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This paper develops a critical perspective on the use of conversational agents (CAs) with children at home. Drawing on interviews with eleven parents of pre-school children living in Norway, we illustrate the ways in which parents resisted the values epitomised by CAs. We problematise CAs' attributes in light of parents' ontological perceptions of what it means to be human and outline how their attitudes correspond to Bourdieu's [1998a. Acts of Resistance. New York: New Press] concept of acts of resistance. For example, parents saw artificial conversation designed for profit as a potential threat to users' autonomy and the instant gratification of CAs as a threat to children's development. Parents' antecedent beliefs map onto the ontological tensions between human and non-human attributes and challenge the neoliberal discourse by demanding freedom and equality for users rather than productivity and economic gain. Parents' comments reflect the belief that artificial conversation with a machine inappropriately and ineffectively mimics a nuanced and intimate human-to-human experience in service of profit motives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Child Sexual Abuse (CSA) has been linked to a wide variety of adverse psychological and behavioral outcomes. This paper describes girls' sexual development in the inner city based on qualitative material from a long-term ethnographic (observational) study. For many inner-city girls, early and then continued experiences of being compelled to have sex were found to be part of a pathway leading to independent sexuality that often involved prostitution, teen pregnancy, early motherhood, school dropout, limited involvement with jobs, drug abuse, multiple children by different fathers and single-parent families. Quotes from respondents illustrate the mechanics of this process and how it is sustained by the deprivations of structural disadvantage, prevailing subcultural norms, violence and illicit drug use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Women who have direct exposure to incarceration or indirect exposure through their partner are at high risk for poor health behaviors and outcomes, which may have lasting impacts on their children. The objectives of this study were to estimate the prevalence of recent incarceration exposure among women with a recent live birth and assess the relationship between incarceration exposure and maternal and child health. Methods: We used data from the Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (36 states and New York City, 2012-2015; N = 146 329) to estimate the prevalence of women reporting that they or their husband/partner spent time in jail during the 12 months before giving birth. We used multivariable logistic regression to assess associations between incarceration exposure and maternal and infant health conditions. Results: The prevalence of incarceration exposure shortly before or during pregnancy was 3.7% (95% CI, 3.6%-3.9%). Women with incarceration exposure had increased odds of prepregnancy hypertension (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] = 1.51; 95% CI, 1.26-1.81), prepregnancy and postpartum depressive symptoms (aOR = 1.95 [95% CI, 1.73-2.19] and 1.49 [95% CI, 1.32-1.67], respectively), and having an infant admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit (aOR = 1.18; 95% CI, 1.04-1.33). Conclusion: Because a parent's incarceration exposure is an adverse childhood experience with the potential to disrupt important developmental periods and have negative impacts on the socioemotional and health outcomes of children, it is critical for researchers and health care providers to better understand its impact on maternal and infant health. Prenatal and postnatal care may provide opportunities to address incarceration-related health risks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although there has been rapid recent growth in the volume of research on both whiteness and childhood within geography, these literatures have only infrequently intersected explicitly. In this paper, I argue that a focus on narratives of childhood and child rearing can significantly enrich current understandings of how imaginative geographies of American (non)whiteness are sustained and reproduced. I develop this argument using a case study of recent narratives concerning one well-known program for children living in New York City, the Fresh Air Fund, which arranges for 'inner-city' children (most of whom identify as black or Latino) to spend portions of their summers living with host families (most of whom are white) in rural and suburban areas. The activities of the fund generate regular media coverage in both New York City and many of the destination communities, contributing to a wider public narrative concerning what white families and spaces have to offer 'inner-city' children. Drawing on journalistic accounts produced over the past two decades within one important destination site for the program, the US state of Vermont, I examine the racialized imaginative geographies of city, country, and suburb mobilized and reproduced within these stories of the Fund and its effects. I specifically argue that these accounts (re)script whiteness such that it becomes a solution to, rather than a source of, inequalities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study explored the lived experiences of Chinese immigrant parents in New York City who went through prolonged separation and faced challenges after reunification in the United States. The study assessed their attitudes, perceptions, and reactions to the separation and reunification process to gain better understanding of the ways prolonged separation and reunification impact on child development and family wellbeing. A phenomenological research approach was used to study qualitatively the narrative data from in-depth interviews. The analytical process was based on data immersion, coding, sorting codes into themes, and comparing the themes across interviews. The sample included 18 Chinese immigrant families who had sent their American-born children to China for rearing and reunited with their children within the past 5 years. Data analyses revealed specific themes that included reasons for separation, parenting methods, child's initial adjustment, behavior, and family relationship, child's social, emotional, and academic challenges, parental stress and challenges, and recommendations for services. This study contributed to our knowledge of prolonged separation, a common practice among a vulnerable, hard-to-reach immigrant population. It shed light on specific needs of Chinese immigrant families by examining closely the unique circumstances pertaining to prolonged separation, parenting practice, and related family challenges. An understanding of the approaches these families adopt to cope with life challenges may help inform practitioners in formulating service strategies for these families. Specific assessments in child-care, education, and health care settings are essential to prompt immediate follow-up and intervention when needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article, printed with permission in Family Law Quarterly, is based on "Growing Up NYC: A Policy Framework," http://s-media.nyc.gov/agencies/childrenscabinet/NYCDOH%5FGrowingUP%5FPolicy%5FBrochure%5FFor%5FWEB.pdf, a publication that grew out of collaboration among the offices of the New York City mayor and deputy mayor and the twenty-four agencies and mayoral offices forming the NYC Children's Cabinet. The Cabinet is a multi-agency initiative created by Mayor Bill de Blasio to bolster communication and coordination among city agencies to improve child safety and well-being. "Growing Up NYC: A Policy Framework" was produced under the direction of Children's Cabinet Executive Director Benita Miller. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: We examined whether children of mothers with a medical condition diagnosed before or during pregnancy took longer to achieve gross motor milestones up to age 24 months.Method: We obtained information on medical conditions using self-reports, birth certificates, and hospital records in 4909 mothers participating in Upstate KIDS, a population-based birth cohort. Mothers reported on their children's motor milestone achievement at 4, 8, 12, 18, and 24 months of age.Results: After adjustment for covariates (including pre-pregnancy body mass index), children of mothers with gestational diabetes took longer to achieve sitting without support (hazard ratio [HR]=0.84, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.75-0.93), walking with assistance (HR=0.88, 95% CI 0.77-0.98), and walking alone (HR=0.88, 95% CI 0.77-0.99) than children of females with no gestational diabetes. Similar findings emerged for maternal diabetes. Gestational hypertension was associated with a longer time to achieve walking with assistance. These associations did not change after adjustment for gestational age or birthweight. Severe hypertensive disorders of pregnancy were related to a longer time to achieve milestones, but not after adjustment for perinatal factors.Interpretation: Children exposed to maternal diabetes, gestational or pre-gestational, may take longer to achieve motor milestones than non-exposed children, independent of maternal obesity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Violence has become a public health concern in the United States. Violent visually stimulating content encompasses various techniques such as fear, humor, shock, or violence, to stimulate a response or appeal toward awareness of human emotion. Exposing impressionable youth to violent advertisements can be particularly problematic. This is especially true in places like New York City where violent crime is a prevalent problem. With annual ridership reaching over 1.7 billion in 2014, the New York City subway system is abundant with advertisements. The purpose of this pilot study was to determine the frequency and type of violent advertising on the Lexington Avenue/East Side Line in New York City, running through the Bronx and Manhattan to represent the lower and higher median income earning boroughs. There were no statistically different findings in median household income at site of station by number of ads or source of violent. Destruction was the most common form of violence ( n = 32, 42.7 %) followed by intent to strike ( n = 18, 24 %), showing a weapon ( n = 15, 20 %) and horror ( n = 10, 13.3 %). Most ads (n = 46, 61.3 %) were found in stations heading uptown toward and through the Bronx, the borough where median household income is lowest, whereas 29 (38.7 %) were found in stations heading downtown. Future studies could focus on additional boroughs and subways lines, and could be collected at multiple points in time to determine of how prevalent violent advertising is throughout New York City and at different time frames. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The role of working memory (WM) and inhibition in mental set shifting was examined from an individual difference perspective in children aged 5-14 years ( N = 117). Using the Hearts and Flowers task the rationale of the present study was to directly test the theoretical assumption that mental set shifiting in childhood primarily builds on WM and inhibitory processes. Theoretical predictions about WM and inhibitory demands in the congruent and incongruent conditions of the Hearts and Flowers task were also considered because these blocks underlie relevant measures of set shifting. The findings show that both WM and inhibition (extracted as factors in confirmatory factor analysis) are important for set shifting but that this general association is driven by the link between these executive functions (EFs) and the goal-representation aspect (i.e. global switch costs) of shifting, rather than to the actual switch-implementation process (i.e. local switch costs). In addition, our findings are novel in showing that, despite a substantial correlation between the two EF components, it was the variance specific to WM and inhibition that was important for mental set shifting. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined the impact of child neglect during the first 4 years of life on adaptation to school during kindergarten and first grade in the context of neighborhood poverty (NP). Processes related to the development of school competencies were examined, including the mediational role of cognitive functioning and ego-resiliency (ER) in shaping children’s school outcomes. A total of 170 low-income urban children were followed prospectively for 2 years (ages 4–6). Results indicated that neglected children had significantly lower scores on kindergarten classroom behavior and first-grade academic performance than nonneglected children. Children’s cognitive performance at age 4, controlling for maternal intelligence quotient, mediated the relation between severity of neglect and children’s behavior in kindergarten as well as their academic performance in first grade. Moreover, severity of neglect was related to children’s ER at age 4. However, additional ecological adversity in the form of NP moderated the link between ER and classroom behavior, such that at lower levels of poverty, ER mediated the relation between severity of neglect and school adaptation. Conversely, when NP was extreme, the effects of ER were attenuated and ER ceased to predict behavioral performance in kindergarten. The implications of these findings for prevention and intervention are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An interview with pychology associate professor David Yun Dai at the State University of New York is presented. When asked about his interest in the field of gifted education, he admits being fascinated by the works of gifted education and child development. He learned the most important lessons from his mentor John Feldhusen. Dai reveals that his academic training in psychology and philosophical thinking has drawn him to approach gifted education in a broader developmental perspective.

Motivational factors such as social goals are important features of developing social adjustment, and thus researchers studying social adjustment need psychometrically sound measures of social goals. A valid measure of social goals for English-speaking youth is lacking. Such a measure would increase understanding of children’s social adjustment and allow for testing developmental models of social goals and interpersonal functioning. The authors’ aim was to revise the Interpersonal Goals Inventory for Children (IGI-C) for an English-speaking sample and examine its validity. The revised IGI-C (IGI-CR) fit a circumplex model and performed as expected with most external criterion variables examined. In addition, some differences were observed across males and females, offering insights into gender differences in social goals. Results support the IGI-CR as a sound measure. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Research suggests a link between parental divorce and negative child outcomes; however, the presence of parental depression may confound this relationship. Studies exploring the simultaneous effects of depression and parents' divorce on the adjustment of their children are scarce and rarely have a longitudinal design. This is the first three-generation study of the relative effects of depression and divorce on offspring psychopathology, based on data from a 25-year longitudinal study with families at high and low risk for depression. One hundred seventy-eight grandchildren (mean age = 13.9 years) of depressed and nondepressed parents and grandparents were evaluated by raters blind to their parents' and grandparents' clinical status. We found that in both low and high-risk children, divorce had a limited impact on child adjustment over and above familial risk for depression. Divorce had a significant effect on child outcomes only among high-risk grandchildren with a depressed grandparent and non-depressed parents, with this group showing a threefold risk for anxiety disorders. Results support previous findings suggesting that familial risk for depression largely overshadows the effect of parental divorce on child psychopathology. Possible reasons for the lack of association between divorce and child psychopathology among low-risk offspring are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined the role of anger in infancy and its interaction with maternal warmth in predicting children's socioemotional development. Participants included a demographically diverse sample of 316 mothers and children from the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods (PHDCN) study. Infants were followed across 3 waves of data collection from birth through 5 years of age. Mothers reported on infant anger when children were approximately 4 months of age. Maternal warmth was assessed via observation at both 4 months and 2 years. Children's socioemotional outcomes were assessed at age 5, and included a direct assessment of delay of gratification and maternal reports of internalizing and externalizing behaviors. Anger in infancy significantly predicted higher levels of internalizing and externalizing behaviors at age 5. A main effect of anger on delay of gratification was not supported. However, anger in infancy moderated the association between maternal warmth and delay of gratification, such that only high-anger infants benefited from high maternal warmth. Similar interactive effects were not supported for problem behaviors. These results provide modest support for the differential susceptibility hypothesis, which proposes that highly reactive children are more susceptible to environmental risks and assets than other children. Specifically, findings suggest that although anger can increase children's vulnerability to problem behaviors, it can also be a motivating factor for self-regulation in the presence of supportive parenting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Caring for Quality and Partners in Family Child Care are home visiting programs designed to improve the quality of home-based child care. This article describes the experiences of two different home visitors to demonstrate how programs such as these can help providers improve the overall quality of care, increase children's development, and lead to trusting relationships between providers and home visitors. Home visiting was less successful at promoting long-term changes in health and safety practices. The authors discuss the challenges that arose in assessing and supporting social-emotional development in young children, and how providers' "readiness to change" relates to home visiting outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines the development of children from their drug-abusing mothers in New York City. The study reveals that cognitive abilities and personal adjustment seemed to be normal. The data indicate that drug-abusing mothers' children tend to be disproportionately secured into foster care. It was found out that these children suffer greater replacement from one setting to another while they are in care. As measured over time, their adjustment implies no less problematic than those children who were detached from their families. Records of the Bureau of Child Welfare of the Department of Social Services reveal that there are repeated attempts among the mothers to become engaged with detoxification to no avail and that their preferred treatments were unsuccessful.

The article presents a research concerning the nonprofessional mental health workers' judgments of change among New York children. The study aims to analyze interrelations among judged change dimensions and to assess its absolute magnitude. It was studied by means of the Child Behavior Change Scale (CBCS). Change scores were computed by subtracting actual ratings for each adjective from "no change" point. It could be noted that the ratings were analyzed for two program years. It shows that the change data are overwhelmingly positive and conform wit prior data testifying the effectiveness of nonprofessional aide programs. It was found out that nearly all ratings reflected rich positive changes. Moreover, the aides were observed significantly more positive than the negative behaviors.

Highlights the Society for Research in Child Development conference in New York on December 29, 1949. Theme of the congress; Topics discussed; Participants of the event.

The article cites a study of crippled children in an orthopedic hospital school near New York City. The objective of the study was to determine how crippled children varies in terms of intelligence, their emotional adjustment and school achievements compared to normal children in an orthopedic hospital school setting. The researcher used the cumulative measure of disability and duration in evaluating the physical capability of the crippled children in relation to their mental capacity. In conclusion, the study found that emotional adjustment for crippled children varies as they increase in age. In addition, it was indicated that intelligence of the crippled children does not vary in relation to the disability duration index.

The article offers notes and news related to moral education. The 33rd annual conference of the Association for Moral Education (AME) will be held in New York City on November 15-17, 2007. The inaugural meeting of the Asia Pacific Network for Moral Education was held at Reitaku University, Kashiwa, Japan on October 2006. Information of the 2007 AME grants and awards are also presented.