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This study investigated the association between Chinese immigrant mothers' reports of parenting stress and two sources of parenting support: fathers' support and social support. Five independent-samples t-tests were first computed to examine whether there were discrepancies between Chinese immigrant mothers' and fathers' perceptions of fathers' involvement across five domains of fathers' involvement in early child care: (1) fathers' warmth and attunement; (2) control and process responsibility; (3) emotional involvement; (4) indirect care; and (5) positive engagement. Then regression analyses were conducted to understand how and to what extent the five domains of father involvement reported by mothers and mothers' perceived social support influenced Chinese immigrant mothers' parenting stress. In addition, an indirect effects of mothers' self-efficacy on the relation between fathers' involvement and mothers' parenting stress was also tested. The results showed that Chinese mothers reported significantly greater level of fathers' emotional involvement than the same type of involvement reported by Chinese immigrant fathers. This study also found that fathers' emotional involvement reported by Chinese immigrant mothers was a significant predictor of Chinese immigrant mothers' parenting stress. However, mothers' perceived social support was a stronger predictor, accounting for more variance in their parenting stress than their reports of fathers' involvement across all the five dimensions. Mothers' self-efficacy did not account for the association between Chinese immigrant mothers' reports of fathers' involvement across five dimensions and mothers' parenting stress.

PurposeThis study aims to investigate international students’ cultural adjustment, academic satisfaction and turnover intentions using ecological systems perspective and explores factors that affect academic success and turnover by exploring three stages: arrival, adjustment and adaptation.Design/methodology/approachThe sample consists of 208 international students enrolled at a mid-Western university in the USA. Confirmatory factor analysis, structural equation modeling and mediational analyses were used to test hypotheses.FindingsFindings indicate that self-efficacy, as a pre-sojourn characteristic, affects adjustment variables inclusive of cultural adjustment, affecting academic satisfaction and turnover intentions. Adjustment variables (coping, cultural adjustment and organizational support) mediated relationships between self-efficacy and turnover intentions.Research limitations/implicationsThe proposed model moves the research forward by examining an ecological systems framework describing how individual, social, academic, cultural and institutional factors function in supporting international students’ transitions. Results may be generalizable to other large US universities with varying dynamics and resources available (or not) for international students.Originality/valueGiven the challenges international students face in the USA in adapting to both new culture and academic setting, it is imperative to identify what elements of their transition and academic environment predict academic success. This is one of the first studies testing the propositions derived from Schartner and Young’s (2016) model.

This review attempts to provide an overview of parents' mobile device distractions while caring for their children and the implications of this distraction on parent-child relationships. This revie...

Background Health care professionals are continually challenged by the need to provide health information in a way that successfully changes health practices. Research has documented this as a concern in relation to safe infant sleep health campaigns. Often, caregivers' knowledge of recommended practices is not associated with a change in infant sleep choices. Purpose Health campaigns, including most safe infant sleep efforts, often share specific risk factors and steps for avoiding risk, that is, in a verbatim format. Research has shown that caregivers' behavior may be more likely to change when presented with messages based on their general understanding of risk, that is, gist-based format. This research examines caregivers' responses as related to verbatim- and gist-based safe sleep information. Methods Five hundred forty-one caregivers of infants were shown 12 images depicting infants in safe or unsafe sleep spaces. Images varied across three commercially available spaces, infant race, and presence/absence of one policy-based risk factor. Results Differences in caregivers' discernment of safe and unsafe sleep images paralleled reported differences in knowledge of safe sleep recommendations. Discernment of safe/unsafe images was greater for White than Black caregivers, as well as for females in comparison with male caregivers. Gist-based considerations, such as familiarity with the sleeper depicted or infant race, were also associated with caregivers' discernment of safe/unsafe images. Implications for practice Attending to both gist- and verbatim-based knowledge regarding safe infant sleep campaign information may help to effectively facilitate caregivers' ability to always create safe sleep spaces for their infants.

Emotional Connection (EC) measured by the Welch Emotional Connection Screen (WECS) was related to the Parent-Infant Interaction Rating System (PIIRS), a 5-point adaptation of the rating system developed for the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development (e.g., NICHD Early Child Care Research Network, 1999, Developmental Psychology, 35, 1399). Parent-infant dyads (n = 49 mothers; 43 fathers) were videotaped during face-to-face interaction at infant age 6 months; interactions were coded with both the WECS and PIIRS. At age 3, mothers completed the Child Behavior Checklist. WECS ratings of EC were associated with PIIRS rating items for both mother-infant and father-infant dyads. Mother-infant EC related positively to maternal sensitivity and positive regard for child, child positive mood and sustained attention, and dyadic mutuality, and negatively with maternal intrusiveness. Father-infant EC related positively to fathers' positive regard for child, child positive mood and sustained attention, and dyadic mutuality. Mother-infant EC predicted child behavior problems at age 3 better than mother-infant PIIRS ratings of dyadic mutuality. With fathers, neither EC nor dyadic mutuality ratings predicted mother-reported child behavior problems. Findings highlight the practical utility of the WECS for identifying potentially at-risk dyads and supporting early relational health.

The purpose of this qualitative study was to identify the unique funds of knowledge among three Hispanic families living in the same city, specifically, how parents supported their children’s mathematics learning through funds of knowledge. Participants contributed to their children’s mathematics learning by promoting the five National Council of Teachers of Mathematics process standards—problem solving, reasoning and proof, communication, connection, and representation. Participating parents shared knowledge with their children through questioning and discussion, providing experiences, and promoting practice. In this study, participants valued education and supported their children’s mathematics learning at home and school activities.

The authors develop a conceptual, testable model suggesting lack of developmental synchrony between cortical and subcortical neural tracts necessary for breathing control underlying human vocalization (speech breathing), potentially leaving infants vulnerable to inconsolable crying. They propose that this lack of developmental synchrony also helps explain the human susceptibility to sudden infant death syndrome. Beginning around 1 month, during sleep and awake periods, infants gradually learn to shift between volitional and autonomic breathing control based on developing functional interconnections between cortical and subcortical neural networks. The existence of sudden infant death syndrome and inconsolable crying may reflect adaptive failures exacerbated by prolonged parent–infant separation, whether night or day, due to one or the other subsystem of neural networks and/or their functioning nuclei not being equally mature or able to sufficiently send, detect, or respond to signals provided by the other. Implications of these proposed models for family practice and family science research are examined.

Aim The emotional connection between mothers and infants born preterm has been associated with positive behaviour. The aim of this study was to examine the longitudinal association between emotional connection at six months of age and behavioural problems at three years. Methods This study was carried out by the University of North Texas, USA and comprised 49 mothers and infants from a longitudinal investigation of family interaction and infant development conducted in 1994-1997. Face-to-face interaction and toy-based play were videotaped and coded at six months of age using the Welch Emotional Connection Screen (WECS), a brief screening tool for relational health. When the children were three years of age, the mothers reported on child behavioural problems. Results The children from dyads that were rated as emotionally connected at six months of age had fewer externalising and internalising behavioural problems at the age of three. No links were found between emotional connection during toy-based play at six months and later child behavioural problems. Conclusion We showed that when the WECS was used at six months of age it was a promising and valid relational screening tool for infants at risk of adverse behavioural outcomes at the age of three.

Based on the Women, Work, and Wee Ones longitudinal study, mothers' likelihood of breastfeeding is examined across demographic and health variables.Frequencies of breastfeeding and cosleeping by 285 mothers from the Women, Work, and Wee Ones cohort are reported as related to mothers' work schedule, marital status, or mother or infant health.Breastfeeding rates were about 30% across most maternal characteristics. The frequency of mothers' breastfeeding was higher when mothers were both breastfeeding and cosleeping (breastfeeding-cosleeping), in comparison with breastfeeding only, as evident for mothers with nonstandard work schedules. Cosleeping was common across all mothers. Breastfeeding rates were low, perhaps reflecting challenges of early care. Premature infants were more likely to be cosleeping than breastfeeding. Approximately 30% of mothers breastfed across the different factors examined.The information may help nurse practitioners in addressing early care needs and supporting breastfeeding across groups. Younger mothers were least likely to breastfeed and reported higher frequency of cosleeping. Overall breastfeeding frequency was higher when mothers were cosleeping. Nurse practitioners may find it important to provide clear information about safe infant sleep and safe approaches to protecting infants.

New parents often have many questions and concerns about how to help their children grow strong and healthy. Unfortunately, when it comes to nighttime care, healthcare providers often tell parents what to do rather than discussing options. Healthcare providers might give parents specific advice about how to handle nighttime wakings, for example, without inquiring about parents’ beliefs and preferences. When healthcare providers simply tell parents what to do, parents may choose to ignore the advice if it is not consistent with their beliefs and preferences. When parents and healthcare providers do not communicate, parents do not get the information they need to cope with some of the more challenging aspects of infancy, including nighttime waking. This article presents information on how to bring parents back into decisions about nighttime care by discussing issues more broadly, addressing parents’ concerns regarding responsiveness, and focusing on the essentials of infant safety and health. When lactation consultants can have open discussions with parents, parents gain the tools they need to make decisions that best fit their families’ needs.

Drawing on professional experiences of Mexican counselors, we examined the lives of women who experienced domestic violence from the perspective of those counselors working most closely with them. Although there are many studies that have investigated the origin and perpetuation of domestic violence in Mexico, few have included the participation of counselors. In the present study, we identify common antecedents of abuse from the perspective of counselors and note whether these antecedents match those identified in the literature from the victim’s perspective. Economic resources, psychological treatment, social support, and an awareness of their situation are important factors identified by the counselors in moving women involved in domestic violence toward a positive resolution. According to counselors, economic and emotional dependence, a distorted view of family violence, partner’s addiction to alcohol, social and family pressure, and specific cultural patterns may predict negative outcomes. Differences in antecedents identified by counselors were found in comparison to antecedents identified in literature from the victim’s perspective. The present study revealed that alcohol may decrease inhibition in people who are already prone to use violence. In addition, the participants in this study pointed out other successful resolutions, which are not documented in previous studies. These resolutions are brought about through separation from the abusive partner and help from the legal system.

This study examines change in the synchrony between mothers' and infants' physiology as 25 infants (11 males; 4 to 10 months of age) participate in a 5-day inpatient sleep training program in which they learn to self-settle through extinction of crying responses during the transition to sleep. The mothers' and infants' experience during the extinction protocol was "yoked" by the infants' behavioral signaling during the sleep transition period. Saliva was sampled for mothers and infants at initiation of infants' nighttime sleep and following infants' falling to sleep on two program days and later assayed for cortisol. As expected on the first day of the program, mothers' and infants' cortisol levels were positively associated at initiation of nighttime sleep following a day of shared activities. Also, when infants expressed distress in response to the sleep transition, mother and infant cortisol responses were again positively associated. On the third day of the program, however, results showed that infants' physiological and behavioral responses were dissociated. They no longer expressed behavioral distress during the sleep transition but their cortisol levels were elevated. Without the infants' distress cue, mothers' cortisol levels decreased. The dissociation between infants' behavioral and physiological responses resulted in asynchrony in mothers' and infants' cortisol levels. The findings are discussed in relation to understanding the determinants and implications of maternal-infant physiological synchrony in early childhood.

This study investigated the effects of different versions of Web-based instruction focused on text structure on fifth- and seventh-grade students' reading comprehension. Stratified random assignment was employed in a two-factor experiment embedded within a pretest and multiple posttests design (immediate and four-month delayed posttests). The two factors were type of feedback provided by the Web-based tutor (elaborated vs. simple feedback) and the motivational factor of choice of text topics in practice lessons (student choice of texts vs. no choice). These factors were examined to learn how they affected performance after the six-month, 90-minutes/week intervention. Students who received elaborated feedback performed better on a standardized test of reading comprehension than students who received simple feedback. Learning how to attend to errors from the elaborated feedback tutor yielded large gains in test performance. Simple feedback did not help the least skilled third of readers move from complete lack of competency to competency using the structure strategy with problem-and-solution text. Choice between two topics for practice lessons did not increase reading comprehension. Substantial effects sizes were found from pretest to posttest on various measures of reading comprehension: recall, strategy competence, and standardized reading comprehension test scores. Maintenance of performance over summer break was found for most measures. The study informs research and teaching about Web-based reading tutors, feedback, comprehension, and top-level text structure. [Note: Bonnie Meyer discusses the research presented in this article in a podcast at the “Voice of Literacy”: http:www.voiceofliteracy.orgposts36682.] لقد فحصت هذه الدراسة تأثيرات أنواع مختلفة من التعليم المبني على الشبكة العالمية المركز على تركيب النص الذي يناسب طلاب الصفوف الخامسة إلى السابعة في استيعاب القراءة. ويتم توظيف واجبا عشوائيا مختلف المراحل في فحص ذات العنصرين يشمل تصميمه اختبار قبلي وعدة اختبارات بعدية (مباشرة وبعد مدة أربعة أشهر). وكان العنصر من العنصرين نوعا من التغذية الراجعة المتوفرة من المدرس الخصوصي الموجود على الشبكة العالمية (التغذية الراجعة المفصلة مقابل المبسطة) وعنصر اختيار مواضيع النصوص الحافز في الدروس الممارسة (اختيار النصوص على يد الطالب مقابل عدم وجود الاختيار). وقد تم فحص هاذين العنصرين للفهم كيف أثرا في الأداء بعد التدخل الذي مضى 90 دقيقة في الأسبوع لمدة ستة أشهر. وقد أدى الطلاب الذين استلموا التغذية الراجعة تأدية أفضل في امتحان قرائي معياري من الطلاب الذين استلموا التغذية المبسطة. إن التعلم كيف يتم متناول الأخطاء من التغذية الراجعة المفصلة لدى المدرس الخصوصي أنتج تقدمات كبيرة في الأداء على الامتحان. وقد لم تساعد التغذية الراجعة القارئ ذا المهارة الأكثر انخفاضا للانتقال من عدم وجود الكفاءة نهائيا إلى الكفاءة في استخدام الإستراتيجية التركيبية بالنسبة لمشاكل النص وحلها. ولكن لم يحسن الاختيار بين الموضوعين في الدروس الممارسة الاستيعاب القرائي. وقد تم إيجاد تأثيرات في بالغة الأحجام من الاختبار القبلي إلى البعدي من حيث مقاييس استيعاب القراءة المتنوعة: الاسترجاع والكفاءة الأستراتيجية والعلامات من اختبارات استيعاب القراءة المعيارية. وقد تم إيجاد صيانة الأداء عبر الإجازة الصيفية في معظم المقاييس. وتفيد هذه الدراسة الأبحاث والتعليم المتعلقة بمدرسي القراءة القائمة على الشبكة العالمية والتغذية الراجعة والاستيعاب وتركيب النص على المستوى العالي. [Podcast: http:www.voiceofliteracy.orgposts36682] 本研究考查不同版本的文本结构网上教学对五年级及七年级学生阅读理解学习的影响。研究者以分层随机抽样法，使用两因子的实验设计，进行实验前与多重实验后的测试(即时及四个月后的延迟后测)。该两个因子就是：网上教学导师所提供的反馈类型(详尽阐述的反馈与简单的反馈相比）及选择课堂练习文本课题的动机因素（学生可以与不可以选择文本相比）。经过为期六个月，每周90分钟的干预教学后，研究者考查该两个因子对学生成绩的影响。一项标准化阅读理解测验的结果显示，得到详尽阐述反馈的学生比得到简单反馈的学生有较好的成绩。学生从导师的详尽阐述反馈中学习到如何对付错误，因而在测验成绩方面大有改进。简单的反馈却不能帮助阅读能力最弱的三分之一学生，他们并没有从完全缺乏阅读能力的成绩表现，提升到能够利用文本结构策略来帮助理解「问题与解决方案」的文章。给予两个课堂练习文本课题，让学生任择其一，这做法并没有改进学生的阅读理解。阅读理解前测与后测结果分析显示，在回忆、策略运用能力及标准化阅读理解的测验分数上，有很大的效应量。延迟后测结果亦显示，这些成绩，经过暑假后，大部分仍然能够保持。本研究有助于在网上阅读导师、反馈、阅读理解及文本高层次结构方面的研究与教学。 [Podcast: http:www.voiceofliteracy.orgposts36682] Cette etude a examine les effets de differentes versions d'un enseignement base sur la Toile de la structure textuelle en vue de la comprehension de la lecture chez des eleves de classes de cinquieme et septieme annee. On a utilise un echantillon stratifie dans un plan d'experience a deux facteurs comportant un pretest et plusieurs post tests (un post test immediat et un post test differe de quatre mois). Les deux facteurs etaient le type de feedback fourni par le tuteurbase sur la Toile (feedback simple ou elabore) et le facteur motivationnel concernant le choix du theme du texte dans les exercices (texte choisi ou non par l'eleve). On a examine ces facteurs pour savoir de quelle facon ils affectent les resultats apres six mois d'intervention et a raison de 90 minutes par semaine. Les etudiants qui ont recu un feedback elabore ont mieux reussi dans le test de comprehension de la lecture que les etudiants qui ont recu un feedback simple. Apprendre comment apprehender les erreurs a partir du tuteur offrant un feedback elabore permet d'obtenir de bien meilleures performances au test. Le feedback simple n'a pas aide le tiers de lecteurs moins avances a combler leurs manques pour parvenir a une competence faisant usage de la strategie structurelle avec un texte a problemes et solutions. Le choix entre deux themes pour les exercices n'a pas ameliore la comprehension de la lecture. On a trouve des effets substantiels entre le pre test et le post-test pour differentes mesures de comprehension de la lecture: rappel, competence strategique, et resultats aux tests standardises de comprehension de lecture. On a trouve egalement que les performances s'etaient maintenues au-dela de la rupture estivale. Cette etude apporte des informations a la recherche et a l'enseignement des tuteurs de lecture bases sur la Toile, le feedback, la comprehension, avec une structure de texte de haut niveau. [Podcast: http:www.voiceofliteracy.orgposts36682] В исследовании описано, как различные варианты интернет-работы с учащимися пятого и седьмого классов над структурой текста влияют на их понимание прочитанного. В рамках двухфакторного эксперимента, дополненного предварительным и серией заключительных тестов (непосредственно после эксперимента и четыре месяца спустя), детям предлагались стратифицированные случайно выбранные задания. Анализировались два фактора: вид обратной связи, получаемой от интернет-тьютора (детально разработанные или, наоборот, простые реакции, наставления и пр.) и мотивация учащихся, т.е., возможность или невозможность выбрать темы текстов, которые предлагались для чтения на практических занятиях. Интернет-обучение проводилось полгода по 90 минут в неделю, чтобы выяснить, какое воздействие оказали эти факторы на понимание прочитанного. Ученики, получавшие от тьюторов более детальные ответы и советы, справились со своими ошибками и, в итоге, выполнили стандартные тесты на понимание прочитанного на порядок лучше, чем их сверстники, получавшие обратную связь в более лаконичной форме. Простая обратная связь не помогала наиболее слабым учащимся (они составляли треть от общего числа испытуемых) перейти от полного отсутствия компетентности к умению понять и структурировать текст, посвященный решению проблем. Возможность выбрать одну из двух тем не увеличила понимание прочитанного. Между результатами предварительного и заключительных тестов выявлены колоссальные различия по многим параметрам, которыми определяется постижение смысла: объем того, что осталось в памяти, методические умения, а также баллы, набранные на стандартном тестировании понимания прочитанного. Перед летними каникулами были определены способы поддержки учащихся, чтобы показатели не снизились к осени. Данное исследование информирует ученых и учителей-практиков о том, какие возможности дает Интернет для обучения чтению, о способах обратной связи и совершенствования понимания и качественного структурирования текста. [Podcast: http:www.voiceofliteracy.orgposts36682] Este estudio investiga los efectos de diferentes versiones de instruccion basada en la red sobre la estructura de los textos en la comprension de estudiantes de quinto y septimo grado. Se dieron tareas estratificadas al azar en un experimento que constaba de dos factores integrados dentro de un diseno que constaba de un preexamen y varios post examenes (al principio y a los cuatro meses). Los dos factores eran el tipo de retroalimentacion que el tutor de la red daba (sencilla o elaborada) y el factor motivador de poder escoger el texto en las lecciones (el estudiante escoge o no escoge). Se estudiaron estos factores para ver como afectaban la ejecucion despues de una intervencion de seis meses, a 90 minutos por semana. Los estudiantes que recibieron una retroalimentacion elaborada hicieron mejor en examenes estandar de comprension de lectura que los que solo recibieron retroalimentacion sencilla. Se lograron grandes mejorias en los examenes de los que aprendieron a corregir errores gracias a la retroalimentacion elaborada. La retroalimentacion sencilla no ayudo al tercio de lectores menos habiles a pasar de una falta completa de competencias a poder usar la estrategia de estructuras en textos de problema-y-solucion. Poder escoger entre dos temas durante las lecciones de practica no aumento la comprension de la lectura. Se encontraron varios grados de efectos desde el preexamen al postexamen en varias medidas de comprension de lectura: memoria, competencia de estrategia, y las calificaciones en los examenes estandardizados de comprension de lectura. Se encontro que la mayoria de las medidas se mantuvieron al mismo grado durante el verano. El estudio les da informacion a los investigadores y a los maestros sobre los tutores de lectura en la red, la retroalimentacion, la comprension y la estructura textual al nivel mas alto. [Podcast: http:www.voiceofliteracy.orgposts36682]

This study investigates the cumulative impact of sexual abuse in childhood and adult interpersonal violence in the past year on depressive symptoms in a nonclinical sample of 265 primarily African American (74%) women. The frequency of depressive symptoms, measured by the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D), was highest for women who experienced both forms of victimization. Women who reported greater stress over life’s daily hassles reported more depressive symptoms. Women with higher levels of family support and a sense of personal mastery reported fewer depressive symptoms. The final model explained 42% of the variance in CES-D scores. Implications for practitioners are discussed.

Early home visitation has been reported as one promising method of supporting adolescent mothers who are at risk for poor child and family outcomes. This study compared benefits of visitation for Hispanic and White non-Hispanic adolescent mothers receiving home visits during their firstborn child's first year. Although positive benefits were identified for both groups of mothers, Hispanic mothers showed greater benefit. Explanations for these differential outcomes and related implications for practice are explored. Key Words: adolescent mothers, adolescent parenthood, at-risk children and adolescents, family intervention, Hispanic families. Background and Significance The United States has the highest adolescent birth rate in the industrialized world, with one out of three adolescent girls becoming pregnant before age 20 and approximately 500,000 children born to adolescent mothers each year (Henshaw, 2003). Although this represents a slight decline in adolescent birth rates in the United States over the past decade (Henshaw), adolescent mothers and their children face considerable difficulties. For example, compared to mothers in their twenties, adolescent mothers are more likely to suffer serious health risks (Maynard, 1996), drop out of school (Hotz, McElroy, & Sanders, 1997), be unemployed, and live in poverty (Moore et al., 1993). Children of adolescent mothers are more likely to be born prematurely, with a low birth weight (Dell, 2001), or with physical and neurological defects (Maynard). Additionally, there is evidence suggesting that adolescent mothers have a higher incidence of engaging in particularly serious forms of inappropriate parenting such as child abuse. A study using a nationally representative sample of 1,997 mothers ranging from 16 to 46 years of age at the time of their child's birth reported that the younger the mother was when she gave birth, the greater the likelihood of physical child abuse (Connelly & Straus, 1992). Another study examining 2,776 infant homicides in the first 12 months of life reported that one of the strongest predictive factors was giving birth at 17 years of age or younger (Overpeck, Brenner, Trumble, Trifiletti, & Berendes, 1998). Finally, official data from 39 states revealed that over 23,000 of mothers 19 years of age or less were confirmed perpetrators of child maltreatment in 2001 (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2003). Indeed, adolescent mothers often have unrealistically high expectations of their infants, interact less effectively with them, demonstrate poor parenting skills, and know little about children's development, all of which contribute to the likelihood of child maltreatment (Brooks-Gunn & Chase-Landale, 1995). These disheartening outcomes have motivated researchers and practitioners across many disciplines to search for effective methods of providing support to adolescent mothers and their children. Home-Visitation Programs and Adolescent Mothers Home visitation is one of the more promising methods of providing support to at-risk adolescent mothers during the initial phases of the parent-child relationship. Over the past two decades, home-visiting programs have flourished and have been initiated by many state and local agencies (Daro & Harding, 1999; Guterman, 2000; McCurdy & Daro, 2001). Although home-visitation programs utilize a variety of approaches and service activities, three key components tend to characterize the majority of programs. These components are (a) the provision of support by home visitors via regular visits to the home as a means of overcoming barriers of program access (Daro & Harding); (b) the onset of home visits during the prenatal or birth period and the continuation of these visits for at least the first 2 years of child rearing (Center for Disease Control, 2003; Daro & Harding; Guterman); and (c) an emphasis on improving family functioning (Duggan et al. …

How to best help children grow up in the face of multiple risks is addressed. Two intervention approaches are presented. The first is a resiliency-based intervention approach focused on increasing protection and decreasing risks faced by children. The use of multi-setting resiliency-based interventions and the use of collaboration across schools, families and communities are discussed. The second approach focuses on using a process orientation in interventions with at-risk children and their families as a means of working with different cultural, family, and individual issues that affect children’s development and families’ goals. Successes of intervention approaches are discussed.

Schools face many challenges in preparing students to meet today's state and national academic goals. Intergenerational tutoring programs have been shown to be an excellent resource to help schools and students meet these academic challenges. However, inter-generational tutoring programs can be expensive and face obstacles that include scheduling difficulties and barriers pertaining to physical mobility and transportation needs of older adult tutors. This paper describes an intergenerational, Internet-based tutoring program established to determine whether older adults could successfully tutor middle-school students over the Internet. An asset of this program is that older adults can tutor at convenient times, providing resources that may be unavailable to remote rural areas. Following a brief description of the program, i.e., a reading strategy identified as successful in improving reading comprehension for both older adults and younger students, challenges met in implementing the program are ou...

Providing families with information about infant sleep can positively impact parents' well‐being and infants' sleep habits. Few parents receive professionally based information about sleep, perhaps due to contradictory information found in the literature. This review summarizes: (1) normative sleep patterns for infants; (2) factors that affect sleep patterns; and (3) the effectiveness of intervention and prevention approaches commonly implemented. This information will be useful for practitioners working with new parents and families with questions about infant sleep.

Without question, advances in biophysiological and neurological science have contributed to our understanding of how family interactions may impact physical, emotional, and social well-being. Research across these disciplines has helped to identify sources of risk and protection for children and adults, and has provided an explanatory base for how ecological contexts within families and communities can impact healthy outcomes. This special issue, Biosocial Models of Family Science, brings these advances in neuroscience, biophysiology, and epigenetic research into the framework of their implications for family science, with a focus across areas of family science research, practice, and policy. Taking a life-span developmental approach, this issue presents articles across several key topics in family science. Articles are grouped together in sections with the first article describing an important advance in biophysiological or neurological science and the following article(s) exploring implications of that research as translated to family research, practice, and policy. This format provides readers with clear connections between these areas of research and guidance for how these advances can become tools to advance family researchers' and practitioners' support of family well-being and further understanding of the interactive nature of family systems and biophysiological health.Special Issue ContentEarly AdversitiesIn the introductory article of this special issue, Ha and Granger draw connections between the biophysiology of the stress response system and its impact on children, as well as on family interactions. Building from this foundation, Perry and Conners-Burrow outline steps to support the mental health and long-term outcomes of children facing adversity in early childhood. Skuladottir then describes an applied parent education program focused on supporting parents in early infant care.Child Care ExperiencesThe relation between stress related to poverty and its impact on children's experience of early childcare settings is examined in an article by Berry and Family Life Project investigators. Taking a closer look at the relation between ecological variables, such as socioeconomic level and immigration status, Crosnoe and Ansari review research outlining how early socioeconomic and demographic disparities impact children's transition to school and long-term educational trajectories.Childhood ObesityIn this area of growing concern for children and adults alike, Pervanidou and Chrousos examine biophysiological experiences associated with children's risk of obesity. The accompanying article by Fiese and Bost explores family ecologies as they relate to children's risk of obesity and sources of protective factors within these contexts. …

The relation between parenting behaviour and poverty has been established, with impoverished parents' related experiences of stress and support typically implicated in the development of negative parenting behaviour. Additionally, differences in parenting behaviour have been identified for families with different ethnic backgrounds. However, whether ethnicity continues to effect similar differences in families' parenting behaviour in the face of the challenges associated with poverty or whether poverty leads to greater similarities or differences in parenting behaviour across ethnicity is not clear. Understanding how parenting behaviour is affected by the challenges of poverty is essential for identifying appropriate supportive programmes to enhance the development of children in these families. To better understand the parenting behaviours of lower income African American and European American mothers, this study identified levels of stress, family- and community-based support, and qualitative and quantitative measures of parenting for 30 African American and 30 European American mothers with children between 3 and 5 years of age. Both groups of mothers reported high levels of stress and low levels of support in their role as parents. Few differences in either mothers' ratings of how they parented or their descriptions of their parenting behaviours were identified suggesting similar parenting styles between these two groups of low-income parents. All mothers used less authoritarian parenting than expected based on poverty levels. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The authors assessed the impact of using the structure strategy as a base for an intergenerational Internet tutoring program in which older adults, with strategy training, provided Internet-based tutoring for 5th-grade students learning the strategy through an instructional Web site. Students were randomly assigned to 1 of 3 groups: structure strategy with tutors, structure strategy without tutors, and control. Both tutors and children in the structure strategy group with tutors increased strategy use, total and main idea recall, and self-efficacy. Program effects were apparent months after instruction. Posttest performance was related both to careful completion of Web lessons and amount of tutor feedback and content-related questions. Findings have implications for learning from computers, intergenerational tutoring, and reading instruction.

Review infant sleep research with a focus on understanding the elements related to infant safety and infant and maternal well-being during nighttime care.This review summarizes current research and addresses the controversies and conflicting outcomes reported in infant nighttime care. This review addresses current literature on infant sleep patterns, as well as factors that influence infant sleep and are consequences of different care routines. Conversation points are provided to help nurse practitioners (NPs) address safety and practice concerns.Shared information can help parents provide a safe and healthy environment for infants and help to facilitate communication ties between the healthcare providers and the families.NPs need to help parents understand infant sleep patterns norms, what is current knowledge about infant nightwakings and parental presence, as well as about approaches to altering infant sleep patterns. Integrating this knowledge with parent preferences that are influenced by cultural practices and individual differences is crucial in helping parents develop a strong sense of competence and comfort with their choices and behaviors.

55 parents of adolescent children were asked to rate the effectiveness of their communication with their adolescents before and after a 10-wk. parent educational program encouraging authoritative parent-adolescent interactions. Parents reported improved effectiveness of communication from the pre- to postprogram assessment times. Retention was compared across groups receiving high and low support in attendance of meetings, but retention did not differ across the two groups.

In this study we examined age differences in children and young adolescents’ use of comparative text signals in order to gain insights into the development of signaling knowledge. We predicted that differential patterns of age differences would be found for readers classified as having low, middle, and high comprehension ability, and that the middle group of comprehenders would have the greatest amount of variability with age. 4th-, 6th-, and 9th-grade readers’ use of words employed to mark comparative relationships were compared by means of an open cloze. Results from analyses of competency of use scores, indicated that readers in the middle comprehension group had a larger number of significant increases in competency with age. Fewer age differences in overall competency were found for readers in low and high comprehension groups. Analysis of individual signals indicated that patterns of age differences may also vary in relation to the particular signal being processed. The findings from this study suggest that readers’ overall comprehension ability may influence the acquisition and use of text signals.

Purpose To explore how information about children's sleeping arrangements contributes to nurse practitioners’ (NPs) assessment of children's developmental progress at toddlerhood. Data sources Selected research articles and a survey of NPs’ assessments of development for toddlers engaged in solitary and shared sleeping arrangements. Conclusions Research does not provide definitive information regarding the connection between children's engagement in different sleeping arrangements and children's development. In this study, information about how sleeping arrangements played a role in NPs’ ratings of toddlers’ current and predicted social development and autonomy, but not toddlers’ language skills, is presented. NPs’ ratings of the development of boys who engaged in shared sleeping arrangements suggested that NPs’ viewed this sleeping arrangement as a risk factor for both social development and autonomy. Shared sleeping arrangements for girls were not identified as a risk factor, with some analyses suggesting that shared sleep may have a positive impact on girls’ social development. Implications for practice Assessing children's developmental progress is one task completed by Family and Pediatric NPs. NPs gather information across many sources in making these developmental assessments. Type of sleeping arrangement can be one of these sources as it has been connected to children's developmental progress. However, information available in the literature is inconclusive and often contradictory in regard to how sleeping arrangements impact development. To help clarify how NPs currently use information concerning sleeping arrangements to assess developmental progress, this report describes how sleeping arrangements influenced ratings of 18-month-old toddlers’ current and later predicted levels of development. This information can help NPs develop strategies for assessing development in light of information regarding sleep arrangements.

Knowing the importance of helping parents create healthy sleep environments is an important first step in supporting new parents—and one that is not new to lactation consultants. The next steps can be the more challenging step—finding ways to clearly and easily help parents understand the importance of responsiveness in care. This can be a particular challenge when so much best practice information focuses experimental research with animals and research with humans, now documents the detrimental effects of early stress on brain development. These effects can occur not just in response to intense and repetitive stressful situations, but with some probability may also occur in situations of parenting that is not responsive. Below, and in the article that follows, are some resources for parents that address the biologically and ethologically based reasons that cry-it-out and sleep-training programs are detrimental to infants’ development—negatively, impacting neurological structures, stress responses, physical health, and socioemotional well-being.