Search

The present study tested whether emotionally burdened parents due to the COVID-19 pandemic might appraise their relationship with their children more negatively. The current cross-sectional study was circulated through social media. A total of 265 respondents took part in the study. Multiple linear regression analysis was used to examine the association between predictor variables and the parent–child relationship. This study's results report that older fathers with higher levels of COVID-19 related fear are more likely to appraise negatively their relationship with their children. Therefore, this study suggests the need for family-level strategies to address better the psychological aspects related to the pandemic outbreak. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Much of the literature investigating the association between coping and psychopathology is cross-sectional, or associations have been investigated in a unidirectional manner; hence, bidirectionality between coping and psychopathology remains largely untested. To address this gap, this study investigated bidirectional relations between coping and psychopathology during pre-adolescence. Participants (N = 532, 51% male) and their primary caregiver both completed questionnaires assessing pre-adolescents' coping (i.e., avoidant, problem solving, social support seeking) and symptoms of psychopathology (i.e., generalized anxiety, social anxiety, depression, eating pathology) in Wave 1 (Mage = 11.18 years, SD = 0.56, range = 10–12) and Wave 2 (Mage = 12.18 years, SD = 0.53, range = 11–13, 52% male), one year later. Cross-lagged panel models showed child-reported avoidant coping predicted increases in symptoms of generalized and social anxiety, and eating pathology. In separate child and parent models, symptoms of depression predicted increases in avoidant coping. Greater parent-reported child depressive symptoms also predicted decreases in problem solving coping. Taken together, results suggest unique longitudinal associations between coping and psychopathology in pre-adolescence, with avoidant coping preceding increases in symptoms of anxiety and eating pathology, and depressive symptoms predicting later increases in maladaptive coping. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With this study, we aimed to investigate the contribution of emotion regulation and negative lability to socioemotional adjustment in institutionalized and non‐institutionalized children. Ninety‐two children aged 6 to 10 years (45 placed in residential care after abuse and 47 non‐abused, living with their biological families) participated in this study. Emotion Regulation Questionnaire and Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire were completed by the main caregivers of the institutions and by the elementary teacher, respectively, for the institutionalized and non‐institutionalized groups. No differences were observed between institutionalized and non‐institutionalized children in emotion regulation, negative lability, and socioemotional adjustment outcomes. Also, no sex and age effects were observed for both groups. Considering the institutionalized children, the length of institutionalization had a significant effect on negative lability, while no effects of the type of maltreatment on emotion regulation and negative lability were observed. Additionally, in institutionalized children, negative lability was negatively associated with peer relationship problems in socioemotional adjustment, whereas in the non‐institutionalized children, no significant associations were verified between emotion regulation and negative lability with socioemotional adjustment outcomes. For institutionalized children, emotional lability seems to have a differential impact on specific maladaptive socioemotional outcomes, which emphasizes the importance of analysing these specific risk developmental pathways. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Explicit and implicit aspects of the mother-child relationship in middle childhood are thought to contribute to the development of child individuation in the context of close and protective relations. Implicit (nonverbal, procedural and non-conscious) aspects of the mother-child relationship were examined as predictors of children's adjustment through the Joint Painting Procedure (JPP). A multi-method research design was implemented to assess the implicit interactions between mother and child in terms of mutual recognition and role confusion beyond the child's temperament (effortful control) on a sample of 87 Jewish Israelis aged 9–12 and their mothers. The explicit aspects of the relationships were assessed on validated relationship questionnaires completed by both mothers and children. A high level of mutual recognition and a low level of role confusion as expressed in the Joint Painting Procedure were associated with better academic adaptation, and a low level of role confusion was associated with social adaptation. The implicit aspects predicted children's adjustment beyond the measures of explicit aspects and temperament. These findings thus point to the importance of assessing and treating implicit aspects of relationships. Highlights: The significance of implicit aspects of the mother-child relationship as predictors of children's adjustment in middle childhood were examined in terms of Mutual Recognition (MR) and Role Confusion (RC). The Joint Painting Procedure (JPP) a new art-based assessment tool was used to measure implicit ongoing interactions between mother and child. A high level of MR and a low level of RC on the JPP were associated with better academic adaptation. A low level of RC was associated with better social adaptation as reported by homeroom teachers beyond the prediction of explicit aspects of the mother-child relations and children's temperament (effortful control) as reported by mothers in questionnaires. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This mixed methods systematic review and meta-analysis sheds more light on the role parenting practices play in children's adjustment after war exposure. Specifically, we quantitatively examined whether parenting behavior explained some of the well-known associations between war exposure and children's adjustment. In addition, we meta-synthesized qualitative evidence answering when and why parenting practices might change for war-affected families. We searched nine electronic databases and contacted experts in the field for relevant studies published until March 2018, identifying 4,147 unique publications that were further screened by title and abstract, resulting in 158 publications being fully screened. By running a meta-analytic structural equation model with 38 quantitative studies (N = 54,372, M age = 12.00, SD age = 3.54), we found that more war-exposed parents showed less warmth and more harshness toward their children, which partly mediated the association between war exposure and child adjustment, that is, post-traumatic stress symptoms, depression and anxiety, social problems, externalizing behavior, and lower positive outcomes (e.g., quality of life). War exposure was not associated with parents' exercise of behavioral control. By meta-synthesizing 10 qualitative studies (N = 1,042; age range = 0−18), we found that the nature of war-related trauma affected parenting differently. That is, parents showed harshness, hostility, inconsistency, and less warmth in highly dangerous settings and more warmth and overprotection when only living under threat. We conclude that it is both how much and what families have seen that shapes parenting in times of war. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Divorce education programs have increased in prevalence over time due to the high and sustained rate of divorce in the United States. These programs have been shown to improve familial relationship quality post-divorce, especially for children, with many states requiring parents to complete a divorce education program prior to the issuance of the final judgment. However, divorce education programs vary greatly in length, content, and goals due to the lack of standardization. Using the Divorce-Stress-Adjustment Theory, this systematic review focuses on identifying assessment tools that can be utilized to operationalize common content areas identified by Schramm and colleagues in 2018 that are delivered within many divorce education programs. In total, 18 measures were identified that could be used to operationalize a set of eight constructs and sub-constructs. Recommendations are provided for assessment tools that could effectively be used for program evaluation and suggestions are made for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bottle refusal by breastfed babies is a scenario that has received surprisingly little attention in the literature, given the number of mothers who appear to be experiencing it globally and the subsequent negative impact it can have. In line with this, we undertook a study to explore mothers' views on why their breastfed baby refuses to bottle feed. A parallel, two-stage, exploratory qualitative design was employed using 30 semi-structured interviews and 597 online forum posts. Data were analysed using a thematic analysis, and a biopsychosocial model was applied resulting in four overarching themes being identified: 'Breastfeeding is the answer to everything....' 'Bottle feeding: an alien concept... 'Babies are individuals' and 'Find the right bottle and don't delay'. The psychological benefits of breastfeeding, not inherent in bottle feeding, appeared to underpin some mothers' views on their baby's refusal. Other mothers explained refusal as being down to a baby's biological expectation to be fed by the breast; therefore, bottle feeding was not a normal concept to them. A baby's individual personality and temperament were also suggested as contributing to the scenario and refusal was linked to babies disliking a certain brand of bottle and being introduced to it 'too late'. This study's findings point to a complex, multifactorial picture underpinning bottle refusal by breastfed babies, which transcends physical, psychological and biological concepts, and is influenced by socio-cultural norms surrounding infant feeding. Recognition of these contributing factors is needed to aid those supporting mothers experiencing the scenario and, importantly, to underpin mothers' decision-making around managing it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Understanding sibling relationship quality is important, as it is associated with mental health outcomes in both childhood and adulthood. Arguably, these relationships are even more important for individuals with intellectual disability, as siblings can be important sources of care, support, advocacy and friendship for one another. The intellectual disability field, however, has a tendency to assume that the relationship lacks reciprocity, and that it is the sibling with intellectual disability who affects the sibling, and that this effect is somehow 'negative'. Methods: We examined whether the behaviour problems and prosocial behaviour of 500 child sibling pairs, where one child has an intellectual disability, were associated with their sibling relationship quality. Measures included the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaires and the Sibling Relationship Questionnaire. Family poverty, the gender of both children, birth order and whether the child with intellectual disability had autism or Down syndrome were also included in the analyses. Results: Confirmatory factor analysis indicated an adequate model fit for the latent variables measuring sibling relationships. The final structural model found that the prosocial behaviour and internalising problems of the children with intellectual disability, their typically developing siblings' prosocial behaviours and sibling birth order were associated with intimacy–companionship in the sibling relationship. The internalising, externalising and prosocial behaviours of the children with intellectual disability, their siblings' externalising behaviours and sibling birth order were associated with antagonism–quarrelling in the sibling relationship. Conclusions: We found that the behaviours of both the child with intellectual disability and their sibling were associated with both 'positive' and 'negative' dimensions of their sibling relationship. This indicates a bidirectional and reciprocal effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, the sustainability crisis has raised interest in the concept of resilience, i.e., the capacity to persist, adapt, or transform in the face of change and challenge. However, to date, resilience has only been studied to a limited extent within early childhood education and care (ECEC). This paper reports on a study that used critical document analysis of national and international policies to explore if and how the concept of resilience within ECEC could contribute to sustainability in a world of rapid change. Five national and four international documents were analysed through the theoretical lenses of childism and place-based education. The results show that resilience is implicitly expressed in ECEC policies yet is rarely linked to sustainability issues. Instead, policies mainly limit resilience to the psychological dimension and the individual child. The conclusion is that ECEC is an apt context for supporting resilience in multiple ways. It suggests using a holistic understanding of resilience to advocate for ECEC policies that include diverse perspectives of families and local communities, incorporate indigenous voices, and recognise the interconnectedness between humans and the more-than-human world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research in psychology has evolved over the decades creating a movement of greater emphasis on the assessment of strengths and positive characteristics, rather than focusing on risk factors and the diagnosis of pathology. The Social-Emotional Assets and Resilience Scale (SEARS) is an instrument for assessing the children's strengths, resilience and adaptability in daily life, presenting a form completed by teachers. This study presents the factorial structure of the Portuguese version of teacher-report of SEARS and examines its psychometric properties, namely internal consistency and convergent validity, with a sample of 235 children (116 boys and 119 girls) aged between 5 and 10 years (M = 7.51, SD = 1.63). The factorial structure suggested by Merrell et al. (2011) was tested through a Confirmatory Factor Analyzes, with 41 items making up four factors (responsibility, self-competence, self-regulation, and empathy). In general, our findings support a final structure of 40 items divided into four subscales and provides evidence on the psychometric quality of this instrument. Limitations and future research needs are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study examined the factor structure and measurement invariance of the shortened versions of the Inventory of Callous–Unemotional Traits (ICU) with data from multiple informants. Five short versions of the ICU proposed in previous studies were tested and compared through confirmatory factor analysis. The measurement invariance across different informants (i.e., self-report, parent-report, and teacher-report) and longitudinal measurement invariance for the resulting best-fitting model were tested thoroughly. Results indicated that a shortened form that consists of 11 items (ICU-11) to assess callousness and uncaring factors had excellent overall fit. Moreover, the ICU-11 was invariant across informant and occasions. However, the ICU-11 was not without limitations; the internal consistency α for the uncaring factor with self-report scores was marginal. In conclusion, our findings suggest that the ICU-11 was an excellent fit for our data and displayed measurement invariance across informants and over time. The ICU-11 may be a promising assessment tool that could be used in research to assess callous–uncaring traits in Chinese children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Childhood adaptation is essential for proper social‐emotional development. Children growing up in a family context where they feel supported and protected are less vulnerable in the presence of psychopathology. The aim of this study is analysing the impact of parenting styles and the anxious‐depressive symptoms on child adaptation. Design and Setting: A total of 367 children between the ages of 10 and 12, following a similar distribution by sex. The children completed self‐reports assessing parenting styles, child adaptation, and depressive‐anxiety symptomatology. Methods: The data were analysed using two complementary methodologies: linear regressions and fuzzy‐set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA). Results: Both methodologies indicated that the main predictors explaining child adaptation were depression and an authoritative parenting style. The fsQCA models explained a greater amount of variance and included more variables in their prediction than the regression models. Conclusion: Identifying family and emotional aspects when working with children may help professionals to improve childhood adaptation. Consequently, well‐adapted children are less likely to suffer the negative consequences of emotional symptoms in later evolutionary stages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research examined parents' restriction of children's peer relationships in the United States and China. American and Chinese children (N = 934; Mage = 12.67 years) reported on their parents' peer restriction (e.g., limiting children's time with peers) and their behavioral and psychological adjustment 3 times over a year. Increments in parents' peer restriction predicted decrements in children's adjustment over time to a similar extent in the United States and China. However, decrements in children's adjustment predicted increments in parents' peer restriction over time to a greater extent in the United States (vs. China). Thus, it is possible that culture contributes to the socialization process involving parents' restriction of children's peer relationships but only via child-driven pathways. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research demonstrates significant associations between coparenting conflict and child adjustment problems. However, the implications of youth adjustment for coparenting, especially during youth's adolescence, remain poorly understood. Addressing several gaps in the literature, this study examines the longitudinal trajectory of mothers' and fathers' reported coparenting conflict from youth ages 10–17 and tests bidirectional associations between youth social anxiety, hostility, risk-taking behaviors, and mothers' and fathers' coparenting conflict. Participants include 757 mothers, fathers, and youth in two-parent families (M youth age = 11.28, SD = 0.49; 53% female) who participated in 5 waves of data collection when youth were in the 6th to 9th grades. Multilevel growth curve models revealed significant non-linear change in mothers' and fathers' coparenting conflict, such that coparenting conflict declined through youth's transition to adolescence, leveled off in early adolescence, and declined in the mid-late adolescent years. Cross-lagged models showed significant positive associations between youth social anxiety and hostility and coparenting conflict at the following time point, but coparenting conflict did not predict later youth adjustment problems in these domains. There were significant bidirectional associations between mother-reported coparenting conflict and youth risk-taking behaviors; the associations between coparenting conflict and risk-taking were not significant for fathers. The findings demonstrate that investigating longitudinal associations between youth adjustment and coparenting conflict may provide new insights into the role of child effects for mothers' and fathers' coparenting experiences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined the relations between maternal reactions to children's negative emotions and children's socio-emotional outcomes, including psychological adjustment, emotion knowledge, and coping strategies. European American and Chinese immigrant mothers reported on their reactions to children's (N = 117, M = 7.14 years) negative emotions and on children's psychological adjustment. One year later, children were interviewed for emotion knowledge and mothers reported on children's use of coping strategies. Mothers from the two cultural groups reported the same level of supportive reactions to their children's negative emotions, whereas Chinese immigrant mothers more often adopted what are commonly considered to be non-supportive strategies than did European American mothers. Whereas supportive maternal reactions were associated with better child outcomes in both cultures, maternal non-supportive reactions were negatively associated with children's functioning for European American children but not for Chinese immigrant children. The findings shed critical light on the functional meaning of parenting practices in specific cultural contexts in shaping developmental outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: The current study examined the patterns of adaptation of rural-to-urban migrant children in China as compared with their peers in urban schools. It also explored the potential factors relating to school adaptation by employing the cultural and structural perspectives, which emphasizes the access to social relations and the socioeconomic status in a society. Methods: We conducted surveys in a district with a large number of migrants in Shanghai. This cross-sectional study recruited 1577 children from 12 primary schools, who completed self-reported questionnaires. Results: Attending a public school can promote the children's adaptation, including the access to more family resources (d = 0.77, p < 0.05; 0.47, p < 0.05; 0.28, p < 0.05) and social relations (Cohen's d = 0.17, p < 0.05; 0.28, p< 0.05; 0.11, p < 0.05). However, policy limitations and lack of family resources are primary factors that prevent children from attending public schools. Children from families with higher income (OR = 1.28, 95% CI [1.05, 1.55], p < 0.05), higher parental education achievement (OR = 1.19, 95% CI [1.05, 1.35], p < 0.01), and homeownership (OR = 2.03, 95% CI [5.35, 10.95], p < 0.001) are more likely to enroll in a public school. Conclusions: The study's findings contribute to the growing knowledge about migrant children's adaptation and can guide future policy-making. The adaptation gap between migrant children from public and migrant schools raises a concern about the upward mobility of migrant children from disadvantaged families, which requires more attention and support from local government. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We tested whether adoptive parenting played a role in the association between pre-adoption experiences and children's adaptive (responsiveness) and maladaptive (internalizing and externalizing behavioral problems, attention and sleep problems) behavioral adjustment over time. Ten-year-old girls, adopted at 13 months from institutional care (n = 50) or foster care (n = 42) in China to the Netherlands, participated 2 months (Time 1, N = 92), 6 months (Time 2, N = 92), and 9 years after adoption (Time 3, N = 87). At Times 1 and 2, the adoptees showed significantly fewer behavioral problems in many areas than non-adopted youth, with medium to large effect sizes. At Time 3, the adoptees showed similar rates of behavioral problems as non-adopted youth, with the exception of somewhat elevated levels of internalizing problems. Pre-adoption experiences were not associated with their behavioral adjustment. Furthermore, adoptive parenting did not moderate the association between pre-adoption experiences and behavioral adjustment over time. Nevertheless, the finding that the adoptees generally did not show above-average levels of behavioral problems illustrates that adoption had a positive impact on their development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The Management of Myelomeningocele Study (MOMS), a randomized trial of prenatal versus postnatal repair for myelomeningocele, found that prenatal surgery resulted in reduced hindbrain herniation and need for shunt diversion at 12 months of age and better motor function at 30 months. In this study, we compared adaptive behavior and other outcomes at school age (5.9-10.3 years) between prenatal versus postnatal surgery groups. METHODS: Follow-up cohort study of 161 children enrolled in MOMS. Assessments included neuropsychological and physical evaluations. Children were evaluated at a MOMS center or at a home visit by trained blinded examiners. RESULTS: The Vineland composite score was not different between surgery groups (89.0 ± 9.6 in the prenatal group versus 87.5 ± 12.0 in the postnatal group; P = .35). Children in the prenatal group walked without orthotics or assistive devices more often (29% vs 11%; P = .06), had higher mean percentage scores on the Functional Rehabilitation Evaluation of Sensori- Neurologic Outcomes (92 ± 9 vs 85 ± 18; P < .001), lower rates of hindbrain herniation (60% vs 87%; P < .001), had fewer shunts placed for hydrocephalus (49% vs 85%; P < .001) and, among those with shunts, fewer shunt revisions (47% vs 70%; P = .02) than those in the postnatal group. Parents of children repaired prenatally reported higher mean quality of life z scores (0.15 ± 0.67 vs 0.11 ± 0.73; P = .008) and lower mean family impact scores (32.5 ± 7.8 vs 37.0 ± 8.9; P = .002). CONCLUSIONS: There was no significant difference between surgery groups in overall adaptive behavior. Long-term benefits of prenatal surgery included improved mobility and independent functioning and fewer surgeries for shunt placement and revision, with no strong evidence of improved cognitive functioning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The goal of this study was to examine the contribution of teachers' attachment orientations to the teacher–child relationship and to children's adjustment to school during first grade. We sampled 539 first-grade children and their homeroom teachers (N = 58), measured teachers' attachment orientations and children's attachment to mother at the beginning of the academic year, and followed children's perceptions of their teachers' responsiveness and their socioemotional adjustment to school from the beginning to the end of the year. Teachers' attachment-related avoidance was associated with changes in children's perceptions of their teachers' responsiveness and changes in school adjustment during first grade. These prospective effects of teachers' avoidance on children's adjustment occurred regardless of variations in the children's attachment to mother. However, most of the effects depended on the extent to which a child perceived his or her teacher to be a nonresponsive caregiver. Overall, the findings reveal the critical role of teachers' attachment orientations in shaping children's adjustment to school. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the little big-five inventory, we developed a technique to estimate children's personalities through their interaction with a tele-operated childcare robot. For personality estimation, our approach observed not only distance-based but also face-image-based features when a robot interacted with a child at a close distance. We used only the robot's sensors to track the child's positions, detect its eye contact, and estimate how much it smiled. We collected data from a kindergarten, where each child individually interacted for 30 min with a robot that was controlled by the teachers. We used 29 datasets of the interaction between a child and the robot to investigate whether face-image-based features improved the performance of personality estimation. The evaluation results demonstrated that the face-image-based features significantly improved the performance of personality estimation, and the accuracy of the personality estimation of our system was 70% on average for the personality scales. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: The intention of the Theatre in the round is to develop self-confidence, opinions confrontation, cooperation practice, creation process, and all things that purchase adaptation competences in TPE. Aim: To practice Theatre in the round with children living with an haemorrhagic constitutional disease and their siblings to reveal everyone their ability to create something new, to recreate. Method: ten children attended a workshop lead by two artists and two nursing teachers. Leaders have used words circulation, sensory perceptions, spatial perception, and function concept as tools. Results: Final show contributed to observe skills as stress management, interpersonal relationships, and to make choices; individual interview, feeling of competence scales, indicate an improvement of self-confidence and self-assurance. Conclusion: Theatre in the round is a useful approach to achieve adaptation competences for children living with an haemorrhagic constitutional disease and their siblings. By enhancing creative process that will allow the children to extrapolate their own health standard and to confirm their choice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite increasing empirical research documenting the association between parental ethnic-racial socialization and youth of color's psychosocial well-being, evidence on the extent to which ethnic-racial socialization practices are linked to youth outcomes and potential variation in these relations remains equivocal. In the current study, a meta-analysis of 102 studies with 803 effect sizes and 27,221 participants reveals that overall ethnic-racial socialization was positively, albeit modestly, associated with self-perceptions, interpersonal relationship quality, and internalizing behavior. Ethnic-racial socialization's overall association with externalizing behavior was nonsignificant. Moreover, ethnic-racial socialization's connection to psychosocial outcomes varied by the subtype that parents used, the developmental stage and race/ethnicity of the target child, and the reporter of ethnic-racial socialization. In particular, cultural socialization was positively associated with self-perceptions and interpersonal relationship quality and negatively associated with externalizing behaviors. In addition, ethnic-racial socialization's positive association with self-perceptions was strongest in early adolescence and among African American youth. These findings underscore the complexity of parental ethnic-racial socialization practices and the need for a nuanced perspective on it. Implications for parenting practices and future research are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article acknowledges an error in Figure 1 of the original publication, where non-significant correlations were incorrectly crossed out.

The article examines the Five-Factor Personality Inventory-Children (FFPI-C), which was developed to assess personality dispositions in children and adolescents. One of the primary uses of FFPI-C is to identify children at risk for adjustment problems by assessing their personality traits. Psychologists and other applied mental health practitioners with formal training in administering or interpreting psychological assessments are the only people that should use FFPI-C.

The article analyzes the parental opinion on features of the usage of modern media resources in organizing for the development of the personality process in a family. The purpose of research was to study of parents’ understanding of the goals and objectives of media education and also the real parents’ needs in media resources to facilitate the process of personality development their children and give them new information about the process of education. We used the following methods of cognition: a problem method, a survey method, a system-structural method. The study involved 500 parents from different regions of Russia (62 regions). Parents were asked 6 questions. The survey showed that parents confuse the concepts of "media education" and "information communication technologies". They mean digital education by media education. This creates a false understanding of the goals of media education. Also most often parents refer to media resources to look for ready-made solutions to educational tasks for their children. At the same time the potential of educational media platforms and other resources for personality development children remains little in demand. The use of media resources by parents to study various approaches to raising children is difficult due to the peculiarities of people mentality of the country, accustomed to adopt the model of education from parent family. The study made it possible to identify the difficulties of learning schoolchildren with the help of media resources. It concludes that, first of all, parents do not indicate the difficulty of a technical nature (the lack of a computer in the family, the lack of an Internet connection) and distrust to the usage of new information technologies as children’s personality development tools. The difficulties were in organizing qualitative learning process in new conditions that children could master with a high degree of motivation and independence. Parents are often not aware of the goals and objectives of media education. Therefore, parents and children need clarification about the goals of media education. Competent pedagogical support of the media education process can help parents become "allies", and not "opponents" of teachers in the formation of media skills of schoolchildren. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The presented paper is devoted to finding out and analyzing the opinions of primary education teachers on the causes of the unsuccessful adaptation of current schoolchildren to the beginning of systematic education. To find out the above issues, pedagogical research was carried out at selected primary schools in Slovakia. The implementation of the research and the subsequent analysis of the research results confirmed that the length of teachers' pedagogical practice has a statistically significant effect on their views on the causes of adaptation difficulties in emotional, social, intellectual, and psychomotor areas of children's school readiness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: In the last decades, the incidence of early-onset cancers, defined as cancers diagnosed in adults <50 years of age, has been rising in many countries. A diagnosis of cancer in a mother is a burden not only for the patient herself but also for the entire family system and particularly for her minor children. Despite its relevance, this topic has been little explored in the existing literature. The aim of our study was to analyze aspects associated with children's psychosocial adjustment regarding maternal cancer. Following this general objective, we considered age and sex of the child and factors related to maternal cancer and mothers' psychological adjustment. We found that the time passed since the diagnosis and the levels of mothers' anxiety and parenting stress were associated with children's difficulties. These findings may help health professionals to develop structured and tailored programs to support both mothers and children after an oncological diagnosis. A mother's cancer diagnosis may have consequences for all family members, particularly for children, since it makes a parent less physically and emotionally available, with effects on the relationship with the child and his/her development. The main aim of this study was to analyze children's psychological adjustment in the context of maternal cancer by considering factors related to the child (i.e., age and sex), the mother (psychological adjustment), and cancer (i.e., time elapsed from the diagnosis and current oncological treatment). Self-report questionnaires investigating mothers' parenting stress, depression, anxiety, and children's emotional and behavioral problems were administered to 124 mothers (mean age = 44.52 years; SD = 7.22) diagnosed with cancer. A hierarchical regression analysis highlighted that time since diagnosis and mothers' anxiety and parenting stress accounted for almost 44% of the variance of the children's difficulties. Maternal depression, current oncological treatment, and the child's age and sex were not statistically significant. Higher mothers' parenting stress and anxiety and a longer time elapsed since the first diagnosis predicted higher levels of children's emotional and behavioral problems. These findings highlight the need to identify precursors of childhood distress in the context of maternal cancer and to develop structured programs to support both mothers and children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Middle childhood, between six and twelve years, is a critical bridge between earlier childhood and adolescence with rapid physical and psychological transitions. Most of the world's 2.6 billion young people, of which the middle childhood age group is a significant portion, live in low- and middle-income countries. Many live in environments that place them at high and growing risk for mental ill-health, injuries, and adoption of risky behaviours that often lead to non-communicable diseases in later years. Still, middle childhood, the 'missing middle,' is omitted from global health information systems, targeted policies, and strategies. The dearth of internationally comparable and standardised indicators on middle childhood in major international development agency databases hampers age-appropriate policy and programme development. Better understanding of the needs of this increasingly vulnerable population is critical. Middle childhood needs to be an explicit focus within child-focused research and implementation. Standardised, comprehensive, and relevant indicators are required to quantify the contribution of middle childhood to the global burden of disease and to facilitate interventions, monitoring, and evaluation, to ensure that all children flourish and thrive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing on integrated data from focus groups and diary entries, we explored the impact of the COVID‐19 pandemic on child well‐being for children from five Majority World Countries. We focus on the disruptions the pandemic caused, the adjustments made in response to these, and children's vision of a post‐pandemic world. Underlying children's experiences of loss, boredom and concerns about educational progress, was an awareness of systemic inequalities that disadvantaged them or others in their community. Findings have implications on capturing children's voices through introspective and dialogical approaches that transcend cultures and for the development of preventive and responsive interventions during crises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Developmental perspectives recognize the importance of the development of impulsivity and sensation seeking for later life educational attainment. The current study examines the effect of developmental trajectories of impulsivity and sensation seeking across adolescence and into young adulthood on educational attainment in adulthood. The study sample consists of N = 5529 youth from a population-based sample from the United States (48.96% female; 46.95% Black or Hispanic). Latent growth curve models are used to examine associations between within-individual changes in impulsivity and sensation seeking and educational attainment. The findings point to the existence of multiple forms of risk taking during different developmental stages, with some offering a positive long-term effect on overall educational attainment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Children in hospitals endure a variety of stressful situations. Children feel friendly toward and have fun with robots. Care robots are considered to be an alternate technique to relieve stress after hospitalization. A mixed-methods study was conducted on caregivers to understand the ideal care robot. One hundred and fifty caregivers of pediatric patients participated in a quantitative online survey, and eleven participated in focus group interviews for qualitative analysis. Quantitative data underwent descriptive statistics. Content analysis was conducted for qualitative data. Regarding the overall awareness and necessity of a care robot, the caregivers thought it would help patients adapt to the hospital environment more quickly. The caregivers' preferred character-shaped robots of child height. For sound, they preferred an animated character's voice. For movement, they preferred the robot to roll on wheels. Regarding functions, medicine was the item for which they most wanted to use game elements. For the educational element, the caregivers wanted to teach children the reasons for and methods of medicine administration. Four themes were derived from the qualitative results. The findings are expected to contribute to the future development of care robots that can assist pediatric patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]