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The significant population of Chinese rural-to-urban migrant children has sparked considerable domestic and international concern regarding their disadvantaged family circumstances and their escalating prevalence of internalizing and externalizing problems. Derived from the resource substitution hypothesis, non-cognitive factors such as personality traits may act as "substitution" resources for educational outcomes of children from less privileged families. Yet, the compensatory role of personality traits as substitution resources in children's mental health has received limited attention, including that of migrant children. This study examined the interplay of trait-like grit and family SES on emotional and conduct problems among Chinese migrant and urban children. The current sample consisted of 770 migrant children (Mage = 10.45 and SDage = 0.68 years; 38.4% girls) and their 222 urban counterparts (Mage = 10.34 and SDage = 0.46 years; 45.5% girls). Moderated polynomial regressions with response surface analysis on a two-wave data with an interval of over six months showed that grit served as a "substitution" resource for the less socioeconomically advantaged children. The compensatory effect of perseverance of effort on urban children's emotional problems and that of consistency of interest on migrant children's conduct problems were visualized. Moreover, the two compensatory effects were found to be robust and unique, even after children's effortful control, a grit-related construct, was taken into account. These findings not only support the resource substitution hypothesis, but also underscore the protective role that grit plays in children under less privileged environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dental fear and anxiety are highly prevalent among children and have been shown to lead to irregular use of dental services. Previous research has suggested that while touch can alleviate the patient's stress and help in accomplishing dental procedures, it can also be a source of stress or used to restrain the patient. In this study, we explore the emergence and intertwine of controlling and comforting touch in pediatric dental clinic settings in which patients show signs of resistance, distress, or fear. We use microanalysis of video-recorded interactions to unveil how the adults in the room—any combination of the dentist, dental assistant, hygienist, and caregiver(s)—deploy various types of touch on the child patient to perform the dental procedure while simultaneously comforting the child. Our data set covers video-recordings of naturally occurring dental clinic visits of 3- to 12-year-old child patients from four cultural contexts: Finland, China, Iraq, and the United States. Drawing on Merleau-Ponty's writings on intercorporeality and the interaffectivity of bodies, the study proposes that touch in pediatric dentistry unfolds as complex intercorporeal formations where the interaffectivity emerges not only through touch but also via vocal resonance. In contrast to clear boundaries between comforting and controlling touch, our analysis indicates that the line between comforting and controlling touch can be blurred. We suggest that touching a pediatric patient showing resistance toward a dental procedure requires careful affective attention to the patient's subtle and moment-by-moment bodily expressions and reactions to the touch. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Across three pre‐registered studies (n = 221 4–9‐year olds, 51% female; 218 parents, 80% female; working‐ and middle‐class backgrounds; data collected during 2019–2021) conducted in the United States (Studies 1–2; 74% White) and China (Study 3; 100% Asian), we document the emergence of a preference for "strivers." Beginning at age 7, strivers (who work really hard) were favored over naturals (who are really smart) in both cultures (R2 ranging.03–.11). We explored several lay beliefs surrounding this preference. Beliefs about outcomes and the controllability of effort predicted the striver preference: Children who expected strivers to be more successful than naturals and believed effort was more controllable than talent preferred strivers more. Implications of the striver preference in education and beyond are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a study which compared the prevalence of commonly screened infections in internationally adopted children as a distinct population seen at an international adoption clinic (IAC) by region of adoption. Topics discussed include demographics and testing results by region, overall rate of positive tuberculosis screening, and the decline in the number of children adopted from other countries since the global pandemic.

Grounded in comparative law research, this paper compares differences in the regulation of online child pornography in China and the United States. The United States began regulating child pornography through criminal law in the 1970s, gradually refining the laws to distinguish between child pornography and obscenity and prohibit the possession of child pornography and virtual child pornography. In contrast, China treats child pornography on an equal footing with adult pornography, but imposes more lenient penalties on disseminating child pornography, which has led to the proliferation of child pornography. By comparing the two countries' policies and laws on child pornography, this review makes four recommendations for other countries: (i) define child pornography in criminal law; (ii) distinguish between obscenity and child pornography; (iii) prohibit virtual child pornography on the internet; and (iv) increase criminal penalties for child pornography. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Children's drawings of common object categories become dramatically more recognizable across childhood. What are the major factors that drive developmental changes in children's drawings? To what degree are children's drawings a product of their changing internal category representations versus limited by their visuomotor abilities or their ability to recall the relevant visual information? To explore these questions, we examined the degree to which developmental changes in drawing recognizability vary across different drawing tasks that vary in memory demands (i.e., drawing from verbal vs. picture cues) and with children's shape-tracing abilities across two geographical locations (San Jose, United States, and Beijing, China). We collected digital shape tracings and drawings of common object categories (e.g., cat, airplane) from 4- to 9-year-olds (N = 253). The developmental trajectory of drawing recognizability was remarkably similar when children were asked to draw from pictures versus verbal cues and across these two geographical locations. In addition, our Beijing sample produced more recognizable drawings but showed similar tracing abilities to children from San Jose. Overall, this work suggests that the developmental trajectory of children's drawings is remarkably consistent and not easily explainable by changes in visuomotor control or working memory; instead, changes in children's drawings over development may at least partly reflect changes in the internal representations of object categories. Public Significance Statement: The present study examined developmental changes in children's drawings of common object categories from 4 to 9 years of age. The findings suggest relative consistency in the developmental trajectory of drawing recognizability across two different sites (San Jose, United States, and Beijing, China) and two different drawing tasks (verbal vs. picture cues). The digital drawings and stroke-by-stroke records are made available as a resource for future work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Overeating for non-homeostatic needs contributes to childhood obesity. However, validated measures or eating motives and cross-cultural comparisons are limited. This study aimed to validate the Kids-Palatable Eating Motives Scale (K-PEMS) and its association with body mass index z score (BMIz) in China, and further assess its generalization across Chinese and American youth. Data were from participants aged 8–18 years from Hangzhou, China (n = 426) and Birmingham, AL, U.S (n = 73). The K-PEMS had sound reliability and validation (Cronbach's α = 0.920 and all factor loadings >0.50) in the Chinese sample. Multi-group nested models CFAs showed that the ∆CFI of model comparisons of measurement weights and structural covariance, variance, and means were ⩽0.01, and ∆TLI of measurement intercepts ⩽0.05. Linear regressions revealed that frequency of consuming palatable foods and drinks for Coping, Reward Enhancement, and Conformity, but not Social motives, were positively associated with BMIz. The K-PEMS had good cross-cultural generalization and could be useful in treating obesity by identifying specific motives for consuming excessive calories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

PURPOSE: Children and adolescents (<18 years old) who sustain a spinal cord injury (SCI) should ideally be managed in specialized rehabilitation services. This project aims to describe the organization of pediatric SCI in ten rehabilitation units in seven countries and to qualitatively explore psychosocial aspects of adolescents living with SCI. METHODS: A multicenter cross-sectional project is planned, using quantitative (web survey) and qualitative (interview) methods in ten rehabilitation units from Norway, Sweden, United States, Israel, PR China, Russia and Palestine. Individual interviews will be conducted with ≥20 adolescents aged 13–17 years at least 6 months' post rehabilitation. RESULTS: Units involved will be described and compared, according to funding, attachment to an acute SCI unit, catchment area, number of beds, admittance and discharge procedures, availability of services, staff/patient ratio, content and intensity of rehabilitation programs, length of stay, measurement methods, follow-up services, health promotion services, and pediatric SCI prevention acts. The semi-structured interview guide will include experiences from acute care and primary rehabilitation, daily life, school, contact with friends, leisure time activities, peers, physical and psychological health, and the adolescents' plans for the future. CONCLUSION: Based on the present protocol, this project is likely to provide new insight and knowledge on pediatric SCI rehabilitation and increase the understanding of pediatric SCI in adolescents and their families internationally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study draws on Michel Foucault's framework on power relations to explore the power of parents, as evidenced by various resistance strategies, in relating to teachers of their children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). This qualitative study had seven focus group interviews, involving 58 caregivers from 47 Chinese families of children with ADHD. Thematic analysis was used and three themes were identified: (1) cognitive resistance, (2) behavioral resistance, and (3) the transcendent vision of education. Resulting from the study, a culturally sensitive three-dimensional empowerment model is proposed for social workers to engage in advocacy that can facilitate a transformation of family–school power relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives. This study aimed to compare performances of China reference and different national references on high blood pressure (HBP). Methods. A cross-sectional study including 695,302 children and adolescents aged 7 to 17 years in Suzhou, China, was conducted to determine the prevalence of HBP based on U.S., international, Europe, and China references in 2016. Results. Different percentiles of height and blood pressure were found among four references. Referring to U.S. reference, the prevalence of HBP was the highest with 26.0%, followed by International reference with 20.0%, Europe reference with 19.5%, and China reference with 19.2%. McNemar tests indicated statistically significant differences between HBP prevalence comparing China reference with the other 3 references (P < 0.001). The area under the curve was 0.947, 0.851, and 0.949 for U.S., international, and Europe reference, respectively. U.S. reference showed the highest sensitivity (98.2%), but the lowest specificity (91.2%), and Europe reference showed the highest kappa value (0.893). Conclusions. The prevalence of HBP varied among these four references, and the appropriate choice of reference would be important to recognize high-risk children and judge the trends of HBP prevalence in the targeted population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined individual influences on child empathy, the relationship between child and parent empathy, and the relationship between empathy and prosociality across seven countries. A large sample of children (N = 792, 49% female) from the ages of 6–10 years completed a situational empathy task, as well as a dictator game to assess prosociality. The questionnaire of cognitive and affective empathy was used to assess parents' and children's empathic dispositions. Children participated from Canada, China, Colombia, Jordan, South Africa, Turkey, and the United States. Situational empathy, empathic disposition, and prosociality were all positively associated with age. Boys displayed less situational empathy and lower empathic disposition than girls. Parental empathic disposition predicted the same dispositions in children but were not related to children's situational empathy or prosociality. No association was found between child prosociality and child empathic disposition. Overall, the results suggest similar ontologies of empathic disposition and situational empathy across countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this meta‐analysis was to investigate the immediate and long‐term effects of intervention for children with primary speech and language delays/disorders and to explore whether some characteristics of interventions, specifics of the study and research participants moderate the magnitude of the effectiveness of interventions. Using the random effect model, we pooled the effect size and conducted a publication bias evaluation, a moderating effect analysis in CMA 2.0. Results of a random effects model analysis demonstrated a moderate immediate effect (g = 0.70), whereas the long‐term efficacy was small (g = 0.23). Additionally, type of measure, language of intervention, parental involvement, intervention content and study quality, as well as the duration of intervention, significantly moderated the effect size of intervention effectiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to examine the association between breastfeeding and childhood obesity. A multinational cross‐sectional study of 4,740 children aged 9–11 years was conducted from 12 countries. Infant breastfeeding was recalled by parents or legal guardians. Height, weight, waist circumference, and body fat were obtained using standardized methods. The overall prevalence of obesity, central obesity, and high body fat were 12.3%, 9.9%, and 8.1%, respectively. After adjustment for maternal age at delivery, body mass index (BMI), highest maternal education, history of gestational diabetes, gestational age, and child's age, sex, birth weight, unhealthy diet pattern scores, moderate‐to‐vigorous physical activity, sleeping, and sedentary time, exclusive breastfeeding was associated with lower odds of obesity (odds ratio [OR] 0.76, 95% confidence interval, CI [0.57, 1.00]) and high body fat (OR 0.60, 95% CI [0.43, 0.84]) compared with exclusive formula feeding. The multivariable‐adjusted ORs based on different breastfeeding durations (none, 1–6, 6–12, and > 12 months) were 1.00, 0.74, 0.70, and 0.60 for obesity (Ptrend =.020) and 1.00, 0.64, 047, and 0.64 for high body fat (Ptrend =.012), respectively. These associations were no longer significant after adjustment for maternal BMI. Breastfeeding may be a protective factor for obesity and high body fat in 9‐ to 11‐year‐old children from 12 countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite ample evidence linking particular child temperament characteristics to behavior disorders later in life, there is currently a lack of temperament measures that can be used early, easily, and widely for screening purposes. To redress this gap, the current research aimed at developing a very brief scale of child temperament characteristics that have been found to predict behavior problems over the long term, are represented across models of temperament, and have the potential to exhibit measurement invariance over different countries and childhood periods. The new scale was derived from the Integrative Child Temperament Inventory, a 30-item measure to assess five well-established temperament dimensions, and examined in three studies with samples of children aged between 2 and 8 years across five countries: The United States, the United Kingdom, China, Germany, and Spain (N = 13,425; boys 55.96%). The studies included tests of measurements invariance, of convergent validity with established measures of temperament, and of criterion validity with measures of behavior problems. The scale exhibited full metric invariance and partial scalar invariance across age groups (toddlerhood, preschool, school age) and countries. Test–retest reliability, interrater reliability across teachers, and convergent and criterion validity were adequate. Preliminary data on the measure's clinical utility suggest a favorable balance between brevity and screening accuracy. Altogether, this study suggests that early childhood temperament characteristics placing children at risk for developing behavior problems much later in life can be quickly, effectively, and commensurably assessed across different countries and age groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Chinese immigrant mothers have been found to hold cultural‐specific beliefs about children's weight and use cultural‐specific feeding practices when feeding their children. However, current measurements of child feeding, including the widely used Child Feeding Questionnaire (CFQ), do not capture these cultural‐specific beliefs and practices. Thus, the present study examined the underlying factor structure of the original CFQ (7‐factor model) and the modified CFQ with additional Asian cultural‐specific feeding items (8‐ and 9‐factor model) and assessed the validity of the CFQ among U.S. Chinese immigrant mothers. Method: First‐generation Chinese immigrant mothers (N = 216, Mage = 38.31, SDage = 4.34) with young children (Mage = 5.14, SDage = 1.49; 47.70% females) completed the CFQ (Birch et al., 2001), with two additional items capturing Asian cultural‐specific feeding beliefs and practices. Children's and parents' body mass index and mothers' perceptions of their children's body size were also assessed. Results: Our findings revealed that the 9‐factor model, which included the cultural‐specific feeding items, was the most optimal model to represent the factor structure of feeding beliefs and practices among U.S. Chinese immigrant mothers of young children. Mothers' feeding beliefs and practices were associated with children's and mothers' body mass index and mothers' perceptions of their children's body size. Conclusions: The present study highlighted the importance of cultural‐specific beliefs and practices when examining parents' feeding perceptions, beliefs, and practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What does it take know a moral truth or principle? Although testimony is an undisputed source of empirical knowledge of contingent facts, it is less clear whether it is possible to acquire "second-hand moral knowledge" (Jones, 1999; Wolff, 1998). In the present studies, 3- to 5-year-old Chinese (N = 124) and U.S. American (N = 90) children were asked to judge whether novel, distress-inducing actions were morally permissible, both independently and after either 1 or 3 adult informants had made counterintuitive judgments. Although participants made appropriate moral judgments independently, children from both countries were affected by the counterintuitive testimony provided by the adult informant(s). Moreover, Chinese children were especially receptive to such counterintuitive claims. These findings demonstrate that intuitive moral judgments based on perceived harm are common across 2 cultural groups, but adult testimony can potentially shift those judgments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Background: Intakes of dietary sugars is a global concern, and many national and international organizations have set targets to limit consumption. However, it is unclear to what extent intakes of total and added sugars vary between geographies. Objectives: The aim of this study was to assess the differences in intakes of total and added sugars in 4 to 13‐year‐old children in China, Mexico and the United States. The secondary aim was to identify main sources of total and added sugars in the diets of these children. Methods: Secondary data analysis was conducted using the 2011 China Health and Nutrition Survey, 2012 Mexican National Health and Nutrition Survey, and 2009–2012 US National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys. Total and added sugar intakes were calculated using the US Food Patterns Equivalents Database. Results: Mean intakes of total and added sugars were 26 and 9 g d−1 among Chinese children, 92 and 55 g d−1 among Mexican children, and 124 and 76 g d−1 among US children, respectively. The top food sources of total sugars were fruits among Chinese children, and sugar‐sweetened beverages and milk‐based beverages among Mexican and US children. Conclusions: These data highlight the heterogeneity of food patterns worldwide and the need for adapted country‐specific public health recommendations on sugars. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Considering gratitude as a virtue, rather than a positive emotion, requires measures different from those more commonly used and which conflate gratitude with appreciation. We here describe those measures, explaining why they are appropriate to the study of gratitude as a virtue. We then discuss how each measure was coded for this special issue, the manner of recruitment of our participants across the seven research sites (Brazil, Guatemala, the United States, Russia, Turkey, China, and South Korea), the overall hypotheses, and the analytic strategies used. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective. This study examined whether mainland Chinese and U.S. American children’s interpretations of their parents’ coercive authority assertion and critical comparison and shaming moderate relations between their reports of parenting and adjustment.Design. Middle-school children from mainland China (n = 217) and the United States (n = 207) rated their parents on coercive authority assertion and critical comparison and shaming, indicated whether they approved of their parents’ practices, rated their parents’ underlying intentions, and reported their own depression, antisocial behavior, and school motivation.Results. Moderation analyses showed that associations between coercive authority assertion or critical comparison and shaming and child depression were stronger for American and Chinese children whose approval ratings for these practices were relatively low. Greater coercive authority assertion was related to lower antisocial behavior for children who rated their parents high for the child beneficial interpretation and to lower school motivation for children who rated their parents low for the parent beneficial interpretation. For American children, greater coercive authority assertion also was related to greater depression for those who rated their parents relatively low for the child beneficial interpretation. For Chinese children, greater critical comparison and shaming was related to increased school motivation for those who rated their parents high on the child beneficial and/or parent beneficial interpretations.Conclusions. When children interpret their parents’ behavior in a more positive manner (i.e., they approve or think it is motivated by concern for the child), negative effects of coercive authority assertion and critical comparison and shaming may be mitigated. However, some cultural differences were found, particularly with respect to school motivation. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Purpose: Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS) Pediatric forms measure symptoms and function of pediatric patients experiencing chronic disease by using the same measures. Comparability is one of the most important purposes of the PROMIS initiative. This study aimed to test the factorial structures of four symptom measures (i.e., Anxiety, Depression, Fatigue, and Pain Interference) in the original English and the Chinese versions and examine the measurement invariance of the measures across two cultures.Methods: Four PROMIS Pediatric measures were used to assess symptoms, respectively, in Chinese (n = 232) and American (n = 200) children and adolescents (8-17 years old) in treatment for cancer or in survivorship. The categorical confirmatory factor analysis (CCFA) model was used to examine factorial structures, and multigroup CCFA was applied to test measurement invariance of these measures between the Chinese and American samples.Results: The CCFA models of the four PROMIS Pediatric symptom measures fit the data well for both the Chinese and American children and adolescents. Minor partial measurement invariance was identified. Factor means and factor variances of the four PROMIS measures were not significantly different between the two populations.Conclusions: Our results provide evidence that the four PROMIS Pediatric symptom measures have valid factorial structures and a statistical property of measurement invariance across American and Chinese children and adolescents with cancer. This means that the items of these measures were interpreted in a conceptually similar manner by two groups. They could be readily used for meaningful cross-cultural comparisons involving pediatric oncology patients in these two countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There used to be talk about pleasure being silenced in public health and international development discourses on sexuality, and the damage this silence caused. The exclusion of pleasure continues in some domains, for example, mainstream sexuality education programmes in schools in China and the USA. However, despite considerable challenges to talking about sex and pleasure in institutional research and educational environments, there are a number of initiatives that are starting to do so. Furthermore, normative frames are being developed to justify and shape the new discourses on young people’s pleasure. This paper compares two interventions which create norms of pleasure in relation to young people’s sexuality: an international research project in Shanghai, which draws on conceptual framings developed in the USA; and a sexuality education workshop series developed by a non-governmental organisation in Shenyang, North East China, which adopts a frame of ‘self-identification’ from the Chinese LGBT movement. It identifies the opportunities and constraints created by the normative frames these interventions generate. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article presents a study on educating children about proactive and reactive aggression through the Reactive and Proactive Aggression Questionnaire's (RPQ) in the U.S. and China. Topics include China Jintan Child Cohort Study; internal consistency and construct validity of the Chinese version of RPQ; assessment of mental health risk factors in neurobehavioral outcome development in children; culture-specific psychopathology identification and prediction of aggressive behavior.

Emotion knowledge contributes to emotion regulation and coping among adults, but few studies have investigated its role in children's coping development, especially in a cross-cultural context. We examine relations between children's emotion knowledge and coping in European American and Chinese immigrant families. One hundred and three 7- to 10-year-old children and their mothers from European American and Chinese cultural background participated in this study. Children's emotion knowledge was assessed using emotion-situation knowledge production task. This task examines their understanding of situational antecedents o discrete emotions. Children's use of coping strategies was reported by mothers using the Children's Coping Strategies Checklist. Results showed that Chinese immigrant children had greater emotion knowledge of fear and pride but were reported using less variety of coping strategies than European American children. The relationship between children's knowledge of self-conscious emotions and their use of distraction coping strategies was moderated by culture, whereby knowledge of self-conscious emotions was negatively associated with the parent-reported distraction strategies only for European American children but not for Chinese immigrant children. The importance of culture in both theory and practice related to emotion knowledge and coping is discussed. Findings in this study suggest that family intervention and children's emotion training programs may need to consider children's cultural background. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: As more adult and child immigrants enter the United States each year, there is a high likelihood that the prevalence of childhood hearing loss in the United States is underestimated, given estimations of the number of immigrant children entering the country with hearing loss. Method: Information was collected using online search engines and peer-reviewed journals. The most recent articles available through search engines included in EBSCOhost at the time were used. The gathered data were organized by emigrating country, and the 2 countries with the highest immigration rates were presented. Estimations of the number of children immigrating with hearing loss were made using data from published peer-reviewed articles and government reports on immigration. Conclusions: The prevalence of hearing loss in the United States is underestimated when considering undetected hearing loss in immigrant children. The addition of the immigrant children from only Mexico and China presents a 7.5% increase in the total number of children in the United States with hearing loss. This reinforces the importance of early detection of hearing loss in these children, resulting in more accurate estimation of the rate of childhood hearing loss in the United States and better planning for intervention programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Screening for hepatitis A virus (HAV) infection is not currently routinely recommended in internationally adopted children. International adoptees seen at the University of Minnesota International Adoption Clinic from 2006 to 2010 were assessed for acute HAV infection (positive HAV immunoglobulin M). Thirty of the 656 children screened (4.6%) were acutely HAV infected. HAV-infected children emigrated from Ethiopia (16), Guatemala (4), China (2), Colombia (2), Haiti (2), Philippines (2), Liberia (1), and Nepal (1). Infection was most frequent among children younger than 2 years (6.7%). No symptoms distinguished children with acute HAV infection from uninfected children. HAV infection caused significant social disruption, including separation of children from their ill adoptive parents during the initial weeks postarrival, a period important for postadoption adjustment and attachment. All international adoptees arriving from countries with high or intermediate HAV endemicity should be screened for HAV infection on arrival to the United States. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Objective. The researchers in this study investigated whether Chinese and American children's interpretations of parents' coercive authority assertion moderate relations between their self-reported parenting and adjustment. Associations between child adjustment and parents' shaming and critically comparing children to their peers were also investigated. Design. Sixth-, seventh- and eighth-graders (M ages = 11.73, 12.74, and 13.78 years, respectively) residing in Shanghai (n = 150) and Chicago (n = 168) rated possible motivations for coercive authority assertion, indicated whether they approved of it, and reported their parents' coercive authority assertion, critical comparison and shaming, as well as their own depression, antisocial behavior, and school effort. Results. Children in both cultures indicated that parents practiced coercive authority assertion to benefit their children more than themselves. Yet approval ratings were low. Approval of coercive authority assertion and the child-beneficial interpretation moderated relations between parents' coercive authority assertion and depression in both cultures. For American children, relations between parents' coercive authority assertion and both antisocial behavior and school effort were moderated by a social conventional interpretation. Critical comparison and shaming, and parents' coercive authority assertion were associated with poorer adjustment in both cultures. Conclusions. Chinese and American children believe parents are well-meaning but misguided in their practice of coercive authority assertion. Children's approval and interpretations can moderate parents' coercive authority assertion's links to psychosocial and academic functioning. Critical comparison and shaming is also associated with poorer adjustment in both cultures. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Aims: This study aims to review the economic cost of childhood (0-18 years) unintentional injuries (UI) and focuses upon comparing the cost burden between developing and developed countries. Methods: Articles were selected from PUBMED using the search words "Economic Cost", "Unintentional injuries" and "Children". Nine articles were selected. Results: Studies in China focused upon cost to hospitals, in Bangladesh they focused on personal payment in rural areas, and in Vietnam they focused upon community-based cost analysis. There was one study from Norway on UI at home. There were 5 articles from the USA focusing on submersion injury, UI insurance, unintentional traumatic brain injury, UI due to firearms and UI medical costs. The cost of childhood UI is enormous, ranging from US $516,938 to US $9,550,704 per year. This represents a large economic burden on society. Additionally, there is a large gap between lower-middle income countries (LMIC) and high income countries (HIC) in the burden of injury, injury health care and insurance systems. Conclusion: Different bases and contexts of studies make it difficult to draw a solid conclusion about the amount of costs of UI among children. Therefore, more studies of children's unintentional injuries should be carried out in low and middle income countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of body mass index (BMI) distribution, ethnicity and age at menarche on the consistency in the prevalence of underweight and overweight defined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the International Obesity Task Force (IOTF) cut-off points in 2-17-year-old Chinese and US children. Methods: Data from the China Health and Nutrition Survey (CHNS) 1991 ( n= 3895), CHNS 2004 ( n= 1902), and the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2003-2004 ( n= 3344) were used to define the prevalence of underweight and overweight using the CDC and IOTF BMI cut-off points. Results: An upward shift in the BMI distribution was observed from the CHNS 1991 to CHNS 2004, and between the CHNS and NHANES 2004. The prevalence of underweight defined by the IOTF cut-off points was higher than that obtained using the CDC cut-off points; absolute differences between IOTF and CDC classifiers were 7%, 5%, and 2% in boys, and 12%, 11%, and 4% in girls in the CHNS 1991, CHNS 2004, and NHANES 2004, respectively. There was a greater consistency in the prevalence of overweight. The consistency of the two classification systems increased with the higher BMI distribution and was not affected significantly by ethnicity or age at menarche. Conclusions: The BMI distribution of a population can affect the classification of childhood underweight and overweight differentially as defined by the CDC and IOTF cut-off points, and thus should be considered in the interpretation of results in clinical and population settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper examines the associations between Chinese and Korean immigrant parents’ early life material and food deprivation and their concern about their child’s diet or weight, preferences for heavier children, and weight-promoting diet and child weight, alongside the moderating role of parents’ acculturation toward American culture. In 2010, Chinese and Korean immigrant parents of children ages 3–8 years in the United States (N = 130) completed interviews which asked about their perceived early life material deprivation and food insecurity, acculturation, child feeding practices, and evaluations of whether their child weighed more or less than the ideal, and child consumption of soda and candy. Independent measures of child and parent BMI were also obtained. Regression analyses revealed that parents’ early life food insecurity was associated with the evaluation that their child should weigh more than they do and greater consumption of soda and sweets by their child, among the least acculturated parents. Parental material deprivation was associated with more laissez-faire child feeding practices: less monitoring, less concern about the child’s weight or diet, and less perceived responsibility for the child’s diet, but only among less acculturated parents. Overall, the results suggest that immigrant parents’ child feeding practices and body size evaluations are shaped by material hardship in childhood, but these influences may fade as acculturation occurs. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This research examined parents' involvement in children's learning in the United States and China. Beginning in seventh grade, 825 American and Chinese children (mean age = 12.74 years) reported on their parents' involvement in their learning as well as their parents' psychological control and autonomy support every 6 months until the end of 8th grade. Information on children's academic and emotional adjustment was obtained. American (vs. Chinese) parents' involvement was associated less with their control and more with their autonomy support. Despite these different associations, parents' heightened involvement predicted children's enhanced engagement and achievement similarly in the United States and China. However, it predicted enhanced perceptions of competence and positive emotional functioning more strongly in the United States than China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study examined Chinese children's moral evaluations of truths and lies about one's own pro-social acts. Children ages 7, 9, and 11 were read vignettes in which a protagonist performs a good deed and is asked about it by a teacher, either in front of the class or in private. In response, the protagonist either tells a modest lie, which is highly valued by the Chinese culture, or tells an immodest truth, which violates the Chinese cultural norms about modesty. Children were asked to identify whether the protagonist's statement was the truth or a lie, and to evaluate how 'good' or 'bad' the statement was. Chinese children rated modest lies more positively than immodest truths, with this effect becoming more pronounced with age. Rural Chinese children and those with at least one nonprofessional parent rated immodest truths less positively when they were told in public rather than in private. Furthermore, Chinese children of parents with high collectivism scores valued modest lies more than did children of parents with low collectivism scores. These findings suggest that both macro- and micro-cultural factors contribute significantly to children's moral understanding of truth and lie telling. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined the multiple components of gender identity (Egan and Perry 2001) and their relationships with psychological adjustment among 201 boys and 160 girls (aged 9 to 12 years) in Mainland China. Boys were found to be more content about their gender but feel more pressure to conform to gender stereotypes than girls. No gender or age differences were found in children’s intergroup bias. Higher gender typicality was related to greater global self-worth, greater social competence, and lower sense of loneliness. However, neither felt pressure nor gender contentment significantly predicted psychological adjustment. These results were compared with findings of previous United States-based studies to highlight the impacts of cultural contexts on gender identity and their effects on adjustment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the adoptions of Chinese children by the U.S. It tackles the social conditions of females in China whose subordination was traced in the historical domination of Confucian culture and the Chinese government's One-Child Policy of 1979 that addresses the issue of sustainability and overpopulation. It was in 1980 when the practice of adoption in China by foreigners began, and its regulation through the 1992 Adoption Law. Also discussed are the procedure in adopting Chinese children based on the China Center of Adoption Affairs (CCAA) and several paradigms of adaptation.

Abstract: This research addressed four basic questions about culture, gender and information technology (IT) use. First, are there differences between Chinese and US children in their computer and Internet use? Second, are there differences between Chinese and US children in their use of other technologies, namely, videogames and cell phones? Third, does gender moderate the influence of culture on the use of computers, the Internet and other technologies? Fourth, are there differences among subcultural groups within cultures in their IT use? Using samples of 600 Chinese and 600 US children whose average age was 12 years old, findings indicated cultural and gender differences in technology use as well as interactions between the two. US children used computers and the Internet more than did Chinese children, with Chinese females being the least intense users. Males played videogames more than did females, with US males playing more than did Chinese males. US females lead all other groups in cell phone use, whereas Chinese females were least likely to use them. Racial and ethnic group differences indicate that diversity within cultural groups among subcultures must be considered in understanding children’s IT use. Implications of cultural, gender and subcultural group differences in technology use for equity in access to technology and educational interventions for children in the use of technology are discussed. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Kindergartners in China showed greater numerical knowledge than their age peers in the United States, not only when tested with arithmetic problems, which Chinese parents present to their children more often than U.S. parents do, but also when tested with number-line estimation problems, which were novel to the children in both countries. The Chinese kindergartners' number-line estimates were comparable to those of U.S. children 1 to 2 years more advanced in school. Individual differences in arithmetic and number-line-estimation performance were positively correlated within each country. These results indicate that performance differences between Chinese and U.S. children on both practiced and unpracticed mathematical tasks are substantial even before the children begin elementary school. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Guided by Shulman's (1986, 1987) tripartate model of teacher expertise (subject matter knowledge (SMK), pedagogical content knowledge (PCK), and general pedagogical knowledge (GPK)), the present study examined 162 U.S. and Chinese 3rd grade mathematics teachers' expertise in teaching fractions. Results show that U.S. teachers lag significantly behind Chinese teachers in SMK (concepts, computations, and word problems) and in some areas of PCK (e.g., such as identifying important points of teaching the fraction concepts and how to ensure students' understanding). Although the Chinese teachers performed poorly in comparison to their U.S. counterparts on a test designed to measure GPK (e.g., psychological and educational theories and applications), its poor reliability calls these results into question. The implications of this study are discussed in terms of practical ideas for teacher training in the U.S. and China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most cross-cultural research on Chinese and American children's early mathematical competencies has focused on their understanding of number and number operations. The present study broadened the range of tasks assessed to include geometric shapes, problem solving and logical reasoning, as well as number and numerical operations, in an effort to determine if: (a) there are within- and cross-culture differences in the development of mathematical knowledge in all domains and (b) the rate/order of development of the four different mathematics skills are comparable across cultures? One- hundred-and-sixty Chinese and US first grade students participated in this study one month after they entered first grade. The results indicated that Chinese and US children's mathematical knowledge in the domain of numbers and operations is better developed than their mathematical knowledge in the other three domains, Chinese children outperformed American children on almost all tasks in all of the domains and the level of difficulty of mathematics concepts, across culture, seems to be universal (e.g. children's conceptual knowledge within each of these domains seems to develop in the same order across cultures). The theoretical and educational implications of these results are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chinese, German, and US. American 4- to 6-year-old boys and girls were asked to select videos of children stories that they would most like to see. Choices were either between pairs of story videos presenting aggressive versus peaceful, nurturing con- tent, with male or female sex of story protagonists held constant, or between pairs of videos featuring male versus female protagonists, with aggressive or peaceful story content held constant. Across countries/cultures, boys showed a strong preference for aggressive stories; girls for peaceful, nurturing ones. Again across countries/cultures, both sexes favored stories featuring protagonists of their own sex. However, the preference for same-sex story protagonists was particularly strong in American and Chinese girls. In comparison, American and Chinese boys showed only a moderate preference for male characters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives. Sleep patterns and sleep problems in children are not only influenced by a large number of biological and psychologic factors but also by cultural and social factors. Little is known about similarities and differences in sleep patterns and sleep problems among children across countries. We attempted to compare sleep patterns and sleep problems among schoolchildren from 2 countries with distinctive cultural contexts: the United States and China. Methods. The data come from 2 cross-sectional surveys in 3 elementary schools of Jinan City, People's Republic of China, and 3 elementary schools from a suburban school district in southeastern New England, United States. The Chinese sample consisted of 517 elementary school children (grades 1 to 5), and the US sample consisted of 494 elementary school children (grades kinder-garten through 4). We used the Children's Sleep Habits Questionnaire (CSHQ) to assess children's sleep patterns and sleep problems as reported by parents. Parents of the Chinese sample completed a Chinese version of the CSHQ. Results. For children in both the US and Chinese samples, reported bedtime was delayed and sleep duration decreased with increasing age. Compared with the US children (grades 1-4), Chinese children went to bed approximately half an hour later (9:02 vs 8:27 PM) and woke up half an hour earlier (6:28 vs 6:55 AM), resulting in an average sleep duration that was 1 hour less (9.25 vs 10.15 hours). Chinese children were rated significantly higher than the US children on almost all CSHQ scales, indicating more sleep problems in Chinese children. Common sleep problems observed for all children were difficulty falling asleep, having a fear of sleeping in the dark, sleep talking, restless sleep, teeth grinding during sleep, and daytime sleepiness. Shorter daily sleep duration was associated with difficulty falling asleep, struggling at bedtime, and trouble sleeping away for the US children, and with going to... [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Evidence has accumulated to suggest that the mean IQs of Orientals in the United States and in the countries of the Pacific Basin are higher than those of Whites (Caucasoids) in the United States and Britain. This paper presents evidence from IQ tests on 4858 6-year-old Chinese children in Hong Kong. On the Coloured Progressive Matrices these children obtained a mean IQ of 116. Samples from Australia, Czechoslovakia, Germany, Romania, the UK and the US obtain IQs in the range 95–102. It is suggested that these results pose difficulties for the environmentalist explanations commonly advanced to explain the low mean IQs obtained by some ethnic minorities in the United States. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The authors reflect on the changes in global child demographics. They cite a report from UNICEF which noted the possibility for the changes to fundamentally alter where the world's children are born and live, and which regions will be most in need of essential services. They also note some of the important findings of the report, including a sharp decline in China's child population and a continued increase in child population in the U.S.