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Previous research has found that children incrementally learn how to cope with advertising as they age. The current research investigates whether these developmental constraints in advertising knowledge at time of exposure have enduring consequences. Results from four experimental studies show that childhood exposure to advertisements can lead to resilient biased product evaluations that persist into adulthood. Study 1 demonstrates that positive affect toward ad-related stimuli encountered in childhood mediates the relationship between childhood advertising exposure and biased evaluations for products associated with childhood (but not adulthood) advertising. Study 2 demonstrates stronger biases when participants are exposed to childhood advertising cues relative to childhood consumption cues. Studies 3 and 4 show that even when ability and motivation to correct bias are high, lingering positive affect toward childhood ad-related stimuli is a motivational deterrent to correct biased product evaluations. Study 4 also shows that biased product evaluations can transfer to line extensions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Careful research that elucidates how behavior relates to design in the context of elementary school grounds can serve to guide cost-efficient design with the goal of encouraging physical activity (PA). This work explores patterns in children's PA behavior within playground spaces with the specific goal of guiding healthy playground design. Methods: Data on children's utilization and PA behavior in 6 playgrounds divided into 106 observation zones were collected in 2005 and 2006 at Denver elementary school playgrounds using the System for Observing Play and Leisure Activity in Youth. Analyses of variance and t tests determined whether there were differences in utilization and behavior patterns across observations zones and between genders. Results: This study provides evidence that children prefer to use certain types of playground zones and that they are more likely to practice moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) in some zones. The authors observed statistically significant differences between genders. Boys were more likely to engage in MVPA in zones without equipment, girls were more likely to use zones with equipment. Conclusions: This work suggests that the inclusion or omission of specific playground features may have an impact on the way that children use the spaces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined an insufficiently studied predictor of functional language, social motivation, in a group of 87 young children with autism spectrum disorder. Participants (age 14–31 months at the start of the study) were assessed at four times over 24 months. We tested total and indirect associations between early social motivation and later expressive language to understand the behavioral mechanisms by which social motivation might affect functional language development. Results from this study show that early social motivation predicts functional language 2 years later in young children with autism spectrum disorder. In addition, this positive longitudinal association is serially mediated by intentional communication and then receptive language. These findings are consistent with the elicited bootstrapping hypothesis which proposes that children with relatively stronger social motivation produce more intentional communication. This, in turn, elicits others' linguistic input which impels receptive language development. This process eventually results in relatively increased expressive language development. About one-third of children with autism spectrum disorder never develop the language that they need in different day-to-day situations. Identifying potential factors that can predict later language development is crucial to understanding why some children with autism spectrum disorder successfully develop language while others do not. This study sought to investigate one of the understudied predictors of language development, social motivation, and to test theories for why this association may occur. Testing the theories requires that we measure children's ability to deliberately and directly communicate with others (i.e. intentional communication) and children's language understanding between the measures of social motivation and later expressive language. We tested 87 children with autism spectrum disorder, aged 14–31 months, at four times over 24 months. We found that children with relatively stronger social motivation had relatively better language use 2 years later. This positive link was partly due to a child's ability to produce intentional communication and to understand language. Although we did not measure parents' talking to their children, a theory that inspired this study suggests that children who use frequent intentional communication probably motivate others to talk with them frequently, which facilitates children's language understanding which leads to the development of expressive language. This theory, if confirmed to be true, can provide guidance for parents who want to help their children learn to talk. Parents could look for intentional communication from their children and respond by talking to their children. Effective intervention on both parent and child targets will likely enhance treatment efficacy. Future work is needed to test these ideas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

From preschool age, humans tend to imitate causally irrelevant actions—they over‐imitate. This study investigated whether children over‐imitate even when they know a more efficient task solution and whether they imitate irrelevant actions equally from a human compared to a robot model. Five‐to‐six‐year‐olds (N = 107) watched either a robot or human retrieve a reward from a puzzle box. First a model demonstrated an inefficient (Trial 1), then an efficient (Trial 2), then again the inefficient strategy (Trial 3). Subsequent to each demonstration, children copied whichever strategy had been demonstrated regardless of whether the model was a human or a robot. Results indicate that over‐imitation can be socially motivated, and that humanoid robots and humans are equally likely to elicit this behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) have been associated with increased risk for parenting difficulties; however, cognitive factors related to parenting, such as parenting perceptions and beliefs regarding children's development, remain unexplored. This is problematic as negative and unrealistic beliefs regarding parenthood and children may be a key mechanism by which PTSS increases vulnerability for adverse parenting outcomes. The aims of the study were to examine whether PTSS and the specific posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptom clusters were related to more negative parenting perceptions and to more unrealistic beliefs regarding children's development among 212 trauma-exposed parents (Mage = 36.68 SD = 7.38; 60.9% female; 54.3% White). Higher levels of PTSS corresponded with more negative parenting perceptions and more unrealistic expectations of children. Intrusion, avoidance, and negative alterations in cognitions and mood were not associated with parenting perceptions. Trauma-related alterations in arousal and reactivity were related to more negative parenting-related beliefs regarding one's child and oneself. PTSS, particularly trauma-related changes in arousal and reactivity symptoms, may be relevant in understanding perceptions of parenthood and beliefs regarding children's development. These symptoms may be targeted via trauma-focused treatments to increase adaptive parenting outcomes for parents who have experienced trauma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers the author's insights on the physical activity motivation among youth and how research progressed since 1989. The author says that children participate and discontinue their sport for several reasons including skills improvement, friendship, and injuries. She mentions four major advances that help elevate the understanding of youth motivation and physical activity including the shift from descriptive to theory-driven studies.

Background: Girls are less physically active than boys, yet no single study has examined the factors that may explain gender differences in children's physical activity (PA). Methods: This study was a cross-sectional analysis of data from 116 caregivers and their children aged 5-8 years who participated in the MOVE study. Caregivers reported various factors that may relate to children's PA (eg, encouragement for child PA and PA equipment at home). Child PA was measured by 7-day accelerometry. Linear regression tested for the variance in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) explained by gender and several variables. Gender and ethnicity interactions were examined. Results: Caregivers were mostly female (97%), mean age 38 ± 6 years, mean BMI 28 ± 6 (kg/m2). Child's mean age was 8.1 ± 0.7, 54% were female and 40% were overweight/obese. Girls were less physically active than boys (54.1 ± 19.7 vs. 65.2 ± 28.0 daily minutes of MVPA, respectively). Among girls, more days of PE/week was associated with greater MVPA. Among boys, greater parent support for PA, greater parent modeling for PA, and greater number of PA equipment in the home were associated with greater MVPA. Conclusions: This study supports that boys and girls have different correlates for MVPA, which may partly explain gender differences in PA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the 1960s, self-esteem has become a cornerstone of Western child-rearing. After reviewing a large body of rigorous longitudinal research, Orth and Robins (2022) conclude that self-esteem brings modest but significant benefits across all ages. However, the authors did not intend to suggest strategies for raising children’s self-esteem. The aim of my commentary is to identify such strategies. Without guidance on how to raise children’s self-esteem safely and sustainably, well-intentioned strategies, such as inflated praise, may inadvertently undermine self-esteem or even breed narcissism. Instead, interventions should be based on a theoretically informed and empirically supported understanding of the determinants of self-esteem. By targeting these determinants, interventions may be able to raise children’s self-esteem safely (i.e., without breeding narcissism) and sustainably (i.e., leading to lasting improvements in self-esteem and its presumed outcomes). Evaluating these interventions through randomized controlled trials will help build a theory of when and why self-esteem interventions work. Ultimately, this work will provide nuanced and dependable guidance to parents, teachers, and professionals on how to raise children’s self-esteem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We applied the trans‐contextual model (TCM) to examine the effects of middle school students' perceived autonomy support from their physical education (PE) teachers on autonomous motivation toward PE in school and, critically, autonomous motivation toward, and actual participation in, leisure‐time physical activity (PA). The research adopted a three‐wave prospective design enabling the modeling of change in the TCM constructs over time. Middle school students (N = 248) aged from 12 to 16 years reported their perceived autonomy support, autonomous motivation in PE, autonomous motivation toward leisure‐time PA, attitudes, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control (PBC), intentions for PA in leisure‐time, and leisure‐time PA participation. The psychological constructs and leisure‐time PA were measured at baseline (T0) and at a first follow‐up occasion (T1) 5 weeks later. Another measure of PA was taken at a second follow‐up occasion (T2) a further 5 weeks later. A single‐indicator structural equation model using residualized change scores revealed that perceived autonomy support predicted autonomous motivation in PE (β =.345), and autonomous motivation in PE predicted autonomous motivation for leisure‐time PA (β =.484). Autonomous motivation toward leisure‐time PA predicted attitudes (β =.425), subjective norms (β =.264), and PBC (β =.517). Autonomous motivation toward leisure‐time PA (β =.376), attitude (β =.231), and subjective norms (β =.185) predicted intentions toward leisure‐time PA, and intentions predicted PA (β =.198). Findings extend research on the TCM by demonstrating its efficacy in predicting change in middle school students' autonomous motivation across PE and leisure‐time contexts, and accounting for change in intentions toward, and actual participation in, leisure‐time PA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on interviews with 45 children, this article looks at the life situations and aspirations of working children in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, including their hopes, efforts and struggles to make their dreams come true. Pushed by the need for survival, the children work and nearly half go to school. They demonstrate agency, taking care of themselves, supporting families and aspiring to change their lives. However, they also face challenges that make achieving their aspirations difficult. The authors argue that agency alone is not sufficient to help them realise their aspirations unless buffered by supportive structures and systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study children's learning of the concept, stability, during some building activities were investigated. It was also examined how a story can create meaning, having the children build for some animals in the story. Two preschool teachers and 10 children participated. Data consisted of video-recordings from activities with the children and was analysed through thematic coding. The findings showed that the children enjoyed to build and showed an understanding of how to build stable constructions, however without using the word stable. There were connections to the story and new stories were also made by the children during building activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a conceptual framework to understand the Nurtured Heart Approach (NHA) through the perspective of Self-Determination Theory (SDT). The Nurtured Heart Approach and the Self-Determination Theory are discussed and the parallels are drawn between the two, to provide a theoretical foundation to NHA and support for its effectiveness, which is otherwise lacking. The NHA, developed to help parents manage the undesirable behaviors of children, does not have a foundation of any particular theory. The approach is backed by anecdotal reports rather than empirical findings. Self-Determination Theory is a broad theory of motivation that proposes that human beings have three basic psychological needs-the need for autonomy, relatedness, and competence. The main techniques of NHA fit well with the elements which support the satisfaction of these basic psychological needs. The paper provides a theoretical framework to NHA by highlighting how it brings about sustainable behavioral change and self-regulation by fulfilling the satisfaction of the three basic psychological needs as proposed by SDT. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Motivation is closely related to creating an active attitude and ensures more active involvement of pupils in the learning process, where it increases the security of the individual's vital involvement in general physical education activities. This requires the teacher to look for more innovative methods to ensure that students are actively involved in the learning organization process. The purpose of this paper review is to analyze literature in the field of teaching psychology as well as from the field of teaching, with a spectrum related to their motives, attitudes and connections with teacher strategies, to provide an analysis with conclusions on the most appropriate ways which would help improve the active involvement of pupils in physical education. Methodology: In order to fulfill this review are using methods of literature analysis, and is made combination and comparison of data from various works and projects of authors varied. To successfully realize this review paper we studied and analyzed the contemporary scientific literature provided by various Internet-based research sectors such as: "Jab Ref" "Pub Med" "Google Scholar" "Medline" "Sports Discuss" and "Research Gate". The methods used are: literature analysis, physical activity statistics, conclusions and recommendations. Conclusions and recommendations: all the literature used can be clearly seen the importance of understanding motivation, and the factors on which it depends on the teacher. The purpose of physical education, ie the concept of physical education class has changed radically in all developed countries. Modern physical education should aim at strengthening personal traits, in preparing for an active lifestyle not only at school, but throughout life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors explain their research on children's motivations to participate in physical activity and the influence of perceived motor competence on participation. They refer to self-determination theory, which explains personal motivation based on competence, autonomy, and relatedness. They explain that children form perceptions of competence in certain domains, including sports, by approximately age five and that children also place value on activities by that age. They also relate social cognitive theory to the acquisition and maintenance of behavioral patterns, such as physical activity. They note that the study is based on U.S. schoolchildren, explain their data collection and analysis and the study results, and present a qualitative assessment of motives for engagement.

The article presents the conference program for the June 7-9, 2007 conference on sport and exercise psychology in San Diego, California. The preconference symposium is titled "Reflecting on the Contributions of Richard A. Schmidt to Motor Control and Learning Research." Presentations at the conference include "Transitions to motherhood and its effect on physical activity," by Carolyn McIntyre and Ryan Rhodes, "The role of athlete leadership in dyadic team sports," by Diana Vincer and colleagues, and "Motivation in physical education and physical activity behavior outside of school," by Anne Cox, Lavon Williams, and Alan Smith.

Focuses the motivation on the interest of children in value of physical activity to enhance the physical attributions. Types of motivation; Samples of inappropriate practices and conditions; Details on the motivational strategies.

Storytelling has been proved to have numerous benefits to education; some of the most crucial are: the stimulation of reflective thinking, facilitation of group cohesion, influence on the direction of learning, the linking to the empowerment of studentsetc (Flanagan 2015).Digital storytelling (DS) is not a new idea as its roots lie in the Digital Storytelling movement in the 1980s whose cofounders created the Center for Digital Storytelling that provided training and assistance to people interested in creating and sharing their personal narratives (Robin 2008). DS has been used widely in all levels of formal education (Blas, Garzotto, Paolini, & Sabiescu 2009), of adult education (Flanagan 2015) but also in a great variety of lessons such as mathematics and geometry (Yuksel-Arslan, Yildirim & Ross 2016). Needless to say, that digital storytelling has also been used to teach values in special education (Skouge & Rao 2009) and also to highlight media literacy in preschool education (Blas & Boretti 2009). Research has found that digital storytelling has substantial educational benefits for preschoolers such as the fostering of the ability to narrate, to work as a group, to increase the sense of self responsibility and meta-cognition of preschoolers' own performance (Blas & Boretti 2009,49). Moreover, it has also proved to be an alternative problem-based learning tool for enhancing young children's motivation; an impetus for change in teachers' practices; and last but not least a challenging task for preschoolers (Yuksel-Arslan, Yildirim & Ross 2016). Within this context, the aim of this study is to achieve greater comprehension of how digital storytelling, within preschool education, can contribute to enhance the media learning experience of preschoolers. DS is actually a basic function of every traditional or new medium. The combination of DS with media education will most probably prove to be a successful experiment. The research questions that the field study will focus on are the following two: Why digital storytelling is suitable for preschool media education? How can we enrich media education with teaching media ethics through DS? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors detail how 2,000 teachers facilitating summer camps for 8,000 students across a state for three years engaged families in authentic literacy practices. Building relationships, considering families' needs and strengths, and providing authentic learning experiences linked with literacy led to positive changes in family engagement and literacy motivation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: There is increasing recognition of the contribution of affective factors such as motivation to the development of reading competence. Reading activity is theorised to mediate associations between motivation and achievement, but this has been tested empirically only rarely. Method: This study employed structural equation modelling to test a hypothesised model of relations between the reading self‐concept, intrinsic motivation, activity and achievement of a sample of 4,067 grade 6 students in Ireland and to explore whether the relations were moderated by gender or socioeconomic status (SES). Results: Intrinsic motivation and self‐concept were significantly associated with reading activity, which, in turn, significantly predicted reading achievement. Girls had higher intrinsic motivation and reading activity than boys, but there was no gender difference in reading self‐concept. High‐SES students had higher reading self‐concept, intrinsic motivation and activity than low‐SES and medium‐SES students. The strength of the associations among the constructs under study did not vary by gender or SES. Conclusions: Findings suggest that efforts aimed at increasing students' intrinsic reading motivation may lead to increased reading activity and reading competence, irrespective of gender or SES. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Episodic memory relies on discriminating among similar elements of episodes. Mnemonic discrimination is relatively poor at age 4, and then improves markedly. We investigated whether motivation to encode items with fine-grain resolution would change this picture of development, using an engaging computer-administered memory task in which a bird ate items that made her healthier (gain frame), sicker (loss frame), or led to no change (control condition). Using gain-loss framing led to enhanced mnemonic discrimination in 4- and 5-year-olds, but did not affect older children or adults. Despite this differential improvement, age-related differences persisted. An additional finding was that loss-framing led to greater mnemonic discrimination than gain-framing across age groups. Motivation only partially accounts for the improvement in mnemonic discrimination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Literacy competence is a prerequisite for community participation. Yet, many students with intellectual disability do not meet the minimum criteria for proficiency in reading and writing. With poor performance in these academic areas, motivation for learning may be dwindling, which in turn may lead to even poorer performance. The present study uses a single‐case experimental design to investigate how student‐directed learning may address this double challenge of motivation and performance. In the study, five adolescents (aged 13–15) with mild intellectual disability used the Self‐Determined Learning Model of Instruction to select self‐chosen goals within reading and writing skills. Despite little prior knowledge of the goal setting and action planning process, all participating students attained their literacy goals. This finding emphasises the need for special educators to provide their students with frequent opportunities and training to practice and refine the necessary skills for active participation in the learning process. Doing so may enhance students' motivation for learning as well as their academic performances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explored developmental and individual differences in intellectual humility (IH) among 127 children ages 6-8. IH was operationalized as children's assessment of their knowledge and willingness to delegate scientific questions to experts. Children completed measures of IH, theory of mind, motivational framework, and intelligence, and neurophysiological measures indexing early (error-related negativity [ERN]) and later (error positivity [Pe]) error-monitoring processes related to cognitive control. Children's knowledge self-assessment correlated with question delegation, and older children showed greater IH than younger children. Greater IH was associated with higher intelligence but not with social cognition or motivational framework. ERN related to self-assessment, whereas Pe related to question delegation. Thus, children show separable epistemic and social components of IH that may differentially contribute to metacognition and learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Despite increasing research in obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), a great deal still needs to be learned regarding how the disorder manifests in the juvenile population. This study sought to expound on previous research in adults to explore the characteristics of juveniles with OCD who are seeking help via the Internet, namely their OCD symptomology and its impact on disabilty and severity, and the value of a self-perception severity screener.Methods: This study utilized a population of 157 juveniles who were accessing an online website for program-guided treatment of OCD (ages 7 to 17 years, M = 14.55, SD = 2.33).Results: Results revealed that the most frequently reported subtype for juveniles was not just right (n = 73, 88.0%) followed by contamination (n = 58, 69.9%) OCD, almost half the participants 45% (n= 46) accurately reported their symptom severity, and over-reporting of symptom severity was associated with an increase in disability compared to both those who accurately reported [t(97) = −2.642, p = 0.010, r = .26] and under-reported [t(97) = −4.184, p < 0.001, r = .39] symptoms.Conclusions: Clinical implications (e.g., OCD severity ratings, symptom categories, disability ratings and treatment implications), limitations (e.g., lack of confirmed diagnoses and self-reported data), and future directions (i.e., replication studies with juvenile specific measures) are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors investigated the impact of explicit instruction and peer-assisted writing on students' writing motivation and self-efficacy for writing. Eleven teachers and their 206 fifth- and sixth-grade students participated in a 2 (explicit instruction vs. writing opportunities without explicit instruction) × 2 (peer-assisted writing vs. writing individually) experimental intervention study with a pretest-posttest design. The four experimental conditions were compared with a business-as-usual (BAU) condition. The five-week interventions were implemented in authentic classes by regular class teachers, who received a prior professional development training. Multilevel analyses showed that students who wrote with a peer were more autonomously motivated at posttest than BAU students. Additionally, BAU students and students receiving explicit instruction were more controlled motivated than students who were offered ample writing opportunities while practicing individually. Theoretical and educational implications are discussed in view of realizing a bright pathway towards autonomous writing motivation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context: Motivation serves to be an integral part of health promotion to children at the learning phase of their life.Aim: Evaluation of the effectiveness of musical toothbrush over regular toothbrush in the debris and gingival bleeding scores among children.Settings and Design: This was a single-blinded parallel, randomized controlled trial conducted among 6-10-year-old schoolchildren in Chennai.Methods: One hundred participants with allocation ratio of 1:1 were assigned to musical and regular toothbrush group by simple randomization. After baseline evaluation (T0) of Debris Index-Simplified (DI-S) and Gingival Bleeding Index (GBI), outcome variables were assessed for a period of 3 months (T1, T2, and T3).Statistical Analysis Used: Friedman test and Mann-Whitney statistical test were used to compare the outcome variables within and across the two groups.Results: Thirty-two boys and 68 girls (mean age: 8.53 years) participated in the study. Statistically significant difference was seen in DI-S score among musical toothbrush group (mean: 0.50 [T3] and GBI score: 8.18% [T3]) when compared to regular toothbrush group (mean: 1.59 [T3] and GBI score: 23.54 [T3]) at the end of the 3rd month.Conclusion: Although both the musical and regular toothbrushes effectively reduced the DI-S and GBI scores, former showed effective change among children when compared to the latter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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This study explores child and parent motivation at the start of a social skills training group program and its relationship with treatment outcome. A total of 59 children (aged 7–12) participated. Parents were more aware of, distressed by, and motivated to change the presenting problem than were their children. Greater parent awareness of their child's difficulty making and keeping friends and perceived importance of their child learning ways to make and keep more friends significantly predicted more improved social skills. Increasing parents' awareness and perceived importance of treating the presenting problem at the start of therapy may increase treatment effectiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examines the effect of motivational climate on children's psychological and motor development. Comparison of effectiveness of a performance versus mastery oriented teaching program; Analysis of children's enjoyment, perceived competence, intrinsic motivation and motor skill development.

Examines the motivational effects of teaching style in track and field on children. Intrinsic motivation and goal involvement; Levels of competence, autonomy and task orientation; Work avoidance involvement.

Examines factors that motivate Italian youths in participating in sport programs. Gender; Age; Sport; Parents' educational level; Geographical area.

Eleven elementary physical education teachers provided information about their perceptions of 251 students' temperament characteristics and estimates of four student aptitudes: motor ability, social interaction skills, motivation, and to what level of their potential students generally worked. Estimates of the frequency that teachers would attend to each child in typical instructional situations were also gathered. Factor analysis of the temperament measures revealed three independent factors: physical sensitivity, adaptability, and reactivity/task, orientation. Teachers' decisions to attend to, children were regressed on temperament factors and student aptitude measures. The findings indicated that motor ability was die most important variable teachers reported they would use in making decisions about allocating their attention during instruction. The temperament factor reactivity/task orientation was the next most important factor. The analyses suggested that teachers would consider adaptability of students only in organizational patterns that include the whole group. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of consumer aspirations changes direction repeatedly in observable phases, generated by common experiences. Each phase exhausts its initial promise through encountering its own unwanted consequences, environmental constraints, and emerging perspectives which alter motives, thus giving rise to the succeeding phase. Four such phases are discerned from World War II to the present, in which signs indicate consumption is being reoriented away from goods and toward services. The pace of transformation presses the young into the role of teaching their parents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Book-gifting programmes alone show no evidence in improving educational outcomes for children in care. • There is reason to believe that book-gifting programmes supplemented by an increased role for foster carers in reading with children in foster care might prove more effective. • The Reading Together programme, which combines book-gifting and an enhanced role for foster carers, showed no evidence of improving outcomes. • Aside from the impact of the Covid pandemic, issues of programme targeting, recruitment and fidelity are possible confounding factors. There now exists a considerable body of international evidence demonstrating the consistently poor educational outcomes faced by children in care. These effects emerge early and worsen as children grow older and last longer term into adulthood. One popular intervention aimed at addressing this has been the use of book-gifting. However, there is limited evidence that this, on its own, is effective in improving reading outcomes for children in care. Moreover, previous research suggests the need for book-gifting programmes to be enhanced through including a direct role for foster carers to support their children's reading when receiving the books. This article reports the main findings of a three-armed randomised controlled trial conducted in the UK across 22 local authorities and involving 266 children, that sought to evaluate the effectiveness of an enhanced book-gifting intervention, supplemented by a paired-reading component for foster carers to undertake with their children, known as Reading Together. The effects of the Reading Together intervention were measured on one primary outcome, children's levels of reading comprehension, and also included a number of secondary outcomes (reading accuracy, reading rate, receptive reading and attitudes towards reading). The trial found no evidence of the effectiveness of the programme, which is attributed to both the possible ineffectiveness of the programme itself and/or the confounding effects of Covid-19 national lockdowns and other restrictions that impacted on foster families during the period of the trial. However, the trial raises a number of important issues which are drawn out and discussed including: which children in foster care a programme like this should be targeted at; how to better ensure fidelity through an enhanced peer foster carer support role; the involvement of schools in interventions like this; and the need for more attention to be paid to the nature and quality of the carer/child relationship. Implications for future research are outlined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

According to the social motivation theory, orienting toward social elements of the environment should be related to sociocognitive abilities, such as theory of mind (ToM), in both typically developing children and children with autism spectrum disorder. The objective of the current study was to assess whether social orienting skills predict ToM abilities in preschoolers by using two social orienting tasks (biological motion and face preference) and an implicit false belief task. A total of 38 children, aged 2–4 years, participated in this study. As expected, participants showed a social preference on both tasks measuring social orienting. More importantly, children’s performance on the face preference task predicted their performance on the false belief task, providing the first evidence for a link between social motivation and ToM in preschoolers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this study was to quantify the possible decrease in school performance at five years of age in preterm children associated with parental separation or divorce, and to test whether this effect varies according to the child’s age at the time of the separation. This study included 3,308 infants delivered at < 35 weeks of gestation born between 2003 and 2011 who were enrolled in the population-based LIFT cohort and who had an optimal neurodevelopmental outcome at two years of age. These infants were evaluated by their teachers to assess their abilities and behavior when they had reached five years of age, using the Global School Adaptation (GSA) questionnaire. The mean GSA score was 50.8 points. Parental separations (assessed as parents either living together or living separately) were associated with a decrease in school performance at five years of age, although this was only the case for children who exhibited difficulties at school (3.7 points, p < 0.01). A decrease in school performance only occurred when parental separations took place between 3 and 5 years after the child’s birth. Parental separation was associated with a decrease in these children’s levels of motivation, autonomy, and manual dexterity. This study indicates that preterm infants of parents who had separated are particularly at risk of a lower scholar performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: There is growing evidence that children's sense of autonomy is an important psychological need closely linked with the development of self-esteem and motivation. Among children with physical disabilities, motor or cognitive limitations may negatively affect child's sense of autonomy (CSA) and competency.Purpose: To examine how sense of autonomy among children with cerebral palsy (CP) directly and indirectly relates to their activity of daily living (ADL) and scholastic performance.Methods: Seventy-three children with CP and their mothers participated in this study. Child's ADL skills and scholastic performance were assessed using the Pediatric Evaluation Disability Inventory (PEDI) and the Scholastic Skills Rating Scale (SSRS), respectively. Level of impairment was assessed using the Gross Motor Function Measure-66 (GMFM-66). CSA was established via videotaped mother-child interactions. Regression analyses were conducted to examine factors predicting child's functional level (ADL and scholastic). The overall model was tested for goodness-of-fit and test of mediation.Results: GMFM and CSA significantly predicted child's ADL and scholastic functioning. GMFM explained 15% of the variance for CSA, 84% for PEDI, and 24% for scholastic functioning. CSA positively mediated the association between GMFM and child's ADL skills. GMFM was positively associated with CSA.Conclusion: Motor impairment has a substantial impact on child's level of functioning. However, child's functioning is a complex construct that is also affected by her or his sense of autonomy. Therefore, sense of autonomy can serve as a potential point of intervention to improve functioning among children with CP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Parent and child physical activity levels are correlated, but are they interdependent? A dyadic version of the theory of planned behavior (TPB) was developed to investigate interdependence in the motivation and intention of parents and their children with overweight to engage in healthy physical coactivity (HPCA). Baseline measures of the TPB constructs (subjective norms, attitude, perceived behavior control, and intention) for both dyad members were used to predict parent-reports of their actual HPCA at 12 weeks using the actor-partner interdependence model. The sample included 65 mother-child dyads and 48 father-child dyads from 66 predominantly Caucasian families. In mother-child dyads, a positive attitude toward HPCA predicted each person's own intention to engage in HPCA (both actor effects). In addition, mother's perceived behavior control over HPCA predicted the child's intention to engage in HPCA (a partner effect). Mother's attitude toward HPCA also predicted mother-reported HPCA. In father-child dyads, perceived behavior control predicted each person's own intention to engage in HPCA (both actor effects). The child's intention was also predicted by the child's subjective norms (an actor effect) and the father's perceived behavior control (a partner effect). Only the child's perceived behavior control predicted father-reported HPCA. There is interdependence in the motivation to engage in HPCA because both parents' perceived behavior control predicted their child's intention. However, interventions targeting mother's attitude toward HPCA with her child and the child's perceived behavior control in relation to the father would be most likely to increase HPCA in the parent-child dyads of children with overweight. (PsycINFO Database Record [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Can the challenges encountered in cooperative video games encourage classroom inclusion? And can this experience be translated into curriculum engagement? This study describes a 3 week intervention with game‐based learning activities in eight lower secondary classrooms (n = 190). The intervention combined the use of the co‐op action role‐playing game Torchlight II and analogue gamification aimed at including 32 students challenged by social difficulties and lack of motivation. The video game was used to create more inclusive classrooms by increasing students’ opportunities for participation through collaboration in teams. The students also participated in game‐related Danish (L1) and Mathematics activities. Effects on social well‐being, learning and motivational patterns were measured through teacher assessment combined with the Children's Perceived Locus of Causality‐scales. The results show multidimensional effects including positive impact on at‐risk students’ well‐being and reduced experiences of external regulation to participate in Mathematics and Danish. The qualitative analysis not only confirms the positive findings, but also shows how the intervention created ambiguities surrounding the relationship between game activities and curriculum‐related assignments. The findings indicate that the impact of game‐based classrooms is not due to their fun element, but rather how they enable reframing of social participation and students’ engagement with the curriculum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]