for fathers. Findings are discussed within family systems and attachment frameworks.

This study investigated Hmong American adolescents' perceptions of their mother as helping them understand race as Asian American youths in an urban context. Twenty-four Hmong American adolescents ages 14 to 18 (M = 15.8; 67% female; 54% U.S. born, 46% born in Southeast Asia) participated in semi-structured interviews, following approval of the Institutional Review Board. Directed content analysis revealed three themes of racial, ethnic, and neutral socialization practices. Frequently, responses reflected the categories of racism awareness, racial group identification, and diversity awareness, as well as no discussion of race (racial socialization theme). Although the study asked specifically about racial socialization, some responses indicated that mothers engaged in cultural practices that included cultural markers and ethnic group identification (ethnic socialization theme). A few responses also represented neutral socialization that emphasized good behavior. Emergent categories included intra-racial discrimination and bicultural socialization. More frequently than girls, boys reported having discrimination experiences without discussing race with mothers. Girls reported more intra-racial discrimination messages, as well as bicultural and neutral messages than boys. These findings can help Hmong American adolescents and their families continue to build successful strategies for dealing with racism and discrimination, and support understanding how Asian Americans address racialized experiences in the U.S.

This paper provides insight into working-class parents' views of the structural and systemic injustices shaping post-school options and opportunities in contemporary Australia, drawing on interview data with a group of mothers living in growth corridor suburbs in the outer west of Melbourne. Illustrating aspects of Berlant's (2011) notion of "cruel optimism", the paper examines the concepts of diminished society and collective community afforded by success through education, an aspiration and achievement unequal among young Australians. As Reay (2017) argues, an ideological narrative that positions individuals as being responsible for their own achievement through education sets many up to fail. This paper gives voice to the lived experiences of this individual responsibilitisation. We draw on elements of Marxist analysis, a subset of critical theory, whereby economic circumstances are the basis upon which political and ideological realities are built, critiquing the ways in which neoliberal social and economic policy and ideology are normalised (Tyson, 2015).

Little is known about the parenting experiences of autistic mothers, yet there is reason to believe that autistic mothers of non-autistic daughters have a unique set of experiences, especially during their daughters' adolescence. Seven autistic mothers of adolescent (n = 5) and adult (n = 2) non-autistic daughters were interviewed about their experiences of raising their daughters during adolescence. Data were analyzed using an Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) approach and four superordinate themes were identified: (1) Closeness in relationships (expressed affection, safety and support, understanding mothers' autism), (2) Parenting strengths (problem-solving skills, positive strategies for managing conflict), (3) Identifying own social challenges (understanding social dynamics, friendships and social groups), and (4) Building daughters' social skills (concern about daughters' social development, creating opportunities for positive social interactions). This research highlights the strengths of autistic mothers and the loving relationships they have with their daughters. Mothers in this study also revealed specific challenges, such as interacting with other parents who often ignored or excluded them. This study, therefore, emphasizes the need for greater societal awareness, understanding, acceptance, and inclusion of the autistic community.

Purpose: This qualitative study examines autistic adolescents' perception of the quality of their relationship with their parent using the Three Minute Speech Sample. Methods: Twenty autistic youth (13-17 years; 83% male) spoke, uninterrupted, for three minutes about their thoughts and feelings regarding their mothers. Audio-recorded speech samples were transcribed and coded for emergent themes. Results: Adolescents highlighted emotional support and acceptance in the context of their relationship, support mothers provide for mental health, love and caring, efforts to build the relationship through shared activities, and areas of adolescent-parent conflict. Conclusion: The TMSS is a low cost, low burden method by which autistic adolescents can comfortably and effectively self-report the quality of their relationship with their parent/caregiver.

A meta-analysis was performed to evaluate the possible association between maternal alcohol drinking during pregnancy and autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in offspring. Twelve datasets from five observational studies were included. Results showed that maternal alcohol drinking during pregnancy was not independently associated with ASD (risk ratio: 0.90, 95% confidence interval: 0.78 to 1.04, p = 0.16, I[superscript 2] = 0%). The results were consistent for heavy alcohol drinking versus no alcohol drinking during pregnancy, and for studies evaluating the influence of maternal alcohol consumption during different trimesters. In conclusion, current evidence does not support that maternal alcohol consumption during pregnancy is independently associated with ASD in offspring.

This intervention study aimed to assess mothers' knowledge of iron-deficiency anemia (IDA). It also measured the impact of a health education program on their level of knowledge and their infants' IDA rates in rural areas of Nablus Governorate. Using a randomized pretest--posttest control group design, the efficacy of 3 months' education program was examined against control group. Assessments were made at baseline and after 3 months of conducting the intervention. A structured interviewing questionnaire was used to assess the knowledge about IDA, and blood samples were collected from infants in both groups. Only 1.9% of mothers in the intervention group and 3.5% of mothers in the control group had good level of knowledge at baseline. After the educational intervention, a significant statistical difference was observed in the mean total knowledge score between the intervention and control groups (33.68 + 5.366 versus 26.12 + 5.243), and the intervention group was seven times more likely to have good knowledge (relative risk = 7.332). Regarding IDA rate, there was a decrease in the infants with IDA in the intervention group (relative risk = 0.671) compared to infants in the control group. The planned health education program was effective in improving mothers' knowledge and reducing the risk of IDA among their infants.

Playgroups are a unique form of early childhood provision involving parents and their children attending together. Parents' attendance at playgroups provides opportunities for involvement in play. However, little is known about parents' practices of co-play in playgroups and the potential for these practices to enhance children's play experiences in early childhood. Drawing on practice architectures theory, this paper identifies parents' practices of co-play in a community playgroup, and the enablers and constraints on those practices. Data were collected through ethnographic methods, which included participant observation and informal individual interviews. The findings show that parents' practices of co-play consider the child's needs and interests in ways that support development and enhance children's play in the community playgroup. This research contributes new knowledge about the range of co-play practices engaged in by parents with children in community playgroups.

This case occurs in a Midwestern community that has received Afghan individuals and families. It explores the experiences of an Afghan mother and two children as they transition into U.S.-based schooling culture and norms as the children start elementary school. The family initially had the help of a K-12 liaison from a community-based organization. The case explores the cultural and religious identities of the family and how one school leader struggles to offer a space that acknowledges, values, and respects their identities. This case informs school leaders on best welcoming practices for newcomer students and their families in schools and communities.

Educational interpreters are not neutral mediators of messages. In education, they are policy brokers whose translations can reflect their own social identities and often align with larger social power dynamics, including deficit perspectives of racialized multilingual people. In U.S. schools, language minoritized parents have the right to make decisions about their children's education; yet current theory does not account for their power to shape educational policies--or the political roles of interpreters who represent their negotiations. I propose a theory of interpreters as invisible policy brokers and identity mediators. I employ an approach that centers the questions and agency of newly arrived, predominantly Spanish-speaking mothers in a Midwest school district with growing demographics of language minoritized students.

The parent-child relationship plays an important role in shaping adolescents' mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the mechanisms underlying the association between the parent-child relationship and mental health are unclear. Using a 2-wave longitudinal design, this study examined the role of both mother-child and father-child relationships during home quarantine in boarding school students' internalizing and externalizing problems after school reopening, and the mediating roles of academic buoyancy and academic engagement. A total of 1967 boarding high school students completed a battery of self-report questionnaires before and after school reopening. Results indicated that both father-child and mother-child relationships indirectly contributed to internalizing and externalizing problems through the interlinked mediation path of academic buoyancy and academic engagement. The mother-child relationship had greater influence on internalizing and externalizing problems than the father-child relationship. These findings clarify the associations between the parent-child relationships and mental health problems of boarding high school students during the transition to school reopening in the COVID-19 pandemic, expanding our understanding of psychological adjustment related to parent-child relationships and the potential mechanisms of these relationships.

Backgroud: Despite the advancements in the rights of persons with disabilities in Western countries, the motherhood of women with intellectual disabilities remains scarcely visible. The approval of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (2006) and its subsequent ratification by the Spanish Government (2008) recalls the obligation to fulfil the rights of persons with disabilities to found a family (art. 23) and to choose who they want to live with (art. 19). While the importance of this legislation is undeniable, the personal experiences of women with intellectual disabilities still demand effective changes. Methods: This article reports the results of a study entitled "Subjectivities and motherhood in women with intellectual disabilities. Reflections in dialogue through an inclusive research project." In this study, we delved into the stories of 13 women, aged between 24 and 72, to learn about their motherhood experiences (before, during and after making the decision of being mothers) and to identify the barriers and supports encountered. Methods for data collection included individual semi-structured interviews, discussion groups and other narrative and visual resources (images and biograms). Findings: This study explores in depth the obstacles identified by the participating mothers, which have been organised around six themes: (1) information and guidance on sexuality and family planning, (2) assistance of health services, (3) employment and housing situation, (4) child custody, (5) raising children, and (6) informal support. The participants encountered difficulties in all the above fields related to contextual factors. In other words, these barriers do not derive from individual issues centred on their disability, but from factors that often do not depend on mothers with intellectual disabilities, such as deprivation of socio-educational opportunities. Conclusions: Our results show the nuanced ways in which these mothers were immersed in a social system that questions them as 'good mothers' and violates their rights. As we discussed, the participants' desires and decisions to engage and/or continue with motherhood constitute an exercise of resistance to this system.

Background: Drawing on the family stress model (Conger and Donnellan in Ann Rev Psychol 58:175-199, 2007. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.psych.58.110405.085551), parenting programs typically support caregivers' nurturing and cognitively stimulating practices to mitigate the effects of poverty on child development, with small-to-moderate intervention effect sizes. Objective: This study evaluated a nonrandomized parenting program in Turkiye for low-income pregnant women and mothers of infants. The program utilized home visiting (HV) implemented by local municipalities for the first time. It was hypothesized that program mothers would engage in cognitively-stimulating practices more often at child age 9 months, and thereby expand their child's vocabulary at 18 months of age. Subgroup analyses based on maternal depression were also conducted. Methods: Using a quasi-experimental design, 526 mothers were allocated to one of two groups: HV intervention (n = 282, 77% pregnant) vs. control (n = 244, 69% pregnant). Mothers completed questionnaires on family and environmental risk at enrollment (T1), on depression and stimulating parenting at infant age 9 months (T2), and child vocabulary at 18 months (T3). Results: HV mothers reported stimulating parenting more frequently than controls at T2. Enrollment in HV predicted larger child vocabulary at T3 through stimulating parenting at T2. Subgroup differences were not detected. Conclusions: Results suggested that HV is a promising strategy to offer parent coaching to economically disadvantaged Turkish families. Though the present study made statistical adjustments to minimize group nonequivalence in baseline, selection bias might pose a threat to internal validity. A randomized controlled trial is warranted to examine its impact more rigorously prior to wider scale implementation.

Previous studies suggest that child behavior problems were associated with higher levels of parenting stress and depressive symptoms in parents of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Parents' coping strategies have been found to provide potential buffering effects. Thus, this study investigated the mediation effect of coping strategies on the relationships between child behavior problems, parenting stress and depressive symptoms in Taiwanese mothers of children with ASD. Participants were 128 children with ASD (mean age = 32.32 months, SD = 10.43) and their mothers. All mothers completed a battery of questionnaires on parenting stress, depressive symptoms, coping strategies and child behavior problems. Principal components factor analysis identified three coping categories: Problem-focused coping, avoidance coping, and distraction coping. Problem-focused coping was correlated with decreased parenting stress and depressive symptoms, whereas avoidance coping was associated with increased parenting stress and depressive symptoms. In addition, problem-focused coping mediated the relationship between child externalizing behavior problems and parenting stress. In conclusion, problem-focused coping could be an effective strategy to deal with the stress issues on mothers of preschool-age children with ASD, and potentially may decrease the possibilities of negative outcomes.

A growing body of literature shows that adherence to some aspects of Western masculinity norms, including the suppression of emotional vulnerability, avoidance of seeking support from others, and exaggerated physical toughness, is associated with poorer psychological and social outcomes. While existing research suggests that parental gender beliefs and caregiving behaviors might influence the development of children's gendered behaviors, little is known about the developmental origins of individual differences in adherence to masculinity norms. The current study aims to address this gap and presents a longitudinal investigation of how parental gender beliefs and maternal sensitivity during infancy contribute to children's adherence to masculinity norms during middle childhood. Data were drawn from a mixed-method 9-year longitudinal study of 374 urban Chinese families (48.40% with daughters). Parental gender beliefs were assessed at 24 months, maternal sensitivity was assessed with mother-child interaction observations at 14 and 24 months, and children's self-reported adherence to masculinity norms were assessed at age 10 years. Results indicate that while parental gender beliefs had no associations with children's adherence to masculinity norms, maternal sensitivity predicted children's adherence to masculinity norms ([beta] = -0.18, p = 0.008) above and beyond parental gender beliefs and parental education level; moreover, there was a significant interaction of sex on the effect of maternal sensitivity on children's adherence to masculinity ([beta] = -0.23, p = 0.025), and the association was significant only for boys.

This study examines the moment-to-moment within-person associations between maternal and child behaviors during a challenging puzzle task and compares these associations between mother--child dyads from the United States (n = 99, 52 boys, M[subscript child age] = 56.05 months, SD = 6.44) and China (n = 101, 46 boys, M[subscript child age] = 57.41 months, SD = 6.58). Maternal autonomy support and intrusive control and child agency and defeat were rated in 15-s intervals by native and bicultural coders. Country was examined as a moderator of the moment-to-moment within-person associations between maternal and child behaviors. The results showed that for both U.S. and Chinese dyads, increases in maternal intrusive control predicted subsequent decreases in child agency, and increases in child defeat predicted subsequent increases in maternal autonomy support. Furthermore, increases in maternal autonomy support predicted subsequent increases in child defeat, but for the Chinese dyads only.

A large body of research has established a relation between maternal education and children's neurocognitive functions, such as executive function and language. However, most studies have focused on early childhood and relatively few studies have examined associations with changes in maternal education over time. Consequently, it remains unclear if early maternal education is longitudinally related to neurocognitive functions in children, adolescents, and young adults. In addition, the associations between changes in maternal education across development and more broadly defined neurocognitive outcomes remain relatively untested. The current study leveraged a large multicohort sample to examine the longitudinal relations between perinatal maternal education and changes in maternal education during development with children's, adolescents', and young adults' neurocognitive functions (N = 2,688; M[subscript age] = 10.32 years; SD[subscript age] = 4.26; range = 3-20 years). Moreover, we examined the differential effects of perinatal maternal education and changes in maternal education across development on executive function and language performance. Perinatal maternal education was positively associated with children's later overall neurocognitive function. This longitudinal relation was stronger for language than executive function. In addition, increases in maternal education were related to improved language performance but were not associated with executive functioning performance. Our findings support perinatal maternal education as an important predictor of neurocognitive outcomes later in development. Moreover, our results suggest that examining how maternal education changes across development can provide important insights that can help inform policies and interventions designed to foster neurocognitive development. [This paper was written on behalf of program collaborators for Environmental Influences on Child Health Outcomes.]

Prior theoretical and empirical research has highlighted links between positive parenting and the socioeconomic characteristics of the family's neighborhood, but has yet to illuminate the etiologic origins of this association. One possibility is that the various predictors of parenting outlined by Belsky (1984; e.g., characteristics of the child, characteristics of the parent, and contextual influences) may matter more in some neighborhood contexts than in others. To examine this possibility, we conducted etiologic moderation analyses in a sample of 1,030 families of twins (average age 8 years; 51% male, 49% female; racial composition: 82% White, 10% Black, 1% Asian, 1% Indigenous, and 6% multiracial) from the Twin Study of Behavioral and Emotional Development in Children in the Michigan State University Twin Registry. Neighborhood and parenting were assessed using multiple informants and assessment strategies (neighborhood and family informants, administrative data, and videotaped parent-child interactions). Results pointed to strong evidence of etiologic moderation, such that child effects on positive mothering were prominent in neighborhoods with little opportunity and near zero in neighborhoods with ample opportunity. Such findings not only reframe the magnitude of child effects on the parenting they receive as context-dependent, but also indicate that mothers in impoverished neighborhoods may be more responsive to their children's characteristics than mothers in neighborhoods with ample opportunity.

Attention deficit/hyperactivity behaviors in children are often unnoticed until they reach school age; however, evidence suggests that attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) tends to develop at an earlier age. Recent studies also indicate that perinatal maternal mental health is associated with ADHD symptoms in offspring. This study examines the association between maternal postpartum depression, early hyperactive/aggressive behavior, and later ADHD symptoms. This longitudinal cohort study used data from health checkups and surveys. Mothers with a postpartum Edinburgh postnatal depression scale score [greater than or slanted equal to] 9 were considered as having postpartum depression symptoms. The presence of early hyperactive/aggressive behavior was determined based on 3-year-old children's health checkup data. The ADHD rating scale (ADHD-RS) answered by the caregivers of 182 sixth-grade children was used for the analysis. ADHD-RS scores were significantly higher in children with early hyperactive and/or aggressive behavior (p = 0.002) and for children of mothers who had postpartum depression symptoms (p < 0.001). Early hyperactive/aggressive behavior did not mediate the predictive association of maternal postpartum depression symptoms with ADHD symptoms in sixth grade. ADHD symptoms in the sixth grade were independently associated with childhood hyperactive/aggressive behavior at age 3 and maternal postpartum depression symptoms.

This longitudinal study examined the interactive effects of individual- and classroom-level teacher-child relationships on developing externalizing, internalizing, and prosocial behaviors in kindergarten children over time. On two occasions separated by about 1 year, data were collected from 473 kindergarten children (52% boys, M[subscript age] = 4.36 years) and their class teachers and mothers in Hong Kong, China. Class teachers reported the closeness and conflict in their relationships with each participating child of their class at Time 1, and mothers reported the child's externalizing, internalizing, and prosocial behaviors at Times 1 and 2. Results indicated that controlling for child age, gender, grade, maternal education, and prior levels of child adjustment, individual-level teacher-child closeness was negatively associated with internalizing behaviors, and individual-level teacher-child conflict was positively associated with child externalizing behaviors over time. Classroom-level teacher-child closeness and conflict emerged as moderators. The longitudinal association between individual-level teacher-child closeness and externalizing behaviors was negative in low-closeness classrooms but not in high-closeness classrooms. However, the longitudinal association between individual-level teacher-child conflict and child prosocial behaviors was negative in low-conflict classrooms but not in high-conflict classrooms. Despite the statistical significance of the cross-level interaction effects, they were of small effect sizes and explained only very small amounts of variance. Theoretically, our findings demonstrated the interplay of the individual- and classroom-level teacher-child relationships in shaping children's psychosocial adjustment over time. Practically, our findings highlighted the importance of enhancing teachers' awareness of the affective quality of their relationships with children at both classroom and individual levels, which could potentially impede or promote child development.

Exposure to war is known to impact children's physical and mental health. Recent research reveals that war exposure might even affect the developmental outcomes of children who are yet to be conceived. In this study, we sought to extend such prior work by investigating longitudinal associations between pre-conception war exposure and the accompanying maternal emotional distress on child sleep. Israeli mothers, who conceived within a year after the Lebanon war in 2006 (N = 68), were followed until their children reached 10 years of age. At that age, child sleep problems were measured through mother and child reports. Results from analyses of covariances (ANCOVAs) showed that war exposure prior to conception itself did not predict child sleep. However, hierarchical regression analyses showed that higher levels of maternal emotional distress, as a result of pre-conception war exposure, predicted more sleep problems in girls. Further exploratory analyses revealed that these associations showed themselves in both maternal and child reports on various sleep domains. In boys, no evidence was found for associations between maternal emotional distress during wartime and sleep 10 years later. These results indicate that war-related pre-conception stress might have long-term, sex-specific effects on child sleep, though replication with larger samples is needed to corroborate the findings.

Currently, no culturally and linguistically adapted autism screening tools are available in South Africa. The aim was to determine the reliability and concurrent validity of the adapted English and Northern Sotho-translated Modified Checklist for Autism in Toddlers--Revised with Follow-up (M-CHAT-R/F). Reliability was confirmed with near-perfect agreement (p < 0.001) between the checklists in a sample of 158 Northern Sotho/English bilingual mothers of children with a low risk for autism. Concurrent validity between the Northern Sotho M-CHAT-R/F and the communication and socialization sub-domains of the Vineland Adaptive Behaviour Scales--3rd Edition was established with significant association at the 5% level. A third (33.5%) of the children showed a developmental delay. The checklists are valid and reliable, and may improve early identification that will render better long-term outcomes for children with autism in South Africa. Autism screening should be combined with developmental assessment. The study contributes to an emerging body of research on the development of contextually appropriate screening measures.

Quantile regression (QR) provides an alternative to linear regression (LR) that allows for the estimation of relationships across the distribution of an outcome. However, as highlighted in recent research on the motherhood penalty across the wage distribution, different procedures for conditional and unconditional quantile regression (CQR, UQR) often result in divergent findings that are not always well understood. In light of such discrepancies, this paper reviews how to implement and interpret a range of LR, CQR, and UQR models with fixed effects. It also discusses the use of Quantile Treatment Effect (QTE) models as an alternative to overcome some of the limitations of CQR and UQR models. We then review how to interpret results in the presence of fixed effects based on a replication of Budig and Hodges's work on the motherhood penalty using NLSY79 data.

In recent years, the theoretical lens of new materialism(s) and surge in feminist thinking has opened up new ways of understanding the complexities of motherhood, babyhood and early childhood. This surge in post-qualitative and feminist inquiry towards the troubling of dominant early childhood abstractions and norms, as well as resistance to human-centric perspectives offers new possibilities to engage both ethically and politically in an affirmative exploration of motherhoods, babyhoods and early childhoods. Through communicating the methodological nuances in two early childhood physical spaces this article is a (re)assembling of the fibrous, slippery and friable fragments of an earlier inquiry. The first of these spaces was a baby room in an Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) setting in the United Kingdom (UK), and the second was Higher Education (HE) Undergraduate (UG) Early Childhood Studies (ECS) teaching and learning environments, again in the UK. There were also a number of virtual, past and present, material, ephemeral and ethereal research sites that seem disparate, yet connected. The transversal methodology held bodies in the middle of the research, allowing things to creep in and creep out. A mobilisation of motherhood, babyhood and childhood sensing pasts produced neologisms, such as mothersick, Bowlb(arbar)ian and (gh)host(ile)(ly) which conjure transversality and spacetimemattering in all that I do in the HE ECS classroom and ECEC environments. Memories, histories and (her)stories -- severed encounters shared and assembled. Cuts that brought pain to the surface(s) and bodies become ambiguous, unnerving, raw and exposed. Through the article, it is argued, powerful psychological developmental theories that reverberate through human and nonhuman bodies haunt student and pedagogue bodily knowledges and histories. It is suggested that ethically, HE pedagogues have a duty of care to think beyond the immediate teaching and learning classroom and consider how we touch the lives of UG ECS students, in unknown but often imperceptible and sensed ways.

How individuals come to perceive themselves in STEM is predicated on their understanding of what it means to be a member of the STEM community. This association is consequential when considering the perpetuation of white male ownership of STEM knowledge and power that forces learners identifying with groups systemically marginalized by racial and gender discrimination to adopt particular norms, values, and behaviors to gain recognition. In effect, these expectations help to maintain masculinized Discourses as STEM professionals are encultured to apply the same recognition criteria to which they were judged themselves. We examine how these Discourses are maintained even as learners who identify with groups that carry histories of systemic marginalization by racist, sexist, and elitist practices gain access to STEM communities. Specifically, we explore how university STEM students attending a Hispanic Serving Institution in the United States articulate gendered expectations of STEM membership through their characterization of themselves and others as (not) STEM people. Drawing from theories in Discourse, social identity, and feminist critiques of science, we describe how students implicitly recognize STEM identity in gendered ways. We discuss how our findings illuminate the mechanisms by which STEM recognition is afforded by pointing to its dependence on masculinized displays of STEM performances, competence, and interests, leading to a cycle of marginalization as learners are encultured to perpetuate existing STEM Discourses in their recognition of others. We discuss research implications for measurements of STEM identity that do not account for gendered Discourses and offer practical implications for the design of learning experiences that co-opt existing Discourses to inoculate gendered perceptions of a STEM person prototype. Lastly, we present a case for elevating the role of maternal caregivers and family immigration histories in STEM identity construction.

Communities may often lack the resources to deliver intensive programs to assist teen mothers, and many eligible adolescents may decline participation in lengthy interventions. Therefore, alternative approaches involving less resource and time may be needed. Behavioral economics (BE) can inform the development of such novel interventions. BE often feature low-intensity approaches designed to "nudge" people to help them reach their long-term goals. Nudges can include giving reminders, making the desired behavior more convenient, and optimizing the verbal presentation of recommended options. Three hundred thirty-one American adolescents (ages 14 to 19) who were 22 to 35 weeks pregnant were enrolled in the present trial. One hundred sixty-six participants were randomly assigned to the intervention condition featuring a three-month BE intervention delivered by a registered nurse and social worker. The remaining 165 youths were assigned usual care. Surveys were completed at baseline, 3 months, 12 months, and 18 months. Data collection occurred from 2017 to 2021. Qualitative feedback indicated that the BE intervention was well-received by adolescents. However, there were no significant differences between the intervention and control groups at any time point regarding repeat pregnancy, contraceptive usage, financial literacy, school completion, job attainment, HPV vaccinations, nicotine usage, perception of having a medical home, urgent care/ED usage, and nutritional intake (all p > 0.05). Our findings suggest that a BE-based intervention may not be sufficient to facilitate change for teen mothers. Future programs should consider lasting longer, featuring a higher dose, and/or incorporating systems-level changes. This trial was prospectively registered (NCT03194672 clinicaltrials.gov).

Refugee children often face disruptions to their education before and during displacement. However, little is known about either levels or predictors of refugee children's literacy or about their attitudes toward reading in low- or middle-income countries. To address this, we conducted in-home literacy assessments using the Holistic Assessment of Learning and Development Outcomes with 322 Syrian refugee mother-child dyads who lived in Jordan (child age range 4-8 years, M = 6.32 years, 50% female). Overall, the children had quite low levels of literacy, although they indicated a strong enthusiasm for reading. Child age, maternal education, and maternal ability to read all predicted child literacy, although maternal literacy predicted it only among children enrolled in school. Among those enrolled in school (64.9% of the total sample, 88.7% of those aged [greater than or equal to] 6), students attending hybrid classes had better literacy than those attending either solely in-person or solely online, although the frequency of school attendance did not predict literacy. A less consistent pattern emerged for predicting children's attitudes toward reading. Our results suggest an urgent need to improve literacy skills among refugee children in Jordan, as well as a need for validated measures of attitudes toward reading for use with Arabic-speaking youth.

The current study examines the association between the mother-caregiver relationship and the psychological well-being of 533 mothers who transitioned their children to a non-familial licensed childcare center. Maternal well-being, mother-caregiver relationship quality, and maternal parenting stress were assessed. Hierarchical linear regressions were conducted to examine the associations between independent variables (i.e., maternal demographic data, parenting stress, and maternal reports of supportive caregiver relationship) and maternal well-being as a dependent variable. The results show that together, the independent variables account for 31% of variation in maternal well-being. Findings suggest that a supportive caregiver relationship is a significant factor in contributing to maternal well-being. There is a call to recognize mothers transitioning their children to non-familial care as a special population for consideration by teachers, caregivers, and infant/child mental health professionals working in childcare settings. The current research bolsters discussion on mother-caregiver relationships to focus on how professionals in childcare settings can best support mothers in this unique transition to non-familial care for their children.

Research on the implementation of CLIL at the onset of primary school is limited and has largely overlooked the role of other sources of individual differences. This study investigated the effects of the CLIL approach to English learning, together with the effects of out-of-school exposure to the language through media and other sources of individual differences, in a sample of Grade 1 students in Catalonia (Spain) using a longitudinal design. Participants (N = 176) from 14 different schools completed a test battery at the beginning and end of Grade 1 that assessed receptive and productive English skills. Results revealed that abilities at the onset of Grade 1 were the best predictor of abilities at the end of the year, and that CLIL was not associated with additional advantages in the students that followed the approach. In addition, certain characteristics of the linguistic and family background of participants predicted additional gains during the academic year: participants who engaged in more English extracurricular activities and participants with more educated mothers performed better at the end of Grade 1.

Family navigator programs are becoming increasingly common among families of children with autism. Yet, it is unclear how family navigators are developed; by exploring the input of families of children with autism, such programs can be responsive to family needs. In this study, 12 parents of autistic children from low-resourced communities were interviewed to inform the development of a family navigator program. Findings demonstrated that programs need to prepare navigators to address barriers such as limited knowledge and difficulty accepting an autism diagnosis. Programs should teach navigators to use strategies with families including educating families about services and connecting families with peer support. Program content should reflect direct services, government services, and advocacy strategies. Implications are discussed.

Teacher-family partnerships are crucial elements of high-quality early childhood education. The factors influencing these partnerships, particularly for children under age 3, are not well known. This study compares teachers' and mothers' perspectives on their partnership and the ideal practices they would like to see implemented. Additionally, it investigates child, family, and program-level factors predictive of partnership practices. Participants were mothers and teachers of 90 infants who completed the Real-Ideal Teacher-parents Partnership Scale; mothers rated child's temperament, and classroom quality was observed 6-months after infants entered childcare. Home environment was assessed before infants entered childcare. Both mothers and teachers reported a medium-high number of practices being implemented, but ideally, would like more practices to be implemented. The frequency of mother and teacher reports of real and ideal practices were significantly associated, although teacher reports were higher. Findings from the regression analyses showed that teacher level of education (having a Master) was uniquely and positively associated with both teachers' and mothers' reports of real partnership practices, and was significantly associated with teachers' reports of ideal partnership practices. Mothers' education level predicted their ideal partnership practices. Findings highlight the importance of teacher education for partnerships, especially considering the variability in legal requirements regarding qualifications for teaching infants across Europe.

Prior to the emergence of the coronavirus disease in 2019 (COVID-19), studies revealed lower involvement of fathers in the education of learners who are Deaf and Hard of hearing (LDHH). Although research evidence reveals that work structure and other commitments may be responsible for fathers' limited involvement in the education of their children, there is limited research evidence on the involvement of fathers of LDHH in remote education during the COVID-19 lockdowns. Based on the perceptions of mothers of LDHH, this study therefore explored fathers' involvement in the remote education of their LDHH. Hinged on the Theory of Planned Behaviour, two research questions were raised and answered in the study. Eight mothers of LDHH from KwaZulu-Natal province in South Africa participated in this qualitative study. Data was gathered via a semi-structured telephonic interview, and the collected data was analysed thematically. The findings revealed that: (1) the involvement of fathers in the remote education of LDHH saw a fair increase during the lockdowns when compared to the pre-COVID-19 era; (2) father-child communication approaches, technical devices needed for remote learning, and ability to intervene promptly when technical glitches arises were factors that influenced the perceptions of the fathers' involvement in the remote education of LDHH during the lockdowns. Based on the findings, appropriate recommendations were made for policy and practice.

In this article I explore the emotional resources activated by single mothers to support their adolescent children's educational journeys. Mothers' emotional work is often regarded as something that mothers must do (Gillies, 2006). However, this view does not recognise the power and influence that mothers exert to create opportunities for educational success. By centring the mother as the head of her family and drawing on the concept of emotional capital as a legitimate and valuable resource within single-mother families, it becomes possible to show how mothers in a low socio-economic community invest in their children's schooling. This article is based on a qualitative case study of single-mother families from a South African community. The findings show that the single mothers maintained strong bonds with their children, which enhanced perceived support and contributed positively to their education. Maintaining open communication channels, demonstrating authoritative parenting, and communicating pride in non-academic qualities were significant emotional practices that served to maintain these strong bonds. By engaging in these practices, these single mothers from low-income contexts activated their emotions strategically to support their adolescent child's education.